"Echo! Over here!"

Shepard's squad slid in behind Bravo Company's cover outside the armory. The sergeant was shooting wildly into the crowd of geth on the left as he spoke. "Staff Sergeant Randal Miller. Thank God you guys got here when you did; the bastards just won't quit!"

"Private Shepard; we talked on the radio." Shepard plugged a closing infantry, dropping it soundly. "Do you have any idea what the geth are even doing here?"

"Hell if I know," Miller replied. "Whatever the reason, they should have known better than to attack one of the best ships in the Alliance Fleet!"

"Why're they even this far out?" asked one of Miller's soldiers. "We're nowhere near the Veil; done nothing to upset them."

That's actually a good question, Shepard thought, continuing to fire. Tali explained that the geth rarely go beyond that cluster, and they're never hostile when they do. What gives?

"Whatever the case," Miller said, "we need to get rid of these damn synthetics, fast!" He pointed to a door in the middle of the corridor. "There's the armory, chock full of useful weapons and ammo; but as you can see, the geth are making life pretty hard on us, so we can't exactly make use of it. This room behind us has an access hatch that leads there, but the bots thought of that and sent a hunter to keep watch. You can try if you want, but the bastard's cloak makes it completely invisible."

Shepard scratched his chin in thought before turning to his comrades. "D'mones, you stay here and help Sergeant Miller however you can. Clyde, you and I are going to clear the armory's back door."

Clyde nodded. "Right behind you."

Shepard waited for an opportunity to roll into the room Miller had mentioned. When the way was clear, he and Clyde bolted, setting up on either side of the tunnel. The tunnel itself was just wide enough to walk through single-file, making virtually no available cover. This meant that the geth hunter was likely already cloaked, ready to intercept them. "On my go," Shepard said, "we lay fire on the tunnel. If we hit it, it should reveal itself."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Keep shooting till it dies."

He then began counting down on his offhand. Three…Two…One.

Shepard crouched in the doorway, firing madly into the narrow space with Clyde at his back. With both their weapons now cooling down, they were puzzled by the fact that they hadn't hit anything. His eyebrows furrowed, Shepard laid five more shots across the tunnel, shooting on horizontal and vertical planes. Weird… he thought. Are they able to move like that? If so, why didn't the others? "Hm… Let's go. Stay sharp."

The duo stood back-to-back and started toward the armory. The firefight between the geth and Miller's platoon could be heard through the wall to the right. Shepard imagined the best-case scenario to happen: Miller, D'mones, and the others push back the geth, long enough for Shepard and Clyde to flank them with weapons from the armory. When the synthetics are all gone, the squad returns to training and everything goes back to normal, save for a few well-earned promotions here and there.

Shepard tiptoed into the armory. The room was silent, almost as if the air itself ceased its motion. Cautiously, he crept to a weapons rack. Upon it were a shotgun, two assault rifles, a pistol, and a small rocket launcher. Shepard let out a thankful sigh. "Oh yeah," he said. "This will do just fine." He grabbed one assault rifle, the shotgun, and the launcher, stowing his pistol in the meantime. As he obtained his new equipment, he couldn't help but feel a sensation of extreme danger. He felt that there was unchecked peril lurking. He grabbed the other rifle and tossed it to Clyde. "Heads up."

The fellow rookie took the gun, placing his SMG on his hip. "Thanks," he said.

"You ready to win a firefight?"

"I almost feel sorry for the poor bastards."

"Do me a favor, Clyde."

"What?"

Shepard primed his launcher, ready to fire. "Don't." He melodramatically opened the door, looking for a target. He pointed right, firing straight into the horde of synthetics. A ball of light, bright crimson in color soared from the cylinder and smashed into the ground in front of the geth. The imminent explosion shattered two of the troopers and propelled the other six into adjacent walls and down the corridor. He switched to his assault rifle and turned to Miller and the others. "You guys coming or what?"