Chapter 6: Desolation

The Kodiak shuttle craft kept its distance from the old colony site as it swooped in looking for a suitable landing zone. Shepard looked out over the terrain from the shuttle window and frowned. It was mountainous, rocky, and there wasn't much cover other than the large boulder every now and then. Not ideal but the other options weren't much better. The Commander's plan was to infiltrate several kilometers away from the colony's current position and scope it out from a distance. While a bit time consuming, Shepard wasn't going to rush into the unknown without some kind of understanding of what he would be facing. The Kodiak pilot looked to the back reporting in, "ETA to drop point...thirty seconds."

Shepard nodded and ordered, "After you take us in, stay on station for an hour or so, if you don't hear from us pull back to the Normandy."

"Yes sir!" said the pilot as he returned back to his console.

Miranda looked to her Commander with a worried expression, "While I agree with being cautious Shepard, I still have my reservations of coming down here at all."

"Noted, but I'm not going to let the Reapers take colonists without an attempt at a rescue." replied the Commander as he continued to scan the window outside.

Miranda crossed her arms still in doubt, "What if there are no colonists and its just a trap as everyone keeps suggesting?"

Shepard looked to his XO with a serious look on his face, "I have confidence we can fight our way out of it if that's the case. We stay back for now, observe and if we find survivors try to get them out."

"Still a bit of a long shot Shepard, based on what we know so far we're probably too late." replied Miranda adamantly.

Shepard pointed to the window emphasizing his next point, "Then why is their ship still here? Why establish all those pyramids? It's not like the Collectors who have just been kidnapping entire populations and moving on. These guys are setting up shop and I want to know why."

The pilot of the shuttle looked to the back again and announced, "We have arrived at the LZ sir!"

Shepard stood up and grabbed the railing above him, "Alright team, let's get to it!"

The shuttle door opened and Shepard piled out, sniper rifle drawn. Following him was Miranda, Mordin, and finally Zaeed all drawing their weapons while stepping into the graveled terrain. The Commander motioned his squad to spread out and they began heading to the colony as the Kodiak took off. At first the trek was slow going due to the terrain but eventually they found a dirt road coming down the mountain side that appeared to have not been used for some time. They followed the road northwest as they approached the colony outskirts, Shepard called the squad to hold position as he scoped out the area with his Viper. They were coming down a slope into a small valley with some trees that looked like they were recently cleared to make room for the new residential structures. The Commander had found a position by a large boulder and was peaking around its left side. Miranda and Mordin formed up with Shepard by the rock while Zaeed went prone beside a smaller outcropping, his Incisor sniper rifle now giving him a view of the closest structures.

After a moment of both Zaeed and Shepard looking through their scopes the Commander radioed, "I don't see movement or any guards. Zaeed keep up overwatch from your position, the rest of us will head down the slope."

Zaeed acknowledged and the rest of the team moved up. Ahead of their position was nothing but open ground leading to the valley with little cover so they had to double time it to reach the closest structures. While there was still no confirmed hostiles, Shepard knew that one couldn't be too careful when dealing with potential sharpshooters. The Commander cloaked when he cleared the slope and ran quickly past the first residential buildings with his Avenger drawn. The other team members pressed against the walls of the district in cover and waited for Shepard to signal them in. As Shepard scanned the area cautiously Zaeed contacted him.

"Movement, a bit ahead of you on your right Shepard."

Shepard saw the rustling of brush by the corner of one of the buildings. He crouched down and silently crept up to where the brush was to check around. When he got to the back of the building, there was a brown haired man in dirty colonial fatigues pressed against the wall. He was hyperventilating and looking scared out of his wits. Shepard decided to take a more tactful approach in confronting him by retreating back to the corner of the building and then calling out to the man.

"It's okay, we're here to help." Shepard then switched over to his comms, "Miranda, Mordin, get over here we got a survivor. He looks pretty shaken up."

"Understood Shepard." Acknowledged Miranda.

Shepard deactivated his cloak and cautiously came around the corner. The man was slightly taken aback but still looked frightened and unsure of the Commander. The colonist shook his head and began to mumble something to himself. Miranda and Mordin came around the other side of the building approaching the colonist as well. The man then sat down and continued to mumble as Shepard and his team walked up to him. He looked to be in his late thirties with a receding hairline. The shaken man was looking downward while sitting on the ground constantly muttering, "You're not here...you're not...you're not here..."

"Its alright, you're safe now." Shepard said attempting to reassure the colonist.

Suddenly the man looked up with a panicked expression still on his face with wide eyes shouting, "NO! You're not!...You...you're just an illusion...what they want me to see."

The Commander leaned down next to the colonist, "Who are they? What do they want you to see?"

"The metal ones...death..they want...me to see..." The colonist spaced out for a moment before suddenly laughing hysterically.

Shepard looked to his team's medical expert, "Mordin?"

The salarian activated his omni-tool and gave a scan of the broken man, "Hmmm, initial scan indicates normal organ functionality besides elevated levels of adrenaline and stress induced hormones. Recommend sedative."

Mordin drew a device that looked similar to a pistol with an open cavity in the top. He loaded it with a cartridge of what appeared to be a tranquilizer and injected it into the colonist who was still laughing. As the drug took effect the man's laughter started to die down and he finally began to relax. After a moment, the strange man began to look around and seemed to finally come to his senses somewhat.

"Wha..." The colonist then saw Shepard when he looked to his left muttering, "Oh god...I.."

The Commander reassured, "It's okay we're here to help, what's your name?"

The colonist seemed to looked confused trying to answer the question, "I...don't...I don't remember."

The salarian gave the broken man another once over checking his vitals, "Condition is stabilizing, though amnestic response is...problematic. Possibly stress induced or chemical cause...unclear."

Shepard nodded, "That's alright, is there anything you can remember?"

The colonist was quiet for a moment, his eyes staring out into the horizon as he searched his thoughts before saying, "Processing...processing..." the man's eyes suddenly widened again in realization, "Processing plant...the pyramid..others...trapped...shipping them out...soon."

The shaken man soon began to lose consciousness and his eyes began to roll back, Shepard grabbed him by the shoulder to keep him up saying, "Stay with us! How many people were there?"

But it was too late, the sedative had done its work too well and the disturbed man was now fast asleep. Shepard let the man lay against the wall and let his head droop slightly, "Shit...Miranda, call the shuttle in once we finish clearing the area. We'll have Chakwas give him a look."

Miranda nodded as she and Mordin began moving the colonist to a more secure spot while Shepard cloaked once more and began his sweep of the residential area. The Commander and Zaeed spent another half hour sweeping the zone before the all clear was given. Afterward Miranda called in the shuttle and helped Mordin get the colonist to the Kodiak, while Shepard and Zaeed convened in the colony proper.

"What do you think?" asked the Commander.

"My feelin' is take what we got and get out. We can find out more from the survivor back on the Normandy while at the same time not getting too stuck into whatever is going on." replied the old merc still uneasy about being in the open.

"If there are more survivors than they won't have that kind of time. Especially if they are being transferred to that giant ship. We keep going and send the civilian back to Chakwas." Shepard replied.

"Your call Shepard, you better hope my instincts are wrong on this one. Unfortunately for you they tend not to be around these parts." Zaeed said as he walked passed the Commander to a nearby residence.

After the Kodiak took off with its passenger, Miranda and Mordin proceeded to examine the site. The residential district of the colony was only half of what it was originally and most of the usual amenities of the buildings weren't even installed. There were terminals of course though there was no useful data within them. Just basic message functions so they could communicate with their families and friends. There was hardly any useable equipment on site as well which made Miranda wonder how anyone could continue to make it out here like this. The team regrouped on the edge of the residential district, where the Commander explained the next step.

"Alright, I've decided we're going to head to the colony's previous site. We can use that transport vehicle to take us some of the way and then get out on foot." said the Spectre as he pointed to a civilian cargo hauler nearby.

Miranda was still unsettled, "I am not exactly fond of going into the lion's den with hardly a clue as to what we are dealing with."

"Well unless we take the risk we never will and I'm not going to let more lives get sacrificed needlessly, let's get moving." Shepard turned and headed to the cargo hauler with the others close behind.

The team piled into the heavy transport and proceeded to drive it back up the dirt road that led them to the current colony's site. Shepard radioed Garrus for an update on their new target from the Normandy.

"Shepard to Normandy we're heading to the colony's old site in a civilian transport, how does our target look from your position?"

"Still no movement, least none that we can see. They may have automated defenses or something similar at the site but we won't know until you get closer." replied Garrus over the comms.

"Understood, keep me posted, Shepard out."

Meanwhile the Kodiak was en route back to the upper atmosphere where the pilot reported in, "Shuttle to Normandy got one to drop off, requires medical attention."

EDI responded back promptly to the pilot's comm channel, "Acknowledged, medical personnel going on station for medievac."

Unbeknownst to the pilot however, the resting man in the passenger portion of the shuttle suddenly awoke . His face was now neutral, eyes wide and he seemed driven by an unknown will. The disturbed man stood up silently, moving to the cockpit of the shuttle craft and reached into his jacket. He pulled a kind of makeshift compact gun from it and stared at the pilot. The colonist seemed to twitch and jerk somewhat, almost as if attempting to resist what he was doing but failing. The pilot was still too busy flying to notice the danger and in the end the colonist returned back to staring at his target. He crept up silently to the cockpit and pressed the gun to the back of the pilot's head. The gun discharged, blasting through the unfortunate pilot's helmet spraying blood and brain across the console. Acting quickly the colonist removed the dead pilot from the seat and took over the controls, turning the shuttle around back towards the surface.

Garrus noticed the Kodiak turning around on his display and made Joker aware of it, "Uh, Joker why is the shuttle turning back around?"

The turian was on station at the galaxy map screen as its display changed to show the Normandy's position and the shuttle craft. Joker hit up his own holographic and saw what Garrus was talking about.

"I'll get them on the comm real quick." Joker said as he inputted commands on his holographic console, "Shuttle this is Normandy, why have you turned around? We thought you had a patient on board?"

EDI suddenly appeared and exclaimed, "Alert! Sensor ping detected on our port side six hundred thirty seven meters away!"

Both Garrus and Joker could only respond with, "What?!"

Appearing on their display's a dark crescent shaped craft with green highlights shifted into sight. It dwarved the Normandy as it was three times its size coming in at a length of seven hundred and fifty meters. Garrus wasn't about to stick around to see what that thing's weapons could do to them.

"Get us some distance Joker!" The turian ordered.

"Way ahead of you!" Joker shouted back as he tried to manuever the ship away from the new threat. Unfortunately he found that while the controls from the cockpit were working, the drive core wasn't responding to any commands being issued to it.

"Uh EDI, what's going on?" Joker nervously asked.

EDI quickly responded, "We have boarders! Engineering section, they are severing our connection to the drive core!"

Joker's eyes widened, "How the hell did they get in here!? There was no boarding craft detected!"

"The speed and coordination of the attackers is more advanced and complicated than any previous encounters. They are penetrating my firewalls faster than I can erect them, I am unable to prev-" EDI's hologram suddenly disappeared before Joker's eyes, leaving him dumbfounded.

Joker meekly asked before realizing, "...EDI?...Oh shit."

Suddenly flashes of green light appeared throughout the CIC leaving behind robotic bipeds armed with large guns and metallic scarabs that suddenly swarmed over the deck. Before anyone could react they found themselves pinned by the robot bugs or grabbed and brought down by the metal humanoids. Garrus himself was caught by two of them and slammed into the ground before he even realized what had happened. One last flash at the cockpit and a more elaborate robot appeared with a blue metallic cape with golden features on its face. It had a staff in it's hand which it then brought down on Joker's shoulder causing him to cry out in pain as his clavicle cracked. It then flipped it's staff and kept the blunt end on the fragile pilot's now breaking scapula as it looked across the CIC and announced with a metallic feminine voice, "I would advise against any further resistance. Lest I decide to make this one into an example."

Garrus could only look up helplessly from the floor with gritted teeth as he heard Joker crying out, "Ow ow ow! Fuck! Grrraah!" as the skeletal bot continued to press its staff into the poor pilot's shoulder.

On the surface, the ground team had left their vehicle and was now approaching what used to be the northern checkpoint of the original colony. It was slightly unnerving as the sky was getting dark and wind blew across what was now a seemingly abandoned alien environment. To their left, obsidian pyramids hummed with energy as the dirt road soon became metallic black flooring with green light coursing through its surface. Up ahead of them, a much larger pyramid loomed over them. Commander Shepard activated his omni-tool and a map appeared on his holographic forearm display. According to the old layout of the colony, the giant pyramid was where the processing facility used to be. The Commander found it odd that these aliens chose to build on top of it, but in the end it didn't matter. He was still determined to find out what was going on here, however the rest of the team was still skeptical.

Shepard turned off his display as Miranda met up with him, "This place is even more unsettling up close Commander. The fact night is beginning to fall isn't helping either."

"No sign of any dragon's teeth or anything like what we normally see with Reapers either. Still, according to the survivor the other colonists were at a processing facility." Shepard pointed at the giant pyramid up ahead of them, "Where that structure is currently."

Zaeed whistled, "Its like one of those old Egyptian pyramids back on Earth, except more flashy."

"That and they certainly got it up faster than any of our ancestors could ever hope to match." Shepard thought out loud.

Zaeed looked to Shepard with a cocked eyebrow and asked, "You really want to go in there Shepard?"

The Commander was getting tired of explaining and just gave Zaeed the stink eye. The old merc could only shrug as he took up another overwatch position by a pedastal looking object as the rest of the team moved up to the pyramid's base. It was rectangular and several stories up before the pyramid's angles pointed to the tip on top. The team saw smooth black obsidian metal with green lights moving along it's surface but still no obvious sign of a door or entrance. Shepard's team spent a few minutes looking for any kind of opening before the Commander crossed his arms and huffed, "There's got to be an entrance somewhere in this thing."

"Well clearly it's not going to be that simple this time." Miranda said.

Zaeed regrouped with the squad as Shepard looked for some kind of console or anything he could interact with. The Commander soon found some kind of hand imprint in a section of the wall and was about to put his hand in when Miranda spoke up, "Shepard...something's wrong."

Shepard turned and glanced at her, "What is it?"

Miranda was checking her comm link and answered, "I can't contact the Normandy and I checked to see if it was interference...nothing."

"What about the shuttle?" the Commander asked.

"Same thing..." she replied.

"We should probably ge-" Shepard was interrupted by the sound of nearby rumbling.

Suddenly the other obsidian pyramids had their tops glow in veridian energies and flashes of green light appeared from doors that opened at their bases. What appeared as black clouds emerged from the doorways before they suddenly moved in the team's direction. Zaeed looked through his Incisor's scope quickly and saw what the clouds were made of.

"Those aren't clouds...some kind of robot bugs!" the mercenary exclaimed.

Miranda's eyes widened in realization, "Seeker swarms?!"

Shepard acted quickly and placed his hand in the imprint on the wall. A doorway parted off to the left side of the hand impression. The Commander waved the rest of his squad inside, "In here! Go go go!"

Despite their reservations, the prospect of getting ripped apart by swarms of robotic insects was certainly less appealing than the unknown interior of the pyramid. They all rushed through the door with Shepard going in last. The door closed behind him and the area they were previously standing in was now overrun with metallic scarabs. Even inside the pyramid they could hear the swarms outside as they quickly backed away from the door which then melded with the rest of the obsidian wall.

Shepard could only respond with, "Well...like it or not we're in it now."

The team turned and saw the interior, it was somewhat dark with green lighting flowing throughout the entire facility. There were pedastals that almost looked like some kind of reactors or storage units as they hummed with energy. To the left of them was a series of large blocks stacked on top of one another with a system of catwalks that went along them all like a prison. In the center was some kind of chamber that rose from the ground with an eerie light in it's entrance. Miranda and Zaeed went to investigate the chamber while Shepard and Mordin checked what was contained within the large cell blocks. As they looked inside they saw what they presumed were the colonists, frozen in some kind of green energy field in various poses.

"Hmmmm, fascinating..." said Mordin holding his chin in thought as he looked in one of the cells.

Shepard came up beside the salarian and shared his own thoughts, "It reminds me of a biotic stasis field."

"Indeed, most likely an energy field activated within cell chamber with similar capabilities." Mordin activated his omni-tool to take readings and his eyes widened at the results, "Power output incredibly substantial to maintain multiple fields across all cell blocks for lengthy periods of time, most impressive."

"Is there any way we can shut it down?" the Commander asked.

The salarian scientist could only shake his head while still taking in readings, "Without ability to interface with power source unlikely at the moment. Even if said power source were located, would be very dangerous to deactivate without understanding it's capabilities or energy conversion. Could be volatile and unstable... counter intuitive to current objective."

Shepard moved his hand towards the interior of the block only for an energy field to shock his hand with a sudden green energy pulse. Shepard jerked his hand back and grimaced at the pain but he was thankful it wasn't lethal, "Great a forcefield too."

Mordin merely continued to take notes repling, "Remarkable and oddly redundant."

Miranda contacted the Commander on the comms as Shepard massaged the pain in his hand, "Shepard, you better get over here. We found something and I don't think you're going to like it."

Shepard and Mordin went to the chamber in the center of the room and found themselves going down steps to a lower level which led to a dark green lit hallway. Proceeding down the hallway the pair found Zaeed standing outside a doorway. He looked at Shepard with a serious look before the Commander asked, "What did you find?"

Zaeed responded with a short sigh, looked inside the room before looking the Commander in the eyes, "It's bad..."

Shepard went inside and found Miranda scanning the body of what looked like an asari. Miranda turned around to see Shepard and Mordin move beside her to get a better look at the body. The xeno female was face down flat on a raised table of the same obsidian material as the floor. Much of the alien woman's spine was cut into and exposed. Her limbs were connected to tubes that went into pedestal looking devices on the ceiling and floor. Her skin had lost nearly all of its pigmentation making her flesh look sickly grey white in appearance. The front of the poor woman's body was covered with some kind of dark armor mesh along with various cybernetics.

"What is this?" Shepard grimly asked.

Miranda sighed and shook her head before turning to the Commander, "As far as I can tell, this asari has been undergoing extensive modifications. Beyond anything I've ever seen before. "

Mordin winced as he gave the body a look himself, "Ghastly...monsterous." the salarian activated his own omni-tool to confirm Miranda's findings, "Mrs. Lawson's findings accurate but description described by her does not do scans justice. Extensive prosthesis, blood and organ replacement or removal, nervous system shows traumatic stressors had been applied to spinal column." the salarian took a deep breath as he took it all in, "A very torturous and unethical procedure."

Shepard crossed his arms and furrowed his brow as he looked at the body, "They were experimenting on her...why? To make her into a weapon?"

The Normandy XO looked to the body again and explained, "Well the Reapers have certainly been doing it to various civilians for some time now, but it seems here they were going for a far more elaborate and potentially deadly creation. A biotic cyborg, imagine the damage it could do if they unleashed it in a populated area."

Shepard looked to his XO, "All the more reason to get the people out and shut this place down."

Miranda voiced her doubts in spite of her Commander's resolve, "Honestly I am not sure how we could accomplish that with what we have. I highly doubt the explosives Zaeed has will be sufficient."

"It all depends on where you place it and if Mordin's theory about the power source is right, than all we need to do is figure out where it is." the Commander replied still adamant.

Miranda continued, "Yet we also need to be able to escape at the same time along with all the people in those cells. How are we going to do that? We need more help for that kind of operation."

Shepard put his hand up to his chin and was about to give it some thought when a loud rumble was heard and the lights began to pulse.

Zaeed stepped in Vindicator drawn and exclaimed, "I think we just overstayed our welcome!"

Shepard and the rest of the team ran into the hallway as the rumbling grew louder and the lights pulsed faster. They rushed quickly back into the central area of the facility and when they finally passed through the chamber entrance the group looked back and saw said entrance begin to meld into the floor. The Commander looked around and witnessed the entire area was being rearranged. The cell blocks containing the colonists as well as the catwalks were also going down into the floor. Pedastals and obelisks rearranged around the ground floor of the facility either melding and warping with the surrounding material or literally moving across the floor. This continued until the area was nothing but obsidian spires, chest high walls, and open ground scattered around in various locations. Suddenly a voice resounded throughout the large room, metallic and rasping but with a mocking tone, "Welcome...Commander Shepard."

"Who are you?" Shepard demanded, his voice rising in anger.

"You might find out...if you survive. Consider what comes next a simple test for the famed hero of the Citadel."

A section of wall on the far end began to melt away revealing a sort of green energy gate. Coming through the rift in the center marched several squads of metallic robot skeletons armed with large weapons glowing with green energy. There were twelve of them moving up to the walls in front of them when they took aim at the Commander and his squad.

Shepard and his team readied their own weapons, "Take cover!" the Commander ordered.

The team spread out and took up positions as the skeletal robots opened fire. Mordin however was greatly concerned when he realized what kind of weapons were being used against them as he hid behind a pedestal.

"Energy weaponry! Kinetic barriers not designed to resist energized particles!"

"Then we can't afford to get hit! Miranda, on my go we hit them with overload! They're tight together so we might be able to hit them all and knock them out for a second. That'll allow me to shift to their flank. While I go, Zaeed and Mordin will hit them together with a concussion and inceneration blast!" Shepard ordered.

The Normandy XO acknowledged while hiding behind a wall, "Got it Commander!"

"Alright Miranda the second their suppressive barrage lets up, hit em!" said the Spectre as he hid behind his own wall nearby.

They waited as the energy shots continued to hit their various cover to pin them down. But the Commander noted that it always followed a pattern. There was a small opening in the robot's volleys that appeared every few seconds. Shepard noted that machines tended to operate in a fixed sequence with little deviation, it seems these killer bots were similar. The trick now was to be just fast enough to hit the bastards and stun them before he and the team get vaporized. The skeleton bots didn't seem to be attempting to flank either which Shepard found odd for a frontline unit but he wasn't about to complain. As the Commander got the enemy's pattern of fire down hiding behind his wall, Miranda moved to an obelisk on his left with her omni-tool at the ready. At the next sequence of volleys Shepard counted down in his head and readied himself. As soon as the opening appeared the Commander shouted, "Now!" Both Miranda and Shepard unleashed their omni-tools and got back in cover. However before the Commander could get back to his wall his right shoulder armor took a glancing hit. The Spectre acted quickly and ripped the now affected shoulder plate off and watched as it dissolved into ash.

Shepard got out from cover and cloaked just as Miranda called for Zaeed and Mordin to hit the bots with their combined attacks. Zaeed picked a spot in the middle of the robot's formation while they were still dazed and coming out of the overload's attack. Mordin was given a waypoint on his heads up display where Zaeed's target was and fired first. The fiery ball of energy left the salarian's omni-tool just as the robots came out of their daze and engulfed them in flames. However it seemed to have little effect as they hardly reacted other than being coated in fire. Zaeed followed up with the concussive shot just as the machines re-oriented their sights and were about to fire another barrage. The combined omni-tool created fire on their forms and the concussive round mixed together into a tech explosion. It blasted the mechanical bipeds, knocking them all down onto the ground.

Silently the cloaked Commander moved onto the mechanized force's far left flank, making sure he had ample cover and kept his distance before he engaged. From his position, Shepard watched as the machines simply got back up with a few of the skeleton robots having lost a limb or two from the previous blast. Then he saw them pick up and reattach their limbs as their mechanical appendages melded back together. The Commander realized right away to put these guys down he would need something to stop that regeneration. If fire wouldn't do, then cold might he thought. He then recalled part of the gear that he had his team bring.

Shepard opened a channel to his salarian teammate on his comm link, "Mordin you still got the Avalanche with you?"

"Of course Shepard! I assume you have a strategy in mind?" replied the scientist.

"I might!" said the Commander as he switched his comm link to the whole team. He saw Zaeed and Mordin open fire on the robots as they got back up and heard the old merc growl in frustration over comms as the rounds simply pinged off their hardened bodies.

"Bah! Barely making a dent Shepard, whatever they're made of its damn tough!"

The skeletal machines were now back on their feet returning to their formation and once again they resumed firing on his team's position. They were now more spread out and had changed up their firing sequences. Shepard continued watching from their flank and was already formulating a plan.

"Switch to AP mods! Zaeed you got your explosives?" the Commander asked.

"I do Shepard and I already have an idea what you want me to do with it!" replied the mercenary veteran, still pressed to his cover.

"Just be ready when I give the word! Miranda, we're going to create an opening for you. Zaeed and I are going to hit them with concussive shots on both ends and force them back together again. When that happens hit them with overload and a warp. Mordin, after Miranda sets them up for you use the Avalanche. Make sure they are all chilled don't leave any unfrozen. Zaeed will use some of the explosives for the knock out blow." ordered the Spectre.

"Sounds good, just say when!" Miranda acknowledged.

Shepard readied his Viper rifle and looked over his targets. He decided to start with the one closest to his position on the left of the mech's firing line. The Commander waited for his moment and then with AP rounds loaded he fired several shots that hit the robot in the eye and neck. The robot's eye lens shattered while also taking some damage in it's neck joint. Before it could return fire Shepard fired a concussive shot that hit it square in the chest. The shot pushed the skeletal bot into it's fellow machines who then in unison opened fire on Shepard's position. With the mech's fire now drawn his way the Spectre infiltrator took cover by a pedestal and told Zaeed, "Do it!" Zaeed was finishing his work on the explosives creating a small bundled charge of inferno grenades and demolition charges. When the mercenary finished he popped back from cover to unleash AP shots of his own into the skeletal bot's exposed back sides on the right. A concussive shot followed, forcing more robots into the cluster. The mechs then split up their focus, four of them suppressing each side they were being attacked from.

"Shepard, looks like they're wising up to what we're doing!" Zaeed reported.

Shepard readied himself to move and responded over the comm link, "Stay down I'll get their attention!"

Shepard rolled from his cover and into one of the raised obsidian walls as beams of green light hit the top of his new cover. With less energy shots going his way it left more openings in the mech's firing lanes. Shepard waited for his moment then fired a concussive round quickly while returning fire struck his cover. The round once more hit three of the skeletal mechs pushing them more into the others suppressing Miranda. The Commander unleashed yet another overload to stun the group which hit some of the other bots firing on the Normandy XO. Feeling they are close enough Shepard waited for his omni-tool to recover, then hit the machines with overload again, "Now Miranda!" he yelled.

Miranda moved from cover and hit the bots with yet another overload, hitting the rest of the skeletal machines. She poured her biotics into her left arm and sent a warp attack that washed over the group of robots. Mordin now seized the moment, coming out from behind his pedestal and firing a barrage from the Avalanche. The bubbles of cooled subatomic particles slammed into the mechanical killers and froze them instantly. Lastly Zaeed grabbed the bundle of explosives, activated them, then took them up in his right hand shot putting them toward the frozen machines. However, Zaeed's throw had fallen short of the target but before the bundle hit the ground Miranda acted fast. She threw a pull field to catch the bundle to keep it floating towards the frozen mechs. When the explosives reached their target, Zaeed brought out his detonator and hit the button. The explosion was deafening, forcing the team to get down to avoid incoming shrapnel. It reminded Shepard of a Cain strike, though the blast yield wasn't as large. He saw green flashes from the explosion when he peaked from his cover to see the team's handiwork. When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the robots other than frozen ice that wasn't destroyed.

Shepard took a breath and stood up from his position, "Good job team...I think we got em."

"Bloody hell, haven't made a bomb that big in a while, though I think I overdid it trying to toss it all with one hand." Zaeed said stretching his right arm.

"It's fine, I had you covered old man." smirked Miranda.

"Oi, Its been a few years since I did any kind of shot put. That and it was a bit of a rushed job, figured a little more explosive couldn't hurt. Though in hindset it seems my shoulder disagreed." said the old merc as he massaged his shoulder.

"How much of the explosives do you have left?" Shepard asked.

Zaeed frowned and put his hands on his hips, "Still got a bit but I wouldn't keep using it like that if we plan to blast our way out."

Shepard knew the old merc vet was right, that and it was most likely only the beginning of whatever this "test" was. Still so far so good, while more challenging than what they're used to the Commander was confident. All they needed was to find a way out while the enemy recovered and hopefully get in touch with the Normandy before they were overwhelmed.