The boarding operation on the freighter was going well, the first squad had breached the lock down induced by the invaders. The group entered a room and spotted three strange soldiers clad in silver armour gathered around the corpse of a Quarian.
"Who the hell are they?" Garrus whispered while he loaded his rifle. "Okay, Liara take cover by those crates over there, when I give the signal start firing on them. Tali once the fighting starts move between cover towards them and unload your shotgun into them, I'll remain here and provide cover. Got it?"
The plan was good and the three took up their positions waiting for Garrus to give the signal. Garrus opened his omni-tool for a brief second, acting as their signal. Liara turned the corner and started shooting at one of the troopers in front of her, her weapons had little effect, but after a few shots his armour ruptured and the trooper fell to the ground dead. Garrus took aim with his rifle and lined up the scopes with a head, he fired and the trooper fell to the ground. Having claimed another kill, Garrus reloaded but was blind sided by the same soldier that he shot, he simply had a big dent on his helmet. Garrus was amazed, he was hit by their strange weapon a few times and his shields went down very quickly, he aimed in and fired at the troopers visor, seeing it as a weak spot, sure enough the trooper fell to the ground dead. Tali moved up completely undetected and jumped out of cover to fire her shotgun into the chest of the last trooper, direct hit. He staggered back and Tali fired another round which did put him down.
With each trooper dead the three of them regrouped to investigate their enemies and the dead Quarian.
"What the hell?" Garrus exclaimed in his own confusion. "What is their armour made of?"
Liara bent down in front of one of the troopers and used her omni-tool to analyse the armour and it's material. "It's a compound of steel and an unknown material, it seems to have a high durability."
"I'll say, that guy shrugged off a round from a sniper rifle!" Garrus exclaimed.
"Keelah..." Tali had knelt down in front of the Quarian, his mask had been removed and there was a burn all over it's face. Tali found the discarded helmet nearby and refitted it onto the Quarian. "Those bosh'tet! Who could do this?!"
While Tali was inspecting the Quarian, Liara had scanned the enemies weapons. "These weapons have immense power, they seem to fire bursts of energy which is why our shields went down so quickly. If we had been hit by them then they likely would have burned our armour, successive hits would have burnt right through." Liara grabbed the rifle in two hands, it was heavy to hold but had the same functions as a normal rifle except there was nothing to load. "I suggest taking these weapons, they should be far more effective against our enemies if my scans are correct." Each of the three grabbed one of the strange rifles.
Back on the Normandy, Joker had acknowledged the Republic officer and had explained that they had refugees aboard and needed immediate assistance and an escort out of the system, they didn't seem all that fazed when he told them their origins.
"I see, well we will provide your forces enough cover to make a jump to these co-ordinates." The admiral transmitted a set of co-ordinates. "We'll talk more when you arrive."
"Wait! We have people aboard one of those ships, we need to extract them before we can leave the system." Joker hastily added.
"Understood, we'll provide cover while you extract your people. Admiral Dodonna out."
Tali and the squad continued towards the bridge, as they neared it they heard gunfire coming within, they peeked around the corner to see two Alliance marines in the middle of a firefight with 4 more of those soldiers. The three entered and got a chance to try out their new weapons. Garrus fired first and he was startled back by the intensity of the kickback, the bolt flew into the chest of one of the soldiers and he was thrown back by the blast while his allies turned to start shooting at the newcomers. Shots rang out and the Alliance marines began fighting harder, one of them sustained a wound to the arm, he screamed in pain as his friend continued shooting. Tali got up close and fired a few bolts into one of the trooper while shouting 'Bosh'tet'. The trooper went down with a very visible hole in his chest. Only two remained, Liara used a biotic warp which completely corroded the armour of the trooper and he fell to the ground dead. The last trooper fought on as the two groups surrounded him, he was gunned down shortly after the last one died.
"Normandy to Tali. Do you read?" Jokers voice could be heard over her omni-tool.
Tali brought up her omni-tool and responded "What is it?"
"A third fleet entered the system, they're protecting our escape. You need to get back here before we jump or you'll be left behind." Joker shouted down the comm.
"Well then let's finish up here and get the hell out!" Garrus said as they went to pick up the marines, they applied some omni-gel and continued back to the shuttles. Once they reached the bay they saw the marines holding out against more of those silver troops. The group intervened and dealt with the soldiers. They began loading onto the shuttles, first the wounded and then Garrus and then Liara... More troops spilled into the hangar and Tali and the remaining marines were forced to take cover as they fought back.
"Come on Tali!" Garrus shouted as their shuttle was hit constantly.
"Just go! I'll catch up with you!" Tali shouted, the shuttles kinetic barrier was about to go down so they were forced to leave. One of the remaining marines started the other shuttle as Tali finished off the last of the troops. She got aboard and set off for the Normandy at high speeds. However a few minutes after they left, a blast from a nearby capital ship rocked their hull and ruptured the engine controls forcing the shuttle to the planet surface.
Joker watched in horror as the shuttle fell out of scanning distance, he saw one of their 'allies' cruisers take a severe beating and what he assumed were escape pods were released only to careen down to the planet. Joker cursed himself as he prepared the FTL drive, he had been forced to leave another crew member behind. The admiral gave him the signal and one by one each ship made the jump to the nearby co-ordinates of a Republic base.