Astella Garrison, Nevos

Day 1, 1335

"Captain Tarenna, this is Lieutenant Andersen. We've got to fall back. Reaper in the bay!"

"What?!"

"You heard me, captain! Reaper in the bay, we're out of time!"

"Shit! What the… what the shit?"

"Saffiya, get them moving if you have to, no time for freak-outs…"

"Understood, Andersen. Anyone not holding a point, make sure the trucks are fuelled and ready to move!"

"My team's coming down from the second floor, watch the elevator shaft for friendlies!"

"Understood!"

Andersen let the comlink die away, with a rueful shake of his head. On the opposite side of the window, Alec just grunted, and hefted his Falcon.

"Last round of grenades," he reported. "Burn 'em?"

"Targets of opportunity!" Andersen nodded, for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"Three Ravagers at the end of the street!" Aeryn interjected, from the next window up the line. "Alec?"

"On 'em!"

Without another word, the marine swung himself up into the aperture of the window, bringing up his gun to fire-

"Ravagers opening up!" Sam yelled, from the other side.

"Christ! Down!" Andersen bellowed, physically grabbing Alec and dragging the bigger man under the window sill - how, he wasn't quite sure.

Boom, boom, boom! Three shots obliterated the window frame above them, and to the left, Aeryn dove down to the floor with a yelp as another Ravager took her cover apart. The front façade of the building did little to resist what was basically artillery, and the walls crumbled under each shot, shards of rubble bouncing down into the corridor over their heads.

"Office wall's gone!" the engineer heard Kan bellow, through his filter. "Zel, out, now!"

There was a chatter of rifle fire, and looking up over the prone form of Alec in front of him, he saw the quarian belt out a dozen rounds through a gap in the wall - the result of the third Ravager's barrage - as the sniper rushed out behind him, keeping her head low.

With a grunt, the marine beneath him fought free, stumbled up onto one knee, and shoved his grenade launcher through the breach. He paused for just a moment to sight down on the loading artillery, and squeezed the trigger:

Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk…

He dropped once more, not watching as the shots flew. Alec rose up in his place, quickly spotting the trio of Ravagers-

Bang bang bang bang bang bang! With what could only be described as a fountain of smoke and ash, the rachni-creatures exploded, six micro-grenades going off beneath their feet to reduce them to pulp and body bits.

"Artillery's down!" Andersen yelled. "We need to go!"

"Agreed!" Kan replied, as he and Zel slid down on their backs to avoid a curtain of rifle fire shooting through the windows.

"Elevator shaft in the back, you should be able to climb down."

"We'll check it out," the turian nodded, setting off at a very low run and making for the corridor where the dead Brute lay, the quarian close on her heel.

With a loud chatter, Alec started firing again, pressing his body into the wall and his borrowed Phaeston around the corner. The engineer just popped another sentry drone, leaving it to hover helpfully beside the marine's head as it poured shots into anything that moved.

"Grenade out!" Cash shouted, tossing one into the crowd outside. It clattered down, bounced audibly, and exploded with a satisfying boom, accompanied by the wails of a cluster of Reaper creatures unfortunate enough to have been in the way.

"Alpha, this is Bravo," the radio chimed. "At the rendezvous, unloading cargo."

"Copy that, Bravo. Falling back from the building-"

Skree…

"What the-?"

Whoosh!

The room flattened, everyone diving onto their bellies and abandoning their firing positions as the sky flashed crimson. A noise like an earthquake filled the air, emanating from somewhere across the city, and the heavens burned for a good few seconds before the Reaper's fire finally died away. The gulf of silence was filled, almost immediately, by a renewed chatter of gunfire in the street outside.

"Zel, Kan, get the fuck downstairs!" Alec bellowed, rolling onto his back. "We're done here!"

"Moving!"

"Ethan, Aeryn, go with them!" Andersen added, picking himself up. "Sam, you alright over there?"

"Fine…" the C-Sec officer coughed, extricating himself from a pile of rubble - the pillar beside his window had collapsed with the force of the Reaper's strike.

"Covering fire!" Carter continued, noisily, as the sentinel and the asari hurried off towards the elevator shaft. "Burn one mag, then we run down after them!"

"Got it!"

The engineer reached for his pistol, checking the ammo count before reconsidering, and loading a case of disruptor rounds. Off to his right, Sam was recovering his rifle from the floor and shifting towards better cover, while Alec checked what was left of his Phaeston's mag, clearly planning to drain the lot.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

"Ready!"

With a clatter of boots and armour, the three of them swung up out of cover - Alec had shifted to the next window down to stay out of Andersen's way - and levelled weapons at the encroaching mob outside.

Crack crack crack crack… a loud rattle of gunfire filled the corridor, and Andersen did his best to drown out the rifles to left and right, setting his own eyes to his pistol, placing each trigger pull. He flared the shields of a Marauder, took it down, bullseyed the Cannibal next, yanked his aim down to hit a husk that went charging at the garage, took another couple of shots into the mob, one missing…

Click. His clip finally ran empty after taking a Cannibal to the ground, and he hopped back from the window, dropping low and reaching for a fresh mag as he made for the door-

"Almost empty!" Alec hollered, as Sam fell back on the right with his rifle dry.

"Falling back!" the detective shouted- "Shit! Incoming, get away from the windows!"

"What?" Andersen frowned. Quite contrary to instructions he stumbled forwards, craning his neck to look back through the window again…

Two red dots on the horizon. Moving fast, and low, and… oh no. He set off at a run, dashing down the corridor to the right with Sam. Some kind of instinct told him running back towards the elevator shaft was a bad idea, and the same instinct was propelling his fellows - Sam was next to him, and Alec was quick on their heels as his MG ran dry, sprinting towards the staircase on the south side-

Boom! A rush of air filled the corridor, ground shaking beneath them as two Oculi pounded the side of the garrison with beam weapons. Andersen went off his feet in a second, rubble pelting the side of his helmet, and the air rushed out of his lungs as he hit the floor, his two companions close behind.

"Airstrike!" he heard Alec bark, groggily. "Captain, airstrike on the east side, corridor's collapsed behind us!"

"I've got multiple casualties down here!" Tarenna replied, shakily. "Justicar, I need you back in the centre to plug this gap!"

"Negative. Reaper forces are pushing on the south garage, we're close to being overrun."

"Oh, that's just great! That's great!"

"Captain, half our squad's on the way down," Carter coughed. "Rest of us are cut off, we'll try to find a way down through the armoury. Sit tight."

There was a thud of boots in the dust, and as Andersen rolled onto his side, taking in the smoke and rubble all around them, he saw an armoured figure come limping out of the corner of his eye, grabbing him unceremoniously under the arm and hauling him upright.

"C'mon LT," the marine muttered. "Time to go."