Eradi Mines, Yasilium

Day 1, 0424

"Six minutes and counting," Murphy muttered, setting a timer to that effect on his HUD.

"We shouldn't need six," Kass noted, as the two of them made for the door to Drilling Station Four. Behind them, the main room was a hive of activity, as Emmet's men, assisted by Alec and the krogan, hauled as much of the cargo as they could up the cargo elevator, with only two or three, led by Emmet himself, remaining behind to hold the room in case Sam and Kan failed.

The captain almost opened his mouth to dissent as they came up on the drill door - a livid red 'locked' symbol occupied the centre of it - but Kass had no such concerns. He simply raised his omni-tool, swiped it over the locked door, and whatever safety system was barring it shut gave up, springing the thing aside to let them into the short corridor beyond. Ahead from there was another door, also locked, which sealed the way into the drilling station proper, while holographic screens on the walls to left and right were displaying all kinds of data about the operation - now, they were blinking madly with safety alerts, warnings, or garbled static…

"Drill team four, come in," Kass sighed, more for the sake of formality than anything else. The team had missed their last status update, and three hurried comm checks prior to that.

Rather cautious given the news Sam and Kan had just reported, the sniper and the salarian fell in either side of the door, checking their weapons and their shields. Murphy was clutching his Avenger, while Kass bore a Locust and his omni-tool, one in each hand.

"Ready?" the captain asked, after a moment.

The salarian just nodded, and ran his glowing omni-tool across the door lock. It gave a hiss, then fell away.

They were met with a puff of smoke and dust and steam, which billowed through the door in a thick cloud and obscured their vision for just a second or two. Then, they spun through the door, Murphy first, Kass on his heel, both casting around with their weapons.

The drilling station had been decimated by some great impact, and it certainly looked like the Reapers had come crashing through the roof. The whole room had caved in on one side, roof sagging, debris littering the floor. Bright light and intense cold were pouring in through a hole in the ceiling, roughly the size of a small skycar.

"Bodies," Kass observed, stoically. Indeed, two men in the armour of the Shadow Broker - black with white insignia - were laid out on the far side of the room, both… pretty monstrously wounded. One had fallen over the controls, arms splayed out, rifle dropped behind the drill console. The other was in the middle of the room, neck torn raggedly, midriff bloody, a dead Cannibal just a foot away. There was another beneath the impact site, a third on the far side of the room, cut down by rifle fire, and-

Wham. Before Murphy could turn to check the rest of the room, something caught him in the back of the head. It took a moment to register the weightlessness, the floor zipping by in a slight haze of blue, and it took his brain still longer to realise the hit was biotic.

"Wha-?"

Skree…

Murphy hit the deck and bounced once, before sliding into the far wall with a loud crunch. As he rolled over, too late, he saw the monstrous, lithe form emerging from the back corner of the room, shadowed under the lip of the torn roof. The Banshee's arms were still glittering from the biotic effort that had thrown him…

Kass wheeled around, bring up his SMG and managing two shots to the creature's waist before a slender, clawed hand came swiping down at him. Even as Murphy cast around for his rifle - it had clattered down a few feet away, by the control console - the hand closed around the salarian's neck, and he gave a small grunt of pain.

Quite suddenly, he was pulled off his feet. The Banshee dragged him up along the wall, leaning to scream in his face as Murphy went scrambling for his gun. He found it with a free hand, but it had wedged behind the console, stuck fast and unmoving. He cast his eye back to the doorway, and the unfortunate salarian was four feet off the ground, legs dangling as the Banshee continued to scream, filling Murphy's ears with a mournful wail…

And quite suddenly, he found his omni-tool. With a metallic whistle, it unfolded, two short prongs curving out from either side of his wrist. Still slightly dazed, it took Murphy a moment to realise what it was.

Then, Kass brought the omni-bow up, quite casually, and put a bolt through the monster's hand.

It screamed, more noisily than ever, and the skeletal fingers jerked apart, releasing their prey to the floor. Kass hit it running, putting as much space between himself and the Banshee as he could, diving towards Murphy. As he skidded to a halt a foot or so away, the captain gave up on retrieving his wedged rifle, and went instead for the Mantis on his back. The Banshee turned towards them, bolt still lodged through one hand, hissing monstrously. Beautiful as Kass' escape had been, the fact remained they were a few feet from the creature, with it between them and the door. It leant in, eyes soulless and searching…

Bang. It shook once, a shiver passing down its spine as Murphy put a round between those eyes. Then, with another hideous scream, it began to melt away before their eyes, crumpling to the floor in a mess of blue fire and ash.

A moment of silence followed, as both men stared and caught their breath. The room was still thick with cold, and thicker with smoke, Murphy's gun smoke mingling with the plume from the sparking console.

"That… was a somewhat better rescue," Kass nodded, from the floor.

"Yeah…" Murphy panted, still bracing the rifle. "Performance under pressure, you know?"

The salarian snorted a little, and rose to his feet, making immediately for the console.

"Emmet!" he barked, opening up the radio. "We've got the drill."

"What's it look like?"

"Big, grey, vaguely mechanical…"

"The situation," Emmet growled, "not the fucking drill!"

In the reflection of the console screen, Murphy saw Kass roll his eyes, swiping his omni-tool over the controls as if to try and salvage something from the smoking remains.

"Your men are dead," the salarian muttered, matter-of-factly. "Several dead Reaper creatures. Controls are shot, but I think there's enough left under the surface to-"

"Shut off the drill? Great," the mercenary snapped, cutting off what Murphy suspected was a long, rambling explanation of the tech behind the action.

"Philistine," Kass murmured, under his breath.

"We're bringing the cargo elevator down now," Emmet continued. "Final run - let's grab the last of the crates, and get the fuck outta here!"

"Fine by me," Murphy nodded. "Sam, Kan, fall back to the loading bay, we've got what we came for!"

"Affirmative," the quarian replied, over a mess of gunfire in the background. "On our way, captain."