Mikyle looked at the holotable with a very pissed off look. The alliance of Six warlords was creating more and more problems for him that he just didn't know how to counter them. The United Krogan clans were using hit and run tactics on the logistics supply roots he was using to keep his armies supplied. Oda's forces however were focusing on the production facilities reducing Mikyle's numbers in arms and military equipment. Shepard and his forces were causing the most damage with their stealth cruisers. They took out most of the fleet while the other three Warlords did the rest. Each of the six warlords used their own specialities to counter each move he made. This was getting bad if not worse.

But he knew where they were heading. It was pretty obvious that they were heading towards his homeworld. While he knew their target, he didn't have enough manpower or equipment to counter their moves. The fact that they were taking control of his production facilities and cutting off his manpower meant that they were trying to back him into a corner. It seems like that they were going to try and get him to surrender, like he would do that. The orbital guns would take them down, that's assuming this alliance didn't know about the guns.

Sighing he walked out of the room and down a long corridor thinking. No matter what he thought of, there was only one option to fight back. He knew Shepard wasn't one to back down, but if he could take them down then it would change everything. Realistically there was only one option left.

He tapped his earbud. "Prepare operation Last stand," he ordered.

OOOOO

Shepard, Oda and Wrex made final preparations for their mission to take out the guns. They did this in silence as with this mission there was a chance that they may not come back. According to Liara's intelligence, the orbital guns used a combination of Mass effect and Xia tech for them to be powered and fired. From experience, that sort of generation technology was bad news. Kasumi was evidence of that as the three looked at each other. If anything went wrong, they would not be walking out. But they did set up plans for if they died.

"Ready?" John asked and the two nodded.

"Let's go," Wrex said not afraid to die like his human companions as he walked out with John and Oda following him.

It would take them a good hour of trekking, but soon they got to the orbital guns. They expected them to be defended, but they were heavily defended. It looked as if they couldn't get inside the gun bunker. While they did expect this, the number of troops they needed to deal with was more than they expected. Looking around Oda then noticed a duct to the side of the entrance. But that was also too well guarded. He gritted his teeth as the three kept their eyes open to see if there was something that they could use. There wasn't much. The vehicles where separated from each other, the fuel was in a place where it couldn't do much damage.

"They're expecting us," Wrex said.

"That's going to make our jobs harder," John muttered as he looked up at the gun.

The orbital weapon was built into the side of a mountain making it hard to spot and harder to hit. But that could be useful. Pulling out his sniper rifle he looked at some unstable rock formations.

"Landslide?" Oda asked and John nodded.

"Would make a good distraction," Wrex nodded. "Silencers?" again John nodded as he pulled out one for his sniper rifle and attached it to the rifle.

"I'll see how many unstable rock formations I can get," he said taking aim again.

This needed to look natural and picked out several and fired. Large calibre rounds hit several places on the mountain dislodging some rocks that began to dislodge more and more. It turned into a landside making the guard move out of the way of it. It created the opening that the three needed. As the Alliance forces ran away from the falling rocks, Oda, John and Wrex made their move towards the vents. With Alliance troops away from the area they moved into the vents and into the complex.

It was easy for the two humans but Wrex, being a Krogan, had problems with tight spaces. His large bulk made it difficult for him in moving through these vents that were only meant for humans doing maintenance. He muttered to himself but continued to move with the other two. But they were slow due to how cramped it was. Soon they found themselves above an empty section. Opening up the grate they dropped down one by one with weapons up, eyes open. Satisfied that they had not been detected they then made their way out. They had memorised the mapping of the compound allowing them to move through it with ease.

While there were other guns, according to the intel they had the main gun was the main power source. Given that this gun was heavily covered with natural rock and well hidden it was the best place for the power supply to be housed. To make sure it was even more secure the power supply was underground. So, if the main gun was detected, it wouldn't be easy to destroy the power supply to take the rest of the guns out. This also meant if anything went wrong, they would not be making it out alive. With the landslide keeping the attention on the outside the three were allowed to move quickly though the place without being detected. Soon they reached the lift and made their way down.

OOOOO

Ashley walked into the room where Tali was stationed. She was wrapped up with a lot of bandages but the nanites were healing slowly. Pulling up a chair Ashley sat next to the Qurrian who slowly awoke.

"Morning," she said with a moan.

"It's the afternoon," Ashley smiled. "How are you feeling,"

"As you humans say, like shit," Tali laughed but coughed a bit. "Damned fleet,"

Ashley's expression darkened as she heard that. "You are sure they did this?"

Tali just nodded. "No doubt, they hated me since my dad tried to use the geth against the Reapers and it backfired," she said as she remembered what happened. "Exiled and forbidden to set foot on the fleet forever. But like I care," she smiled.

"I'll have a word with the fleet, see what happened and see what I can do," Ashley smiled.

As she said that Jun and Miranda walked in. "Hey girls," Miranda said with a smile. "What are you talking about?"

"Just what I'm going to do with the Qurrian fleet when she gets out of here," Ashley said.

Just then Liara walked in and locked the door. "Liara…?" Ashley said as she stood.

"Don't," the Asari said with a sniff. "Just don't please," her hand was shaking as she took her hand off the door handle. "I'm not allowing anyone to leave," she said with a firm voice.

Everyone looked to each other but Ashley just looked at Liara. "What's happening?"

OOOOO

The lift reached the final level and the three got off, but it was too quiet. Even of there were mechs here it should have been some noise. The lack of just about anything was unnerving to say the least, but it also indicated one thing, a trap. Glancing to each other the three then moved up slowly keeping their eyes open. Something was up, they needed to stay on their toes. Following the signs for the main generator room, they still faced no one making it very clear that this was a trap.

They stopped and looked around. "Armory?" Oda asked but Wrex shook his head.

"Too far away, won't cause secondary explosions," he said as he remembered the map.

"Motor pool won't do too much as well. John muttered," he sighed, they were walking into a trap and they knew it.

The question was how to spring the trap without getting caught in it. "I know I just said this but by not take out the armoury? It will create a distraction for them to switch focus,"

"Let's target both the armoury and motor pool," Wrex suggested. "Split their attention,"

That got nods from the other two and they split off.

OOOOO

Taking a puff on his cigarette, TIM watched as Shepard and his team split up moving to the motor pool and armoury. He knew what they were planning called up Mikyle. His holo screen came up and the President of the New alliance came on.

"Ahh Illusive man, I was wondering when I'd get a call from you," he said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It seems that Shepard and his team have split up," TIM said while taking a swing of whisky. "They are heading towards the armoury and the motor pool. My guess is that they are going to try and create two distractions for your obvious trap,"

Mikyle however just smiled. "Just sit back and enjoy the show," he said before cutting the link laving TIM to watch what would happen next.

OOOOO

Oda and John made their way to the motor pool while Wrex moved to the armoury. As the two moved they began to slow their run as they got close to the motor pool. They soon stopped and activated their stealth fields. It was essentially a highly advanced cloaking device similar to what Kasumi had, it was just more advanced and had no easy way of detection. It made them invisible in more than one sense of the word. They soon entered the motor pool which was filled with tanks and aircraft.

Mikyle wanted to try and used the base for another objective, it was a hidden army. He had stockpiled weapons and equipment here so that when the 6 Warlords landed on the planet Mikyles forces would be able to flank them and keep them occupied while he got away. Given that they planned to destroy this place, that mean one less escape rout for the president. Grabbing their charges, the two then began to place them on the best targets that would cause secondary explosions. They needed to destroy this pace, and they needed to make sure that the president couldn't recover from it.

As they planted the charges Oda noticed something about the vehicle, he was placing his charge on. He placed his hand on it and pushed hard making an indentation on it. His eyes widened.

"Commander, this tank is fake," he said making John come over to him and have a look.

Looking at each other they moved to another vehicle and made other indentations on them. They looked to each other again, it was a set up.

"Wrex come in," John then said as he tapped his com.

"Shepard, these weapons are fake," the krogan said.

"Yeah, the vehicles here to are fake," John replied. "I don't think I need to say what's on our minds,"

Oda nodded. "Let's get out of here," he said with no argument as he and John ran towards the entrance.

As they got close the door slammed shut and the two tried to hack it. But it was no use, power had already been cut to the door there was no way to open it or short circuit it to get it open. They were trapped inside this place until they could find a way out. Just then the panel opened up and a timer began to count down. They didn't have time to react as the timer reached zero.

The explosion of the main orbital guns could be seen from orbit as it detonated like a large nuke.

OOOOO

Ashley said nothing as she stared at Liara who just shook. The asari had just told them what was happening with John and the others with the main reson for them being selected was due to a mole they couldn't detect. Very few people outside the warlords knew about the plan. But before anyone could say anything Ashley's omni-tool activated. Opening it she saw that Alria, one of the six warlords in the alliance against Mikyle.

"Ashley Shepard?" she asked and Ash just nodded. "We've read an explosion on Miklye's homeworld. We have received no word from the Commander or his Squad. We have reason to believe they did not make it,"

"Wait a day," Ashley then said calmly. "If you don't hear from them, bomb that Mikyle fucker from orbit,"

Alria nodded before cutting the link and everyone in the room stared at Ashley. "Looks like I'm the new Warlord," she said as her eyes began to fill with tears.