"I only remember keeping you safe…jury's out on whether I succeeded."

The four of them were in the atmosphere in barely any time at all, but Davisson was nervous. They had to stop the Blue Suns or Cerberus or who the hell ever was down there, obviously, but he had a sneaking suspicion that they may not have enough time to actually find the Doctor and keep him out of harm's way. That would be just his luck; reunite with Empyreus, eliminate the mercs, save the laboratory, lose the Doctor.

At least now he wouldn't have to deal with all the blame if this went s-

"So what are our orders, Colonel?" Renar asked, double-checking (or, if he still knew turians, octuple-checking) his weaponry.

Ohhh shit.

"I didn't give it much thought. I assumed Empyreus was going to be in charge." Hopefully that would smooth things ov-

"Not taking a chance to bark orders, Davisson? I'm so disappointed." To his horror, the Admiral himself came in on the team's frequency, sounding amused. Garrus must have given it to him. Dammit!

"I'm not even close to the best suited for command, here." He said uncertainly, hoping Tali would take the opportunity.

She did, just not the one he was thinking of. "If you're thinking of rank and experience, this situation isn't my area of expertise unless the Blue Suns are going to swarm us with mechs." She was right, but he didn't have to like it.

"And I have my own team to look after." Empyreus added.

"Fine." Davisson grumbled. "Admiral Zorah, stay out of the direct fire zone. Cover us with drones and stick to your sidearm. Close combat would be a death sentence without backup. Lieutenant, Doctor, cover me with biotics of you see someone I'm not cutting down. Take opposite sides of the flank and bring the pain for anyone trying to do the same. If you start to run out of energy, bunker down and shoot like you mean it."

Ah, he remembered that part. He didn't like remembering that part. What came next was even worse. He saw Liara nodding silently, looking curiously at him. He couldn't see Tali's expression, of course, and Renar had the classic turian posture of 'as tough as possible with this stick up my ass'. Clearly, this was going to be fun as all hell. Literally.

"We have a problem, Colonel!" He heard Cortez in the pilot's seat just after he'd started to settle in, and felt like shooting the floor immediately. Of course there was a problem. They were surrounded by problems. What else was new?

"What is it, Cortez?" May as well ask, he thought.

"Looks like the fight started without us. I'm seeing several dead security guards by the front entrance to the monastery, no sign of the invading force."

"The monastery?" Liara turned in her seat. "That's where Dr. Solus has his lab?"

"I guess they cleared out the corpses and debris a while ago." Tali said.

"You said this was an ardat-yakshi monastery, right?" Liara nodded in response to Davisson's question. "Could be some of the inhabitants are already giving them a fight. Empyreus!" He made sure that channel was still open. "I think we have a chance of flanking them with the asari."

"And we can still fight on two fronts." Davisson saw the other turian shuttle fly around the other side of the area before touching down. "There is another entrance here. Perhaps a back exit. We will proceed inside and attack them. With any luck, we will meet in the middle with the bodies of the Blue Suns surrounding us."

"Sounds like a hell of a deal. I'll hold you to it."

"Spirits guide you, Davisson. Empyreus out."

Tali and Liara looked at each other, then Davisson. Apparently they were trying to work out who was going to ask him first. Tali apparently took the initiative more quickly. "Are you going to tell us…?"

"Nope!" Davisson said cheerfully, drawing his shot-rifle. Cortez brought their shuttle to ground level and the four of them piled out, getting a feel for their surroundings. The landing area was strewn with bodies, most of them wearing blue armor if they hadn't been melted down to the point that they were unrecognizable. A few krogan joined them, probably the defense force, Davisson guessed. He had a feeling Deshayla wasn't the only one on Solus' payroll.

"It looks like they put up a fight." Renar commented. "They died in battle, like true krogan."

Davisson avoided rolling his eyes. He'd hoped to run into a turian besides the legendarily informal Admiral Vakarian who wasn't a walking stereotype, but apparently no such luck. Polite, order-following, uptight, all about honor…it was just too much to ask, wasn't it? He rolled his shoulders and followed his brain down a different line, though. He'd barely even met the young lieutenant, so he shouldn't judge based on appearances. After all, he heavily doubted he was the only one with secrets. Speaking of…

"So, feel like passing the time talking about ancestry, LT?"

"No." Eh, fair enough.

Tali stepped over an ash pile next to a rocket launcher that either belonged to one krogan or five men. The main entrance was sealed…it seemed too little, too late to Davisson if enemies were already inside, but he doubted they just forgot to bring along tech support. He leveled his weapon at the door when she crouched and the heavily encrypted lock flashed green almost immediately. Of course, no merc was as good as their tech support.

The door opened smoothly, but there was no one behind it. Just an empty elevator. Small, open, perfect for being ambushed. Great. "All aboard."

The elevator lowered slowly in comparison to, say, the SR-3's system, but it didn't exactly look stable to begin with. Eventually, an open room stretched in front of them. It, too, was empty, though more bodies littered the floor. Several were intact, without any signs of what had killed them.

"Oh, thank the Goddess!" Liara breathed, and Davisson looked more closely around him.

"What?" He asked. "Survivors?"

"No, they have the lights working this time."

"I know." Tali said reminiscently. "Our last visit was like an old horror vid."

"Now it kind of reminds me of that time on Aphras." Davisson said offhandedly.

Liara looked confused. "What?"

"Exactly. Someone check their omni-tools, see about their recent orders." Tali nodded and started scanning a fairly fresh Batarian, unlocking his data in moments.

"Hm. They had resistance, all right. Lots of krogan, based on the audio…and then this." She transmitted the recorded message to everyone else, and Davisson listened in to the sudden sounds of a past battle…

Shotgun blasts, grenade explosions, and the sounds of biotics assaulted his ears, incoherent screams and vague orders occasionally rising over the din. He heard a Batarian shouting over it all though, and he assumed this was his final transmission.

"This is Kotar! Send reinforcements down NOW! They're tearing us to shred- AAAGH!" The sound of a shot impacting flesh cut him off, but apparently he didn't stop the message. The sounds of battle were slowing down now, and it sounded like the defenders had all but won the battle.

"Not so quickly, mercenary." A soft female voice corresponded with approaching footsteps, and the hum of a constant biotic field accompanied both.

The Batarian shouted incoherently and scrabbled against the floor, trying to flee. His words became even less clear when it sounded like someone grabbed him by the throat.

"This place will not fall to you." The woman spoke again, and the Batarian stopped trying to cry out, contenting himself with just trying to breathe, but unsuccessfully. "May you find peace in the embrace of the Goddess."

Davisson recoiled at the next sound, one that sounded like some great force had just crushed his head into a pulp. Well, that was one way to shut somebody up.

"That sounded familiar…" Liara turned to look at Tali when the recording stopped.

"There's only one asari I know who can kill you that serenely." Tali sounded…reluctant to proceed.

"Nice that we're all meeting up with old friends today. We should probably get moving." Davisson thumbed to a nearby doorway. It appeared to be covered in blood. How nice. Then it opened, revealing a human wearing scorched armor, face covered in sweat.

The Blue Suns vanguard looked as surprised to see them as they were to see her. Unfortunately for everyone involved, she had just come from a fight and was slightly quicker on the uptake. She hit them all with a wave of biotic energy that sent the quartet flying. Tali hit a wall hard - again - Liara disappeared behind some furniture, Renar hit the deck and Davisson not only went spinning enough times to get vertigo, but saw stars when his own helmet committed treason by plotting with the floor to smack him on the head. He made a note to discharge it later.

"I'm gonna kill all of you motherfuckers!" The vanguard shouted. At least she had a winning personality. She tossed one of those annoying blue orbs straight at Davisson, but underestimated his biotic turian fr- wait, turian?

Renar knocked the throw off course and rolled to a standing position, facing the mercenary down calmly. She glared at him contemptuously, and curved her arm downwards. Blue ripples turned into a long snake-like explosive chain reaction that looked like a speeding train. Renar, however, saw it coming, and launched the exact same thing at what was apparently a perfect angle.

The two shockwaves met in the center of the room and bounced off one another with an explosion that almost knocked everyone down again. Debris fell from the roof as it caved in, forcing the mercenary to flinch. It gave Renar just enough of an opening to wear down her barrier with a biotic pull, but it wasn't entirely successful. She brought her arm back for a repeat performance, and the Lieutenant charged her like a raging krogan.

She laughed madly and threw another shockwave directly at him. Renar dove headfirst forward, catching the floor with one hand and leaping over the effect, twisting in midair and sliding to a stop just underneath her, shotgun armed.

She blinked down at him. "That's not fucking-" He didn't let her finish; what was left of her head now added to the room's décor.

Davisson stood up and looked around. Anything that wasn't already destroyed by the previous firefight had been thrown everywhere by the concussive blast and three wild shockwaves. A painting fell to the floor nearby. He looked down at the turian and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm pretty sure half of what you just did was blatantly impossible, but I care even less than apparently the laws of physics because it was just that impressive."

He reached a hand down and pulled Renar up. "Thanks, sir." He nodded.

"Welcome to the team..." Davisson said absently, looking back at the two women, who were still in the process of standing. "Anyone get that on vid?" They glared at him. "Just checking." He chuckled.

"We should follow that doorway." Liara pointed out. "Based on the appearance of that vanguard, I would guess that is where the survivors are, if at all."

"Got it, secure the doorway." Davisson reactivated the inter-team channel. "Empyreus, do you copy? What's your status?"

Unfortunately, sounds of gunfire were abound on the other end. "The great hall! Under heavy fire! Now would be an excellent time for you to start that flanking maneuver!"

"You heard him, ladies gentlemen and Liara." He ignored the asari's expression at that and loaded some anti-shield rounds. "You all remember the plan; let's get going."

The great hall was in utter chaos. At least twenty Blue Suns troops were keeping what looked like a small group - maybe seven or eight people - pinned behind a collection of makeshift cover. As they watched, a krogan stood up from cover and immediately took a shot to the head, falling backwards with a howl of pain. Fortunately, none of their enemies appeared to have noticed the four heavily armed spec. ops (for all intents and purposes, anyway) behind them. Yet.

"Well this just got complicated." Davisson mumbled. "Tactics stay the same, people. Admiral, cover me."

He activated his cloaking device and the miniaturized entanglement field within, and appeared right next to a Batarian who looked like he was fielding the operation. One judicious stab with his omni-blade took care of that problem, and immediately he heard mixed shouts of confusion and anger. Bullets whizzed past his head and towards his team, but they were already in position. Liara sent soldiers flying to his left, and Renar mowed down nearly as many to his right with a Revenant.

One of the engineers caught on to his presence and started firing wildly at him, then screamed girlishly when a drone shocked him. It was nice to have a quarian watching your back. One of the asari behind cover took advantage of the momentary confusion and raised a biotic field in the middle of a cluster, lifting five troopers into the air helplessly. Davisson raised his rifle and put a round in each one's head. It was almost trivial.

How he loved biotics.

Then he felt something hit his side and went flying hard into a pillar. Correction: He loved biotics when they were on his team. He saw Empyreus raise a weapon out of the corner of his eye, and the biotic was dead before he hit the floor. Liara froze another in his tracks, and Renar simultaneously shot him in the head, dove forward to avoid a grenade from a soldier, and sent a biotic field flying. He was already behind cover when the field impacted, sending the soldier flying upward to the ceiling of the great hall and then back to the ground in the blink of an eye. His brains coated the floor along with the blood of his comrades.

Davisson made sure he had a firm grip on his rifle and put down suppressive fire on three 'Suns who had been smart and taken cover. It looked as though Tali was trying to get around to a decent position, but a commando came out from around a corner and brought her shields down with a shotgun blast. Sheer combat experience kept her alive. She dodged the next blast and hacked into his shield network with her omni-tool, restoring hers instantly, but lowering the commando's in return. Her Arc Pistol flashed, and he screamed as he was electrocuted.

A Blue Suns sniper stood out of cover and fired directly at Davisson's helmet, but his weapon simply clicked and did nothing. He looked at it in confusion for one second too long, and Empyreus took him down. Her sabotage job finished, Tali crouched behind a pew.

Renar tossed a grenade behind them, and both the remaining troopers flew helplessly into the air, where Liara finished them off with a reactive explosion from her biotics. The last mercenary, apparently realizing he had no chance, desperately charged at Davisson, omni-blade open. He tried to raise his rifle, but was too slow…

He braced himself for impact, but the merc just stopped in his tracks. A small brown hand pushed the tip of a syringe into his neck, and he collapsed in a heap. No longer blocked from view, the salarian casually slid the empty needle into a sack on his belt. He wore a standard doctor's outfit, and his face - light brown tinged with red - was youthful, but weary. He offered Davisson a hand up, which he accepted. The salarian was stronger than he looked, and had little trouble with the haul.

"It's good to see another friendly face in here." The salarian raised his hand to wave the others taking cover up, giving them the all-clear. "We might not have lasted much longer without you. Doctor Kerrin Solus, at your service."

"We've been looking for you, Doctor." Davisson nodded. Given he was the only salarian there, he was either the real deal or an assistant who would have no reason to lie anyways.

Kerrin chuckled. "I've noticed that quite a few people are looking for me. Not all of them particularly helpful." He motioned to the bodies surrounding them.

"This is not the place to have a conversation." That voice sounded familiar. An asari in red…revealing armor stood next to Kerrin, retaining eye contact with the Colonel. She must have been the one from the earlier recording.

"Justicar Samara." Liara seemed humbled to be in the elder asari's presence, which seemed like a bonus.

"Doctor T'Soni." Samara responded calmly. Empyreus and three turians joined the gathering along with another asari and the rest of Davisson's team. Just a normal family gathering.

"She's right." Empyreus cut in. "We need to get off-planet."

"It should be easier with the dropship gone." Kerrin said happily. When no one responded (and quite a few looked guilty), his face feel a bit. "You…didn't destroy it, did you."

"Dreadnought, yes. Dropship, no." Davisson scowled and activated his link to the Normandy. "Lieutenant Moreau, come in."

"Joker here. Moreau's on coffee break, should be back in a few hours."

"Cute. We need you planetside. Apparently there's another ship to blow up."

This time, EDI responded. "I have thoroughly scanned the surface of the planet in your area, Colonel. There are no vessels nearby."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Empyreus snapped. "Why would they send in multiple squads and then leave before bringing them back? No one is that pessimistic about chances of success in an operation."

"However," EDI added. "Cerberus successfully produced a stealth core in the Normandy SR-2. It stands to reason they could replicate this result."

"Are you saying we're dealing with an invisible Cerberus ship?" Davisson summarily resisted the urge to bounce his helmet off the nearest wall a few times.

"That is inaccurate." EDI's calm demeanor wasn't helping. "They would not be detectible using LADAR systems, but it is possible to destroy them using line-of-sight fire."

"But that'll take a few tries, so you might want to buy us some time." Joker said.

"Fantastic. We'll just distract a dropship. Anyone have some rocks and a goddamn trebuchet?" Davisson growled.

"After hearing about this failure, they may send more reinforcements to the landing pad." Empyreus offered. "I can take the survivors out the back entrance and hold by our shuttle until the dropship is dealt with."

"That leaves us holding the line, then." Tali sighed. "We didn't exactly come expecting that."

"Maybe not, but we don't exactly hurt for firepower in any case." Renar put in.

"Still, I think we could do with reinforcements of our own." Liara glanced at Empyreus hopefully.

The Admiral sighed, waving one of his teammates forward. "Corporal Vaya, hold here and stay alive."

The Vaya in question, a female of slight build but somehow powerful presence, nodded her head and drew a Phalanx, clearly as ready for battle as possible.

Samara, too, stepped forward. "I will aid you in this. My duty is to protect the Doctor, and the monastery, and I will see it done."

The other asari took a step forward, looking pained. "Mother…"

"Falere." Samara's tone was still calm, but firm. "Stay with him." She fixed her gaze on Kerrin.

He nodded immediately. "I will keep her safe, Justicar. And myself as well, if the situation warrants."

"Do both." Davisson said. "You're crucial to our mission, so if you die I'm kicking your ass."

Kerrin laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He followed Falere and the three turians out another corridor. There was silence in the room for a time, and Davisson wondered if everyone else was thinking about how to survive, like he was.

A beeping from his omni-tool caught his attention. He activated it. "What is it, Lieu-…Joker?"

"I'm staring the dropship in the face from the cockpit. EDI's lining up the algorithms for the Thanix, so it should be out of our way in a bit. But it just launched a few shuttles at the landing pad. Looks like you're gonna have company soon."

"Roger that." He looked around at the others. "Let's not keep them waiting."

"Get into that elevator, you two!" The commander pointed at two nearby vanguards, then to the monastery entrance. They didn't look too happy about being sent in first. Personally, he couldn't blame them. Professionally, stalling was going to piss him off. And they knew it. Without any delays, they opened the door.

Both bodies flew over his head, but he'd already ducked out of reflex when the elevator exploded from the inside. His last thought before the sniper round went through his skull was really a very creative multilingual curse he'd learned from his Batarian CO. He'd have been so proud.

Below them, Samara waited until the elevator hit the ground in front of her, then nodded to Laira and Renar. Both of them coated her in a biotic field and tossed her upwards, covering the distance to the platform and then releasing her to climb the ladders as Davisson had done cloaked moments ago. The Justicar activated her own biotic field, slowing her descent and landing majestically. She wasted no time in producing multiple other fields on the landing pad that were either anti-gravity or hyper-gravity. The mercenaries were stunned, panicked, and close together. It was a slaughter.

She took a step forward with every field she launched, and was soon standing in the center of the carnage. Blue Suns and Cerberus operatives swirled helplessly around her. By the time the others arrived, only one remained. Davisson took care of him in short order. Almost as an afterthought, she made sure anyone with her was shrouded in a barrier either by her doing or the others'. Then, she consumed her own biotic energy and let loose a powerful blast that caused the living enemies caught by her fields to explode and fly off into the distance.

She heard Davisson laugh behind her and turned. He was looking around them with a rather bemused expression. "Okay, if I'd known you were more effective than the bomb, this might have played out differently. Or exactly the same, as it were."

"Okay, here we go…" Joker's voice came in on their omni-tools, and the Normandy swooped overhead, cannon charging to full blast. In the air above them, the dropship (a Cerberus design, Samara realized) was still, almost appearing to be waiting. That made it easier.

A blue beam of energy shot from the Thanix weapon on the underside of the frigate, tearing straight through the middle of the dropship. Explosions burst through various holes in the hull, and it slowly fell to each.

"Yeah!" Joker whooped on the other end of the comm channel. "Take that, you Cerberus bastards!"

"Nice shooting, you two." Davisson changed his frequency and called in Empyreus' team. "Empyreus, this is Davisson. We are all clear, repeat, all clear."

"Affirmative. I'll see you back on the ship."

They stood looking at the falling wreckage of the dropship for a long while, admiring the destruction. Davisson looked around. "Uh. We're kind of in a hurry, people." He tapped his omni-tool once again. "Cortez, can we get a ride back?"

He glanced at his five companions. "You might have to make two trips."