Miranda and her rescue team as well as Zaeed and his former lover, all dove into cover behind a large shipping container when the charging mercenaries began pouring through the door, firing an endless blaze of thermal shells down on their position. The Salarian, Lt. Razard, and his squad of Eclipse brutes used the opportunity as Thane and Jacob ran for cover, to run toward their allies, forming up with them. Some of them weren't so lucky, being picked off with shots to the back of the head by the combined firepower of Miranda's Tempest SMG, and Samara's M-8 Assault rifle. Razard and two of his squad mates, one human and the other Asari, were the only ones to fall back behind their allies without injury.
Jack popped up out of cover and used her warp-ammo loaded Shuriken SMG to tear through the barrier of an Asari commando heading up the front-line of the enemy reinforcements. The Asari stumbled over as as single shot from the burst managed to piece through her chest armor. Still alive, she propped herself up using the barrel of her shotgun only to ended with another shot to the temple from Thane's Predator pistol.
"Hey!" Jack yelled over the sound of lasers that flew across the room. "The bitch was mine!" Thane ignored her for moment, taking another couple of shots at the advancing enemy. After adding two more kills to his 'score' he crouched back down behind the large crate and turned to face her.
"A target belongs to he who can perform the quicker kill," The Drell assassin replied with an awkward smirk. Jack grew an insidious smile.
"Ya? How's this for a quick kill!" Upon shouting, Jack leaned out of cover and threw a devastating biotic shock-wave at the unsuspecting enemy. Four Eclipse mercenaries failed to move out of its path and were thrown in random directions across the room, breaking their bones as they splatted against the walls of the room. Thane smiled at the psychotic human.
"Impressive, I see that I must learn to hold my tongue."
"Damn right, frog boy! Now try to keep up with!"
...
The shuttle ride to the surface of Illium was tense. Garrus sat in the seats closest to the cockpit, taking his Viper sniper rifle apart to check for any defects before re-assembling and loading it with a thermal clip. Shepard and his quarian lover sat opposite of him next to each other. While Tali primed her omni-tool and loaded her M-22 Eviscerator shotgun, Shepard was accessing his own omni-tool trying to locate the exact position of his team who were probably in the middle of a firefight, captured, or dead. Hopefully not the later two.
"Alright," Shepard said started in a commanding voice. "I've got a fix on Miranda's transponder. They're at the south end of the island, right in the middle of the base."
"Liara's data shows the Eclipse have multiple short range anti-air defense turrets surrounding the base perimeter," said Garrus as he glanced out the shuttle's window." I'm not sure a direct approach would be the best plan of attack."
"Tali?" he inquired.
"Liara forwarded schematics to the base along with the coordinates," the young engineer took a moment to bring up a holographic 3D layout of the Eclipse base. "As mentioned by Garrus, they have anti-air defense turrets placed in all four corners of the compound; as well as a jamming tower that disrupts our incoming and outgoing communications. However..." she taped at a section of the 3D layout which zoomed in closer to the outside grid of the base. "There's an external power generator located at the eastern side of the hanger bay."
"So, the plan is: land outside their AA range, infiltrate the compound, take out that generator to disable the gun towers and bring our comms back online, get our people out, and exfil with a nice kill score."
"Correct," Tali replied before turning to the pondering spectre next to her. Shepard leaned closer to Tali and began pointing at one of the gun towers on the south-east corner of the 3D map.
"Garrus, if you can take up sniping position in this tower and cover us, I can make sure Tali gets close enough to disable that generator. Once she's clear I'll split off and radio when I locate our people." Shepard returned to his normal posture and looked at Tali teasingly. "That is...if your comfortable with me watching your back-side," A smirk grew on his face as he finished his sentence. Tali responded with a light chuckle.
"You are welcome to watch my back-side any day, commander," she replied, her tone slightly seductive. Garrus seemed to recoil at their open expression of feelings for each other.
"I don't think running with tight pants is really the best tactical approach Shepard," said the Turian trying to hold back his laughter. Shepard raised a single brow and smiled at him mischievously before turning back to Tali.
"So Tali, what's this about Garrus seeing-" Shepard's words were interrupted by Garrus' sudden coughing fit.
"Ahem, yeah don't worry, Shepard, I got your back." Garrus grimaced as best a Turian could as he glared at Shepard, hinting to not tell Tali of their 'unfortunate' meeting a few days ago. Apparently that threat she made about making him less fertile than a Krogan stuck.
"As soon as Tali disables the generator, I need you to remote pilot the shuttle down on our position. We'll be needing a quick exit." Before nearing the landing zone, Shepard gave Tali one last look of reassurance. "You ready for this Ms. Vas Normandy?" Tali responded by smiling beneath her visor and pumping her assembled shotgun as she held it to her chest. He smiled then turned to Garrus who also nodded. "Alright, lets go get our people back."
...
The Eclipse base sat on a small stretch of land a few dozen miles off the coast of Nos Astra. Out the port side window they could see a few sky-cars landed on the beach of the island. They most likely belonged to his team who had made their desperate attempt to rescue Zaeed from his prison. The base was no more than a few of miles from where the beach lie. They made sure to fly low, around twenty feet to avoid AA fire. The Kodiak came to a soft landing a short time later and the side hatch flung open with Shepard, Tali, and Garrus all sprinting out toward the base as fast as their legs would allow. Without communications, it was impossible to obtain any information on the rescue teams situation. They had no way of knowing whether they had been captured, or killed. None of those thoughts were going to make them delay any further, however. If they were stranded in the middle of a cut-throat Mercenary base, it was obvious they required aid.
...
Still trapped in deadlocked firefight with the mercenary troops in the base, the team struggled to cover Kasumi who desperately tried to hack open the large cargo doors to the shuttle hanger. "I really wish you were here right now, Tal gal." The thief thought to herself while rewiring a pair of circuits.
"Kasumi!" Miranda shouted to her from behind. "We can't hold here forever!"
"Going as fast as I-" a stray laser flew right through Kasumi's hood and struck the circuit board in front of her, barely missing the side of her neck. "Uh oh..." she said to herself then turned and dove behind a crate beside Miranda. "Um, problem, the circuit board's been hit. I can't get the door open with it damaged."
"Damn..." Miranda mumbled to herself.
...
Garrus steadied his scope while taking cover in some bushes just outside the base perimeter. He could hear the sound of the alarm as a Salarian guard paced around the catwalk on the guard tower. The Turian inhaled a deep breath and waited for the right moment for the Eclipse merc to stall. As soon as he did Garrus exhaled slowly. The shot cracked out and hit its target dead on. The Salarian staggered as the bullet impacted his heart. Clutching his chest to see the blood on his hand, the Salarian fell back over the railing all the way down to the unforgiving pavement below. Garrus smirked triumphantly and once again sighted down his scope to see the human guard on the opposite tower fall flat down on the catwalk as another shot rang out. "Nice shooting Shepard..."
Shepard who hid with Tali behind a pair of trees a few meters from Garrus' position, ran out from their cover and stopped in front of the large pair of doors that would allow them entry past the wall that surrounded the base perimeter. Shepard turned to Tali who was already hard at work hacking the door access panel. No more than a few seconds later, the doors slowly slid open. "I love you," he said to her playfully.
"I know." she replied with an evident smile.
"You ready?"
"For you? Of course!"
"Alright, hopefully Garrus is in position." Garrus had just finished climbing up to the top of the tower using his grappling hook. Drawing his rifle as he took his place overlooking the perimeter, he waved his hand in their direction below, signaling that he was indeed, ready. Shepard drew his Revenant Machine gun and primed the incendiary ammo counter as he turned to Tali.
"GO!" He sprang out of cover with Tali following shortly. The guards in the courtyard immediately turned their attention on the couple when one of them dropped from multiple shots to the chest from Shepard's rifle. The mercenaries fired back in response. Lasers whizzed past the couple with only a few managing to hit and weaken their shields before they dove behind an unmanned APC for cover.
Shepard crouched down, aiming under the vehicle, giving him a clear shot at the legs of a few mercenaries. With two controlled, bursts he managed to drop the shield of a human Eclipse engineer. A third burst cut through the mans legs causing him to fall to his knees. He screamed in pain while clutching his left leg before blood suddenly burst from his forehead. Garrus flexed his mandibles wide; the Turian impression of a grin. A perfect kill!. The rest of the Eclipse troopers retreated behind a couple of concrete barriers as the Turian dropped them one by one with shots to the back of the head and spine. Shepard and Tali used Garrus' diversionary tactic to run out from behind the vehicle and continue running for the large power generator that sat next to a small storage building a few hundred yards from the main hangar. While running, Tali activated her combat drone which kept the remaining guards distracted as they neared their destination. To their dismay it wasn't enough. A Salarian emerged on the balcony of the hangar and took position on a chain-gun emplacement. Lasers rained down at their feet as the two quickened their pace and slid into cover behind a concrete barrier. Tali leaned her back against the barrier while Shepard tried to lean out for a clear shot at the pesky Salarian merc. As soon as his head was a few inches out of cover the lasers once again swarmed him, grazing the edge of this shield. "I hope you're watching Garrus!"
The Turian popped another Eclipse soldier through the heart. He sighted down his scope and turned his gaze on the couple as they waited for his assistance. The Turian watched the rounds fly over them and followed their path to the balcony of the hanger. He could easily make out the Salarian trooper frantically unloading round after round. Without even exhaling, Garrus quickly managed to fire a single shot between the eyes of the Salarian; nearly splitting his head in two. "Good thing Salarians have big heads," the turian laughed. Shepard peered out to see the merc fall limp over his emplaced weapon and nodded to Tali for them to keep moving. Finally reaching the power generator with the outside guards cleared from their path, Shepard let Tali get to work. She pulled off a small panel on the side of the generator and quickly went to work on bypassing the systems using her omni-tool.
"This might take longer than I originally thought, Shepard. Go help the others. Garrus will cover me from her on out!" Shepard seemed to ignore her at first as he looked over at the side of the shuttle hanger that connected to the main body of the base building.
"How far are we from that building?" he asked, turning to meet her gaze.
"A little over 300 yards. Why?" Shepard grabbed his M-920 Cain Tactical nuke launcher and took aim.
"That means we're just outside the blast might wanna cover your ears," Tali tilted her head to side at his ridiculous statement. "Oh right, sorry." Shepard held the trigger down and the Cain began to charge its destructive power; light swirling from within the large barrel.
Tali switched off the sound enhancers in her helmet and prepared for the incoming shock-wave. "Oh Keelah..." she thought.
...
Back inside the base hanger, the firefight suddenly died down. "CEASE FIRE!" Lt. Razard called out to his ruthless band of Eclipse mercs. Miranda's team also held fire but stayed low to avoid any cheap shots.
"As you can see Major Aranya," said the treacherous Salarian Lieutenant. "I have two platoons of rabbid animals behind me, ready to rip your throats out on my order. However, if you and your allies would lay down your weapons, I would be willing to negotiate the terms of your surrender..."
"Bullshit!" Aranya called out. "Soon as we give up our guns you'll take us down without a second thought!" Razard smirked upon hearing her refusal.
"I get paid double to take you alive, and a bonus for each of your friends. I've got every reason to take you alive," Razard paused for a moment to look at the two Asari commandos standing on each side of him with their shotguns ready. "You've got one minute! After that...well, I think the situation speaks for itself!"
The team each shared looks of concern and anger, deciding whether surrender would be the best option or not. Even if they managed to fight off the remaining Mercenaries, by the time they made it back to the skycars, Eclipse reinforcements from off-world would be right on their tail. More than a 30 seconds passed and they still hadn't reached a decision. Miranda peaked in between two crates and saw that more Mercenaries had entered the room through the blast doors. Playing defense wasn't going to work much longer.
The impatient Salarian Lieutenant began to count down the remaining seconds in an effort to taunt his enemies. "Ten...nine..." five more seconds passed. "three...two...o-" Suddenly a devastating explosion rocked the room as a mass of fire and smoke blew a massive hole in side of the building. The Eclipse mercs, as well as their leader, were all thrown back onto the floor. Miranda and her team stared in awe as the smoke cleared, exposing the daylight outside and the shadow of a single man with a large rifle clutched to his chest.
"Shepard!" Miranda said in pure awe.
"LETS MOVE!" The Spectre yelled out. With a waive of her hand, Miranda motioned for the team to make a ran for the it, firing her SMG blindly into the squads of mercenaries that were still trying to regain their footing from the shell-shock. The rest of the team followed suite, shooting as they went.
"Come on, come on!" yelled Shepard as he fired his rifle, dropping two mercs in the process. Razard regained his footing and began kicking the soldiers around him as he fired several shots from his Katana shotgun.
"Get up, fire god dammit!"
Shepard covered his team while they ran past him to the outside, a familiar voice sounded through his comm-link "Shepard, I've disabled the generator. Anti-air and jamming systems are offline!" Shepard fired several more bursts before following behind Jacob; the last of his team to make it out of the building.
"Good work Tali! Garrus, I've got our people, get the shuttle down here now!"
...
"You got it commander!" With a few taps of the turian's omni-tool, the Kodiak lifted off, responding to the turian's transponder. Garrus then compacted his sniper rifle and placed it on his back before sliding down the ladder to regroup with the spectre. Moments later the Kodiak hovered overhead and touched down in the center of the courtyard. The Eclipse mercenaries had emerged from the building and pursued them with guns blazing. Both Shepard and Zaeed provided cover for the rest of the team as they ran toward the descending shuttle. Without him noticing, an Eclipse heavy took his place on another balcony on one of the upper floors of the hanger; rocket launcher in hand. One pull of the trigger and a lethal missile was sent right at the Spectre. Turning to see it seconds before it hit, Shepard felt his body freeze up. Before being hit however, he was tackled aside just as it hit and exploded, finding a certain quarian on top of him.
"I knew that pounce was good for something," he said smiling at her. Tali managed to smile a little beneath her visor then quickly drew back and helped Shepard to his feet. The Kodiak sat down just as they regained their footing.
The hatch of the shuttle opened with Garrus being the first to hop in, giving the rest of his friends cover with his sniper rifle as they boarded one by one. Zaeed and Aranya headed up the rear with him backing up while firing his vindicator battle rifle and Aranya throwing warp fields at the advancing enemy. Zaeed finally spun around and hopped in the shuttle with Aranya following suite, but before she took her fest step inside, a laser pieced the arm she was using to pull herself in. Zaeed caught her before she fell back and yanked her inside. Once everyone was inside, the hatch sealed and the Kodiak quickly sped off into the sky with the remaining mercenary troops watching angrily.
"Dammit!" Razard yelled as the shuttle disappeared into the clouds. "Contact Vido Santiago, tell him what happened here, and that Zaeed Massani is still very much alive!"