Chapter 53
Tali and Garrus shortly joined him outside the elevator, taking a few deep breaths to center themselves. The three commandos then pulled out their weapons and resumed their trek upon Shepard's oddly upbeat command of "Allons-y!"
Shepard took point, scanning the trough-like side of the elevator's path with a watchful eye. Tali and Garrus fell in behind and to either side of their leader, also keeping a sharp lookout for any enemy movement. Every member of the party knew that the time for any levity or lack of focus was long past. They stalked forward in silence for several hundred meters, until the side of the elevator shaft suddenly exploded. A pair of geth spilled out from the ruined hole, distracting the team from the Normandy from the fact that several more explosions ripped a path up along the elevator shaft. The series of explosions caused several support struts to collapse inwards, preventing the trio from pursuing their direct approach to the Council's chambers. Of more immediate concern, however, was the half dozen geth now taking cover behind various bulwarks and debris.
Unfortunately for the enemy geth, they would need much better odds if they wished to defeat Shepard, Garrus, and Tali. Within minutes of the initial attack, the commandos were once again moving on, leaving behind nothing more than a collection of scrap metal. They were brought to a halt again, however, when they were confronted with the twisted pile of masonry and building materials that used to be an enclosed maintenance passageway.
"Fucking geth." Spike said as he gave the pile of rubble an experimental shove. "Not a chance in hell we can get through that without either the Mako or a whole pile of demo charges. Suggestions?"
"There appeared to be an alley leading off to the right a few meters back." Garrus said. "It may offer us a way around the blockage."
"That sounds good." Shepard gave the turian a nod of thanks. "Anything to add, Tali?"
The quarian shook her head in the negative, and began walking towards the cleft in the wall Garrus had mentioned. The opening was only wide enough to fit a single person, and so the team progressed forward in single file. After a quick right turn, and a subsequent left, the passage turned left again and opened up into a much wider walkway. As they stepped out through the bottleneck, the team saw a geth shock trooper standing midway along the ledge.
Shepard motioned for the team to stop, then dropped to one knee and exchanged his pistol for his sniper rifle. One slow breath later, and the shock trooper's head disintegrated. Inara's massive report, however, drew the unwanted attention of the geth's co-workers. Three geth destroyers appeared from around the far corner, and began charging the team from the Normandy. Oh that's just fucking wonderful. One for each of us. Shepard thought with a mirthless chuckle.
Acting in the synchronization earned after hours of fighting together, three omni-tools activated and three Overloads flew towards the oncoming geth. The powerful attacks overlapped and bolstered one another, causing all three destroyers to lose their shields. The next second, orange ripples of electricity ran over the geth as a trio of Sabotage tech attacks disabled the enemies' shotguns. Undeterred, the hulking mechanical platforms rushed forwards, only to be met with a withering hail of bullets from Garrus's AR and a massive Carnage blast from Tali's shotgun. Both heroes were quickly successful in felling their foes.
That left only Shepard's geth destroyer, still bearing down on the commander with unnatural speed. The human Spectre calmly watched the race between the geth and Inara's overheat indicator. A miniscule three meters away from impact, Spike's rifle indicated that it was ready to fire again. Before his heart had the chance to beat again, his finger depressed the trigger and a small mass of metal was propelled outwards at supersonic speeds. The impact of the high explosive round on the nearby metal bipod was an exhibit in why Shepard should be left alone. A hole ten centimeters in diameter was drilled through the geth's center of mass. The platform's momentum kept it moving forward, and Spike was forced to spin neatly on one knee to avoid the half-ton of metal that crashed to the ground where the commander had been just an eye blink before.
Before any of the three members of the team from the Normandy could move, a pair of krogan appeared at the end of the walkway. With a shake of his head, Shepard sighted in on the enemy on the right. "I'll take the one on the right, you two take the left." He verbalized briefly. Much like the trio of geth destroyers from moments before, the unfortunate krogan stood no chance of surviving the skirmish. Unlike the geth, neither of the charging masses of muscle made it past the the halfway point.
After waiting to insure that there were no more incoming enemies, Garrus, Tali, and Spike moved forward. Several attempts by individual handfuls of geth did nothing to slow the team's progress, as they marched inexorably onwards for several minutes. Sooner than they'd like, they emerged from yet another narrow passage and came upon a geth dropship deploying large quantities of enemies. Some of the geth platforms were erecting basic hexagonal energy barriers in order to fortify their defensive positions, while other geth were moving towards several of the Citadel's built-in defensive turrets; likely with the intention of commandeering them for their own purposes.
Shepard quickly took in the wide-open field, noting the general lack of cover and the depressingly-large distances between each of the defensive turrets. He broke into a loping run, knowing that his companions would do the same, and gave them their orders. "You two get to the nearest turret. Turn it on and make sure it attacks the dropship first. Then try to keep the ground troops' attention away from me." After Garrus and Tali acknowledged his orders, he broke into a full-on sprint and headed for the second-closest defensive turret. Upon reaching it, he risked a quick glance over at his teammates. He was not surprised to see that someone, probably Tali, already had the turret spitting rockets at the geth troopship. Both Garrus and Tali were engaging the enemy with sniper rifles, alternating shots in order to keep the geth off-balance.
While his eyes were taking in the scene, Shepard's omni-tool was out and interacting with the turret's controls, quickly compelling the device to begin carrying out its intended task of defending the Citadel. Spike then rested Inara on the lower half of the defensive emplacement and took aim at one of the half-dozen geth shock troopers that were currently directing their comrades. The rifle roared once and his target's head disappeared in a small explosion. Then, before the geth could shift their attention his way, he took off for the third automated turret.
Pushing his body to the limit, Shepard noticed a pair of carnage blasts heading his way. Oh fuck. He thought, just before he leapt forward doing his best impression of Superman, and then was carried a little further along by the concussive wave caused by the impact of the dual offensive blasts. Spike landed heavily with a grunt, and then immediately took cover behind the turret before activating its internal protocols. With a groan, the emplacement's barrel elevated before launching a rocket with a deep whoosh. Shepard smiled as he heard the heavy impact of the explosive against the geth ship. He then joined in with Garrus and Tali in picking off any enemy footsoldiers that looked out from behind cover.
Eight total rockets from the turrets resulted in the geth dropship abandoning its post and making for the protection offered by Sovereign. A final rocket trailed after the fleeing ship, striking it and proving to be the straw that broke the camel's back. The purple craft exploded in a brilliant display of blue energy indicative of a drive core failure, sending pieces of armored vehicle flying in all directions. Several of the largest pieces continued along their previous vectors, striking Sovereign's long "tentacles." It was a disheartening indicator of the strength of the foe they faced, as Shepard saw the Reaper completely ignore the impact of approximately one half of the geth dropship.
The loss of the geth dropship resulted in the loss of the endless supply of reinforcements from the geth on the ground. This had a predictable effect on the outcome of the small engagement as the rocket-wielding turrets could now join in with the commandos in their decimation of the geth. The defending geth were inevitably, and quickly, overwhelmed.
Once the last platform had fallen, Shepard headed for the gap in the walls behind where the geth had dug in. Garrus and Tali joined him there. "Everybody ok?" He asked, looking his companions over for any obvious injuries.
"We're fine." Tali answered for them both. "Are you?"
"Yep." He responded, before turning the corner.
The trio was once again confronted with several successive waves of enemy forces, all running down a walkway that was no more than seven meters in diameter. Krogan, geth destroyers, and even a geth juggernaut attempted to eliminate the attackers, but were struck down by the seamless teamwork of "Team Dextro," as Joker had once called them. Coincidentally, shortly after making that comment, the pilot found himself unable to access his personal accounts anywhere on the extranet for a week. The diminutive man was still unsure of whether it had been Tali, Garrus, or Spike who had enacted his punishment, but was leaning towards the quarian because of the old adage of "It's always the quiet ones."
After clearing the hallway, the trio emerged out onto another open plain. This time, the eight geth were supported by four geth heavy turrets. A collective sigh emerged from the group, before they took cover and waited for Spike to come up with a plan.
They didn't have long to wait. "Tali. Can you hack these gods damned things?"
"Probably." She answered with a shrug. "You usually just blow them up, so I haven't had the opportunity to attempt it before."
"Sorry." Shepard said without meaning it at all. "Then you hack the one furthest to the left. I'll hack the one furthest to the right. Garrus, keep watch. If nothing's around, work on distracting the two turrets in the middle."
"Affirmative." The turian responded, moving to a piece of forward cover.
Tali just nodded her head, already hacking away at her target. The commander joined her in that pursuit, and they quickly had two hacked turrets merrily shooting away at their former allies. With Garrus's help, the geth forces mostly eliminated each other, until only two troopers remained. The two marksmen quickly eliminated that last pair of holdouts. The trio then jogged forward, forming up into their default triangle. At the other end of the engagement area, the team turned left and headed down a decline. There, they found that they had finally caught back up to the main elevator shaft.
"Well it's about freaking time." Shepard said ruefully. "It figures that we wouldn't be able to rejoin the easy path of following the elevator until we've basically reached the end of the line. We're practically within spitting distance of where we want to be."
"What do you mean?" Tali asked.
Despite the fact that she had asked the commander, it was Garrus who answered. "We've reached the highest level of the Citadel Tower that we can reach from the outside. There's a hatch up ahead that leads to a service tunnel. The tunnel exits just inside the main Council hall, within two meters of the elevator's doors."
"That's convenient." The quarian remarked.
"I agree." Shepard said, reaching down to unlock the hatch. "But the old saying regarding gifts, horses, and mouths definitely applies here."
This time, it was the turian who was unsure of what that meant. "Come again, Commander?"
Tali smiled smugly, happy that this was one human idiom she could fully remember. "Humans sometimes say 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.' It means that you shouldn't question things too much when you get lucky."
Shepard chuckled quietly at Tali's response as he jumped down into the dark passageway. Once we finish with Saren, I'll have to tell her what it really means to "get lucky." He then set off for the Council's chambers, and the final confrontation with Saren.