Fusion
There were five reliable exits to the mercenary base, not counting the one Nihlus had entered from. Rather than override all the locks, he overloaded them. Their circuits fried, not even a canister of omnigel would open them without serious repairs beforehand. On the eastern side of the base, (bless humans and their simplistic square designs) an "Out of Order" sign sparked and sputtered in front of an elevator, which, a quick check assured him, was actually out of order.
There were a few maintenance shafts the mercenaries could still escape from if they were desperate, but Nihlus doubted they'd realize that option until it was too late.
The perimeter was, as the plans for the station promised, actually in permanent renovation. The area was gutted, a macabre skeleton of what it should have been. The floors were missing panels, crates were scattered about, and where bright signs might have lined the walls, gaping holes did instead.
The center held a two-story complex, a shopping mall that may-have-been. Winding escalators led to the second floor, or would have, if there stairs were still intact. Windows were covered with tarp or boarded up. The main entry way, instead of glistening sliding doors, was a dark, gaping maw leading into the bowels of Terra Libera's hideout.
Main exits blocked, Nihlus drew his sniper rifle and looked over the base. Unsurprisingly, there were signs of movements inside what few windows he could see through. Lighting struggled to escape through cracks and holes, belying the unoccupied look the base should have had. He found two look-outs on his side, which he guessed meant eight in total, two for each side.
He took his time lining up his headshots, watching the patrols pace back and forth along the second story balcony. He waited until they were about to pass each other, then fired. The first shot sent one of them crashing into the wall behind him. He slid to the floor, leaving a trail of red blood, and didn't get up again. The second took out his partner before he had time to panic.
Moving from cover, Nihlus circled around to the south side of the base, intending to take out each group of look outs and leave the mercenaries blind, when the loud, blaring cry of "Perimeter breach!" echoed from the north.
North. Not east, where he'd so recently been. Which meant the mercenaries were responding to a different threat. Tequila. He should have been more surprised.
It was just what he needed. A distraction, and nothing more. It would let him enter through the south, access their base's mainframe and find out who had hired Terra Libera to take him out. He could be in and out before the mercenaries had even noticed, wire the information to the Council, and spend the rest of his leave waiting for the Normandy. He could even send any non-classified intel to the Alliance as a show of good faith. It was a diversion, a tactical advantage…
It was his human. Growling, furious at her and himself, he slammed his sniper rifle into its lock on his hardsuit with much more force than necessary. Yanking his assault rifle free, he sprinted around the west side of the complex, keeping an eye on the base where the mercenaries were panicking, fleeing from their holes like flooded-out pyjacks.
The mercenaries were running away from him, which gave him clear and easy targets as he darted from cover to cover. Kneeling behind one of the many crates in the area, he levered his assault rifle and opened fire. One man fell almost immediately, crashing head over heels to the floor. His partner spun, rifle drawn, but devoid of cover. The rounds took him straight in the chest, the first of the shots eating up the power from his kinetic barriers, the second tearing through his armor. The man returned fire wildly, before the spray from his assault rifle lost focus and went towards the ceiling. His corpse toppled, disbelieving, as the modified rounds quickly made short work of his ablative plating.
The rest of the charging squad was, unfortunately, not as headstrong. They dove for cover as soon as the shooting started, screaming "Enemies everywhere!" and returning fire in Nihlus general direction. Fortunately, one of the benefits of fighting in the renovated sector was the lighting was either dim or nonexistent. Nihlus retreated back into the darker corners of the perimeter. None of the squad's fire managed to hit, which was a merciful blessing, considering they had tracer shots modded to their assault rifles. His old cover lit up with all the colors of the Serpent Nebula, and stood out like a rainbow beacon until the tracers faded.
Now that he'd drawn their attention, Nihlus switched back to his sniper rifle. His enemy was ex-military, and they'd likely begin fanning out and closing in on his general location. In the mean-time, he lined up his shots on the remaining look outs. Two fell to his fire, one over the railing with a wild cry. He'd take a shot in the shoulder, and his screams altered the remaining four. "Sniper in play!" One of them screamed.
"I don't have a visual!" Returned another.
Nihlus didn't dare try for another. He slipped out from his cover and sprinted to what looked to be a toppled table from an abandoned work-station. He chanced a glance over the top to see if he'd been spotted. Neither the squad he'd encountered nor the snipers had spotted him yet. Their leader screamed for a switch to infrared, and he resigned himself to the end of his stealth tactics.
A group poured out from the eastern side of base, reinforcements the squad had doubtless called for. They advanced with a great deal more caution than their western counterpart, but he still managed to snipe one as the mercs advanced from cover to cover.
A burst of blue as a kinetic barrier overloaded, followed by three rapid shots from a pistol, drew his attention back to the western squad. One of the mercs collapsed, his helmet pooling with blood from a single point of entry through his visor. No sooner did he fall, than the loud clunking of boots on metal sounded from Nihlus left.
Tequila smashed more than slid into cover beside him, omnitool glowing a vibrant orange and pistol at the ready. "Come here often?" She panted around a clumsy smile, flipping her hair out of her eyes.
Relieved, impressed, and angry all at once, Nihlus fixed her with a glare. "Why are you here?"
"Because I am?" She shrugged, rolling to plant her elbows on top of their cover, and fire several shots towards a mercenary trying to get a lock on their position. He darted out of sight screaming for a medic moments later.
Nihlus took the time to line up a shot on one of the sniper, and took several hits to his kinetic barriers for it. He ignored the barrage, aimed for the mercenary's head, and fired. The man fell for his efforts, and Nihlus glanced at his omnitool as he fell back into cover. Shields at forty percent. "Give me a reason."
She clearly didn't want to. Instead, she slid out from cover, launched a tech mine and forced the rest of the western's squad's weapons to register having overheated. "… the Reds," She muttered in the brief ceasefire. "That gang that attacked us. I use to be one of them. This is my fault. The two are related somehow, I know it." The gunfire started back up. She glanced out at the field then leaned back against the table. "Your turn."
"What?" The west group was holding position, concentrating fire on their cover, doubtless so the eastern group could reach and outflank them. Nihlus was focused on the combat and only half listening.
"I share something, you share something," She explained, returning fire briefly. One of the sniper's fell, from a pistol no less. A Hahne-Kedar pistol. Down, Nihlus. Your angry, remember? "That's how this works. Haven't you ever been on a date before?"
"If this is your idea of a date, I have to wonder-"
"-if I'm crazy?-"
"-where you've been all my life," He joked, wondering if he was joking. His shields back at full, he lined up another shot with his sniper. "What am I sharing?" It occurred to him having to ask defeated the purpose of this exercise, but Tequila didn't seem to mind. She tapped a finger to her face. His clan markings.
He shot down another of the approaching eastern squad. They were the true threat, as far as he was concerned. "They didn't get me anything," He explained, keeping his eyes on the field and off her, "Colony worlds aren't respected," Another shot, "I'm not respected. My job is," He fell back into cover when his shields began to scream at him, "It's why I need you to leave."
"I respect you," Tequila affirmed, so offhandedly she clearly didn't give the matter a second thought. "But I'm still not leaving." Nihlus growled, Tequila ignored him. "So we might as well enjoy a romantic evening by a warm fire." She pulled a grenade off her belt and held it out to him as a peace offering, the irony of which didn't escape him. She tore her eyes away from the battlefield to stare questioningly at him, waiting for him to accept. Knowing you will.
Nihlus's mandibles flickered. Annoyance and bemusement went hand-in-hand with her. "I never frag on a first date." He tore his eyes off her face and let them sweep over the battlefield. The renovation wasn't just for show. An off-handed explosive could cause the structures to-
Tequila, taking his casual refusal to be little more than a joke, flung the grenade straight down the center field of battle.
-collapse.
The construction overhanging acting as a loft for the last four snipers toppled in on itself at the blast. The renovated floor caved, and the mercenaries fell through to be wedged in the maintenance shafts below.
"Cleared a path," Tequila announced. "Come on!" she cried, vaulting over their cover and making for a new vantage point. Nihlus switched to his assault rifle, and let out a stream of cover fire.
"Heavy in play!" Screamed the western leader, right before Nihlus gunned him down.
Tequila rolled and took cover against a decommissioned construction vehicle. She threw another grenade towards the western group, and waved for him to join her. Nihlus, reluctantly, did.
The grenade went off amidst screams of "fire in the hole!" The resulting flames quickly and greedily clung to any flammable material in the area, combusting old piping, left over construction ordinance, and anything not made of metal. Nihlus felt a headache coming on.
This is why you work alone, he berated himself. This is why Saren worked alone. Because anything more complicates things. Because anything more is-
"Fun." Tequila grinned at him, though at least had the decency to look a little guilty. "I frag on a first date," She added, belatedly.
A barrage of fire clattered and banged against the wall of metal covering them. Even a blind and deaf mercenary would be aware of their presence by now. A chunk from the second story balcony teetered precariously, then collapsed to their right, showering them with dust and debris from the first grenade. This entire mission was FUBARed. They were surrounded, the base was alerted, and the foundation was crumbling around them. All because one human, his human, didn't understand the meaning of the word 'subtle.'
"Is there anything you don't do on a first date?" His eye-ridges twitched and his mandibles flickered.
"Introductions." She smiled at him without missing a beat. He tried to be angry, he wanted to be angry, but all he could do was laugh.