Ta-ta-ta-taa!
Commander Shepard, the legend of Tuchanka: part 2...
*you know hear the Indiana Jones theme in your head*
The team took a little break before continuing . The rest of the krogan had to probably take a detour, which would give Shepard's team enough time to patch themselves up.
"Did someone manage to count the number of those krogan?" Jacob asked, sitting down.
"Yes," Thane replied, with his usual calm voice. "Ten krogan, 27 vorcha. I managed to wound three of the krogan."
Jacob's mouth remained open.
"How did you manage to count them?" he asked.
"The drell have perfect memories," Thane stated simply.
"That's pretty impressive," Jacob answered.
Thane merely bowed in response.
Maybe the drell was not just only a mercenary. But even if he was, he was a courteous and useful mercenary. That was good enough for Jacob. For now.
Shepard walked towards Tali, who was sitting against a wall, looking tired.
"You okay?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, but the opening was very exhausting," Tali answered, her voice clearly tired.
Shepard sat down next to her.
"Good enough for me," he said.
"Thanks," she said, putting her head on his shoulder. Shepard smiled, and put his arm around her neck. She reached for the arm's fingers and took two of them, squeezing them inside her hand.
"John," she whispered.
"Ouch," Garrus grunted.
"Sorry about that. Will be more careful," Mordin replied, as he spread medigel on Garrus' head fringe.
"That was pretty close," Garrus muttered.
"Yes. Close. Scraped the head. Nearly pierced. Deadly," Mordin answered.
"Thanks for the encouragement, doc."
"Not encouragement. Warning. Self-destructive behavior. Have noticed," Mordin paused for a second, before continuing "Wish to talk?"
Garrus did not really know how to feel about this. He did not know Mordin very well.
"Don't think talking will help," he answered.
"Maybe not. Maybe will. Cannot know. Easy to find out. No risks," Mordin retorted.
Mordin's words made sense, so Garrus decided to talk.
He sighed.
"My team. I should be with them. I feel dead," Garrus said quietly.
"Ah. Crisis of faith. Have had one myself. Tried religion. Didn't work. Ended up on Omega. Wanted to help. Something easy," Mordin answered, inhaling.
"Ethically easy. Help the helpless. Do good," he concluded, with a lot more slower pace than normal.
"Redemption..." Garrus muttered.
"Yes. Can call it that. Is that," Mordin sighed "No other option."
He made it seem so easy, but it wasn't. His team had deserved something. Honoring their memory, like Tali said. He just didn't know how.
"I'll think about that," Garrus said quietly, and nodded.
"No-no-no! No moving the head!" Mordin snapped, and Garrus could feel sudden pain on his head fringe.
Garrus grunted again.
The team was now again advancing towards their objective: Maelon.
Another door. Tali's omni-tool scan revealed that behind it was another large, open room, this time with three floors. There were two ways up. Garrus' team would take the opposite side, while Miranda's team, along with Shepard, would take the stairs on this side.
They stacked up on the door, and then surged through it.
Garrus' team immediately began charging towards the opposite wall. When they reached the stairs, enemies entered the room through the doors in the second floor.
"Contact!" Garrus yelled, dropping to one knee, simultaneously firing a burst towards one vorcha. The vorcha's arm ripped off from the firing, and it fell to the floor. Garrus' team started ascending the stairs to the second floor.
Miranda's team had just reached the second floor, and had been pinned down by the enemy. The stairs had led to an open, railed corridor, with two bridges. The bridges led to the opposite side of the room, where Garrus' team could be seen fighting. The stairs leading to the third floor were behind the stairs Miranda's team had came from.
The enemy had taken positions at the nearest bridge. They were taking cover behind the railing. One of the vorcha poke it's head out for a second, and the head exploded. Shepard could hear a gunshot from a sniper rifle.
"Hostile neutralized," Thane reported.
Thane and Miranda were taking cover behind a small, fallen pillar. Miranda fired a burst from her SMG at one of the vorcha, hitting it's shoulder. The vorcha staggered, but did not fall down.
Jacob and Shepard were on the opposite side of the corridor, taking cover behind a large cargo box. Jacob tossed one of the vorcha off the bridge biotically. The vorcha screamed in terror, as it fell to it's death.
"Mordin, where are you?" Shepard asked.
"Directly in front of you," Mordin answered. He was inside a small hole in the wall, and was very near the first bridge.
"Mordin, flank the enemy. Everyone else, suppressing fire!" Shepard ordered.
Mordin surged from the hole, while the rest of the team began firing. Mordin sprinted past the first bridge and took cover behind the corridor's railing, flanking the enemy.
"Kill the salarian!" one of the krogan yelled, and two of the vorcha began to advance towards Mordin.
He could not fight two vorcha at the same time.
"Shepard! Vorcha advancing. Require assistance!" Mordin yelled over the radio.
"Thane, take either of those advancing vorcha out! Now!" Shepard yelled.
"Affirmative," Thane confirmed, and took aim.
After a second, he fired, and the left vorcha fell down, half of it's head missing.
"Target down," Thane reported.
The surviving vorcha jumped over the railing, landing on top of Mordin. The vorcha tried to strangle him, but Mordin managed to sweep him and was now on top. He carefully tried to keep his head low, so the enemy couldn't fire at him.
While Mordin wrestled with the vorcha, Shepard tried desperately to get out of this situation.
"Garrus! What's your situation?"
"Almost at the third floor. We're fighting a couple of vorcha. Just downed two krogan," Garrus reported, and intense gunfire could be heard in the background.
"You see our situation? With the krogan on the bridge?"
After a few seconds, Garrus responded.
"Yeah. I do now. Need help?"
"Would appreciate it!"
"I'll send Grunt to flank them. Garrus out."
Shepard began to chuckle at the thought of Grunt charging into the enemy's rear. It was going to be a massacre.
"What are you laughing?" Jacob asked.
"Grunt's gonna flank them. Should be pretty funny," Shepard answered, grinning.
"Yeah, guess so," Jacob agreed, grinning slightly.
Another gunshot from a sniper rifle sounded, and this time a krogan got hit. It staggered for a couple of seconds, then fell down.
"Hostile neutralized," Thane reported.
Only five vorcha, and the leading krogan were still standing, and one of those vorcha was still wrestling with Mordin.
Terrifying roar sounded, and Shepard could see Grunt running down the bridge towards the enemy.
"Assault the bridge!" Shepard ordered, and the team of four got up and also began running towards the bridge.
Grunt had reached the enemy, and tackled the leading krogan to the ground. Four vorcha remained, one for each. Jacob reached his hand forward while running, the hand flickered with blue energy, then quickly pulled it back. One of the vorcha hit their face to the bridge's railing, and it staggered backwards. Miranda finished the job with a bullet to the head.
Thane jumped to the corridor's railing, running along it. When he reached the bridge, he hopped to the bridge's railing, then somersaulted forward, landing directly in front of one vorcha. It tried to aim at Thane, but he disarmed it by spin-kicking the rifle out of it's hands. He continued the spinning motion and leg-swept the vorcha. It fell down, and Thane pointed his SMG to it's head, ending the vorcha's life. Another vorcha tried to grab him, but Thane managed to slip under it's arm, throwing it to the ground. Another burst of his SMG.
Shepard fired few shots to the chest of one vorcha, making it drop it's shotgun. The vorcha charged towards Shepard, who kicked it to the groin. The vorcha staggered, and Shepard grabbed the vorcha from it's belt, throwing it over the railing.
Meanwhile, Grunt had lifted the leading krogan over his head, and slammed it to the ground head-first. The krogan still growled quietly, but Grunt ended it with two blasts from his shotgun.
Only one vorcha remained, and it was still wrestling with Mordin, who had finally gotten the upper hand. Mordin tried to push his combat knife's tip to the chest of the vorcha, who had grabbed Mordin's wrists, desperately trying to push the knife back. Mordin put his weight on top of the knife, and removed one hand from the handle. He activated his omni-tool, and sprayed something from it to the vorcha's face. It's head froze solid, and it went limp. The knife sank into the vorcha's chest. Mordin pulled it out, and got up. He wiped the knife carefully on the vorcha's trousers, then holstered it on his sleeve. As the vorcha's head began to thaw, it started to move. Calmly, Mordin took out his pistol, carefully aiming at the vorcha's head, and fired.
"Mordin! To the third floor!" Shepard yelled on his radio.
"Yes-yes," Mordin answered, turned around and began to run towards the stairs.
As soon as Garrus sent Grunt to help Shepard, the resistance intensified.
They had reached the third floor, which only had one door. Probably the lab. The third floor was not like the second, two open corridors linked together by bridges, but an actual room. There were tens of cargo boxes scattered around the room, which made finding cover easy. The enemy had taken positions in the front of the door. Tali, Garrus and Jack had managed to advance slowly towards them, diving from one cover to the next. Now in front of them was a large, open part of the room, with no cover. Advancing forward was getting very difficult.
"Shepard, we could use Grunt. You done with him?" Garrus asked over the radio.
"Sending him towards you now," Shepard answered.
"Gotcha. Garrus out."
"Grunt's coming, but we should try to get across anyway. Jack you go first, try to draw as much fire as possible. Tali and me are gonna be right on your tail," Garrus ordered on the radio.
"Whatever," Jack answered.
"Tali, get over here," Garrus ordered the quarian.
"Right," she responded, and crouch-ran to Garrus' position, then sat down next to him, back against the box as well.
Garrus poked his head out from the side of the box, trying to see the shortest way to the other side.
"Okay. Jack, go!"
Jack stood up, flickering with blue energy, and began jogging across the open. The krogan and the vorcha immediately began firing at her.
"Tali, now!"
Tali and Garrus stood up at the same time, and started sprinting towards the other side. Garrus fired bursts from his battle rifle as he ran, and could see Tali and Jack doing the same. As they were nearing the other side, he dropped to his knees, and slid on the floor to cover. All three of them had gotten through, and Garrus poke his head out from the side of the box again. He saw about ten enemies, four krogan among them. One of the krogan had a Revenant light machine gun in his hands.
The enemy started to concentrate their fire on them again and he immediately pulled his head down.
"Damn it..." he muttered, sitting with his back against the box. He returned fire blindly, when Jack shouted on the radio.
"Nice fucking job, turian! Now what?"
She was at Garrus' right, behind another box.
"We draw fire from Shepard's team. They'll be here soon!"
"What about Grunt? How can he get here now?" Tali asked.
She was sitting right next to him, behind the same box.
"Damn it!" Garrus snapped, then tapped the side of his head, activating the radio.
"Shepard, keep Grunt with you. He can't reach us anymore."
"Roger, radioing him now. You okay?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, for now. But if they start to advance, we won't last long. You better hurry!"
"We're just there. Hold on! Shepard out."
They sat there for a while, firing blindly at the enemy. Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire increased dramatically. Shepard's team.
"We're here Garrus! Good job with drawing their fire! We'll advance in turns. We go first. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, we'll be ready. Garrus out."
From the corner of his eye, Garrus could see Shepard's team of six advancing, sprinting from cover to cover, like his trio did before.
"We'll be ready for what?" Tali asked, overhearing Garrus speak.
"Shepard advances till he can't. Then we do, and so on," Garrus answered.
"But there's only three of us."
"We'll do what we can."
Garrus tried again to watch Shepard's progress, when his radio came alive.
"Garrus, you copy?", Shepard asked.
"Loud and clear," Garrus answered.
"I'm gonna send Grunt to you as soon as possible."
"Gotcha."
"Shepard out."
After a moment, Garrus could see a large krogan jogging towards them.
"Grunt's coming!" Garrus shouted on the radio, then pointed towards the approaching krogan.
"How the hell did he get through?" Jack asked.
Garrus was about to answer, when his radio came alive again.
"Advance!" Shepard ordered.
"Copy," Garrus answered.
"Tali and Jack, you go first!" he ordered, and all three of them stood up. They began running towards the nearest box at front left, while Garrus provided support. He managed to kill off one vorcha. Only about 6 enemies were left, three of them krogan. The Revenant holder was still alive, and kept firing towards Shepard's team. As Tali reached the box, Grunt ducked down next to Garrus.
"Grunt! Nice of you to join us," Garrus greeted.
"Garrus," the krogan growled, nodding.
"Our turn now," Garrus ordered, and Grunt nodded again.
They got up, and ran towards a box on front right, while Tali and Jack provided support. The enemy had not yet managed to concentrate fire on them, but it started to already intensify.
Garrus and Grunt reached the box, and it was Tali's and Jack's turn again. They advanced towards another box on their front right, while Grunt and Garrus provided support. The firing was now very intense, and Tali and Jack barely made it to the next cover.
"Garrus! Shields down! We can't go any further!," Tali yelled over the radio.
"Gotcha! Try to hold on!" Garrus replied, then activated his radio. "Shepard, we can't advance any further! Your turn!"
"Got it. Watch out if you get a chance to take out that Revenant-guy. Thane already managed to take a shot at him, so his shields should be low," Shepard answered.
"Copy. Garrus out."
The firing again decreased, encouraging Garrus enough to take a peek.
"What are you doing, turian?" Grunt asked.
"Gonna take out the one with the Revenant," Garrus answered, switching to sniper rifle.
"Hmph. Hiding in the shadows, sniping. Weak," Grunt growled.
Garrus turned towards him.
"You have a better idea?" he asked strictly.
"I prefer a straight-up fight," the krogan growled.
"Straight-up fight is not gonna cut it," Garrus snapped, then turned back to observe the Revenant-shooter. He carefully lifted his rifle on top of the box, and looking through the scope, he had the target in his sights. Grunt also poked his head out from the side of the box, trying to see the shot land. Garrus held his breath, and squeezed the trigger.
The shot landed directly to the head of the krogan. Orange liquid splattered at the impact, and the krogan fell down behind a box.
"Ha! He's dead meat!" Grunt roared, obviously having forgotten his own words about weakness.
Garrus' mandibles flickered twice as he duck back down, activating his radio.
"Shepard, he's down."
"I saw. Impressive. You can start firing as well, there's only few of them left," Shepard replied.
"Understood. Garrus out."
"Fire at will," Garrus ordered, and his team began firing.