"Alenko, cease fire".
The lieutenant's redundant discharge of armor-piercing rounds came to an abrupt halt. He'd been firing into the corpse of a seemingly invincible krogan, just one of many that Shepard expected to find within Saren's base of operations. They could soak up a lot of fire before going down, and some of them would even rise back up after hitting the ground. The thought of Saren's geneticists working to build a krogan army was unsettling, at best. Not many things truly frightened the commander, but the idea of ground engagements with large groups of krogans did not sit well with her.
I do worry. That's why I'm alive.
She was beginning to understand why the salarians were so wary of Wrex. Even the smallest skirmishes fought during the Krogan Rebellion would have been nothing short of nightmarish. Salarians had their backs to the wall, but she couldn't help sympathizing with Wrex as a bitter survivor.
I didn't deserve to live any more than they did.
"Commander, there's a stairwell on this side!" Tali shouted with her usual enthusiasm. Shepard knew the young quarian was afraid, hungry for directions and actions.
"Hold position", she called to the quarian. Time was working against them, but Shepard was not going to allow history to repeat itself.
Not today, anyway.
Alenko and Shepard made their way to the rising slope of stairs. Shepard kept her rifle trained on the empty space that extended beyond the final stair, knowing the altitude would grant the geth an ideal position for an ambush. Tali crouched behind them, covering the ascending pair with her favorite pistol.
There was a gentle scraping sound, and Shepard halted. She did not relish the thought of being thrown down a flight of stairs by some krogan lying in wait. Staircases were important chokepoints, and charging heedlessly upstairs was a stupid idea no matter how thick your shields were.
As she climbed fifth step from the top, the spectre caught a glimpse of what was already waiting for her. It was bigger than a krogan.
"Fall back!" was all she managed to holler before an ear-shattering blast erupted from the adjacent wall. Chunks of shrapnel punched at Shepard's armor, but she never lost her footing as she darted down the staircase to find a safer firing position. She leapt from the fifth step when she heard Alenko and Tali return fire.
"Weapon systems disabled!" Tali cried, following the lieutenant to an ideal firing range. Shepard was already on her feet, tungsten rounds lancing the giant's red outer hull. Even as its bulky frame took heavy damage, it closed in on her. She knew the mechanical monstrosity would be capable of returning fire in just a few seconds, but that was the least of her concerns. Geth juggernaut units were extraordinarily aggressive, able withstand continuous fire and charge right through the enemy's defenses. Even for an experienced and well-equipped soldier, the sight of a massive red killing machine running directly toward you was nothing short of terrifying.
Shepard knew she was the primary target of this killing machine. In fact, she was counting on it.
Now free of the cumbersome staircase, the gargantuan foe broke into a full run. Shepard held her position, standing tall with her rifle sighted on the target's center mass. The spectre was an unmoving wall against the coming storm. Tali knew the geth would not be intimidated. Even if they were capable of accurately assessing the threat Shepard posed, they would still attack.
The giant's footsteps were nearly inaudible. The inhuman mass appeared to fly across the room, charging directly at Commander Shepard. Tali held her breath.
"Alenko!" she barked through the chaotic noise of panicked discharges.
There was a low hum, and something sent the juggernaut into a nearby wall. It was followed by a ferocious metallic crunch like a high-speed vehicle collision, and Shepard fired controlled bursts into what appeared to be a stationary target. The luxury of sustained accuracy was all that mattered now.
Damn things were like synthetic krogans.
The red giant shuddered from each impact, but did not rise. Shepard eased off the trigger.
"Is it dead?"
"Yeah", Shepard reassured the quarian. "Dead as any machine can be".
"That's why I prefer stairs over elevators", Alenko holstered his pistol as he approached the broken juggernaut. Judging from the length of its legs, he estimated the behemoth was well over three meters tall. "Easier to see what you're headed into".
If Shepard appreciated the lieutenant's metaphor, her stern features didn't show it.
"We should head to the geothermal taps, Shepard", the quarian remarked, deeply concerned for the salarian fire teams. Casualties were going to be heavy, but she was not about to let their sacrifice be in vain. Back on the beach, it had occurred to Shepard that officers sometimes made a point of being honest in sharing bad news.
I won't lie to you.
A simple admission of the catastrophe to come. First from Captain Anderson, then Captain Kirrahe. She suspected that a certain Captain Shepard would one day catch herself repeating this line of encouragement to officers under her command. Until then, maybe she could think something a little more optimistic to share with her troops.
The commander took point, jogging past the broken geth with Tali and Kaidan following. Her teammates watched the staircase very carefully as they made their ascent.