A/N: Back is still jacked up, but with enough Vicodin anything is possible! Here is the first part of Judge Dredd : Turian Beatdown... I mean, Omega.
I'll let the chapter speak for itself instead of ranting about it incoherently. As usual, thanks to the Editing Gang for their efforts, corrections, clarifications and fixes. They deserve more credit than I do.
Also, some of you have not reviewed Aberron's and RED78910's work. This makes me haz a sad.
'Fire, bright like the kiss of a dying star, flew across Omega's limbs, searing as the kisses of a lover made of starstuff. Dancing in the flames, a stick figure of bright light, of wings and claws and a single cold blue eye that made me long for death, for silence, for anything than to stand under that gaze and know ... I would suffer and scream before the Bright One would allow me to die...'
-Vesah Jedthrien, clanless asari Eclipse Sister, poetry written for a contest, from her lift chair about the Archangel's Ascent Incident on Omega
Garrus looked out over the narrow access bridge leading to the warehouse one last time before turning away, focusing on keeping his breathing slow, his muscles and spurs steady despite his pounding heartbeat. He narrowed his eyes as he turned, before tapping his visor's control pin once, shifting to a new set of songs on his combat soundtrack.
Better enjoy the music while I can. Things are going to get loud now, or very soon, he mused.
The crew had done everything they could to harden the warehouse. Every interior wall was draped with energy mesh and splinter netting, and the upper stairway area was fortified with hardened firing positions covering the entire lower floor. Medigel and other supplies were tucked away in the upper rooms, along with the comms systems that Weaver and Sensat would use to remotely control the small fleet of drones currently parked on the roof.
Angel had carefully drilled everyone on the proper fire-lanes and personally gone over each person's loadout. Every last one of them, even Melenis, now sported a shotgun of some kind, a battle rifle, and a belt of grenades, and was wearing full environmentally sealed armor, in case the Blue Suns tried to use gas.
Given that Melenis and Mierin were hardly powerful biotics, pulse dissipators and phase disruptors had been placed around the warehouse, with more in grenade form ready to be thrown. There was nothing much their standard weapons could do against genuine heavy units like gunships, but they had a collection of heavy weapons – Hydra missiles, Kraken launchers, lance cannons – ready to fire if they could take the shot against a heavy armor unit or a clump of attackers.
Fifteen rapid-fire turrets dotted the warehouse roof, each protected by cobbled-together kinetic barriers and painstakingly reforged armor plates made from recycled personal armor they'd looted or captured. Four of the turrets were double-barreled lance cannons, the rest were heavy machine guns and anti-materiel guns. All were controlled remotely from within.
Six air-cars loaded with high explosives had been carefully concealed in a narrow ledge above the warehouse – remote piloted, they were designed to be hurled down onto any attackers and detonate.
Ten more turrets bulked in the front entryway of the warehouse, mostly short range weapons like shotguns and flamers. The warehouse's front entry gates were welded shut and plated with armaplast, with a pair of vehicle-grade kinetic barriers backing that up. Weaver and Sensat would be tucked away in the comm center controlling these, as well as the handful of mechs the team had. Each mech was carefully dressed in combat armor to make their numbers look larger, but they only had a dozen of them, and they were older SLEPNIR mechs not likely to make a big contribution. Montague had suggested strapping them with bombs, but they had enough explosive delivery methods already.
And given what they were intended for - distractions and misdirection - their fighting ability didn't matter as much as their capacity to take fire, he mused as he headed down the stairs.
Vibraplate shrapnel mines were scattered throughout the approach to the narrow sector connection leading to the warehouse, along with a number of other traps. Cheap anti-personnel mines were hidden behind a fake wall, lining the proper wall and ready to drown an enemy force in a deluge of steel balls. Half a dozen flechette sprayers were strategically placed in the corners of one of the hallways, covering approach routes.
But the real prize, as far as Garrus was concerned, was the single Glaive siege mine they got their hands on shortly before things started falling apart. Designed by the Systems Alliance R&D for use by the SAMC, it fired multiple eezo-driven staggered waves of mono-filament wire sheathed in pyroacidic gel and was capable of reducing an entire regiment of heavy infantry to so many chunky sirefucking pieces. It was his hope to infuriate the attackers - especially the krogan - into a mad charge and funnel them towards the Glaive siege mine. They planned to coordinate a defense in depth – falling back slowly from the outer perimeter to the inner one, and then across the bridge to the warehouse itself.
If Garrus had figured Tarek correctly, the Blue Suns commandant would lead with his strongest forces and battle-suits. If those could be crippled or taken out in the narrow confines leading to the warehouse, then they could stand off most of the rest of the attack for some time. Vortash, Krul and Montague were already dug into defensive pillboxes in the outer areas, each one heavily booby-trapped as well.
A detonated bomb once the gang slime started their attack would breach a pair of high energy plasma conduits onto the main force, covering Vortash and Krul's retreat. A second but far more powerful blast, at the narrow corridor leading to the staging area outside of the warehouse proper, would do the same when set off by Montague.
Tiny cameras were hooked up next to the detonation areas, so that if Tarek or Relli's Kiss tried to flush them out with fodder the detonations could be delayed until real valuable units got close. Montague's position was the furthest back and he would have a dicey time getting clear, but they could cover him from the warehouse proper, and his expertise in triggering the traps was crucial.
Garrus walked out of the warehouse, glancing around at the turrets before double-checking his energy levels.
There were a series of access tunnels – high up on the walls, out of reach of ground forces – that he would be using to harry and enrage the attackers. But as Angel had pointed out, he had to be careful – if he got pinned down in battle with multiple battle-suits, his life would end quickly.
The biggest advantage they had was that the access path was simply too narrow for any kind of armored vehicles to really get through, at least the main path. There was a flight corridor for incoming and outgoing cargo transports, which Garrus expected Tarek to fly at least one gunship through, but the man could also try to land more forces inside the warehouse area via aircar. The gunship would be hardened, but Butler had rigged up an EMP pulsar inside the corridor that would probably wreck and crash any air-cars coming through, at least until the Suns managed to shut it down.
The tunnels, with one exception, were sealed off and rigged to collapse. The single escape tunnel went to the single shuttle that was still in flyable condition. The other two shuttles were in better shape but had no ability to FTL, which meant they could not use them to escape Omega. Those shuttles were filled with explosives, and would be crashed into the invaders as soon as they began moving into mid Niftu and clearly coming after them.
Sidonis and Mierin were on long scout duty, and had picked off a pair of scouts getting a bit close earlier in the morning. Each one was in sealed armor, and had dusted themselves with lye and pepper to throw off scent trackers. Both of them had a hoverbike to punch out on if they saw a big force, but they were keeping an eye out for independent scouts.
So far... nothing. Garrus knew that wouldn't last. It was only a matter of time before the Suns or some other hacker managed to find the deleted references to the warehouse in the station manifest. Or when the main body finished their search in Gozu and began moving upwards in Niftu.
Garrus didn't overestimate their chances. Best case scenario was the leaders of the assault getting killed off early by the traps, fighting breaking out among the gangs, and the team using the chaos to get to the shuttle and the docks. If they couldn't get aboard the Wind Dagger's ship or get it started, they could still use the shuttle to fly to the nearest system and hopefully get transport elsewhere.
They'd converted as much cash as possible to eezo and other easy to haul commodities in plans for that. But while Angel was optimistic, Garrus didn't think Tarek was that stupid. More likely, they could heavily cripple his force – blow up his fancy battle-suits, kill his heavy hitters – and force him into a direct frontal assault on the warehouse.
Between the turrets, the heavy weapons, the air-cars, and sniping, Garrus figured they could break at least two or three charges of the gangs. If the Blue Suns sent in gunships, maybe they could take one out with the turrets and heavy weapons launchers before those were destroyed.
More than likely, the gunships would blast open his defenses, take out the turrets, and rake the base with fire. They'd be forced back, into the inner areas, and then into the tunnels.
It wouldn't take Tarek long to figure out likely places to have the tunnel come out at, or to throw his remaining assets into a net blocking the docks. That left flying the shuttle to the outer hull, blowing through it, and praying Aria's space defenses didn't lock them up and blow the tark-shit out of them.
He flicked a mandible. They were all going to die, most likely. They could buy some time to slip away by using the mechs, making the gang think they were still fighting, but that ruse would be seen through in minutes, as soon as they searched the bodies. Blowing the entire warehouse might or might not make that a viable trick.
He came to a stop at the end of the bridge, tapping his omni-tool to query the det charges set inside the bridge itself. As he did so, his commlink pinged. "Here."
Sidonis' voice was tense and flanged, his words hissed. "Problems. Suns and Blood Pack had a shootout with some greenshits, and stormed Halaskin's cybernetics lab. Five minutes later, and they just moved a big unit of heavies back towards Vefu all of a sudden."
Garrus swore. "Did we ever do business with Halaskin?"
Mierin's voice was soft. "No. But Ripper did quite a bit. Most of the cybernetics he got for me and Vortash came from Halaskin. I don't think Halaskin knew... but if Halaskin kept records, they'd be really interested in why he sold mil-spec silver to Ripper."
Garrus tapped another commlink. "Butler. Is the laser link to Ripper still up?"
The human's voice was grim. "Yeah. He just called. Halaskin says the gangs are coming for the cyberdocs. He's wiping his records now."
Garrus ground his teeth. "We have to – "
Angel's deep voice cut in tiredly. "We can't do anything, Garrus. Ripper knew the risks when he decided he couldn't abandon the needs of Vefu to go into hiding with the rest of us. We don't have the manpower – or firepower – to get into a running battle in the open with the Suns and you know it."
Garrus bowed his head. "Spirits..."
Butler spoke. "Ripper... he just killed the link, boss. Last thing he said was to keep the light going a bit longer."
Garrus nodded faintly. "Was this worth it, Angel?"
The ex-Marine didn't respond for several seconds. "It depends on how you look at it. Vengeance is never worth anything, Garrus. Justice only exists when people have the strength to demand to be able to live a life without terror. But this was never about vengeance, or justice. It was about protecting those who couldn't. About reminding those in power that acts have a cost."
Angel's voice grew stronger. "Ripper chose to stay because he was helping people. Because his clinic was the only thing between life and death for hundreds of people. And I don't think he regrets a thing, because if you had not done what you have, most of the people he's been able to help in the past year would have already been dead."
Garrus lifted his armored head. "Maybe. Maybe I'm too used to... trying to see things in black and white. Gangs and innocents. But I always thought he'd survive this even if we didn't. That he could keep making a difference... after we were all dead."
Angel's voice softened. "So did I, Garrus. But God tests us for reasons we rarely understand. And that test is soon to be upon us. You are ready?"
He exhaled. "Yeah, I'm ready. Butler, prep the shuttles."
O-TWCD-O
In the back of his rundown clinic, Ripper sprayed plasma over the link computer and the medical database he'd built. He knew, ultimately, it would only delay the inevitable – they would go through his various accounts and find his off-site backups, and that would lead them straight to the warehouse.
But they were going to find the warehouse sooner or later anyway. He figured at this point, the only goals he had left were to delay that as long as possible and give the team more time to dig in or find a way out.
He glanced around the front office area of his clinic, a faint quiver to his mandibles. For a turian he was old, his plates battered and scarred and a good portion of his body sacrificed to the Hierarchy and replaced with cybernetics. As he looked around he thought of the people he had helped over the years – victims of gang violence, people with inoperable nerve disorders, industrial accident victims.
His clinic would be missed once he was gone... but death was but a few years away for him anyway. Toxic shock syndrome and various cancers were racking his frame already … best to die as one lived, fighting the good fight.
Ripper paused to pick up his custom-built war-cannon and smiled as the front door buckled under the impact of some heavy strike or blow. He could hear the commotion outside, and mused that the good fight had come to him. Efficient.
With a second blow the door burst open, and he fired, twelve APP rounds blasting in a buckshot pattern into the entryway. The krogan manning the kinetic ram that had taken the door down came apart messily from the blast, as did the two burly batarians behind him. More batarians, in Blue Suns armor, stormed into the front of the shop, firing as they ran, ducking behind the front desk and parts station for cover.
Ripper put a shot through the desk, blasting it in half and killing the batarian using it for cover, before tapping his omni-tool. Two hand-built turrets in the ceiling swung down and began rapidly firing on everything in the front office, even as he ducked into the back rooms and shut the heavy security door.
His operating clinic – twenty years out of date and full of second-hand equipment – was a blur as he moved past toward the back entrance. He triggered the second security door leading to the back even as the back access door was broken down. He smiled as the intruders tripped the security system, and a mass effect field flung twenty feet of mono-molecular wire into a razor-tangle into their faces.
He almost sniggered at their screams. What kind of idiots tried breaking into a lab full of expensive equipment on Omega of all places without checking for traps?
He had only minutes left, and he was going to make the bastards pay. He heard the turrets out front cease firing as they were shot to pieces, even as he unscrewed various canisters of chemicals in the corner, heading with them to the battery charging station.
"Ripper! Give up and this will be quick! Tell us where the fuck Archangel is!"
Ripper shouted back "Pronging your mother!" and continued his task. He flexed his fringe in amusement as he continued adding things to the battery station before hooking it up to the main power conduit of his clinic. He reloaded his weapon, and spent two minutes shoving furniture and lab tables around to form cover while the gangs attempted to blast or hack their way through the heavy security doors.
He'd just finished up with the barricades when he heard the back doors begin to splinter, and a chiming sound from the front one. As he ducked into position, the main security door shuddered and slid open – hacked, he figured. Heavily armored Blue Suns centurions stormed through, firing shotguns as they came.
Ripper's war-cannon vomited forth a cloud of rounds, tearing down the barrier of the first goon and sending pieces of him spattering against the wall. The second shot didn't breach the charging batarian in heavy armor's shields, unfortunately.
With a roar the batarian leapt over his makeshift barricades, leveling the shotgun. Ripper clucked and swung with his free hand.
As he swung, the cybernetic arm attachment that he took his nickname from extended. The omni-tool driven rotating blades sliced the batarian's weapon arm off at the elbow, and the ganger gave a scream of agony.
Ripper slashed him across the eyes with his chain-blade and kicked him back, fouling the charging forms of more Blue Suns. He fired wildly, killing two more, and was about to execute a third when security door in the back gave way.
Ripper had time to turn before the two bleeding, angry looking Eclipse asari in the doorway hit him with a warp. His last memory was to laugh as he fell back, burning, and triggered his omni-tool.
Cybernetic devices are power-hungry, and like most cyberdocs, Ripper preferred to build his own energy systems, and had large amounts of highly volatile materials in his cyber-lab to do so with. He'd long ago rigged up a detonator for them, and his last omni-tool action triggered it. The sixty pounds of lithium, phosphorous, caesium and the like all had their containment fail at the same time, along with the entire energy output of the lab and the fifty gallon water tank.
The explosion that tore through the building was more than the older walls could take. Almost forty Blue Suns and Eclipse troopers were killed instantly by the blast, over two hundred more took shock and impact damage, shrapnel and burns. Two battle-suits were hit by flying debris and crushed, and the explosion incinerated one of the best Blue Suns hackers and two Eclipse lieutenants.
Tarek, watching from some distance away, cursed blackly. "Have the hacking team keep at his backups and records. Do we have any other leads that haven't fucking exploded yet?"
One of the Eclipse lieutenants shrugged. "Halaskin didn't explode so much as douse the team with highly concentrated acids." She scowled, the black Eclipse tattoo on her face twisting her expression. "Final search teams are finishing up in Gozu now."
Tarek sighed. "This is not going to end well." He glared at Relli's Kiss. "And your people aren't helping much, either. Can't they do something...biotic screens or something?"
The bigger asari next to Relli's Kiss shook her head. Her complicated black and red facial markings twisted and moved like animals as she spoke, her expression almost blank. "Not as much as you'd think. The Sisterhood is adept at using our biotics offensively and to neutralize conventional firepower...none of this is conventional. A barrier isn't much use against high explosives or long range irregular sniper fire."
Tarek sighed grimly. "So we're going to be blown up and shot to pieces and there's no idea where the bastard is to stop him?"
Relli's Kiss gave him a shrug, as she finished taking a hit of red sand and reapplied her respiration device. "Oh Tarek... you worry too much. Like Miaela said, my scouts are finishing up with Gozu now, so we know he's in Niftu. All we do is form up in heavy lines and march through the whole district while your gunships pin down any traffic trying to leave. This is almost done with... and then the real fun can start."
Tarek grimaced, turning to Jentha. "Yeah, because fighting Aria in the Black Concourse will be so much fun. Our casualties?"
Jentha read from a pad. "Five heavy Centurions, Carleston, our hacker, at least thirty others." She tapped the pad again. "...Also nine scouts failed to report in on time. Six in Niftu mids, three assigned to the cyberclinic run by Mithar."
Tarek grunted, and glanced back at the hulking form of Durm, the leader of the Blood Pack. "Have your varren found anything?"
The big krogan shrugged, looking off into the distance. "Several trails in Niftu and Vefu fouled by pepper and lye. Some ugly shrapnel traps rigged up to fresh meat. He knows we're coming, and he'll probably have something nasty on the way in."
Tarek nodded sourly at that, pulling up a map of the station on his omni. "Jentha, have Karuz take five squads with a battlesuit over to Mithar. If he starts anything or refuses entry or to open his records, use the gas rockets and kill him clean before he has a chance to pull what Ripper just did." He turned to a swarthy batarian with ritual scars on his cheeks. "Monos, detail off five more squads, go through the fucking habblocks and get someone to fucking talk. Start torching people if they don't spill."
Relli's Kiss laughed at that. "You think you can draw him out if you start killing his precious innocents?"
Tarek shrugged. "I can only hope he's that Pillars-damned stupid, but no. I'm guessing someone knows something. And every hour we're sifting through Niftu and Gozu that bastard is digging in more."
The asari rolled her eyes. "Tarek, dear. We have over two thousand here, and more up-station. How much damage can he really do?"
The batarian killed his omni-tool. "Did you forget the Butcher's little message? Archangel is dangerous, but if it was just him and his little gang, I'd not have a worry in the world. But Emperor only knows what that crazy bitch is going to try to do."
The Eclipse lieutenant shook her head. "Like what? Attack the station to get at us? Blather and hype, that's all that is."
Tarek gave her a dubious look. "Riiiight. And I'm sure that's just what Okeer thought right before she snuck past an entire planetary defense net and wrecked his shit. I would rather not wait around for her to show up."
O-TWCD-O
High above the Black Walk, Aria stared out the smoked glass windows at the elongated rows of buildings and businesses that filled the Concourse. Gaudy lights flashed against smoky backdrops, while milling crowds walked the streets, secure in their power.
Beyond, carefully guarding the Black Gate, was a large group of her personal commando guard, augmented carefully by many of Bray's security types and a handful of other specialists she'd hired. Higher up in the tower above Afterlife, her command and control center was buzzing with extra hackers and netrunners, while an entire team of snipers waited in heavy stealth atop balconies and buildings.
Six cutting edge Nightstream battle-suits from the Asari Republic stalked through the streets accompanied by marching ranks of newly purchased salarian combat mechs, while a dozen heavy gunships slowly cruised high above the Black Walk, sensors active.
The grating voice of Aethyta broke Aria's ruminations. "You look a little worried."
Aria did not deign to turn to face the older matriarch, instead waving a hand dismissively. "I'm well aware of what those fools think they can pull off after they kill Archangel. I've actually determined where his little hideout is for a while. Clever location, but the merchant who owned the warehouse was working for me, and that suit he's using was something I originally wanted for... an old friend of mine. Once I got a good look at it, the pieces all fell together"
Aethyta grimaced and slowly walked forward. She was still recovering from the surgery to fix her snapped spinal column, the cybernetic interface still raw and painful in her lower back. Thankfully, at her age her regenerative abilities wouldn't present a problem for a decade or so.
"Not sure why you called me up here, unless you like watching me limp around in pain."
The asari queen's lips curled ever so slightly. "As amusing as that is, no. I merely wish you to... observe." She gestured almost airily at the grand view from the wide armaplast window. "You see, I've done a great deal of thinking since you have become my guest. Originally I wanted to kill you – more for your insolence than what you did in my past."
Aethyta frowned. "And why is that?"
Aria turned, her face cast into shadows by the lights from the Black Walk, lengthening her features into a sharp, dark mask. "As much as I would prefer to gut you and turn you into a footrug for how you ruined my life, Aethyta, I... understand the insipid nature of what my mother did to you. How she put her hooks into you and made you her puppet, and how much you have paid for defying her in the end."
The expression on Aria's face tightened. "As much as I hate you, and hate what you did to me, to Liselle, to my life, I'm not fool enough to think you were the one desiring it. You certainly threw yourself into the role with gusto..."
Aria walked past Aethyta, picking up a decanter of Thessian icewine and pouring a glass. "...But dearest mother did have you crested on the wave with the situation with Benezia. She set that up, you know, with the Palavanus boy. I fully believe she also set the boy up to die, knowing it would split you and Benezia forever." The lips curled mockingly. "After all, Thana couldn't have a revival of T'Soni and Vasir fortunes, given your Houses popularity as the Heroes of the War of Queens. It took them thousands of years to whittle you down to the wrecks you are now."
Aethyta swallowed. "Politics and house squabbling... that doesn't change what I did was monstrous. Or that the blood won't ever wash off my hands, or my soul. Thana promised me many things, and I shouldn't have listened to her in the first place. I don't ask for or expect forgiveness... only that you don't make Liara pay for my crimes. That's all I've ever asked."
Aria nodded. "Which brings me to why you are here." She gestured out the window again as she sipped her wine. "There are events happening that I am losing track of. Something is happening in the Deep Traverse, some Broker project. Something is happening at the edges of the Veil, geth moving back into the war. Money is flying into the Attican from sources I don't know. My warlords plot and too many of them are ex-SIU and more terrified of the Batarian Emperor than me."
Aria looked out the window. "There is no one I can trust. No one. Can you imagine a life lived that way, old bag? I cannot be sure my own daughter, if I could claim her, would not knife me for my power, or out of resentment, or out of fear... I have no 'friends'. My allies pray daily for a chance to turn on me. My own lovers abandon me over 'ethics'." She spat the word.
Aethyta cautiously spoke. "...Such is the life, I suspect, of your mother as well. Minus the pack of batarian bully boys."
The asari queen sipped her wine again. "Perhaps. But her power does not rest on a knife's edge. By midnight, there will be open war on the streets. Once they kill the Archangel, that jumped up joygirl in charge of Eclipse will sweet talk – or fuck – Tarek into making a run at me."
Aria turned to face Aethyta. "They'll fail, of course. But in the chaos, my position becomes more precarious. In the chaos, the Broker's agents, the real threat, will have a shot at me. Tazzik is coming."
Aethyta shook her head. "Your warlords won't help?"
Aria shrugged. "They could. But if I asked... then the delicate dance of my supposed power becomes like sea mist. In the long run it doesn't matter how successful they are. Between the gangs, Archangel, Tazzik and whatever other chaos gets stirred up, I'll be weakened."
Aria turned to face her fully. "I'm not stupid enough to think that the Council will not pounce on such weakness, especially given the faint rumors I'm hearing now, that Collectors may be involved in these... missing colonies of the humans."
Aethyta frowned. "They don't care about that. But you're right. The Council of Matriarchs has been looking for any possible reason to convince the Citadel to go to war against you." She sighed. "
Aria's smile glittered like frozen steel. "It is good I don't have to spell out all the nuances, old bag." She sipped again from the wineglass. "That's why I had Gears fix your spine up and get you walking. You're going to be my... message to the Matriarchs."
Aethyta exhaled. "And Liara?"
Aria shrugged. "The Broker is finished on Ilium, I suspect. The Thirty are moving there in force, now, not content to let the prize slip away a second time. If they haven't been able to localize the Broker by now, I'm thinking that I gambled wrong in believing Ilium was a hub leading straight to him."
The Queen of Omega set her glass down, smirking. "In the long run I don't need them any more. They're using their own resources, going after their own targets. Once I've let you go, I'm in effect letting them go as well. Good luck getting them to stop. They seem to have acquired a taste for... blood."
Aethyta winced but nodded. "What do you want me to say?"
Aria's lips curled. "What I want them to grasp is simple. Make them understand this – I am not a part of their stupid, ill-conceived plans. I am not a part – and the asari of Omega are not a part – of their precious, hypocritical 'unity'. Since the threat of outing their open hypocrisy and the little things I know about the Temple and the Justicars isn't enough to stop their plotting..."
Turning back to the view of the Black Walk, Aria's voice became colder. "I'll send you to Thessia with a warning. You will tell the Council and my lovely mother that any Council actions against me, against Omega, against the Terminus, will result in me allowing the fallen priestess Trellani to transmit whatever it is that drove her from the Temple and whatever they killed her family for to the entire galaxy."
Aethyta paled. "...Did you learn what it was?"
Aria's lips curled in a sneer. "There's a reason I don't venerate Athame, old hag. I have a very good suspicion of what she found. It's probably why my mother didn't want me hanging around Uressa too much." She smiled. "But if you don't know, it's best I don't tell you. They wouldn't hesitate to kill you too."
Aethyta muttered. "Some would like to do that anyway. There will be questions about my survival... not to mention Liara's."
Aria turned back to face her. "Not my problem. Convince them to stop this... game they're playing. It is no longer something I am willing to tolerate."
Aethyta was silent for long seconds. "Aria, they may not go along with that. You already know they're not doing what they do for the good of the asari people. What makes you think threats will get them to back off? If Trellani hasn't spilled whatever she tumbled to in all these years why would she do it now?"
Aria smiled. "Because as it turns out, I've been contacted by the Illusive Man... who needs a favor from me."
O-TWCD-O
"Joker, status."
The comm system on the pinnace Shepard rode in was not as powerful as a warship's systems, and Joker's voice was distorted by the hiss of solar radiation. "Tracking you solid. Stealth systems fully engaged. Nothing out of place yet... except the fuck-all fleet in-system."
Shepard nodded, exhaling as she stared out at the wall display. The Omega system was thick with pirate ships and the fleets of Aria's many warlords, clustered in thick bands around the dark bulk of Omega itself, backlit by its red radiance.
She'd never been to Omega when she was alive, and coming to the system now, seeing the size of Aria's fleet, clarified to her why the Council was so nervous about the pirate queen. "Well, she certainly isn't fucking around when it comes to ships, is she?"
Miranda glanced at the view-screen, lips compressed into a thin grimace. "The last time I was here, there were even more ships. Mr. Moreau was surprised by the fleet strength. Only a fraction of these ships answer directly to Aria."
Taylor, sitting on the bench seating next to Grunt, frowned sourly. "Yeah, but that still leaves her with a lotta heavy hardware. Aria may not have any dreadnoughts, but she's got more light cruisers than the damned asari do."
Shepard nodded, turning to face Kasumi, sitting placidly in the corner near the comms panel. "Well?"
Goto smiled. "Aria-dono has communicated with the Illusive Man and is agreeable to our suggestion, as long as we take care not to drag any fighting towards the Black Concourse. She has provided three armored air-trucks to a slip at the docks for us to use as well as an authorization... and apparently has a very good idea of where Archangel's hideout is."
Shepard arched an eyebrow at that. "Really. And she never acted on it?"
The thief shrugged diffidently. "Aria-dono is not given to precipitous action, Taicho, unless she can profit from it. I have the impression she only learned this information recently." Her expression fell. "She has also informed me that the hunt has already begun and it may not be long before the gangs locate the Archangel's position as well."
Shepard nodded sourly. "...Great." She turned to face the rest of the team.
Everyone was crowded in the main hold of the pinnace, with the cargo section crammed full of mechs. Shepard glanced over everyone as she spoke. "This is it, people. We'll be hitting the docks in less than ten minutes, and there's no room for error on this one."
She tapped her omni, and the display screen on the wall shifted to a wire-frame drawing of Omega. "We'll land at the docks and take these trucks. Goto, what's his supposed location?"
The thief tapped a key on her omni, illuminating a boxed-off section near the lower third of the station. "A cargo warehouse on the outskirts of Upper Niftu. There are two ways there. A cargo access tunnel way for delivery trucks, and foot access via the upper Niftu warehousing district."
Shepard studied the image for several seconds. "Either way is going to be messy. The direct path is almost certainly going to be trapped, and even if it isn't - you can fucking bet it will be full of gangbanging mooks. And that cargo access tunnel is a deathtrap."
Miranda nodded as she looked at the map. "The gangs are almost certain to have that covered with gunships to shoot down any escaping vehicles or shuttles."
Shepard tapped the map. "This section up here, it juts out from the rest of Niftu – what's up there?"
Goto was silent for several seconds. "Some kind of staging area for storage of mining equipment for the eezo mines."
Shepard nodded. "How feasible would it be to blow a hole in that decking and drop into the level below?"
Taylor whistled. "You'd need a pretty big bang, Shepard. Dunno what the composition is like, but that's a good fifty, sixty feet of solid rock behind a foot of station decking." He shook his head. "I don't think that's doable... but what about this?" He tapped a series of cargo access tunnels. "These run underneath the site, but connect to the outer station superstructure."
He glanced up at Shepard. "You could blow a hole in those and come out right inside the main cargo access path leading to the warehouse, with any goons on the outside being none the wiser."
Shepard nodded. "And if we use that to exit, the Normandy can hang outside the station and pick us up without having to fuck with fighting through to the docks." She narrowed her eyes. "What if the gangs have the same idea?"
Taylor shrugged. "Be a pretty big hassle to move their entire force through that way. Plus, there's a downside. We go in this way and it's going to be pretty obvious we're coming. That cargo access tunnel is a good hundred to hundred and fifty meters from the landing areas near the warehouse. We'd have to fly through and deploy under fire from the gangs."
Shepard nodded, then paused. "Wait. You said that staging area I talked about first was full of mining equipment?"
Goto nodded, tapping something on her omni-tool. "Yes, mostly drilling equipment."
Shepard smiled. "If we need a good distraction to get our air cars close, I have an idea."
O-TWCD-O
Mierin's breathing was hard and fast as she spoke into the commlink. "That's torn it. Fuckers are spilling fast and hard out of Vefu, headed straight upstation towards the Niftu Warehouse District. They're coming, boss."
Angel nodded, glancing around the comms room. "Alright. Let them get inside the main leadway before you and Vortash pop your traps, then punch out. Montague, get your detonators ready." He clicked off, turning to face Sensat. "Power up the drones and turrets."
The batarian nodded, fingers flying over his console as Angel left the comm room, heading into the small infirmary. Melenis stood over Erash, applying yet another antibiotic injection. "Any change?"
The asari shook her head. "He regained consciousness a few times last night. Not for long. I don't think he's lucid even when he wakes up, and his blood pressure is getting worse."
Angel nodded quietly. "Finish up what you can with him and get into place. They're coming."
Melenis nodded briskly, tossing away the needle and wiping her hands. "Give me five."
Angel exited the room and headed into the room overlooking the bridge, seeing weapons laid out and ready for use. He tapped his commlink. "Garrus... they're coming."
The turian's voice was flat, void of harmonics for once. "I know. I see them. Lots of Suns heavies... Eclipse sisters... mm. Two APCs, but too big for the access-way. At least a dozen battle-suits. No sign of the gunships yet."
Angel nodded. "I've instructed Mierin and Vortash to pop their traps and then fallback. Once they do so, you can use the tunnels for a while, but I'd rather have you here when Montague really gets the party going."
Garrus growled. "Pinning me down in defense takes away a lot of my utility, Angel."
The ex-Marine nodded. "I know. But if you aren't there's too much of a chance they'll lock up your location and hit you with EMP or rush us with gunships. Someone also has to cover Montague when he makes a break for it."
Garrus sighed. "Alright. I'll do what I can at a distance... and fall back when Vortash and Mierin do. Just keep a sharp eye out on the cargo access tunnel."
Angel nodded. "Sensat hacked the outer hatch and shut it. So far, no intrusions." He glanced out the window again before heading back towards the comm room. "I'll monitor from there, Angel out."
As he re-entered the comm-room, Sensat and Weaver were both busy, moving haptic screens about and preparing drone programs. "What's it look like?"
Weaver's southern drawl was pronounced as he panned through screens. "That's a powerful lot of dogshit rolling towards us. 'Bout to hit the outers now. We were going to let them pass until the APCs passed over."
Angel nodded, folded his arms, and waited. The grainy images from the third-hand, ad-hoc spy cams Sensat had seeded through the Warehouse district picked up the wave of moving figures. Rough krogan in Blood Pack colors, holding chain leashes for bloodthirsty varren. Sneering Blue Suns mercs, confidently striding along, weapons ready. Eclipse sisters, laughing and joking as they flitted through the side paths, checking for ambushes.
The entrance to Niftu's warehouse district was a heavy metallic portal hacked into the rock of Omega, with heavy reinforcement. The two plasma tanks rigged up behind the lip of the portal were carefully painted and rusted to look like part of the environment, and none of the gangers paid them any mind, until Sensat's signal detonated them.
Angel watched as rank after rank of gang bangers marched underneath the arch, and the first APC transited. He smiled as more of his enemies walked ahead, blindly unaware of the danger they were in. When almost seven hundred figures and several battle suits had gone through, he tapped Sensat on the shoulder. "Now."
Half a ton of highly energized plasma slurry dropped into the front ranks of the gangers, splashing and igniting flesh and metal alike. Batarians and asari screamed as they turned into bouncing, jiggling torches, flailing in agony before collapsing into melted piles of slush. The APC that had begun to transit the corridor exploded violently, sending shrapnel and armor splinters in all directions, a semicircle of casualties falling down around it.
Even as Tarek barked orders in the rear, Mierin and Vortash triggered the next attack. A series of crudely built antipersonnel mines built into false walls near the entrance flared, spraying deadly splinters of metal in all directions. Dozens of gang soldiers died in an instant while almost a hundred more were now wounded. Splinters of metal almost a foot long had shoved through thighs and torsos and sheared off arms and legs – no amount of medigel patches would get those wounded back into the fight anytime soon.
A handful of Eclipse sisters threw up biotic barriers and some others linked their powers to bring up a larger dome, but Garrus just chuckled. On the commlink, Vortash gave a breathy chuckle as well. "Cute, biotic walls. Let's see how they like part two."
The entire column was wracked by explosions as more detpacks detonated. A section of the roofing collapsed, crushing a battle-suit beneath a falling torrent of rubble and torn metal, splashing the softer soldiers around the suit into paste. More mines, these seeded on the ceiling, went up, sending gouts of plasma fire into the panicked mass of gangers. Green-lit flames washed across the streets, burning anything in its conflagratory path alive, sending panic through the ranks as biotics scrambled to stop the flames with shear fields.
In fifteen seconds, hundreds were dead, hundreds more wounded, and an APC and three battle-suits were out of commission. That's when the sniper fire started.
Weaver had managed to penetrate the enemy comm network, and Garrus smirked as the braying voice of Tarek, at the back of the column inside his command APC, lashed into profanity as he saw one of his battalion commanders die, the man's head evaporating in a fine mist from a sniper round. His orders were shouted into the comm. "Dammit, fall back and regroup. Section leaders, bring up the minesweeping drones. Scouts, find and suppress that damned sniper, and once you have him localized, hit him with a plasma mortar!"
Garrus snorted to himself, sighted in on a pair of figures in the distance and tapped his laser designator. "Sidonis, you set?"
The younger turian's voice flanged with worry. "Yeah, trying to make sure I can cover Mier pulling back."
Garrus smiled. "Pair of Suns engineers at my designation mark, toting a plasma mortar. I don't have range on them. You got them?"
A second later two sharp cracks rang out from ahead of Garrus. Sidonis' voice was smug. "Two more in the vakar pit, old man. Mierin, you cool? I can't see you, copy."
Mierin was breathing hard as she ran down a narrow pathway to the next strong point. "Moving now, baby. Head's up, the fuckers are coming in thick and hot, boss. They're angry but are checking for traps now."
Angel nodded calmly. "That's fine. Let them regroup and move forward to the plasma conduits. Once those blow, fall back directly to the warehouse. Garrus... you're on."
Tucked in an alcove high above the warehousing district, Garrus tapped his comms.
"Acknowledged." Lifting his custom built rifle, he began sighting in on the tiny figures milling around the entrance of the district. His visor, linked with the suit actuators and the laser rangefinder on the Widow rifle in his hands, began making calculations, the data flashing up on the projected HUD from his cybernetic eye.
He fired the first round, the explosive-tipped munition smashing into the knee actuator of a battle-suit even as he fired his next shot. Seven more rounds carved into the gangers. One blasted the head off of a Centurion, splashing his panicking subordinates with burning viscera. Two more crippled additional battle-suits, the fifth shot blowing a giant hole through the torso of an Eclipse sister to impact the lower torso of the Sister behind her, killing both instantly.
Gangers fired randomly in all directions, despite roaring orders from their overseers to cease fire and identify the direction the shots were from. Garrus smiled grimly and triggered his omni-tool. "Butler, patch it."
Back at the warehouse, Butler nodded, readjusting the laser-link comm system to the carefully hacked receiver they'd laced into the station's PA network during their hack of Aria's defenses. The modulated, growling bass of the Archangel rolled out.
"People of Omega. This is the Archangel."
"In case some of you have forgotten, defiance of the law does not make one immune to it. The gangs are not the law. Their stupid leaders are not the law. I am the law. The gangers are too cowardly to even be criminals, hiding behind their guns and terrorizing those weaker than them. And tonight they are going to face judgement."
He laughed, a hollow, cold noise that made more than one of the gangers flinch despite themselves. "For the innocent on this station, in Niftu, Vefu, Gozu... stay in your homes. Stay out of the streets. Protect your families. This will be over in the morning, and you can go on with your lives without the filth terrorizing you."
He watched as the seething lines began to reform, this time with krogan scouts leading varren and Blue Suns engineers with scanning drones and lit omni-tools. "And as for you fools coming for me... you think because there are thousands of you, and one of me, that I should fear you?"
He tapped the omni-tool, and the second tier of traps went off – a row of missile launchers, carefully placed in a line angling down to the entrance to the wards. Sixteen missiles lanced out, slamming into the front ranks, killing the seekers and trap sensor specialists. Gouts of flame and choking, billowing clouds of smoke obscured the passage along with more screaming and wild shooting.
"...It just makes it harder for me to miss when I start killing you. Judgement time."
He killed the link, even as the column of attackers surged forward. Snarling varren bounded through the smoke, followed by ranks of krogan in thick armor with shotguns and the stamping, booming tread of battle-suits. Endless lines of Blue Suns troopers and Eclipse sisters rushed behind them, and Garrus nodded.
"Vortash. Coming up on the first turn. You ready?"
The ex-SIU officer snorted his amusement. "Of course. I'm going to wait until they get a bit closer... don't want to just cut up the front ranks."
Garrus nodded, clambering down the side of the niche he had huddled in and launching himself through the air, landing on top of a low-slung storage facility. He knelt, bracing himself, and began sighting in on new targets.
The rifle in his hands jerked as he fired.
O-TWCD-O
Shepard gritted her teeth.
Three armored air transports had been waiting at the docks, just like Goto had said. Shepard didn't know (or want to know) the details. She'd split her forces into two rough operating teams. Team Rescue was lead by Miranda, and had both Doctor Solus and Doctor Sedanya, Taylor, Tali, Kiala, Dost, and most of her Marines, along with all of the combat bots. They had set off in two of the transports for the secondary access tunnel point that linked to an entrance to the warehousing district where Archangel's base was located.
Her own team, which Zaeed kept referring to as 'Team Fuck You', was in the last air transport and looking at the station decking literally directly above the hideout. As Goto had said, the area was a staging locale for complex drilling machinery. Normally requiring several people to operate, it was now being hacked and activated by Vigil.
So far, the drilling had gone slowly. Shepard turned away from the scene to face her team: Jack, Grunt, Zaeed, and her two DACT, along with a single hulking MJOLNIR mech. "According to Miranda, the situation is getting crazy. Archangel apparently booby-trapped a lot of the district, which is slowing the gangs advance down and killing lots of them, but they've overrun all of the outer district areas. It probably won't be long before someone notices or hears what we're doing here and sends someone to investigate, so be ready."
Jack merely smirked and flipped the safety on the lightweight shotgun she now carried. "Whatever. Who would be stupid enough to pick a fight when they're already dealing with Archangel's bullshit?"
Zaeed snorted. "You haven't been around many Blood Pack, then, have you? Stupid guddamned meatheads shoot first and ask questions never."
The drilling rig Vigil was operating shuddered, the collimated laser head flaring. The sphere hovered over Shepard's shoulder. "The tunnel is fifty seven percent completed, meatbag. At the current rate of operation, it will be another twenty seven minutes to drill through. Based on Miranda's reports, the gangs will break through the inner defenses and reach the warehouse courtyard in fifteen minutes."
Shepard nodded sourly. "We have to figure the heaviest defenses will be at Archangel's place. Hopefully he can hold out for the nine or ten minutes it takes to finish. What about the truck?"
Vigil pulsed. "It is well armored enough that using it as a distraction should work. You are sure your stunt will succeed?"
Shepard shrugged. "The DACT can make their own way down. Between Jack and I, I'm sure we're strong enough to do a combined biotic airdrop. Just make sure that truck wrecks as much havoc as possible."
Vigil's silvery surface rippled. "Your Neanderthal love of smashing vehicles into sentient beings is becoming compulsive, Shepard."
Jack arched an eyebrow. "She's pulled that shit before?"
Shepard sighed. "At the Battle of the Citadel, I had Shiny here ram some air-cars into attackers at the Citadel Tower's base so we could speed by."
The sphere moved higher and glowed. "Which was, I might add, my suggestion."
Shepard glanced up. "You're always going on about how fucking smart you are, so not sure why you think you actually having one good idea matters."
"...Touché, meatbag."
O-TWCD-O
Garrus grimaced, even as he reloaded his rifle.
The gang's charge into Niftu had been unexpected. Angel and Garrus had planned for the early traps to make them hesitate, and to use lots of sniping attacks and bombs to keep them off guard and slow them down – not to delay the inevitable, but to make the gangers bunch up and push some of their heavier and more dangerous units forward first.
In fact, the charge had been unexpected enough that it bypassed Kru'ls traps entirely, and she had already fallen back towards the warehouse. Luckily the gangs had ended up on the main path anyway, and directly in line for the plasma trap.
Said plasma conduit trap had been triggered, along with Vortash raining rockets and heavy weapons fire down on the gangers from his strong point, but ultimately Tarek had been smarter than expected. He lead with Blood Pack soldiers, tough and strong and hard to bring down, and the plasma explosion didn't catch any of Tarek's battle-suits or mechs in the blast. Casualties had been reduced by the Eclipse mercs behind them using biotic fields to block some of the plasma or rechannel it, although it had still killed a large amount of the enemy.
Vortash put his SIU skills to good use, rigging up wall traps, springing several ambushes and electrocuting one squad with a downed power line and a water lead. He had inflicted significant casualties before being driven from his strong point, but a lucky shot from a Blue Suns sniper had crippled his hover bike just as he was about to make a clean getaway.
Vortash was now fighting building to building, evading storming packs of Blood Pack troopers, and was running out of options. Twice Garrus had tried to move in to get him out, but he'd been forced back by heavy missile fire and several snipers using anti-materiel rifles, even while vorcha with flamethrowers and heavy battlesuits swarmed into the area.
Tucked away in the shallow alcove of a warehouse, he tapped his commlink. "Vortash."
The ragged breathing of the batarian soldier rasped into words. "Too many coming. Fall back to Mierin now. I'm done for."
Garrus shook his head. "All I have to do is get a clear path and I can grab you and haul you out!"
Vortash chuckled. "Suit's not designed for that and you know it. It's too slow hauling someone and you'd just be shot out of the sky... and then Melenis would kill me." His levity vanished. "There are times, it is said on the Pillars, that there are no ways forward but death. This is that time, boy."
Garrus said nothing, and Angel cut in. "Vortash... it has been an honor. Never thought I'd say that about a SIU guy, but there it is."
Vortash's smile was audible. "For a monkey, you fight well, Angel. I chose my own path, knowing my people have fallen a long way from what we used to be. Time to remind these weaklings why the SIU is feared. Use my sacrifice well – re-position and make damned sure Mierin and Sidonis don't get caught the way I did."
There was a blast of some kind, and Vortash clicked off. Garrus swallowed and launched out of his cover, diving behind a retaining wall as a firefight exploded in the distance. Screams of agony and several explosions were heard, and then the sound of Vortash's booming laughter rang out, before another massive explosion rocked the ground.
Weaver's voice came on the comm. "Mother of God... Vortash took out one of the battle-suits and a big fucking pile of vorcha. Detonated his entire stack of plasma mines in his backpack. Looks like the suit's ammo cooked off in the blast too."
Angel's voice was heavy with emotion. "A brave sacrifice. Mierin. Sidonis. Get ready. They're going to be on you in minutes, hit them hard and blow the charges, then pull out. Don't do anything stupid or heroic."
Sidonis' dry tones were muted. "Yeah, boss, copy. I don't play around with Mierin's safety." He paused, the sound of mangnoculars zooming in audible over the comm. "Fuck. Force report. APC's still proceeding, count six of them. Seven battle-suits still operational, one limping. Additional Centurion heavies being moved up alongside the Pack hunters. More Eclipse sisters going in on the rooftops – looks like they're going to try to flank the Ventram building and come down Janas Path instead of the main transit lane."
Garrus nodded, visualizing the situation in his head. "Hold your position and get ready. I'm going to go bright and draw them to you."
Angel's voice cut in hard. "You have the energy for that? Active mode – "
Garrus smiled. "Hey. People need to see the Archangel in action. We can't let them flank Mierin's position. Going hot."
He folded away his sniper rifle, pulling out the heavily modified Talon pistol that once belonged, in another life, to his old C-SEC partner. He tapped his omni-tool, bringing up the configuration suite.
"Activate armor mode."
Most SKYTALON armor was designed with attritional anti-infantry and harassment missions in mind. But the custom modifications to Archangel's special suit had two modes. The stealth mode was the one he most often employed, relying on the suit's pitch black coloration, haptic camo and sensor suppression to evade detection.
But when faced with overpowering opposition, the armor could deploy high-intensity omni-armor plating, an omni-shield barrier on both arms, and energized omni-shape wings for high speed air maneuvering. Known as active mode or armor mode, it drained energy much faster than stealth... but made the suit almost impervious to all small arms and most light to moderate anti-armor weapons. Only direct hits from Kraken missiles or railguns would take him out in a single blow, and the Suns didn't have anything that heavy.
At least, he hoped they didn't.
The other drawback was the glowing omni-armor panels were highly visible. Butler, in a touch of the melodramatic, had altered the haptic resonance frequency so that instead of pure orange they gleamed a pearly, heavenly white instead.
Still reeling from the blast that had killed Vortash, a battle-suit and a hundred others, the front lines of the gang search were thrown into panic when, literally out of nowhere, the glowing, glittering form of the Archangel, wings afire and moving faster than the eye could follows, slammed down from above and lashed out.
His omni-claws slashed through a krogan with ease, bisecting the big alien's head and continuing on to carve deep gouges into a second krogan. His other hand fired the Talon pistol four times, tearing huge wounds across the chests of three Blue Suns mercs and blowing an Eclipse sister in half.
The suit had limited missile munitions Garrus rarely bothered using, but he triggered them now, spraying them all out in a wild display of firepower at the battle-suits and Blue Suns engineers flanking them. Several suits were hit, staggering back, while the others opened fire, as did hundreds of others.
A storm of rounds impacted with Garrus' suit even as he launched away. Most pinged off harmlessly, while the heavy rocket rounds exploded violently and staggered his flight course slightly. He winced as one of the omni arrays failed, flickering into darkness, and as he moved out of sight he killed the armor mode and flipped into stealth mode before launching on top of a building and crouching.
As expected, streams of pissed off and frightened gangers stormed into the wide pathway that was the primary route of travel in Niftu. As they did so, the heavy rapid fire guns Sidonis and Mierin had stationed themselves at, tucked behind an armored cupola, opened fire.
Screams rang out as the entire front rank of soldiers literally came apart under fire intended to counter vehicles. Garrus watched as a line of glowing-hot flechettes flickered like a laser beam over the ranks. Asari were sawed in half, purple gore splashing into steam. Turians and batarians crumpled, armor splintering. A few of the krogan survived the initial burst, but were still down, screaming in agony as their ruptured organs and bodies attempted to regenerate.
After several seconds of shock gangers dove into what cover there was and returned fire, even as the APCs roared ahead. The first one rumbled forward, armored treads smashing corpses into bloody pastes of several colors, firing at the heavily fortified building where the machine-gun fire was still pouring forth from.
Sidonis, tucked back behind Mierin and on a higher level, lifted the Hydra rocket launcher and fired. The heavy tracking missile flashed across the lane and impacted the APC squarely. A flash of blue-white light flickered across Garrus' vision for a split-second before the APC exploded violently, burning chunks of armor and fragments of metal spraying in all directions, pinging off of the walls of buildings or striking gangers.
Garrus moved, falling back further from the front line, as Mierin and Sidonis continued their heavy fire. He winced as explosions rang out, and Sidonis cursed into the comm system.
"Fuck! One of the battle-suits is some kind of fucking cut-down Adept, Garrus. Thing has a railgun! It just put a hole in the main wall here!"
Garrus tapped his comm. "Set the delays on the traps and get out now."
Mierin's voice was tight. "Goddess... if we can just hold them here- "
Angel's voice was hard and direct. "No. A rail gun will turn you both to paste. Get out now before they can lock you up. Weaver, get the two shuttles ready. Slam them down when Mierin and Sidonis pull out as a distraction."
Garrus reached his next strongpoint, a utility breaker box with heavily reinforced walls, and tucked himself inside its shadow. Pulling his sniper rifle back out, he extended it while scanning the battlefield.
The battle-suit Sidonis spoke of was visible. Colored a dim, pale greenish gray, the thing was clearly an older model of some kind, but the oversized cannon perched on one shoulder was more up to date. A booming pulse resounded through the air as the thing fired again, and the building Sidonis was in literally came apart in an explosive collapse.
Mierin's voice rang out. "Fuck! Sidonis!"
The turian answered. "Shit. Fine. Splinters in my goddamned leg. Mier, get the bike, I'm blowing the secondaries now." A few seconds later a series of hollow sounding booms washed over the courtyard.
Gangers looked around, clutching weapons. Nobody but Garrus looked up, where the blasts had dislodged a section of the ceiling superstructure. With a ponderous groan that came too late for the gangers, it tore free and collapsed, spears of heavy metallic plating and tons of rock slamming down into the plaza.
Garrus grinned as a mass of rock smashed into the battle-suit with the rail gun, the delicate weapon being smashed into the ground as the suit pilot tried and failed to get clear. "Railgunner is down. Main approach is blocked... they'll be routing to Venu Lane now. Mierin, do you need help?"
She grunted over the comm. "No. We're punching out now... Sidonis is hurt, shrapnel in his right leg. Cover us while we move."
Garrus nodded, lifting his sniper rifle. He saw limber asari clambering over the ruins, using their biotics to push clouds of dust and rubble out of their way. He sighted on one and fired, the hi-ex round blasting the Eclipse ganger's leg off in a wash of purple, sending her bouncing down thirty feet to a messy impact face first with the ground.
He fired several more times, even as he could see that the main body was rerouting around the collapse. "Not much longer until they hit the lane."
He saw Mierin and Sidonis zip down the lane on the black hoverbike and glanced up. Even as he did so, two personnel shuttles came zooming out from the warehouse where Montague was tucked into, soaring high.
Immediately they started taking heavy fire from the ground, even as they screamed ahead. Garrus smiled as he saw the gangers wasting valuable missiles and the like on the shuttles. One shuttle was hit squarely with several such missiles, coming apart in a powerful explosion, but the other one veered sharply downwards and hit the main body of troops at top speed.
Given that the shuttle was cram-packed with explosives and hit the ground doing over six hundred miles an hour, it was hardly a surprise that the detonation and impact blast were massive. Everything within thirty feet of the blast was vaporized or liquefied, and the ranks beyond that were blasted with splashed and melted metal along with shrapnel and flames. Screaming and cries of agony rang out through the open spaces of Niftu as Garrus withdrew further into the shadows.
O-TWCD-O
In his command APC, Tarek was livid.
"This is a clusterfuck! I've lost half my fucking battle-suits and four of my APCs and we haven't even hit the place we think they're at yet!"
Jentha stood to one side, gripping a padd with stiffened fingers. "The majority of the engineers with omni-tools setup for trap detection were killed in that missile strike. We've deployed drones forward, on full scan... but it doesn't look good. Archangel is still sniping at extreme ranges, taking out the drone if not the operator."
Tarek glared at the operations map. Niftu was a convoluted sector. A third of it was residential, scattered in habs along the rim, while the bulk of the district was warehouses and light industrial units. Three main paths wound through Niftu to their terminus at the entrance to Niftu from the Mids, which was sealed off by a mix of Aria's own greensuits and Blue Suns legionaries. No contact had been reported from that direction.
Lower Niftu was built in an open area, a huge cavern like space sealed off by environmental fields. But upper Niftu was built into extensions, and thus had several narrow choke-points where the builders had cut into the rock to make a path. These couldn't be bypassed without cutting into the exterior hull of the station, and he didn't have the equipment for that.
Gazing at the map, he narrowed all four eyes, forcing his anger to cool. "Archangel is playing this very smart. With that main path blocked, we'll have to swing wide... down Venu Lane, here. And then when we get past that we come to the connection to upper Niftu where the APCs can't go."
Durm, sitting in one corner, merely shrugged massive shoulders. "My losses aren't as important to me. Still not understanding why you don't just load up fodder in air-cars and rush the place from the cargo access."
Relli's Kiss, ensconced in another corner, had her respirator off to indulge in red sand. She finished, wiping a line of purple blood from her nostrils, and smiled too brightly. "Durm, dear. The Archangel and his little gang are sitting on a warehouse that, if the information we have is right, full of mil-spec weapons. We have three gunships – two of which are light – and nothing armored in the way of transports. Six people with Hydra's could shoot down everything we send all day long. We won't be able to rush them that way until we get to this warehouse and suppress his defenses."
Tarek nodded sourly. "Which he's probably expected. That's why he's forcing us to go through this... fucking maze of traps." He smiled. "Luckily, we're not going to play his silly game. Durm, pick your most useless types, preferably vorcha packs. Have them advance rapidly down the lane, drawing fire and triggering traps."
He turned to Relli's Kiss. "Have your sisters spread out and try to use their biotics to find alternative paths. I'm going to load up engineers and heavy troopers in the air-cars and fly overhead. We'll deploy... here. This courtyard before the inner sections." He tapped at a squared off opening in the building sprawl.
Relli's Kiss attached her respirator, nodding slowly. "You'll be forcing them to split their efforts – stop the vorcha, stop my girls, or stop your air-cars"
He nodded. "And my snipers will be behind the vorcha, looking to counterfire. Once we get to the Upper Niftu sections, there'll be more traps."
Durm laughed. "I brought a lot of vorcha. Having your people take point to sniff out traps isn't working, so I might as well use the little pyjacks for the only thing they're good for."
Jentha, at the comms panel of the APC, frowned. "Sir. Fragmentary reports of more contact with Archangel. Larthia Squad reports seeing two figures fleeing on a hoverbike down Venu Lane, headed for Upper Niftu. Tracking varren teams report one of them bleeding and leaving a trail."
Tarek nodded sourly. "No pursuit. Wait for the vorcha, then carry out the plan. Have... second and fourth fireteams move into air cars and move out, gunships leading. Rocket suppressive on anything attacking."
O-TWCD-O
As soon as Garrus saw the flotilla of air cars rise up accompanied by the sleek, black outlines of gunships, he grimaced. "Montague. Looks like you have vorcha storming well ahead of the main body, searching with varren. And gunships escorting a force of air-cars, probably with scanning engineers. Doesn't look like you will have time or opportunity to pull off the big one."
The man's French accent was muted but clear. "Nonsense. Taking out the gunships is key, Garrus. Without those, they can't break us at the warehouse. If they get close enough... this will take them out too."
Angel's voice cut in. "Maybe so, Monty. But you'll be surrounded by angry vorcha at that point."
"Ah, mon ami. Life is always going to end in death, no?" Montague's voice hardened. "You should fall back now, Garrus. I knew this was going to end badly and in fire when Butler and I found my wife dead. As Angel put it, I came here to die. That doing so is inevitable, and will help save the life of my friends..." A pause, and then "Take care of my lughead brother in law."
"Monty". Butler's voice was choked.
Garrus closed his eyes, gripping his rifle tightly. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."
Montague's voice was even softer, even as the beep of him tapping his omni-tool could be heard. "No, it was not. We should live in a cleaner life, one with no places like Omega to sear our lives and make cold and dead our dreams. But we have all lost that thing which made us want to live in the first place."
Garrus flinched at the words, an image of Telanya coming into his mind. "Yeah."
"Then, there is nothing left to be said. They come, Garrus. Time to fly."
With a snarl of something like agony, the Archangel flew.
