Chapter 21: Packages

Shepard had Carter divert towards Tali's turret before heading back, if only to make sure she was alright. Sure enough the quarian was there with Kasumi and Mordin nearby. They busy trying to clean up the bodies that had slowly piled around their section.

"Ugh, now I know why Jacob likes inferno rounds so much." Kasumi said as she dragged a dead varren by its tail off the path "Way less mess."

Tali herself had already dragged a vorcha's corpse into the pile. They knew they had to be quick about it, what with the next assault coming soon.

"That varren tactic was a bit of a surprise." Tali told Shepard as he looked things over "Why not just throw the smoke grenades instead?"

"Kreave fancies himself a showman." Shepard answered matter of factly "A smoke grenade getting tossed up in the air is a lot less scary than it coming on the back of a four legged mouth of teeth. That and proves even his dogs are willing to die for him."

"Egotistical." Mordin analyzed "Potentially exploitable weakness. More so in that it carries over to own battle strategy."

Carter summed it up rather nicely for everyone.

"He's just trying to scare us." He alleged "His little blood pack hasn't licked us yet and they won't. We still got every turret active and we haven't lost an inch of ground."

"We're still backed up against a wall here Carter." Shepard warned "We shouldn't underestimate him. He may be an obsessive asshole with a superiority complex but he's a lot more flexible than most Krogan. Believe me you don't want an unpredictable krogan staring you down."

"Whatever card he deals next we can handle it." Carter assured Shepard "Although I wouldn't mind some insight."

Shepard gave it some thought. Kreave hadn't committed tons of Krogan to the fight yet. So he no doubt had plenty of reserves left. They had yet to see any of the vorcha armed with flamethrowers as well.

"He may start bringing out more big guns to the fight. Flamethrowers most likely, maybe even a few heavy hitters." Shepard suggested "He'll probably get the covies to send down more wraiths if he can convince them."

"From what I've seen of this relic it probably won't take much pushing." Tali added the sense of dire urgency apparent "Trust me and Halsey when we say this, it's incredibly important. It's the whole reason they're here in the first place they will not let us just walk out of here with the data without putting up a fight for it."

"And exactly does this data pertain to precisely?" Carter asked Tali

The Quarian suddenly looked a little less chatty, the gears in her head trying to come up with something.

"It's Forerunner," Tali finally answered "that pretty much says it all I think. Halsey thinks it has something to do with the Covenant religion. The data stored in that thing is insurmountable though. It could be anything from weapon schematics or maybe even long lost technology the Covenant could repurpose into a weapon. We can't be entirely sure. I think that's all I can really say for now."

Carter was still curious about it all, but he had no time to ask more questions. He heard the distinct cry of covenant aircraft above. Two banshees soared overhead as a phantom followed close behind.

"Break's over I guess." Kasumi observed

Shepard quickly contacted Miranda.

"Shepard to squad, how we holding up?" he asked

"Beat them back Commander," Miranda responded "but as you can no doubt see there's more coming in. We could really use the extra support here if you can spare it."

Shepard turned to Tali.

"Think you can handle things without me?" Shepard asked

"We'll be fine Shepard. This shotgun hasn't let me down yet." Tali assured, waving the UNSC shotgun in her hand "Although I do admit I miss being able to select disruptor rounds. But if you need help don't hesitate to call."

Tali's little smarmy remark gave Shepard a laugh and he saluted the Quarian as he and Carter returned back to base on the mongoose. Tali watched him leave, a bit grateful that he wasn't still trying to convince her to pull back. She could tell from his reaction earlier that he'd prefer it if she did, but she needed to be here. On the front line, doing all she could to help her friends. She looked up to see the phantom coming in to drop off its passengers on the other side of the bridge. She readied her shotgun.

"What you think they got for us this time?" Kasumi asked

"Whatever it is won't get past us if we can help it." Tali said defiantly. "They aren't getting their hands on that data."

It soon became apparent who the latest addition to the battle was, for racing over the bridge, blades in hand, were Elite Husks. Tali should've known. If they had human husks here then it should've been obvious that the Reavers were here too. Close behind the Reavers, however, were their still living brethren, Elites clad in spec-ops armour.

Tali watched as a number of the banshees flew low and began firing on down the central pathway at the porch before pulling up taking off again. They were getting more coordinated and serious now, that was for sure. She saw one of the Reavers turn towards them, the swords in its wrists swept backwards as it rushed forward.

Both the quarian engineer and Kasumi stood together alongside the turret. As the gun opened up on the charging sword-wielding monster they pointed their omni-tools at it. Tali's energy drain and Kasumi's overload attacks were launched consecutively and struck the reaver at the exact same time. The elite husk's shields spiked hard upon the impact of the two attacks. The conjoined barrage brought the monster's shields down significantly, but it kept coming regardless. It raced forward closing in on both Tali and Kasumi. Mordin was off to the side firing his heavy pistol at the monster. Both Tali and Kasumi opened up upon the reaver as well. Shotgun blasts struck against the dying shield covering the husk's body, but it wasn't enough to stop him.

As the beast closed in Tali sprang into action. She threw herself out of the way, bringing Kasumi with her. The reaver swung at the now unoccupied air with its sword as the two hooded women slammed into the sloped snowy pathway. The reaver's other sword slashed the turret's gun. The weapon closed up immediately, the damage it received forcing it to retreat into itself for repairs.

Kasumi was tumbling over herself in the snow, while Tali aimed her shotgun up at their reaver attacker. She slid across the show on her back, blasting away at the reaver with as many buckshot rounds as she had left in her weapon. The reaver felt the sting of the spread hit him and turned back to its quarry.

Kasumi finally righted herself, sticking her feet firmly into the snow. She grabbed Tali as she slid towards her. As she helped the quarian to her feet she looked up to see the reaver closing the distance between them across the snow. Tali turned to Mordin.

"Professor!" Tali shouted across to the Salarian "Light him up!"

Mordin didn't need clarification. He just nodded once, struck out his omni-tool and let an incineration attack twirl outwards towards the reaver. The husk stopped in its tracks, trying to pat out the flames. With it distracted momentarily, the three used what little time they had to pull back and put some distance between themselves and the dual sword wielding freak.

"We're gonna need more firepower to kill that thing." Kasumi stated

"Why do you think we're headed to where the Covenant is sending more of their troops up?" Tali responded as they raced towards the end of the path "We're gonna get some help from them."

Shepard had long since passed by Six and Legion, his rocket launcher pointed to the sky. The two kept their heads down as a banshee flew straight over them. It sped after Carter and the Shepard, but while the banshee shot its bolts seemed to go wild as the aircraft came screaming down on the mongoose at an angle.

Shepard didn't fire however. Six assumed he didn't have a good shot since the aircraft wasn't coming at him from a straight line. The mongoose pulled up the ramp and onto the porch, the banshee continued to buzz around them firing off shots.

As if air support wasn't bad enough though, the two got a look at the next group of enemies one of the incoming phantoms had dropped off on their path. Elites in full spec ops gear, side by side with blood pack krogan mercs, these ones wearing heavy armour. Flanking beside them were vorcha wearing packs on their backs. It didn't take long to figure out what was in those packs.

"Flamethrowers, just what we need." He groaned

"Based on enemy combatant numerical advantage current cover is insufficient." Legion informed the Spartan

"I'm open to any and all suggestions." Six responded as he readied his rifle.

Legion stood up, its eye glowing heavy and the lights on its body radiating brightly.

"Systems reroute achieved." Legion declared "Weapon damage output increased. We shall provide cover. Move to secondary defensive position."

Legion fired a spray of rounds from their geth pulse rifle and moved forward. The attack struck one of the lead spec ops elites. The shields of alien completely caved and the Elite rolled away from the Geth's field of fire, attempting to shoot back at it.

Six in the meantime took Legion's advice, but made sure not to leave his robotic friend hanging in the lurch. He fired into the crowd of covenant as he moved back hitting one of the krogan as he did. The alien barely felt the strike against his armour but he still shifted away from the lone geth in his way to further up the hill.

Legion's shields held as the plasma bolts hit them and slowly but surely the geth fell back. The spec ops elite he had shot at followed, trying to avoid Legion's shots as he closed in. Plasma bolts smacked against Legion's shields as the geth pulled back slightly. Its shields were slowly starting to fail as well, even with the extra power it had rerouted to them. After all, the elite they were trying to kill wasn't the only one firing at him.

The covenant officer's shields soon died as the rounds peppered him, but he was closing in on his prey and his fellow Elites were close behind. They added their plasma bolts to his own, slowly melting away the geth's shields. The elite raised his plasma rifle towards the synthetic's head intending to blast it to pieces. Legion kept firing on the Elite, unwavering in its task. The elite took the punishment, letting his armour soak up the rounds. Blood poured out of his wounds, but he just seemed to ignore it, completely focused on killing the machine in front of him.

Just as the elite prepared to fire, red energy struck against his body. His free hand shot up curling in pain before he grasped onto his firing arm trying to steady it. He heaved forward in visible pain as a red glow cascaded around him. Legion turned to where the shot had come from and saw Mordin standing along the fork in the path that led up to the bridge. There with him were Tali and Kasumi. The quarian quickly fired three shots from her pistol at the elite, two in the torso and one in the head for good measure. The elite fell dead to the ground, his pain subsiding at last.

"Get back to Shepard, Legion!" Tali shouted at the Geth "We'll keep them busy!"

The synthetic just nodded before vanishing. The cloak would see him safely out of the combat zone. The machine was confident Tali'Zorah could handle the situation but they wanted to be sure.

"Three Noble, Thane Assassin," they quickly spoke over the comm-channel "assist Creator Tali'Zorah's team, provide fire support."

"No worries Legion we're on it." Jun answered "We're picking targets now."

Legion supposed that perhaps the call for Tali's protection was thus somewhat un-required then. Calling them was pointless. They shared similar concerns and were assisting the unit. Still, Legion had been unsure of that originally. Whether or not they truly intended to assist Tali was unknown to them at the time they had made the request, but it should have been inherently obvious they would. Their concern was somewhat of an anomaly. An action they had seized upon.

Legion also realised that they never would've have had to make a verbal command before, other geth inherently knew the other and what they required. Yet for some reason Legion had compensated for the lack of organics' ability to connect with other individuals within the collective.

Legion soon reached a conclusion based on this evidence. This sense of genuine concern for the safety of Tali'Zorah, and those near her, evidently transcended the simple logical conclusion of maintaining unit cohesion and strategically numerical strength in the bunker's defence. Legion recalled how they rationalized matters when they were told of Creator Tali'Zorah's resumed death. It recalled the glitch in its systems as well. Was this a side effect of that?

This train of thought took all of five seconds for the machine to run through after Jun finished his sentence. By then Legion was halfway back to the porch. It decided to put the matter aside, until a more appropriate time to ask. Perhaps with Tali'Zorah, she would probably provide some answers if she could. She knew about the glitch better than they did after all.

The banshees were already swirling around the base firing off their plasma guns at anything that moved. Everyone was forced to seek shelter under the porch's miniature roof. The covering shook with every bolt that struck it. They could smell the searing and melting of the metal above.

"Why don't we just lock on to the damn things with the rockets?" Jacob asked furiously.

"Tried on the way here," Shepard explained "every time I get a signal it suddenly goes jittery."

Shepard had never been good with technical terms. Point was the lock-on just seemed to go nuts and lose focus.

"The Inquisitor probably upgraded them like it has with everything else." Miranda reasoned "These banshees must be emitting some kind of signal that messes with the rocket's lock-on functions."

"Then how the fuck do we kill them?" Jack asked in her usual subtle manner.

The porch rocked as a green blast of energy shook to roof above. Grunt rushed out onto the ramp and fired up into the air at the nearest banshee, but it quickly boosted away. Kat peered out at the banshee as it flew away and began to double back for another pass.

She motioned Shepard to give him his rocket launcher and took aim at the banshee in the distance. As Shepard said the lock-on function locked onto the banshee for a split second and then suddenly went haywire. The scope's system suddenly started to crackle and shift out. The lock-on was lost, but strangely the banshee turned away, barely firing a shot on their position. What it did fire struck way over them against the icy cliffs above and not anywhere close to the bunker.

Kat lowered the rocket and went over the past few minutes in her head quickly. Soon enough it started to make sense and she formed a plan.

"If we can down one of the banshees maybe we can find the upgrade in the wreckage." She suggested "Something complex enough to ruin target tracking capabilities has to be interlaced from another source. I'm guessing it's kind of tower or transmission device on the surface. It detects whether individual aircraft are being targeted and then quickly sends a command to the vehicle in question that causes it to emit a scrambling signal."

"Why not just have it running constantly onboard?" Carter asked

"Cause the scrambler's signal wouldn't be selective and indiscriminate." Kat explained "It would affect the banshee as well. It's a trade off. We can't shoot them they can't shoot us, but only as long as we keep trying to lock onto them."

Shepard understood, if they could get their hands on the upgrade they could piggyback on it and use it to take out the tower or array or whatever it was that was emitting the targeting scrambler signal. And he knew just who to call to get it done. He contacted Tali.

"Tali, we need your help with something." He told her.

"I'm a little busy Shepard!" Tali responded, not as politely as she would have. "I'll call you back!"

Tali had gotten herself between a rock and a hard place. Behind them was an angry reaver shaking off its wounds and closing back in on their position. In front of them were several angry elites, vorcha and krogan. This didn't seem like that much of a plan, even to her.

But the Covenant had plasma weapons and by now the reaver's shields had recharged, covering his singed armour beneath it. They needed something that could cut through both. They couldn't get past the reaver and up to Garrus, not from where they were, but they could try and liberate some plasma weapons from their covenant attackers. Problem was Tali wasn't sure what kind of plasma gun they'd need to effectively take that reaver down and reclaim the turret he took out. She kinda wished Jacob was here to offer some expertise on that.

Whatever, she'd just find the biggest gun she could get her hands, that would be good enough. Problem was she couldn't even stick her head out. One of the angry krogan mercs had spotted her and was blasting his assault rifle at her position. Bit of rock were chipped away with every second he fired. Joining him were a number of spec-ops elites and other krogan, these ones armed with shotguns.

"Can't stay hidden like this for long Tali," Kasumi told her over the radio "need to make a move now."

"I need this bosh'tet off me first!" Tali replied.

One of the flamethrower packing Vorcha made his move. As he stood close to the krogan firing on Tali he let loose a stream of fire from his thrower. It encompassed the rock, forcing Tali to push herself deeper against the rocks. The fire was so close it even affected her shields, making them dip slightly from the heat in such close proximity.

"Always with the fire," Tali groaned through bared teeth "they can never use something that doesn't set things on fire."

But the eruption of flames were suddenly halted, a single shot from behind pierced the tank of the Vorcha Pyro. It took about two seconds for the razor toothed pyromaniac to realise what had happened, by then it was too late. The tank exploded, its wearer blown to flaming pieces with it. The krogan near him, the one firing on Tali was set ablaze by the attack himself. As he tried to bat out the fire that torched his armour Tali look out of cover and up to the sniper's nest on the outdoor lab. Some of the elites had turned to fire on it in kind.

"Sorry for the delay there Tali," Jun shouted over the radio "was waiting for him to get into the best position! By the way you might wanna duck in the next two seconds!"

Tali didn't ask why, she could hear her auditory receptors picking up the scampering of feet, edging ever closer. The vorcha turned the corner and Tali dropped to the ground as flames shot out along the wall. Tali watched as fire completely obscured her vision, the blaze just inches above her head completely obscuring everything and anything else. All the while, the vorcha laughed.

Then the flames stopped, the vorcha was howling in pain, red sickly glow streaking across his body. Another neural shock, courtesy of a certain salarian acting as back up, it was good of Mordin to stay close to her while Kasumi went off on the less conspicuous path through the rocks.

"Shoot! Aim for tanks!" Mordin commanded as he fired on the Vorcha himself

Tali brought out her pistol again and aimed it at the vorcha. She fired several shots, puncturing the tank on the right side. She covered her face as the flames exploded outward, consuming the vorcha as the tank erupted. Tali regained her sight moments after the fires died down and bits of vorcha fell to earth.

"Taste of your own medicine." Tali grumbled as she looked over the remains.

She looked back from where they came. The reaver was still there, approaching slowly but surely. It clearly didn't see them as much of a threat if it was taking it's time. Either that or Mordin's incineration attack had wounded it somehow. Didn't matter, they needed to hurry.

"Do it now Kasumi!" Tali ordered over the radio as she stood herself up.

Kasumi had been among the attackers, cloaked and ready for Tali's go. She found a promising target, a krogan with a shotgun not more than five feet away from a spec-ops elite. She stabbed her omni-blade clean into his back, not enough to kill a Krogan but certainly enough to piss him off. The giant lizard turned around, trying to swat the little human. The thief easily twirled away from the attack. She got to his back and stuck a flashbang into the gash she created in the krogan's armour. She ran for cover and in the next moment the grenade went off.

The thing about flashbang grenades was that they had a significant concussive force, able to knock people down. Kasumi could've packed them with metal fragments if she wanted to make them more deadly when they exploded. But right now she needed to blind pretty much everyone close by. It was enough for what they needed. The krogan collapsed forward, his back smoking from the grenade's kickback.

Everyone nearby had been blinded by the attack, including the elite close by. This was Tali's signal. She dashed out of cover, gunning down the krogan the grenade had been set on with two close range shotgun blasts. The lizard collapsed on to his back and did not get back up. He wasn't Tali's real target, no that honour was the spec-ops soldier just a few feet away. Her omni-tool had been preset to drain the elite's shields. One solid hit was all it took and the covenant operative's defences were gone. Adrenaline now pumping in her veins, Tali wasted no time in smacking the elite in his mouth at the end of her charge. As he stumbled backwards, Tali fired her shotgun into the alien's torso and once again into his head.

She scooped up the elite's plasma rifle and looked to Kasumi and Mordin. In the ensuing chaos the flashbang has created, Kasumi had slashed open an elite's throat and Mordin had plugged several rounds into another spec-ops operative. They had picked up the plasma weapons, a repeater for Kasumi and another rifle for Mordin.

"Not really my style," Kasumi admitted as she looked over the large weapon "but considering the angry husk after us."

"Will need to recharge." Mordin said as he stuck the nozzle of the plasma rifle he held into the recharger device he kept at his side "Can't afford running out of power. Need to use full potential against reaver."

Tali would've asked them to return to the fight proper, but instead she heard a noise coming up the hill. She looked down the path and saw the strange hovering sound was in fact a covenant vehicle, a ghost. One that was aimed directly at her and closing in at top speed. Tali dove out of the way, slamming herself in the snowy ground as the hovering alien attack vehicle sped past. In the driver's seat was a grunt, one of the green armoured ones again. He turned his vehicle to take aim at the fallen quarian as she tried to get back up. He would've fired had Mordin not shot first. The plasma bolts from his newly acquired rifle struck the grunt along his shoulder. Unlike his fellow cannon fodder this grunt was better armoured of course so he barely flinched all that much, but he did turned his attention to the salarian. He opened fire on him immediately and watched the little frog rush away as the bolts chased after him.

The grunt didn't see a Japanse girl in a hood grasp onto the back of his ghost however, at least not at first. As Kasumi raised her omni-tool to strike the grunt looked up and terrified boosted the ghost forward and pulled a hard u-turn. Kasumi slipped off flying into a heap within the snow. The grunt chuckled a bit, he'd beaten the assailant. He had forgotten all about the quarian, until he heard a thud on his vehicle's front end. Tali had gotten up and she had clambered onto the ghost as it stopped. More importantly, she now had a pistol aim at the little gas sucker's head. She fired twice into the grunt's skull. As his body slipped off Tali took his place in the driver's seat.

"Okay, Samara said this was just like driving a shuttle car." She thought aloud as she took up the controls "No worries."

She swung the ghost towards downhill where she could see a krogan flanked by two elites. The krogan in question had singed armour. His shoulder was still burning in fact. It was the krogan that Jun had set ablaze when he shot the vorcha's tank, no doubt. He fired upon the ghost Tali had stolen. Tali ducked down into her seat and pushed hard on the triggers on either side of the control stick. The ghost opened up on the krogan and the elites, firing bolts after bolt into their bodies. The blasts tore what little armour the krogan had elft off and ate away at the shields of the elites. The elites tried to go for cover but Tali followed them, the first one died with his back turned as a bolt struck him between the shoulder blades. The second Tali had to swing over to. He was firing back as he ran down the slope and away from Tali. The bolt struck him between the neck and the shoulder and he fell down, smoke rising from the cauterised wound.

Tali let go of the trigger and breathed deep. That had been scary, if she had pressed the wrong button the vehicle may have boost towards them. She may have hit the Krogan but the elites would've gunned her down as she passed. Her luck was holding out so far though.

She then heard a scream from the fork in the path. She turned to see the reaver standing there, swords outstretched in anger. Both Kasumi and Mordin had opened up on it already, firing bolts into the creature, eating away at his shields. Tali decided, however, they needed to be more direct. She shoved the controls forward and the ghost boosted towards the reaver. It noticed and prepared to strike down upon the charging purple craft, but the ghost was just a bit faster. The vehicle slammed into the reaver, it stopped but the elite husk was sent flying into the air. It crashed down into the snow about four yards away.

Tali and the others followed him, all taking aim with their respective plasma weapons. The reaver began to stand up and roared aloud at them. It was now or never. Tali opened up first, the plasma coils on her ghost turning red hot after a few short seconds. Both Kasumi and Mordin had to stop as their guns overheated, but Tali was able to just keep firing. They could all smell the blue fiery smoke coming off the guns. Each bolt struck the reaver violently, Tali's eyes transfixed on the creature as the plasma cut deep into the creature. She moved the ghost forward, still firing on it, still striking the reaver with everything she had in the tiny vehicle. It kept standing despite all the punishment, but Tali refused to quit. She would not let this thing get a second wind.

At long last the reaver buckled, falling to its knees. Tali pulled alongside the downed husk and pulled out her pistol. The reaver looked up briefly, screamed furiously and Tali fired. A single bullet finally silenced the abomination. Kasumi walked up to Tali, whistling loudly.

"Nice moves girl!" she commented cheerfully "Your plan worked!"

"Few ripples though." Tali responded, keeping modest all the same

"Still, adapted well." Mordin quickly added "Reaver was helpless. Not difficult. Thanks to you."

Tali didn't have time to show her appreciation for the praise. What was left of the elites and krogan they had faced were now firing up at them from the fork. Tali turned to them as Kasumi and Mordin retreated to her side.

"Get back to the turret," she told them, her voice and gaze steadfast "reactivate it. I'll hold them back for a bit."

Tali continued firing as the two retreated back to the turret. She filled the forking path with plasma bolts aplenty, forcing the elites to keep their heads down lest they be torn apart. In the meantime, she contacted Shepard again.

"Alright Wade," she said, seemingly very calm under pressure "whatever you need. Go."

Shepard explained the situation to Tali while the others waited for her response. Shepard nodded a few times as she spoke. It was a private channel, to reduce risk of the covies figuring out their plan if they were monitoring communications. He turned to the others when she was done explaining.

"She says we could shoot down one of them, but our best bet is actually capturing one of them." Shepard explained, although it was pretty obvious "She has an idea where it could be, but she isn't sure. Either way there's a risk we could destroy it."

Kat sighed heavily.

"Was afraid of that." She said shaking her head "We'll need to lure one in then and grab it. That's not gonna be easy."

"But then we'd have our own air support." Emile noted "Win-Win as I see it."

"Question is, who's gonna try it?" Carter asked aloud

No one immediately volunteered. They all looked to each other instead, hoping someone else said something. Shepard had hijacked a banshee before, but that was spur of the moment. This was a little more frightening and there were a lot more banshees. Plus actually luring one down was gonna be a bit more difficult than catching one that just happened to be making a dive bomb at you. Grunt was one of the first to remove himself from the talent pool.

"I ain't flying, I prefer the ground." He announced

"You do realise you couldn't fit in there anyway." Miranda informed him.

Grunt just sneered at her, which was a bit more surprising than his refuse to hijack and aircraft. He hadn't seemed weight conscious before. Perhaps it was just the way Miranda had said it.

"Whoever does is gonna need a failsafe in case they miss." Shepard stated "A jetpack is the best bet for that, as well as actually getting to the banshee."

"Thane and Noble Three took the packs." Jacob reminded him "Looks like they're up."

Once more Shepard got on the radio.

"Thane, need either you or Three to do something for us."

As Shepard spoke to the drell plasma bolts sailed across the left side of the porch. Elites, spec ops accompanied by two krogan and a vorcha closed in on the bunker. They wasted no time in rushing to cover, mindful of the fact they were far too exposed where they were.

Carter took aim at one of the elites striking his shields with his DMR. The two rounds spiked the shields, but the alien simply rolled into the cover of the rock field. Carter was then forced to put his head down as a powerful flamethrower blast rocketed across the battlefield and spread across his sandbag cover. Miranda slid to his side, avoiding the flames licking above them. When they dissipated for a moment she stood up once more and threw a warp at the offending vorcha. As biotic flames licked at the alien, Jacob joined the fray. Both he and Carter fired on the pyro, rupturing both tanks on the creature's back with precision.

They didn't have time to revel in their victory. A banshee dived out of the sky and fired a green bolt straight at their position on the porch. The blast forced all three of them to dive to the deck as the explosive burst blew apart the sandbags near them. Their shields went into the red as sand cascaded over them.

"We really need to kill those damn things." Jacob groaned "They're starting to piss me off."

"Likewise." Carter added as he stood up.

Jun had counted at least six kills so far on these krogan. They were tough but they weren't invincible. He had already identified several weak spots besides the eyes. They were more vulnerable than their appearance let on. He found that out after one of his rounds missed a leg shot and travelled to the target's groin. Having four was apparently a disadvantage in one respect.

Thane hadn't been gunning for the krogan. He spent his time softening up their vorcha support units. One vorcha was behind two elites as they made their way up to Tali's position. They were being as cautious as they could. The quarian had a rapid firing assault vehicle in her possession now and was forcing the elites to keep their heads down. They kept trying to stay away from the vorcha, realising how much of a health hazard they were with those flame packs. They kept pushing the little ugly creatures away from them when they could.

But these two were paying more attention to the hijacked ghost firing on their position then the vorcha that was standing behind them waiting for a way to get into the fight proper. One shot was all it took. The shot cut clean through the tank and a jet of fire spewed out of it like a flickering serpent's tongue. The vorcha screamed when he saw it and the elites turned just moments before he exploded. They kicked the little creature away, but the damage was done. The blast erupted and one of the elites was set on fire, even his shields couldn't save him.

Then Thane got the call from Shepard, as he listened intently Jun kept up the fire on the enemy rushing up the slope from below. One shot grazed the crest of a krogan. He turned his head to him. Even behind the helmet Jun could tell the alien's blood was boiling. He pointed a grenade launcher at the sniper's nest. For the scrape he had received he would blow the Spartan away. The grenades shot out at the roof of the small building and both Thane and Jun rushed back to avoid the blast. They hit the deck as the shots slammed into their little high rise, shaking it violently.

"Halsey better be working overtime." Jun said as he stood up "We can't keep this up."

A banshee swooped down and strafed the porch with fire, his wingman followed suit just moments later. One green blast of plasma shook the porch. Another strafing string of plasma slashed into the defensive position as well, this one found a target.

"Ah fuck!" a pained, familiar cry sounded over the radio "My arm!"

It was Jack from what Thane could tell. More passes like that and it would get worse, Jun was right they couldn't keep this up, especially not with those banshees.

"Shepard has a plan to take out their air support." Thane explained "But I need you to draw in one of them for me so I can get onto it."

Jun looked a bit stunned at Thane's request.

"You want to hijack a banshee?" he asked befuddled

"No, Shepard wants me to hijack one." Thane elaborated "That makes it a bit different. He made me promise no heroics awhile back and now he's asking me to pull a few."

The drell was trying to sound confident and sure, but the Spartan could tell he wasn't exactly sure of this plan himself. Jun looked at the flight of banshees as they circled back to make another pass.

"You think you can fly one?" Jun asked concerned

"Shepard said it was like driving any shuttle craft." Thane said, looking to the banshees.

Jun just sighed and hefted his rifle to the banshees. He aimed down the scope.

"I'll hit the lead's wing. That should catch their attention." Jun stated.

"If you could avoid damaging the craft..." Thane requested

Jun feigned groaning.

"You are asking me to miss." Jun informed him "Just so you know, you owe me for that."

Jun fired two rounds and their white wafting smoky tails sailed into the sky. The bullets sailed clean past both banshees, missing them by inches. It hurt Jun's pride a bit, intentionally missing so easy a target, but the desired result was achieved. The banshees turned towards the sniper's nest. Thane aimed himself at the lead craft and prepared the jetpack for launch.

"You're gonna have to be quick to take over once the pilot's out." Jun warned

"I'll manage." Thane assured him

And with that the drell blasted off. He headed directly for the banshee like a rocket. The aircraft tried to divert to avoid him, but the drell was quicker. He latched onto the wing-like appendage of the banshee and swung himself up onto it proper.

As the lead banshee flew away, Jun was pumped a fist in the air. The little scaly xeno pulled it off, problem was there were two banshees. The wingman just behind the first banshee was still on a bombing run for the sniper's nest. Jun looked up to see the banshee closing in. He rushed towards the edge behind him as the aircraft closed in. It fired a green plasma blast that shook the entire building. The Spartan was thrown off the roof and into the rock field below. He slammed into the snow hard and rolled directly into a rock sticking out of the ground.

As he rolled himself onto his back, gun in hand, an elite looked to the right and spotted the down Spartan. He pointed his plasma rifle at Jun, but the Spartan fired his first. The elite's head rocked back as the round cut through his skull with ease. Jun scrambled to his feet as the elite's comrade nearby heard the shot and rushed through the rocks to face the Spartan.

Jun narrowly avoided the new elite's plasma bolts as he threw himself behind one of the rocks for cover. The bolts slammed against the stone, singing it black. The elite cautiously motioned around the rock to the left, hoping to catch the human off guard from his flank. Instead, the elite found his head smacked by the butt of a sniper rifle. The alien stumbled backwards a Jun pointed the barrel of the gun straight at his face and pulled the trigger.

Jun took a few rapid breaths as he stood ove3r the two dead aliens.

"Guess I made back those two shots." He thought to himself.

Thane in the meantime had clambered up to the cockpit canopy. Wind blew across his face as the banshee sped through the air. He pulled at the canopy door, opening it to reveal the elite pilot inside. He noticed the drell just seconds before a biotic throw tossed him out of the aircraft. As the elite fell to earth Thane rushed into the cockpit and took the controls.

"Well, that wasn't as hard as I feared." He said hopefully.

The banshee suddenly shook as violently. Someone was hitting him from behind, most likely the wingman whose friend he had just killed. Thane pulled back on the controls hard, forcing the craft to flip upwards into the sky. It looped over the banshee behind him and Thane lined up the crosshairs on the alien craft's tail. He clenched his hands within the controls. Shepard said that was how he fired the banshee the first time. Sure enough, plasma bolts struck out and furiously tore apart the offending banshee. It fell to earth in a burning mass of wreckage.

"Shepard, I have the banshee." Thane informed the commander over the radio "How's everyone down there?"

"Not entirely great to be honest." He admitted to the drell.

Jack squirmed angrily as Jacob moved his omni-tool over her singed arm.

"Careful, don't smudge the ink more than those fuckers already have!" she screeched at him

"You're just lucky that hit only grazed ya." Jacob told her firmly "If it had been dead center we'd be amputating this."

"I warned her, she should've worn proper armour." Emile chastised.

The ex-con was quick to spit at the skull faced Spartan.

"Fuck you." She sneered before turning back to her would be medic "Get off me Jacob I need to kill those fuckers."

"Thane already has that covered." Shepard assured "We need to focus on keeping this area secure."

It was then Jun pulled himself up onto the porch proper, narrowly avoiding some plasma bolts licking at his heels.

"Sniper nest is gone." he said aloud "Banshee zeroed me after I lured them to me and Thane. I go up there again and I'm not coming back down. Too risky."

"We can manage. We still have Garrus on the scaffolding." Carter reminded him "Bunker is priority anyway. We can stand to lose some ground as long as it's not this front door."

Zaeed, who was along the left wall firing into the rock field below them, suddenly pointed his head up to the sky. His eyesight was still as good as ever, and it caught the floating forms of phantoms carrying deadly cargo.

"Uh, mates..." he warned "we have incoming."

Carter looked up and zoomed in on the phantoms as they descended. Each of them had a wraith under their bellies. One headed left, the other over the bridge. Carter let his weapon drop to his side and he contacted Halsey.

"How much longer doctor?" he asked

"I'm halfway there, working overtime." She assured

"Work faster." He told her

The wraith was plopped down straight across the bridge, opposite to where the other wraith was originally positioned. Along with it a contingent of covenant troopers no doubt. Tali wasn't sure which ones, but she suspected they would be substantial. A second phantom passed her vision and headed down to the left path. Banshees flew on high, buzzing just off to the side of the wraiths. Tali watched it all from her seat in the ghost.

The tanks were already firing on the porch, their lobbing rounds creeping up to the bunker door with each tremendous thud. So far Shepard and the others were forced to stay scrunched inside the bunker porch. They were cornered, easy targets. One solid hit and they'd all be dead. Shepard wouldn't have any time to take down both wraiths and Tali wasn't about to let him risk his neck again.

"We need to go after the wraith across the bridge." She informed Kasumi

The thief just seemed to shrugged at the suggestion, completely unmoved by the risky task ahead.

"Well, I'll be able to cross 'blow up a tank' from my bucket list." She mused "What's the plan?"

Tali looked over to the bridge itself, not all that far away from them actually. It was packed now with covenant. The skirmishers to be precise, ones armed with little shields on their arms. They also had a few krogan with them. They had formed a solid standing line of defence. They didn't want a repeat of last time when Shepard broke though.

Luckily, they had an angel watching over them.

"Garrus," Tali contacted the turian, her tone dry and serious "I need you to clear the bridge. We're gonna make a run on the wraith."

"Kinda reckless for you Tali," Garrus told her "I'm not sure Shepard would like the idea of me letting you do that."

"I've faced Geth armatures on foot several times before Garrus." She reminded him "This tank is about the same size. I've also acquired some extra firepower."

Tali shimmed the ghost from side to side a bit, just testing out the controls in preparation for her run. Also, she wanted to make her plan clear to Garrus, just in case he was watching through the scope.

"Besides, you know I like things up close and personal." She quipped teasingly

"That you do." Garrus admitted with a laugh "Alright, I'll see what I can manage."

Garrus looked over his targets. Lacking proper cover the skirmishers had cleverly formed a crisscrossing line in front of the bridge. A few jackals were also among them, sporting shields raised on high. He could take out one, maybe two, but the others would rally and quickly protect themselves with their shields. The others would fire on his position.

He needed a way to kill the most targets in the least amount of time. As another blast from the wraith arced across the sky, Garrus followed its trail. He then saw a banshee follow the arc. When the plasma blast touch-downed near the bunker's position the banshee was quick to strafe the area with fire. Plasma struck across the porch, the section uncovered by the roof the hardest hit.

Garrus thought he saw Miranda through the scope, almost cut apart by a near miss from the plasma guns.

"Thane get on those banshees!" Shepard shouted over the radio "We need to take the pressure off us!"

Garrus followed the banshee with his scope, an idea form in his head. It was long shot, but if he planned it right he could deal with two problems at once. He switched the ammo in his gun to armour piercing and waited for the banshee to fly past him. He placed his crosshairs on the very front of the aircraft, where the pilot was. When he was near the bridge Garrus fired at the banshee. Three bullets whizzed through the canopy of the cockpit. The banshee suddenly started to pitch and roll wildly out of control. It began falling towards the bridge and the assembled covenant troopers there. One of the bullets had peeirced the plasma coil on the side of the craft. Flames were jutting out of it as it descended. The Covenant, even the Krogan, began to disperse slightly as the aircraft closed on them and then broke into a panicked run back across the bridge. It was too late though, the banshee crashed at the foot of the bridge.

The plasma coil ruptured when it struck the ground, exploding. As soon as it hit the ground the banshee was on fire. A skirmisher that was too close was consumed by the flames as they exploded out. What was left of him was crushed by the sliding hulk of metal. The burning husk of metal slid across the snow before hitting the edge of the bridge. It flipped forward into the mass of bodies, crushing two skirmishers immediately and another one the second roll. By then the flames reached the power core. The second explosion tore apart the banshee, sending debris and flames everywhere. The skirmishers were torn apart or thrown over the side of the bridge into the abyss below. One krogan was set alight, falling to his stomach. The other was thrown several feet away by the shockwave and rolled to a stop at the end of the bridge.

Tali and the others by the turret watched pretty much the whole thing from their vantage point. They took a moment to soak the impressive feat in before rushing to get to the bridge.

"Bridge is open." Garrus' voice spoke up over the radio, a small sense of satisfaction in it.

"We saw, we're moving now." Tali told him as she pushed the Ghost forward.

"Everyone of those is a kill by the way, they count." The Turian continued

"Of course they do." Tali told him, rolling her eyes as she turned towards the bridge.

Tali had somewhat missed Garrus' upbeat attitude when he landed a particularly memorable kill. In fact it was nice to hear him so upbeat and happy. She liked to think her being alive had something to do with it, that whatever problem, or 'funk' as humans, said he was in before was now gone. It was good to know the turian had his confidence back after over a month or so of him feeling so low and down. His melancholy tone from Visegrad was now completely gone. A fact further confirmed by what he said next.

"Well...say it." He teased slightly with playful little growl

"You're the best shot in the entire galaxy Garrus." Tali admitted. By now her ghost was crossing the bridge. "No one can compare."

"I love hearing that." The turian chuckled

Tali rounded the corner of the bridge and stared down the wraith just feet in front of her. She contacted Mordin and Kasumi who were already halfway across.

"Okay, just like we planned." She began, cautiously repeating the strategy "I distract him and then Kasumi will-"

Tali's planning session was cut short when an arcing plume of blue shot out of the wraith's cannon. It sailed clean over Tali's head into the sky above. She watched it, followed it's path... and knew instantly where it was headed.

"Garrus! Garrus run!" she screamed

Garrus could see the arcing plume heading towards him. He froze momentarily, the plasma heading towards him as clear as day. He couldn't move, almost paralyzed with fear. Then, Tali's voice shouted into his ear, telling him to run. He listened.

He rushed off the scaffolding as fast as he could, the plasma bearing down upon him. He reached the end of the scaffolding when the blast struck it. The shockwave shook the platform violently and Garrus flipped right over the side into the snow below. Pieces of the burning scaffolding littered the ground just a few feet away from him. He was conscious, but dazed.

At this rate the other half of his face was gonna get burned clean off.

Tali's first thought was to rush back and try to help her downed friend, see if he was okay, if he had survived. It took a moment for her to recognize that she had seen the turian fall to the snow, the blast hadn't hit him. The scaffolding platform getting torn apart had simply thrown him to the ground.

If she really wanted to help Garrus and everyone else now she needed to stay on task. She looked back to the wraith, a fire in her eyes. The elite plasma gunner in his seat stared back at her with a cold icy stare.

When she saw the elite's face, things just seemed to slow down, her mind processing everything that had happened and what she was looking at.

His face, his expression, the bosh'tet didn't care. He didn't care that he had almost killed her friend. That he was trying to kill her friends, her boyfriend, the humans, this planet, he didn't care! He hadn't fired that shot, but he was on that tank, pointing that plasma machine gun at her. He was gonna try and kill her now! And all Tali saw was a blank, emotionless face looking back.

She was nothing to him, just a target, just a piece of meat, just something else to kill.

In that moment, Tali'Zorah knew true rage. Her blood boiling over she fired first, before he could. Her ghost strafed the wraith as is slid sideways across the ground. The gunner tried to fire on her, but Tali easily ran circles around the gunner and his tank.

However, he wasn't the only one taking aim at her. Darting from behind the tank, several skirmishers, waiting in reserve rushed at Tali's ghost, firing all the way. The quarian turned her sights onto the ugly little birds. Their little arm shields blocked the plasma from striking them, but the quarian didn't let up. She kept firing. Eventually a bolt or two got through and that was all it took to break their defences. Still, she was now unable to keep pressure on the wraith. The tank's commander now charged up the cannon again for a more close range shot. Even with the skirmishers close to her, the elite inside was prepared to kill them to destroy Tali.

And indeed he would've done it, save for a minor interruption from above. One of the banshees guarding the airspace above the wraith suddenly erupted in flames. The wraith's commander detected the destruction of its support on their scope. Turning towards the now falling banshee, its burning form collapsing to earth, he saw another banshee speed past the smoke left in its wake. It launched a green plasma blast that flew down and struck the side of the wraith. The banshee pulled out of its dive bomb and up into the sky once more. The remaining banshee it hadn't shot down followed.

"I'll need to shake this one before I can offer any more assistance Tali." Thane's voice spoke over the comm. "Best use the time you have."

"Thanks Thane, I will." She replied

Tali didn't waste the opportunity. She circled around and got a clear shot of the backside of the wraith. As she peppered the most vulnerable part of the tank and the vehicle kept trying to follow her and regain the initiative. The gunner kept his eyes glued on Tali throughout, or at least where he knew she was. He needed to be ready for when the quarian gave him a clear shot. Then a terrible shock erupted through his body.

Kasumi had gotten next to the tank, as close as she could, and let and overload attack deplete the gunner's shields. As he turned to face the hooded thief, his gun aimed to cut her down, he was struck once again from the back. Hiding along the side of the bridge, Mordin had let a cryo-bast strike the elite from behind. The flash frozen covie was now open to attack.

"16.5 seconds before thaw!" Mordin warned over the radio "Move!"

Kasumi already was, she leapt up to the gunner's seat and slashed her omni-blade across the alien's neck. The head tumbled of the body and the rest of the icy torso fell apart. Kasumi now armed a plasma grenade she had taken from the elite who had so generously donated his plasma rifle to her. She tossed it into the open cavity of the wraith's main cannon. She jumped off the tank just moments before it detonated, blowing the gun clean off the vehicle, detonating the plasma cells and tearing the wraith apart.

Tali stopped her ghost just beside the thief and got out. She marvelled at their handiwork.

"One down," Kasumi observed "that should take some pressure off the team."

"Most likely dealing with second wraith now." Mordin observed "Hopefully do not require help."

"Yeah, they're closer anywhere." Tali admitted, although she didn't like the idea of leaving a job for others to finish. But she did have other responsibilities. "I'll contact Thane. He can land the banshee here and then we can put a stop to that jamming signal of theirs."

At that moment, screaming out of the sky like a comet, a burning banshee slammed into the wall of the cavern several feet high. The banshee that shot it down began to fly down towards Tali and the others.

"Sorry about the delay." Thane said over the radio as he began to land "Last one was seriously hard to get behind. Not bad though, all things considered. This craft handles a lot better than a standard gunship and I haven't flown one of those in years."

"You were a pilot?" Kasumi asked inquisitively

"No, it was for a job. I had to infiltrate a high rise and take down a turian who had ordered the murder of high-ranking official within the Hanar government." Thane explained "Needed to learn how to fly a gunship fast."

"I don't mean to be rude Thane," Tali interrupted "but Shepard and the others need clear skies now. Can you tell us about this later?"

"Of course, apologies."

The drell moved in for a proper landing. Tali already had her omni-tool ready.

The rocket launcher rattled against his back with every striding step. It wasn't easy sprinting across the snowy terrain, loss of traction was always a threat. Add the weight from the explosive projectile shooter on his back and it was amazing Six hadn't stumbled once on this icy slope. Breaking off from the initial attack on the porch wasn't easy. Everyone had to concentrate on the elites in the rocks, force them to keep in cover while both Six and Legion made a break for the path. They needed to deal with the wraith now, before it made life even more difficult than it already was. Yes, the line was holding now, but it only be a matter of time before the Covenant managed to step foot on the porch. The fewer wraiths they had to deal with the more time they'd hopefully have before that happened.

It wouldn't be easy though. Six could already see the banshees circling on high, ready to dive at a moment's sign of the tank below coming under threat. They would need a way to get close. At this range the rocket could be easily dodged. That and if the wraith had a shield the best shot they had at killing it quickly was a rocket or two to its back or side. That or they found a way to take out the shield itself.

"How you wanna play this Legion?" Six asked the machine as the bent down behind the rocky wall close to the wraith's position.

The synthetic quickly scanned the entire area, its head swivelling back and forth between all potential targets, calculating potential probabilities for success, everything. It formed a strategy.

"The best possible outcome requires us to disable the forward gunner first." Legion explained "Our weapon retains the best probability of achieving that goal."

Six could only nod, grinning behind his visor at the brilliance.

"I get it, remove the plasma gun from equation, draw the wraith to you and I get around to the back or side to stick a rocket up his ass." Six reasoned "Good idea Legion."

"The strategy's success would increase exponentially if you retained a technological advantage." Legion informed the Spartan as he reached behind his back.

The geth soon pulled out the armour upgrade that had been plugged into its systems, the cloak. His hand outstretched he offered it to Six. The Spartan looked it over as he took it.

"Yeah, less chance of them figuring out what's going down if they can't see me." He reasoned "Thanks, Legion. I'll make sure you get it back."

"We had no intention to ask." Legion responded "You gave us the upgrade to assist us. We return it to you in order to assist in kind. However, we understand the concept of returning what is 'borrowed' among organics is socially acceptable and we appreciate your intent to do so."

Six couldn't help but laugh under his throat.

"Do you ever take breath?" he asked, quickly putting up his hand to stop Legion's expected response "Yeah, stupid question, I know. I'll wait for your go then, see ya in a few."

With that, Six attached the cloak to his armour and vanished. His shimmering form, all that one could make out, rushed across the ice and snow to the ledge on the other end of the path. Legion in the meantime took aim at the target. The gunner was still unaware, unflinching as yet another arcing blue plume travelled to its designated target. Unsuspecting of anything being wrong yet still keep his eyes peeled on the horizon ahead.

The elite would feel nothing as Legion's round cut through to the back of the alien's head. It went straight through the shields, knocking them out as the bullet ploughed through. The round severed connection of the brain to the body, painless.

As the elite slumped forward the wraith turned to Legion's position. The geth didn't waste time and jumping up and rushing away. Especially when its sensors had picked up significant heat build up in the cannon. As predicted the weapon fired again and arced straight to Legion's previous position. The synthetic rose up his hand as the blast cascaded down, it let an overload pulse strike the tank. Indeed the vehicle had shields and they too buckled slightly under the electrical pulse.

Legion's attack had also caught the attention of the banshees overhead. They began to dive at the machine. Legion looked up and quickly placed their crosshairs on the closest banshee as it began trailing shots up to the machine. The geth fired once, clipping the side of the aircraft and forcing to veer away, smoke trailing for its side.

The wraith moved forward, closing the distance between it and Legion. The tank charged up another shot to take the geth out, but he was interrupted. Six appeared along the left side of wraith and fired two successive shots near the rear end of the vehicle. The wraith's backside exploded violently, the cannon coming clean off. The vehicle stopped hovering and slammed into the ground. Rear first, front second.

Six trudged out of the smoke towards Legion and contacted the team at the porch.

"That's all she wrote for our wraith, any word on the banshees?" he asked as he looked at the skies.

He could see the two alien craft circling back for another go and Legion and himself. The signal jammer would be able to mess up the banshee's targeting as well if Six tried to lock-on to the banshee, but they stuck out like a thumb on this open terrain. Both he and Legion began to move back.

As soon as Thane landed and hopped out of the banshee Tali got to work. Her omni-tool waved over every inch of the aircraft, scanning the vehicle in its entirety.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Kasumi asked her

"Halsey showed me some preliminary detailed diagrams of captured banshees the UNSC had examined." Tali explained "She figured maybe I could use the information. I uploaded the specs into a scanning program. Right now I'm checking the entire vehicle for any discrepancies, something doesn't belong."

Suddenly, the omni-tool beeped wildly, a red light flashing on its center.

"There!" she said anxiously, pointing in between the plasma guns on the craft "Pull off the panel under there!"

Kasumi rushed in under the ship and pried off the purple panel, exposing the complex circuitry within. Tali was soon by her side. She reached up into the opening with both hands and heaved back. Out popped a small black box with bluish lights. It was attached to the vehicle with some kind cable. She dragged the box out into the open and ran her omni-tool over it.

"This is it, this is the scrambler." She told everyone, her voice rushed and fervent. "It's still functioning and it's transmitting. Currently reads all clear, no lock-ons. I'm connecting to it now, should take me ten seconds to patch into the signal."

Tali's eyes darted over the constant stream of data on her omni-tool, her body hunched over the box all the while. For a species with only three fingers per hand the appendages were moving like lighting over the holographic keyboard. Finally a green glowing light shone bright on the side of the omni-tool.

"Got it! I've jacked into their system!" She declared jubilantly.

"It is always so awesome watching you work, my hacker sister." Kasumi smiled at the quarian

Tali just giggled a little.

"Now you can watch me shut them down." She quickly added, a bit of a foreboding tone in her voice "Uploading system spike. Execute."

Tali jabbed her forefinger onto a single button.

Above the cavern below, on the surface of the ice shelf, an elite lieutenant watched over his console diligently. He was monitoring the status of several banshees at once. A number of the screens had gone dark, signifying the brave pilots within were no longer with them, but plenty more remained active. It seemed things were going good. Then the entire console began to smoke. Before the elite could fathom what was happening the entire terminal exploded. The alien was thrown several feet away, clean out of his seat. He slammed into a weapons locker, several rifles falling on him.

His comrades rushed over to him.

"What happened?" one of them asked

The elite looked over at the now burnt out husk of a monitor in front of them.

"Something went wrong!" he shouted as they stood him up "The entire jamming array has been spiked! Our banshees can no longer scramble the enemy's targeting systems!"

Tali instantly informed Shepard of their success and he quickly raised his rocket launcher into the sky. He found one of the banshees approaching their position. He got lock and stayed locked. He fired the rocket at once and it flew out of the tube straight at the offending aircraft. The banshee didn't turn at firs,t maybe because the pilot was surprised they'd risk shooting a rocket that wouldn't hit. The aircraft finally turned, but it wasn't enough. The rocket followed and slammed into the banshee's side. It was destroyed in an instant. As the twisted mass of metal fell back to earth Shepard reported the good news to everyone.

"Grab a rocket and fire away people! Banshees are free game! Scrambler is offline!"

In an instant the rocket launchers left on the wall just flew off. Anyone that could grab one did so. Grunt was one of the first. He practically ripped the thing off the wall and took at one of the banshees as made a strafing pass. He fired a shot once he got a lock and the rocket fell in line just behind the banshee before it slammed into the aircraft's tail. The alien craft plummeted out of the sky to the wild jubilation of Grunt.

"Right up your ass pyjak!" He laughed bellowing.

Six got Shepard's message and took aim at his own pursuing pair of banshees. He locked onto one as he reached the crest of the hill. It was already firing on him when the klaxon siren rang signalling the lock-on had been achieved. He fired the rocket and it flew towards the banshee. Craft pivoted and turned away but the projectile struck it in the side. It careened out of the sky, crashing in rocky passes below. The second banshee veered away but Six locked-on to it as well. Another rocket flew out and struck the banshee in its side, blowing off its left appendage. The banshee spun out of the sky in a blazing spiral and descended into the abyss that surrounded the relic proper.

"Bout time we evened the playing field." He told Legion.

The machine, however, was too busy watching another portion of the sky. The geth tapped on six's shoulder and pointed towards a phantom flying towards the right entrance path. The grunt gunners on both sides peppered the ground with plasma fire as they closed in on their designated landing zone. One of them fired upon the turret that occupied the left path. It and the main gun of the phantom eventually forced the turret back into its little hideaway for repairs. The way was open for the occupants to storm the porch and bunker door.

"Me and my big mouth." Six grumbled "Come on Legion, let's get back up there."

The phantom dropped its passengers off at the landing zone and quickly took off. Everyone had more or less moved into open field proper. They'd been bunched up on the porch long enough, time to stretch their legs. Barrelling down the path came three elites and a handful grunts. It was weird, they expected more. Perhaps they were on the last legs of their assault. Sadly for them, even with the turret down, they had no cover to duck into protect them.

Jun landed the first shot, taking out two grunts with a well placed round. Zaeed, who was close beside him taking cover behind one of the metal slabs sticking out of the ground fired next. His disruptor rounds cut through the shields of one elite as he leaped down onto the ground below from a ledge that stuck up out of the path. He slumped against the wall and his fellow covenant comrades pushed on.

Kat and Carter tossed plasma grenades into the advancing group, catching one elite on his chest. The other grenade only landed in the midst of some grunts, but both did their job. Three gas suckers and one covenant officer were blown to bits.

The final group of grunts met a shockwave from Shepard launched as they closed in on the porch. Shepard stood out from cover and biotically charged into his final target. All the elite saw was a blue blur before he was catapulted into the sky and rendered asunder by a shotgun blast at point blank range. Shepard reloaded as he surveyed the carnage.

"That was way too easy." He stated

And Shepard was right, for moments later a loud, ravenous roar sounded across the icy cavern. Shepard looked up to the ledge on the right path. Standing atop it was a Reaver, swords outstretched and ready. The blade-wielding husk rushed down towards Shepard and slashed forward. The commander rolled to the side as the concentrated sabre of plasma soared over his head. From a kneeling position he fired his shotgun at the undead beast. Unloading round after round into the creature's advanced shields. As he backed away from the elite husk he turned to Grunt who was still on the porch armed with his rocket launcher.

"Shoot him! Now!" he ordered the krogan

Grunt obliged and fired. Shepard rolled out of the way once more as the rocket sailed past him towards the husk.. The Reaver stood unflinching. It stepped sideways and slashed upwards and to the right. The rocket separated from the warhead and while the explosive charge continued on its way to crash into the snow the rocket itself flew up into the sky above. The warhead detonated several feet away from the reaver he stood unmarred by the attack.

"Well shit." Shepard stated nervously

As the Reaver turned back to its chosen prey a strike it was hit by burning terrible sensation. Samara had let loose a reave attack on the Reaver. It was somewhat poetic in a sense, at least to Samara. As Kat and Carter joined with the justicar in firing on it with their assault rifles the former elite let the biotic flames and induced pain subside. When they did it rushed the justicar. Its swords crossed, it blocked the incoming bullets being flung at it and then slashed both swords in a crossing pattern at Samara. The asari ducked down and rolled backwards to avoid the attack. It slashed at her once more, barely missing her. Another slash went for Samara's head, forcing her to duck again. This time when she came up she delivered a powerful biotic uppercut to the reaver's face. As the monster stumbled backward the justicar twirled and let loose a biotic throw powerful enough to send the reaper puppet hurtling across the snowy wastes.

The reaver stabbed it's swords into the ground when it neared its landing, scraping them across the terrain in an attempt to slow itself. It raised its disfigured face to its new enemy and rushed at the asari once more. As it did though, several armour piercing rounds slammed into the husk. Garrus had pulled himself out of the snow, readied his assault rifle and had begun firing on the Reaver himself. The beast changed tactics and moved to face the turian. But instead a bald angry convict stepped into his way from behind her cover.

"I am so gonna fuck you up ugly!" Jack promised as she readied her arm.

With a single violent raising of her arm Jack sent a rippling shockwave that stumbled the elite husk out of his run. The Reaver steadied himself only to have a shotgun round pumped into his torso. Emile slowly advanced on the Reaver, blasting round after round into its deformed body. The Reaver moved his plasma swords to block the buckshot slung his way and burst forward to kick the Spartan to the ground. The Reaver slammed its foot onto Emile's chest and raised his sword to strike the killing blow. But Emile was quicker with a blade. He pulled his kukri knife out and stabbed it into the beast's leg. The stepped back from the Spartan and pulled the knife out of his leg in a rage. That was when Shepard struck, charging into the creature's back and sending him toppling to the ground.

The Reaver was now bent over on its knees, trying to right itself. Miranda and Samara stepped up to the form and finished the monster off. Miranda lifted the beast into a readied slam attack and then Samara pulled at the beast as well. The biotic detonate tore the Reaver asunder, it's pieces vanishing in a gooey biotic mess.

Emile walked over to pick up his knife from the ground.

"We almost done yet?" he asked, slightly annoyed

"We just got hold out a little longer," Shepard assured him "Halsey can't have much further to go with that package."

The combined assault failed, but it didn't matter. By now Shepard and his allies were no doubt exhausted, ready to give in. They just needed a final push to cause them to tumble. And Kreave had that final push, a biotic one.

Many Blood Pack leaders had dismissed the use of biotics, dismissed the power they held. Kreave did not. Krogan vanguards were some of the most powerful warriors in their entire species. He had made it a point to recruit these vanguards into his unit. Krogan battlemasters with no equal, save perhaps for Shepard.

He walked among the three he had with him. He could practically feel their power just being in their presence. For so long now Shepard had the luxury of not having to face the regular powerful biotic juggernauts of their universe. Now it was time to change that.

Clad in their special armour, that had protruding horn like appendage on the head and slender slits for a visor, the krogan battlemasters stood tall for their leader. Kreave dressed them down as he walked in front of them.

"You are my best, there is no mistaking that." He told them clearly "You will break the enemy's resolve. Crush under the might of the korgan. But remember, Shepard is mine. Bring him to me, the rest are yours."

The krogan battlemasters silently nodded and headed towards their transports. Kreave just grinned. This time, there would be no mistakes.

Tali and the others returned to turret near the bridge. Thane in the meantime had took off again in the banshee to patrol the skies. He was a bit jerky with take-off though, the aircraft shook quite a bit as it rose up. Thane was still trying to figure out the hovering controls from the looks of it. Tali in the meantime had more or less figured out her new vehicle. She wasn't an expert with it, but the ghost was solid and stayed in a straight line from now on.

As they arrived at the turret Halsey sent out a wideband message.

"I'm almost done team," she stated "I just need a few more minutes."

"No problem, we're doing great." Kasumi said optimistically. "Few close shaves sure, but we've managed to hold out this long right?"

"I'd still prefer it if we were out of here sooner rather than later." Tali told her

Tali felt a bit guilty in fact, she hadn't been on her feet nearly as long as the others thanks to this ghost. At least it wouldn't be much longer. One final group of covenant at most and they'd be home free. At least that was what her initial hope was. She barely flinched when Thane sounded the alarm about an approaching Phantom towards their position just moments later. Why raise a fuss about their luck now? She had chosen to be on the front lines. She positioned herself to greet the enemy. She fully expected Covenant, instead she got something else.

As the phantom settled down near the ground its doors opened wide. Three red and white clad armoured beings flung themselves out of the transport and landed with a tremendous thud. Biotic shockwaves rippled out in front of them a bit as their towering mountainous forms rose up. There was no mistake these things for anything other than krogan. They were the worst kind of krogan in fact, one with biotics.

"Battlemasters." Tali squeaked out, shocked that the blood pack even had any krogan biotics among their numbers. She had always thought the crimson mercenaries relied on pure brute strength. Apparently Kreave hadn't been so quick to pass up potential.

Tali had feared the prospect of fighting a biotically inclined krogan ever since she met Wrex all those years ago. The idea of fighting the powerful lizard brought terrible images to her mind. Partly because she sorta considered Wrex a friend and hated the idea of killing him, but mostly it was because she saw what his biotics could do. It was why she endeavoured to constantly and consistently remain on his good side during their tenor on the first Normandy.

Now she was facing down three krogan with biotics. The terrifying prospect had turned into a living nightmare. She knew there were strategies, tactics to use against biotics of any power level. She had learned a number of them before setting out on her pilgrimage. But right now she was more concerned with warning Shepard.

"Wade," she spoke into the radio "we got krogan vanguards on the bridge."

The lumbering reptiles were already plodding off the steel span over the abyss. Their feet crunched snow and icy beneath them as they trudged along the path. In their arms they lofted heavy plasma weapons, fuel rod guns to be precise. On their backs was a secondary, a concussion rifle. Krogan biotic warriors armed with covenant heavy guns, a deadly combination.

"Alright Tali, don't worry." Shepard told her coolly "Just keep an eye on them for now, let the turrets whittle them down a bit."

As Shepard told her this one of the turrets indeed opened up on the group of krogan. The bullets chattered away out of the barrel, but the rounds just seemed to bounce off their barriers. One of the krogan slowly raised his fuel rod cannon to the turret and fired four whole green blasts dead center into it. The turret quickly closed up for repairs. It was clear to Tali that the turrets weren't gonna work against these guys.

"Shepard, you may want to consider sending a few people up here." She warned the commander

"I'll make sure a forward assault team is..."

Shepard's sudden pause worried Tali. That always meant trouble. She didn't even have to ask what it was, Shepard filled her in.

"Another Phantom, closing fast." He stated, seeming very concerned "Looks like they're dropping a payload right on our front door. Tali, I'm not sure I'll be able to send someone to help you. Pull back to us instead, we can regroup and figure out how to deal with these battlemasters."

Tali was normally very stubborn when it came to abandoning a post, but Shepard was right. She needed time to think something up for these guys. However, before she could move to leave one of the Krogan looked over to her from across the snow. Tali couldn't see his eyes, but she could feel them. He began slowly marching towards her and her little group of three. In his arms he lugged a concussion rifle.

"Shoot and fall back." Tali managed to squeak out to the others.

They began firing all they had on the lone krogan. As he approached a powerful barrier formed around him, their shots, even the plasma from the ghost, just seemed to either get absorbed or bounce off the krogan's protective layer of energy. Tali could tell they were doing damage, but it just didn't seem to be enough.

Then the real scary part came.

The phantom hadn't left it, was dropping off more cargo. A single metal ox was tossed to the ground, its lid opening wide as it hit. Charging out of the box were a number of ravenous little husks of former grunts, gremlins. Their packs full of plasma and methane tubes they rushed forward across the bridge. They ignored the krogan and made a beeline to targets of greater opportunity. There swarms of them. Worse still, some came towards Tali's team.

They shifted fire away from the krogan now, the explosive little monsters now charging at them were a greater concern. The turret joined in the firefight. It was more than a match for the pack of suicidal undead beasts. Tali's ghost did the most damage however, easily cutting down the gremlins as they rushed forward.

The krogan didn't seem to appreciate the stalemate, however, and came up with a plan to break it. He grabbed one of the gremlins as it scurried past. The little monster screeched and bellowed aloud, clawing at the air. The krogan suddenly lofted the gremlin slightly higher and then biotically pushed the living bomb forward. Like a tumbling rocket the gremlin soared at Tali and the others. They all bolted away as fast as they could as the little screaming monster hurtled at them. They quickly abandoned the turret as the gremlin fell to back to earth.

Even as the first one was falling, the krogan picked up another gremlin and threw it as well. The first gremlin the turret locked onto and fired a burst of rounds. That gremlin exploded just inches above the turret. The emplacement wasn't fast enough to take out the second. The explosion tore into the turret and with an added blast from the concussion rifle it was forced to take refugee inside its stump like hollow.

Tali, Kasumi and Mordin had just barely escaped, the blast throwing the latter two to the ground as the rushed down the slope and shaking Tali's ghost almost to the point it tipped over. Tali looked back to see the krogan's gaze returned to her and the monster now continued to walk after them, gremlins following just ahead of him.

"Fall back!" Tali ordered as she fired the ghost's guns on the swarming gremlins "Fall back to the bunker!"

They had landed just outside. They were so close they were practically breathing down their necks. The Covenant obviously didn't care that the landing zone was hot. It didn't matter though, for they had sent their heavy troops in anyway. Elite Ultras and grunts armed with fuel rod guns now scrambled across the snow terrain just in front of the bunker door and the defenders had been forced to into close quarters combat now.

The grunts were actually hanging back for one, firing their fuel rod weapons. There was something both intimidating but bizarre with the little gas suckers using weapons that were almost bigger then they themselves were. It looked silly, but it showed that they weren't to be underestimated. No one, not even Garrus, could get a good bead on them. Not because they were hard to spot, but because they didn't stop firing. A barrage of green plasma kept bombarding the porch. Everyone was forced to seek shelter.

The Elites had gotten closer, practically on the ramp up to the bunker. The only thing stopping them was Jacob who had taken up a machine gun turret situated on the porch. It was their last real line of defence and it was getting a workout. The Elite Ultras refused to make themselves easy shots. They were either darting back towards the rocks or ducking behind the metal slab coverings in front of the door. Jacob opened fire on one and he quickly rolled back into cover before any real damage could be done.

It was starting to seriously get on Shepard's nerves. He kinda wished had brought the Cain right about now, especially with krogan battlemasters on their way. They needed to get this situation under control before they arrived. He turned to Carter.

"We need to take their big guns away." He told the Spartan.

"Agreed." Carter replied as he fired on an Ultra to keep his head down "We have them focused on the door for the most part. We can circle around and take the grunts from the side."

Carter motioned Six over to him, calling him away from Legion. The Geth had released a drone into the battlefield, hoping it could get past the Covenant to their rear. The Spartan lieutenant rushed over, his body hunched forward as he ran. Plasma sailed over him as he slid towards Carter and Shepard.

"We're gonna jump down to the rock field and move out from it, catch the grunts off guards." Carter told him

"Lead the way sirs." Six complied.

The three rushed across the porch and jumped down into the rock field to the left, plasma striking their shields or sailing past them all the while. Thankfully, by this time Legion's drone had gotten into the ranks of the elites and was methodically blasting at them, draining their shields. The action kept the Ultras at bay. However the Ultras were wary of the drone and were keeping their distance from it best they could. A few precise hits from a plasma repeater caused the drone to detonate, however the elites had killed it from a distance this time. None died in the explosion.

The action had at least not been in vain. Now Shepard and the two Spartans had a chance to kill the heavy grunts pinning their forces down. The little aliens were exposed from this angle, their position further up along the clearing in clear sight. They could see about five of the little gas suckers scurrying about the terrain, rushing into position, trying to find a good spot to shoot from before darting away as fast as they could waddle. As they looked on, one off their attacks struck close to Miranda and Samara who had to duck behind the weapons lockers that lined the edge of the porch to avoid the shot. The explosive mixture of gelatine travelled past them and struck the back wall. Next time they would be so lucky. This had to end now.

"I'll fire on the guy in the center first." Carter told Shepard "They're usually the ones in charge. Meanwhile you and Six can rush in and finish them off."

"Good idea," Shepard agreed, glowing with biotic energy. "I'll move on your shot."

Carter had already figured out what Shepard was about to do. He liked it already. It meant the grunts had less time to react. So Carter took aim with the DMR and fired three rounds in quick succession. The bullets struck deep into the alien's flesh, blood spurting from its neck where one the shots hit.

Before the grunt even fell to the ground, Shepard had already thrusted himself forward with a biotic charge. The attack slammed into another of the grunts, sending him toppling into the air with several fractures to his tiny little body. Shepard quickly fired a spread of his shotgun into another of the grunts just a few feet away. As he shifted to attack a third of the little waddling creatures it turned to face him firing his fuel rod cannon. Shepard rolled to the side and away from the attack, the burning gel nearly singing his skin. The only missed him by mere inches as it sailed by. He could feel the heat radiating from it as his roll ended.

Six had by now closed the distance between him and Shepard. Firing his assault rifle like mad, he filled the offending grunt with holes. It still took a half a clip to properly kill him. That armour the little guy was wearing was certainly a lot tougher than the standard stuff his comrades wore. He then shifted his focus to the final grunt among the pack, switching to his pistol sidearm in mid run. He fired off three quick shots. Two missed, but one found its mark dead center in the grunt forehead.

With that the threat of the heavy grunts had ended, but it was soon replaced. When the final grunt fell a far taller and more threatening creature replaced him. A blue blur jumped up the path swatted itself into Six. The Spartan was smacked against the metal slab the grunts had previously been using for cover. Six's vision came into focus after the hit and he saw the towering figure of a krogan battlemaster standing before him armed with a concussion rifle.

Not willing to take two hits to the chest so soon, Six rolled out of the way as the shot from the rifle struck the metal behind him. The krogan followed the rolling Spartan only to have his barriers peppered by shotgun buckshot from Shepard's position. The krogan swatted his hand towards the commander and Shepard was suddenly thrown back several feet, sliding across the snow.

"Ugh," he thought "I remember this."

He hadn't fought a proper biotic in a long time. He had started to forget what it was like to actually face one. Carter had never faced one either, but that didn't stop him from trying to rush to the rescue. He charged up to Six's side firing at the krogan with his fellow team mate. The bullets just seemed to do nothing against the barriers. The towering lizard swished his hand at them, sending a shockwave across the snow. The two Spartans were tossed away, Carter to the side and Six further down the slope.

Shepard got to his feet and fired on the krogan as he moved back. His submachine gun rapid fire had proven effective against barrier before. Especially since his gun tore through the barriers of two presidents under a different owner, but while the locust was effective it apparently wasn't enough. Shepard could only assume these Krogans had tougher implants or upgrades that made their powers a bit more potent. That would make beating them require a bit of forethought. Shepard would have no time to think, for the krogan's friend suddenly made his move. A second battlemaster charged into the battle as a blur of blue. He rammed his head into Shepard's abdomen. A biotic head butt, yeah these guys were krogan through and through. Of course Shepard's only thought when he eventually stopped rolling across the icy ground was 'oh so that's how it feels.'

Shepard was helped to his feet by Carter, placing the Normandy commander's arm over his shoulder. They moved back towards the porch. Garrus, who had watched the whole thing, provided cover fire for their retreat. His incisor seemed a bit more effective against the krogan biotic's barriers, but the giant lizard pinpointed the sniper's position with ease. He threw surging ball of energy as the turian sending him hurtling back against the wall. He groaned angrily as Miranda rushed over to help him up.

"Bastard's got a real nasty left hook." He quipped as he held his shoulder. He seriously hoped he hadn't broken it or something. Hopefully he just cracked a plate a bit.

The krogan tried to turn to face Shepard once more, but was once against distracted from his task. A green blast struck the ground near him, devastating his barriers. More plasma lurched out of the sky the strike at him. Thane's banshee had flown in to confront the two krogan. Truthfully it was probably their only advantage right now. Thane wasn't the best flier though. He should've pulled up about now, but instead he maintained a steady and straight dive on the target. It gave the krogan plenty of time to ready the fuel rod gun and fire a shot up into the aircraft. Thane wasn't inexperienced enough to not realise the danger, no one was. He pulled back and away from the plasma blast, but it struck the banshee along its left wing appendage. The aircraft rocked wildly, red lights flashed across the dashboard, the banshee was losing altitude.

Thane knew when to cut his losses, so he prepared to make his jump out of the falling craft. Before he did though he aimed it at one of the krogan battlemasters, maybe the crashing vehicle would crush him.

Thane waited until he was close enough and then popped the canopy. He leapt from the doomed aircraft and rolled across the ground. He stopped stomach down in the snow and brought himself to his knees. His banshee did not have so graceful a landing. The krogan took one look at the falling purple aircraft and shoved both his arms upward and across from him. A large wave of biotic energy slammed into the side of the falling ship and sent it hurtling onto the central path. It crashed down just feet away from the krogan, flames rising up from the wreckage. The krogan had already renewed its stride towards the bunker. Intending to finish what he and his friend had started.

The onrush of gremlins finally slowed as the plasma shots from Tali's ghost. Forced through the tiny gap in the rocks their devastating numbers counted for nothing. One explosion was enough to set off a chain reaction that killed even more. Still, the guns of the covenant vehicle were still glowing red hot by the time they were done and Tali knew that these little creatures were nothing compared to the rapidly approaching krogan and his biotics.

"This sucks," Kasumi complained "kinda wish we had a concussion shot capability or something. That would probably hurt the bastard's barriers quite a bit."

"Krogan battlemaster's power levels exceedingly potent." Mordin said, stating his observations "Most likely using high functioning biotic implant. Highly unusually for Krogan to invest that highly in biotic powers. Then again, highly unusual for vanguard krogan to be enlisted by Blood Pack."

Tali ventured a guess as to why. If Kreave was anything like Shepard described him after he first met the Krogan then he greatly admired her Commander's powers. He was a Shepard fanboy and Shepard was a powerful biotic. Kreave had no biotics himself obviously, but he doubtlessly wanted to emulate his 'hero', for lack of a better word to call however Keave saw Shepard. So he no doubt found powerful Krogan biotics, the best he could dig up and then gave them top of the line implants to boost their abilities. How much it must've cost him she could only hazard a guess. The ultimate point was that they were here and they needed to stop them. Figuring out how or why Kreave was going against the typical recruitment roster for blood pack mercs wasn't gonna help with that.

"We need to bring those barriers down somehow." Tali informed both Kasumi and Mordin "We'll never get through them just blasting at it, at least not in time anyway."

"Well doesn't your energy drain work on barriers too?" Kasumi asked

Her friend was right, Tali knew properly upgraded the energy drain could work on barriers and shields. The problem was she honestly didn't think it would help.

"Those barriers are strong enough to shrug off rounds from your locust Kasumi." Tali reminded her "I have a feeling I'll get half of them down with one hit. We need to get all of them down at once, and maybe injure the bosh'tet if we can."

"Based on probable power potency," Mordin began stoically "objective requires tremendous concussive force. Lack of sufficient firepower makes that plan... problematic."

She knew he was right. They'd need some explosives and a lot of them. Then the quarian remembered something. Tali looked to the dead elites, still on the path from their previous encounter. She eyed their ammo belts and saw the little blue orbs attached to them or laying beside their bodies.

"I think I have a way around that." She said as she went over the plan in her head slowly and methodically "Quickly, gather all the plasma grenades you can find."

The krogan stomped into the open at last. He surveyed the area slowly and methodically. The turret just across from him opened up on him a few seconds after his arrival. He quickly pulled out his fuel rod cannon as the bullets peppered his barriers. He fired three successive shots at the emplacement. He also flung a warp attack at the thing, just for good measure. It quickly closed up, the damage too great for it to sustain. Now he just needed to find that Quarian, Salarian and Human that got away from him back there.

"Hey bosh'tet!"

He looked to see the Quarian on his left, just a little further down the slope. She was in that ghost she had no doubt hijacked and at first he thought she was going to open up on him, but she seemed to refrain.

"Block this!"

The ghost flew across the ground towards him at ramming speed. The krogan battlemaster barely even flinched at the onrushing vehicle. Why bother even wasting a round from the fuel rod gun on this? He'd just turn it to scrap with a simple biotic punch. How pathetic and stupid was this quarian? A suicide run on him, what would that accomplish?

But the biotic krogan had made a grave error in judging the quarian. As she neared her target, Tali leaped from the driver seat and rolled to the ground. The ghost kept going, into the waiting fist of the krogan it was directed at. As the ghost neared though he saw the little blue spheres covering the vehicle and noticed a blue glow emanating from the driver's seat.

Tali was thankful that both Mordin and Kasumi's omni-tools had adhesive fabrication kits installed on them. It was a very useful tool to have in more than just coolant system maintenance, like sticking plasma grenades to the front end of a Covenant rapid assault vehicle, for one. Tali looked to the Ghost as it collided with the krogan's biotically charged fist. She saw the grenade she had stuck to the vehicle's console explode in that very instant. Just like the gremlins, the close proximity of combined explosion of the grenade and the ghost detonated the other plasma grenade stuck to the vehicle. The giant blue blast that followed suit completely obscured the krogan from vision. It looked as if the fire had consumed him.

Both Kasumi and Mordin moved into the field as Tali stood up, surveying the burning aftermath. The burning hulk of the ghost was all that remained of the vehicle. A few feet away the Krogan battlemaster lay on the ground face first. His weapons had been blown off to the side. Pieces of his armour were strewn about the area and orange blood seemed to smearing the snow.

Then the krogan started to get up, his hump rising as he forced his hands to get him to his feet. He slowly turned to face his aggressors. His punching arm was completely charred, devoid of armour. His chest plate was broken and burned. Another piece of it fell off as he stood before them all. Part of his mask had broken apart, revealing the upper portion of the right side of his face. This gave everyone a good view of his angry orange crest and his vicious crimson blood eye that stared back at them.

"Keelah." Tali spoke up, completely shocked that the krogan had actually survived that.

As the krogan approached them, fury in his eyes, Tali opened fire on him with her pistol. The krogan seemed to feel no pain as he advanced forward. It only just then hit the quarian mechanic that by taking down his barriers she may have damaged the krogan enough internally to trigger his blood rage.

A terrible throw attack confirmed her suspicion as the biotic attack struck her full in the chest. Tali was tossed into a rocky wall and fell into a kneeling position. The krogan, thinking the quarian dealt with, turned to the others. He grabbed a plasma rifle from the ground enar a dead elite and continued his advance.

Mordin stepped up to fire an inferno blast at the wounded battlemaster, but even set on fire the krogan barely batted an eye. Either his rage was so consuming that he no longer cared or that explosion had somehow damaged his nervous system in some capacity. Mordin wouldn't find out as a biotic shockwave rippled across the snow and tossed him aside.

Kasumi was now facing the titanic beast alone. She tossed a flashbang at the krogan as she opened fire with her locust. The krogan took the bullets in kind and grabbed the flashbang in his hand. He tossed it away as he continued to close on the thief. He charged forward into Kasumi knocking the little woman to the ground with a thud.

By now, Tali had regained her composure from the attack. Her head stopped spinning just in time to see the krogan advancing on the downed Kasumi. Her eyes wide in fear Tali rushed forward, preparing her omni-tool. With the krogan's barriers down she could hack into the one thing that could stop this krogan. Ironically it was the one thing that made him so powerful.

As the krogan raised his gun to fire point blank into Kasumi's face, Tali executed her hack program. She directly linked her omni-tool to the krogan's biotic implant. Then she made it backfire. A potent electric shock blasted through the krogan's brain. He clutched the sides of his head as the surging energy tore at his grey matter. Obviously he could still feel pain up there. He stumbled backwards, dropping his plasma rifle. He violently turned to Tali, who stood there with her omni-tool outstretched and at the ready. She could see blood dripping from the holes in his faceplate. Most likely it had come from his nose. The krogan's eye was vastly different then they were before. No longer was it screaming in anger, instead it seemed to show a tiny bit of fear or perhaps astonishment that a quarian had beaten him.

Tali just stared back at him, the fury in her eyes now.

"Fry." She demanded of him, her voice cold and composed.

She closed her fist and clicked at the command key. The implant overloaded and sent a second even more devastating shock attack resonating through the krogan's brain. The giant lizard's claws clenched up as his eye rolled back into his head. Then there was a tiny explosion on his temple, like a little bullet had just gone off. The implant had blown out. Smoke billowed out of the krogan's head before he fell to the floor kneeling. He collapsed to the ground and this time did not get back up.

Tali raced over to check on Kasumi, pulling her back to her feet. Mordin had already righted himself and joined them.

"Thanks for the quick save." Kasumi told her, still trying to catch her breath.

"I was not gonna let that bosh'tet take my best friend." She steadfastly replied "Not if I could help it."

"You think you could hack the other krogan like that?" the thief asked

Tali looked to her omni-tool. In theory any of them could do it, they just needed to know what to expect. Implants were easy to turn off or cause to backfire, if one knew the proper settings. She was familiar with a lot of implant technology. Thanks in part to Kaiden having a nice long talk with her about so long ago. Her curiosity had been piqued. Ancestors bless his soul, he probably just saved Kasumi.

Tali could hear the commotion above them near the bunker more clearly now. The krogan were already there no doubt and they were making a mess of things. Even with one of their number down, two powerful biotic-inclined krogan could bust their way through, especially if they were anything like their brain fried compatriot. Tali raised her shotgun, ejected the spent thermal clip and slammed in a new one.

"Come on," she told the others unfalteringly in her tone "my ancestors as my witness, no one dies today."

The gremlins had poured onto the battlefield in force. Everyone had rushed back onto the porch the second they showed up. The base instincts of the creatures drove them towards the ramp and Jacob's machine gun which he used to cut them down in quick succession. The little monsters exploded as they tried to make their way up to the ramp to the bunker door. No doubt they intended to blast it open.

Jack added her power to the fight, letting a shockwave tear through the little exploding bastards as they tried to run up and give her the deadliest hug of her life. No way in hell was that how she was gonna go out. No fucking way.

The ultras had instinctively fallen back. They weren't about to get blown up by their own husks as they tried to rush the area. Too risky to stay when your allies could kill you just by doing the only thing they were good for. Of course this came with a price, they were now exposed. This meant they had to resort dodging the shots taken at them. Not an easy thing to do. One unfortunate elite discovered this the hard way when a three round burst from Garrus' incisor tore apart the alien's shields and raked across the back of his head.

However there were greater concerns currently, the blasted krogan vanguards to be precise. They had advanced up and were intending to take the bunker entrance by splitting the defenders' focus. The approached from two sides, laying down a combined barrage from their fuel rod cannon as well as their own biotics. It forced everyone's heads down, save for Grunt.

The tank-born wasn't afraid of biotics, even if they were other krogan. He still had the rocket launcher; he figured that should be enough to take the guy out. He fired a single rocket at the krogan approaching from the right. The blast collided into the battlemaster, or at least it seemed to. When the smoke cleared the krogan appeared unscathed with a biotic barrier dome around him. If the blast had fatigued him at all Grunt couldn't be sure, the krogan seemed as ready to fight as ever.

"That's cheating!" Grunt screamed aloud as he threw his rocket launcher to the ground.

Without even thinking, Grunt jumped off the porch and charged at the krogan. He held his gravity hammer on high as he rushed the biotic powerhouse of a lizard. The battlemaster stepped forward, his stride unbroken and unwavering as the krogan super-soldier bore down on him. He threw his arm back and then let a biotic punch send Grunt hurtling backwards. The tank-born slammed against the side of the porch, his hammer at his side.

Seeing what had happened, Garrus and Zaeed jumped down to defend their fallen team mate. They fired their sniper rifles at the advancing krogan biotic, using their concussive shots to break apart his barrier, bit by bit. But while the attacked seemed to be effective, the battlemaster was more so. His biotics picked Garrus straight off the ground and then rocketed him backwards into the porch. The turian landed on his side, groaning in pain. Zaeed tried to pick up the slack but the krogan charged into his, knocking him away.

The krogan didn't have a very long rest bit, as warp attacks and ammo rounds struck his backside. He turned to see Miranda and Jack staring him down. He fired his concussion rifle at them, forcing the two to scatter.

They had done their job, it gave Emile and Kat enough time to circle back to his side and strike the lumbering biotic from there. They jumped out from the frontal metal slab and unloaded round after rounded into his barriers. The krogan turned wildly and let loose a shockwave that tossed the two aside.

His fellow krogan on the right was having a just as easy time. Jun and Thane, both from different positions (one on the porch the other among the rock field respectively) had been unloading rounds on the battlemaster constantly. But every bullet just seemed to bounce clean off. Eventually one of Jun's managed to pierce through, hitting the krogan in the shoulder. Angered the biotic reptile stuck out his hand let loose a pull attack. It tugged Jun clean off the porch and face first into the snow once it released him.

Thankfully, the krogan was unable to fire concussion shots on him as Jack's shotgun cut into his side. Her warp ammo finally broke through. She then charged at the wounded krogan, teeth bared and first raised high. The battlemaster grabbed her arm thusly and flung her towards the rock field in anger. She landed just a few feet beside Thane. He looked her over as she tried to sit back up.

"Kill the fucker already!" she ordered him, swatting his hand away "I'll be fine!"

At her request the assassin quickly darted out of cover, long range attacks weren't gonna work. He needed to get up close. Jack had wounded him, she proved that much. The drell let a warp strike the krogan as he rushed forward. At the same time Miranda stepped out and while firing her sunmachine gun also used warp. The biotic detonation sent the krogan reeling, pieces of his armour coming clean two kept their distance as the krogan retreated back behind the metal slab for cover. The close on his position, their guns held high. He was wounded, but he was also a krogan. They never stayed wounded for long.

Sure enough the giant space lizard jumped out again, firing off his concussion rifle like mad. He also started to intentionally close the distance between him and his two assailants. He slammed his arms on the ground, unleashing his barrier's combined energy on the two. It sent them hurtling back, tumbling over in the snow before they came to a slow stop.

The krogan began to move forward, but suddenly stopped dead. It wasn't by his choice though. Samara stood just feet away and had her hand outstretched to him.

"He's frozen!" she shouted over the radio "Do it! Now!"

Six and Legion burst from their respective cover behind the porch and the rock field. They charged at the alien head-on, firing their respective assault rifles as they closed. Legion closed in on him first, just as the stasis dropped. The krogan grabbed the geth by its neck and tossed him aside. Six charged forward, intending to jab his knife into the xeno's filthy eye. The krogan grabbed him by the helmet and slammed him into the ground.

He would've finished the job, had Samara not unloaded a full clip from her vindicator at him. The krogan stepped over the downed Spartan and marched towards the Justicar. She threw out as many biotic attacks as she could at one time. The Krogan flinched at each one, but still managed to let loose a shockwave that sent the asari into the wall of the porch.

Meanwhile Legion had crawled back up across the snow. It could hear footsteps crunching the snow behind the programs pushed the platform up to its knees. Tali reached the downed Geth and helped it to their feet.

"You still function tin man?" Kasumi quipped as she too appeared beside the geth.

"We are fully operational." It assured "We are more concerned for the functionality of Six Noble."

The Geth looked to the downed Spartan. Without even being asked Mordin rushed over to the Spartan and pulled him up from the snow and away from combat. He began to administer medi-gel accordingly, after waking the soldier up with a quick slap to the side of his head. That always worked back in STG, no different here.

In the meantime Tali watched as Samara and the krogan battlemaster duked it out among themselves, biotic punches and kicks and shockwaves flying everywhere as the two tried to wear the other down. She was gonna need to shut the bosh'tet down and fast.

"Legion," she looked to the geth anxiously "can you hack into the krogan's implant?"

"We can." The machine assured "Provided proper connection can be established."

"Alright then," Tali nodded succinctly "do it. I'll help. Together we can probably shut it off and cause some blowback for him."

Legion nodded and they both raised their omni-tools up towards the Krogan. A few quick commands and they let loose their attack. The krogan's assault on Samara halted as it clutched its head in pain. It clawed at its helmet his implant jutted out green light from the short circuit. Samara used the temporary lull to strike a biotic punch so hard that it sent the Krogan hurtling into the forward metal slab cover.

"Get him!" Tali shouted out to all who could hear "Get him now! Hit him with everything!"

The call to arms attracted the attention of several downed or injured members of both teams. They quickly rallied their strength and rushed to answer.

The Krogan looked up to see the combined force closing in. From the distance, Jun stood up and fired on him stirking him with bullet after bullet. Samara moved to fire her vindicator upon him as well. Mordin launched an incineration blast at him as he stumbled forward. Miranda struck out from his left with a throw attack while Kat struck him from the right with as many bullets as her pistol could fire. Jack rushed up to fire her shotgun at the alien who had tossed her like a ragdoll just moments before. Thane closed in with her, shredder rounds spewing from his SMG. Tali, Legion and Kasumi each fired their best weapons into the krogan as he tried to keep his foot. Six let his assault rifle tear into the battlemaster's hump.

And yet, through all of that, the krogan still kept standing. He refused to simply fall. He looked to be preparing to charge yet another nova strike. But he never got the chance. Emile rushed up to space-dino, kukri knife in hand. With one swift motion he jabbed the knife upward straight into the krogan's neck.

And then he sliced.

Orange blood poured straight out of the gaping wound and the krogan finally collapsed dead to the battle scarred snow on the ground. Emile flicked the orange blood off his knife in one swift motion.

"Fucker didn't know when to just die did he?" Emile asked to no one.

No one answered, they were all too exhausted to do anything but look at the dead krogan. They could see every hit they made, every wound they had caused. They could even point out a few that were theirs if they wanted to, no one did. What no one could see, however, was that while he asked that question Emile had a bit of an admirable smile on his face.

The final Krogan had already forced his way up the steps by the time the second of his blood brothers had fallen. He taken a pounding from Jacob's machine gun, but in the end it proved futile. He grabbed the barrel of the gun, broke it away from its tripod and used it to smack Jacob to the ground. Now he was staying in cover while his barriers recharged. A good strategy, considering Garrus and Carter were shooting at him from afar. Their rounds chattered in his ear as the sand bags broke apart with each hit. Finally having enough of their constant attacks he let a biotic throw toss the two of them aside. They landed on their backs just a few feet away.

The krogan now moved for the door to the bunker, only to be slammed in the side by a biotic charge. Shepard had come back for round two against the blood pack vanguard. With submachinegun raised to the merc, he fired point blank into the krogan's barriers. They buckled, but held regardless. The krogan jutted his hand up and sent shepard hurtling away.

The giant of a lizard stood back up and charged into the stumbling human. Shepard sent a shockwave at the krogan, throwing him off balance. Shepard slammed a biotic punch straight into the side of the krogan's jaw. He flew straight into the back wall, but again the krogan recovered quickly and charged into Shepard.

Wade was sent backwards into the weapon shelves on the right side of the porch. He made a grab for a DMR and quickly fired into the Krogan as he pulled out his concussion rifle. Shepard rolled away from the red concussive blasts. The krogan's shots scattered the remaining weapons on the shelves. Shepard kept firing all the while, before taking one of the shots to chest. It knocked him off his feet and he quickly scrambled to get up.

The krogan charged up his fist and prepared for a running punch to finish Shepard off. Then suddenly, the blue aura around his limb dissipated. He then suddenly clutched his head, slightly in pain. He looked behind the krogan and saw the friend "face" of Tali staring back. She waved her little omni-tool innocently. Shepard just grinned and then he charged head-on straight into the krogan with a biotic charge. The blood pack vanguard fell to the deck and Shepard quickly plugged a shotgun into his head. He fired an inferno at point blank range, ending the krogan's life at long last.

"Nice save." Shepard told Tali as she walked onto the porch.

"Well I can't let you have all the glory can I?" she asked him cheekily.

Shepard just chuckled a bit. He certainly knew how to pick his girlfriends.

Zaeed helped Grunt onto the deck. He was fine he just needed some time for his healing factor to kick in. Everyone else had joined the only still breathing krogan in the cavern. They all looked tired, battered and exhausted. Miranda's hair was rattled. Jack had almost enough cuts and bruises on her as she did tattoos. Tali's envirosuit was covered in blood and her headscarf was looking a bit torn. Garrus' armour was beaten up. Legion was busy repairing damage to several parts of their platform, particularly around the neck. Jacob was nursing a nasty blow to the head. Thane was holding his arm, concerned about whether or not it had been cracked. Even the shiny armour of the Spartan hadn't gotten out of this unmarked. To say Mordin was having a field day was an understatement. He was already swamped checking on everyone and just administering medi-gel. He was loving it, said it reminded him of the clinic on Omega.

Nevertheless Shepard was proud of his team. They had performed superbly out there, against everything that had been thrown at them. Carter seemed to feel the same, although he was positive this wasn't over until those doors opened for him. He tried to be optimistic though.

"That has got to be their last push." Carter told Shepard "It has to be."

Carter had a point, what else did any of them have to give now? They were exhausted, on their last legs. They weren't gonna be standing for another round. Halsey said she was almost finished, that had only been about seven or so minutes ago but it felt like hours.

Kat had already finished up her check up from Mordin. She cocked her pistol as she rose to her feet again.

"We can take them." She said adamantly "How much more can they have left after that? They just threw their heavy hitters at us and we buried them."

"Thank in part to the little Xeno in the space suit." Emile said giving a little a salute towards Tali "Nice brain roasting."

Tali just modestly shrugged, although she was a beaming a bit under her mask. Shepard in the meantime wanted to share in the enthusiasm of the moment, but he had remembered something.

"What about those Ultras that bolted?" Shepard asked "They're not gonna stay away forever."

"They aren't." Jun spoke up ominously.

A phantom appeared out of the sky, flying towards where they had come in. They could see in the undercarriage it carried a wraith. The Ultras were racing back as well, they had apparently requested back-up and it was now being delivered. With the team exhausted they were moving in for the kill. When the phantom reached the drop point it quickly dropped a tank and flew away.

"Oh no, not another one." Groaned Garrus.

"Relax," Carter told him "we just have to sit here while it tries to blow us away. We'll be safe under the roof."

But the wraith did something unexpected. Moments after it had been dropped down, it was racing across the snow towards the bunker. It dropped down from the overhanging ledge on the right path and down into the very center of the open clearing below. It fired a arcing plume at close range towards the bunker, striking the side of the roof.

"Crap, they're showing initiative." Jacob said as he rose from his seat.

"They gonna try and smoke us up close and personal!" Carter shouted aloud "We gotta hunker down and see if we can-"

That was when Kat rushed clean past him, out past the ramp and towards the wraith tank.

"Kat! What are you doing!"

Carter demand went unanswered as the lieutenant commander rushed out onto the field towards the wraith as it fired another shot at the bunker. It struck near the ramp, shaking the porch with an intense ferocity. Carter's next command was swift.

"Cover her! Now!"

She knew he'd be mad at her for this, probably get read the riot act too, but it seemed like the only way. Everyone else was exhausted and the tank had way too much space to move around now. They'd be wasting their trying to shoot it with rockets. Lock-on was for air targets only and it would still take two to three hits to kill the thing. They'd all be dead by then. The quickest way to end this hovering gun carriage was to stick a grenade into its hypothetical tail pipe. Yes, there were Ultras in her path by now. Yeah, she was low on ammo and running on fumes herself. She just didn't care. She would get to that tank, she would stick a grenade into it and she would kill it. This time no one was gonna pay for her inaction. She could still run and hold a grenade. This time she'd make it the whole way.

The sprint to the tank was easy for the first couple of feet. The metal slabs she had used for cover before kept up their usefulness. It was when she got into the open field that the problem arose. Two Elite Ultras and the wraith's gunner opened up on her. She wished she had taken a proper armour upgrade right about now. Maybe a holo to split focus or a drop shield to cover a foot or so to the back of the tank, those would've been useful. Instead all she had were her two feet, so she used them. She rushed forward, trying her best to avoid the plasma fire coming at her. Her shields spiked constantly as stray rounds hit her.

Then the wraith's gunner slumped forward in his seat. A single shot had torn through his shields. A huge exit wound in the back of his head appeared. Another of the Ultras took two rounds, one that cut his shields apart and another that struck him in the lower jaw that tore it apart. Kat didn't look back, but she could only guess that it was all the team's doing. They were covering her. Nice to see she hadn't pissed off Carter enough to force him not to help her.

What was she thinking, of course he was gonna help her even if she was being stupid. He was Commander Carter, Noble One, it was what he did. He always had her back.

Regardless it took the pressure off her. The tank shifted back to the bunker door and charged up another shot. This one struck where Jacob's machine gun once was, destroying what remained of the sandbags. Thankfully everyone had moved to the left trying to support Kat's mad dash. The next shot would be on the deck proper and it would more than likely kill everyone. It was now or never.

Kat jumped onto the back of the tank. Her metal arm grappled onto the vehicle tightly. In front of her she could see the glowing center of the plasma core that powered the vehicle. She shoved the frag grenade into it and quickly disengaged. In a matter of seconds the wraith exploded, rendered asunder by the detonation of the little explosive charge within the vehicle. The large cannon atop it fell to earth with a resounding crash and the vehicle itself was split in two by the explosion. The remaining Ultra nearby lost his shields in the explosion and stumbled forward trying to regain his balance. A single shot from Carter's rifle put him down for good.

Kat walked out of the smoke now rising from the burnt out husk of a tank behind her. She looked back at her handiwork for a moment. A slight smile spread across her face, although no one could see it. She had taken it out, her. No one else had to try and pick up the slack this time.

"That was for you Thom." She said to herself quietly.

She turned back to the porch and saw the rest of the team looking at her. They appeared to be cheering her actions. She could hear the faint hurrahs and see a bit of fist pumping. She still knew Carter was gonna kill her for this.

"Spartans, Normandy Crew," Halsey's congratulatory voice spoke over the radio "the package is ready. Well done, all of you. The door is open. Get in."

That was their cue. Kat began to march towards the ramp, head held high. They were gonna get out of here, all of them. She raised her metal arm and waved at the others in response to their cheering. For once she could share a bit in the bravado. They had survived, they had made it.

It was then that Kat heard a loud bang followed by a sound of metal breaking apart. She suddenly felt a bit lighter on one side. She moved her metal arm down to see that it had been shot clean off at the elbow. The next shot came just a second after the first. It cut into her shoulder.

"KAT!"

She could hear Carter's voice but she couldn't respond. She was already falling to the ground by that time. Another shot sounded, this one got her in the leg. She winced in pain as the round struck her. By now the shock had worn off and the realisation that a sniper was taking pot shots at her from somewhere had finally become clear to her. Why wasn't he shooting her head off? He was good enough to hit her arm and he had a powerful enough rifle to do it.

Then she understood. She was bait. She could already see Carter rushing out onto the field, the rest of the team following. She raised up her only good arm now, trying to signal them to stop. It didn't seem to work they were still coming. Another rounded clipped her side as she crawled, the pain was horrendous. Carter heard the scream, he wasn't gonna turn back. She knew that. Only one way to save them, she needed to kill the sniper.

She saw one of the dead heavy grunts on the ground, his fuel rod cannon still at his side. She pulled herself over to the weapon, grabbed it and then flipped herself onto her back. She aimed the large weapon at where she guessed the shot came from. She surveyed the top level across the bridge from them and could see the shimmer of a scope. She wasn't sure who was behind it, but she wagered he was using one of the rifles from Shepard's universe. Those last three hits didn't feel like plasma.

She let the targeting reticule on her HUD turn red and then let loose every single round she had in the covenant weapon. The green bursts arced towards the shimmer of the sniper's scope. The three large explosions that followed devastated the upper level. The reticule dimmed blue, target eliminated.

With the sniper dealt Kat, completely exhausted now, let the fuel rod cannon fall to her side and allowed her body to go limp. She had never felt in more pain than she did now, bleeding out from three gaping wounds in her body. At least no one had to die saving her this go around, save for the sniper himself. At least her carelessness hadn't gotten someone killed.

Carter slid to a stop beside her. Her pulled off her helmet and raised her head up. There was some blood pooling around her mouth, cough ups from the shock she had received.

"Kat, stay awake, stay with me!" he ordered

"Sorry." Was all Kat could say through the haze of her rapidly depleting blood levels "So sorry."

"Just lie still, you're gonna be fine." Carter tried to assure her before shouting aloud "Mordin! Mordin I need you up here with bio-foam! Medi-Gel! Anything!"

The Salarian was already on his way, rushing towards the fallen Spartan. He quickly jabbed the bio-foam canister into every hole the sniper had opened up. A quick fix, but at least it stopped the bleeding.

"Should've been more careful." Kat said, trying not to lose consciousness, per Carter's orders.

"Do not talk like that!" Carter ordered "You did good, you did as expected! Now just hang in there!"

Already a small cadre of squad mates had formed around Kat and Carter, concern across all their faces. Shepard was the first to pull his head away from it all. He looked to the skies and saw more Phantoms moving in.

"Carter, we need to move." Shepard told him.

Noble Team's leader silently obliged and picked the downed Kat up. He carried her forward as fast as he could, following the others as they headed for the bunker entrance.

"My choice." Kat whispered softly to him "Don't blame yourself. My choice."

"Just stay alive, Kat." Carter responded, trying to keep her conscious and awake "We're gonna get you out of here. I promise."

Kat looked up at her commander as he carried up the ramp to the porch. Six had already slammed the keypad console with his fist and the door to the bunker opened with a creaking groan. As they entered, she spoke again.

"Least I got him right?" she asked

"Yeah," Carter assured her "I think ya did."

Halsey was busy at her console as both Noble and Normandy teams finally arrived. As predicted they stared in awe of the relic's data store, she supposed even though Tali and her had described it a bit, nothing did it justice. You had to see the thing to actually believe it. The sphere was an eye catcher, no doubt there.

"So this is what you were working on Tali?" Kasumi asked her Quarian friend

"I had a few side projects to keep me busy in the off hours, but more or less yeah." Tali explained "It's amazing isn't it?"

"Oh yeah sure," Jun replied looking at all the machinery "just kinda wished I knew what the hell I was looking at exactly."

Halsey was quick to field the answer, although she had no time to give the full details like she did with Tali. They deserved a proper explanation for everything, why they were here, why she made them risk their lives. That was never clearer then it was when she saw Noble Two in Commander Carter's arms, wounded badly and just trying to keep her eyes open. She needed to make this quick.

"It is knowledge, as I explained before." Halsey reiterated, trying not to sound agitated. A birthright from an ancient civilization."

She moved away from the holo-tank revealing the purple form of the AI that had brought them all here. Halsey continued.

"This AI is its custodian and she has chosen you as her carriers."

The choice of the words themselves was a bit suspect to everyone.

"Chosen? By an AI?" Emile asked, disbelieving of the concept.

Strangely enough it was Tali that was the first to come to the defence of the concept.

"This AI is special, more than you realise." Tali explained "It's only a piece of the whole and it still retains a sense of personality and conceptual value."

"Her measure of Noble Team carries as much weight as my own." Halsey added as she stepped beside Tali "Perhaps even more so. Although to be honest, while you are all her carriers in sense, she picked Noble Six to take her."

Everyone turned the newest edition of Noble Team. Six suddenly felt a bit smaller.

"Me? Why me?" Six asked, confused at it all

"Possibility that it sees the inherent trust you have inorganic species." Legion suggested

Halsey quickly interjected.

"There are a number of reasons for her choice, but it doesn't matter really." She elaborated "She's made her decision, it would be best that you honour it."

Halsey turned to one of the console for a brief period as Tali walked over to the AI in question. Shepard tried to get a better view of what she was doing. She appeared to be hovering over the little purple woman in the holo-tank, ringing her hands nervously. He couldn't fathom why.

"You are to take her to the UNSC ship-breaking yards in Aszod." Halsey continued, speaking fluently "By the time you arrive a Halcyon-Class cruiser will be waiting to take her off planet."

"Halcyon?" Shepard asked, a bit puzzled at the name.

"It's one of the larger ship types," Tali explained, looking only momentarily away from the AI "big enough to fit several Normandies inside it. At Over 1 kilometer in length they should be classified as dreadnaughts where we come from, not crusiers."

"They were largely decommissioned for being a bit too clunky." Six added "They handle like molasses from what I hear, but they still use them for... special ops as I understand."

That final line made the severity of it all hit home, at least for Carter. He was just trying his best to pay attention, his focus was split between Kat and Halsey's briefing.

"I understand, Doctor." He informed her

"Do you?" Halsey asked, seemingly not sure that he did "Mankind is outmatched. When Reach falls, and it will fall, our annihilation is all but certain. Unless...we can glean from this artifact a defense against the Covenant. A game-changer. On the level of the conical bullet in nineteenth century, or faster-than-light travel in the twenty-third."

She stared into the roving sphere above them as she spoke, the direness of the situation apparent in her tone and speech. After New Alexandria and with Kat cradled in his arms, Carter understood the reason for her troubled thoughts of the future. But as always, the "if" of the situation raised the counter-point to that scenario.

"And what if we can't?" Carter asked her

"An apt question if there was somewhere else to place our hope." Halsey answered as she walked over to the holo-tank. "There is not."

The little AI stood up and Halsey nodded at Tali. She pressed a button on the side of the holo-tank and the purple visage of the AI construct vanished into the console. Tali pulled out a long see through tube and handed it to Halsey, her hands somewhat shaking as she did.

"It's alright Tali," Halsey told her quietly "it's alright."

"Sorry, nerves I guess." She admitted "Is it always like this?"

"Depends on the attachment I think." The doctor admitted "You acclimated quicker than I thought actually."

The quarian brushed her arm a bit, still visibly nervous.

"Well, it's just, it's a really important mission and everything so," she cleared her throat quickly, as she tried to keep herself from stammering "you know. I'm hoping I prepared her... I mean programmed everything correctly-"

Halsey stopped her with but a little stare and Tali gulped, embarrassed a bit. Shepard saw a weird mix of emotions in Tali's body language. It was both a feeling anxiousness and concern. She seemed like she was handing in some kind of assignment while at the same time it meant something more. Shepard just didn't know what. Tali probably didn't even know what it meant.

Halsey walked over to Six directly and held out the AI unit in front of her.

"Take it lieutenant, she has made her choice." She told him

Six looked to the unit and then Legion, he didn't know why he just did. He nodded at Halsey after sometime and grasped the unit with both hands.

"Do you have it?" she asked

It was strange question to ask. Halsey wasn't blind, of course he had it, his hands were over it weren't they? It took a bit longer to figure what Halsey actually meant though. She meant something besides the physical acquirement of the device, something more personal, more connected.

"Yes." Six replied

"Say the words, please." Halsey requested

Six nodded once more and answered.

"I have it."

Halsey at last let go and allowed the Spartan take possession of the unit. She pointed Noble Team towards the exit and promised that Normandy Team would join them shortly. She needed to discuss some matters with them, matters that did not require their involvement. Besides, they needed to call in transport for them. The sooner they got Kat to a proper medical professional the better. In the meantime she spoke to Shepard's crew.

"The ship the AI is destined for is most likely your best chance of getting off this planet as well. You won't make it far without it otherwise." Halsey informed them "The ship should be big enough to fit the Normandy inside one of its hangers."

"Great, we're gonna be a turducken." Kasumi slyly remarked

"Better than skurting through the galaxy on fumes I say." Jacob added

The thief simply shrugged, Jacob had a point. No sense in arguing with a free ride. There was a hitch in the escape plan though.

"We have a few things we need to take care of first." Shepard explained to Halsey.

"I wagered you did." Halsey agreed "The ship in question will need to break off from any engagement over Reach in any case before anyone can board it. You'll need to make sure it's there when Noble Team needs it to be."

"I understand." Shepard assured "we'll make sure of that."

Halsey turned to Mordin next. She pulled out a small metallic device from her pocket. It looked like a OSD from Shepard's perspective.

"Professor Solus," Halsey began "this data drive contains some of the work notes I complied concerning the upgrades we discussed before I went underground. You'll need them more than I."

"Appreciated." Mordin replied as he took the drive "Will go over them after mission completed. Should be fascinating. Wish I could have worked more with one on one doctor. Circumstances... not in favour."

Halsey smiled at the salarian and then turned to Tali, who was just behind her.

"Before you go Ms. Zorah I want you to have something."

Halsey walked over to one of her desks and picked up a small leather bound book. She handed it to Tali, placing it in her hand.

"This is a culmination of several decades of work." She explained to her alien pupil "It contains everything you'll need to know and then some."

Tali looked over the little book, caressing its spine softly, spreading her thumbs across the leather in an attempt to feel it. Something felt personal about this book, and she reasoned soon as to why.

"This is... this is a journal isn't it?" she asked Halsey.

"Yes, my personal journal." Halsey confirmed "I've transferred many of my notes from my other books into it. It's a little haphazard, but I did not want you to leave without something that could help you. It may be my work, but I think you can improve upon the foundation. Make it better."

Tali looked over the little book in her hands, flipping lightly through the pages. There diagrams, essays, personal thoughts, discussions about everything from weapons to interfaces. This wasn't just a journal, it was everything.

"And you want to give this to me?" Tali asked, astonished at the level of trust this must've required

"I can think of no one else Tali." Halsey told her "You're one of the best students I've had the pleasure of working with. I'd be honoured for you to have it."

She trusted her with this. Her, after everything she had ever said about Halsey when they first met. She wanted Tali to carry on her work. The work they had been doing in this little cave for weeks on end since she arrived. Tali hadn't felt like this since Shepard actually gave her the geth data back on the first Normandy. Barely able to contain herself through it all she embraced Halsey in a tight little hug.

"I promise. I'll take good care of it." She told her

"I know you will Tali'Zorah." Halsey responded, patting her student on the back "I know."

Three pelicans and a Normandy Shuttlecraft were waiting for them at the end of the long twisting secondary escape tunnel. They loaded Kat onto the shuttle first. Tali, Kasumi and Jacob got on board.

"Get her back up to the Normandy and have Chakwas working on her stat." Shepard ordered "Then head over to the fight and get that cruiser down to the ship-breaking yards."

"We got it commander." Jacob assured with a thumbs up as he took a seat in the shuttle.

Tali looked to Shepard as she got inside.

"Once we're done we'll get the Normandy to your position and-"

"No," Shepard quickly cut her off "you stay with the cruiser. They'll need you."

"But Joker can manage covering the ship without us." Tali informed him, slightly flummoxed as to why Shepard was cutting her out from going with him.

"He'll need you up there on the engines if something goes wrong." Shepard replied in a rushed hurried tone.

Tali didn't seem at all convinced by the reasoning, but her took seat on the shuttle anyway.

"Be careful Wade." She said, trying her best not to sound worried as she spoke.

"I'll see you back on the Normandy, that's a promise." Shepard assured her, a determined and resolute look in his eye.

The shuttle's doors closed as it began to lift off. Shepard clambered into the Pelican with his strike force team as Six, Emile and Carter walked into theirs. They were followed by Garrus, Grunt and Legion.

"You sure you won't need me Shepard?" Garrus asked as he hopped into his pelican. "Taking down a wormhole generator is some pretty heavy stuff."

"No worse than usual buddy." Shepard replied confidently "Just help Noble get that package to its destination. We'll rendezvous on the cruiser. Count on it."

Meanwhile Carter had sent Jun off with Halsey. The doctor had protested she didn't need an escort, but Carter insisted. They were off to CASTLE Base to make sure the place was scrubbed of potential intel the Covenant could use. They wished each other good luck, best they could do at this point with how small Noble Team was starting to get. Carter set that thought aside. With any luck, they'd meet up with Jun later once this AI business was resolved along with a recovering Kat.

Emile sat on the edge of the pelican, looking down as the collection of aircraft took off for their respective destinations. The others all took their seats on the pelican as Carter piloted the thing into the air. Connection with Auntie DOT was soon re-established.

"I need a heading Dot." He told the AI

"The ship-breaking yard in Azsod. The only off-planet extraction point left on this continent. Small scale air attacks have decimated many convoys en route. An armada of Covenant cruisers have hastened to site as well."

"Great, a welcoming committee." Garrus sarcastically quipped

Dot continued.

"The UNSC Pillar of Autumn will be wait for us upon on arrival in due course." She assured

"The Autumn?" Six said astonished, his head shooting up at the name "That hulk's as old as the damn war itself I hear. Maybe older. It's not obsolete, but still. Why'd Halsey pick that ship?"

"Maybe the AI picked it." Emile suggested. "It's picked everything else."

Carter just shrugged in his seat as the pelican continued to ascend.

"Well it wouldn't be a Noble Mission if it was easy." He reasoned

Emile in the meantime looked to the ground below them. The glacier the Covenant had been so hot to breakthrough. He shuffled back a bit in his seat on the edge of the loading ramp. Then it happened. The ice shelf detonated in a large circular pattern. The entire site seemed to concave on itself. The ancient alien complex below, Sword Base, they were all gone in a flash along with any Covies still inside with any luck. Water from the surrounding filled the empty hole, drowning what secrets remained uncovered. Now they were the only ones that possessed the secrets of the relic. Emile smiled at what this meant. They had pretty much foiled the Covenant to the point of embarrassment and they would definitely be itching to get back what they just lost.

For Emile, even with the world crumbling around them, it meant things were gonna get messy. And he liked messy.

OOC: Ugh, that was exhausting. There was no Author's note last chapter because I consider these two chapters one update in its entirety. They're one chapter I had to split apart just to make things readable for everyone. If I hadn't this would've been a slog to read through. It turned out longer than it did, but I'm proud of it for what it's worth. I think I actually managed to capture more than just action in this. I captured some actual drama as well. But you'll be judge of that of course.

Two things, yes Tali made an augmented reality viewing mode. Not that I came up with this before I found out they had essentially given that to the male Quarians in the new Rebellion Multiplayer pack. Although I admit, the possibility that is the result of an innovation of Tali's is pretty kickass in my fanon addled brain. And yes, I'll make sure everyone gets one and uses it sparingly.

Also, I have seen all the footage from E3 and I am looking into it concerning the future of this series. Yes it's all really friggin awesome and badass that Halo is trying to introduce new elements into its gameplay and shake up dynamic and more power to that. The only real concern I have is if they're thinking of killing Cortana off in the very first game of their new trilogy. Which would kidna suck cause I just can't imagine going through an entire two Halo games where I have Chief but Cortana ain't in my ear helping out. Hopefully the dangers of rampancy won't make Chief turn on his constant AI companion.

Less awesome is ME3 coming to the WiiU. Sorry Nintendo, you can't make me buy a game for your console when over half the fucking content will unavailable because the other two games will never be on your stupid system. Unless you get at least Mass Effect 2, I see no reason why anyone should buy ME3 for the WiiU. Besides, the game is also for the PC as well, as long as someone has a competent rig they can play it just fine. Argh, stupid move, why anyone would want to play only the end of a game that's entire premise is based on it being a trilogy is beyond me. They don't fix it with something everyone is gonna be forced to kill either the Geth or Tali, all I'm saying. And that ain't acceptable for me. It's like the default choice on ME2 being Wrex is dead. It's terrible.

Anyway, read and review my beloved viewers, read and review. Look forward to the next chapter soon enough.