Astella Garrison, Nevos

Day 1, 1300

"Sniper's dry! Reloading!"

"Keelah. Got you covered."

"Husks pushing on the south garage. Melee range. Stick together, don't leave your backs open."

"Justicar, watch your-!"

"Got him."

"Aeryn, I'm out! Big mob in my sector!"

"Switch!"

As Ethan and Aeryn spun around each other, swapping windows, Andersen took a moment to steady his breath and take it all in. The radio was going insane, battle chatter drifting in from all sides as rounds continued to ricochet off the walls and dogfights filled the skies above. The dull rattle of Aeryn's rifle as she joined the firefight was just another tone in the cacophony going on all around them. Sending out a loud report, Alec's rifle started firing too, close at hand, and with steady, deliberate trigger-pulls, the marine emptied his clip in two-shot bursts, the Valkyrie remaining perfectly level in his arms.

"Burning ammo fast," he muttered, ejecting his clip without moving the rifle, and reaching for another with his free hand as the thermal clip bounced off the floor, eventually rolling to a halt by Andersen's boot.

"Take this," Andersen interjected, quickly reaching for his Phaeston and passing it over, pistol still clutched in his other hand. "LMG. Big magazine, fifty rounds a clip."

Alec nodded, not even questioning the act, and dropped his Valkyrie between the pair of them. After a moment's effort to prop it into his shoulder and adjust to the weight, he leant the machine gun down on the window frame, and began to let rip again, once more firing short, controlled bursts into the mob below.

Wordlessly, the lieutenant reached down for the little pod at his side, running his omni-tool across it once before picking it up, and tossing it casually into the air. It soared to the top of the window frame, sunk a couple of inches, then ignited, hovering steady on a small blue jet. It whirled around, angled down towards the shifting shapes outside, and:

Crack crack crack crack crack crack…

Carter dropped back into cover, grunting and taking a moment's pause for breath, as the little sentry drone did his job for him. It swept left and right, rapid-fire rounds pouring out into the street, and a chorus of screeches and yowls came floating up in response.

"Nice trick," the marine chuckled, quietly.

"Better than shoving your head up through the window," the engineer shrugged, already lining up another program, a piece of incineration tech.

"To each their own, I guess. How long's it last?"

"Three, two, one…"

The sentry gave a little whine, and dropped out of the air like a lead weight. Andersen just shot out a hand, catching it idly. With the other arm, he swung up his omni-tool and sent a fireball whistling out into the fight outside.

"You spend five nights a week practising that, don't you?" Alec scowled, eyes still on the turret pod in the engineer's hand.

"Only three."

Carter rolled his eyes, grinned a little at the exchange, and leant up out of the window to offer another burst of fire from the Phaeston, cutting left to right across the mob as the turret had done. So much for targets of opportunity…

Thunk-

"Shit!"

Bang! A crimson flash lit up the right side of the corridor, and Andersen's head wheeled around to face it, hands shooting up to cover his visor. When he dropped them, and the smoke cleared, he saw Vimes flat on his front, rifle abandoned and arms shielding the back of his head, in the act of diving away from the blast.

"Sam?" he barked, cautiously.

"Fine!" the detective yelled, quickly. "Fuckin' grenade!"

"Where's the bastard?" Alec asked, snapping his eye to the Phaeston's sights.

"Upstairs!" Vimes answered, rolling back into cover and grabbing his rifle once more. "Bounced it in from the roof!"

"Son of a bitch… get air support to burn 'em?"

"Comm network's a mess," Andersen replied, shaking his head, "and by the looks of it, air support's got bigger problems…"

As if to prove his point, an asari fighter in the skies above chose that moment to drop out of them, engines blazing. It spiralled down somewhere to the northeast, and disappeared beneath the skyline.

"Best hope they stay up there, then," Alec grunted.

"Oh great!" Sam scowled. "He jinxed it!"

"Ah, grow up."

Andersen just looked at the marine, as if to say: 'He's got a point.' Alec shrugged, and went back to his suppressing fire.

"Friendlies, be aware," the lieutenant murmured, tapping into the radio again. "Hostiles on the roof. They haven't found a way down yet."

"Copy that!" Captain Tarenna's voice replied, frantically. "Justicar! Tell me the south's still clear…"

"Distinctly less clear than a minute ago," Saffiya sighed, her words oddly punctuated by the squelch of a blade. "We're holding, though."

"Ravager, end of the street," Kan reported, stoically.

"Lining up a shot…" his turian comrade nodded...

Crack. Crack. Two whip-like shots from the Viper, sounding out over anything their rifles could produce. Andersen didn't see the result, but judging from the lack of chatter that followed, the Ravager was now a bloodied corpse on the north road.

With a mixture of caution and speed, the engineer swung up into the window himself as Alec dropped to reload. He took three quick shots with his Predator, saw a Cannibal amidst the approaching mob drop, and then reached out with his omni-tool in the other hand, ignoring the shots that bounced off his shields. A quick whir, a tug on one of the finger-trigger programs he'd set up earlier, and a holographic drone flickered into life even as he dropped back into the safety of cover.

The drone blinked, spun once, and then rose up, ignoring the fight in the street outside as it made its way to roof-level. There was a jolt of electricity, out of sight, and a deathly screeching sound, before a Marauder came tumbling over the edge of the roof, shields fried, hitting the ground below with a dull thud.

"…okay, that one was actually pretty funny," Alec admitted, flashing a grim smile as he propped his machinegun on the windowsill once more.

"Thank you…"

Marine and engineer fell silent a moment later, exchanging a worried glance as a groan of metal filled the air. Not a temporary clatter outside, but a long, low moan, reverberating around the walls…

"The fuck was that?" Carter growled.

"Not… sure. Sounded structural. Keep firing!"

The marine shook his head, growling and turning back to his sights, another dull chatter of Phaeston fire filling the air. Andersen was reaching for his omni-tool, scanning furiously, but before he could yield any results:

Skreee…

"Shit! Out of the way, you two-"

Wham! The building shuddered, the sound of a large impact echoing up from a couple of floors below to replace the deafening screech of steel. The engineer had his suspicions already, but they were quickly confirmed by the asari's radio chatter:

"Elevator just came down! Mother of all!"

"Jaena, Derys, check the wreckage! Make sure they're not coming down the-"

"Aargh!"

"Husks! Captain, husks!"

"Jesus Christ…" Alec swore, as he reached down for the next reload. "Do you always have to be right?"

"Curse of the job," Andersen scowled, abandoning his scan. He reached for his pistol, and-

Beep beep.

"…ah, damn it."

Bang! The recon mine at the rear of the corridor went off, reducing two human husks to cinders just as they succeeded in clawing open the doors to the elevator shaft. The doors sprung back with a pneumatic thud, but a moment later they shuddered, something very large and very heavy hitting them from the other side, a sizeable dent appearing in the metal… there was a moment's pause, in which the firefight outside continued to rage and bicker, then:

Wham! A clawed arm as thick as the engineer's torso punched its way through the doors, tearing them clean in two, and as the claws dug into floor, they were hauling up an armoured shoulder behind the arm, a head atop the shoulders…

"Keep firing!" Andersen barked, tapping Alec on the side as he scrambled to his feet. "Somebody, with me, get the goddamn Brute!"