AN:- I'm writing somewhere around chapter twenty as this comes out. I'm so far ahead it's insane!
Chapter Thirteen: Break-Out
Garrus took the lead again, jogging to the next door and getting behind cover. When Shepard and Liara were in position he opened the lock and rolled through into the Atrium, heading for a pillar. He pressed up against it right as the bullets started flying. A small band of Cerberus operatives were at the other end of the hall, behind heavy cover and armed with mounted sentry guns.
Shepard set her rifle to her eye, finding one of the operatives, mostly covered behind the gun emplacement, but there was a small slit that revealed his face. She put a bullet straight through the centre of it and the operative disappeared from view.
The gunfire shifted to pour through the door, forcing her and Liara to duck down. Garrus took advantage of the focus being off him to pop out from cover and fire a concussion shot into the front panel of the second gun. The armour bent but didn't break and the gunner shifted fire.
Liara pulsed blue and stood up from cover, sweeping her hand in a wide arc. Shepard peeked out to see one of the gunners ripped out of his emplacement and shredded to bits by the force of the warp field. Only one gunner was left now, sweeping his fire across from the pillar where Garrus was covered to the doorway where Shepard and Liara crouched. His fire couldn't cover them well enough though, and when he swept back to Garrus she popped out and put a bullet straight through the slit.
"Cerberus seems to be low on manpower these days," Liara observed as they walked into the Atrium. Up above the students were being hustled along by Jack. "Normally they would have sent dozens of operatives to this base."
"The Illusive Man lost a lot when I went rogue," Shepard said, finding the door to the shuttle bay. "I don't think his operation is anywhere near as strong as he wants people to believe."
"Either that or he's deliberately pulling back. Planning for something big."
"Thanks for that Garrus."
"You're welcome."
As they were passing through the Atrium her shield suddenly overloaded, flashing warning lights inside her helmet. She dropped to the floor, spinning round and drawing her pistol to sight on the Cerberus agent who had shot her. She unloaded, her bullets sparking off a kinetic barrier. Garrus and Liara lit him up, but two more agents stepped into view and opened fire as well, forcing them to retreat.
From above a biotic bolt slammed into one of the Cerberus operatives, knocking him off his feet. Before he could recover a second blast lifted him into the air, where a third blast hit him again and slammed him into the ground with a sickening crunch. The third operative turned and sprayed a burst at the landing above, opening himself up for Garrus and Liara to drop his shields. Shepard finished him with a straight show through the throat.
"Everyone ok up there?" She called to Jack.
"Rodriguez took one in the arm, because she didn't watch her barrier." Jack was shouting, but Shepard knew her well enough to hear the concern in her voice.
Before she could offer any consolation, Kahlee was back on the comm. "Captain, I've reached the shuttles without being detected. They know what they're doing though, you need to hurry."
"Alright people let's hustle. We're almost out of the woods."
The route to the shuttle bay took them into another long corridor. Two Cerberus operatives were in there, trying to beat their way into a bubble shield. Three students crouched behind the shield, one of them levelling a gun at the troops while the other two tried to keep some sort of generator going.
The troops went down quickly and Shepard jogged up to the barrier.
"I'm Captain Shepard with the Alliance, I'm here to help."
The student with the gun glared at her. "I didn't buy it from the last guy and I got no reason to buy it now."
One of the boys working on the generator was mumbling something. "The square root of 906.01 equals…"
She recognised the voice, and it brought a smile to her face immediately. She collapsed her helmet back and finished it for him. "30.1."
David looked up and smiled at her. "Hello, Commander Shepard."
"David, you know her?"
"Yes." He stood, and she was pleased beyond words to see how he looked. He was still thin, but not skeletally so. And his skin no longer had the grey pallor to it. "She rescued me from Cerberus. Sent me here. She made it quiet."
"You did a great job keeping yourselves safe," Liara said.
Shepard nodded up the nearby stairs. "The biotic students are up there. Stay close, we'll get you out of here."
"Ok." The barrier dropped and the student with the gun rubbed her shoulder, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Uh, thanks."
"He looks better," Garrus said as he came to join them.
"I remember you" David said. "Normandy crew. Sorry."
"It was never your fault."
Despite the dire situation Shepard had to ask him. "Has Grissom Academy been alright?"
"Yes. I've been counting." That with his own little smile.
"Anything in particular?"
"The number of days you lengthened my life." The others were ready to go, and before Shepard could think of anything to say he was following them up the stairs.
"We have to keep moving," Garrus said.
Shepard nodded, following him towards the shuttle bay.
There was one last corridor they needed to get through, and in their way was another ATLAS Mech, but before Shepard could sight her rifle she realised that it was empty and deactivated. There was an engineer next to it, and she dropped him with a single shot.
"Shepard…"
"Don't try and talk me out of it Liara."
"Do you even know how to operate that thing?"
"I do Garrus, thanks for asking." She marched up to the mech and hauled herself up into the seat.
"Doesn't this kind of make you a target?"
"Better me than the kids." She closed the front shield and activated the power and weaponry. She wasn't lying, exactly. She had been certified on mechs, and technically the upgrades Miranda had put in her head made her able to operate Cerberus tech, but she had never actually certified on an ATLAS, or indeed any kind of combat mech.
How hard can it be?
She turned it with ease, finding the shuttle bay and setting herself into an easy loping pace. Thankfully the doors were wide enough to allow her to get inside, and she quickly saw the students at the other end. They had almost made it to the shuttle bay when the Cerberus troops had caught up with them. Jack was maintaining a barrier around them all, but a shield of that size had to cost her.
Shepard found the troops firing on them, up on the upper level, and stitched a line of heavy fire across their positions. The explosive bolts blew clean through one of the men, and blasted the cover of the other two to scrap. They scrabbled to escape, only to put down by Liara and Garrus.
"There's the shuttle," Jack shouted. "Get over two by two."
Shepard scanned the area and found more hostiles, coming in behind her. She twisted the upper section of the mech and opened fire with the rockets, missing but bringing down the shields of one man and shoving him into a wall. A burst of machine gun fire dropped him the rest of the way. Bullets pinged against the armour of the mech and spotted another fire team coming from a side door to the bay.
Trusting that Garrus and Liara would have that covered she stayed focused on the two coming from the front. Loading another rocket into the tube she fired just to the side of one of them, noting with a mix of disgust and fierce glee that a red paste was now spread on the floor where the man had been. She turned her attention to the final man, who was firing blind and missing her entirely. An explosive bolt took his arm, and when he fell into view she cut him in half with another.
"Hurry Captain, the Normandy has pulled the cruiser out of position, we need to leave now."
Shepard keyed her squad comms with the order to retreat, and Garrus and Liara sprinted for the shuttle bay. She followed, keeping the mech's torso swivelling to cover their escape. It seemed there were no more fire teams left though. Triggering the quick release she dropped out of the mech and hustled through the door, finding most of the students clustered around a shuttle while Sanders flicked through screens on a computer too fast for Shepard to see.
"Kahlee, how's it coming?" She asked, trotting over.
"Shuttles are unlocked."
"Take the controls and get the students aboard."
"Wait," Jack was counting heads. "Where the hells' Rodriguez?"
Gunshots cracked and the group turned to see Rodriguez sprinting for the shuttle bay, chased by two Cerberus goons. Shepard ran for the window separating them, slamming the butt of her rifle against it hard enough to crack the glass. Garrus ran for the door.
"We need covering fire!" Shepard yelled.
"She needs more than that!"
A wave of biotic energy pulsed over Shepard, shattering the glass and turning it to dust in an instant. The blast continued, roiling through the air until it impacted both the troops, picking them up and crushing them into tiny balls of armour and meat.
Garrus grabbed Rodriguez and brought her to the shuttle as Shepard and Jack jumped aboard. Sanders was at the controls and the moment their boots touched the deck she pulled up and away, the door barely closing before they were through the hanger doors.
Shepard opened the comms on the shuttle and signalled the Normandy. Thankfully, EDI let the transmission through.
"Joker we flew out on a Cerberus shuttle, watch your fire."
"Right, I've got you on sensors, should just be a minute."
On the viewscreens, she could see the blip of the Normandy now accelerating away from the cruiser at the speeds she was really capable of, leaving the other ship in the dust.
Kahlee relaxed in her chair, sighing and rubbing her eyes. "Thank you Captain. We'd never have gotten off that station if you didn't come."
"Fu-forget that." Shepard hadn't heard Jack come up, but now she turned to address the students. "We kicked some ass. Next place we dock ,you're all getting ink. My treat." Shepard grinned as Jack walked in between the students, grinning and thumping them on the arms. "What do you guys want? Ascension Project Logo? Glowing Fist? Maybe a unicorn for Rodriguez?"
"Fuck you ma'am."
"Hey you watch your mouth!" Jack said and Shepard had to fight to keep from laughing out loud. Apparently the students were aware of the irony as well, as several of them were grinning.
"I can't believe we got them out alive." Sanders got out of the pilot seat and came back to join them. Liara was still in the co-pilot's seat, making sure of their course. "I was going to suggest that they stick to support roles. But perhaps they're ready after all."
Shepard looked to Jack, who gave her a pleading look. "They're definitely ready." Shepard saw the excitement on their faces. But they were too young. They didn't understand what they were walking into. "But the Alliance needs them in a support role."
"What?" One of the men shouted. "We trained for artillery strikes."
"We don't need another artillery unit." She put on her best Admiral Anderson voice. It was the heavy hand of command. They would resent her for it, but she would keep them alive. "We need stronger barriers for our front line squads."
"This is bullshit!" Rodriguez groused.
"Hey." Jack came over to her and faced up to her. "If that's where they need us, that's where we go." She gave Shepard a look, gratitude plain in her face. She had been given an out. She could still support her troops and act as though she wanted them on the front lines. Shepard could be the bad guy for keeping them safe, not Jack. "Besides, I'm sure we'll get some shots in."
Joker was on the horn again. "Captain we got a visual on you now, preparing to dock. Hey Jack, now that you're military, you gonna wear a uniform?" She knew Jack couldn't let that go. "Or are you just getting the officer's bars tattooed on?"
"Screw you f… Flight Lieutenant."
"Oh…" Joker descended into laughter. "What the hell was that?"
"Jack promised to watch her language in order to maintain the necessary professionalism we need from our teachers." Sanders sounded entirely serious, but Shepard couldn't imagine she didn't also find the situation hilarious.
"What, does she have a swear jar or something, because I bet if we emptied that thing we could buy another cruiser."
Jack had been biting her lip and glaring at the speaker, but that finally did it. She smiled sweetly and rolled her shoulders. "Cover your ears kids." Oh boy. "Hey Joker f-"
/|\
Joker had had the communications set to open, necessary for transmission with a Cerberus cruiser. Unfortunately what that meant was that Traynor had been listening in, curious about the mission. And if Traynor was listening it, the entire CIC was listening in. Jack's entire rant had been heard by every member of the on duty crew.
What really made the situation spectacular was that Traynor had been recording the conversation, to help gather evidence against Cerberus. Which meant that soon enough every member of the whole crew had heard the rant. No one would admit to having been the one to spread the data, but the logs hadn't been classified or restricted in any way. Anyone could have accessed the file.
"Do you understand where you went wrong Traynor?" Shepard said, sitting at her desk looking up at the young woman.
"I shouldn't have recorded the conversation."
"Actually you needed to record the conversation. Your mistakes were in listening over speakers, not in your in-ear, and in not deleting the, uh, outburst, as quickly as possible."
"I understand Captain. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Very good. Dismissed."
Traynor saluted smartly and turned for the door. She looked like a kicked puppy. Oh give her a break.
"Traynor."
"Yes Captain?"
"You might consider studying the transcript of Jack's speech. I'm sure there were some terms in there you have never heard before." That prompted a small smile. "This wasn't as bad as it could have been Traynor. Jack's swearing is nothing to be worried about. But imagine if something classified had been broadcast over the main channel."
Traynor nodded. "I understand."
"Good. Carry on Traynor."
Once she had gone Shepard turned back to her desk and pulled up the audio-file. It had been a truly enlightening lesson in invective.
/|\
The moment they were within range of a comm buoy the board lit up and Traynor called her over. "Communication from Earth Captain!"
Shepard ran for the communications room, practically vaulting the table and nearly knocking over Primarch Victus, who was liaising with his fleets. She staggered up to the hologram just as Admiral Anderson stepped into view.
He was dressed in combat fatigues, and he looked bruised and bloodied. But he was alive, and he smiled to see her. She grinned as well.
"Shepard," he said, and she hadn't known how much she needed to hear his voice again, to know he was alive. "Damned if you aren't a sight for sore eyes."
She collected herself and stood to attention. "Good to see you too sir."
"Sir? I may have reinstated you but that doesn't give you permission to go all formal on me."
"Then I'm glad you managed to keep your ass alive Anderson."
"That's more like it." He sighed and rolled his shoulders, getting down to business. "Looks like you didn't waste any time getting to work. I can only imagine what would've happened to those kids if they'd fallen into Cerberus hands."
"They're definitely eager to help." She kept her tone neutral. The kids were definitely eager, and had taken to training in the cargo bay. But she wasn't sure she liked the thought of it.
"These students are some of the best humanity has to offer… and we're throwing them into battle." He balled his fists and Shepard got the impression he very much wanted to hit something. "Goddamn it I hate this war." He took a deep breath and calmed himself. When he spoke again he sounded nervous. "Hackett didn't mention in his report…"
Shepard kept the smile off her face. "Kahlee Sanders is safe. She's with the recruits."
"Thanks Shepard. When I heard about the attack… Well, I've already lost a lot of friends."
"She asked me to tell you to stay alive."
"Did she now? Well." For a moment she thought she was about to have to give a very awkward message back to Kahlee, but then he just shook his head. "Thanks Shepard. That might be the first good news I've heard this week. Anderson out."
AN:- I had the characters actually directly address my previous points about TIM being low on manpower. However at the same time this sets up for the later attack on the Citadel. He's not committing as much manpower to anything, because he's trying to save up for the big important things.
Not much else to say. As with some other Mass Effect missions in other games there are some aspects to this that feel a bit off depending on where and when you do the mission. Like Shepard just automatically says Anderson is alive when talking to Sanders, even if at this point she has no ability to know that for sure. For my Shepard this was the first time she had actual contact with him after Earth. But that's a minor niggle.