Rocket felt the pod he was in come to a stop, and he saw the warped figures on the other side looming over him. His fear grew as he realized they'd reached their destination, and his dissection was about to begin.
The pod opened and fueled by his fear and anger, Rocket burst forth, becoming a raging, hissing ball of claws and fangs, slashing and biting at the first thing he touched.
He tasted alien blood in his mouth, and his claws cut deep into the Collectors eyes.
But he didn't fight for long. Rocket felt something strike the back of his head, hard. He fell to the ground, the world spinning as a crushing wave of nausea overwhelmed him.
He turned, just enough to see his attacker crouch down, its cruel claws stretching towards him. Rocket wanted to fight, or to run, but he was too disoriented to fight, and there was nowhere to run. He was going to die here, slowly, torn piece by piece. He felt the claws wrap around his throat, and he let out a choked whimper as he squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could, bracing for the end.
A sudden, jarring metallic screech filled the air. All of the room's occupants, three Collectors and Rocket, turned to face the source of the noise. Two of the Collectors raised their weapons, while the third, bathed in a strange, sickly orange glow, simply watched as the metal bulkhead was slowly pried open.
The Collectors opened fire as soon as the jet black armor of the intruder was visible, their rounds impacting harmlessly against her shields. Kara ignored the attack, and opened the door just enough to let her through before she drew her sidearm, and returned fire, killing both of the Collectors. The barrier around the third disrupted the plasma bolts fired at it, but before Kara could alter her tactics, the Collector reached out with its hand and used its biotics to yank her through the opening, and toss her effortlessly into the wall on its right.
"Your interference is only an inconvenience." The Collector said, its voice not entirely its own. "The harvest of this cycle will be complete." Trapped, Kara could only watch as the Collector created two singularities, one above her head, and the other at her feet.
The force keeping her pinned against the wall disappeared, and was replaced by two opposing forces that threatened to tear her in half. It felt as if her arms and legs had been bound and tied to tanks, and Kara roared in excruciating pain as she felt her vertebrae pop, and her muscles and sinew tear as her limbs were stretched beyond their limits.
Her innards were being stretched and torn apart, and she lost the feeling in everything below her stomach. The only thing that kept her body in one piece was her armor, and it was quickly failing.
In her agony, Kara didn't notice the small figure moving behind the Collector, which also had forgotten about the small creature in its arrogance. Rocket wrapped his small paw around the grip of one of the fallen Collector's rifles, and struggled to lift it.
He raised the weapon, aiming square at the back of its skull, and fired.
All of the creature's cruel malice was focused on Kara, so nothing stopped the round from blowing the monsters head open.
Kara crumpled to the ground gracelessly. She tried and failed to move her legs. Her arms however, still responded to her commands, although even a minuscule movement sent fresh shocks of pain through her body.
She dragged herself to her cannon, which had been ripped from its magnetic clasps, and gripped it tightly, before crawling to Rocket. "Thanks." She muttered. "How are you holding up?" She asked, ignoring the decidedly painful feeling of her body regenerating. She'd be able to move again within a minute, but with her arms and legs dislocated, her body would heal improperly; she would need proper medical attention to reset her limbs and heal the right way. Until then, every move she made was a struggle.
Rocket didn't fail to notice Kara's injuries, but he reluctantly bit back his concerns and slowly sat down, placing a hand against his head. "Oh, y'know. Doin' fine, all things considered. One a those assholes hit me in the head." He grumbled, as a wave of nausea washed over him.
Kara snarled. She and Rocket were combat ineffective. His concussion would make doing anything nearly impossible, and while Kara would partially recover, her arms and legs would remain dislocated, severely reducing her accuracy and mobility.
They had no choice but to retreat to the Normandy. The nerves in her spine finished knitting themselves back together, and Kara forced herself to her feet, every fiber in her body screamed in protest even as it acquiesced to her command.
"Come on Rocket, we're getting out of here."
"What about the others?" Rocket protested, hearing the sounds of distant gunfire on the station, certain that some of the shots belonged to their comrades.
"We can't help them. I can barely move, let alone fight, and you've got a concussion. We'd only be liabilities." Kara said, no happier about that fact than Rocket was.
Rocket closed his eyes as another wave of nausea crashed down on him. "Flark. Alright fine. Let's get outta here."
Rocket climbed onto Kara's outstretched hand, and she let out a hiss of pain as she brought him to her chest. She hoped the others were having better luck…
Shepard fired a burst into the last Collector standing between them and their destination: a large bulkhead, behind which was the captured Normandy crew. The door opened, and Serina ushered them through. "Move, now! I'm starting to lose ground in here."
"Losing ground? To what?" Kasumi asked as she bolted through the door.
"There's another construct in the system, and it's learning quickly. I can't guarantee control of the station for much longer." Serina replied as the bulkhead shut behind them.
Shepard watched as the door closed, before turning her attention to one of the nearby Collector pods. She approached it slowly, coming to a stop within arms reach of it. The surface of the pod was clear, and Shepard could see the pod's unconscious occupant, a young woman. Shepard saw her begin to stir, and when her eyes opened, they were quickly filled with a mixture of shock, bewilderment, and hope.
It didn't last long. Before she could do anything, Shepard saw the pod begin to fill with some kind of liquid, and the woman screamed as the fluid began to liquify her. Her skin, muscles, and even bones melted in front of Shepard.
The Spectre burst into action, slamming the butt of her rifle over and over into the pod, to no avail. She could only watch helplessly as the woman's body melted into a sickening slurry while she was still alive.
Once it was over, there was nothing left but a sickening sludge, which was sucked out of the pod. Shepard felt her blood run cold as she turned her head, and saw the faces of the Normandy's crew occupying the nearby pods.
"Get them out of there!" She bellowed.
Artemis quickly complied, almost effortlessly shattering the pods' canopies and freeing their occupants. As soon as the pods were open, their dazed occupants were dragged out and unceremoniously dropped to the floor, the Hunters favoring speed over gentleness.
They moved with supernatural haste, and miraculously managed to rescue all fifty of the Normandy's crew. Shepard saw Kelly Chambers struggle to push herself to her feet. Chambers' eyes lit up when she saw the Commander. Shepard nodded in greeting, then moved to Garrus's side, the Turian having been torn from the pod a half dozen meters away.
Garrus shook his head, trying to rid himself of his grogginess, then saw Shepard. His mandibles twitched as he saw how pale she looked. "Hey Shepard, you good?" He asked, concerned.
Shepard tightened her grip on her rifle. "I will be." Shepard saw Nora gesture for the mule, and the robot approached the crew, before kneeling.
"Alright everyone, grab a rifle." Shepard barked, loud enough for everyone to hear her. The mule's spine split open, revealing scores of rifles, grenades, and any other weapon they could pack in.
"But… but most of us aren't soldiers!" Kelly protested. She wasn't wrong. There were only a handful of Cerberus Marines aboard the Normandy, the rest of the crew were about as useful in a fight as a toy knife. But, desperate times and all that.
"It doesn't matter. We're inside the Collector base, and they aren't letting any of us leave without a fight. The Normandy isn't too far from here, the non-combat crew will exfil to the LZ, and you'll need those weapons to get there." Shepard said, before her HUD alerted her to an incoming communique from Kara.
"Shepard, what's your status, over." Kara asked.
"I've found the crew, and we managed to rescue all of them… Did you find Rocket? Over."
There was a pause. "Affirmative, but it's not all good news. Rocket has a severe concussion, and I was rendered combat-ineffective trying to rescue him. We'll have to retreat to the Normandy, over."
Shepard sighed. "Solid copy. The rest of the crew will be on their way to the Normandy too. Over."
Just then, Shepard heard Joker join in the conversation. "So… about the "get to the Normandy" thing…" Shepard could feel the wince in his voice.
"What happened?" She reluctantly asked.
"The Collectors found the LZ, and EDI and I had to take off; exfil isn't an option anymore."
Shepard clenched and unclenched her jaw. "Solid copy Normandy. Kara, you catch that?"
"We heard. We'll think of something. Stay alert Shepard. Kara out."
As soon as Shepard was finished speaking to Kara, Garrus cleared his throat. "So, bad news?"
"How'd you guess?" Shepard asked dryly.
"That look on your face." Jack said from behind him.
Shepard sighed. "The Collectors found the Normandy's LZ, and Joker had to bug out. Retreat isn't an option anymore." She said.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Mess Sergeant Gardner asked.
"Fight our way through." Nora stated calmly.
Shepard didn't want to admit it, but the Hunter was right. Nobody was leaving until they completed their mission.
The "ground" team, now mostly comprised of people who were never supposed to fight, was a full platoon. They divided themselves into five squads, with Laura in command of squad one, Nora, the second, Machiko heading up third squad, Samantha leading fifth squad, and Shepard in command of the fourth.
As everyone assembled into their squads, Shepard consulted the map of the station Serina had downloaded. There was a narrow chamber, followed by a steep incline which led to the last chamber between them and the reactor. The good news was it wasn't much farther, the bad news was that there were swarms of the Collectors seeker drones on the other side.
Shepard turned her attention back to her crew. "We headed out?" Garrus asked.
"Not yet, there's a problem. The next room is full of seeker swarms. We'll have to find a way through them first." Shepard said.
Samara stepped forward. "I should be able to sustain a barrier to protect a handful of people."
"So can I. In theory, any biotic can do it." Miranda interjected.
"There's a difference between "in theory" and "in practice"." Nora said dryly.
Shepard interrupted before an argument could start (which was a certainty, if the expression on Miranda's face was any indication). "How many people can your barrier fit Samara?"
"Ten people, assuming they stay close." The Justicar answered.
Shepard hummed. If Miranda was right, there were enough biotics on hand to provide safe passage for everyone.
But considering the size of the seeker swarm, that was a pretty big assumption. Regardless, they didn't have any other choice. "Alright. Thane, Samara, Jack, Miranda and Jacob, all of you need to make a barrier so the rest of us can move through the chamber."
The biotics acknowledged the order, and everyone prepared to move out. Shepard and Nora's squad took point, with Jack and Miranda providing the barriers. The instant the doors began to slide open, the platoon was surrounded by fields of ghostly blue energy.
Jack and Miranda pushed forward, fourth and fifth squad close at hand providing cover. Shepard tried to ignore the swarms of insect-like drones slamming into the barriers as the Normandy crew slowly advanced, worming their way through the narrow corridor, the cacophony of buzzing growing louder and louder with every passing second.
Before long, they reached the top of the steep incline, and that was when new problems presented themselves. Collectors began to drop in behind them, and those who could, quickly moved to cover the others.
"First, third and second squads, keep pushing forward, fourth and fifth will provide covering fire!" Shepard ordered, knowing full well that the barriers protecting them came closer to failing with every second they wasted.
Shepard and her squad fired bursts into the approaching Collectors, killing or wounding nearly a dozen of them, but more of the things just stepped over their corpses.
"Fifth squad, keep moving, then lay down suppressive fire for us!" Shepard barked, blasting open a Collectors skull when it tried to take a few potshots.
Samantha's team slowly pulled back, a few of them firing as they did. They stopped roughly fifteen meters away, and laid down suppressive fire, bolts of plasma and shards of metal snapping close enough to the Collectors to stymie even their suicidal advances.
Now that they had covering fire, Shepard's team moved out, although Shepard noticed that Miranda was quickly tiring out. They wouldn't have time to keep leapfrogging, they had to hurry.
When they reached Sam's team, they both pulled back, Samantha and Shepard providing as much cover as possible. They reached the top of the incline, leaving a veritable mountain of corpses behind them, and Shepard could see the other squads were halfway down.
She gazed back the way they came, and was satisfied that there seemed to be a brief lull between waves, allowing them to move without having to worry about being shot in the back.
With their goal in sight, the biotics began to move faster, speed-walking down the hill, gaining a respectable amount of distance before another, much larger wave of Collectors attacked.
They were nearly a third of the way down when the insectoids opened fire. Samantha protected her squad by moving in the Collectors line of fire, but simultaneously prevented most of them from returning fire, otherwise they'd risk being crushed underfoot as she stepped backwards.
Shepard stopped to fire a burst at one of the more aggressive Collectors, her rounds striking it in the torso and skull, before she had to spring back into motion as the barrier threatened to leave her behind. She scowled, realizing that the two squads couldn't return fire unless they slowed down, but if they did that, they'd be overrun. Shepard addressed Jack and Miranda. "Get ready to run!" She barked, and to the rest she said: "Grenades! Frag and smoke, now!"
The two teams acted quickly, throwing frags into the clusters of Collectors, and dropping the smoke grenades at their feet before moving. There were several booms as the grenades detonated amongst the Collectors, killing and wounding dozens, and slowing them down enough for Shepard and Samantha's teams to make it down the hill free of harassment.
Fourth and Fifth squad regrouped with the rest of the Normandy crew just as the Collectors caught up to them. Well over a score of the crew opened fire on the insectoids, plasma and bullets ripping and burning through their targets by the dozens, but with their backs against a sealed door, the ground team was at risk of being overrun.
"Serina, how's it coming opening that door?" Shepard shouted into her comm as she unloaded on a Collector that got too close for comfort, its yellowish blood splattered over her armor.
"Almost…" The AI started to say, the door opening as soon as she stopped speaking. "Got it! Move it meat sacks!" The instant they could fit, the Normandy crew moved through the door as fast as possible. Laura and Machiko took up positions on the other side of the door, providing covering fire, their rounds sailing well over the heads of the crew.
Shepard was the second to last to step through, Jack behind her. But just before crossing the threshold of the door, Jack turned, and collapsed her barrier, a snarl on her face as the biotic energy began to warp around her body, before she unleashed a devastating blast of energy that disintegrated the first Collectors it came into contact with, and ripped all subsequent insectoids violently into the air.
Jack wore a smirk on her face as she passed Laura and Machiko, the door closing behind her.
Shepard consulted the map one last time, confirming that the station's reactor was just ahead. Serina had been tracking the locations of Collector forces, so Shepard knew there were none between them and the objective; instead, all of them were converging on Shepard's location. Shepard turned to face the platoon. "Tali, Garrus! You two are coming with me. Everyone else, defend this position!" She ordered.
The assembled squads quickly organized themselves into a defensive position. They settled into three firing lines: the first line was comprised of the non-combat personnel, lying prone in the hopes of improving their accuracy.
The second line was filled with the ground crew and Cerberus marines, taking what little cover they could find behind the first.
The third line was Fireteam Artemis, who could fire over everyone else without having to worry about anyone getting in the way. Each line spaced out as best they could before settling in. The only entrance into the chamber was the door they'd just come through, and the plan was for the first and second lines to alternate fire, switching when the weapons of the other overheated, while Artemis would fire non-stop, thus ensuring a constant barrage of fire into the kill-zone.
Shepard, Tali and Garrus climbed onto one of the hexagonal platforms at Serina's instruction, and the Commander turned to gaze at her crew. She considered saying a few words, but the way the platoon moved made it clear that despite being outnumbered over a hundred to one, everyone was ready for what was coming. Shepard smiled, then activated the platform.
There was a brief sense of vertigo as it floated into the air, then drifted off to the core of the station.
Kara came to a halt as she felt the thunderous footsteps of a rapidly approaching Collector horde, one too large for her to fight. She quickly surveyed the room, looking for anywhere she and Rocket could hide, when her gaze settled on a large chunk of debris, formerly part of the breached ceiling. Moving as quickly and as carefully as she could, she ducked behind it, laying flat on her back, then waited for what felt like an agonizing eternity for the mid-sized company of nearly 120 Collectors to enter the room.
The door opened, and the air was suddenly filled with the oppressive buzz of their wings, and the thunder of their footsteps as they moved through. Kara was barely hidden behind the debris, and the Collectors passed within feet of her. Her obsidian armor blended somewhat with the charred metal she hid behind, but if any of the Collectors stopped to look at her hiding spot, there was little hope in her mind that it would stand up to the scrutiny.
Rocket struggled to quiet his breathing, wrapped inside Kara's hands, feeling his bones rattle from the trembling of their footsteps.
When the last of the creatures exited the room, Kara slowly peeked her head over her concealment, and when she saw it was clear, she slowly got back up, and continued.
Artemis's Battle-net was keeping track of all her forces currently on the station, and she was making her way to a small Armored Combat Team, comprised of two Mastodon Heavy tanks, each equipped with a 150 millimeter railgun and a plasma repeater, a Procoptodon IFV equipped with a twin barreled plasma turret, and two remote controlled turrets on its left and right hull, and two dozen supporting Guardian drones acting as infantry.
The IFV was designed to double as an APC, and Kara and Rocket would spend the rest of the mission inside its hull. Kara moved through the next two rooms swiftly, and reached the rendezvous point first.
According to her map, the ACT was only three minutes away. But she noticed another company of Collectors on the map, and they were set to intercept Kara and Rocket in less than one.
Kara couldn't continue on to the team herself, the atmosphere in the rooms between was compromised; Rocket wouldn't survive.
And the barren room she stood in meant she couldn't hide and simply wait for the reinforcements.
She snarled in frustration, clenching her jaw, before her gaze settled on her rifle, an idea popping into her head. She couldn't hide, but maybe Rocket could. She took aim at the closest wall, and fired.
The recoil from each micro-missile fired sent shocks of pain through Kara's mangled arm, but it was worth it as the rounds tore a hole in the wall large enough for Rocket to climb inside. Kara kneeled, ignoring the protestation from her legs as she did, and placed Rocket beside the hole.
Rocket immediately knew what she was planning. "What about you?" His expression made it clear he wanted to argue, but he knew better. He could barely see straight, much less shoot straight. So he reluctantly crawled inside.
Kara readied her weapon, her pain feeding her anger and resolve. There was no way the Collectors wouldn't notice that hole in the wall. Not unless she gave them something more important to worry about. "Stay here. I only have to last two minutes at most." She said, reassuringly. Normally, such a task would be child's play. The large empty chamber gave her plenty of room to maneuver, and her abilities would allow her to do so at speeds almost too fast for her opponents to react.
But in her injured state, she was slowed down just enough to lose that advantage. She would have to rely more on her shields and armor than she would have liked, and if another one of those… enhanced Collectors appeared…
Kara quickly ended that train of thought. If she did encounter another one, she would do her best to deal with it, putting any more thought into it was a waste of time.
She set up facing the door the Collectors were coming from head on, ready to fire the instant the doors opened. The rumbling and buzzing of the Collectors drew closer, and the doors parted.
Kara quickly greeted the newcomers with a hail of gunfire, the rounds tore apart half a dozen unfortunate bugs on the other side, and wounded nearly a dozen more. The Collectors weren't deterred however, many taking flight and swarming into the chamber, and returned fire.
Kara hastily routed most of her armor's power to her shields as the Collectors pelted her with bullets and particle beams, her vision obscured by the sheer amount of fire being sent her way, the oppressive buzz of the Collectors wings present in spite of the gunfire.
She responded in kind, blowing apart the husks on the ground, while her plasma lances burned through the Collectors in the air, cooking them in their shells, their flaming bodies falling like flies.
Kara grit her teeth, and moved as quickly as she could, trying to create distance between her and the scores of husks that tried to overwhelm her.
The timer on her HUD ticked down agonizingly slowly as more and more hostiles poured into the room; there was one minute and thirty seconds left before her reinforcements arrived, and she wasn't sure she'd last another thirty seconds, much less a minute and a half.
When the timer read 1:25 seconds, the Collectors changed tactics, much to Kara's misfortune. They gave up on shooting at her, and switched to CQC. Well over a hundred Collectors descended upon her, and Kara was forced to drop her rifle and activate her wrist mounted plasma blades. Without her rifle keeping them at bay, what was left of the husks joined in. One minute left.
Kara swung her blades with rabid ferocity. The bodies of those struck by her arms were shattered and cracked by the force, and those on the receiving end of her blades were effortlessly cut into pieces. Each swing killed several of her attackers, but each corpse was replaced by a dozen more.
She felt their wretched hands claw and scratch at her armor, seeking to drag her down and tear her apart. She spun like a cornered animal, swinging her tail. She struck another insect in its head, shattering its skull.
But in spite of her dogged resistance, their numbers eventually overwhelmed her, the howls of the husks and buzzing of the Collectors drowning out all other noise. Thirty seconds left.
Angry, blazing blue beams of plasma continued to burn through the writhing mass of insectoids and husks, scarring the far off ceiling as she continued to fight.
Fifteen seconds. The large eastern bulkhead began to glow, starting as a dull red, before becoming a fiery orange as the ACT burned through.
Zero.
The construct operating the lead Mastodon heavy tank scanned the bulkhead in front of it, and determined that the structure had been sufficiently weakened. It accelerated, ramming all 80 tons into the molten metal. The tank plowed through effortlessly, the metal screeching weakly in protest.
The vehicle came to a halt, and scanned its new surroundings. The room was full of flying insectoids, and malformed humanoids, all classified as hostiles in the A.I.s database. The Mastodon's sensors detected Rocket and Kara's IFF tags; the former, located in a small hole blasted into the opposite wall, the latter buried under hostile forces.
All of this, occurring in fractions of a millisecond. The tank brought its weapons to bare as the rest of its combat team entered behind it. As it readied its weapons, the A.I. compared the armor and shield strength of both Kara and Rocket to the power of its weapons, before determining that neither would survive a shot from its main cannon, and instead opened fire with its plasma repeater.
Hundreds of plasma bolts spewed forth in mere seconds, and the rest of the ACT engaged.
A dazzling firefight began in the air as the Guardian drones engaged the Collectors still in the air, blindingly bright lances of energy spewing from their weapons, igniting any unfortunate bug on the receiving end.
The Procoptodon joined in; its three plasma cannons practically melted what little was left of the Collectors.
It was over in seconds. The smell in the air was a sickening blend of cooked insects and ozone. Rocket slowly climbed out of his hole, and spotted Kara clawing her way out of the mountain of corpses.
Her armor was bathed in blood, a sight that would only become more and more common. Kara quickly ran over to Rocket, before scooping him up like one would a baby, trying not to move his head too much.
Kara then moved to the rear of the Procoptodon, and opened its hatch. She climbed inside, shutting the hatch behind her, and strapped Rocket into his seat.
Rocket took control of the turret on the right side of the IFV's hull as Kara took her seat, and did the same to the other side. "So what now?" Rocket asked, feeling somewhat better, in spite of recent smells.
"Now, we bring the cavalry." Kara snarled, ordering the armored column to proceed to where the Normandy crew was currently fighting for their lives.
A gleeful smirk spread on Rocket's lips as his hands gripped the controls, his thumb resting on the firing button. "Flark yeah".