The Normandy set down at the docking bay it had been in prior to the intrusion and the crew aboard breathed a little easier. Shepard listened to the tale Jason told of their creation, the birth of their consciousness and the loss of their little brother. At the start of this escapade she had wanted nothing more than to wring the necks of anyone who had the audacity to board her ship, ruin the crew's shore leave and threaten her friends. Now she simply felt pity for them.
"Once again, we apologize for interrupting your well earned break, Commander Shepard." Jason stated as they headed for the docking ramp. "We were operating on falsified information."
"No one was actually hurt and the matter was resolved." She replied as the door hissed open and slowly descended. She jumped a bit in surprise when a blonde woman in Blue Suns armor, carrying a sniper rifle meant for disabling small vehicles stood at the bottom of the ramp. "Friend of yours?"
"Elanor, it's alright." Stroyer replied, stepping in front of Shepard just in case Elanor thought about firing off a shot. "We've learned the truth."
"And that is?" She asked, lowering the rifle with a small sigh.
"The Illusive Man is an asshole." Jason announced.
"Shit, I could have told you that." Jack retorted, shoving past the lot of them.
"In layman's terms, the Illusive Man was planning to use the tech in the Collector base, but it was highly immoral." Stroyer said as he stepped off of the ramp.
"Like nuclear immoral?" Elanor asked.
"Like living, breathing people being turned into goop immoral." Jason replied. "We'll give you the whole story when we aren't pressed for time."
"Pressed for time?" Garrus asked as he joined the group. "What could possibly have you three on the run?"
"Not on the run." Jason replied as he walked down the ramp with Stroyer. "But we need to get some place safe to figure out our next move."
"Do you even have a goal, now?" Shepard asked, receiving a raised eyebrow from the two men. "I mean, your soul purpose was to fight the Collectors, then when I beat you to the punch finding me was your new game. What could it be, now?"
Jason and Stroyer looked at one another and sighed.
"We don't know." Stroyer admitted.
"We could try going after the Illusive Man, but even if we succeeded it wouldn't do much." Jason added. "Sure, we'd kill off some bad guy and a bunch of his cronies, but that would just open the way to someone else."
"And that's assuming you could accomplish such a monumental feat." Miranda Lawson stated as she joined the little gathering. "Don't get me wrong. You two are some of the most impressive people I've ever met, but Cerberus has a lot more going for it than a standing army and a fleet."
"So why don't you take some time to relax?" Elanor offered. The others turned to her and Shepard and her crew nodded. "I mean you were only truly born a few months ago and you've been shot at, blown up, biotically attacked, fended off an assassin and went head to head with a Spectre. The first human Spectre at that."
"So you think we should just relax?" Jason asked skeptically.
"Why not?" Elanor rebutted. "Unwind a bit before the pressure makes you snap. Have a bit of fun. And for God's sake have a send off for your little brother."
The last suggestion seemed to strike home for the both of them. Jason and Stroyer seemed to silently contemplate the suggestion and then looked at one another for a few minutes. After an odd silence they both nodded.
"Little brother does deserve a send off." Stroyer finally said.
"And a drink raised in his name." Elanor offered.
"Drink?" Jason asked. Elanor just smirked and nodded for them to follow her. "Commander, we appreciate your understanding of the situation."
"Don't mention it." Jane replied as the trio walked off. "And don't be stranger, you three."
"What is it Leng?" The voice of the Illusive Man asked in Kai Leng's ear.
"Just a progress update, sir." The Cerberus assassin replied. "I'm closing in on the target at the top of the list while other operatives hit the ones lower down. It seems this current target is an Alliance Vanguard and they're currently routing Batarian pirates."
"Is there an issue?" The Illusive Man asked dismissively.
"Possibly. They're Alliance Army, not Marines. Their Navy support is non-existent and they've stretched themselves out too thin."
"If the subject dies before we even get him in then he isn't worth our efforts, Leng."
"Understood."
The assassin killed the link between the Illusive Man and himself, activated his stealth generator and began moving forward. Half a dozen Cerberus snipers, shrouded in their own stealth fields moved quietly behind him, ready to take up sniper positions. Leng strolled casually to a cliff where he'd been overwatching the Alliance and Batarians going at it. The barren, rocky terrain made for lots of cover for both sides. The Alliance had the numbers but the Batarians had the home field advantage and solid defensive positions.
The etheral blue glow of a charging Vanguard broke him from his thoughts. Kai watched as the target, Nathan Skeller charged into a small group of Batarians and fired his shotgun at close range.
"Orders, sir?" One of the assassin's inquired, her voice taking on a slight mechanical note.
"Pick off the Batarians that move to the heavy weapon emplacements." Leng instructed. "Actually... hold off on that unless the subject is in danger."
"Didn't the Illusive Man say he was worthless to us if he died here?"
"The Illusive Man doesn't see the impossible odds the subject is up against right now."
"Fair enough." The sniper replied. She and the others moved along the cliff's edge, spreading out to take advantage of different fields of fire. When they were in place, Leng jumped from the cliff, landing on a small outcropping below, repeating the process until he was on the ground.
"Danger X-Ray this is Raider 3-4, enemy is dug in, what's the word on that air support, over?" One of the Alliance officers asked into his comm.
"3-4 this is X-Ray, air is red, break." The reply came. "What happened to Raider 6?"
"6 element is down." The officer spat. "As is the 7, 3 and 5. We need some kind of support here, break. There's too many heavy weapons for us to hit their walls but if we try to fall back we'll be right in the line of fire, over."
"3-4, X-Ray, understood but there's not a whole lot we can do from here, over."
"Whatever, Raider 3-4 out." The officer killed the line and looked down at the assembled acting commanders. "Well, Division said we can go fuck ourselves."
"Did you inform them they're welcome to do the same?" One of the other officers asked.
"In fewer words. How many specialties are left?"
"Skeller is the only one, sir." Another of the officers replied. "Got a job for him?"
"Maybe. You think he can jump to one of those emplacements?"
The officers looked at the close rocky covered position to the wall and then the heavy turret emplacement at the top of that wall. The gap between the cover and the wall itself was no more than twenty five meters, but at the angle they were looking the distance the biotic would have had to jump was almost twice that.
"Too far, sir." One of the officers stated. "Plus, the asshole behind the gun is pretty well hidden. Skeller could very easily miscalculate where he's jumping to, clip the wall and fall to his death."
"God damn it..." 3-4 muttered. "Alright then, we hold out until... Wait, what was that?"
The acting commander pointed to one of the emplacements that now lay silent. Half a second before then they'd all heard the snap of some kind of sniper fire. The officers looked back at one another and shrugged.
"We got snipers near by?"
"Nope. Iron 6 is the only one who has snipers and they're all stuck until the air goes green."
"It doesn't matter who or what killed that asshat, we have an opening." 3-4 snapped. "Have Skeller and a Demolisher in with him."
Kai Leng watched the Batarian fall from the heavy weapon emplacement and walked toward the entrance to the pirate base completely unseen. A pair of automated turrets defended the door but were unable to detect him. Leng launched an Overload attack in between them. The turrets' shields flared and shattered, the guns themselves sparking violently before the hydraulics that held them in place lowered them back down. Leng turned, taking note that no one saw him, their attentions focused elswhere and proceeded to hack the terminal to open the front door.
"Well, at least I'm finally getting noticed by command." Nathan Skeller said sarcastically.
"Is there a problem, Specialist?" Skeller's platoon sergeant asked.
"Nah, just griping, Sergeant." Skeller replied and looked back at the wall. "I'll see if I can't lob a grenade up on top of the wall before Tanner starts the long run."
"Alright, just try not to die, Skeller. Your ass is still going to the promotion board next week."
"Damn..." Skeller muttered. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to relax and focus on the wall, slowing his heart rate down as best he could. After a few moments the dark energy pooled around his body and Nathan hurled himself at the wall. He made sure to slow himself down enough that he wouldn't end up as red paste against the thick steel surface and looked up. The heavy gun emplacement was still blazing at the covered positions, unable to angle low enough to target the biotic.
Nathan pulled a frag grenade from his belt, tore the pin out and let the spoon fly off. He waited for a second and a half and then threw it as hard as he could. The grenade detonated just above the cover offered by the turret's guard wall, blasting the Batarian gunner to bits and rendering the gun inoperable.
Gregory Tanner, the Demolisher assigned to the next phase watched as the gunners all turned to see what had caused the explosion atop their defenses. With all the courage he could muster the tech soldier sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him across the twenty five open meters. Sure, that was a child's play sprint, even in full armor, but to Nathan and Gregory both, it seemed like an eternity.
As soon as he was across the gap Tanner placed a device against the wall and began fiddling with it through his omni-tool.
"Tanner."
"Skeller."
"Glad to see I didn't waste that grenade." The biotic stated as he looked up, making sure none of the Batarians survived if they poked their head over the wall.
"Glad you used it." The tech replied as he input the final code. "Hey, run over there."
Nathan began to sprint to the left, Gregory to the right, both of them making sure they stayed up against the wall. Within seconds another explosion shook the wall, this one bigger and directed into the base itself. The biotic quickly spun on his heel and ran back toward the large hole that had just been created. Tanner beat him to it and tossed an incendiary grenade inside. The fiery explosion spilled outside the hole but didn't harm either of the soldiers and as soon as it had quieted they charged into the wall.