MASS EFFECT WINTER EYES: CHAPTER 27
"ETA five minutes," The batarian pilot called to the crew inside the transport vessel as it continued its approach towards Grissom Academy. "The program worked! Shields are down."
"Those salarians are good for something," Fordok, the closest krogan to Bray snorted. His skin tone had an orange underlying tone to it with specs of blue in various places. He was still young in krogan years.
"Besides eating…" Balot, the other krogan to the right of him chuckled ominously under his breath. He donned a brown crest ridge and his skin tone was darker, which was a sign of age in their species. A nasty looking scar went straight across his face. It looked as if someone took a serrated blade to his face and slowly dragged the weapon across.
"Weapons check!" Bray barked, ignoring the crew's comment on Aria's espionage team back on Omega. The pirate queen came well prepared for the assault. "If Shepard's here, then we need to be ready." He checked over his ammo packs and double checked his current cartridge in the assault rifle. Any malfunction was an instant death sentence.
"We can take her, Bray and her team." Aizla, the asari in the back, commented confidently. Her skin pigmentation was the ordinary blue and she had white diamond marks on her forehead. Aizla was still fresh in her maiden stage. She gave him a playful wink and pursed her lips together at him as she lifted her sub-machine gun. Bray couldn't help, but to return the private smile to her. After all, they had a few sessions together and with a body like hers, he couldn't help himself. Most species found the asari very alluring, but Aizla had a stronger attraction to her. More than most asari to him.
"We are almost there! Can't wait to finally kill something." Casus, a pale face turian, eagerly spoke up, breaking up the private exchange. "Long rides were never good for me." Bray was leery about Casus. He was an ex-criminal on several murder charges. He escaped bounty hunters that sought him out from Palaven and managed to work his way up to land a job on Aria's team. For now, the bounty on his head quieted down, but if he ever fell out of Aria's graces, he would not survive long. She would make sure of it.
The idea of being cooped up with a murderer did not set well with Bray, even if he could hold his own. Bad enough that he paired Casus up with a pair of krogan. Bad blood still resonated between the turian and krogan races. Bray had no one else to blame on the choices, except himself. After all, the team selection was entirely up to him. Casus was a maniac and to break through Shepard's forces, Bray needed someone like that. Krogan were the heavy hitters, but a crazy turian could be just as troublesome.
The objective was to take Shepard alive back to Omega and kill the rest. However, Aria would understand if they had to put the Spectre down. He fought alongside her when they retook Omega from Cerberus control. He had seen how ruthless she could be. Aria liked her. Macha took Aria's side through most of the mission despite Nyreen's arguments. Ironically, following the recapture of the station, Aria even kissed Macha before she departed with him. A surprise to all. Bray never would think that Aria had any attraction to the commander and she never was the one to just kiss anyone. Bray never got the privilege despite how secretly he wanted it.
The transported jolted as the magnets held the vessel tightly at its designated berth. The docking tube attached in place and air could be heard as the chamber depressurized. The tube was about one hundred feet before another door that entered the station itself. Bray couldn't see what was going on the other side, but he suspected an ambush as soon as they jumped out. "Fordok and Balot, you take the front. Kill anything that moves. Riliys, you take center with Vaneka." He motioned to the other asari on the team. "Casus, you're behind them. Aizla, you with me, in the rear." Bray was going to play it safe. Jumping out front was completely suicide. The krogans' thick hides and kinetic barriers could hold off a lot of the gun fire. He hoped that the asari in the middle would unleash biotic attacks to break off the brunt of the gunfire and disperse Shepard's team. Casus, most likely, would go berserk and take on anyone he saw first. There was no controlling him and his suicidal attitude could throw Shepard off. Bray would scout in the rear to find out where to find Shepard while Aizla could provide him cover. A perfect plan in his mind.
There would be some resistance and he counted on it. The tube's doors opened and the krogan charged ahead first with deafening roars that echoed among the chamber's walls. Seconds later, gunfire exchange erupted. "This is it," Bray huffed under his breath as he gripped his rifle tighter.
The charging krogan with blood rage in their eyes completely threw Macha off-guard. "Incoming!" Her mind wanted to try figure out why Charon would hire non-humans in their assault, but she forced herself to return to the dire task at hand. Squeezing the trigger on her assault rifle, she aimed at the orangish krogan on the left. Her marks hitting dead center, stripping down his barriers. This seemed to infuriate the krogan even more as the reptilian alien continued his threatening approach with murderous intent. The krogan opened fire making Macha take cover. Rounds pinging off the metal counter that separated her from certain death. Kaidan took her side, abandoning his previous position.
"Shepard! Keep your head down!" He found a break in the assault and lifted to fire his sub-machine gun at the charging krogan. The rounds found their mark as the barriers were completely depleted on the same krogan. The burly alien groaned as the ammo began to hit his flesh, tearing through his muscles, making him move to take cover himself.
"Kaidan!" Macha was surprised at him moving to her. "I can handle this!" Her voice elevated to be above the chaos that was ensuing about. She glanced over at Liara and Miranda who were launching singularity attacks.
"Sniped one!" Garrus cheered victoriously from the back. Macha allowed herself to risk exposure to capture the sight of a fallen asari on the ground in a fresh pool of blood. Two blows to the head seemed to be the cause of death. Silently counting their opponents, Macha determined the oncoming force was just six and all non-humans. Something about this didn't seem right. It didn't match Charon's beliefs at all. Was this another player? A familiar image caught her attention to the back of the ground team. A batarian. Macha directed her sight on him to figure out the familiarity, but a krogan's gunfire in her direction made Kaidan pull her back down quickly.
"Macha! What the hell are you doing?!" His voice filled with panic. His tight grip remained around her right upper arm.
He had every right to yell at her. She was putting herself and her team's lives at danger. She caught Liara's glance her way while the asari was hunkered down. Tali activated her assault drone with her omni tool and the glowing purple sphere moved ahead to take on the bloody krogan.
The attack was taking longer than planned and Macha still couldn't identify their attackers. She had to draw them in more. "Kaidan, move to the right flank and unleash a biotic attack."
"Understood." Alenko moved as asked, shifting his biotic focus on the badly wounded krogan. Using lift, he picked up the nearly seven hundred pound being and tossed it violently into the ceiling as if it only weighed ten pounds. A sickening groan came from the reptile's lips before its limp body fell back to the ground.
"Fordok!" The other krogan called out to his fallen comrade. His red eyes glared angrily at Kaidan. "You fucking human! I will pull your spine out!" Balot screamed in pure rage as he ignored all common sense and charged at Kaidan.
"Shit!" Alenko took aim and fired his sub-machine gun. The rounds pinging off the krogan's shields.
"Kaidan!" Liara homed in her fire as well, dropping the shields faster. The krogan ignored the threat of danger and continued its course.
"Get out of there!" Macha yelled at the dark-haired man as she fired her assault rifle, catching the krogan in the backside, ripping up the remainder of the barriers.
Miranda gathered dark energy and managed to use a slam attack at the last second, catching the krogan as he was two feet away and throwing him into the room's right wall. Garrus moved his rifle and squeezed the trigger, inserting rounds in the area that would contain the multiple krogan hearts. Blood splattered out from Balot's mouth before he collapsed to the ground as well.
Before the team could return their focus on the remaining opponents, there was the sound of gunfire and then Garrus groaned in pain. "Take that you, turian bastard!" An asari smirked near the docking tube with her gun still aimed at where Garrus was.
Macha looked in horror to see that Garrus was down on the ground, behind cover. She couldn't tell how severely wounded he was or if he in fact was still alive from her position. "Garrus!" She quickly moved her assault rifle with her scream and pulled the trigger. Her ammo rounds tore through the light shielding of the asari, turning her flesh into a pulpy mess. The force of the impact knocked the assailant back before she died from her obvious intense wounds.
"Aizla!" A familiar voice yelled out near the fallen asari's position.
Macha turned her head to look upon the batarian that came back into view. All four of his eyes wide with surprise and horror as he looked at the gruesome display in front of him. Seeing him clearly now made Macha recognize him instantly. It was Bray. One of Aria's top henchmen and the batarian she worked along side with when they overtook Omega. New questions popped in her mind. Why was Aria here? What was her plan? "Bray!" She yelled out to him. The batarian angrily jerked his head to glare at her. She caught his attention. "What the hell are you doing here?!" She demanded.
"Taking you to Aria!" Bray shot back coldly. "Dead or alive…." The latter sentence was in a low hiss.
"Shepard! Watch out!" Alenko called her to her.
Macha pivoted on her heel to see a pale faced turian charging right at her with his gun held like a club. "I'm going to bash your skull in, Spectre!"