Chapter 3
Just as Jeran had predicted, the remaining husks and cannibals were put down relatively easily without the influence of the marauder. He greeted Tadius and his rescuer quickly but happily, pleased that his old friend had survived the encounter with the marauder.
"And who do we have to thank for their timely intervention?" Jeran asked, shaking the newcomer's hand.
"Kasumi Goto, at your service," said the hooded woman, bowing quickly with a flourish of her arm.
"I know you!" Pvt. Cantor exclaimed, snapping his fingers together. "You helped the Commander take down the Collectors!"
"That certainly didn't do any favors for my anonymity," Kasumi admitted with a chuckle, hands on her hips. "But as much as I would like to hear whatever stories have been spun about me, it is going to have to wait."
"Agreed," Jeran replied, shifting his weight uneasily. "We are moving to reinforce a position down the river. Are you with a squad?"
Kasumi merely shook her head slowly, but its message was clear to all of them.
"You are welcome to join us, if you want to," Pvt. Cantor gushed, glancing quickly at Jeran and Tadius for approval. They, of course, nodded in agreement.
"I would be honored," Kasumi replied, running her hand along the hilt of her katana. "I haven't put near enough of these bastards down yet. Can't have Shep going and showing me up…"
"Alright team," Jeran said, motioning to Kova and the rest. "Let's move out."
"Keep up the pressure!" Sayn cried, rapidly firing his Avenger rifle at the swooping Harvester.
The monster slammed down to the earth with a roar, thrashing out with its legs and decimating a handful of LOKI mechs.
"Situation: critical," cried a mech that was laying on the ground, its legs shattered. "Rerouting power. Calculated odds of this unit surviving now at 0.0001—"
CRUNCH!
The Harvester brought the full weight of its leg crashing down on the doomed mech, crushing the LOKI into scrap metal. The YMIR mech opened fire again, its bullets sinking deep into the Harvester's side but not slowing it down at all. The monster rose back into the air with a heavy flap of its wings before scooping up the YMIR in its claws and tearing it in two.
"This isn't working!" shouted a human soldier, watching in horror as the pieces of the heavy mech rained down nearby.
"Stay here," Wrex growled, mischief in his voice. "I have an idea. Keep it, hmm, distracted."
"Perfect," Sayn muttered, shaking his head while Wrex ran out of sight. "Love being distraction for Reapers."
The Harvester began to circle back around again, passing close to the building that most of the Eclipse mercs were using as cover. This was apparently the moment Wrex had been waiting for, for no sooner was the Harvester passing the building that a flash of red and silver caught Sayn's eye.
"I. Am. KROGAN!" Wrex roared, leaping from the building and grabbing onto the back of the thrashing Harvester.
The Harvester roared, shooting up high into the sky, dipping and looping in an attempt to shake Wrex off. Wrex dug his hand deep into its back, chuckling as he made a handhold out of its torn flesh. He pulled himself forward as the Harvester screeched in agony, rolling and diving and still trying to shake the Krogan free.
Wrex pulled himself up and wrapped his arm around the beast's neck, laughing all the while. As soon as he was sure his grip was true, he pulled his shot gun from where it hooked on his back, bringing it level with the base of the Harvester's skull.
He fired once, twice, three times in all.
With a final scream the Harvester plummeted, crashing down through an abandoned building and sliding to a stop a few feet away from Sayn. Wrex let go and slid to the ground, his lips curled in a cocky grin.
"That's why you don't send a Salarian to do a Krogan's job," Wrex said, kicking the Harvester's corpse.
Sayn didn't have a chance to reply; at that moment a giant Reaper flew past them overhead, two kilometers long and eyes glowing a fearful yellow. It was heading right for the conduit.
Right toward Shepard and the others.
"Wow, you guys have really been doing some damage here," came a voice from their right, after the Reaper had passed them by. Sayn looked over and saw a squad of friendly's approaching, led by two Turians and a woman in a hood. The Turians introduced themselves as Jeran and Tadius, and the woman as Kasumi.
"We're your backup," the one called Tadius said, eyes cast down. It was obvious they had lost a lot of men along the way.
"Happy to have all the help we can get," Sayn replied honestly, helping another soldier dress Kova's wound. "Position relatively well fortified. No shortage of Reaper forces. No big ones, thankfully. One passed by just before you arrived, however."
"We saw it," replied a human soldier, a Private Cantor. "We think it was going straight for Hammer team."
"Our concern as well," Sayn said with a nod, his voice grim. "Nothing we can do against a big Reaper like that though. We must hold this position, no matter what, and hope for the best."
Kasumi moved past them, standing atop a rock and looking over the darkened sky to where the conduit shone like a beacon in the night. Tadius stood next to her, watching her as much as he was watching the horizon with her. In the distance constant gunfire could be heard, and every shot was painful. Was that another friend dying? Another father, mother, brother, or sister who would never go home again?
Tadius shook himself. He couldn't torture himself like that, like he began to feel in the building earlier. Not when there was so much on the line.
The comm. crackled to life on the general broadcast.
"No one made it. Hammer team has been completely wiped out. Repeat: no one made it."
Tadius felt his heart sink. So, that was it. Shepard had been defeated, and soon they would all follow. But then…
"Wait. Wait. We are getting reports that someone did make it to the conduit. We believe that Commander Shepard has made it to the Citadel. If you can hear this, Godspeed Commander. Godspeed."