Shepard and his team of 3 exited the Normandy, glancing around the ground level of Therum. Shepard had opted to bring 3 teammates, in case things got heated. Who knows what they would find? As such, Shepard brought Garrus along, who was reliable, one hell of a shot, and above all, was with Shepard when they took down Saren, so Garrus knew Kaidan. Thane would come in handy if they found Alenko was being kept hostage and they needed intel. Finally, Miranda came along because her biotic powers could come in handy, along with craving some action.
It didn't take Shepard long, before he remembered everything about Therum, namely the heat. Sweating already, they ventured toward Alenko's last known position. This was on the other side of the planet, so Shepard didn't recognize any landmarks, or see anywhere familiar, like where they rescued Liara.
"There! Someone's coming...Salarian!" Garrus shouted, looking down the scope of his rifle. Everyone turned and brought up their weapons, but as he got closer, it became evident he wasn't armed. Lowering his weapon, Shepard glanced over the salarian as he got within talking distance. He was out of breath and panting heavily, and his uniform was torn, and he had what seemed to be a bullet wound in his shoulder.
"I...please...you gotta help me!" He pleaded through pants, trying to catch his breath.
"Tell me what's going on. Who are you? Do you know Systems Alliance Commander Kaidan Alenko?" Shepard asked.
"No...please...they tried to kill me! A base, that way, maybe half a mile..." The Salarian said, turning and pointing in the direction Shepard was heading.
Garrus raised his sniper rifle and glanced through the scope momentarily, before lowering it. "He's right. There's some sort of...makeshift base there. A barracks, maybe."
"Barracks? This is Alliance territory, and they haven't set up any barracks here." Miranda chimed in.
"How do you know?" Thane questioned.
"I have my ways." Miranda retorted in an arrogant tone.
"Not Alliance...worse...please! They had a human soldier, though...but.. I...I..." The salarian began coughing hysterically, before collapsing on the ground.
Shepard kneeled, and pressed two fingers to the salarian's neck, but shook his head. "He's gone. My guess would be exhaustion or dehydration, the bullet wound doesn't look too bad."
"Who knows what's inside that base?" Miranda asked in an iffy tone. "Should we risk it?"
"He said a human soldier. That has to be Kaidan." Garrus replied, moving forward.
"We'll check the place out." Shepard said, closing the salarian's eyes and moving to the front of the team.
As Shepard and the team reached the entrance to the makeshift base, they took in the surrounding area, as well as the base itself. The whole place was constructed of out boxes, basic building material, and scattered debris, giving the impression that whoever built it had no idea what the hell they were doing.
The heated ground of Therum's surface felt tough and hardened beneath the team's boots, and the atmosphere was filled with intense heat, and anticipation.
"Careful...stay on your toes." Garrus said as they walked in, glancing around. "Could be an ambush."
As they moved toward the center of the base, it became more and more apparent that whoever was here was long gone, or at least, that was the impression the team got.
"That salarian was probably delirious. This place is empty." Miranda said, lowering her pistol.
"Look, there." Thane said, pointing to an entrance that seemed to lead underground. It was poorly covered up with some scrap metal.
"Well, we need to-" Miranda started, but a single sniper shot rang out, and blood splattered onto the team as Miranda fell to the ground.
"Ambush!" Garrus shouted, diving for cover as several batarians emerged from extremely well-hidden hiding areas, surrounding the team and opening fire.
"Shit!" Shepard shouted as he dove for cover, dragging Miranda's body with him. She cried out in pain from the wound.
Garrus popped out from cover and took a shot, blowing a hole clean through a batarian sniper's head, and slinging blood across one of the small building's walls.
Thane had disappeared into one of the buildings and managed to work his way toward the back of the base. As he emerged from cover, he shot one of the three batarians in front of him twice in the chest with his pistol, before using throw on the remaining two. He skillfully slid under the falling body of the first batarian, and proceeded to shoot the remaining two in the head with pinpoint, deadly accuracy.
Shepard popped out from cover and provided support fire, but was worried about Miranda – she'd taken a bad shot to the upper chest area and was bleeding profusely. Medi-gel was hardly helping, and she seemed to be turning pale fast
"Stay with me, Miranda!" Shepard shouted, before rising above cover and managing to kill a charging batarian, sending him crashing to the ground into the hot dirt.
"Aah!" Garrus shouted as a batarian soldier flanked his position. Turning, Garrus slammed the end of his rifle into the baratian's face, before kicking him in the shin and pulling out his pistol, shooting the batarian directly in the face and sending blood flying all over his uniform. Garrus, who was now exposed, had all fire concentrated on him. He darted quickly, sniper rifle in one hand and pistol in the other, toward a nearby, unoccupied building. As he did so, he was shot several times and dived in, avoiding a sniper's shot.
"Damn...shields are down!" Garrus shouted.
"Reign down on them!" A batartian shouted, who seemed to be the commander. He stood on top of one of the buildings that had good cover, and a good view of the base. He wielded a sniper rifle, and had a shotgun on his back. "Show the humans we will not take kindly to their annihilation of our kind!"
Shepard was in a frenzy, but was trying to keep his cool. The mission was going to hell, though. His team was split up, Miranda was severely injured, and they were vastly outnumbered, with the batarian forces closing in quickly.
Suddenly, an idea, albeit a desperate one, popped into his head.
"Normandy!" Shepard shouted into his earpiece. "Joker, fire the Thanix Cannon on my current position! No buts, mister, just do it!"
"Retreat" Shepard shouted, but the Normandy was already fast approaching. Shepard wrapped one arm around Miranda and darted for the entrance as fast as he could, and they just passed through it when the Thanix Canon was shot down onto the base, collapsing buildings and blowing up any fuel tanks the batarians had left out.
As the explosions went off, the last thing Shepard remembered was jumping as a piece of debris headed straight for him.