Chapter 48
The Normandy's bridge was a mass of barely-controlled chaos. Shepard longed for it to be just a few hours ago again, when he was comfortably ensconced in Tali's arms. Figures. I went from peace and quiet to everybody shouting at each other and zero constructive commentary. It's kinda funny that for once, Joker's not the one making the ruckus. He's been pretty quiet since he called me and Tali up here, actually. Ashley's bitching at Pressly to find a decent landing zone, Pressly's bitching back that there aren't any, Liara's going on about how this is our only chance to stop Saren, and Tali's talking math over Pressly's shoulder. Then there's me and Joker. The calm in the eye of the storm. Fitting in a way, since we've got the most riding on our shoulders. Joker's our only hope at getting in undetected and in an expeditious manner, and I'm the one responsible for putting a stop to Saren's plans. After all, it's not like the fate of the galaxy hangs on me beating the egotistical bastard or anything. Well, I think everybody's had enough time to work themselves into a useless frenzy. TIme to get this sorted.
Shepard put a hand on Joker's shoulder. "Joker. Think you can drop us right on top of Saren's ugly mug?"
The pilot nodded, a picture of confidence. "You bet, Commander. Assuming, of course, that you don't crash the Mako yourself."
Shepard chuckled and squeezed Joker's arm very gently. "I'll do my best, Joker. You do yours."
"But Commander-" Ashley started to object.
"Don't, Ash." Spike cut her off with a raised hand. "I'm going down there, and I'm gonna put my boot so far up Saren's ass he's gonna be tasting the Normandy's decking. Joker's my ticket planet side, and I trust him to get it done. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get in the Mako. You coming, Tali?"
"Yes, Shepard." Tali said, and followed the commander off of the bridge, leaving some much-needed quiet in their wake.
The commander and the quarian rode the elevator down to the hangar in silence, mentally preparing for the task that they were about to undertake. When they reached the lowest level of the ship, they found Garrus suited up and standing next to the Mako.
"Did you get everyone sorted out, Commander?" Garrus asked with the barest hint of a smile.
"Yep." Shepard answered, dusting some imaginary lint off of his shoulder. "Put 'em in line right quick. On that note, we need to get in the Mako ASAP. Joker's got about a quarter of the usual space to land us in, and I'm sure he wants us strapped in and settled so he can focus on not splattering us against a building."
"I'm in favor of that outcome as well, Shepard." Garrus commented back, his smile growing just a little wider.
"And since I'm pretty sure Tali feels the same, that makes it unanimous." Shepard said, looking to the quarian to make sure he wasn't overstepping his bounds. At her nod, he grinned at her. The three commandos piled into the Mako and began buckling themselves in and running the Mako's "pre-flight checks." The last thing each of them did was put their helmets on and check that all comms were working properly. With that sorted, they waited patiently for Joker to toss them out into the atmosphere.
After the longest three minutes of their collective lives, Joker's voice came over the radio. "Ground team, prep to drop."
"Ready and willing." Shepard responded.
Joker didn't bother to acknowledge Shepard's comment, since his focus was locked onto putting the Mako exactly where Shepard needed her to be. "Dropping in five, four, three, two, one." As soon as the countdown expired, Joker dropped the hangar door and released the Mako's docking clamps. In a flash, the three members of the ground team were soaring through the sky and praying that Joker was as good as they hoped.
Acting as though this was just another drop, Shepard coolly worked the Mako's controls, keeping the six-wheeled vehicle level in the air. With 300 meters until they hit the ground, the Mako's onboard computers took over and began slowing the IFV by periodically firing the vertical thrusters. At 200 meters, the thrusters went silent to cool the output nozzles. With only 100 meters to go, the thrusters re-activated and did not stop until the Mako landed heavily on Ilos.
"There's Saren!" Garrus yelled out, wheeling the turret about in order to try to get a shot off at the enemy turian.
"I see him!" Shepard yelled back, mashing the Mako's accelerator in order to try to run over the rogue Spectre.
Garrus's first shot with the 155mm main cannon struck the lower half of the closing door. His follow-up shots with the coaxial machine gun wasn't accurate enough to land more than a single round against Saren's shields. Shepard for his part was no more successful as he crashed the Mako nose-first into the doors just after they slammed shut.
"Fuck!" Shepard swore as the Mako bounced on its suspension.
"Baiete!" Garrus swore as he cursed the robust Prothean construction that wasn't harmed in any way from his attack.
"Det kazuat!" Tali swore, mirroring her two teammates.
All three shared a grim chuckle at their synchronised swearing.
"I don't see us getting through that door, so I think we have to find an alternate route." Shepard said, looking to his teammates for their opinions.
"I think you're right, Shepard." Tali said.
"I agree." Garrus made it unanimous. "It looks like the path away from the door is blocked by several barricades. Will we be proceeding on foot?"
"Fuck that." Shepard scoffed. "Just try to knock some of that crap over. If you can get me enough headroom, I'll drive us right over the top."
"Understood, Commander." Garrus rotated the turret and began blasting away at the standing stones. Five minutes later, he had reduced the impassable blockade to a pile of rubble with a few geth corpses mixed in. "All done, Shepard."
Spike surveyed the destruction. "Nice job, Garrus." He then proceeded to navigate the Mako over the debris field, taking care not to inflict unnecessary damage on his beloved IFV. When he finally drove back onto flat ground again, Shepard was confronted with a very unfortunate set of circumstances. "Really? Two fucking colossuses?"
His rhetorical question went unheeded, as Garrus had already began shooting at the nearest colossus, and Tali was attempting to boost the Mako's shields to deal with the impending siege pulses.
Thank gods we took the Mako through. Shepard thought to himself as he began maneuvering the Mako for an attack run on the enemy geth. We'd never have been able to overcome two colossuses in close quarters. Hmm, I wonder if it's colossuses, or colossi? Not that it really matters, since there's no way our shields can withstand the pounding the geth are about to deliver. If we had more space, I could probably avoid most of the siege pulses, but that's not an option. Only one thing for it, really. Charge! With his inspirational command given, Shepard plowed forward, ramming the first geth colossus and sending it flying into its partner. "Garrus! Take care of the platoon of little ones first! I'll keep the colossuses off our backs for a second."
Well-acquainted with his commanding officer's usual combat insanity, Garrus followed his orders without comment. Tali similarly re-directed her efforts to strengthening the Mako's forward shields and armor, preparing the IFV for its upcoming duty as a battering ram.
While Garrus was eliminating the enemy footsoldiers, Shepard amused himself by seeing if he could tangle the geth colossuses together to the point where they would be unable to stand. While displeased that he didn't succeed, he was quite happy when Garrus was able to turn his attention, and more importantly, the 155mm cannon's attention, back to the massive geth platforms. 90 seconds later, both colossuses were crackling pieces of so much electrical junk and the Mako's nose was no longer sharp and pointed, having taken on the rather apt appearance of a car that had been driven straight into a wall.
"Area clear, Shepard." Tali called out when the radar showed no more enemies.
"Good. Nice shooting, Garrus." Shepard complimented his gunner.
"Thank you, Commander." The aforementioned turian accepted the comment gracefully.
Tali spoke up again. "There appears to be an elevator to our 3 o'clock, Shepard, but it's locked down. It looks like it goes down for several levels. If we can find the area control room, we can probably release both the elevator and the blast door that Saren's hiding behind."
"Beautiful. Let's go find that control room then." Shepard said, rubbing his hands together. "I don't suppose we can take the Mako to this control room, eh?"
Tali laughed lightly at Spike's antics. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but I doubt the Mako would be able to fit in the underground tunnels."
Shepard let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fiiiine. Then let's go!" In a flurry of action, the three-member team exited the vehicle and pulled out their preferred weapons; Shepard his pistol, Garrus his AR, and Tali her shotgun. After giving his team a quick once-over, Spike motioned for them to move out. The trio quickly descended the nearby walkway, eliminating a three-geth squad with ease. Upon reaching the next level down, they were set upon by four geth hoppers and four geth soldiers being escorted by a geth shock trooper. Shepard quickly did a threat assessment, and handed out assignments. "Garrus! You're on the shock trooper! Tali! Take out the soldiers! I'll take the hoppers."
Tali immediately ducked behind cover and hacked one of the geth, resulting in two quick deaths as the hacked geth killed one of its fellows but was immediately killed in turn by another. She then hit the two remaining geth with an overload tech attack, followed quickly by a sabotage attack, and then obliterated their heads with two blasts from her shotgun.
While Tali was working on her geth soldiers, Garrus immediately hit the geth shock trooper with a sabotage to fry its weapon, and then an overload to reduce its shields by about 25%. Popping in and out of cover, Garrus then proceeded to punch a hole through the geth's chest by tattooing a series of three-round bursts in a four-by-four centimeter square.
Shepard undoubtedly had taken the most difficult task. His first move was to slam a damping field onto the geth sapper to prevent that cyberwarfare platform from using a sabotage attack against him. An overload attack hit the geth ghost, making sure that its shields recharging would neutralize its ability to hide during the latter stages of the engagement. One of the two geth stalkers was hit by a sabotage tech attack, neutering the platform for the time being. At that point, Shepard realized that his shields had already dropped to below 30%. A quick command on his omni-tool activated a brief shield boost, restoring them to nearly 90% within seconds. His last tech move was to activate Marksman, prepping his pistol for high-volume fire.
With every one of his offensive capabilities exhausted, Shepard began working the geth hoppers over with concentrated fire. The first enemy to fall was the geth stalker that had remained untouched up to this point. Five rounds from the HMWP shattered its shields, and three more bullets found their home in the geth's "neck," ending the threat from that geth as it slowly bled out. Shepard then switched his focus to the geth sapper, using three shots to blow through its shields and three more to destroy the thing's head. The other geth stalker was the next enemy targeted, the defenseless geth doing its best to avoid the Spectre's flurry of bullets by jumping around the area, to no avail. The room then went quiet, as Tali and Garrus had already killed their enemies. The geth ghost was hiding somewhere, attempting to regenerate its shields before emerging to attack once more. Out of the corner of his eye, Shepard noticed an out-of-place curve. Like a striking snake he pivoted his pistol and loosed a single round through the top of the final enemy, shattering its main optic and ending the skirmish. A quick check of his HUD showed that he had only been hit once since he activated the shield boost. Damn I'm good! Shepard thought to himself. "Everybody good?" He voiced aloud, despite already knowing the answer.
"Yes." Tali responded.
"Affirmative." Garrus said at the same time.
"Good." Shepard said. That's how we do it. Outnumbered three-to-one and not a scratch on us. Gods I love these two. I don't think there's ever been such a group of ass-kickers. Not even me and Brian were this good back in the day. Of course, we were barely more than wet-behind-the ears rookies, but still. It never felt quite as "right" as working with Tali and Garrus does. Or maybe I'm just hopped up on adrenaline. Killing geth sure as hell gets the blood pumping and the synapses firing. Either way, Saren's gonna need to step up his defenses if he expects to even slow us down. With his combat juices coursing through his system like a river, Shepard led his team in search of more geth to kill.