Chapter Three
Orbit of Ontarom, Kepler Verge System
Kodiak Shuttle, 826h
Cortez smoothly guided the vehicle out of the Normandy's hangar door and ventured towards the planet surface. "Admiral Hackett's standing by on the com system, Commander," he announced.
Shepard finished programming his weapons to incendiary ammunition and holstered them. "Put him through, Steve."
"Yes, sir."
"Commander, this Alliance communications facility came under attack yesterday by Cerberus troops. They're effectively blocking all our transmissions coming in and out of the dish arrays here. It looks like they've killed all personnel here with the exception of one operative, a Ms. Grace Sato. She's fortified herself in the security bunker, but we don't know how long it'll be until they reach her," Hackett stated. "Patching her through."
The vid screen cut to a live com channel showing a young woman with raven hair, who was obviously terrified for her life. "Please hurry, Commander. It won't be long until they reach me. They're hacking the security measures and destroying the turrets that I've activated outside the bunker."
"Stay strong, Ms. Sato. We're coming to get you outta there shortly."
"Okay, Commander."
Hackett's face reappeared on the com channel. "Re-taking this base is imperative to not only our ops in the Attican Traverse, Commander, but also for our allies'. We'll lose a lot of people if this base stays in enemy hands any longer. Get it done."
"Will do, sir," Shepard declared with a salute as the vid channel went to black.
"Any special orders, Commander?" James stood from his seat and held onto the shuttle's ceiling.
Shepard put his breather helmet on and turned to his colleague. "No mercy," was all he said with a nod of his head. "We leave no one alive except Ms. Sato."
"Hey, you don't have to give that order twice," Vega grinned.
"Garrus, I'd appreciate your marksmanship with Janine. Get to some high ground ASAP and take out as many of those nemesis bitches as you can. James and I will worry about the ground forces."
"Yes, Shepard." The turian removed his sniper rifle from his gun rack and gave a short chuckle. "It's Thelma, actually. Janine's the assault rifle, and Betty's the pistol."
"Turians name their guns, too, eh?" Vega's head turned.
"Not to my knowledge. Maybe I've spent too much time with Alliance personnel. Nobody in C-Sec did, either. Chellick would just give me this long hard stare and then go back to some desk work."
"Approaching the drop point, Commander," Cortez stated. As the shuttle neared the west corner of the base, Shepard removed his shotgun from his back, as did Vega. Ten seconds later, all three men dropped from the shuttle as their pilot retreated to a safe distance. Shepard ordered James and Garrus to his right flank and activated the switch on his helmet to talk to Miranda.
"Miranda, can you hear me?" he inquired.
"Ah, I was wondering when you were going to check in, Shepard," she responded. "I see you've made it ground side already with your teammates. Garrus is traveling up to a high point to pick off some snipers."
"All part of the brilliant strategy up here," Shepard pointed to his head and caught an assault trooper in a biotic field, pulling him closer to an impending shotgun blast.
"Woohoo, take that you son of a bitch!" Vega yelled and beat Shepard to the punch.
"Shepard, there's a centurion making his way towards you at eleven o'clock!" Miranda exclaimed. "He's trying to outflank you. Ten o'clock now!"
"Right." Shepard hit the switch on his helmet. "James, move over to your right and cover me." He charged up his biotics and rammed himself with all of his might into the centurion. Milliseconds later, he blasted through the guard's body armor with two incendiary rounds.
"Cover Vega! He's about to get surprised from behind!" Miranda told him.
Shepard fired another two rounds into the trooper and advanced to the lower ground. He motioned for James to follow him. "Garrus, how're you doing up there? Need any help?"
"I'm fine, Shepard. Two snipers are now history, and I'm almost at a sweet spot. Just need to take one more out," the turian replied. "Can you see me?"
"Only the corner of your helmet, I think. That sticks out like a sore thumb."
"Shepard, get down! You're in the crosshairs of a sniper!" Miranda hissed.
The bullet thankfully missed Shepard by a few inches; he ducked just in time and activated his mic again. "Thanks, Miranda. This isn't just some software; there's a camera in this helmet, isn't there?"
"Of course. Get moving to that terminal, Shepard. Garrus just took out that last sniper and can lay down some cover fire for you if necessary."
"Any more surprises ahead of me?"
"None that I can see, but I do have some blind spots. Just be cautious."
"All right, here I go." He hit the switch again on his helmet. "James, I'm gonna head up the ramp for that terminal and start to decrypt it. Watch my back. Garrus, just keep doing what you do best."
"You got it," Garrus answered. "I don't see anything for now, but that can change in two seconds or less."
Shepard straightened and sprinted towards the computer. He touched his omni-tool to the screen to start the decryption. Five seconds after it started, he heard Garrus' rifle go off. "Shepard! Engineers are here setting up turrets! I'm trying to take out as many as I can!"
"Vega, take 'em out!" Shepard ordered, and the Alliance soldier obeyed. He tossed out a couple of frag grenades towards one turret and sent a death blow through his shotgun to the engineer's lightly armored body. "All right, first code is done. Ms. Sato, where're the coordinates for the next terminal?"
"Here's the next nav point, Commander," the technician responded. "Please hurry."
"Looks like it's a straight shot a bit north from here," Vega commented. "Loco, do you wanna move forward?"
"Garrus, have you got an LOS on any targets?" Shepard asked.
"Negative, looks clear from here for now," the turian answered him.
"All right, here we go." The two Alliance soldiers advanced about five yards but not too much further.
"2 Centurions at 11 and 1 o'clock, Shepard!" Miranda's voice suddenly cut through the channel.
"Vega, you got my back?" Shepard inquired and halted behind a stack of storage containers. His colleague turned and blasted a random assault trooper that had tried to sneak up on him.
"What?"
Shepard's head snapped back towards Vega's gunfire and then back just in time to see the centurions deploy two smoke bombs. "Oh, fuck me. Garrus!"
"Go, Shepard!" the turian replied and activated the specialized scope that let him see through the dark obscuring cloud.
With a mighty bellow, Shepard charged his way through the smoke and hit the first one at one o'clock. He then sent a round through the man's body and rolled back so that the one at eleven o'clock couldn't hit him. Garrus lined up his shot perfectly and sent a high velocity round through the second centurion's helmet. "He's down, Shepard, but he's gonna have some life left in him. I only took down his shields!"
Shepard blindly charged forward again and this time, sent a wave of biotic energy throughout his fists into the centurion's skull. "Shepard, I swear, you've gone mad. What the hell is wrong with you?" Miranda scolded him.
He panted, took cover, re-loaded his shotgun, and flipped his mic's toggle on. "I had backup, I was just fine. Stop worrying so much."
"This isn't the first time you've done something reckless," she sighed.
"Ah, name a time and a place when that's happened." He leaned to his right and sent a round into an engineer who was about to place a turret behind James.
"Where to begin…" she murmured to herself. "Well, there was that one time when you head butted a krogan on Tuchanka."
"It's called embracing the krogan culture, Miranda. I wanted to impress the male shaman of Clan Urdnot and make a point to that idiot leader of Gatatog. Words weren't going to have the same impact." Shepard sent another biotic field towards an assault trooper, launching him into the air.
"Yeah-ha ha, that one's about to go outta the ballpark. Nice one, Loco," James complimented him and sent the helpless soldier's body to his grave via shotgun.
"Besides, the Lazarus project gave me some upgrades, didn't it? Why shouldn't I take advantage of them?"
Miranda bristled at his cavalier attitude. "Only some of you includes cybernetic technology, Shepard. Your head is still the same as it was before you died. I do have to wonder if you were just as stubborn before that, though."
"Probably, but I've got someone to fight for now, a reason to do this." Shepard switched his mic back to the other channel. "Vakarian, how're the ledges treating ya? I'm about to make it to the next console here."
"Taking some fire from some troops up here. Will let you know when I'm free," Garrus breathed.
"You're good, Commander. I've got your six," Vega said and switched to his assault rifle. "Hey, I really like this argus rifle, sir. Good choice. It packs a helluva recoil if you're not careful, but I've gotten used to it."
"Glad to hear it." Shepard straightened and journeyed towards the computer. "Okay, it looks like the codes are decrypting."
"Hey, Scars, do you need a hand up there?"
"I'm fine. Watch out for Shepard. Apparently, he's got a bit of a death wish today," Garrus remarked. "Even more so than on Tuchanka."
"You know that you loved running between that destroyer's legs, Garrus," Shepard laughed. "Liara was the one who was panicking."
"You did what?" James asked. "Scars only said that you all got shot at by the Reaper. He didn't say that you were doing that, too."
"Hmm…this one's taking a while to decode. James, see if you can pick off anyone giving Garrus a hard time up there."
"My pleasure, Loco." Vega turned his attention to the higher part of the complex. Shepard took this moment to flip on his mic again. "Hey, Miranda, are you still there?"
"I'm concerned that I'm going to distract you," she replied.
"Not a chance. I've missed hearing what you've got to say during a fight, actually. Garrus has quit making his smart-ass comments every time he nails someone right between the eyes. And James, well…he never stops talking. It's distracting to me wondering when the lieutenant will ever shut up." He glanced at his omni-tool as it continued its work. "Come on, Miranda, say something sexy."
"Like what?"
"Oh, no. I've got no wish to start digging up my own grave."
"Right. Your actions have done no such thing today," she lamented with a sigh.
"A little feminine encouragement never hurts me to finish the mission more quickly or better without a scratch. Or maybe you could tell me what you plan to do with me after we get back…"
"Or what I'm going to do to you for being so damned irresponsible today."
"Hmm, yeah, Miranda, just like that," his voice deepened. "Tell me how much of a bad boy I've been."
"For God's sake, Shepard…"
"Yeah, keep it up. It's getting hotter in my armor now."
There was a pause on the channel as she considered her decision. "I'm a woman of very few words but lots of action."
"What kind of action?"
"From this angle, I can't tell if that's your gun that you're holding or not, Commander. Care to enlighten me?"
"Commander, why am I hearing another woman's voice on our radio?" Vega's voice interrupted the both of them. "That doesn't sound like the scientist we're supposed to rescue."
"Shit," Shepard mumbled and checked the omni-tool. Thankfully, the download had just finished. "Grace, are you there?"
The radio channel was silent. "Grace?" he called again.
"She's probably afraid to talk. They've gotta be close," Garrus told them.
"Shepard, I'm getting some crosstalk on my end here," Miranda announced. "I don't want to cause any more confusion, so I'm going silent."
"Too late," James groaned. "Who is that?"
"That would be Miranda. Shepard, what the hell is going on?" the Turian demanded and took yet another perfect shot to a trooper on the ground.
"Grace, I know you're scared. We're almost done, but we can't get to you until you give us this last set of coordinates," Shepard urged her. "Please."
"Hurry, Commander, please!" the woman whispered. "They're right outside the door!"
"Commander, I think I can make a run for her in the bunker," Cortez broke in. "I'll be back for extraction before you know it."
"Do it, Lieutenant," Shepard ordered.
"Damn!" Garrus yelled at the top of his lungs and fired his rifle. "I just got swarmed by a bunch of centurions up here. Guess this is where the final set of coordinates are."
"On our way to you, Garrus." Shepard wordlessly pointed to the ledge and the ladder that led up to it. Vega instantly made a dash for it, while Shepard leapt from one spot of cover to another to head up the ramp from the other direction.
Unfortunately, Shepard didn't stay in cover long enough in one spot. It only took half a second for the nemesis to scope him out and fire a few rounds. He grunted in pain as he felt one bullet come into contact with his flesh on his right side. The others, thankfully, only nicked his armor plating. Damnit, I knew I should have bought that breast plate from Rosenkov. Kassa always has weak spots in their cod pieces!
"I'm at the top coming to ya on the bridge, Scars," James said in between labored breaths.
"You just love playing the hero, don't you?" Garrus shot back. "Well, big surprise, Vega, this is no fairy tale, you're no prince, and you don't get a kiss for coming to my rescue!"
"Stay focused, people," Shepard snapped. "Keep radio silence until I hear that Cortez has picked up Sato." He sprinted up the ramp and surprised two more lightly armored soldiers. Come on, just a little further, soldier. He swallowed some more pain, activated his medi-gel application, and hung back behind a post to avoid the fire of a turret that an engineer just placed.
As he heard the sound of the shields being destroyed, Shepard swiveled his body around and fired two more shots into the turret. The machinery broke into thousands of pieces, but not before a frag grenade came soaring past it at him. "Damnit!" Shepard exclaimed and scurried for cover at the next support. Some shrapnel from the turret's ruin blew into the already open wound that the medi-gel had just sealed. Where is that son of a bitch?
He took a quick look around the corner and narrowly avoided the blast of a centurion's powerful assault rifle. Aha, there you are.
Just before the centurion could launch another projectile at him, Shepard gathered all of his strength and sent himself on his last massive biotic charge of the mission. His armored body clashed with the enemy, and then he leapt onto his toes with his right fist to bash his fist into the man's chest with a blue field of energy.
He rose from the ground over his conquered foe and sent an extra round into his head, effectively maiming the soldier's face. "Commander, I've got Ms. Sato. She's safe, and we're headed back to you," the shuttle pilot informed him over the radio. "ETA is about one minute."
"Good work, Cortez," Shepard said with some heavy breathing. As his colleagues joined him, he holstered his shotgun, and commenced his final task with his omni-tool.
"Hey, Loco, I picked up some ciphers from one of the engineers," Vega proudly stated with a point of his thumb behind himself. "Think the Alliance could use these?"
"I'll upload them with my report to Hackett. Good work." He grabbed his side reflexively as he felt some more pain stab through him. "How much longer, EDI?"
"It will not be necessary for me to break these codes at the moment, Shepard, since Ms. Sato is now safe. The data upload is at eighty-five percent," the AI responded.
"Is there any chance that you could speed it up, please?"
"Another application of medi-gel would likely lessen your discomfort, Shepard."
"No shit, Sherlock. I'm out."
Garrus approached his friend with his omni-tool readied. "Where are you wounded, Shepard?"
"Probably the part that I'm holding."
The turian shook his head, swatted Shepard's hand away, and passed it over his body. "That's another round you owe me, old friend."
"The data upload is complete, Shepard," EDI told him. "You may now depart from the facilities."
"Beautiful," Shepard muttered and stiffened as the medi-gel's anesthetic finally took effect. "Let's get the hell outta here.