Mass Effect Abridged
Chapter Fifty One: The Assault Begins
"Okay, buckle up, boys." Presley said as he, Wrex, and Kaiden got into the Mako tank. "It's time to kick some Krogan clone ass, 1980's style."
Wrex was in the driver's seat, Presley was riding shotgun with a rifle he could fire out the window, and Kaiden was in the turret. There was an emptiness in their hearts, since Garrus had been moved onto Shepard's team at the last minute, but the mission had to come first beyond preferences. Besides, if there was anyone who could keep Shepard from getting into any crazy female shenanigans, Presley believed that Garrus was the one. So Wrex fired up the engine, and put the custom tank in gear, waiting for Presley to add the most important part.
"And here it is, boys." Presley continued as he put an old cassette into the tape deck. "Roll out."
Suddenly the theme from the old Earth television show The A-Team started to blast from the internal and external speakers, and a bunch of dirt was thrown into the air as the Mako tank peeled out. The plan was simple; they were supposed to go tearing down the trail where the majority of Saren's forces were stationed, and then serve as a big, noisy distraction while the other teams snuck into the base from the shadows. Well, if it was a distraction that the others wanted, then a distraction was that they were going to get.
The tank flew down the first trail at its best possible speed, and then the first guard post was spotted when they took the next corner. It was some kind of wall that had been constructed to block the trail, with a heavily fortified door as well as a covered walkway above, which was probably where the controls were. Several Krogan guards could be seen in front, as well as through the windows on the second floor as they approached, so there was only one thing to do.
"Oh no, it's a wall." Presley said with an overly dramatic tone. "I guess we'll have to stop, and fight the guards one by one until we can get the door open, huh?"
The three of them then started laughing as Kaiden fired a missile at the door, the blast sending the nearest guards flying, as well as weakening the metal just enough for the tank to crash right through it at top speed. The guards on the other side of the wall jumped for cover as the tank bounced a bit before continuing on its way. A few seconds later an alarm could be heard going off, and as expected, the next wall was even more heavily guarded. There were also a few gun emplacements, as well as a secondary blast door that slid down over the normal one as they approached.
"I think we might actually have to stop this time, Presley." Wrex said. "In fact, they seem pretty persistent."
"Well, then by all means, stop." Presley replied. "After all, they worked so hard to keep us here, and we don't want to be rude, now do we?"
The three of them started laughing again as Wrex hit the brakes and cranked the wheel to the side, making them skid to a stop so that Presley's side was facing the wall from a short distance away. Kaiden started screaming incoherently as he began firing missiles and the chain-gun of the turret at the guards on the second floor, completely demolishing the protective wall while Presley fired his rifle out the window at the ones on the gun emplacements. The guards managed to shoot back a bit, but their bullets bounced off the custom Mako tank's hull, and soon there was no resistance left.
"Well, they sure showed us." Wrex said once things quieted down. "That went so much better for them than if we had just crashed through and continued on."
Kaiden let out a maniacal laugh as the three of them did a high-five, and then Presley got out of the tank. Even with as much as the guards failed, the blast door was too strong for the vehicle, so he shot a still moving guard in the back of the head as he walked over to the stairs and headed up into the mostly destroyed second floor. The guards up there were all dead as well, making it easy for him to hit the only switch around, opening the door for them to continue on their way.
"Aw, this is almost too easy." He said after going back down the stairs and getting back in the tank. "Where's the ambushes? Where's the air support?"
Suddenly a whole bunch of guards jumped out from behind the trees, instantly aiming their rifles at the tank while a bunch of what looked like aerial Geth units appeared in the sky. They were no outnumbered, outgunned, and the flying drones were approaching fast.
"Now that's more like it." Presley continued. "All right, boys, break's over."
Meanwhile, on another part of the trails.
"Well, we definitely got their attention." Presley's voice said over the comm. "So whatever you're gonna do, you better get to it."
"Understood." Shepard replied. "We've got the communications tower in sight, should be down in a few minutes."
Deactivating the comm, Commander Shepard took cover behind a large rock along with Garrus and Liara, so that they could survey the large communications tower. The tower itself was built so that a group of guards could patrol underneath, and there was only one set of stairs going up to the platform where the machinery and controls were housed. This platform was also guarded, and with her binoculars, Shepard could see that they were outnumbered at least four to one.
"Well, at least twelve of them, and four of us." She reported. "And unfortunately for us, a GameShark was never made for PlayStation 3 games, so we're gonna need to come up with a really good plan for this."
"Here, let me even the odds a bit." Garrus replied while aiming his silenced sniper rifle. "Now, which one will it be?"
Over at the tower, the guards on the top platform were going about their usual routine. Nothing seemed to be happening, and then one of the guards smacked himself on the cheek.
"What's wrong with you?" The other guard asked.
"These damn mosquitoes are killing me." He explained. "They're huge, and you wouldn't believe the size of the mark they leave when they bite you."
Garrus then pulled the trigger, and not a sound was heard as the bullet went right into the Krogan's forehead, exploding its way out the back as he was knocked off his feet.
"Oh damn, you weren't kidding." The other guard replied. "Hey guys, remind me to get some extra bug spray after shift change, okay?!"
The rest of the guards resumed their routine, and that was one less guard that they had to deal with, but it still wasn't enough. It could take over an hour for Garrus to line up enough shots to get them all on the first try, and the other teams didn't have that kind of time. What they needed now was an out of the box kind of solution that the enemy would never see coming.
"I've got it." Shepard said quietly. "Liara, come here."
The Asari moved over to her, and then Shepard whispered the new plan into her ear. Once she was finished, Liara looked at her like she was crazy, but then Shepard glared at her while pointing angrily at the guards, causing the Asari to swallow hard before walking out into the open. Once she approached the tower, one of the guards ran up to her with his rifle raised, and now was the time to see if the plan would work.
"Over there! Did you see it?!" Liara yelled while pointing into the forest. "Quick, there it goes! Get it before it gets away! Hurry!"
"It's in the woods, men!" The guard yelled while waving to signal the others. "We gotta catch it!"
He and the other guards quickly abandoned their post, screaming and shooting their rifles into the air, the sound growing fainter until they were too far away to be heard. Shepard and Garrus then came out of hiding, and the three of them walked toward the tower.
"That was great, Shepard." Liara said as they reached the stairs. "How did you know it would work?"
"I didn't." Shepard replied. "But, everyone knows that Krogan are stupid, so I gave it a good, solid fifty-fifty chance of working."
"But don't worry, Liara." Garrus added as they reached the upper platform. "The moment they gunned you down, Shepard and I were prepared to avenge you by abandoning this target and running like hell until we regrouped with the others."
"Aw, that's so sweet, guys." The Asari said with a smile. "You're the best."
Shepard just shook her head as she hit the switch to disable the communications tower, cutting off all the comms between the guards so that the other team could have a better chance to enter the base undetected.
Meanwhile, on yet another part of the trails.
"The communications tower is down." Shepard's voice said on the comm. "Try to get into the base quickly before they have time to react."
"Got it, Commander." Ashley replied. "The alarms should be down by the time yours and Presley's teams get there."
Captain Kirrahe's team had covered a lot of ground while the other two teams played their parts, and all of the Salarians were insistent that Ashley take point while they moved down the trails. They followed closely, paying close attention to everything she did, and admiring her talents by whispering damn, look at that when she crawled under low hanging branches, and look how perfect it is when she would stretch around a tree to see what was ahead. It was nice to finally be respected by men, so she continued to do these impressive things all the way until the first buildings of Saren's base were in sight.
"Well done, Ashley." Captain Kirrahe said as they took cover. "That was the most satisfying forced march that I've ever been on, and you can take point ahead of me any time. Now, to business; the guards should all be distracted, and the reconnaissance team reported that the controls for the alarms are just inside that window of this building. And the good news is that Saren uses ADT, so once inside, we've got almost a full minute before the alarm actually goes off."
"Sounds good, Captain." Ashley replied. "Everyone follow me."
Again they followed very closely as she led them up to the unguarded window, and after she broke the glass with her pistol, they said nice, and oh yeah just like that when she slowly bent forward to climb through the window, obviously envious of her skills. For once the intelligence was right, and there was an ADT box on the wall a couple feet from where she entered. She would have to hurry and try to guess the code before the alarm went off, but when she pulled on the panel to open the keypad cover, the whole thing came off in her hand, silencing it.
"We're all clear." She said, motioning for the others to follow. "All right, let's go get your missing people."
