Letting out a frustrated yell, Anto kicked an empty crate over the balcony which served as his vantage point in the Blue Suns warehouse. Below him he heard hurried footsteps and a shout, followed by the crash of the crate on the ground. He was pacing, thinking, and sweating as both pairs of his eyes were glued on the security monitors tracking Shepard's position. The human commander had somehow opened the emergency doors to the server core - where he'd had her conveniently contained for a whole two minutes or so. He watched the monitor as she and her squad moved up the hallways toward the warehouse's southern entrance. Good, let them come, he thought to himself. It was easier than chasing her squad through the hallways. Still, he was frustrated. He'd had them contained! Now it was just going to get messy.
"You weren't supposed to actually let them download that data, you moron! And how the hell did they get out?" he yelled across the room to another batarian sitting in front of an open terminal.
"I don't know! What did you want me to do, boss? Shut the whole station down?" asked the flustered man. Anto chucked a datapad at the man's head and flung his arms up in frustration. He marched over to the edge of the balcony and barked orders at the scattered groups of men below, sending them to the southern entrance to find cover. They ran to their assigned positions, grabbing their weapons and extinguishing their cigarettes. His job had been simple enough – keep Shepard's team down there and distracted long enough for the show to start upstairs. This was making him look bad. He checked his watch. They could hold her for long enough, no problem – he just didn't want to have to do that at the potential cost of his life. The Suns were so close to having total control of the station. To lose it now would just be – he didn't even want to think about it.
Anto was used to things deviating from the plan and having to improvise, but now he was facing a fight with Commander Shepard and her squad of elite commandos. He wasn't used to that. He knew her by reputation and the few times he'd conversed with her in Afterlife. He saw the aftermath when she got Archangel out of the sticky situation he'd gotten himself into. Every merc group on the station lost significant amounts of men, and they were only up against four people who had the advantage of a good location. He had six seasoned mercenaries under his command, along with fifteen more relatively untrained recruits. Between them all, they had a generous stash of weapons and ammo. All the good stuff was upstairs, but they had more than enough to do some real damage with what they had on hand. Shepard was about to walk into their base blind. He had the advantage of the security cameras that tracked her movements. His team had the better position this time around.
Anto started to feel less anxious. He had her out-manned, out-gunned, and out-planned. The human commander may have fought some impressive battles in her past, but that was then. He was finally in his rightful place commanding the Suns and he wasn't about to lose it by getting killed. Especially not by a human hired by Aria – it insulted him to think about it. Shepard thought her squad would give them a surprise? She had another thing coming. He picked up a grenade launcher from the weapons rack at his side and balanced it on his shoulder as he knelt behind cover.
"Stay close when we get in there. Hopefully they're distracted, but there might be stragglers, so stay sharp," said Shepard as they rounded the corner to the warehouse door.
"What happens when we find Anto, Shepard? Do we take him alive?" asked Garrus. Shepard considered that for a moment.
"Yes. I'd like to ask him a few questions. If you have no other options, take him out. The main objective here is to neutralize the Suns, remember," said Shepard. Garrus and Grunt nodded their confirmation of her orders and followed her through the door to the southern entrance of the warehouse. Shepard looked around to try and locate the Suns forces, but she couldn't see anyone from her position at the door. She expected them to be mobilizing on the opposite end of the room. There was a vehicle, but it was unoccupied. She heard running footsteps to her left and thought she heard a satisfied sounding "hrmph" right before she saw the flare of a grenade launcher from just above her line of sight.
She couldn't get out her order to take cover soon enough, all she could manage was a frenzied hand signal and a panicked look back at her squad. The grenade detonated a heap of packing crates about ten paces in front of the commander. The blast was powerful, throwing them all off their feet and engulfing the entire area in fire and falling debris. Smoke plumed around the new crater in the floor made by the impact of the grenade. Tiles and chunks of the floor base were scattered everywhere. The smoke subsided, but there was still a substantial amount of dust in the air. Anto looked around thoroughly, his heart pounding, but he couldn't see the remains of any of Shepard's team from where he stood. Somewhat relieved, he set his grenade launcher beside him and selected a heavy pistol from his weapon rack.
"You and you, down there!" shouted Anto, pointing at two of the merc recruits in cover on the ground level. They looked up at him. "Get out there, now! Find them and make sure they're dead." The recruits, one human and one batarian, hopped out from their cover positions and went about scanning the room, though their visibility was hampered by the fine dust still clouding the air. They scanned the room together in grid form. Being very thorough, they were not about to disappoint their commander on what must have been their first official battle order as mercenaries. A chunk of twisted metal loosed itself from a nearby wall and fell to the floor with a loud crash. The two searching mercs jumped, startled. The human hesitated a moment, then walked slowly over toward the noise to investigate, both hands shaking on his brand new pistol. The batarian turned to watch his partner walk away, but he was certain he saw the bodies fly in the opposite direction. He scratched the fresh Blue Suns tattoo on his neck before heading off, separating from his partner. He kicked at the bigger pieces of debris he came across, looking for any sign of the intruders. Getting closer to the other side of the crater, the batarian mercenary squinted, thinking he saw the dust settling on a human form. He went to investigate, and sure enough he found the human commander. Her head and shoulders were exposed, but the rest of her body was buried under a large chunk of debris. Forgetting his protocol, he waved his arm in the air to get the attention of his commander.
"Commander Anto! I found -", the batarian merc's cry was cut off by a thunderous shotgun blast square to his chest. The mercenary fell, revealing Patriarch in blood red armor lining up his next shot. Patriarch rapidly took out two of the Suns as they leaned out of cover to see what had happened. A shot from above glanced his shoulder. He grimaced and saw a flash of blue armor as it ducked behind a crate. Patriarch crouched near Shepard's body, using the debris for effective cover. The Suns on the ground floor were firing relentlessly at him. He couldn't risk breaking cover, but he didn't know how long the chunk of flooring he was using would hold out against the onslaught of bullets.
To the right of his position, Patriarch heard a deep voice bellow, "I am krogan!" followed by a spray of fire aimed at the Suns' flank. The enemy fire ceased long enough for Patriarch to lift the debris off Shepard, toss her over his shoulder, and get a couple of good shots in before he relocated the commander to a safer place in between a few sturdy-looking crates. Patriarch leaned his head down to listen for Shepard's breath. He was satisfied to hear her steady, if faint, respiration. Grunt exploited his advantage on a clump of mercenaries who had their attention on Patriarch with rapid fire from his automatic rifle. Killing three of the mercenaries, Grunt turned to check the area for anyone else who wanted the honor of dying at his hand.
From the stairs leading up to the balcony came the loud stutter of Garrus' custom-built sub machine gun, followed by the sight of a batarian mercenary falling to the ground from the staircase. Garrus worked his way up the stairs, blasting the Suns who's cover had been rendered useless by his angle. He couldn't see anyone else on the ground floor, and he turned his attention to the balcony where the grenade had been launched.
"Come out, you coward! You're out of pathetic child-soldiers!" Patriach bellowed, aiming a powerful biotic blast at the balcony railing he knew his assailant was behind. He sidestepped, looking for an angle from which his prey was vulnerable. He spied Garrus creeping up the stairs and threw another biotic attack at the balcony, creating what he hoped was a diversion. Grunt showed up right behind Garrus, backing him as he made his move up the stairs. When he arrived at the top, he found Anto. The batarian was holding a pistol to the head of a terrified human.
"Don't come any closer! Call off your friend down there, or I shoot him now!" shouted the batarian in a low voice that sounded like he had something he needed to swallow at the back of his throat. He jammed his pistol into the man's temple.
"Scratch! Are you okay?" asked Garrus, the expression on the turian's face changing fluidly between relief, concern, and anger. The man Scratch squinted and then attempted a smile, though his face was badly bruised and swollen.
"Archangel? I knew you weren't dead! You have to hurry-" he said excitedly before another jab from Anto cut him off.
"Shut up, human! I said call that krogan off! Once I know I'm not going to get shot in the back, I'll be willing to talk to you," said Anto.
"What makes you think we came here to talk?" asked Grunt. Anto blinked, but looked hard at Grunt and then Garrus in turn. Below, Patriarch backed up and lowered his weapon. From his new position, he could finally see who it was they were talking to.
"Ah, Anto. Something told me I'd find you here. I believe it may have been the corpse of my poor employee," growled Patriarch. Anto stepped sideways, better to keep track of both sides of the conversation.
"Fin was weak. He betrayed you quick enough, once he was given the right motivation," said Anto. Blue light pulsed faintly around Patriarch as his left hand formed a fist. "Don't try it, old man," warned Anto. Patriarch released his fist and the light dissipated. Anto looked surreptitiously at his time piece. "I guess you want to know why I betrayed Aria?" he asked.
"Not really interested in that, no," said Garrus. "Why don't you point that pistol at someone who can fight back?" he asked.
"I think it will stay right where it is. Too bad about Shepard, guess she wasn't as tough as everyone said," said Anto, needling. He glanced over toward the crates where Patriarch had moved the commander. "I should thank you, your team got rid of Santiago – that bastard had it coming, and not just from your washed up friend Massani. He screwed over too many of his own men," said Anto.
"Including you?" asked Garrus tersely. A hard knot of uncertainty formed in his stomach and he looked over toward where Anto had directed his gaze. He knew the blast hadn't killed Shepard from Patriarch's signal, but he had no idea what shape his commander was in. In the corner of his eye, Garrus saw something moving in the shadows by the wall on the first floor. He turned his head to get a better look just in time to see the human mercenary recruit who was half of the first search team lumber into the light. His face was contorted in pain and fear as he took his new pistol in his hands and aimed for the nearest target. He fired his shot and it hit Patriarch in the hump of muscle right behind his head. The old krogan howled in surprise and rage as he fell to the ground. Grunt rushed to the railing, aimed and shot the young mercenary directly in the chest. The shot knocked him off his feet and he landed on his back a few steps away from where he had been, his pistol skidded away from his grip.
Garrus watched as Grunt huffed, satisfied that the merc was out of commission. A flash of blue and white along his field of vision alerted him that Anto had leapt over the opposite railing in the confusion. He was heading at a dead run to the door at the other end of the building. Garrus and Grunt scrambled on the balcony to get a visual on the mercenary's position. Grunt roared in frustration and slammed his fist against a wall. Garrus moved quickly down the stairs, mentally kicking himself - he'd only looked away for a second! He got to the bottom of the stairs when he heard a shot fired from the ground floor, behind him. After the sound of the gun shot, he heard a loud thud and the crashing of empty crates as they hit the floor. Garrus turned, smiling as he realized what had happened. Shepard stood leaning against a chunk of debris, her right arm still outstretched and holding her heavy pistol.
"Don't worry, I got him," said Shepard, half-saluting Garrus with her gun hand. She was breathing slowly and deliberately as she clipped her pistol into its slot on her armor. Garrus moved over to the commander, concern etched on his rigid features. Shepard shook her head at him and waved him away with her good hand. "Don't Garrus, I'm fine. Patriarch – is he?" Grunt moved to Patriarch, turning the krogan from his prone position. A low groan issued from the old krogan's mouth as Grunt helped him into a standing position.
"Don't you know anything about krogans, Shepard? It takes more than one bullet to bring down one of us," said Patriarch. Grunt rumbled an agreement and dispensed an application of medi-gel to the old man.
"I thought you said you wanted to talk to him," said Garrus, jerking his head toward Anto's body. He helped the commander take a seat before he inspected her wound. A large piece of tile had lodged itself in her left shoulder. It stuck out through the weak point in her armor.
"He fired a grenade at us, Garrus. My patience has its limits," said Shepard through clenched teeth. On "limits", Garrus had wrenched the shrapnel out through Shepard's hardsuit. He deftly applied pressure to the wound and brought his omni-tool up to dispense a liberal amount of medi-gel to the site. Shepard was still dazed, and her head felt like someone was beating the back of her skull with a hammer, but the medi-gel's anesthetic effects made her feel marginally less closer to death. She looked over at the stairs and saw a beaten-looking human in grease-stained coveralls limping quickly toward them. Shepard was surprised at how animated the man appeared after having obviously endured brutal treatment at the hands of the Blue Suns.
"We've got to hurry!" he called frantically.
"Scratch, I presume?" asked Shepard. The man blinked the question away.
"Why? What's going on?" asked Garrus.
"Afterlife! They're going to be there any minute now! Alpha's got a gunship!" said Scratch breathlessly.
"What? Calm down. You mean, Anto wasn't -?" said Shepard.
"Him? No, he was second in command. Alpha is a salarian, but that's not his real name. I don't know his real name. He made me fix up that gunship. If we don't get down there now, they're gonna blast Afterlife all to hell! Aw, who am I kidding? It's probably already too late," said the mechanic, defeat thick in his voice.
"I think we would have heard a gunship, especially if it were firing on the level directly above us," said Grunt. Scratch looked sideways at the krogan, considering his statement. His face lit up in encouragement.
"If they haven't acted yet, that means we can still stop them!"
"What's with the 'we'? You're safe, Scratch. I aim to see you stay that way. We'll handle this," said Shepard. The man's shoulders hunched and he frowned for a moment before he turned to Shepard with a renewed vigor.
"Thanks for coming to get me, ma'am, Archangel, sir," said Scratch, turning to Shepard, Garrus, and Grunt in turn. "But with all due respect, I know where they are, if they're still there. I could disable the ship with two clips from a set of pliers. Come on, there's really no time to argue here." The man pulled out a pair of pliers from his coverall pocket and waved them at the group for emphasis. He had a look of determination on his face that Shepard more than recognized. If she didn't take him along, she knew he'd just make his way up there anyway – and most likely run into trouble again.
"Fine, come along then," said Shepard with a resigned sigh.
"We should leave him somewhere safe, Shepard, we can't -" Garrus objected.
"You heard him, he could be useful. I'm sure he knows that if he doesn't follow my orders, I'm locking him in the nearest storage closet," said Shepard with a pointed look at the mechanic. He nodded vigorously. "Trust me, Garrus," she added in a softer voice. Garrus nodded.
"Let's go, then. Grunt, take point until we get to the main level," Shepard directed. The group began to move out. Shepard tried and failed to bring her left arm up to a distance from where she could read her omni-tool screen. The medi-gel had numbed most of the pain, but to her frustration, her shoulder's range of motion was still greatly reduced. She cursed loudly, removed her tool and handed it to Scratch, telling him where to find the map.
So Alpha was a salarian. Shepard ran through her list of suspects in her mind, but she couldn't recall meeting any salarian Blue Suns, let alone any who were wily or ruthless enough to be capable of the things Alpha had done on Omega. Anto had been a tool, a means to an end for Alpha. He was the traitor, but he was not the new head of the Suns. Maybe she missed something when she was unconscious, she had no idea how long she was out. Her head was still throbbing with pain, making it difficult for her to concentrate. She hoped beyond hope that she and her squad could pull something off this time. She hoped that they were past the hardest part. Hope was one thing. As the group exited the elevator following Scratch's directions, Shepard felt herself absorbing some of the mechanic's energy and determination. She matched it with her own renewed sense of duty to the civilians that called Omega home. Alpha had no chance.
A/N: Thanks for your continued support!