After the quick team briefing TV went back to the medlab to prep. Joining a clan war on Tuchanka was bound to result in injuries and casualties. Some Batarian and Krogan organs would sell fairly well on the black market. She methodically went through the machinery and the implements, making sure each was functional and sanitary. Overall she didn't have to do much, it was well maintained, as expected of Turians. She sat at the desk and checked her message notifications. There were a few messages in a medical group chat Vortiox had set up

Vortiox: *query* How goes your assignments?

Talvin: Oh good, this is much more…extreme than I'm used to but getting used to it.

Vortiox: *content* I'm glad you're feeling more at home. *expanding* Life ships are a noble cause but limited in scope. You may not bring physical objects but I'm sure the knowledge you gain on this pilgrimage will be considered invaluable by the Migrant Fleet. *cheekily* Have you been doing your reading?

Talvin: I feel like gaining medical knowledge doesn't usually involve serving in a mercenary fleet but I see your point. And yes! Halfway through the book on spore transmission vectors. Also, you know you don't have to type your feelings like you talk right?

Vortiox: *heavy sigh* *explanation* My hands are to big for the buttons. I must use a speech to text program. Please re read your basic biology of Elcor and Volus.

Talvin: SORRY! Still getting used to cultural norms

Vortiox: *subject changing query* TV, sounds like there was a fight on Omega?

TV: Cultists. None of them were intact enough for proper field examination. No major injuries for us.

Vortiox: *shocked* What did the cultists want with you?

TV: Not me specifically. They are after people that killed Dino. That includes us. Luckily that includes Boros so he has a vested interest in killing them.

Vortiox: *chastising* TV, he did help us and take us on as crew. He could've just left us or sold us.

TV: Previous to our arrival there wasn't a single medic. We have a use.

Talvin: …I mean here I am with 0 field medicine experience...

TV: Hence why you should watch your back.

Vortiox: *concerned* We'll finish this conversation later. Where are you?

TV: Detour on Tunchunka. Expecting casualties. Something about a clan war that we're now involved in.

TV: We need to talk to the captain about expanding medical facilities on Namakle. Ship med bays won't continue to be sufficient at current levels of…work

Talvin: That we can agree on.

Vortiox: *Pondering* Agreed. It is lucky we've only had two major injuries considering the situations we find ourselves in. I'll create some design and cost outlines to present

TV logged out of her messenger and began reviewing patient data.

Boros, Skarr and Ares pushed forward, away from the ship. Reeva looked down at the Asari assassin they had picked up. "Let me guess, work better on your own?"

Ripley gave her a bit of side eye and said "Anything I need to keep an eye out for?"

"Hmmm. Ping any vehicle wrecks you find. Especially if they're tanks or small airships." Ripley nimbly climbed over some rubble and headed in the direction of the AA tower.

Reeva walked back to the bridge, her crew turning to look at her. "Looks like we're doin this, should be a quick in and out. Vyx, keep the engines warm for when that AA tower goes down. Whether it's firepower or extraction we're going to need you. Seal the door behind me and don't die." Some nods and small cheers around the bridge and Reeva walked back towards the engine bay. 'Heh. She's wrapped up. Time for some fun.' Reeva thought as she could see Serena on a crawler underneath the engine. Serena was totally oblivious. Reeva laid down on her stomach and rested her chin on her arms. "Wanna make a bomb?" Reeva said in an excited shout.

Serena jumped and slammed her head onto a pipe that was overhead. "OW! What the fuck!?"

"I said, do you wanna build a bomb?"

"What do you need a bomb for?"

Reeva rolled onto her side, propped her head up with one arm and started tracing delicate circles on the floor with her finger. "Weeeeellll there's that AA tower, and I figured you could put your skills to good use? Seeing as how you're a war hero and all that." She tilted her head a little and smiled.

Serena's mind started racing 'SHIT FUCK CAPTAIN NEVER TOLD US OUR COVER STORY SHIT GODDAM IT…' Only skipping the slightest of beats externally, Serena said "Yeah too bad I got discharged. Illegal AI tech experiments." She tried to bring herself back down thinking 'Okay, not a lie but not the truth.'

Reeva sat up, cross legged "And this is why I like you. But seriously I spotted that little homemade rocket you gave the Krogan. I need that ingenuity but bigger. Get your gear and meet in the hangar bay in 5." Reeva shot up and walked out, headed towards the medbay. Serena stayed still until she was sure Reeva was gone and then let out a heavy sigh, rubbed her face, realized she just rubbed grease all over her face, slumped defeatedly, pulled herself up and went to get her gear.

TV was heavily involved in the data she was reading. "Fungal? No. Spreads and Implodes. Microbial? No. Not eating br…."

"Whatcha doin doc?" TV realized there was someone right over her shoulder and in her periferies she could see the look of a smug Turian.

"My job."

"Ah yes, " Reeva stood up from leaning over TV's shoulder "…well Boros asked me to ask you to help."

"Has Skarr already been shot?"

"Probably, but not the reason for your help."

"Shame. Been wanting to examine some of his brain tissue."

"Mhm." Reeva's eyes opened wide and her maw fluttered. There's an awkward silence.

"Other samples will have to do for today." TV grabs her SMG off the table and walks out to the docking bay. Reeva follows shortly and whistles for her drone Petra.

The team assembles in the docking bay and exit the ship. Sounds of artillery in the distance continue to boom. Reeva pulls up her omni tool and sees three pinged locations. She links TV and Serena to her comm channel with Ripley "Got the nav points, what does resistance look like?"

A few seconds of silence. "Just one scout so far."

"Interesting. Probably focusing on the flanking maneuver. We'll catch up to you soon." She looks back at TV and Serena, "We've got a hike, I'll fill you in on the way." She turns around to walk backwards, points at Serena "I'll have to teach you how to use more guns." Points at TV "I don't think you need more guns."

TV looks at her deadpan, "Correct. I do however require more surgical implements."

"You mean knives."

"Yes."

"Noted." They climb up the rubble pile Ripley did earlier and head out.

At the top of the rubble pile was the roof of a building that's connected to an old concrete road. "Oooo. High ground, travel in style." Reeva chirps as she leads the group on. "I'm sending three nav points to your omnitools. Our job is to take down the AA gun. Scans indicate that it's a modified mechanical cannon from an extremely old Turian warship. What that means is that it might be hackable to lock out the Kortan and Wreave but leave it for Urdnot. However it's not that hard to convert into a full mechanical operation, AKA unhackable, and if that's the case, " She looks over at Serena, "we just need to blow it to hell."

Serena feels her adrenaline pumping but this isn't an unfamiliar feeling. This time she got to prepare and has a gun. "So what am I looking at for ordinance?"

Reeva gives an approving smile, "We have three broken down fusion core vehicles that could be used to make a nuclear bomb. How much will we need?"

Serena starts thinking through calculations. "Well based on average Turian construction, and considering a probable age of 350-500 years old an explosion of 5 kiltons should do it. 8 if you want to be safe. Assuming the vehicles are Krogan nuclear powered using the tech Salarians gave them a core at 38.867% would be enough."

Reeva nods approvingly, "Let's call it 40% and find a core."

As the group continued to clamber their way over the cracked roads and bridges they could hear the gunfire getting closer. Reeva, on point, holds the group up when she spots blood on the ground. TV gets to scanning it and Serena watches behind. Still kneeling, "Krogan blood. Fresh. Obviously. Laced with poison. Based on splatter, got cut with poisoned blade." She stands up and picks up the trail of blood, waving the group over. Everyone has guns up, TV seems indifferent, Reeva poised, Serena nervous. The group approaches a pile of wrecked steel bars. TV whips around the corner and points her SMG at a Krogan corpse. She immediately looks forward because she thought she saw movement, but it's another Krogan corpse. Reeva reacts and looks the same way.

Serena rounds the corner, turns her nose up at the smell a bit, "Yup. That's Ripley's work. Half rotted from biotics and slashed across the face."

"Didn't expected you to be the jumpy one." Reeva tries to rile up TV.

TV walks over to the other corpse, "Look for datapad. Vehicle locations." Reeva narrows her eyes, then turns to the Krogan Serena is investigating. As they pat down the body they find some ammo but not much else.

Reeva looks over at Serena. "You're holding up just fine. It's okay to have nerves, and you're keeping your head."

"Thanks. Last time 'in the field' was kinda fuckin bad."

"Oh, language young lady, but no really you got hit by pirates right?"

"Blue Suns. Tractor beamed the ship, blew a hole in it. We lost Ben and Silvio when the airlock flew open. Myself and Wayne barely held on and had to hide and then retake the ship."

Reeva paused for a moment and thought 'Damn. Propaganda actually downplayed it sounds like.' Turning her head to face Serena "Well this time we've got the element of surprise. I do want to talk to you later if that's okay though."

"Yeah sure I guess."

TV walks up behind them "Patrol Report." and holds out a datapad.

Reeva takes it and starts comparing it to the locations Ripley marked. "Hmm. Okay. Looks like two of these are defunct and one is actually in use currently. Obviously the one is use will probably have the materials we need but will be guarded, and the other two are probably too drained to use."

"Logic dictates we investigate the guaranteed resources. More efficient. " TV almost immediately says.

Serena nods. Reeva proceeds to nod while tilting her head, looking at her teammates. "Follow me then."

Weaving through the desolate concrete jungle gave Serena weird vibes. She was used to Mars where it was arid but the buildings were in good repair. The larger city planets he'd been to were also pretty. But this was a warzone. If this is how the Krogan lived she could see why so many left and why they were so hateful. Sure Turians and Batarians had devastated human colonies and cities but at least there was still somewhere to go. Somewhere to start over. She was snapped out of her thoughts as she ran into the back of Reeva, who was surprisingly strong. "Patrol up ahead. We haven't been spotted yet. Get low." TV dropped low with Reeva and Reeva yanked Serena down, and they slinked their way into a blown out building. Reeva popped up with a set of binoculars. "Two varren, one krogan. Looks like he might be the ride for the scouts they have around."

"Can you handle varren?"

Reeva looks over at TV "Yes? You planning on soloing a krogan?"

"No. Distraction. Serena can follow up."

Reeva can tell that TV is serious. "Alright doc. Let me line up and then you move." Reeva pulls Serena in by the arm as she walks by "No need for heroics. Stay cool. We got shit to blow up." Serena nods and follows TV.

As Serena and TV try to flank the group, Serena trips over some rubble and a pile of rocks come tumbling down. The Krogan turns and yells "GET EM," the varren start charging. The Krogan charges Serena with a biotic infused hammer and comes down to crush her skull, she rolls out of the way and shimmies back. Reeva knows she needs help. "Petra, slam that Krogan!"

"With pleasure, engaging the meatbag."

Reeva lines up on the closest varren. Her Vindicator rifle feeling like an extension of her arm, she headshots and drops the first varren. The second one is moving faster but she hits it center mass and it stumbles in its run. She feels the heat building in the rifle. Petra charges over to the Krogan and tries to bash him, but he swats her out of the way.

TV looks back at Seren, shocked, 'Inept humans.' she thinks. Quickly assessing the situation she shoots an overload charge at the Krogan. The Krogan jolts as the bolt hits him, he turns to TV. Electricity leaps from the Krogan, but even injured, the varren is nimble enough to avoid it. Serena, in a slight panic, leaps to her feet, sees a shotgun at the Krogan's side and sends a sabotaging shock in it's direction. The varren, after dodging the lightning bolt, leaps at TV, it's maw wide. She lithley side steps it. The krogan, enraged that a Salarian hurt him, hurls a biotic lance in TV's direction. In his red mist the lance misses the target, buries itself in the rock pile behind her and dust explodes, obscuring her vision. The varren covered in the dust cloud, Reeva lines up on the Krogan and overdrives her rifle again. Two shots ring out and graze the krogan, but do no real damage. Petra takes another charge but misses as the krogan headbutts her to the ground. TV turns to the varren snarling at her and puts a burst from her SMG between it's eyes, she then yells at the krogan "YOU CAN'T EVEN FULFILL YOUR PLEBIAN PURPOSE OF WAR."

Serena collects herself as she realizes TV is trying to distract the Krogan. She notices his right knee is at an odd angle. She lines up her Shuriken SMG and lets a burst go. The armor around his knee is shredded to bits and some blood begins leaking out. The Krogan roars and injects himself with a stimpack, his veins popping and his knee bleeding even harder as the drugs fill his system. He throws another lance at TV, strong enough to rip through her shields but a cloud of nano bots spawn out of her armor and absorb some of the energy.

Reeva mutters "Clever girl" as she reloads her overheated rifle. She lines up a shot on the knee Serena exposed and, in her admiration, misses. TV powers up her Omni-blade and slashes at the Krogan. As the Omni-blade hits his armor additional force is thrown off of it, the nanobots direct the energy from the lance into her Omni-blade and the Krogan stumbles. Serena releases the full auto trigger on her Shuriken and yells as she empties the clip into the krogan. She starts at his knee, shredding it to bits, then moves up his back. He lets out one last croak, coughs up blood and drops. TV puts her blade through his skull just to make sure. Serena's ears are pounding with adrenaline, she can hardly hear anything except her own breathing. Se feels a reassuring hand on her shoulder, her ears don't feel as full and she can hear Reeva saying "We're all here. It's okay."

She slows her breathing over the course of the next few minutes and then turns to Reeva "Thank you. I'm good now."

"Good work kid." She pats her on the back and moves towards TV "Are you sure you're a doctor? That was pretty savage." TV stares at her deadpan. "BUT IT WAS SO COOL!" Reeva shouts as her eyes get really wide, and she claps her hands together. "You have to teach me how to do that."

"Don't worry about my medical credentials. Nanobot transmitters may interfere with your drone link."

Serena walks over to the vehicle that the Krogan was guarding. Slightly newer design than she thought but the linkages and power source seem the same. Reeva pats TV's cheeks with her hands, TV is not amused. Reeva starts looking over the Krogan. Nothing of note but she grabs the shotgun and puts it on her back.

"So I need one of you to hold up this fuel cell compartment while I cut it out. It's somewhat heavy." Serena states as she looks over the vehicle.

TV looks at Reeva "You are physically more capable in that department."

Reeva gives a sly look over her shoulder "Oh you'll find I'm quite physically capable in many departments." TV blinks once while staring at her for about 30 seconds. Reeva looks at the ground "Coming!"

Serena looks back "Okay, so I'm making cuts here and here. After the second cut this is going to drop. We need to lower it to the ground so I can extract the main fusion reactor for the bomb." Reeva nods and gets into position. Serena makes the first cut and some of the weight is transferred to Reeva, she stabilizes it. It's an odd angle and Serena finds herself in an awkward position, causing her to stumble on the second cut. The fuselage doesn't drop cleanly and Reeva feels it drop, unable to brace it. TV runs in to try and help but doesn't do much. The fuselage rolls onto the ground and knocks into a concrete slab nearby. Everyone freezes.

"FUCK. Good. FUCK" Serena runs over and checks the display panel. The core is unstable, she hurriedly moves through the console commands to stabilize it. The critical warning noise stops but an alarm trigger is still happening. "SHIT! We get one more shot before we have to get the fuck out of here."

Reeva looks at Serena. "Can you do it?"

Serena takes a deep breath. "Yes." She focuses in on the panel and types in the proper balancing measurements. The console lets out a safe chirp and flashes green. "Hooolllyyy Shit." Serena lays back on the warm, irradiated concrete, her suit sensors clicking off but barriers holding. TV stares at her, Reeva is frozen bent over looking at her inquisitively. "We can remove it." Serena breathes a sigh of relief. "Just don't jostle it too hard.

TV steps forward, "Steady nerves are needed." TV's head starts cocking at all different angles and her fingers deftly take the main reactor out of the larger apparatus. She puts it on the ground and presents it to Reeva. "I believe we need a timer."

Reeva smiles and does a little bouncy dance "I guess we do." She sets her pack down and removes some electronics for a basic remote detonator switch. She's able to attach it without any issues, places the detonation device in her utility belt and carefully loads the bomb onto her back. As she stands up her omni tool alerts her to a call on another channel, Boro's channel.

"I'm recalling Ripley. We have an ambush spot for the Krogan trying to come in behind the Urdnot line."

"Wonderful! She was very helpful in procuring materials. We're on our way to the AA tower."

"Alright, take care of those two, they're kinda green. But I think TV can handle herself for sure. Wait, what mater…"

"DON'TWORRYABOUTITWEGOTTHEAAGUN" Reeva cuts him off. "Shall we?' with a dramatic gesture towards the loud booming sounds of a massive gun, she leads her squad to their objective.

As she heard Reeva cut off the Captain, Serena pulled herself into a sitting position and let her arms rest on her knees while she took deep breaths. The tech wasn't anything she hadn't seen before or didn't know about, but the pressure was intense. Precise calculations, coordinated movements, efficient combat, not necessarily new but usually there was a few hundred tons of steel between her and the enemy. When the Blue Suns attacked the SSV Newfoundland all she had to do was not get killed and keep one foot in front of the other. She heard the whir of a scanner and looked up to see the Slarian doing a medical scan. "That worried about me? Or did you just spot a particularly fine organ?"

The scanner turns off, she looks down at her readouts, "Hmm. Honestly an average human. Scan to ensure stress is not exceeding safe limits."

Serena cocks her head, her eyes opening a little bit in surprise, "That's...oddly sympathetic…" TV looks up. There's a lot of alien features that Serena's gotten used to on the frontier but the beady black eyes of a Salarian still freak her out.

"I'm the medical expert, she's the security expert and you're the explosives expert. Concerning considering you're also the mechanic. However, tactically speaking, we need you. At least until the gun is disabled. Therefore, ensuring peak condition proves optimal."

After much blinking and confusion Serena pulls herself together enough, "How exactly did ya get into medical school and how the fuck did they pair you with Vortiox!?"

"Mm. Can talk later. Reeva ready to move." With a precise, efficient, quick movement TV stands up and walks to Reeva. Serena just shakes her head, hauls herself up and walks to join the group.

Reeva looked out over the wasteland before her. The Salarian, despite apparently no combat experience, is one of the iciest operators she's ever seen. Yet she doesn't give off STG vibes. Definitely researching her later. The human, Serena, shows the ex military experience but was definitely a grease monkey for the most part. She's got the brain and the skills though. A crew is the closest thing to family around her, and while Reeva doesn't want to pull her away from hers, hopefully she can get some more missions to show Serena the ropes and make her a proper field engineer. Analyzing the broken no man's land in more detail, Reeva begins considering the squad's options.

The AA gun is pointing down, Kotans are using it as anti infantry. No ships visible in the sky for either side. Unknown if ships exist for either side, but given the various 'treaties' regarding Krogans and tech it's safe to assume there are none. If Breaker had more firepower, blindsiding them would probably work but it doesn't, so scratch that. Frontlines from here look like a series of trenches, the AA gun being on a flank. Best bet is to stealth in, see what the gun tech is like and then determine if it's 'take and hold' or 'overrun and destroy.' A sharp poke in her back startles her, causing her to jump, and she loses her footing.

Curious. TV observes the Turian leap in the air in terror to an unpredicted stimulus and then slides down the rubble pile a little bit before bouncing off of a large rock and flopping onto her stomach. "I assume you were forming our route?"

The Turian flails around, then looks up at her with wide, excited eyes, her maw flared, "Yes! Go in quietly, figure out the tech and then capture or destroy. We're already on an advantageous route so as long as we don't alert them we should be good."

TV hears the human run up next to her, look down and then call out "Are you okay!?" and she also slips on a loose rock and promptly joins the Turian in a heap. TV lets out a heavy sigh and turns to see the little ball drone.

Petra turns her ocular enclosure to TV "I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INEPTITUDE OF MY SQUADMATE."

"Apologies don't matter if one is dead." TV slides nimbly down the rubble.

Quickly realizing it was Serena that was strewn all over her, she said "I know humans seem to have a thing for Turians lately, but now really isn't the time."

Serena scrambled and quickly jumped off "Sorry! Slipped on a rock!"

Reeva noticed she looked flustered as she flung herself off. Noted. Priority was getting her trained up. But some fun later might not be off the cards. Noted. "We need you to keep steady, We're going in quiet." Reeva picked herself up, dusted off and gave Serena a hand. Top of her head came up to about her chest. Noted. "This way, follow me." She waved the squad forward.

As they approached the AA gun, Reeva spotted one of the outer patrols. She gave a whistle and a hand gesture to hide, then went behind a broken down vehicle. Serena saw the patrol too and was moving as Reeva gave the hide order. TV tried to move but couldn't see any optimal cover. The guards were starting to notice their movement, but a Tomkah rolled in front of their vision. As that happened Reeva waved her free arm at Petra, she flew over to TV, rammed her in the stomach, causing her to flop onto the drone's body. Petra then flew the two of them up above the patrol. When the Tomkah was out of the guards' line of sight one nodded to the other and they started to investigate. Petra, with TV, noiselessly floated around the guards from above, they were none the wiser. Reeva slinked her way through a few more wrecked vehicles to their position. As Serena tried to clear her rock pile, a few rocks fell loose, one guard snapped around. He didn't see her, she held her breath in fear. Suddenly she was underneath thermal pipes. Batarian boots clunking on the deck above her. Searching. They found someone. A scream, a harpoon going through squishy innards...a whispered voice in her ear. The flashback slipped away, "Be ready." She'd never heard a Turian sound so soothing. The layers to her voice sounded like the light hum of a fan in a garage.

Reeva cut the comm and prepared herself. It'd been awhile since she tried this. Breath in, look at the spot...go. A Klixen cry came from behind a pile of scrap. Both the guards ran over, guns up. Serena ran to the group, her boots crunching on the gravel but the guards were too preoccupied by the possibility of a pack attack. Reeva massaged her throat a little, "Dated a ventriloquist. Picked up a few tricks." TV made a note in her medical record. The group continued on before the guards figured out there was no horde of Klixen coming.

They continue moving through the rubble, Serena looks around and spots some stairs that are stable and would give them a high point to look out from. "Hey, yo, there's a lookout point over there if you want another look at the tower now that we're closer." Reeva and TV look at each other, Reeva, TV and Petra all nod in agreement.

After getting up a few flights of stairs the team walks into a room with a blown out wall, stray rebar and wires still visible. "Petra, TV, watch our backs. Serena, take a look with me." Reeva takes her binoculars and looks out at the gun. Looks like they have a platoon guarding it. Not good. She looks up at the field a little bit. Buildings blown out by the AA gun and trenches that look like they've swapped hands a few times, but then a trench that looks well fortified facing down the gun. The Urdnot found some kind of defense. She hands the binoculars to Serena, "Tell me what you see."

"Lots of guards, the AA gun has been firing on infantry."

"Yeah, whatever war crime shit you're used to doesn't apply on this planet. Think we can take the guards?"

Serena scoffs, "Of course not. Anymore than one Krogan and it's gonna be a hard fight."

"Mhm. Good." There's a brief pause.

Right as Reeva is about to say something, Serena chimes in "Let me see if there's a good spot for the bomb."

Reeva smiles and leans up against the wall. There ya go, think ahead.

"So from here I can't see a weak point but with the charge that core we found is at, placement shouldn't matter as long as we get it right up against the turret."

"So even a drive by and throw could hypothetically work?" Reeva heard wheels grinding on rocks and looked down.

"I mean yeah, wh…" Serena feels a wind rush by her shoulder, pulls the binoculars down and sees Reeva leap out of the window.

Her shields short circuit and she feels the wind go out of her lungs as she hits the roof of the Tomkah. In a daze, she begins to slide off but catches a latch on the side of the vehicle. The bomb jangles, but doesn't go off.

"TV!" Serena calls out, Notices a loose structure near the road, aims her Shuriken SMG, Takes a shot but only grazes it. "We need to stop the tank!"

Reeva pulls herself up from the side and crawls over to the control panel. 'Driver must think a rock fell on top.' She's able to slice it, the hatch pops open. A toothy snarl greets her. She waves. The krogan takes a swipe at Reeva, trying to grab her, but the tank hits a bump and he gets knocked off balance. Another krogan comes into view, "JUST SHOOT IT," two shotgun blasts ring out and ricochet off of the interior.

TV can see the tank moving quickly away from the window, she looks at Serena "Go. Right behind you." Before the tank gets out of range she scans for lifesigns, two krogan are highlighted on the team's HUDs.

Shotgun pellets ricochet in the tank, throwing the driver off as some of them scrape his armor. He steers the tank sharply left, tries to pull it back right but isn't quite fast enough and the tank slams into the side of a building. Reeva is barely able to hang on as small rocks and dust fall around her. A few rocks batter her shoulders. A few ting off of the bomb casing, but it holds.

Serena runs into the street, sending a dampening signal to the tank. It's just out of range.

Reeva pokes her head over the hatch again and attempts draining the energy from the main console, the Tomkah's power fluctuates as it comes to a skidding halt. She gets thrown over the front, takes a tumble and gets up as her omni tool converts the stolen energy into power for her shields. Both of the Krogan claw their way out of the hatch, one of them tries to blast Reeva with his shotgun again, one shot tears through her shields, the other shreds the armor around her right shoulder.

TV runs out to see Serena in the street, follows her gaze and can see that Reeva is in trouble. An overload charge sizzles down the street, the lighting licking exposed wires. Both of the Krogan outside the Tomkah shudder as the electrical pulses flow through them. The driver stumbles his way out of his chair, grabs a rifle and opens the back door. He snarls and takes a shot at the Salarian. TV is knocked backwards as the force from a heavy shell of a Chakram launcher is absorbed by her shields.

Serena steels herself. Reeva is coming home. She surges forward, charging an overload. When she's roughly within 20m of the driver that came out the back door she hurls the energy like a weighted ball letting out a warcry. The blazing ball hits the driver square in the chest, and arcs to the other two krogan. They all begin grunting and pounding their chests.

Reeva braces herself as Serena's overload charge saves her for the moment. Two aggressors, one in back. Need shields. She points her omnitool at the Krogan that shot her and lets out a draining bolt. The krogan dodges out of the way "ENOUGH WITH THE TOYS!" He levels his shotgun once more. The first blast continues to obliterate Reeva's armor, but he pulls the second shot. Blue blood starts to drip through her armor. The second krogan facing off with her grins wolfishly "Always a pleasure to kill a cocky Turian." He runs at her with an omni blade, stabbing for the heart, she glides out of the way. He follows it up with a decapitating slash, Reeva leans back, the flash of the blade stretching above her as she looks up.

TV's eyes narrow. Shotgun most effective at current range. She sends a signal out from her omnitool to occasionally jam the firing mechanism, a small spark flies off the gun.

Serena sees a flash, her shields get shredded and a slug with the weight of a fat possum collapses the armor on her chest as she gets floored. The driver looks up from his smoking launcher and chuckles. Her head hits the grates on the deck. A Batarian standing over her, harpoon raised. Her heart pounding out of her chest. Not like this. She didn't make it this far to fail Captain Drakos. A surge of adrenaline, a lucky blindside, she sits up and yanks the harpoon gun, pulling the Batarian in. She flicks her omnitorch open, drives the nozzle through the fleshy part of his throat and lights him up. He screams in agony. Did he have a family too? Did he really deserve THAT? Doesn't matter, her mission was to keep the crew safe by maintaining a ship to the standards of the Alliance regulation handbook. Blue Suns in control of the ship were another problem to be fixed. The Batarian, his head now a molten mess, drops to the floor. Serena is standing again, facing the krogan. She levels her gun, a volley hits his chest and holes start appearing in his armor.

As the Krogan's swing passes over her, Reeva again tries to refill her shields, the blast errant again. Petra, finally having caught up with the group, throws herself at the meleeing Krogan. She rams herself into roughly where the ribs should be, and the Krogan is thrown off balance. "About time!"

"TOOK OPTIMAL ROUTE BUT THRUSTERS ARE INSUFFICIENT." Reeva gives Petra some side-eye. The krogan with the shotgun glares at the drone, fires a shot at it, but misses and then lines a shot up on Reeva. Right as he goes to pull the trigger, "INSUFFICIENT SKILL TO HIT A DRONE," he pulls his shot as the weak construct mocks his combat ability. The Krogan with the blade, swipes at Reeva, she peels away. He smiles, follows through and shanks Petra. BZZRRTTRTT, Petra wobbles away. Reeva flares her maw and narrows her eyes.

TV checks her omni tool power, scowls, and raises her Tempest. A burst rakes the krogan with the shotgun in back, he whips around.

Serena feels pain shoot up her neck as her shoulder is thrown backwards by another shell. Her face folds in anger, her breath turning to steam it's so hot. She feels the pain fade as the spirit of wrath consumes her, closing the distance from her to the krogan in what seemed like an instant. She brings her fist around to the driver's face, his eyes wide in genuine fear as an overload surges from her omni tool. The electricity burns and eats way at his thick hide, leaving a squishy brain part exposed. Serena's fist buries itself deep inside, lightning arcing to the other two krogan creating a mad scientist like light show while brain juices run down her arm. The driver slumps to the ground motionless.

Reeva's vision flashes again as the lightning chains between the Krogan around her, the pain from her wounds is starting to set in. She feels a wave of amazement flow over her. Through the flashing light, a krogan slumps away from Serena. 'Did she just fucking punch a Krogan?' Chestnut eyes blazing with righteous rage radiate even through Serena's visor. Reeva takes a deep breath, it hurts, she releases healing nanobots for herself, a small sense of calm flows over her as the pharmaceuticals kick in. Petra tries to throw herself at the nearest Krogan but is still reeling from the blade attack. Roaring "FIGHT LIKE A DAMN WARRIOR WEAKLINGS!" the Krogan levels his shotgun, but both times it jams. He throws it aside and readies a two handed hammer. Swimming in pharmaceuticals, Reeva flows around the blade attacks from the other krogan with an ethereal grace.

TV runs over to Serena to slap some medigel on her before she gets herself killed in her rage. Serena felt her rage only increase as the relief of medigel wrapped around her. She was not losing a single crewmate again. Even if it killed her. She calmly walked up behind the krogan with the hammer. His hulking form blocked the entirety of her vision. She buried her knife as deep into his side as it would go, he wheeled around and tossed her aside. Reeva drew the shotgun she grabbed off the corpse earlier, facing the blade wielding krogan. A centered shot saw his armor torn to pieces, Petra swooped in and engaged her thrusters until his organs were crushed. Reeva pumped an extra round in his head to make sure.

The final Krogan's shotgun jammed, he tossed it aside and brandished a two handed warhammer. TV barely had time to avoid the sweep of the massive hammer and whiffed her shot as she tried to pull up and end the fight. Serena tried to move as well but was struck in the hip, unable to take a full breath, her leg not moving the way she wanted it. She felt no pain. Only spite. She charged with her omni blade, her leg failing her at the last moment and the Krogan easily side stepped her stab. Reeva tried to get the drop with the shotgun but was too afraid of hitting Serena and overcompensated, missing. Petra swooped in but was waved away as if she were a fly. The first swing hit Serena in the back, knocked her to the floor. The Krogan brought his hammer down on Serena's spine. Serena's world went black. TV steadied herself. She stood to face the krogan and let out an overload charge. It gave the only brief pause to the Krogan. Serena no longer in the way, Reeva lined up her shot and cut the Krogan in half with a shotgun blast.

Dropping the gun, Reeva ran to Serena. "She's still breathing!" Her voice cracked as a hesitant relief crept in.

TV ran over and scanned her. Ten seconds of silence felt like an eternity. "Spine intact but severe nerve damage detected."

"What can we do?"

"I can stabilize her and prevent further damage. She will need a full medbay soon."

"Then let's blow this fuckin tower and get a medbay." Reeva set off to make sure she didn't completely fry the tank earlier.

TV knelt down. 'Two types of enhanced medi gel ready for use. Opioid. No good, may encourage her into coma. Stimulant. Would kick start bodily repair but could lead to rude awakening.' TV only saw one option and applied the stimulant. Her injections were so precise that Serena showed signs of consciousness almost immediately. TV slowly looked back at the Tomkah to make sure Reeva was busy before attaching field equipment to monitor readings.

Through the darkness distant voices. Murmuring, excited, laughing. Séan's lilt drifting to the surface, spinning a tale about his adventures on shore leave. Probably embellished, but he was such a good storyteller, it didn't matter. Priyanka and Wayne arguing about how to optimize the weapon systems. One of them probably spinning the other up for a make up fuck later. José and Giovanni in the kitchen, making enchiladas for the ship with the fancy rations they blew their paycheck on. Last time it was lasagna. And Greta. Greta was probably at the helm and captain Drako was mapping their next course in his cabin. It seems okay. It all feels familiar, comforting. Serena goes into the kitchen, Giovanni and Jose telling her to grab some extra before everyone else got there, she needs to eat to grow up strong. It used to annoy her. She wasn't a kid. She's 18, she's enlisted. A feeling of panic washes over, everything goes red. Alarms, blood curdling screams, the tearing of metal, a harpoon in her face, a molten head on the floor, she rushes to the cargo bay where she overheard the rest of the crew is. The door flies open. Light. Bright, white light. Silence. Heavy Silence. The light fades, she's surrounded by darkness again. She begins to fall, Serena panics not knowing where she is or what is happening. Her body jolts. Gravel and dust in front of her. She panics, remembering the hammer blow. She tries to move. It's excruciatingly painful but it seems like all of her limbs still work. She slowly rolls over, everything feels like it's being torn apart. The Tuchanka sun rips through her head. Something moves in front of it. Her vision focuses in, two black bulbous eyes stare down at her, unblinking. A fiery read Salarian analayzing her.

"Hm. Good. We have a mission to complete." TV stands up and extends her hand.

Talking feels like it takes all of her brain power "Glad I'm still useful." With much help from TV, Serena hauls up to her feet and starts limping toward the Tomkah. TV slides under Serena's arm to support her. A wry smile from Serena, quickly replaced with a grimace from the pain.

Reeva sat examining the console. It was fine, just needed some rewiring and rerouting. She set about the work. It was mechanical, practiced. She fell into a flow occasionally broken up by "IT WOULD BE 5.7692% MORE EFFICIENT AT THIS CONNECTION." She heard boots clank on metal, and turned around. Relief, anger, frustration, and happiness all flowed at once. She gave an approving look to the stone faced Salarian, and helped support Serena as they set her down in a chair. Once she was seated Reeva grabbed her shoulders, Serena winced, Reeva panicked but before she could move Serena groaned out "It all hurts, you're fine."

Reeva let out an amused snort, then looked directly into Serena's eyes. "Look kid. You got a future. Whatever got you kicked out of the military was their mistake. You jerry rigged a rocket and a nuke. You have a hell of a fight in you. BUT…" Reeva was not doing a good job of keeping a straight face but Serena was in too much pain to really notice how deeply genuine she was being, "...you have to stay cool. You're just as valuable as anyone else on the team. Stick to your role and don't throw your life away." Serena's vision was in and out of focus but the intense stare of the Turian's purple eyes was coming through. She managed a nod before drifting out of consciousness again. She was immediately ripped back to reality and felt like she was on twenty cups of coffee.

"Can't sleep. You have a concussion. Will come back with meds if you need them." TV wheeled away and started examining the controls.

Reeva gave Serena a very light pat on the shoulders and went to TV. "You drive, I throw. Don't stop for anything."

"Understood."

TV backed the Tomkah out of the rubble with a three point turn and sped towards the AA gun. As they approached, the platoon guarding it mobilized. They saw a Salarian behind the controls and unloaded a rocket barrage, the shields absorbed most of it. As they were reloading TV drifted the Tomkah and popped the door, Reeva threw the bomb towards the building and got it just inside the doorway. "Head for the Urdnot line! It's our best chance." TV took off across no man's land, once they were almost out of the blast zone Reeva flipped the switch.

The eerie silence of anticipation filled the air...then deafening noise as the 8 ton ordinance went off. Reeva strapped herself next to Serena, to try and keep her somewhat stable. TV's face scrunched in concentration. She quickly rerouted the power from the guns to the engines. Flames engulfed her view out of the windshield as the blast caught up to the vehicle. Then the radiation charge came. All of the tomkah's systems screamed as it was pushed to its absolute limit. The suspension bottomed out as they hit a trench. Serena doubled over, nothing but pain. Reeva tightened her straps to reduce the amount of bouncing. TV could see the shields failing. She decided to trust the armor. All remaining power to the engine. The cabin became unbearably hot as the radiation surrounded them. Even Reeva's suit sensors were blaring warning chimes. TV stayed on course, avoiding another trench. The nuclear glare faded. They had made it to the edge of the blast.

Reeva looked at Serena. Her neck was barely able to support her neck. 'Spirits I can't believe this kid is still alive.'

From the cockpit the Salarian called out, "Captain not at Urdnot Camp. Many guns pointed at us. Not Good."

Reeva grinded her teeth. "I'll handle it." TV pulled up to the Urdnot trench, six Krogan surrounded the vehicle. Reeva took a deep breath and went to the door. When she tried to release it, the latch was stuck. Probably melted. She took a few steps back and took a running start, the door flying open when her good shoulder hit it. She heard the cocking of shotguns when she hit the dirt and stood up slowly.

A massive Krogan with a scar running down his face and onto his neck loomed over here. "You get thirty seconds since I assume you took out the AA Gun." He let out a breath that turned into a deep grunt. Reeva flipped between his eyes, she didn't know which one was more appropriate to look at.

"Our employer has a vested interest in the safety of your clan."

"Then why the hell did they send a Turian and Salarian into the DMZ!?"

"Well, uh, do you know anything about an ancient krogan super computer with neural linking abilities?" The Krogan narrowed his eyes. He seemed to believe her but it was a ridiculous claim, generally speaking. He pulled up even closer on her, his chest pushed up against her chin as she looked up. She put a foot back to steady herself "I'm into rough stuff just as much as the next person, but like can we get a safe word first?"

The Krogan snorted in her face, "Who else is in the vehicle." Reeva's eyes got wide with panic "Uh...a human and...the Sa n?"

"OUT. NOW." Bellowed the krogan. TV helped Serena out as best she could.

A scout ran over, "Wrex there's a party at the back entrance. Claim they took out a Kotan platoon that was coming our way. Trying to hit us from the back."

"And that would be my employer!" Reeva chirped and smiled at the Krogan.

He slowly backed off. "Stay here. If you're lying we're having Turian skewers for dinner. Keep your guns on them." The Krogan encircling the Tomkah gave a menacing snarl, Reeva raised her good arm up in the air and her other she lifted away from her side. TV mechanically put both arms in the air and Serena loosely held her hands away from her sides as she swayed back and forth.