I waited impatiently for his arrival as our time was running out quickly. He arrived roughly a minute later and immediately started to install some of his tech equipment. "Seems you had a nice little party down here, too. You're sure he's behind that door?"
"No, no chance to be sure, but best guess, and…I was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and harsh voices down the corridor which was blocked by the makeshift barricade.
"Fuck, we've got company, crack that door, I'll keep 'em busy." I ran the few metres to the barricade, rifle in hand and threw myself behind the cover. I chanced a quick look over the barricade and was greeted by gunfire immediately. I could see at least half a dozen shapes in the corridor quickly approaching my hideout.
Switching back into cover my gaze fell upon the flamethrower, its fuel tank still attached to the headless batarian but otherwise intact. "Aflamethrowerinanarrowcorridor…" I grabbed it, activating both my cloak and the weapon, left my cover and pulled the trigger. The first enemy was barely 5 metres away as the flames engulfed him. Cries of agony and blistering air hit me a few seconds later accompanied by the terrible stench of burning flesh. I had to fight down the urge to add the contents of my last meal to the whole mess.
Slumping back into cover I released the trigger and tried to fight down the revulsion that overwhelmed me in waves. I chanced another look over the barricade and saw dead bodies between the trails of smoke, but no movement any more.
"Ready, get over here and lets end this quickly." Racen cried.
Still fighting against the nauseous images in the corridor I left my cover and ran over to Racen. "Don't kill him immediately, maybe we can take him hostage, he surely has some answers and we can end this sooner as expected."
"You're risking something if we try that, but you're right he's worth more living than dead." With a nod he opened the sealed door only to be welcomed by bullets from a small weapon, most likely a Shuriken or comparable SMG. After the first volley I activated my cloak again and jumped into the room, a lonely batarian stood his ground behind an ornate desk, his body shivering, his eyes frantically searching for a way to bail out. I identified him from the many pictures I had seen in the past days.
"Show yourself and kill me, get it over with." He cried, panic in his voice."
I approached him sideways, he seemingly saw a blur of my movement as he suddenly turned the muzzle in my direction and fired. The first bullets hit me and caused the cloak to collapse and my shields to waver, but they held. I jumped forward and batted the weapon away using my other arm to place a blow in his face which put him down to the floor. With another blow I put an end to his moaning and his consciousness.
Racen entered the room. "Nice one, seems you're growing fond of close combat lately."
"Not really, you've got something to shackle his hands?" I asked while checking his pulse.
"Actually yes, no handcuffs but this cable will do the same." Racen held up a cable of unknown use.
An outraged cry from the corridor alarmed us that new reinforcements had arrived. "Bind him and get him out of here, I'll put up some fireworks again." I surged out of the room and to the barricade again readying my Locust already aiming at the doorway. I reached the barricade shortly before the first attacker and opened fire immediately. The first volley caused him to topple over and his followers to take cover in the several doorways along the corridor. Time enough to pick up the flamethrower and pull the trigger for a second time. This time the effect was not that devastating as most foes could evade the worst by entering the side rooms. I switched the trigger to full-auto and fixed the flamethrower on the barricade using pieces of broken furniture. "Thiswillbuyussometime,hopethefuellastsforanotherminuteorso." I ran after Racen who dragged our hostage down the opposite corridor.
On the way I activated the com. "Gray here, we need immediate pick-up. We've got an additional and unconscious passenger, you copy?"
At first only static answered my call, then Sagrin's voice. "Sagrin here, we've got a lot of company in the air, one of the shuttles is grounded already. Reinforcements are on the way, ETA is 3 minutes, you copy? And – just to be sure - who's the passenger?"
"Got it, the passenger is our target, he's a valuable source of information as I see it. I took the chance to take him hostage as we had it."
"You're right, but if we're not able to get him out make sure he doesn't wake up any more, you copy."
"Right, see you soon, Gray out." I had reached Racen while talking and helped him to carry our batarian friend.
"Nice fireworks you've put up down there, buys us some time, although not the 3 minutes we need." Racen commented with clenched teeth. "Gosh, this bastards heavier than a pregnant Varren."
"Maybe he's full of surprises, who knows." We reached the stairs to the roof and carried him up. As we reached the upper door we heard distant gunfire downstairs, so the flamethrower had eventually consumed its fuel supply. "Seems more fun is on the way."
The door closed behind us and we were welcomed by the sound of gunfire again, much closer this time. "Let me check the situation before we move out." I activated the cloak and peeped around the corner but couldn't make out anyone. Turning back behind the cover of the doorway I activated the com again. "Sha'? Gatok? You're out there?"
"O'course we're out there, you thought we'd like to miss all the fun? We're hiding in the mid section between the cooling vents, some of the creepy speeders have fun firing missiles at us in the open." Came the reply from Gatok.
"Sounds like they air is laden with bullets, hope our reinforcements can turn the tide, otherwise this'll be a short escape." Racen commented the constant sound of rapid fire weapons around us and seemingly also on the opposite side of the building on ground level.
I chanced another look and then we moved out as quick as possible dragging our burden with us and reached the other two without an attack.
Gatok greeted us with a Krogan's equivalent of a grin. "Good to see your sorry asses and welcome to our lodge. Why did you bring this batarian badass, no need to drag him around to place a bullet in his head."
Racen snorted. "You're right, but to question him while he has a bullet in his head will be rather boring, ya' know. I fear we've brought some company with us, they're close behind."
"Our pick-up is on its way, a minute or two from now, if they can clear the sky that is." I added.
"Then lets prepare a warm welcome for your friends, I can hear them shouting at the entrance." Sha'lea stepped in and moved to the next corner to chance a look.
We let go of our hostage and hid him below some pipes eventually ending in the large cooling vents around us and moved into firing positions. I heaved myself on a cooling vent to improve my shooting range and laid down. "Gladmyarmourisnotpaintedinfancycolours,wouldhavemadeanicecross-hairforthosespeeders."
Our enemies – roughly a dozen on the first count – had emerged from the door and spread around it to secure all sides. On a distance of 70 metres I targeted an enemy who tried to hide behind a trash bin, unfortunately his head was not behind it as he gazed at the area before him. I released my breath and pulled the trigger, the soldier dropped dead to the ground. "Good shot, reliable as always." Racen whispered using his com.
It took our enemies some seconds to recognize their fallen comrade, nobody had seen the source of the bullet. Someone yelled "Sniper" and they all crouched into cover, gazing in our direction. The tension was almost visible, both sides waiting for the next strike, unsure how to move on. As I aimed on another target I was interrupted by an approaching aircraft closing in very fast. "Take cover, speeder incoming" Racen yelled over com and I let myself drop from the cooling vent. Unfortunately our foes had seen my movement and opened fire immediately as the speeder passed by and opened fire likewise. I scrambled backwards trying to take cover behind the wall, a storm unleashed around me. Luckily I made a small target especially on that distance and only some stray shots hit my shields. I was lying between two cooling vents horizontal to the speeder passing by so he had no angle to hit me directly. "Thatwasclose,buddy!Andwherethehellisourpick-up,iftheyneedanylongeritwillbemoreanexcavationthananevacuation."
As the speeder had passed by I reached better cover behind the corner, Sha'lea crouched beside me. "You're alright? Doesn't look to bad though."
I just nodded as the rain of bullets increased in intensity, locking us down in our current positions while they surely moved forward. I activated the com. "Sagrin, we need that evacuation now, or your cargo will be a lot of dead bodies. We are in the middle of the roof, in-between the cooling vents"
The random noise was followed by Sagrin's voice. "Sorry guys, we still have some trouble here, hold out another minute, we need to regroup and find a safe spot to pick you up."
"Alright, you heard him." I addressed the others. "We need to hold out another minute and then retreat to the pick-up location. Gatok and Sha', save the access point to this maze over there, Racen takes care of our hostage and I'll get back on that roof and take down as many as possible, move now!"
Moving a couple of metres aside I hauled myself up another cooling vent, cloak activated to prevent my movement. As I had assumed our foe had split into two groups, one keeping up the suppression fire, the other advancing on our hiding place. They had already crossed two thirds of the distance as I was ready to shoot again. Aiming at the first target the charge of my new best friend was gone and I returned to the visible world again. As before nobody recognized me immediately as my grey armour fit the concrete of the vent. I pulled the trigger and one of the advancing soldiers collapsed. I reloaded the rifle and aimed at the next target, this time much closer, releasing my breath I sent down another one. This time they had seen me and part of the suppression fire was redirected. I quickly activated the cloak again and jumped of the vent.
"Incoming now, as you have company, move to the front side of the building, we're going to pick you up right behind those vents." Sagrin barked over com. Multiple aircraft approached the building now, bringing gunfire with them.
Quickly changing cover between the vents I reached the others shortly, Gatok had already tossed the batarian over his shoulder, his huge shotgun ready to fire with one arm. "Let's move out now, they're close by. Sha' you take the lead, I'm the rear guard."
I nodded and Sha'lea ran first, followed by Racen and me before Gatok moved last.
As I looked back one of our followers appeared in the corridor and raised his battle rifle, aiming at the Krogan. "Watch out." I cried, but it was already too late. The weapon issued a stream of bullets which hit the wall first before finding their target. The bullets hit Gatok on his right shoulder, the first hits were absorbed by his shields before it collapsed and patches of his battle armour together with ricocheting bullets filled the air around him. The huge Krogan turned around in a swift motion – covering our hostage as much as possible with his body and fired a single shot with his Claymore on a 10 metres distance. The recoil of the huge weapon sent his arm flying and he nearly lost the grip on it. The effect on his opponent was devastating as the impact penetrated both shields and armour, he collapsed to the floor leaving a mist of blood in his wake.
We continued our run and reached the two hovering shuttles, the doors had been already opened. Jason greeted me with a grin as I climbed into the shuttle. "Good to see you in one piece, seems you like those little fire-fights."
I grinned back. "Sorry I didn't bring you a little present, this time no blue hostage to be rescued, just a sorry batarian ass."
"In that case I'll pass, maybe next time."
Gatok threw our hostage into the aft section before entering the shuttle himself, his weight causing the hovering vehicle to waver. As the doors closed our pursuers arrived and opened fire, but the armour of the shuttle was way too thick to be penetrated by a singly volley. The second shuttle had taken off already. As Jason lifted it from the roof a damaged Gunship – obviously Sagrin - appeared from the right with blazing guns forcing our pursuers to take cover. The other shuttles – all in all six of them were now present, the gunship not counted – surrounded us as we headed back to Aria's headquarter. Several speeders could be seen in the distance, but seemingly they didn't risk to attack the combined force. A couple of minutes later we had safely landed in the garage.
The tension and adrenaline left me and I inhaled deeply. "That was close, a minute later and we'd be dead corpses on a filthy roof out there."
"They were on your heels for sure. What about a beer tonight, it's about time?" Jason replied.
"Count me in, but make sure you've got enough supplies." Gatok's rumbling voice could be heard from the back. "And get movin', this things' not made for Krogan, kind of cramped in here."
"Right, let's get movin'. And concerning the beer, can you arrange something for the whole crowd tonight?" I asked Jason while jumping out of the vehicle.
"I'll ask Sagrin 'bout that, I'm sure he's happy enough with the outcome of this little jaunt to be generous."
Gatok scrambled out, musing something about "fleshy things" and "cramped space". He jerked the still unconscious batarian out of the shuttle and tossed him again over his shoulder. "Where do we put this wretch, don't wanna carry him around 'whole day long."
"Hand him over to me, we've got a lot of questions for him." Sagrin stepped in as he approached us. "Good job, nicely done and an ugly little present of high value on the top, I'm impressed, and that happens not often these days."
Sha'lea and Racen reached our group in the meanwhile. "Thanks for the flowers. was though enough, that's for sure." She replied to the compliments.
Liselle – the Asari who had acted as bait earlier this day – and a Salarian accompanied Sagrin, Gatok handed over the batarian, obviously relieved to get rid of him.
"Let me take care of this wretch and we'll meet in an hour for a short debriefing in the same room we met this morning." Sagrin added and went after them.
"Ok, folks, here's the plan. We get rid of this armour and refresh ourselves, get this debriefing done and Jason here takes care for the evening. As Gatok already pointed out so politely we'll need a lot of supplies in beer and other narcotic beverages. Alright?"
They all agreed on that delicate plan of mine and we headed for our rooms.