Lieutenant James Vega felt the gritty crunch of dirt beneath his boot as he stepped off the UT-47 Kodiak transport.
Garrus, Tali and Liara fanned out around him as he gazed ahead toward a lengthy canyon that was typical of the rough terrain on Wrill. Vegetation was sparse and the nearby star, Malgus, blanketed the area in a rusty orange glow.
"We're clear, Lieutenant," he addressed the Kodiak pilot via the communications device hard-wired into his helmet. "Take up a support position overhead in case we need some firepower."
"Copy that, boss," Lieutenant Haley Collins replied. "I'll orbit your advance." With a roar the Kodiak lifted off the deck and rocketed into the air overhead. The rush of thrust cast detritus in a 360 degree circle.
He drew the hefty N7 Typhoon assault rifle from its mantle upon his back. The weight of it was familiar in his hands and in that moment he felt more comfortable in his skin than he had since the end of the war.
All reports of the planet indicated there were hordes of vorcha living on the planet and they were extremely hostile to any outsiders. The scavengers, apparently seeking safety amid chaos, had set up a fortified position deep in heavily occupied vorcha territory. If Vega and the team wanted to reach Shepard's body they'd have to cut through waves of vorcha to get there.
"What do you think, Garrus?" Vega queried as he turned his attention to the turian sharpshooter. His tactical appraisal was as good as anything Vega could conjure up on his own.
Garrus was gazing up at the high ground that flanked either side of the canyon leading toward the scavenger's base. "I can get a good vantage up there—provide some over-watch," he observed dryly, pointing up a steep slope that led to a narrow trail just below the crest of the canyon walls. "I'll move independently of your team down here and pick off anyone you have trouble with."
"Sounds good," Vega agreed.
"I don't like it," Tali interjected. "You've got no cover and there are probably vorcha crawling all over those hills. You might need help."
"I can handle a few rodents. I'll be fine," Garrus proclaimed confidently. He wondered if Tali's concern was rational or whether she was simply trying to protect someone she'd grown to care deeply for.
"We'll need more help down here, Tali," Vega began. "We'll be on low ground getting funneled into enemy forces."
"You're the boss," Tali repeated Lieutenant Collins' earlier cognomen. She certainly didn't want the appearance that her feelings for Garrus would compromise any operations on the ground.
The words Tali spoke felt awkward to Vega. You're the boss, he repeated in his mind. Don't screw it up, amigo.
Garrus drew his heavily customized M-92 Mantis sniper rifle and turned to face Vega. "I'm on the move. If you guys get into trouble just give me the word and I'll sling rounds down range." With a confident nod and not another word uttered the turian turned and dashed off in search of a suitable perch on the high-ground. His lengthy stride carried him gracefully over the uneven terrain of the rugged planet.
Vega watched him go and understood why Shepard had counted on him. Garrus was a confidence builder. He was a reassuring force on the battlefield. You felt safe knowing he had your back. He was the truest example of a real-life guardian angel. "Let's get moving," he told Liara and Tali. And with that order they set off, weapons drawn, down the craggy path toward the scavenger's base.
Surveying the terrain that surrounded the trio as they advanced would have shaken the confidence of all but the most veteran warfighters. Rocky outcroppings, deep fissures, and seemingly deep cave entrances offered a myriad of options to would-be ambushers. They would have excellent positions to spot enemies and the defense provided by the rugged terrain would shelter them from reprisal. Fortunately, this particular trio were old-hands when it came to armed assaults into hostile areas.
As they advanced the sounds of creatures scampering around in the shrubs or the dark recesses of crevices that surrounded them became all the more apparent. The ghoulish growling and howls that often accompanied the presence of vorcha could be heard distantly. The gaggle of them was prepping for an ambush, Vega knew.
The sound might be unsettling, but Vega was accustomed to facing vorcha. He'd killed dozens if not more of them throughout his career and he felt confident wading into a fight against them with Liara and Tali. It helped that Garrus could deliver precision fire from unseen positions above.
Vorcha were a cross between Nosferatu and some terribly disfigured troglodyte with deviously large red eyes. The goblin like screeches and shrieks often unnerved those unaccustomed to them, but they could scarcely come close to matching the horrors that the Reapers conjured up during the war. Still, he knew they were vicious, violent and extremely territorial.
"In position," the sound of Garrus' voice crackled into Vega's earpiece at exactly the same moment a volley of gunfire rained down on the Marine.
Vega instinctively spread his bulky frame out on the ground as the rounds skittered harmlessly into the dirt beside him. The sound of the crack as they impacted was enough to make his ears ring slightly. The auto-dampeners in his helmet were a bit sluggish.
He glanced to his left to see Liara already spraying streams of fire from her M-12 submachine gun. She followed up with a singularity aimed at their attackers. Vega saw an orb of dark energy open and expand among a pair of vorcha. The two hapless creatures were lifted off the ground and drawn toward the miniature black hole. Liara quickly finished them off with more accurate bursts from her SMG. She aggressively bolted forward for cover as more fire erupted around them.
"You die!" a vorcha squealed.
"Our land! Not for you!" another squawked.
As if anyone wants this trash heap, Vega thought as he clamored to his feet and joined Liara behind a sizable boulder. The sound of the vorcha's rounds impacting on the other side was significant. More of the beasts were organizing, as much as vorcha were capable, in order to attack the would-be intruders.
Vega leaned out and opened fire on a vorcha high atop the canyon wall to his right. The scamp had been trying to move up and flank them, but a heavy dose of incendiary ammo ignited his flesh and killed him. The vorcha's charred corpse tumbled down the side of the slope he'd been scrambling along.
The loud snap of a high velocity slug passing overhead, followed by the resonating boom of a rifle that echoed along the canyon walls, indicated that Garrus was now engaging targets. Every few seconds a round would zip past, leaving a contrail in its wake. Vega could hear the shrill cries of the vorcha as they were eviscerated by Garrus' precision fire.
Liara continued to lob singularities into concentrations of vorcha. She devastated throngs of them with her biotics, which she was wielding now with anger and determination that Vega had never seen before. She waded into the open blasting them with her weapon. She cast them to and fro like ragdolls with her powers. She crushed their wiry frames against rock and earth with her biotic might.
Tali sent her combat drone, Chatika vas Paus, out with a wave of her hand. The glowing drone skirted the base of the canyon drawing enemy fire which allowed Tali to lean out and open fire with charged shots from her Arc pistol—a modified, advanced pistol crafted by the quarian Admiral Daro'Xen. After bringing down a few vorcha she traded the Arc pistol for the similarly designed Reegar carbine that she kept tucked on her lower back.
She dashed out into the open, dodged a few errant rounds and then sprinted up a small embankment where she surprised three vorcha. Tali bathed the three of them in bright electric bolts which spit ferociously from the barrel of her carbine. The crackle of the weapon was audible even over the sound of the gunfight around her. She dove behind the embankment and re-targeted Chatika vas Paus, aiming for several vorcha cowering nearby.
Vega surged forward; his N7 Typhoon belched death in great streams. Incendiary rounds pelted cover and the power of the heavy assault rifle shattered rocks into debris sending vorcha diving for safety. The rounds struck a group of them in quick succession, igniting them in flames. Vega followed up by launching a carnage projectile into the center of the group, who still flailed about on fire. The shell arced into the lot of them and struck a vorcha in the center. When the projectile's propellant ignited it combined with the vorcha's burning comrades nearby and kicked off a spectacular explosion that sent body parts flying in all directions.
Vega advanced, flanked on both sides by Liara and Tali who devastated their foes in every direction. Rounds whizzed by overhead and thumped into sneakier foes trying to gain a vantage point on the three of them as they pushed further into the canyon.
Meters ahead a vorcha surprised Tali by leaping out from a fold in the terrain nearby, but the instant the goblin exposed himself Garrus emptied his skull with a surgical blast from his sniper rifle. The vorcha dropped into a lifeless heap at Tali's feat.
Keelah, she breathed to herself, having been surprised by the rascal and his subsequent fate. She switched back to her Arc pistol and engaged more distant enemies.
Like a well-oiled machine the trio covered one another as they fired and moved from cover to cover. They relentlessly advanced, slaying vorcha in hordes. The shrieks and cries from the beasties emanated in the sonorous ravine; only to be drowned out by more gunfire and explosions.
For Liara they were an obstacle that she would overcome no matter the difficulty or personal risk. They were an annoyance—merely stopping her from reaching Shepard and finally laying him to rest. With every step forward she was closer to him, closer to her love. It would not bring him back and she would never feel the warmth of his presence or the reassuring sound of his voice, but it would give her closure. And it was just plain right. She could feel the fervor burning inside her. So motivated was she that she shredded her enemies with a hatred she had never felt. She was indifferent to the fact that they had nothing to do with taking Shepard's remains. All that mattered was that they were delaying her. And she would not tolerate it.
As the resistance waned their gunfire slackened and then stopped altogether. The ravine was quiet save for a few errant whimpers from dying vorcha. "Are we good?" Vega asked into microphone mounted in his helmet. "Is everyone good?"
"I'm fine," Liara reported calmly.
"All systems go," Tali added.
"Never been better," Garrus said smoothly over the net.
"All right," breathed a sigh of relief. "I think we got them all, but stay alert—heads on a swivel."
Slowly they continued their advance. Vega's weapon was still drawn and the barrel traced every direction his studious gaze went. But the threats were gone. The squealing sounds of dying vorcha were subsiding as the group distanced themselves.
Garrus, high on the canyon walls overhead, picked his way over the difficult terrain. His Mantis was still clutched tightly in hand but he could scarcely spend much time scanning for threats as he shifted positions. The terrain was too rocky, each step more precarious than the last.
The team rounded a bend in the gorge and suddenly came under immense gunfire from a heavy turret mounted upon a ramshackle wall two or three hundred meters away. It croaked out immense shells that slapped the terrain around them sending gouts of dirt and rock into the air.
"Tali, go! Flank them!" Vega ordered instinctively as he opened fire on the heavy gun's position. The shooter, Vega saw, was a turian protected by a gun shield.
Tali scrambled across open ground and the gunner aimed intently on her as she moved. Heavy rounds crashed violently around her, devastating the very ground she stepped upon. She nimbly avoided many of the blasts, but realized that in her haste to obey Vega's command she had blindly sprinted into the open with no cover in sight. She was already halfway across the gully when the first round struck her. She felt the shock of it smash into her kinetic barriers and could hear the whirr and thwack as the barrier fought off the assault. But another round hit her, and then another. She stumbled forward as yet more rounds found their mark.
Her barrier was failing.
"Tali!" Vega shouted, realizing his mistake. He'd been too anxious to advance. He didn't analyze the terrain, he'd blindly ordered his teammate into the fray. "Garrus, take that guy out!"
"I don't have a shot," Garrus declared frantically over the comm. "Shifting positions."
The Marine whirled around and gazed up into the sky above, his hand pressed firmly against the right side of his helmet. "Collins, put some fire on that position," Vega commanded desperately.
The gunfire was pummeling Tali. She was desperately trying to crawl toward a meager piece of cover.
Vega winced as every shot careened into her failing kinetic barrier.
"Negative—no can do, boss! They've got an AA gun and I can't get close," Lieutenant Collins informed him over the net.
Not good enough, Vega thought irately. Cortez could do it. What's your excuse? He could see the large tracers streaking into the sky from some unknown position obscured by the ravine's walls.
Liara, as gently as she could manage, used her biotics to throw Tali toward the cover she so desperately sought. The quarian lifted off the ground and soared several meters before crashing back into the dirt.
Liara and Vega watched as her body rolled raggedly just far enough to put her behind the refuge. It barely protected her from the incoming fire.
Tali wasn't moving.
"Damn it," Vega cursed. He peeked around the bend that provided him with safety in order to assess the situation. He could see the shabby, makeshift walls of the scavenger camp up ahead. Several turians and humans were posted up on ramparts there.
Nearby the heavy turret turned its attention on Vega. He ducked back behind the curvature of the terrain just as some of it was shattered by rounds meant for him. I need a solution, he thought. But he was at a loss for what to do. He looked back to Tali, but she still wasn't moving.
"What are we doing, Vega?" Liara questioned- eager to help her longtime teammate down and exposed in the gap. "We have to do something."
"I…" Vega stammered. The cacophony of gunfire resounded through the confines of the canyon. It was ear-splitting. It was earth shattering. Vega shook his head. "I don't know."
Then the familiar sound of a single gunshot echoed above all the others. "Right in the mouth!" Garrus' voice blurted enthusiastically over the radio. Then another shot. And another.
The heavy, rhythmic sound of the turret fell silent.
Vega risked another glance around the edge of his cover and watched more rounds arc into targets on the wall. He hefted his own weapon and fired. He watched his rounds pulverize the cruddy wall that served as protection for some of the scavengers.
A human fled from the onslaught as the incendiary melted his cover into slag. As he raced across the rampart a round streaked from above and struck him in the throat. Vega saw the blood and gristle eject from the man's neck. The force launched him from his feet and he spun almost one hundred and eighty degrees before he disappeared behind the wall.
A singularity materialized upon the wall where more scavengers cowered for cover. The gravity of the biotic attack dragged them from their hiding spots and lifted them into the sky. They helplessly clawed at the wall trying to stop themselves from floating into the open.
Vega turned his fire onto the three of them. Their bodies reacted violently as they were shredded by his gunfire. Flames from the incendiary shells licked at their poorly-constructed armor and their shrill cries echoed over the sound of Vega's ruthless gunfire. In a few moments they were dead. When the singularity died out their lifeless bodies dropped.
"You're all clear," Garrus reported shortly after.
Vega and Liara sprinted across the open terrain over the ruts and small craters created by the turret's slugs in order to reach Tali. They rolled her over on her side and Vega immediately began to check her for any wounds while Liara prepared some medi-gel.
"You… you threw me," Tali sputtered disbelievingly. "I thought we were friends." The quarian sluggishly sat up and whipped her head back and forth.
Liara was relieved. "Thank the Goddess we thought-"
"Those bosh'tets could hurt me?" Tali interrupted. The warm glow of her omni-tool appeared and she punched a few keys. "When I thought they had me I transferred power reserves from my suit's decontamination system to my barriers. It was close, but I'm okay."
"Tali, I'm sorry," Vega expressed sincerely. He hung his head in disappointment. If Garrus hadn't been there… he shuddered at the thought.
"Don't worry, James. I should have paid more attention," she assured him. With Liara's help she stood.
Vega remained silent. He watched with his jaw set as Liara helped Tali to her feet.
Garrus slid down a nearby slope and joined them, Mantis in hand. "Well? Shall we?"
Vega leveled his eyes on the turian who had just saved Tali's life. "Yeah, let's get it done."