Location: Mako, en-route to Endeavour colony—Warehouse district, Ontarom.
The Mako sped along the rocky terrain, letting everyone commit each bump to memory as they hung on for dear life. Liam tried keeping the holomap steady as Vega and Glen Gordon juggled their weapons and gear. The compartment had a capacity for ten people, but unless 'people' was slang for brooms Liam couldn't see how anyone else was meant to fit in here.
Another sudden dip bashed Glen's head against the hard steel roof.
"SHIT! Jesus Hunter who taught you how to drive?" Glen bellowed as he holstered his katana shotgun at his lower back.
"Come on Lieutenant, that was a nudge," Hunter replied with easy amusement in his voice. Safe speed was an option in the sparse warehouse district and the young chief decided to opt out. Liam would've told Hunter to slow down, but Glen's comical outbursts seemed to keep James from whatever doom and gloom been filling him lately. Some of the crew said Vega was practically glued to his new armory and didn't do much outside of that. Liam mentally reminded himself to check up on his fellow FNG.
"Keep this damn thing steady," Glen said as he regained his seat, massaging his shiny bald head. "I hate this."
"Hey, don't hate on the Mako," Vega said, checking the heat sink on his rifle. "It's better than the Kodiak coffin."
"A fridge on wheels is all it is," Gordon grumbled and slammed yet another mod to his backup pistol, "trade it for a coffin any day."
"I thought vanguards liked power?" Liam teased, as he marked their holo-map. Each critical position pulsed blue. "The Mako's cannon can punch through just about anything."
"The fuck we need a cannon for, Shepard?" Glen said, adjusting his pack and finally getting his weapons to stay on his belt. "This ain't no vid of the A-team. We're saving some useless bitches who forgot they had powers."
Liam and Vega burst out laughing. Gordon sulked but eventually allowed a smile. "Glad you two find this so funny."
"Keep an open mind," Liam said as he recovered and waved down their banter. Even though he agreed with Glen about their poor choice of transport, they still had a job to do. "Schematics show a patrol tower in the east wing. I'll secure a sniping post there."
He turned to Vega and accepted the mantis sniper rifle with some disappointment. Early morning target practice revealed that this old thing kicked like a horse and had the worst rate of cooldown. Yet with only four snipers aboard the ship the previous arms master didn't think it was necessary to bother with better equipment for just four soldiers. Well now there's five.
The frame was feather light, stripped of all its early morning mods and outfitted with an extended barrel. Liam raised a questioning brow.
"All the other stuff overheats it faster, trust me loco. I kept the extended barrel to help with the recoil until we get you a better weapon," Vega explained, as he passed a medi-gel pack to Gordon. "Requisition says your Black Widow should be coming soon."
"Good," Liam said as he collapsed the weapon and clipped it to his back before returning to the map. "Vega, you'll take the south perimeter and see if you can enter the compound from there."
"You got it," James said with a nod.
"Gordon," Liam continued, "you take the front after Vega secures the back. I'll have you covered with sniper fire but from your files—"
"—I'll snap their necks in sixty seconds flat. Don`t worry." The Vanguard practically bounced from his seat when the Mako screeched to a stop. Everyone lurched forward.
Liam jumped down first, followed by Vega then Gordon. The warehouse district wasn't far from the base, he could still see its small outline on the horizon. The stench of metal and hard work wafted from the empty warehouses, reminding him of Elena's slum on the outskirts of Endeavor which was just a bit further. But it was short lived as heavy clouds rolled in. The winds picked up and Liam ducked the sand while wrenching his recon hood over his face.
Gordon disappeared in a biotic charge as he zapped to position and took cover, waiting on the first move. Vega crouched low and began circling the perimeter. The rumble of thunder warned him to keep moving and get this done right the first time.
"Hunter, you cover Gordon with the cannon. If anything goes wrong I need that door blasted clear," Liam ordered, peering into the Mako to catch the chief's nod. "Let's do this."
Slapping the back of the Mako he heard it rev like a wild horse before speeding away. Liam activated the tactical cloak. But of course the day wouldn't be complete without the threat of rain. Cursing the skies, Liam activated his cloak, huddled the rifle close to his chest and took off for the guard tower.
o~O~o
Location: Hillside fields, Slums district warehouse/storage space—Endeavour colony, Ontarom.
Fucking rain. It poured buckets from the sky of this pisshole planet and if you were dumb enough to stand around, lightning would recharge your batteries. Knowing this, Jeremy had no choice but to gather his gear and find shelter. While the thought of posting an automaton to capture any foot traffic in and out of Elena's building was a good one, there was no time to actually set the damn thing up so it sat in his pack like a loaded brick.
Fumbling with the bundled rifle and his gear, he made it down in record time and inched closer to the citizen storage blocks. Apparently folks moving to Ontarom couldn't fit all their crap into the tiny ExoGeni designed apartments and had to petition for storage blocks to be added onto the property lane. Elena explained the ridiculousness of it all once, but he was too busy wondering why the Major wanted to live among citizens.
Cerberus had a wonderful underground facility here. The cabins were more like five star suites than any Alliance barracks he ever had and they all had easy access to the labs. It was fucking perfect and now he was knee deep in mud trying to pry a damn storage block door open. He swallowed his growing frustration and kept pushing.
The steel finally groaned when he put his back to it and inched apart just as the first zap of lightning peaked over the horizon.
Low lights illuminated the storage block's inner hallway. Rows of bolted and locked garage doors lined the warehouse. Best of all it was empty and would likely remain so for at least a night.
With a cobra pistol in hand, Jeremy inched forward, peering into the darkness that tempted him from the cold. When he heard no sounds, he lit up his omni-tool and accessed the building's maintenance V.I. The little Cerberus trick got the lights on and Jeremy looked up to the never-ending rows of caged storage units, full of crap that people called possessions. The building was new enough for an A.I but clearly not monitored by anyone with money. Little cracks on the roof were already pouring rivulets into the ugly cracks along the floor. The stupid place wasn't coming down anytime soon, but flooding was a different story.
Jeremy threw his pack on a nearby work shed and sighed. He was getting too fucking old for this.
"Hold—hold it right there!" The wavering voice ordered behind him as the unmistakable sound of a pistol unfolding near the base of his neck. From the click he guessed a raikou pistol being wielded by a dumb kid.
Jeremy played along and slowly raised both hands but didn't let go of his pistol. "Easy there. I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt now."
"You're—you—shit you're a cop! You're here for them," the frightened man said. "Shit...I can't—I can't lose my job over this. I only did what I was told!"
"Whoa, slow down kid," Jeremy said as he faced the young man. The boy's careful crew cut, wide fearful eyes and red uniform with the ExoGeni logo told him everything he needed to know. This intern was in way over his head. "Give me the gun."
Jeremy extended a hand and was not surprised when the kid passed it like a hot potato. Sure enough it was a raikou, a pathetic pea shooter that was practically designed with kids like him in mind.
The kid swallowed hard and seemed to be reconsidering his actions but Jeremy wasn't about to give him the opportunity. "Why'd you do it?" He asked in that disappointed voice, just like the cops always did. It was working as the kid looked ready to cry.
"I can take you to the asari, just please...this job's all I have." The kid broke down and squat cradling his head like a lost child. "My mom's going to kill me..."
Jeremy sighed inwardly.
Yep. Definitely too old for this...
o~O~o
Location: Lookout tower, Slums district warehouse/storage space—Endeavour colony, Ontarom.
The heat of fresh blood oozed down the combat knife and over Liam's clenched fist. A man lay dead a few feet away. The bastard's pathetic armor and absolute devotion to try and sound the alarm screamed of a dedicated civilian, not a coordinated soldier. At least we know what we're dealing with...
Taking long calming breaths, Liam watched the red river flow from the man's neck as the rain splashed it through the grate.
"Commander, your vitals spiked. Are you okay?" Casey's voice came through his comm. The absence of any other let him know they were on a private line. "Commander?"
Short quick breaths through the poly-synthetic cotton fabric of the mask eased him back into the mission. "I'm fine, Casey. One hostage taker down, looks like a sentry."
Shepard ripped the recon hood from his face and felt the cloak deactivate. It was risky but better to breathe without sopping wet mesh in his mouth. When it came to sniping proper breathing was everything.
"Good riddance," she replied with a relieved sigh. "Any sign of the hostages?"
Holstering the knife, he whipped out the modified mantis and scanned the inner compound through the scope. Intel showed that they had patrols around what used to be the manager's office. It was the smallest building in the compound and tight spaces tended to scare the asari, no one really knew why.
Scoping through the window he could see three idiots with basic chop shop armor as they stood guard over a group of five asari chained with biotic ropes. Another hostage taker, presumably the leader, stood before a camera man who was recording the whole thing with his omni-tool. Two more were outside the entrance doors armed with nothing but pistols. They were either very stupid or biotics themselves.
"Found them. Five, front and center bored stiff." Liam relayed, before sweeping his scope south to check on Vega's progress. "Looks like they're recording a broadcast. Anything new hit the extranet, Casey?"
"Only the same drivel about how they're going to kill the asari if they don't leave the preservation efforts to Heyuan Genomics. The usual garbage."
"Has the company made a statement?" Liam asked, tracking Vega as he took the outer perimeter guard from behind, surprising the poor bastard with a blow to the back of the head.
"Other than disown these guys as employees? No." Blitz said, "But I'll keep you posted."
"Do," Liam said, watching as Vega dragged his fallen enemy off to the sides, completely unaware of the guy's partner sneaking up behind him.
Liam squeezed the trigger, eliciting a muffled crack from the mantis as the round left the chamber. Vega jumped and turned just in time to see bullet explode his would be attacker's brain in a bulls-eye.
"Cutting it close there, Loco. Felt that one whizz past," Vega said, taking cover as the two guarding the manager's door crept up to investigate.
"If you were paying attention you wouldn't have felt anything," Shepard said, as he waited on the series of rings that counted the cooldown period. The idiots investigating Vega's diversion were leaving the door wide open for Glen's finishing touches. But the ones at the main gates had a little more brain power and started to spread out to cover their buddies
"Shit, Shepard. They're keeping wide," Gordon cut in, "I can't take em' in one go without alerting the inside no more."
Liam tracked the two on the left, creeping closer to Vega's position. The other two approached the main gates for inspection. "Stick to the plan. Take the two at the gates, Glen. We'll handle the others on the left."
"Roger," Glen said. Liam was grateful that the vanguard could swallow his unease and trust him. Timing was everything now.
The curious guards suddenly halted. Liam watched through his scope in curiosity, they didn't look agitated, just a couple of more steps...
In a flash of panic the guards sprang into action and raced back to the house. Liam scoped back to the window and saw the source of their distress. One of the asari suddenly remembered she had powers and managed to break free. All three guards aimed their guns her way, but she was quicker and lit up with blue energy. Their guns sailed to the side. But their leader, now at her back was reached for his magnum.
A clean shot killed the leader before he could reach for his magnum. Liam moved the crosshairs to his confused cameraman and waited for the cooldown to subside. The asari struggled to subdue the guards, no doubt reeling from the dampening effects of the restraints. She wouldn't hold out if backup ran through the door. The other scientists didn't show a shred of fear for their attackers, but their inactivity wasn't exactly comforting. They just sat there! People were dying right in front of them and they just watched. Even hardened soldiers would have flinched so he expected more of a reaction from civilians…unless of course they weren't really scientists. Liam forced that thought back. Securing the hostages was the priority. After that he'd need some answers.
"Hunter, get that door down, now!" Shepard ordered, watching through his scope as the guards from outside barged through the door.
While Glen tried bashing through the front doors with a shotgun round, Vega made a mad dash for the manager's office. "I'm going to draw their fire. Engaging!" Vega said and peppered the gate guards who fell behind cover.
"Swinging around for an angle, sir!" Hunter replied.
Inside the asari was delivering some major payback. Her main problem was that she was surrounded and therefore always had her back to an assailant. The cameraman finally got a clue and raised a fallen rifle her way.
But he never got to pull the trigger.
Time slowed as Liam's second round impacted the man's skull and tore through the back. The red spray of blood, cartilage and brain matter stained the wall behind him. The dead man quivered before gravity took him down for good.
The ones trying to barge in through the front noticed their decreasing numbers and stopped to return took cover from the barrage.
Rounds singed the metal panels around him, a few slugs peppered the dead body making it twitch on impact.
The thunderous impact of the Mako's cannon sent the reinforced doors flying off their hinges. Once Glen was in, the Vanguard made quick work of the remaining enemies and the shooting eventually subsided.