Chapter 3

Kaiden hit the hard ground behind a piece of furniture, a bench of some sort maybe, he hadn't had time to look. The hail of bullets clashed onto the rickety structure, but the solid metal held firm. Kaiden could hear the constant ringing of rifle fire through his helmet's dampeners, and could see Shepard further back as he leaned up against the metal surface behind him.

Shepard stood a few dozen yards behind the front lines of the skirmish, holding back to give orders over the headset, as well as to rain covering fire. Shepard held in his hands some form of civilian hunting rifle, heavily modified. It was semi-automatic, pumping of shots one by one across the battlefield.

They were in a large training room, strategic cover strewn about for practice, their weapons, omni-tools, and biotic amps all given special "softening" mods to avoid any wounds that could hinder performance in the field.

Kaiden gripped his predator pistol tightly, the cool metal a comfort after all the time he'd spent with it. It's double-barreled appearance a constant among the constant changing of command, crew and station.

He stood partially over the edge of his bench, popping off three shot sequentially at one of the Batarian marines three or four yards over. His shields flashed and died when the third shot hit, and Kaiden stood full as his biotics lit up around him.

Kaiden was used to, by now, the adrenaline rush he always felt when he used his powers, but he still noticed it every time. He felt a strong pair of opposing mass effect fields forming into a sphere around his palm, and he bound them together, launching the warp field across the gap and striking the marine from above. The man had tried to dodge to the side at the last minute, but that only meant the warp field struck him in the chest instead of the head. His armor would be releasing a minor paratactic shock to numb him now, Kaiden thought absently as he ducked back behind cover, a wave of fire crossing the gap to soar above his head.

The bursts of fire suddenly ceased in reaction to a report from Shepard's hunting rifle behind him. Kaiden could hear one of the batarians cry out in response. Softeners or no, getting shot was bound to hurt like hell.

Kaiden rolled to a small decorative wall to his left, turning right to view the battlefield as he fired potshots. Vega was off to his left now that he'd turned towards the wall, spraying quick bursts of fire from his Valkarie assault rifle, trying to keep Balak in cover while Jenkins flanked them to Alenko's right. Shepard was moving forward to join his squad, but he was moving slowly, keeping the pressure on the enemy team.

Kaiden pulled the trigger of his weapon twice more before he noticed the thermal clip was at capacity. Pulling back the top of his weapon, Kaiden ejected the small red and black cylinder, and it fell to his feet steaming as another loaded into the chamber. Turning back, he saw Shepard ducking into cover between him and Vega. Kaiden finally remembered the name of that hunting rifle, a Mattock, as Shepard ejected a thermal clip from its chamber, loading in a few more as his shields recharged.

Suddenly the fire flying above Alenko's head seemed to cease, but the sounds of discharging shots bouncing around the room for a moment until Kaiden realized what was happening. Jenkins.

Kaiden stood and rushed to his right, firing four shots at the Batarians with a single hand, watching as a spray of fire pinned Jenkins behind a bench across the rubble-strewn field. Kaiden stayed hunched over, trying to run as much behind cover as possible. Kaiden heard the roaring of Shepard and Vegas' guns behind him. The call of the Valkarie rifle still sounded, but Shepard's semi-automatic rifle bark was replaced by the near-constant roaring of some foreign weapon Kaiden couldn't recognize. He blotted it out, Jenkins was his focus now.

Firing more shots to his left as he ran, Kaiden watched as Jenkins tried to shoot from the side of the bench, throwing out an automatic spray of bullets from his Avenger. His shields gave out under the fire of Balak's avenger, and a few shots landed on Jenkin's chest plate as he fell sideways, back behind cover.

Kaiden was getting close; he ejected the clip from his pistol before going onto one knee behind a rectangular piece of rubble of some sort. Kaiden held out his left hand, triggering his omni-tool. The glowing orange halo about his fist was there immediately. Kaiden triggered an attack command: Overload. Balak's Shields suddenly flared, the shock from Kaiden's attack causing them to overpower themselves. Balak hit the ground as Kaiden fired two shots in his direction. One of the two Batarians standing turned and fired a vindicator at Kaiden. The first burst splashed against his shields, and Kaiden dodged the second be dropping down below. He heard a cry from Vega off behind him, and a voice on his radio.

"Vega's hit! Repeat, Vega's hit. Alenko, I want you to get Jenkins out from that bench, I'll keep them occupied."

Kaiden looked back over his shoulder. Vega was out of cover by a few feet, his shotgun out, but he was on the ground, paralyzed. Dead as far as the exercise was supposed to go. Kaiden also saw Shepard, a strange, yellow and silver rifle in his hands, standing up, his shields taking heavy fire. Kaiden saw Shepard's omni-tool flash as his shields formed a deep yellow suit of translucent armor around his form. Shepard's weapon flashed, Kaiden turned and ran towards Jenkins, trying to stay low.

A glance to the left, Kaiden saw Balak back out, then saw him drop back after Shepard's shots left a few dents in his helmet, out for the count. Kaiden was almost to Jenkins, he started to slow, his gun coming up to face the enemy. Then he saw the grenade.

It was a small, cylindrical device, arcing to land behind Jenkin's position. Kaiden called out running. "Jenkins Get out of there! Grenade!"

Jenkins reacted too slowly, looking about as the sphere closed in on his position. Kaiden's legs slid out before him as he slid purposefully up to his squad mate. Kaiden's eyes and arms were raised, time seeming to slow as he saw the grenade coming towards him, and his biotics flared into a barrier around the two of them.

Kaiden's eyes closed from the strain, he could hear the gunfire outside the bubble, muted. He could feel the impacts they made as the two batarian soldiers tried to pierce the protective shield. When the grenade went off, Kaiden almost lost consciousness from the impact of a thousand shards of shrapnel, even ones from a softened "training" grenade seemed to strike his barrier with the force of a hurricane. More closely, Kaiden could hear two steps, inside the barrier, Jenkins presumably, and Kaiden hear his weapon flaring to life, and the strange, but strainless feel of the bullets passing harmlessly out from inside the barrier.

When his eyes opened, it was over. One marine had dropped from Jenkins' fire; the other Kaiden saw running back as Shepard sent a warp field flying into him. Kaiden's barrier still stood strong as he got up, extinguishing it with a heavy exhale. He heard the computerized voice from all around "Hegemony unit, defeated. Shutting down training exercise."

Kaiden saw Vega, Balak, Charn and the others rising, the inhibitors disabled. Shepard turned towards his downed soldier, his tech armor fading and shutting down "What the hell was that Vega?" he asked angrily, placing his assault rifle onto his back next to the tan hunting rifle.

Vega faced his CO, an expression of regret on his features. "Sir, I…"

Shepard pointed in his face, scolding "You ran into enemy fire, what the hell is wrong with you?" when the larger man didn't respond, Shepard backed off, speaking more softly, though still with an air of punishment. "Had we been facing any real enemies, Turian, Krogan, Salarian, Rachni or anyone who knew what they were doing, you wouldn't have survived ten seconds in the open. Anyone with a gun will rip you to shreds if you take them head on, that is why you stay with your squad, and that is why you follow your damn orders!"

Vega's eyes were on his boots, but he was able to muster the courage to at least respond. "Yes sir, Commander."

"Dismissed." Called the commander loudly, turning away from Vega as he did so. "Balak, Alenko, I want to talk to you two in the debriefing room."