August 21, 2184
Migrant Fleet vessel Ullana
0235 hours
The geth, Mike decided, were very annoying robots.
Despite the obvious fate of the crippled quarian vessel, there was no break in the flow of bipedal androids attempting to annihilate the three survivors. Mike had lost count of the number of geth he'd shot, punched, kicked, and otherwise destroyed.
He reflected with surprise that the caliber of his new companions was much higher than that he'd expected. Lete was an expert with the assault rifle, which seemed to be a bit odd, for a quarian. Most carried more close-in weapons, supplementing their arsenals with technological gadgets and combat drones, but the young quarian engineer seemed to be different from her race: in that respect, at least.
And Karoleis...now seemed a lot scarier than he'd ever been before. The lithe, thin salarian was capable of tremendous speed and packed more strength than his body would otherwise suggest. During the course of the battle, Mike had seen him break geth limbs, smash photoreceptors, kick bodies into walls, and gun down approaching combatants, all executed with precision and merciless alacrity. Each movement looked so fluid and unconscious that Mike was willing to bet he'd planned and practiced every move until they'd become as natural to him as thinking.
Those combat skills were currently very welcome, as the salarian took on several geth soldiers without blinking, while Mike simply shot anything that came near while keeping an eye on his comrade.
Karoleis closed quickly, weaving and ducking with sinuous grace. The geth rifles pivoted to track him, but the salarian blasted the first, ducked a round of shots and spun as he fell to sweep the remaining robotic feet out from underneath their owners. Before the geth could hit the ground, Karoleis' Phalanx barked twice, shattering the glowing orbs the geth used for eyes.
More geth flooded through the door, and shields sparked as Karoleis' armor took slugs. The salarian vaulted, rolling behind a nearby upended table and snapping out shots from behind it.
Mike ducked behind his wall, seeing Lete do the same as the geth opened fire. Disruptor shots bounced off every object in sight, some ricocheting to slam against shields. Mike's suit took several hits, but its shields remained strong.
"Oi, Karoleis, I'm not sure we can hold them! Any idea how to get out?" he snapped over the channel. Almost immediately, the salarian's voice bubbled back.
"Door-in-back-leads-to-bridge-can-maneuver-around-ship-to-return-to-airlock-"
"Alright, go!" Lete shouted. A purple orb of rapidly circling numbers appeared just above her, and moved out towards the geth. The quarian engineer followed her combat drone with a blast of ice that temporarily froze the first ranks of the homicidal machines. Blasts from her shotgun destroyed those frozen geth and sent the others into evasive patterns.
As soon as she began her attack, Mike was moving, sprinting towards the back door, which Karoleis was already fiddling with. The assassin turned to fire a sustained burst, long enough for Lete to join them, before the door sparked and opened. Karoleis beamed and rushed in.
The helmet com crackled, and Pierce's basso voice rumbled.
"The geth ship is increasing its efforts. I recommend you hurry." Something crashed in the background, and the krogan's voice acquired a tense quality. "I may no longer be able to assist you if you take too long."
"We've found one quarian, says she's the only survivor." Mike replied. "We're heading for...Karoleis, where are we headed for?"
"Airlock-where-we-first-entered-best-place-to-exfiltrate-" The salarian chattered, pistol booming as it blasted a geth rounding the corner. "Geth-presence-increasing-odds-of-survival-decreasing-by-second-"
"We don't need to hear that, Karoleis!" Lete interrupted, the resounding boom of her shotgun punctuating the words. "It's not very encouraging!"
The ship rocked, pitching all three humanoids to the deck suddenly. A bulkhead nearby blew out, sending dust and ship-built materials everywhere. The lighting dimmed abruptly, then flickered back on just as quickly.
"The ship's taken a hit," Lete noted, a tinge of worry evident in her tone. "We should leave, now!"
"That's what I said." Mike glared at his salarian comrade.
"Sorry-sorry-will-work-faster." Another door barred their way. Karoleis moved to override the lock, but Mike held up a hand. "Faster my way."
One grenade later, the door was a smoking ruin and the three companions were rushing on through more corridors, until another geth attack squad appeared.
"Are we closer to the airlock?" Mike panted, shields sparking as a stray geth round bounced off them. "We don't have time for this!"
Karoleis rose from behind his improvised cover, fingers flashing on his omni-tool. Two geth spasmed and exploded in gouts of fire. A wave of artificial ice covered the remaining three, the robots shaking as they attempted to break free of their confines. Shotgun shells and Locust rounds shattered the frozen machines.
"Should-be-almost-there-according-to-model-not-many-more-geth-between-us-and-ship." A bullet zipped past the salarian's head, answered by the low boom of his Phalanx.
"Model?" Mike inquired warily, emptying the last rounds of his clip into a geth changing position. "What model?"
Lete, crouched next to him, shook her helmeted head.
"He calculates models of the situation based on the shit he figures out in the middle of the fight. It gets really stupid, because sometimes they work. Don't ask."
"Ok, then. Will we be reaching the ship anytime soon, Karoleis?" The assassin blew off another geth head.
"Should-be-just past-this-corridor-" The salarian fiddled with his omnitool. "Yes-sure-of-it-should-be-home-free-"
Suddenly, the ship rocked again, lights dimming, and there was a crack of thunder. Dust began to fall from the ceiling, which shook violently.
"Get back!" Mike cried, seizing Lete and hurling her back towards the way they had come. Karoleis was already moving, executing a graceful somersault which took him just out of the danger zone as the ceiling collapsed, burying the passage and the geth they had been battling.
"Fuck!" Mike swore. Lete picked herself up and unleashed a torrent of quarian swear words at the blocked passageway.
"Looks-like-we-need-alternate-way-out." Karoleis suggested.