"Dammit!" Garrus cursed. Shepard and Kaidan were pinned between the gunship and the mercenaries. Then he cursed again as a PK rocket exploded just to the right of him and James, showering them with wet soil and tufts of grass. "I really hate those things!"
"That is so unfair!" James hissed, firing a round at the approaching Mantis. "How come they can have a bird up?"
"They must be using an IFF-system*" Garrus said in between the explosions. "It scrambles our frequencies while leaving theirs alone."
The same insight had struck Shepard. She ignored the onslaught of mercs and activated her omni-tool.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kaidan asked. He sent a bolt of biotic energy at an approaching merc, sending the man flying back to land in a heap on the wet muddy ground.
Shepard blinked rainwater from her eyes. "I might be able to connect to their system and hack it." She had to shout to make herself heard over the gunfire. "I just need to some time to find the right frequencies."
Kaidan nodded. "I can keep the mercs off us, but not for long. You better be sure about this, Shepard."
She flashed him a grin. "Trust me."
Kaidan couldn't help but to return the smile. The rush of battle was like a drug wiping away their fatigue, quickening their pulses. Shepard focused on the omni-screen, code-sequences flashed across it. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she tried to access the right codes. Kaidan was laying down a heavy barrage of fire, keeping the mercs from crowding them. He used biotic energy to weaken the shields of a female Blue Sun soldier before downing her with a couple of well-aimed shots that hit her square in the chest. It was bloody, messy and brutal.
On the other side of the battlefield the Mantis let loose another volley from the M350 machine guns.
"Jesus!" James shouted as the bullets almost took out his shields. He ducked behind the tree stump. "We're being ripped apart!"
Garrus was inclined to agree. He was down to two shots. The gunship's windscreen showed a cobweb of cracks. It was more or less intact but a couple of well placed hits would take it out, exposing the pilot. Garrus took a deep breath. With so few shots left he would have to make sure every one of them hit the target perfectly.
Kaidan had focused his attention on the mercs, taking them out, keeping them at bay. By relying on his biotic powers he had managed to decimated the Blue Sun's troop and only three of the original twelve remained. He was aiming at one man who's tech-armour had protected him so far when a shrill screeching in his ear almost drove him to his knees. Combined with the headache it felt like someone was driving a drill straight through his brain. Then the screech was replaced by the Blue Sun's communications as Shepard managed to hack the IFF- system that had scrambled their comms.
"We have a positive visual of the cargo", an unfamiliar voice said. "She is in the company of Major Kaidan Alenko, Lieutenant James Vega, and a turian identified as Garrus Vakarian. Standing by for orders."
"The Dealer wants Shepard back at any cost", came the reply. "Retrieve her and kill the others."
The words made a cold shiver run down Kaidan's spine but there was no time to ponder the implications as James' frantic voice cut through the static and the instructions given by the Blue Sun's commander.
"What the hell are you doing, Scars?" There was an edge in his voice that made Shepard whirl around and gaze through the rain and the darkness towards the gunship behind them.
The turian stood out starkly in the Mantis' headlight, fully exposed. He lifted the heavy Black Widow, aiming carefully as if he had all the time in the world. The gunship zeroed in on him and fired.
"Garrus! No!" Shepard's voice cut through the heavy sound of gunfire. Not caring about her own safety she started running towards him.
The first round shattered Garrus' shields. He stood his ground and took aim. Inhaled. Held his breath and pulled the trigger.
The shot hit perfectly. The left side of the Mantis' windscreen turned white as the impact caused it to crack.
Shepard felt her heart jolt as the aircraft let loose another volley. Bullets slammed into the wet ground around Garrus. Then he staggered back and she realised that he had been hit. "Garrus!"
He lifted the heavy sniper rifle a second time and aimed. Through the scope he got a close up of the batarian piloting the Mantis. Garrus pulled the trigger just as the pilot did the same.
Everything seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time.
Kaidan had quickly downed the last of the mercs after having taken out his shields. Now he spun around. "Shepard!" She was a small figure, struggling through the rain and the darkness, running towards the Mantis, towards Garrus.
The gunship's windscreen exploded. Garrus was flung back. He hit the ground hard. Then James rose up from behind the cover, firing. The batarian pilot, strapped into his seat, jerked and twitched as he was riddled with bullets. He slumped, his body-weight pressing against the Mantis' controls. The engines revved and the aircraft jerked forward and went into a spin.
Unheeding the danger the Mantis still possessed, Shepard reached Garrus. He lay where he had fallen in the mud, his eyes closed. James was kneeling by his side, holding his hand pressed against the turian's neck. He looked up meeting Shepard's eyes.
"One of the Manit's shots grazed his neck pretty bad", he said. "Shepard, he's barely breathing..."
"No! I'm not losing him!" Shepard put her hand against the turian's scarred face, her other hand searching for his pulse. The skin on his throat was slick and she nearly sobbed when she saw the dark blue blood that now covered not only James' hand but her fingers as well. But there was a pulse. Garrus was still alive. Relief flooded her. She brought her mouth to his, forcing her breath into his lungs.
Above them metal and engines screamed in protest as the Mantis spun into a downward spiral.
Kaidan forced his tired body forward. His breath came short and hard as he pressed himself to run faster. Like an angel of doom and certain death the Mantis descended with a roar. He shouted a warning but it drowned in the noise of the failing engines.
Gritting his teeth, he focused, drawing all he could from the L2-implant. It burned at the back of his neck and a spike of pain behind his eyes told him he would have to pay for abusing his biotic gifts later. His body hummed, the energy gathering in his hands flared. With a grunt he released the massive bolt, sending it towards the Mantis. It hit the crashing aircraft, knocking it out of the fatal course.
The A-61 Mantis hit the ground, missing Shepard, James and Garrus with a few, but vital metres.
James saw the flames out of the corner of his eye and threw himself on top of Garrus and Shepard, using his body and his shields to protect them from the explosion and the following shock-wave.
Kaidan was knocked back, his ears ringing. But he climbed to his feet again and forced himself to continue. He reached them, almost falling to his knees beside Garrus' still form.
Shepard's eyes were large and dark as she looked up and met Kaidan's gaze. "He isn't breathing and he's bleeding from an injury on his neck." Her voice was trembling.
"He'll make it", Kaidan promised with a calm he didn't feel as he quickly prepared a shot of dextro-protein based medi-gel. "Keep up the mouth-to-mouth. I'm not sure how long it will take for the medi-gel to work." He injected the healing substance directly into a vein in Garrus' neck. He could feel the faint flutter of the pulse against his fingers as he changed place with James and quickly examined the gash. It was wide, gaping but thankfully the jugular vein was undamaged.
"Shepard managed to take down the IFF", he said as James moved back to give him some room. "See if you can contact Cortez or the Normandy."
The marine nodded. He rose, moved a few steps away and activated his comm, but all he got was static. James cursed under his breath but didn't give up. He tried different frequencies, his voice dropping to a moth-flutter in the background as he moved further away, searching the bodies of a dead Blue Sun merc for thermal clips and medi-gel.
Shepard pressed her mouth to Garrus'. Please... she prayed to any god or spirit who might listen. Please let him live... I can't loose him... Please...
Suddenly Garrus coughed and drew a gulping breath on his own. His eyes opened and he found himself looking directly into Shepard's darker gaze. His mandibles fluttered against the palm of her hand as she caressed his face.
"Shepard..." He managed, his dual-toned voice raspy.
"Don't ever do something that stupid again", she said sternly as tears of relief veiled her eyes.
His mandibles twitched in a smile. "I'll try, but I can't make any promises."
Kaidan's face came into view. "How are you feeling? Do you think you can manage to sit up?"
Garrus nodded. He winced as the movement strained the wound but with the help of Kaidan and Shepard he managed to sit. "I'm okay", he said. "We need to try to reach Cortez."
"James is on it", Kaidan said as he checked Garrus' vitals. He was pleased to see that they were improving, and he couldn't help but to pick up on the turian's increase in pulse every time Shepard touched him. Which she did, frequently, as if she wanted to make sure that he was still there, still alive.
James returned to them, shaking his head. "I can't get through", he said. "Sorry."
"But I hacked the IFF and unscrambled our frequencies!" Shepard gritted her teeth in annoyance. "They can't have created new firewalls that fast!" She activated her omni-tool, trying to access the IFF-system again but the encryption was too complex. "This is impossible! I got through!"
"It's all right, Shepard", Kaidan said, putting a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. It wasn't like her to be so volatile. But after all that had happened he could understand it. "We have a plan of action, remember? We'll continue to the ERV. Cortez will pick us up there."
"I found some thermal clips and a couple of doses of medi-gel though", James said.
"Good", Kaidan said, giving the younger soldier a thumbs up. "We should search the rest of the bodies as well." He rose, wiping Garrus blue blood off his hands. Proper hygiene would have to wait until they were back amongst the trees and in relatively safety again.
The exchange between the mercs pressed in on them though no one commented on what they had overheard. Kaidan examined the injury that marred the side of Garrus' throat one last time. It had started to heal and he wasn't in any immediate danger of bleeding out. They needed to move.
The silence after the gunfight and the explosions was almost strange. The wreck of the Mantis still burned and a thick black smoke rose from the flames. Rain was pouring down and Shepard had started to shiver again as they made their way across the clear cut area. James and Kaidan stopped every so often to search the bodies of the Blue Sun mercenaries that had attacked them.
* IFF - Identification: Friend of Foe (Thank you for that one, CyanB, I'm much obliged. And thank you, Carleen for helping me get the letters in the correct order. lol)
I know that strictly speaking bullets aren't used in the ME-universe. But what the hey, this is fan fiction so I'm taking some liberties with the technology of it, mostly because I don't have the time to do proper research. I'll edit the story once its finished and fix the stuff I mess up.
Also, honestly I thought I would get our heroes to the cliffs in this chapter. I had no idea that Garrus would be shot. Hopefully they'll get to set camp without being attacked or almost killed in the next chapter :)