"I don't know why I keep getting surprised," Niica said as she stared at the Mako tank in front of her. "But here I am again,"
The tank was similar to the old model, but this one had a thanix cannon and had more armour. It also had stabiliser jets on the side so that it didn't turn over, or if it needed to correct itself. Something that Kasumi hoped didn't happen, she had one to many brushes with death thanks to Shepard's bad driving skills.
"You get used to it," Kasumi shrugged.
"I'll drive," Luna said as she approached the tank.
Kasumi and Paedia's eyes widened before they looked at each other and charged at the young Shepard with the turrian tackling her to the ground.
"Hey…" Luna yelled. "Get, off…" she grunted.
"The last time you drove, you caused three tucks to slam into billboards," Paedia said. "And you were going out on a damned test. I'm driving, end of story,"
"You are worse than your father, and I have no desire to die today," Kasumi added as she pinned Luna's and pried the keys from her.
"Is she really that bad?" Yanni asked.
Kasumi shuddered. "You have no idea. Of all the things to inherit, she got her father's bad driving skills. When we were on the hunt for the Shadow Broker, she caused 10 accidents in one day. Banned from driving for life, despite her Spectre status,"
"Got it," the thief declared as she handed over the keys to the younger Vakarian.
"Damn it," Luna pouted as Kasumi got off of her and helped her up.
"Get used to it," Kasumi said as the group walked over to the tank. "You are not driving ever again,"
Luna just grunted in annoyance as she took her place at one of the free chairs with her friends taking seats and Kasumi taking the cannon.
"Strapped in?" Paedia asked.
Everyone except for Luna, who was still pouting, responded and the tank drove off.
OOOOO
"I'm getting too old for this," Garrus grunted as he ran down the corridor followed by yellow armoured troopers.
At first, he thought that they were Eclipse mercs, but they didn't have the emblem nor the number of techs and biotics Eclipse has. The colours where also wrong in that while they were yellow, they also had white as a secondary colour. But no identifying markings, the one aspect that he could be sure of was that they were all humanoid. Meaning Asari, Batarians and or humans. And that wasn't easy to figure out as all three species had the same shape, number of fingers and other things.
The fact that they wore helmets didn't help the fact and he was at a distance when he shot, so trying to figure out what blood colour they had was out of the question. Shaking his head, clearing his mind, he turned and fired three rounds in rapid succession before turning and running. The screams of pain confirmed that he had hit his pursuers, but weather he killed them or not, was another matter. One he didn't have time for as he made a sharp left turn and sprinted down another corridor.
As he did so, he cursed Liara's paranoia. While she was right, about having the place be hard to navigate, it was also hard for him to navigate the place as well. At the very least, he knew the direction he needed to head in order to get out of the base. Liara needed to be informed about what happened here, and the status of the project.
he continued to run, making left and right turns at seemingly random intervals, but he had this place memorised. Years of working in places like Omega and the Citadel had given him a good reason to memorise the complex maps. In a place like this, he had a very good sense of direction. After making another turn, he dived into a room and locked the door. With a sigh he turned to look around to find himself in a substation. Nodding, he walked over to one of the terminals and activated.
His codes allowed for full access of the station regardless of his position. He began to look though the stations cameras and systems making sure it was all intact. For the most part it was, but there was one thing that wasn't. The main hanger/ construction bay. The unknowns had entered it and were trying to get access to the ship. Something that should be impossible without certain codes. But given that they had found the base in the first place meant that they knew someone or something that lead them here with all of the info.
He guessed the latter rather than the former as the employees who worked here were monitored and given a hefty pay to keep them quiet. But that didn't mean that someone didn't spill. A proximity alarm then got his attention and he turned to the sensors to see who it was. When the attackers invaded, they cut all cameras and other security but no the sensors. Maybe they were waiting for reinforcements? But either way, it meant that he could get out as the terminal indicated that the sensor alert came from the main entrance.
That wasn't too far away. If he can get there, and take out the reinforcements, he maybe to get out and send a warning out. Shutting down the terminal, and killing his code, he turned to the other door and made his way though. As he moved down the corridors, he made sure to take it slow. Not too slow, but slow enough so that he wouldn't get spotted by the attackers. If the base layout worked, they would be hopelessly lost in a place like this.
As he rounded a bend, he entered the main entrance only to find several of the yellow armoured troops in the area. Grunting in annoyance, he moved over to a section of cover and aimed his rifle. Taking out these soldiers would be easy.
OOOOO
The Mako rolled up to the main entrance and stopped allowing the team to exit. Due to the heavy weather, the team had their helmets on which helped due to the high winds and snow. Luna was the first out running though the standard checks of making sure the area was clear. Something that was drilled into her by her family and basic training. Once she was satisfied, she indicated the others to come out.
The others jumped out with Paedia being the last out. They then moved over to the airlock which Luna tried the card. But the terminal blinked red and flashed. She tried again but ended up with the same result.
"Lockdown," Kasumi sighed as she walked up. "Not a problem, Liara gave us all codes to access places like this. Even in a lockdown,"
Luna moved out of the way as Kasumi entered her code and the terminal turned orange and the door opened. Without saying anything the team entered the airlock and waited for the area to pressurise before removing their helmets and moving on.
Garrus saw the airlock terminal turn orange as he took out the last of the attackers and re-aimed his rifle at the airlock. As the first person entered, he blinked, he recognised her.
"Luna?" he muttered before looking at the rest surprised to see Kasumi and three asari he didn't know. But the last one sent shivers down his spine. "Paedia?" he asked as he lowered the weapon and stood. "What are you all doing here?" he asked before exiting cover.
"Luna, Kasumi, Paedia!" he yelled waving his hand.
Paedia looked up eyes widening. "Dad!" she called out in joy as the old turrian moved over to a ladder and climbed down to join them.
"He…" he began but was silenced as his daughter ran up to him and brought him in a tight embrace.
He smiled and did the same. It lasted for a moment before the younger Vakarian pulled away and stared at her father with narrowed eyed. Garrus flushed with embracement.
"You have some explaining to do old man," she said folding her arms across her chest. "You leave without telling me, mom or Livinia. You don't write, you don't email, leaving us worried when you go on a vigilante mission,"
"Errr… well… I… errr…." He muttered but Paedia just smiled and pulled him close again.
"How many times do I have to say tell us?" she asked as her father wrapped his arms around her.
"Too many times," he said with a hint of guilt in his voice. "Now it's my turn to ask," he said after a moment pulling away. "What are you guys doing here?"
"The Citadel was attacked, uncle Garrus," Luna spoke up. "Mom's been taken by people in yellow armour,"
"She…" he shook his head. "You said yellow? Was it white as well?"
"Yeah," Luna nodded. "At first, we thought Eclipse, but they didn't have the same markings,"
Garrus grunted in annoyance and rubbed his scar. "Damn it, I was hoping for good news. I haven't been able to get a message out for weeks,"
"You haven't contacted anyone?" Kasumi asked confused. "Not even on the secure channels?"
Garrus shook his head. "No, whoever these guys are, they cut communications as soon as they entered. Regular or otherwise,"
"The day before Liara was captured, she said that she received a message from you," Kasumi explained. "I was on my way to help investigate,"
"I haven't sent anything," Garrus reaffirmed.
Realisation dawned on the two as they looked at each other. "Someone knows about her," Kasumi said.
"Shit," Garrus muttered. "This is a major pain in the ass," he turned and looked to door. "We need to get the others and find out what's going on,"
"Others?" Niica asked.
"The rest of the Normandy crew," Luna said before turning to Garrus. "We can book a flight as soon as we get out of here,"
To her and everyone else's surprise, Garrus laughed. "We aren't going to need to book a flight. We have a ship in this base,"
Kasumi's eyes widened. But everyone else had a confused look on their faces.
"How?" Yanni asked.
"Follow me," he said conspiratorially and lead the group to a side room with a large screen.
Using his code, he brought up images of the hanger and indicated it to the others. "This is our way out,"
Trivo, Niica and Yanni's mouths fell open while Paedia and Luna just stared transfixed by the ship that they saw. Memories filling them.
"This is what Liara and the others have been working on?" Kasumi asked breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Garrus muttered looking at it. "Jane had always assumed that something other than the Reapers would turn up and cause problems. She wanted an insurance plan," he turned to look at the screen. "This was it,"
Luna shook her head. "So how do we get there?"
Garrus pulled the image out showing the libertine base. "We are here," he indicated to a small icon close to the exit. "We need to follow this path," he said drawing a line from where they were to the hanger. "I'm not sure how many enemies there are, but if we move quickly and quietly, we can make it,"
Luna and Paedia nodded. "It looks simple enough,"
"Simple?" Trivo scoffed. "This place is a Goddess dammed maze,"
Luna just shrugged. "I used to play in the Normandy's vents with the others," she indicated to Paedia next to her. "This is nothing,"
"Something I remember chasing the pair of you down for," Garrus softly growled. "Do you now how many times it took me to re-calibrate the main gun?"
The two gulped as Garrus gaze became very intimidating, shrinking the two. But he turned to look at the map.
"We have to get moving now," he said. "Check your gear, we move out in five,"