Thane threaded his way silently through the ruins toward the research team. They were easy enough to find. When he dropped out of the ceiling behind them the oldest one, the Human woman, shrieked and very nearly gave away their position.
"There's no time to explain. I'm with Shepard. I'll come with you to the elevator, but we must hurry."
They ran through the dig-site and Thane followed them, but as he suspected, the moment they lost Shepard the researchers became a moot point.
He pushed the call button to bring the elevator back down, and loaded the researchers on.
"Civilians are away." He said into his radio. "What's your position?"
"Almost to the opposite side of the..."
He heard the popping of gunfire from across the site then a split-second later over the radio. He took off running toward it, shouldering his sniper rifle in favor of a pistol.
"Shit! Three more down." She hissed.
"I'm closing in from the left. Stay low."
"I can't. They're right on top of me." She was taking increasingly heavy fire as they centered in on her position.
"Then pull them towards me." He said, sprinting through the ruins. Abruptly, the gunfire stopped, and he knew he was getting close. They'd heard him. He dove for cover as they turned their attention from her to him.
"Now! Move!" He said.
Thane finally saw her as she darted out from behind cover. One of Balak's men appeared from behind a crate and took aim at her, exposing himself long enough for Thane to pick him off. Twelve left.
Shepard slid into the space beside him, kicking up a cloud of dust. She was covered in grit and blood, and to his surprise, was grinning widely.
"Just like old times, huh?" She laughed.
"Siha! You're injured!"
She looked down at herself. "Ah, well. Most of this isn't mine. I ran out of heat-sinks two Batarians ago."
He felt his lips twisting into a smile. "And to think, I was worried about you."
Her face turned more serious. "You were right to worry. Thanks for the rescue."
He gave her a little bow. "My pleasure."
A few rounds slamming into the wall in front of them brought him back to the moment. He handed her her Carnifax and a handful of heat-sinks. She tossed the stolen pistol away.
"Thank the Maker," she muttered.
Thane took a deep breath and pulled a ball of dark energy into his hand. It tingled against his fingertips and cooled the air around them slightly. They'd found a few creative ways to use his biotics against enemies in their campaign against the Collectors, but this one was probably his personal favorite.
"Shall we dance?" He said, grinning.
"Please," she said, waving him forward.
He waited until there was a break of the gun-fire, then arced the biotic field around their cover. There was a crash and three Batarians flew out from behind their cover, screaming. Shepard fired three rounds rapid-fire, and they kept moving, back toward the elevator.
Eight left, plus Balak. But now Thane had all his cards on the table. He lashed out with biotics and his Carnifax, and his Siha covered him. They moved in tandem in that way that people often did who both killed together and shared a bed.
They slid back into cover with four hostiles left.
"Surrender, Balak! It's over. Don't waste your life." Shepard shouted over the top of a crate.
There was a long moment of silence, then four Batarians came out very slowly from behind a wall, tossing their weapons and putting their hands in the air. None of them were Balak.
"Where the hell is he?" She said. Thane had his Carnifax trained on all of them.
"Where the HELL is he?" She asked them again, louder.
"We don't know!" The bravest one said, and abruptly they all felt the familiar shudder as a vessel went to FTL.
"Well, shit." Shepard said, looking skyward.