The next week was a bustle of activity. Shepard was still occupied wrangling politicians as they restocked and prepared to get underway, but they had their orders. It seemed there were pockets of significant geth activity in The Terminus Systems. A more fortuitous coincidence couldn't have presented itself if it were wrapped in a bow and handed to them on a silver platter. They were headed into Batarian space on a recon and sabatoge mission with the full blessing of The Alliance and council. Alliance ships were disappearing without a trace and despite the risk of provoking The Hegemony, the council wanted it checked out. Tali had locked herself on the engineering deck and spent days meticulously combing over the data obtained from Charn. So far, #1182 was the only female human who fit the description and timeline. It all seemed too good to be true, but the energetic little quarian left no room for mistakes and continuously checked and rechecked her work.
Garrus busied himself helping with the installation of a few Normandy retrofits. She'd seen heavy action in The Battle of the Citadel and he wanted to personally oversee her repairs. Plus, he didn't trust run of the mill techs to properly install the modifications he'd made to her main guns. The original system responsible for launching their disruptor torpedoes was badly damaged and The Alliance was willing to shell out the creds for not only repairs but a few enhancements. They might as well take advantage of the situation while the politicians' gratitude lasted.
He heard the elevator doors swish open and the commander stomping out. The man was many things but subtle was never one of them. Garrus turned to greet him as he clomped over in his combat boots.
"Bee in your bonnet?"
Shepard paused in confusion. "Where did you hear that one?"
"An ensign from the last batch of troops that passed through on deployment. And you're avoiding the question."
"Just Udina. That sycophant is never going to get over losing the councilor position to Anderson. He's doing his best to make my life as miserable as possible."
Before he could respond, Shepard held up his hand and continued. "We're all set though. Anderson is learning how to use his considerable political force to put that toad in his place. We leave at 05:00."
Garrus quickly looked around to check if anyone could overhear, when he was satisfied it was all clear he lowered his voice to a mere rumble. "Any news on the Rotund's location?"
"Nothing current." Shepard sighed. "But it was spotted about six months back when it refueled on Omega. I'm not even sure of the Rotund's purpose. Transport? Military? Trading vessel? This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Seeing Garrus's look of confusion, the commander explained. "Another human saying – it means extremely difficult to find."
"We'll get it done Shepard. After saving the galaxy, a slave rescue sounds pretty simple to be honest."
"Speaking of, I should see if Tali has any updates." With that the commander disappeared into the air-lock.
During the following weeks, the command deck was rife with anticipation as they found themselves hunting geth across the Terminus Systems. While the crew hadn't been brought up to speed regarding their plans for a little side mission, Shepard had let Pressley in on their machinations. He was surprisingly amenable to the idea. 'Slavers are the bane of humanity's galactic existence and it was about time we kicked back' is how he put it. However, they had no idea where the Rotund was and their mission was a priority. As a result, they were currently gearing up to take out a geth cruiser in the Hourglass Nebula. Why the menacing robots had forces outside the Perseus Veil was lost on them but it raised the hackles of the entire crew.
"Bring us in close Joker. Quick and quiet. I want a full scan of their outer defenses and make sure we map out all their docking bays." "Tali!"
"Yes sir!" the quarian answered
"Is your jamming program online and ready?"
"Ready for deployment."
"Do it. And be ready. You're on the boarding team. That goes for you two as well." Shepard nodded to Garrus and Wrex. "We're bringing an extra set of hands in case the geth keep Tali occupied trying to counteract her jammer. The last thing we need is for the geth to send in reinforcements. Our objective is to reach the central chamber and plant a literal fuckton of explosives. From there, it'll be a race back to the shuttle before detonation. The ship will be ripped apart from inside. If you have questions, now's the time."
The docking tube was ominously quiet.
"No alarms? No colossal robots? I was expecting something nasty and mechanical to jump out at us. Maybe Sovereign's baby brother." Garrus quipped.
"If you don't shut up you may just get your wish." Tali hissed
"If Wrex's stomping doesn't alert them, my whispering sure as hell won't."
"Cut the chatter and stay frosty." Shepard snapped. "Something doesn't add up."
"You think it's a trap." Wrex stated bluntly
"I think we have precious little intel and I'd rather not spring it before we're ready if that's the case. We just killed their god a few weeks back. Bet they're not too happy about that. Everyone go dark. Take cover around corners. Tali, you and Garrus are rearguard. Wrex and I will take point. Herringbone formation."
They quickly fell in line and inched their way deeper into the ship. The cruiser's halls were long and narrow with convex walls that came together to form a triangular arch. Tubes filled with light lined the contact points above them. Looking up had been a mistake, the odd angles made Garrus's head swim. The layout was disorienting to say the least. But what concerned him was the lack of cover. If they did find themselves in a firefight it'd be tight.
As the hallway ended, spilling out into a larger structure; Shepard's fist shot up, a signal to stop. Motioning for Tali to come forward he pointed to a small device a few inches from his feet.
"Some sort of sensor I think." Tali whispered. "Orders?"
"Disable it then see if you can determine its exact nature. The rest of you fan out and guard."
Tali nodded. Grasping the device, her nimble fingers flew over the circular object. After a few moments her voice popped on the coms. "Disabled. It's a simple sensor. No indication we set it off."
"Good. Let's proceed. Back to Herringbone formation. Maybe we can plant this bomb without a hitch and give the flashlight heads a nasty surprise for once."
They found themselves traversing through another narrow hallway, rife with ominous fluorescent lighting before coming to a massive, circular room.
"This is it. We plant the bombs here, Tali arms them then we hightail it back to the Normandy."
Tali's voice, alive with anticipation, filled the room. "We have hostiles incoming!"
"I knew it was a trap." Wrex groaned.
"No. Actually, it looks like this was the only room armed with infrared sensors. They picked up our heat signatures." Tali answered.
"It doesn't matter" Shepard interrupted. "We blow them up either way. There are only two points of entry for this room which makes things simple. We'll split up two and two with rear guard trading off as needed. Garrus you're on shields. Take them down fast and hard. Tali, once they're vulnerable, hack their friend-foe programming. Wrex and I will mop up the rest. Time to kill some flashlight heads."
The first wave was massive but consisted of relatively low-caliber enemies. Tali crouched behind Wrex, quickly darting out to set off her malicious programming before jumping back into position. Garrus had his hands full overloading shields and sniping while he waited for his omnitool to cool down. He watched as Shepard warped a trooper and shoved his shotgun down a sniper's throat. It was at that moment he caught a slight flickering out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned, visor rapidly scanning and got a ping not far from Wrex and Tali's position.
"Heads up. I think we have some Hunters." Garrus quickly warned the team. "Looks like they're trying to sneak up on both sides."
Shepard paused, quickly spun in a full circle, and started shouting orders. "Garrus pop off a few rounds on my nine o'clock. Tali have your dampeners ready but wait for my signal."
As Garrus squeezed the trigger of his pulse rifle, two troopers previously concealed by some sort of tactical cloak appeared.
"They have an area effect cloak. SCATTER AND TAKE COVER. TALI DAMPEN THE WHOLE LEFT HALLWAY. MOVE PEOPLE."
Garrus abruptly launched himself behind the central controls, it looked like a circular shaped desk of sorts with a hollow center. Either way, it was made of metal and more than capable of providing cover. With a thud, he felt Tali land beside him and he caught a wiff of melting circuitry. She must've successfully sabotaged their cloak. When he positioned himself and raised his rifle he could see at least twenty geth, now revealed, hurtling into the room.
"Synthetic bastards." He screeched and let off a barrage of bullets into their mist. The first two dropped and he continued firing into their advancing line. Three… Four…. The sharp sound of glass fragmenting from bullet impacts filled his ears. Where was Shepard and Wrex? Five… Six… And then nothing. Suddenly the entire platoon vanished.
"There are two hunters last seen at my ten and two o'clock. They're the ones with the area-affect cloak. Focus fire!" Shepard hollered over the com.
"Negative commander. I can't see them. Not even with my visor." Garrus replied.
"Wrex on me! We're going in. Paint 'em with a warp. Be ready everyone."
With a blast of blue, the burly man and massive krogan charged – their considerably powerful barriers absorbing an impressive amount of fire. Wrex slammed into something massive and thrust a warp at point blank range, causing it to glitter blue – the perfect target. As the krogan retreated to regain barriers, Garrus emptied his clip smack dab in the center of the hunter's head. One down. Now for the next.
Shepard wasn't as fortunate. His target was nowhere near its last known position and the man was flying blind. Although, Garrus had to hand it to him. He really didn't let something as minor as an imminent and painful death deter him. There his human commander was, shotgun in one hand, holding up a pulsating shield of blue energy in the other, while continuing to charge the invisible line.
"Warp the ground repeatedly at assumed enemy positions Wrex. I'm done with these assholes." Shepard practically screamed in rage.
And with that Wrex began throwing out explosive warps in every direction. As soon as one would hit an enemy, it'd splash outwards and brighten up a few more. That signaled Garrus and he'd quickly lay into them. By the time he was finished shooting one set, Wrex had already painted two more. That was the moment Garrus realized Tali wasn't contributing. A quick sideways glance let him know she was fine but completely occupied on her omnitool, fingers frantically flying over the keys. Damn. He thought. The geth must be trying to counteract the jamming and call for reinforcements. Guess I'm on my own. The situation before him was deteriorating. Sure Shepard was a beast on the battlefield but he was drawing the fire of a full platoon of geth while Wrex painted targets for him and Tali to bring down. He took aim and squeezed the trigger as quickly as he was able 1…..2…. Without her could he really knock them all out in time? Squeeze. 3 ….4…. Damnit. Shepard was being flanked. And three troopers were advancing towards Wrex. Sure the krogan could take them but then they'd be flying blind with no idea of their enemies' movements. Crap. No way he could take all four down within seconds. But he had to try. Unbidden, his father's voice flooded into his head.
"Again, Garrus."
Squeeze.
"Too slow, Garrus."
Squeeze.
"I'm not doing this to punish you Garrus."
Squeeze.
"Nothing worth having is easy boy."
Squeeze.
His rifle flew from target to target. His shots lined up with astounding clarity.
Shepard had the hunter by the throat, his omniblade out, honing in for the kill. In an instant, every unit was revealed. Finally, the last hunter was dead.
One by one the robots fell. Garrus was only vaguely aware of the world around him. He heard a roar and spotted Shepard launching himself into a group of troopers. His biotic shield toppled them and Garrus granted them each a swift death. The world outside this moment disappeared. It was just him and the geth now. When one bulb shattered and went dark his rifle swung to the next. But with each dimmed light it felt like two more replaced it. They jumped from the ceiling. They poured through the door. Wrex was wielding an inactive trooper like a hammer and smashing it against oncoming geth. They shattered under the krogan's massive weight, but he was about to be overwhelmed.
Sapper above.
Squeeze.
"Again. Garrus. We'll be here until you do it right."
Trooper ontop of Wrex.
Squeeze
"Get up Garrus and go again."
Squeeze
"Three out of four targets!? Put some effort in boy!"
Squeeze
"Not good enough."
Squeeze
Finally, the last geth dropped and Garrus fell back against a cool metal wall panting.
"Everyone alright?" Shepard shouted as he turned to check on his squad. Wrex was pulling himself up and out of a pile of geth but seemed otherwise unharmed. Tali gave a quick 'aye aye' before returning to her omnitool.
"Tali..." Shepard started
"One second commander. The geth have been trying to counteract the jamming signal. I'm almost finished with their latest attack on my firewalls."
"Yeah I figured the assholes were up to something."
"Aaaaand done."
"Do you see any movement back the way we came?"
"No." She answered. "But if the geth have platforms elsewhere on the ship they could download into them in an instant. They're still trying to counteract my signal as well but they're becoming sluggish. Their response time has decreased dramatically."
"Meaning they're getting stupider. So there shouldn't be too many left on board. Alright let's set the bombs and high tail it out of here before we blow this place sky high."
It took less than five minutes to line the entire room with an impressive amount firepower. Then they were racing back to the docking bay before detonation. The resistance they met was pathetic at best, and they quickly tore through the remaining geth. Before they knew it, they were back on the Normandy watching the cruiser crumble in a glorious orange-red blaze.
Triumphant shouting echoed across the whole deck as the ground team celebrated their hard-won victory.
"Damn Vakarian. That was some mighty fine shooting!" Shepard roared in appreciation. The man was grinning from ear to ear, looking like he had just won ten rounds of quasar in a row. "Next time we're on shore leave, I owe you a drink … or ten."
"It's nothing." Garrus huffed. "Just a little target practice. But seriously, how did you know there was an area effect cloak? One minute I spotted a pair of hunters, the next you were ordering me to shoot at the damn air."
"It was pretty impressive." Tali added.
"Since when does your visor miss a single cloaked hunter? The geth had to have some upgrades and a cloaking area effect made sense. Besides, every hair on my arm was on end. Something was there. Many somethings in fact. I could feel it." Shepard grit out as if remembering the offending geth made him want to kill them all over again.
"Damn. And here I thought turians were supposed to have the most evolved hunter's instincts." Garrus dully responded. If it hadn't been for Shepard, he would've been none the wiser to the numerous troops surrounding them.
"They're becoming way too advanced." Tali moaned. "First infrared sensors now this?!"
Shepard merely shrugged. "They're in league with the reapers. This is to be expected. And we blew them up anyway. That is what I call a success."
"That's the spirit Shepard!" Wrex clamored. "Aw. Shit. I need a word after I clean up. Meet in the cargo bay?"
"Sure thing Wrex. Tali, Garrus report to Chakwas. You both took some fire and I want my team combat ready."