Sorry this took so long. I have had some of the worst luck with my internet and now I am having to use a hardline connection instead of wifi. It's a mess. Anyway, here is the next installment. We are coming up on the conclusion of this part of the trilogy. Please read and review and let me know what you think, but above all else...enjoy!
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Claire worked to push her stomach back down into her gut. Though the rest of the team seemed to be adjusting to the new orientation rather quickly, she found the feelings of mag boots made her dizzy and slightly sick to her stomach.
The team pushed forward, or up. Keeping the directions straight certainly could have been easier…
Around the first corner, the team met resistance in the form of a krogan battlemaster accompanied by a full squad of geth shock troopers. Saren must have expected Claire to take her team up the outside of the tower. Even if he is a bastard, he's a brilliant tactician.
"Contact front!" Garrus shouted ducking into cover. Claire followed ending up with her head in his lap. She heard him clear his throat, but it seemed different, almost nervous. That's impossible. Garrus doesn't get nervous, he's as cool as they come.
"Commander, I don't see a good route through. Bosht'ets have us pinned down," Tali shouted from her hiding spot. She and Liara had stuffed themselves into a space that really only should have held one of them. Claire fired blindly around the column she was using for cover.
"Hey Claire, I got an idea…but you're not gonna like it." Luke's voice echoed over the radio. He and Wrex peeked out from behind a column behind her. She knew her brother's plans usually worked out, but that was more out of luck than skill. Riding under the Mako, losing the fight to Kai Lang just to pick his pocket, and now whatever he had up his sleeve. Claire sighed reluctantly.
"Do it. Don't tell me what you're doing just what I need to do. I trust you," Claire said she quickly fired another burst at their opponent.
Luke smiled, or at least it looked like he did. That look in his eyes far too familiar to be comforting.
"Any idea what he's got in mind?" Claire asked. Everyone shrugged. Luke held a certain propensity to for coming up with inventive yet dangerous plans.
"You don't want to know, Shepard," Wrex stated. Claire sighed. She said she did not want to know and she meant it. They need to keep moving and Luke usually made that happen. She had no choice but to trust him.
"Shut up Wrex. It's a good idea…should be kind of fun too." Luke's statement of the radio caused the rest of the team to exchange looks. That confirmed it. Luke's plan involved a dangerous stunt. "Okay, I need everyone to give me some cover fire, then charge when I say like your lives depend on it…cause mine kind of will."
Claire could not help but worry about Luke. He seemed more and more reckless since Ashley's death. She had hoped that he would calm down some while on the Citadel, but this attack had happened so quickly he really had not had enough time to mourn.
"Fire!" Luke shouted. The rest of the team blasted away at their opponents blindly. Claire watched Luke take off at a dead sprint way from the enemy. Was he planning one back tracking and flanking the enemy? No, if that had been his plan, he would have simply told her. She could not quite understand what he was planning until she spotted it, the tether wrapped around his waist that used Wrex as an anchor.
Luke stopped just a little further away from the rest of the team as the enemy position was. Claire cocked her head to the side and watched her brother pull his pistol and rifle. As biotic energy started building up around Luke's legs, Claire suddenly realized what Luke planned to do.
"Oh crap…" Claire said pressing her hand to the forehead of her helmet.
"What?" Garrus asked.
"I just realized what Luke is planning to do… and it's beyond crazy," Claire said looking back up just in time to see Luke shoot upward propelled by a massive biotic detonation. The tether pulled tight and changed his flight path into an arc.
With fingers crossed, Claire watched Luke reach the apex of his course and begin his decent toward the enemy position. His weaponry roared to life raining bullets down on the enemy troops.
"Charge!" Luke shouted through the radio.
He wasn't planning on taking out the enemy position. He is acting as a distraction for the rest of us to move up and destroy the enemy. Claire's thoughts forced her to run even faster as Liara, Tali, and Garrus all fell in behind her launching an unforgiving barrage at the enemy. The troops and krogan fell shredded and peppered by the deadly hailstorm of bullets.
The team took defensive positions as Luke descended slowly using his biotics to try and reset his orientation. Luke's flailing arms and legs caused a ripple of chuckles and giggles to pass through the group.
"Well, that worked out nicely," Luke said as he reactivated his mag boots. He stumbled slightly as he reconnected to the tower.
"Luke," Claire started, but she stopped herself. Lecturing Luke about doing dangerous things would only make him mad. He acted bravely and kept the team moving. He deserved to be praised for his out of the box thinking. "Good idea, but please be more careful. I don't want to lose you."
Luke nodded. His eyes had softened, yet still held their fire of recklessness and drive. "I'll be more careful, but no promises."
Claire smiled. The way Luke shifted his weight and would not look her in the eye told her he was faking being alright, but that was okay. As long as he tried to take care of himself.
"Keep moving. We need to get to the access panel for the Council chamber," Claire said waving everyone forward. Luke's stunt appeared to have built up the teams confidence. Wrex had joined them again with a fire in his eyes, ready to fight. Even Liara kneaded her hands and prepared for combat, stretching her muscles after being cramped in the little bit of cover with Tali.
With Luke beside them, they seemed to be unstoppable. The team jived so well. They didn't need to be mirco-managed. Claire would give an order and the team would get it done. Biotic detonations coupled by tech hacking and sabotage supported by ample fire power. The team couldn't be stopped. This was the power of the family Claire had forged.
"Access panel commander. It will take a second to open the lock," Tali said kneeling and opening her omni-tool.
"Take up defensive positions. Keep an eye out for enemy reinforcements." Claire took a position next to Luke. "So, what have you been up to?" Claire asked nudging her brother.
"You know, shooting the breeze, shooting geth. Actually, doing a lot of shooting…" Luke's voice trailed off slightly.
"Drinking a little?" Claire asked. She certainly would have been if she had been in his shoes.
"No ma'am. I've been drinking a lot," Luke replied. Claire sighed. Funny as the comment was, it hurt to see her brother drowning his sorrows in depression. She hated not being able to fix it and help him.
"Got it!" Tali shouted as the hatch opened.
"We're coming for you Saren!" Luke shouted. Claire couldn't agree more. They were so close now, she could taste it and she wanted blood. The team filed in trying to make sure they were not discovered.
000
The Council chamber burned with long since quieted combat. Bodies of attacker and defender alike littered the floor in rolling mounds of charred and peppered bodies. Barriers set up as defenses stood more as displays of death and blood.
Luke stopped over a turian's body and knelt beside the corpse. "Garrus, its Captain Palten." Luke closed the turian's eyes. The captain had been one of the best C-Sec agents Luke had ever known. A former soldier with a proficiency for catching criminals.
"And this is the executor," Garrus responded. They found several other bodies of the councilors' bodyguards. They appeared to have put up a desperate fight. Luke stood and rejoined the group. His anger boiled inside his gut.
"They were taken completely by surprise," Luke said looking around. The defense positions had a sense of hastiness to them. It appeared the first line of defenders sacrificed themselves to allow the second to prep the defenses. However, his experience with geth reminded him that the defenders were doomed from the moment the geth took the elevators.
"Do you think the council got out?" Liara asked. The team exchanged looks before all eyes fell on Luke. Luke sighed and looked back their entry point. The reports over the radio and the extranet informed Bailey and him the council had been ordered to evacuate, but he never heard the confirmation that they had escaped.
"I heard something about them being evacuated to the Ascension at the beginning of the battle, but I haven't heard anything about how the battle outside is going or if they even made it to the ship," Luke said softly as the team advanced.
They placed their steps as carefully and quietly as possible, not that any of them felt like the needed to sneak. Saren must have known they were there.
Luke as about to suggest that they split up to cover more ground and flank the main council chamber, but Claire raised a fist signaling everyone to stop. Luke took cover and peered up ahead trying to see what had Claire spooked. He certainly got his answer. An entire platoon of geth shock troopers along with a prime acted as a guard. They fortified themselves on the higher platform with the position advantage over any approaching unit.
"Garrus, you and I will provide sniper cover. Tali and Wrex, flank left, but make sure to hold to cover as much as possible. Once you are in range, blast those bastards to pieces with your shotguns. Make sure to load explosive rounds for your pistols during the initial attack. After the first shot, switch to the shot guns. Luke, Liara, follow behind them and act as fire and biotic support. Once they have the defenders in cover, move up and cover Garrus' and my advance," Claire instructed taking out her sniper rifle. Garrus followed suit and took a position with a decent line of sight.
The team moved. Luke clung to the walls only long enough to keep Claire's future scolding at bay. He refused to hide like a frightened child while geth murdered people and tried to end the freaking world.
Once they reached their position, Wrex and Tali opened fire. The second they pulled the trigger, Luke sprinted forward firing short blasts from his assault rifle. He knew Claire ordered him to stay back and act as fire support but he believed the risk should be his. Wrex had a planet that he had been wanting to go back to and help his people. Tali intended to return to her fleet upon completing her pilgrimage. Then there was Liara with a brilliant future in academics. Garrus could easily take a spot in the spectres and of course Claire was the first human spectre. Everyone on the crew had a future to look forward to except him. Without Ashley, he could not see a happy future for himself.
Luke roared as he leapt over the barricades at the foot of the stairs. Firing straight down into the defenders, he could not miss. It didn't matter if he fought with reckless disregard for his own life as long as he protected the people who had a future to look forward to. Everyone else had to survive.
"Luke, wait!" Luke heard Claire shout over the radio. He heard the words…he ignored them. Luke charged up the stairs as a sniper round ripped through a geth's head.
Topping the stairs, Luke saw Saren as the turian turned to look at him. His jaw set and his blood boiling, Luke sprinted forward as he brought up his pistol. Yet as he started to squeeze the trigger, Saren dropped off the platform and out of view. He knew he needed to hold back and wait. The platform was the perfect ambush point; a drop on either side and too far away from cover to fall back. Yet the moment he took a step back, Saren appeared once again riding the same hovercraft as on Virmire. Before Luke could raise his pistol again, Saren threw a grenade. Luke's eyes widened as his vision was overcome with the white flash of the explosion and the force hurled him backward.