I am completely mortified by how long this chapter took me to post. I am so sorry to anyone who has been waiting all this time for a new chapter, but I am trying to post more often. I'm sure all you other writers out there know the situation when you get sucked into a bunch of projects and two or three don't get the attention they deserve. Anyway, I will try to post more often on this fic. Hope you enjoy!
000000000000000000000
Reegar, one hell of a marine if she had ever seen one, despite his injuries stuck in the fight right along with Claire and her team. He even tried to act as a decoy to let them move in closer to save Tali. If they had been facing geth infantry alone, Claire might have considered it, but they were up against a colossus with infantry support and primes. A wounded decoy would never have survived.
Claire dashed across an open bridge as the geth fired on her. Garrus sniped an enemy that was in front of her as it rose to try and shoot her. She slid to a stop in cover keeping her eyes on the ramp leading up to the side passage that let out right next to the colossus. If any geth infantry were going to try to intercept them, they would be coming from there. She waved for the next team member to follow before laying down suppressing fire on the rest of the battleground.
Zaheed crossed next and took a hit in the shields but they held mearly causing him to curse profusely.
"Gadamn mechanical bastards!" he yelled draining his thermal clip as Garrus crossed.
"Not a scratch on me," Garrus mocked.
"Your face begs to differ," Zaheed retorted.
"I think the phrase is 'pot meet kettle,' right?" Garrus asked glancing over at Claire.
All Claire could do was smile as she covered Jack and Grunt as they crossed together. The biotic appeared to be having the time of her life and the Krogan looked no different. Jack slid in behind the crates as if scoring the winning run of a baseball game as grunt took the forward position in the formation.
"Hell yeah, let's do that again," Jack said firing a few shots over the crate drawing a chuckle from Grunt.
"Maybe next time, for now let's rip that colossus apart," Claire said taking point and leading her team up the ramp.
Glancing around the corner she spotted at least a full squad of infantry with the colossus. They were waiting to ambush them. Part of her had wished that she had sent Garrus and Zaheed to the other side to provide fire support and launch a pincer attack from both flanks, but that plan was about five minutes too late. She would just have to make do.
"Garrus remain here and offer covering fire. Zaheed move up the the crates on the left and cover me, Grunt, and Jack. We'll get close enough for Jack to use her biotics and I can finish it off with my grenade launcher. Grunt, anything that gets too close to us, rip it apart," Claire ordered patting the heavy weapon on her back.
"Crazy as hell... I like it," Jack said smirking.
"Move out!" Claire ordered. The team charged forward as Garrus and Zaheed covered their advance. Grunt took cover as close to the colossus as he could without being in the beast's line of sight while Jack unleashed her biotics on the metallic monster.
The infantry was eliminated quickly but the colossus was hanging in the fight even under the brutal onslaught that Claire and her team were pouring on. She had already emptied her grenade launcher and Jack's biotics were keeping it from huddling back up to fix itself, but the barrage of small arms fire was doing very little to stop the weapon from firing at them.
"Jack, tell me how to use a large warp," Claire shouted clenching her fist.
"What are you thinking? This thing won't get taken down by just biotics," Garrus shouted firing another round from his rifle.
"But the energy from me would cause a biotic eruption," Jack said smirking. "Alright, focus your power into your hand and form a ball. Make sure the energy wave isn't stable. We want a big explosion."
Claire did as she was told. The feeling of the dark matter coursing through her left tingling sensations in it's wake. No wonder Luke had started using this power so much even with its risk. Jack was so strong to hold the colossus so it couldn't repair itself and she could feel how powerful the ball of energy she was forming was. As she hurled to glowing orb of energy, she could feel how draining the energy release was on her. She would need a lot of conditioning if she was going to be able to fight with her biotics the way the rest of her crew could.
The two biotic forces collided and erupted violently . The explosion sent shockwaves so powerful it actually knocked Claire, Jack, and Grunt off their feet and ripped the colossus apart.
"Holy shit, Shepard! That was awesome! You've got some kick ass power there," Jack howled with pressure. Claire shook her head as she pushed herself back up onto her feet.
"Yeah, but now I'm really tired," Claire confessed groaning as she stood.
"No shit. You just used a shit ton of power in one go. I'm surprised you didn't open a singularity with that," Jack said jogging over to the colossus and posing as if they were on a big game hunt.
Zaheed chuckled as the squad reformed and Claire turned her attention to the door the geth had been trying to get through.
000
Liara watched as the members of the wolf pack moved through the hallways in complete silence. The cable wrapped around the sensor node outside had been a perfect plan since they had a repair team to follow instead of a combat patrol. The repairmen led them straight to a maintenance hatch and Luke managed to quietly restrain one of the guards and force the location of Feron out of him. Luke had told Liara that she did not want to see the interrogation. She had seen his tactics with the salarian when they had been searching for Claire, but this time he had only talked to the guard for a few minutes before he returned with directions to their quarry.
"That was fast," Liara said as Luke set navigation point for the team to follow.
"Field interrogations always are," Luke responded.
"And the guard?" Liara asked.
"No one will find him until we are out of here," Luke responded.
Liara's eyes widened. She knew about most of Luke's missions with the Wolf Pack. He had limited casualties of civilians, government personnel, and official military to nearly zero while racking up one of the largest mercenary body counts of any group in the Terminus Systems. However, hearing and reading about his exploits was much different than seeing them first hand. Luke was right on the border of becoming just as bad as the people he went after.
"Boss, we've got a pair of roaming guards up ahead. What's the call?" Miles asked. Liara looked over at Luke as he deployed his omni-blade.
"Ghost 'em."
That order came too easily to Luke. It was almost like he was saying 'good morning' or something as normal. There was no hesitation, but that was something that they needed now more than ever.
No sooner had the order left Luke's lips when the pack members descended on the two guards and used their omni-blades to silence them quickly and with hardly any noise at all. If Liara had not been watching it happen, she would have never known the guards had even been there.
"Move quietly and avoid cameras. I don't want this bastard knowing it was us until after we're back on the Normandy," Luke whispered over the helmet to helmet radios.
The stealth that Luke and his team showed was beyond anything that her agents had ever shown. If she could get even a few agents with their talents, she could be more powerful than the broker in a matter of a couple years.
Within a few minutes, Liara found herself overlooking a small room holding Feron in restraints. Luke started examining everything in the room trying to find a release command, but from the look on his face, he was having no luck.
"Hold on, Feron. We'll have you out of there soon," Liara said opening a console.
"No," the drell wheezed. Liara watched in horror as her touching the console sparked a massive shock to the man as he convulsed in his restraints.
"Damn it. The chair is rigged with a pressure sensor as well as a whole mess of medical sensors and simulators. Let me guess, the broker has been keeping you alive to serve as a warning to anyone that played both sides right? I don't see any kind of kill switch," Luke said stepping between the console and Liara.
"This chair is linked into the broker's information network. You'll have to shut down the power. If you pull me out now, my brain cooks," Feron stated.
"Goddess..." Liara said stepping back.
"What's the plan boss?" Abby asked.
"The pack has never failed a mission before and we are not about to now. Listen up, our priority is getting Feron out of that chair. If that means taking down the network, then I guess we take it down," Luke replied loading a fresh thermal clip into his pistol and removing the silencer.
"Going loud?" Miles inquired lifting his rifle.
"Hell yeah. Let's let them know just who they're messing with," Luke replied nodding.
000
Tali stood at a console typing away like she didn't have a care in the world. Surrounding her were the bodies of nearly a dozen geth, all taken down with surgical precision. Even Zaheed and Grunt looked impressed as they filed into the small room.
"It's good to see you Shepard," Tali stated glancing back at Claire.
Claire made her way through the bodies until she was standing right next to Tali. She seemed a little different than she had been on Freedom's Progress. A little more serious maybe, or it might have been she was sad? It was hard to tell with that mask she wore.
"You know, I think you've gotten better since I saw you last. It still seems like not that long ago I was rescuing you from those assassins in a back alley and now you are taking on an entire platoon of Geth on your own," Claire said nudging one of the bodies with the toe of her boot.
"Three years, Claire. I know it doesn't seem that long to you because of what happened but a lot has changed," Tali replied removing an OSD from the console and slipping it into her pocket.
"I know. Still, you've gotten better. A lot better," Claire stated smiling at her friend.
"Thank you, but I'm curious. What brought you all the way out into geth space?" the quarian inquired.
"You, believe it or not. You know that mission that I asked you to join me for back on Freedom's Progress, I'm still on it. I really want you with me Tali," Claire said placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"To be perfectly honest, I wish I could have joined you back then, but there was no way I was going to let anyone else take my place on a mission this serious and dangerous. However, I have the data I was sent for so if the admiralty board doesn't like me joining you now, they can go to hell," Tali stated sternly.
"Glad to hear it," Claire replied. "We'll head back and check on Reegor before we head back to the Normandy. We'll give him a ride if he needs it."
"Reegor, he's alive?" Tali exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Yeah, Claire yelled at him and saved his life," Garrus said leaning against the wall.
"Garrus, it has been a while," Tali stated giving him a small wave.
"Good to see you in one piece, Tali," Garrus replied returning the gesture.
"How about we all get out of here? I do awesome with a tan, but this shit is way too much," Jack interrupted. Claire smirked. Jack may have been having fun during the mission, but now that the fighting was over, she probably wanted to get back to her hiding place back on the engineering deck.
"Sounds good to me," Claire answered punching in their coordinates on her omni-tool and calling the pick up shuttle. The paperwork for this mission was going to be nuts. Jack probably wouldn't do hers and Grunt still didn't understand the whole system of filing reports, so he wouldn't do his either. On top of that, Claire wasn't sure if Zaheed would follow the protocol either. With all of the non-military personnel she was bringing onto the ship, she assumed she would have to change some of the ways she did things. Maybe the after mission reports should have the option of being verbal, like a debrief instead of a filed report. Maybe she could talk to Luke about it when he got back. She hoped he was doing well out there, wherever he was.
000
Bullets ricocheted off of everything around them. They were pinned down like beetles in an insect collection. Luke had to find a way to get them moving again, but they were running out of time.
"Liara, I need a singularity behind us. Abby, cover her. Miles, barrier to our front," Luke ordered. Blindly firing his pistol.
"This barrier won't hold for long, boss!" Miles shouted producing the wall of biotic energy.
"Abby, level off and shoot the red pipe right over the enemy's head," Luke ordered switching spots with her and firing repeatedly at the squad behind them as the mercenaries tried to shot and move around Liara's singularity.
"My singularity won't last longer than twenty seconds," Liara shouted taking cover once more.
Abby fired her rifle and pierced the pipe. Luke smirked and pulled a grenade, setting it to thermal detonation.
"Liara, barrier above us. Miles, shift your barrier to cover any area Liara's can't and I'll reinforce both," Luke ordered. This plan was risky to say the least, but it was the only chance they had of wiping out their opposition and still making it to the Broker in one piece. That red pipe was the fuel for the heating element that kept the inside of the inside of the ship from freezing in the upper atmosphere, meaning it was highly flammable.
Luke tossed the grenade and took cover with his team reinforcing the barrier with all his strength. The grenade erupted sparking the leaking fuel. The force of the blast did precisely what Luke hoped. The flames surged into the pipe causing it to explode all along the ceiling launching pieces of the shattered pipe downward like a claymore mine. He waited just long enough for the shrapnel to finish its descent before releasing his barrier and leaping to his feet.
"Go straight for the broker's info terminal and network hub. Shoot and scoot. It doesn't matter if the mercs are behind us. Once we have the broker, the head of the snake is cut off," Luke ordered waving his team forward.
"Reckless, gutsy, and borders on stupid... I like it," Miles replied pulling his shotgun and quickly falling instep with Luke. Abby and Liara were on their heels only a second later.
The team used every trick they had ripping through the broker's ship and killing any mercenary that got in their way before ending up at the door leading to the hub of the broker's network.
"Boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell," Luke quoted loading a fresh clip into his pistol.
"Maybe you should choose something a little more inspirational there boss," Abby said rolling her head on her shoulders.
"Maybe, but you two are going to stay out here. Make sure our meeting with the broker isn't interrupted," Luke said pointing to a small alcove in the hallway where the two could take cover.
"Are you sure? You know we have your back, but still. We don;t know what's in there," Miles added.
"That's why I chose those particular lines to say. I want you to monitor my vitals. If I flat-line, get Liara and yourselves out and return to the Normandy. Tell Claire what happened. I'm sure she'll be pissed but she might blow this thing out of the sky just for the hell of it," Luke instructed. He knew that if he was killed, it would not be easy for his team to leave him behind. On top of that, his mission with AEIS would be a failure too. He could not let that happen.
"Boss, if you start getting close to flat-lining, I'm gonna come in there and kick your ass myself," Abby snapped.
"That goes double for me," Miles added.
"Got it. No dying. And here I thought I gave the orders," Luke responded with smirk. "Ready for this Liara?"
The asari turned to face him. He could see her hands shaking a little. That was understandable. If they messed this up, they would both be dead and Feron would likely be tortured for the rest of his life, however short that might be.
"Ready," she answered tightening her grip on her gun. Almost immediately, she stopped shaking. She was honestly ready for the fight, no matter what was waiting behind the door.