Chapter 1: Making Friends with the Locals
Garrus saw a large Garden planet come into view. The escape pod was rapidly descending towards the planet's surface. Garrus watched carefully on the surface of the planet to see if there was any activity down on the surface. Garrus didn't see anything important going on down there. He noticed a group of creatures, which appeared to be Salarians, traveling from one end of a grassy plain to the other. He watched as animals grazed in the plains below. The grass beneath was a lush green and he could see many shimmering lakes dotting the surface. He peered off into the distance and saw mountain ranges lining the horizon.
He identified the planet as Erinle, home to a Salarian colony and a thriving spaceport. He knew he was in the Osun galaxy now. He did extensive research on planets while in C-sec. He was able to identify well-known planets with relative ease now. As they grew closer he began to see that at this rate they were going to land near one of buildings in the Salarian colony. The Salarians would not take kindly to an unidentified ship landing in the midst of their colony. Garrus knew that the crew was in for a fight down on the surface. He looked to see where the other escape pods were and noticed they were probably about 10 standard galactic minutes from crashing into a Salarian colony completely undefended.
"Crap," Garrus said aloud, "the rest of the crew is going to land into a Salarian colony undefended."
"You think the Salarians will attack, Garrus?" Ashley questioned.
"Would you attack if an unidentified ship landed right by your colony?" Garrus asked sarcastically.
Ashley looked at him, "okay you win, but what can we do?"
"Let's just hope they stay in their escape pod until we land," Garrus replied. He picked up Nightmare, which he had taken just before he evacuated, changed the battery pack in his kinetic shields, put on his signature blue visor, and braced himself for impact in a few minutes. The rest of the crew followed suit and mounted up, ready for a battle.
"Who's taking point?" Ashley asked.
"I'll snipe, so I'll take the rear, I say Wrex and Ashley take point and Liara and Tali can provide support from the left and right flanks. When we land come out in formation and then split and find cover. We'll worry about the rest of the crew once we take down the Salarians. Only fire if they fire first!" Garrus shouted out commands to the rest of the crew.
"Who put you in charge?" Ashley smiled and joked with Garrus.
"You want to survive don't you, then follow my orders," Garrus responded in all seriousness.
Garrus saw that the other escape pod had landed on the planet's surface now, and they were going to be landing very shortly. He tried to relay a command over his radio; almost certain he wouldn't be able to find a frequency that would work. He was right. He cursed under his breath, looked back and saw Joker's pod descending just a little behind their own, and knew that once they cleared out the Salarians, the reunion was not going to be a happy one.
The ship landed with a thud and just as planned, when the door opened Wrex and Ashley charged out with their Assault Rifles ready. Following to the left and right was Tali and Liara, biotics and tech at the ready. Garrus came out from the ship slightly training Nightmare on the head of what appeared to be a Salarian general.
At that moment Wrex was probably the most intimidating thing Garrus had ever seen. Wrex was an eight foot tall Krogan Battlemaster who had biotic abilities and a mastery of assault rifles. Krogan's were a reptilian race with large hands and feet that could easily crush a man. His beady red eyes pierced the very heart of the unfortunate Salarians. His mouth was turned up into a snarl and Garrus could hear a low growl emitting from the Krogan. His back was hunched a little, like all krogans, but it didn't make him look any less threatening. Wrex had even defeated the Threser Maw, which had not been done in years.
Ashley was not quite as fierce, but was more gentle and serene. Still she gave off the expression of a hardened warrior not to be tangled with. She had bright blue eyes and wore a tight fitting blue alliance uniform. She moved with an immense amount of grace and agility. She held her rifle at the best possible spot so she could quickly get off a shot if needed.
Just as Garrus had suspected he caught a glimpse of two or three Salarians with their weapons loaded and ready to fire. They were surrounding the general, like bodyguards. Garrus knew Salarians weren't warriors. They were usually doctors or other professions that required a lot of thinking or mental actions. Salarians were known for their fast thinking and talking, not their powers in combat like Krogans. Still Garrus had learned not to underestimate his enemies.
The general was a common looking Salarian, tall, a long, thin head, and his complexion was a light tan, one of the more common colors of Salarians. He was decorated with a few medals, but nothing spectacular as far as Garrus could tell.
He could tell the general was telling his soldiers to mobilize on Garrus and his troops. He made a signal to Wrex and Ashley, signaling them to break for cover. Wrex fired a few shots in the direction of the Salarians, but made sure none of them hit a target. Even though Wrex wasn't a big fan of Garrus, Garrus knew that Wrex wouldn't shoot until shot at. That was Garrus's order and even Wrex would follow that. The Salarians were caught off-guard and scrambled trying to get their guns back in line with the Krogan.
By the time they had gotten ready Wrex and Ashley had broken rank and were now covering behind some large rocks that littered the area. Tali and Liara had followed suit, both hiding behind a nearby building. Garrus could see about six troops outside along with the general. This was a colony so he knew there would be more, but maybe after he took out the first six the general would surrender. Garrus hoped to resolve this with as little bloodshed as possible. The general and his two bodyguards were the farthest targets, with the rest of the troops hiding behind pillars of rock, just like Wrex and Ashley.
"Keep the general alive!" Garrus shouted as loud as he could, hoping everyone could hear him. The Salarian would be a lot more useful alive rather than dead. Garrus moved his gun slightly to the right and lined up his shot with the right bodyguard first. Garrus squeezed the trigger slowly, exhaling as he did. The bullet flew straight into the head of the Salarian causing him to let out a groan in pain. He immediately dropped to the ground. Garrus quickly reloaded his Sniper Rifle and brought it back up to his shoulder. He got down into an army crawl position and rested the gun on the escape ramp of the ship. He looked down the sights again to see nothing. The general and the other Salarian had either dropped back into the colony or hid behind some nearby cover.
He watched through the scope in the area the Salarian had been, just hoping he would pop out so Garrus could drop him. Garrus saw nothing. Then in another second Garrus saw a figure floating into the air, and he knew it to be the other Salarian. Garrus lined up his shot precisely and without ever second guessing himself he pulled the trigger sending an armor piercing round strait into the Salarians head. The bullet then emerged out the other side and Garrus watched as the Salarian fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
In the corner of his eye Garrus spotted another Salarian flanking Wrex, who was focused on a soldier hiding behind some cover. Garrus could tell the distraction was working, but he knew he didn't have time to reload his weapon and get it into place. He noticed Tali in the area near the salarian. If he could signal Tali to overload the Salarian's shields he could get a quick shot to the head with his pistol. He motioned to Tali and pointed towards the salarian near Wrex. He pointed to her omni-tool and Tali got the hint and quickly went to her omni-tool, setting up an overload of the Salarian's shields. Garrus drew his pistol and aimed straight for the soon to be unprotected target's head.
Garrus watched waiting for his shields to deactivate thanks to Tali's overload. As soon as he saw the Kinetic barrier crash he pressed the pistols trigger four times in rapid succession. The first bullet lodged into the Salarian's shoulder causing him to let out a scream of pain. The second and third bullets lodged into his arm, causing him to drop his weapon and clutch at the bleeding wound. The final bullet landed straight into his side, making him drop to the ground in writhing pain. Wrex turned to see the sneaky Salarian and showing no mercy; Wrex stomped on his head crushing it beneath his large reptilian foot.
Garrus took a quick survey of the battlefield. A few dead Salarians lay scattered amongst the ground and the few that remained alive hung on for dear life behind cover. The ship had landed just outside an open square of buildings. They could go back, but if they pressed forward they would enter into the Salarian colony. That was it. If Garrus could push them back into their own colony and take them down from the inside, they may not continue to fight back. It would be a risk for the Salarians to fight back against the oncoming force where they may harm women and children.
Garrus gave the command to push forward. He stood up inside the escape pod and waited till he couldn't see any Salarians and darted out into the field. He dashed towards the nearest rock he could find and ducked behind it as a bullet hit his shields. He motioned the rest of the crew forward and told them to push into the building. The crew moved in unison as they charged the remaining Salarians. There was only three left outside, so Garrus assumed the rest of the colony wasn't properly trained in combat. The remaining Salarians quickly retreated when they saw an angry Krogan charging them. Only the general was left outside. He lifted his gun up in the air and called his troops to stand down.
Just as Garrus figured, they couldn't hold out against them, and the general didn't want to lose his whole colony.
"I surrender!" the Salarian shouted to Garrus.
"Stand down," Garrus told the crew.