Infiltration

The hour finally came when we were due to leave the Normandy and descend down to Sanves. Mace, Axel, Dexter, Misha, Miranda, Ashley and I filed into the Kodiak, our powered armour pressurised for our underwater venture. I had left my Black Widow behind and switched my Paladin handgun out for the M11 Suppressed variant that Liara had issued us all with. Along with my trusty Harrier and Tali's Wraith, I was more than ready to deal with any threat we would come across.

The Kodiak's door sealed shut and the pilot guided the shuttle gracefully out of the hanger bay of the Normandy and set course for Yaseera. I felt a friendly hand grip my shoulder and I looked around to see Ashley looking at me, both with trust and concern. Only now did I realise that I had been handling Tali's gun, tapping my fingers against it as my anxiety burned away underneath. She gave me a comforting nod and I reciprocated, folding the shotgun away and attaching it the magnetic rail at the base of my back.

When we were within ten miles of Yaseera, we got a call from the pilot to brace ourselves and we felt a big bump as he ploughed the shuttle into the sea and we began hurtling through the water, about fifteen metres below the surface. We enabled the virtual windows and looked out at the enhanced, submersed world around us while we zipped along. We saw creatures that looked little different from the fish that you would find in the oceans of Earth, while at the same time there were lifeforms that were perhaps more alien in appearance than even the Rachni or Leviathans were to me.

There was a loud hiss as the pilot sealed off the cockpit, and my curiosity in the weird world around us faded away as I prepared myself for the mission ahead. If Tali was here and I failed to rescue her, then the Blades would be alerted that we were hot on their heels and then the risk to Tali's life would increase exponentially. She would become more of a threat than she could be of use to them. The fire that was already burning bright within me only seemed to gain new life and became an inferno beneath my skin. The Kodiak reached the appointed DZ and the cabin began to fill up with water. Once full, the door slid open and I was out into the water like a bullet out of a gun, closing the last hundred metres to the island in what seemed like mere seconds.

I peeked my head above the surface of the water, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks flooding my ears, to see that I was exactly where I needed to be. Before the others had caught up, I was already ashore and checking the situation ahead of us. A rocky embankment rose gently ahead of me before the reservoir began. On either side of the reservoir were steep walls of rock that rose high above us and formed into the cliffs that ran along the whole side of Yaseera that we were on. The rest of the team joined me and I silently signalled to the other end of the reservoir where there were a couple of guards standing on a rickety looking wooden pier that led back to the power station.

Without anyone uttering a word, Mace sent a nod in Axel's direction and together they slipped into the water, barely disturbing the surface, and disappeared below the surface. Misha, Dexter, Miranda, Ashley and I remained as still as the rocks around us with our eyes fixed on the two guards. In a blur of movement, two dark shapes leapt from below the water, grabbed hold of the hapless guards and pulled them down under the surface. I could barely make out a momentary flash of orange light and knew that the Omni blades of the Spartans had given their prey a quick end. It all happened in the space of a couple of seconds. As soon as I saw the heads of Mace and Axel reappear, I set off along the side of the reservoir with the rest of the team and we all linked up at the nearest wall of the power control building. We were well and truly committed to the mission now, and I decided there was no way that I was going to let a single terrorist off this island alive.

While the Spartans disappeared around the far side of the building to the back door, I stacked up with the rest at the main entrance. Miranda and I, silenced pistols at the ready, each held a flashbang grenade and when I heard the back door being demolished by Sabre Squad, I followed suit. My foot crashed into the door and nearly sent it flying off its hinges. Grenades went into the entry room, and after the deep thuds of the explosives were heard they were swiftly followed by screams of panic and surprise. People started scrambling around inside and we moved in.

I led my team into the smoky room and released several shots at the enemies that were still stumbling around trying to re-orientate themselves. As the enemy bodies dropped to the floor, Miranda immediately rushed to the control terminal and ensured that everything remained in operation so as not to alert the main base deep underneath us. She established an uplink to the Normandy and EDI took control of the entire system. As a bonus, she was able to map out the layout of the main base based on the power grid that ran throughout, giving us a much better chance of being able to storm the facility more effectively without having to find our way around as we went.

Without missing a beat, we all moved back out into the dark night and progressed up the steep walkway that took us up to the chapel at the highest point on Yaseera. I knew that the second wave of our force would be on the way by now to deal with the patrols on the surface of the island. They would secure it so that none of our enemies could escape our assault. There were two guards at the entrance to the chapel and heat signatures from inside told us that there were two more to contend with. I halted the team while Mace and I sneaked ahead and made our way around opposite sides of the chapel. We both crept up on our unsuspecting prey and simultaneously attacked from behind and finished them off with ease.

Mace's knife slashed along the Turian's exposed neck while my Omni blade was sent deep into the spine of my own Turian target. His body jerked and twitched violently for a few seconds as he fought to live, but his life evaporated in my hands and soon his arms and legs went limp. We lowered the bodies of our enemies down slowly so as not to make a sound. Before Mace or I were even finished, Misha and Dexter had breached the door and eliminated the targets inside, leaving the way to the elevator all clear for us to descend into the enemy's base. My heart was racing as the rush of being back on active duty filled me up, and that familiar feeling of being hyper-aware of my surroundings came flooding back. I had always given my all on missions, and this one was no exception. Tali's life could be riding on this operation, and there was no way I was giving her any less than I had given a whole galaxy of souls back in 2186.

As the lift ground its way down the dark shaft, I kept in contact with Miranda so I could give her the order to cut the power as soon as it was needed. There was always the risk that we would have a welcoming party waiting at the bottom so my team took up positions, charged and readied our weapons for a fight. Just the fact that the elevator was in use could be enough to tip off the enemy. At my word, Miranda cut the power and everything fell into darkness. The HUD inside our helmets enhanced everything in sight, highlighting outlines and movements for us. This meant we could move as confidently as we would in broad daylight.

According to the schematics of the base that we got from EDI, there were only a few spacious rooms off to our right when we reached the bottom of the shaft and we moved quickly to secure them. There were little more than bunks in the rooms with slumbering guards who were swiftly eliminated as a threat. Together we moved along the corridors in tandem, clearing rooms as we went with our silenced pistols. Eventually we heard movement up ahead which meant that the enemy was organising themselves as best they could in the pitch black of the base. We saw the beams of light from torches and were able to duck out of sight whenever they passed close to us. The guards were on high alert and armed, but also in the grips of panic.

We had cleared several rooms and there was still no sign of Tali or the Blades that we had followed to Sanves. However, I felt it in my heart that we were drawing close and that every room that was cleared were the few final steps to finding her. I longed to hold my wife again, to hear her sweet voice and her musical laugh. One last corridor remained with three rooms branching off of it. A pair of guards appeared from one of the rooms and caught us with their torches, but two shots from my M11 put them on the ground immediately, their blood pooling around them on the metal floor. Without pause, my team split into pairs and took a room each. Ashley and I made ready at one door while Mace and Misha took another, Axel and Dexter taking the last. Certain that we had killed or neutralised all guards in the base, we were using flashbangs to stun the enemy this time.

"Go!" I ordered. Ashley opened the door and I threw the flashbang in. There was a rapid chorus of explosions as all the grenades went off and we stormed into the room like a Krogan on fire. I was greeted with the sight of a single Human wandering around rubbing his eyes, desperate for them to work again. Ashley slotted him as I moved in and checked for more. My HUD caught movement and I swung around to face it. There was a female figure sitting on the ground at the far end of the room with her back up against the wall and her knees up, making herself as small as possible. Even though she was just an outline on my HUD, I would know her outline anywhere.

"Tali!" I yelled out loud and sprinted over to her as she jumped to her feet.

"Scott!" She exclaimed. She stopped after only a few paces as she met the bars of her prison cell.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" I stammered. My relief at hearing her voice sent shockwaves of excitement through me.

"Scott, there are more of them…"

The door to the room slammed shut and the manual lock engaged, preventing the Spartans from coming to the rescue. Three sets of hands grabbed Ashley, and though the Spectre put up a fight, they beat her to the ground and a Krogan pinned her down. Obviously, I tried to help, but before I could get a shot off, my hands were grabbed and restrained. I armed my Omni blade and slashed at my foe, catching the Turian across the top of his arm, but a biotic blast then threw me back against the bars of Tali's cell. I scrambled to my feet and put myself between my attackers and Tali, whereupon I was met with the dazzling light of a torch in my eyes and the barrel of a Paladin handgun.

The gun was an inch from my face and a Turian had his Phaeston rifle trained on me. Whichever way I tried to look at my situation, it was sticky to say the least. There was one variable, however, that the enemy had failed to factor in. I felt a pair of hands slowly take a hold of the Wraith shotgun that I had fixed to the back of my waist. Tali deftly managing to retrieve her shotgun without anyone else taking notice. The Spartans were now hammering on the door and I could hear them shouting to see if we could hear them. The Spartans would act fast. Of that I had no doubt and the enemy sensed this.

"Looks like our time is short, Commander Gardner," an Asari's voice said, somewhat unnerved by the battering the door was taking. The barrel of the extremely powerful handgun was practically planted against my visor. "But thank you for giving me the chance to finally finish you and your little suit-rat off. At least you'll die together."

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet," I growled at her, grinning from ear to ear.

I ducked down, reaching for my Harrier as I did so. Over my head came a series of booming blasts as Tali unloaded her shotgun at every source of light she saw. With my enhanced sight, I saw two of them drop immediately and I ripped the Krogan open with a long burst of fire. Tali brought down one more, allowing Ashley to get to her feet. All of a sudden, the tables had been turned on the last of our enemies. I could see the outline of an Asari as all guns turned on her, prompting her to make the wise decision to surrender.

I contacted Miranda and power was restored, the lights in the room blinking back into life and Ashley opened the dented door once again to see the four enormous Spartans burst through, ready for action.

"It's ok, Sabre," I said as they lowered their guns. "We're all cleaned up in here."

"No," Tali said while I began to cut away at the bars with my Omni blade. "There is another section of the base behind that locker. I think its newer than the rest of the facility, but that's where the rest of them went before the lights went out." Registering this information, the Spartans geared up for further investigation and Miranda reported that the second team had arrived and she was helping them clear the island of hostiles. Naturally, Garrus had headed straight for the chapel and positioned himself in the tower from where he began picking off targets at range. The Blades leaders were still at large, but my main objective had been achieved.

I was nearly finished cutting an opening in the prison cell while Tali stood on the opposite side. Her hands clung to the bars as if she was going to rip them apart herself. The heavy metal door had barely clanged to the floor when my Quarian wife threw her arms around my body.

"I knew it was you, Scott! I knew it!" She was on the edge of tears as I collected her in my arms. I held her tight as if I was never going to let go, and a small part of me was afraid to. I touched my helmet to hers and looked into those glistening eyes that I had missed so dearly,

"I'm sorry, Tali! I should never have gone back to the house. I left you behind and they got you. If we had stayed together, they…"

"Scott. Stop," Tali shushed me. "I know you would never allow anything to happen to me. As soon as they captured me, I knew you would be right behind them."

"I came as soon as I could. Sorry it wasn't sooner."

Tali closed the embrace,

"You never have to be sorry. You're here now. I don't imagine the Blades made finding this place easy for you. Besides, I'm fine. I'm tougher than I look, remember."

I laughed at that, unbelievably glad to hear her joking despite the ordeal she had been put through. Tali was alive, unhurt and still as hopeful and strong as ever. She was still the same amazing women that had kept me strong throughout the darkest war that our galaxy had ever endured. Why did I ever doubt her?

"And… everything else is ok?" I said quietly to Tali as I placed my hand over her stomach. "You're both safe?"

"Yes," she said gladly, lowering her voice to equal my volume. "They were rough with me at times, but nothing that could hurt our child."

I felt tears forming in my eyes from the elation at having both Tali and our baby back. Tali was feeling the same, but at least she had the mask to hide her own tears and she mocked me in front of the four huge soldiers that waited patiently for us.

In response to Tali's joke there was a sharp cough from behind me and I had to laugh again.

"I may have had some help from friends," I told her and Ashley moved in to give Tali a big hug.

"I'm glad you're safe, Tali. When you mess with one of the Normandy family, you mess with all of us! We all came as soon as we heard."

"Thanks for the rescue, Ash. And when you say all…" for the first time Tali cast a curious glance towards the towering Spartans, all of them standing still as statues awaiting the order to press on.

"They're chemically and cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers," I explained quickly. "The first of Miranda's Spartans, but introductions will have to wait. We have to get after those Asari if we want to capture them. I've wasted enough time already."

Tali had me remotely reactivate her Omni tool and she loaded her shotgun, her hands having clearly missed her favoured weapon.

"Locked and loaded, Scott. Just say the word," Tali said happily. I had not told Tali that everyone else knew about the baby just yet, as it was not important to our current mission. I expected that she would understand, but a part of me wanted to kick myself up the ass for taking the privilege of breaking the news to our friends from my wife. As well as killing Churchill, demolishing our home and threatening our lives, these terrorist bastards had also taken some of those small, important moments away from us too.

The Spartans combined their incredible physical strength and worked together to wrench the fake cabinet free from the wall. Immensely impressive considering that it was attached to the wall by heavy motorised gears. A door was revealed with a button pad next to it, which Tali immediately went to.

"I managed to figure out the code from watching them. They would try to draw my attention with questions or threats first, but I always had an eye on them."

"Let's catch up to those rats and send them to meet whatever Goddess they believe in," Ash was ready to bound through the door after them. As soon as Tali had done her work, Ashley surged ahead with her rifle raised and we all filed in after her. What Tali said about this part of the base being newer than what we had fought through so far was proving to be correct. There was a whole different feel to the zone that we were entering and the long, narrow hall echoed with our footsteps as we rapidly progressed.

There was only one attempt to combat our advance in the tight hallway, however. The Blades sent one of their Krogan in and he made a crazy, suicidal charge at us. Several shots from my Harrier split his head-plate in half and his brain exploded out of the top of his head from the force of my bullets.

"I'll bet he was meant to buy the rest of the enemy time to set up a defence wherever this corridor leads," Mace said. One wave of his hand had the rest of the Spartans move to the front of our team, with only slight resistance from Ashley. However, I quickly had Axel and Dexter pick up the dead Krogan, his green blood still running freely from his shattered head.

"We could use him as a quick decoy to buy us a few seconds," I said. The Spartans agreed, and the incredible dead-weight of the Krogan was soon being carried along by the super soldiers with frightening ease.

From somewhere up ahead, we heard the grinding of large, presumably powerful gears and a screeching of metal. We all upped the pace and soon we could see the end of the hall where it opened up into what looked like a hanger. I thought it unlikely considering that we were inside the island, and the chamber clearly had a low ceiling. Yet I could see a couple of shuttles sitting on the deck, and a third one with its engines active.

"They're trying to get away!" I yelled, hurtling forward with everyone following behind. Enemies appeared immediately at the entrance and began firing down the hallway with assault rifles, riddling us with bullets. The shields of everyone in our team flared into life all at once and would soon be drained under such a barrage, and all of us so exposed.

The Spartans carrying the dead Krogan jumped to the head of the group and hoisted up the giant body to absorb all the punishment. The Krogan twitched and jerked with frightening rapidity as his corpse was hammered with a brutal amount of gunfire as even more terrorists joined the barrage. I peeked past our shield of flesh and slapped a round through the torso of a Human. Ashley poked around the other side with her assault rifle and let off a prolonged burst, tearing through a Salarian who felt brave enough to try and toss a grenade our way. Ashley's bullets sheared right through his chest and shoulder, severing an arm and causing green blood to spray all over his shocked comrades.

The enemy's resistance did little to hinder our progress as we worked as a unit to defeat all obstacles set in our path. However, I was increasingly conscious of time and the fact that the shuttle could boost off at any moment.

"Joker!" I called over the comm, "be ready to intercept a shuttle if it manages to escape the island. Disabling shots only. I want anyone onboard alive."

"Roger that, Sir!" my pilot complied. My mind felt more at ease knowing that as soon as the shuttle slipped away from us, the Normandy would swoop down upon it from out of nowhere, putting an end to our foe's flight.

"I tried to find some way to figure out what was down this path," Tali shouted to me over the din of gunfire, "but they had me guarded at all times and I couldn't do anything with my Omni tool disabled."

"It's active now," I replied, "when we get in that hanger, you work fast to seal the enemy in there with us so we can put an end to all of this."

"Got it," my wife nodded, falling back to the back of our tightly packed squad to prepare her hacking programs. At this point, when were but a few metres away from entering the hanger, Ashley called to me,

"If we get a hold of these bitches, what are we planning to do with them?"

I managed a glance back at Tali while I put a fresh thermal clip in my assault rifle,

"Firstly, I think Tali might want to wreak a bit of revenge. Then we get every ounce of information that we can squeeze out of them."

"You think we might need to "persuade" them a little?" the Spectre asked. My answer came without any hesitation,

"The way I'm feeling right now? I very much hope so."

"Be ready to let go of the Krogan," Ashley told the Spartans. "I'm gonna blast the big guy right into his friends."

Without a word, the Spartans carrying the huge corpse increased their pace towards the door into the hanger and Ashley stuck close behind them, preparing a concussive shot as she went. When she unleashed the over-charged shot, the Krogan was sent hurtling at a group of enemy troops who were crewing a machine gun. If they had been able to open up on us, they could have prevented us from getting to our target, but now they were bowled over as over eight-hundred pounds of dead weight crashed into their position.

The four Spartans and I, the soldiers with the heaviest armour, burst forth into the hanger and took up firing positions along our side of the room. Sticking behind crates and small cranes for cover, we put fire on the enemies and kept their heads down, allowing the rest of our team to follow us.

"Put fire on the shuttle's engines," I ordered and a hail of bullets was unleashed at the craft as it started to lift off of the ground. Tali hit the vehicle with an overload attack and there was an eruption of flame from the engines as the power surged. After that, the engines sputtered a few times, like the pathetic coughs of a man in his death throes, before going silent. The shuttle hit the ground with a loud "thunk" and there was a scramble amongst the Blades as they tried to extract their shaken leaders. I had to admire their loyalty, even if it was to a disgraceful cause.

The enemy's attempt to rescue their leaders from the stricken shuttle proved disastrous for them, as it provided us with the perfect opportunity to rush into the hanger and pick them off as they moved in the open. The phrase "turkey shoot" came to my mind at that particular moment in time. The fighting came to an end with Misha plugging a bullet through the brain of a Human that tried to snatch up a weapon after he had been smashed to the floor by the huge Spartan's fist.

The floor of the hanger was slick with blood, much had also been sprayed up the walls as it spouted from the many wounds we had inflicted on the enemy troops. By now, the hanger doors were fully open, but the shuttle was not going anywhere as we surrounded the stricken vessel.

"May we do the honours, Commander?" Mace said as he nodded towards the Kodiak.

"Be my guest," I smiled as I knew what to expect. The Spartans turned their rifles on the door of the shuttle, and opened fire. They were focusing their fire on where the door was attached to the main body of the Kodiak via the magnetic sliders inside. Once they had been shot to hell, the Spartans simply took a hold of the door and wrenched it free in another awesome display of strength. Inside were two Asari, gazing out at us with terror in their eyes as they were met by the sight of the barrels of our guns, focused solely on them.

"Hello girls," I growled at them as I strode threateningly towards them, "we're going to have a little chat."