Disclaimer: I do no own Mass Effect, I do not claim to own Mass Effect, I am only doing this for fun.
Author Notes: Real life bites. Very busy this past month. Lots of thinking went into this one. Lots of re-writing too. The scene at the third torch took three tries before I get it to feel "right". I'm so glad I managed to get it done "on schedule". Enjoy!
Episode 40: Armageddon [Part III]
During the time they had been inside the second torch control facility, Terra Nova had dipped about a tenth of its disk below the horizon. The angle of X57 pointed directly at Terra Nova and away from Asgard was noticeably brighter than before. The planet was reflecting some of the star's light onto the approaching asteroid. They were now heading toward the sun-blasted side of the rock, where there was absolutely nothing to shield them from Asgard's radiation. The only mitigating factor was that the star was a G2V type, and Terra Nova was at 1.3 AU from it.
Nihlus kept the shuttle well above the rock's surface as they flew. The altitude allowed a glimpse of the main facility in the distance. From what Shepard could see, only the structure's topmost level was above the surface. This upper part looked like a large pillbox bunker. What caught her eye were the vehicles parked on the plain. A few taps on the sensor controls made one of the Kodiak's cameras rotate and zoom in as tight as it could. Though the craft were still too far for particular details Shepard recognized their general shape. "They've got two troop shuttles out in front of the main facility. If I'm not mistaken they're rated for ten individuals, flight crew included."
"Standard procedure is to assume they were packed to capacity." Nihlus replied without even looking away from their heading. "Now we know that there are twenty of them inside the main facility. That puts us at two to one odds."
The proverbial spanner was well and truly stuck in the metaphorical works now. Nihlus was being generous; in no way could eight against twenty translate to two to one. "You're off on your count; it's closer to three to one. I would not call Tali a combatant, so that's seven against twenty."
Nihlus hummed thoughtfully, "True."
"You know, there's a proper protocol for these sorts of odds." She began. "It was set by a certain Swiss militia man, when during a war game the German Kaiser asked him what his men would do if they had to defend Switzerland against a German army that outnumbered them two to one… well, he put it succinctly, in such a case each of them will just have to shoot twice and then they can all go home."
Nihlus burst out laughing. "Spirits… I love human glibness sometimes!"
Shepard thought he would get a kick out of that one. "He'll pardon us if we upstage him by shooting thrice," she added with a flicker of a smile was more display than heartfelt. She could hardly muster genuine amusement right then. She knew how the situation could still turn ugly. The batarians could have varren or drones, or some combination thereof, which would increase their numbers dramatically. Levity also did little to distract her, or keep the anger she felt at bay.
At this point there was nothing that could sate her fury short of seeing the leader of these batarians dead at her feet. Levity was just her mask, as appearing overly emotional was not a good idea. Raw anger worked when one could afford to pursue the query with absolute single-mindedness, leaving nothing but scorched earth their wake. It worked for her on Elysium because she had been alone. Here and now, she had people who counted on her, people she cared for. No batarian was going to anger her to the point of making enough mistakes to make her victory pyrrhic. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out through her mouth. That lifted the haze a little, "Then again, we may not end up facing all twenty after all. And I know just what to do with that," with that she reached up to the communicator controls to switch frequencies, "Kodiak One to Normandy, come in."
"Normandy here, reading you loud and clear, Commander. Do you need us for something?" Joker asked.
"Joker, EDI, I need your eyes on the main facility. The batarians parked two of their shuttles out front, and I have it on their authority that they will try and ambush us. Keep an eye on those shuttles, I want to know the moment they stir."
"Their authority, huh?" Joker asked.
"Lieutenant Moreau, please reposition the Normandy. I just relayed the modified trajectory into the navigation computer." EDI stated calmly.
"Alright, on it." Joker replied. "We got your backs with this. But… really, whom did you torture to for that info?"
"Would you believe no one? The idiots did not care to check that they were not being overheard."
"Oh man." Joker laughed.
"Well, enough about that Joker, I need you to keep your eyes sharp." Shepard said.
"I have the best seat in the house for it, and you know it."
"I know. Keep in touch. Kodiak One out." Shepard tapped the link closed.
By then Shepard lost sight of the main facility. The sunward side of the rock was an environment all its own. Everything was much brighter and the regolith outright glimmered, hinting at its metallic contents. In another thirty seconds Shepard got the first sighting of the final torch. The terrain below them was so uneven that a wheeled vehicle would be hard-pressed to keep level. The final torch was built on top of a domed ridge, and like the previous installations, used higher crags as buttressing. The control structure was shoehorned onto a small square of flat land at the base of the ridge, easily monopolizing every available square centimeter between two ridges.
"Nihlus set us down right in front of the doors. We will put our boots up their rear ends. No more messing around." Shepard said. "We do not want to end up between two groups."
"You got it," Nihlus replied calmly as his fingers danced over the controls.
Shepard grinned in the self-satisfied way. The batarians honestly had no clue whom they had the misfortune of angering. Anyone with less arrogance and more foresight would not have given away their ambush. Right then she not only knew it was coming, but she had the opportunity to turn it around. She was going to enjoy their floundering too.
"I need to override the other Kodiak's controls. The VI pilot will not set it down under fifteen meters away from ours." Nihlus announced as he put their Kodiak into hover.
"Alright," Shepard replied. Her eyes slid over to Terra Nova, just visible on the edge of the main view screen. The planet continued to dip below X57's horizon, but she could see that the thrust imbalance had kicked in, the rock had started to turn. What had been the leading edge was beginning to point somewhere other than directly at the planet. The slight shift would eventually make the rock turn a full one-eighty, and if all three torches were ignited at that moment, then it would be possible to stop the rotation and start to accelerate in the other direction, effectively slow the asteroid down.
The other shuttle approached theirs from the left; soon it was so close that Shepard could read the serial number. Nihlus made a series of more inputs and both shuttles began to descend. Shepard reached up to check her helmet seals one more time. It took maybe another minute before the shuttles actually touched down. "I'll be in the back." Shepard announced. Nihlus only hummed something inarticulate. She turned toward the door leading out of the cockpit. Beyond it she was not surprised to see Legion already waiting by the hatch. Garrus was still seated, but his eyes were on her in an instant, waiting for orders.
Shepard tapped at her helmet controls to open their shared short-range communication frequencies and waited for the seven beeps to indicate that the whole team had joined the channel. "Alright, we have a bit of a situation. The batarians are going to try and surprise us. On the flight over I got a look at the main compound, they have two runabouts there. I asked Joker and EDI to keep an eye on them, so we will know when they start moving, but in the meantime, we still need to blitz this torch."
"How many enemy combatants are we expecting at our back?" Ashley asked.
"I do not expect both shuttles, so maybe as many as ten. It would be nice if they split their forces evenly for us." Shepard replied. This was also part of the reason why she did not order Nihlus to make a detour to shoot the shuttles apart. She would let them divide themselves for her conquest, no need to make them desperate and angry by cutting off their perceived retreat.
"Sounds like a plan. Once we're inside, we will have the airlock as a natural bottleneck." Kaidan said.
"And we are disciplined enough to hold it." Ashley agreed.
Shepard raised her hand to the console that operated the Kodiak's atmospheric controls and door, but paused to glance back at Garrus.
"Ready when you are, Commander." He announced.
Shepard nodded silently. "Nihlus, do you see a welcoming committee?" She asked instead. With the Kodiak's nose pointed right at the torch's airlock, Nihlus would only need to look up at the main view screen.
"Not this time. Do try to contain your disappointment." The Spectre replied blandly.
"Excellent. Let's do this!" Shepard said as she tapped at the controls. As the craft began depressurizing she checked that her weapons were online and ready. A few minutes later the console flashed to indicate that the environment had been withdrawn. Shepard hit the key to open the hatch.
Once again Legion stepped out first, drawing their pulse rifle as they turned toward the compound. Shepard followed half a step behind, hand resting on Sin, and glanced toward the other shuttle. Its door was open already, with Bravo waiting for them inside. She nodded mutely in their direction which was the signal Kaidan needed to gather his team and join them. A brief moment later a hand landed on her shoulder and Shepard looked up, Nihlus had caught up with her.
Shepard turned toward the torch control structure. With no mines or guards outside, there was nothing to slow them down. Her eyes landed on the gaping hole under the airlock door console. The batarians had cut the maintenance panel out with a hand-held cutting torch. It lay a few meters away, jagged and bent out of shape. The cables inside were a mess of rough, uncapped splicing and re-arrangement. She stepped into the range of the sensors, idly expecting the door not to react, and yet it opened.
"Thought so." Shepard muttered to herself. The batarians had bypassed all the computerized components that controlled how the door opened and closed. Whoever had done it was a half-decent techie. She whipped up Sin and side-stepped over the jamb, automatically turning to sweep the opposite corner on the right of the airlock. Then turned left, and then the diagonally. "The airlock is clear." She announced, though she had not expected company in here anyways, not with a busted door.
Inside, the ceiling lights flickered and the red emergency beacons pulsed. The EVA lockers had been shot open and looted. What more, Shepard's eyes landed on the food wrappers strewn on the floor. The batarians ate here and tossed the garbage into the airlock, as if their psychotic apathy was not obvious already. Shepard sincerely hoped they enjoyed the meal, because it would be their last.
Kaidan and Ashley stepped past her and made a beeline toward the other door. Shepard put her back to the wall on its left side. When the outer door closed, she nodded toward Kaidan. He tapped the console to get the airlock to cycle. Some part of her idly expected the airlock to refuse to cycle, what with the busted outer door. But the system did not fight them, the outer door actually sealed. She could not help the odd bit of admiration for clean work like that, but it would not save the techie. Their skills were wasted on slave-running.
Shepard watched as her team drew and tested their weapons as breathable air was pumped into the space around them. "Alright. When that door opens, we go in. I want all batarians, varren, and-or drones shot on sight." Shepard said.
"With extreme prejudice," Ashley murmured as she cocked her rifle.
Shepard chose not to comment, because doing so would make her a hypocrite. Ashley could afford to say things like that, Shepard could not. Then there was a series of pings that indicated the airlock had completed pressurization. She turned to Kaidan and caught his gaze, but before she could tell him to open the inner door, there was a ping over her comm. She raised her hand to her helmet controls and switched, "Shepard here, what is it Joker?" she asked.
"Commander, you asked me to tell you when the batarians make their move. Well… eight of them came out of the main facility and are getting one of the shuttles ready for liftoff." Joker announced. "I'd give it five minutes before they actually get that thing off the ground."
"Good. Thanks, Joker." Shepard replied. Five minutes to lift off, maybe as much to get to the torch and land, and maybe as much for them to get into the airlock and cycle it. She was being generous on that last one, though.
"You sure you don't want me to put a pair of disruptor torpedoes through them?" Joker asked.
"Oh no. That'd be too quick. I'm not so merciful." Shepard replied. She wanted them to die knowing who pulled the trigger.
"Yea… I felt that chill up here. You're right though; they asked to become a reminder on why their sort shouldn't piss you off. Have fun! Joker out."
Shepard closed that link and switched back to the team's group channel. "That was Joker. The batarians are prepping their shuttle. I would estimate about ten minutes before they're in the airlock."
"So ten minutes to shoot all the assholes here dead and turn off the torch…" Ashley trailed off.
"Leave the torch to me. That way you can focus on the batarians coming in," Tali said.
"Alright, Tali, that'd be helpful," Shepard replied. "Kaidan, if you will."
"Yes, ma'am." The lieutenant replied right before he tapped the control panel to open the inner door.
The sight beyond was much the same as within the airlock. The lighting was dimmed and the red emergency beacons pulsed. This structure's footprint was smaller than any of the previous ones, but like them, it was cluttered with storage containers and bits of equipment. A good lot of the stored goods were piled up in a neat row just left of the airlock, forming a wall. Yet judging from the small gap left just under the ceiling the space clearly extended on the other side. Judging from the dimensions outside, a good two thirds of the room was effectively beyond the crate wall.
"They're here! Release the varren!" a gravelly batarian voice shouted. Almost instantly the varren began growling and barking. Unfortunately for the batarians, the wall of crates meant that there was no need to guess where their mutts would come from.
"Put those varren down!" she ordered as she drew Sin and rounded the door jamb. Only to regret it instantly. Right in front of her were three beasts and four batarians. To make matters worse, the batarians had the time to pull down some boxes to use as cover, and they stuck to it as they raised their rifles into firing position. Then the beasts bared their teeth and charged. "Oh… fu-" Shepard sidestepped, turning her side to minimize her profile, and fired Sin on the leading varren. The bullet hit the beast in the shoulder. It yelped and stumbled, but her less than well-aimed shot had missed everything even vaguely vital. The other beasts bore down on her.
"Chief, suppression fire. Jenkins, bring down those mutts!" Kaidan shouted as he bolted out of the airlock, his whole body already enveloped in a biotic field. A flick of his hand threw the varren back. The beasts hit the floor and whined, but the toss had been half-hearted. A moment later Kaidan was at her side, and raised his left hand, clasping a fist. With a resounding whomp his biotic barrier expanded, forming a shield bubble around both of them. The beasts rolled onto their feet, instantly scrambling up to regain their footing, and one after the other, they charged again.
There was a resounding shotgun blast. Shepard turned to see one of the varren go down with a thud. The shot had caught it mid-jump, and a full half of its head was mangled beyond recognition. Nihlus had stepped out of the airlock, his shotgun ammo indicators glowed yellow, indicating he had switched to armor-piercing scattershot. Ashley remained in the airlock, but her assault rifle stuck out past the jamb on the right side, while Garrus' own stuck out on the left. Then Jenkins appeared between them and when Nihlus side-stepped to his right, the corporal opened full auto fire on the varren.
The beast Shepard had nicked was slow, and with no shields it took the spray across its face and shoulders, whining and crying as its blood spattered. Jenkins let off the trigger and raised his rifle to point at the batarians while the beast went down. The last creature must have realized it was in for it, as it stopped cold. Nihlus turned his gun on it and fired. The spread killed the creature and reduced the left side of its chest into raw ground meat in an instant.
The batarians chose that moment to open fire. The bullets began peppering Kaidan's projected shield. The lieutenant grunted softly, and the air just outside the bubble began to ripple like a desert mirage. A moment later the bubble began to expand slowly as Kaidan's gaze locked on the batarians, transforming into a death glare.
Jenkins, Ashley, and Garrus opened fire in return.
Shepard wheeled and raised Sin on the batarian right in front of her and fired. The bullet drilled his kinetic barrier right between his eyes. The shield did not fail, but the slaver recoiled in shock and let off the trigger. One of the others shouted something that was audible from his external speakers, though Shepard's translator failed to recognize it. A moment later there was a resounding crack and his helmet exploded, splattering gore everywhere. The rest of his body tipped backward and dropped like cut timber. The suddenness was such that the three others ducked back into cover.
Shepard turned back toward the airlock. Jenkins had kneeled, which allowed Legion to stand right in the middle of the airlock door. The geth lowered their overpowered rifle and raked its receiver bolt to eject the hot thermal clip.
"Use the moment, Go!" Shepard ordered sharply. Legion displaying the overwhelming power of their rifle had an amazing capacity for terrifying those who could feel fear, but it would only work once on any one group. She glanced at Kaidan and nodded.
The lieutenant dropped his arm and just like that his biotic shield dissipated.
"Jenkins! Back me up!" Ashley called as she bolted forward.
"Roger!" the corporal rose to his feet and then both of them were moving. Nihlus joined them as they reached the enemy's hiding spots. The batarians never realized that their instinctual reaction to Legion's display of power had shifted the fight's momentum.
Nihlus was on the enemy first. His shotgun gave a resounding crack and Shepard saw the batarian's shield flare. The slaver rolled out of the way, raising his rifle into position, but he did not get far enough and when Nihlus wheeled on him and fired again the second scattershot near point blank, obliterating his hardsuit ceramics. The batarian was dead before he could lay his finger on his trigger.
Opposite to the Spectre, Ashley leapt right on top the barrier behind which her target was hiding, pointed her rifle down, and laid into the trigger. Her fight was over before it could even begin. The batarian's shields could not withstand a full-auto barrage near point-black. Some of the bullets ricocheted off the floor, but that was nothing functional shields could not handle.
Jenkins' ended up a little less lucky. When he rounded the barricade, the last remaining slaver had gotten the time to understand what was going on. He fired at the corporal. Jenkins side-stepped and returned fire. The batarian rose to his feet, intent on closing the distance between them. In the end both their shields failed simultaneously. Suddenly there was the crack of an HVR from the direction of the airlock. The batarian jerked as the back of his helmet shattered, and his finger came off the trigger. Jenkins took a good second and a half to notice it, and in the meantime he put a good ten bullets into the batarian's corpse before he finally let go of the trigger.
"Jenkins, are you alright?" Shepard called as she lowered her pistol.
"Erm, yes, thanks to…" The corporal sounded winded.
"Think nothing of it, Corporal," Garrus replied calmly.
Shepard realized Garrus had saved Jenkins from the end result of his miscalculation. She turned to the airlock just in time to see Garrus put a fresh thermal clip into his HVR. She nodded his way in appreciation. Some would be bothered that someone else on their team was making dangerous over-shoulder shots. However Shepard knew Garrus, like Legion, could make those shots time and time again. Moreover, she was not going to come down on Garrus for stunt-shooting if she let Legion get away with it routinely.
"Commander, Chatika is detecting no other batarians, varren, or drones here." Tali announced as she emerged from within the airlock, her eyes on her omni-tool and the video feed from her drone.
"Good." Shepard replied as she holstered her pistol. She not see the need to remind anyone that more batarians would be coming shortly. "Let's bring down that torch."
"I'll get right on it," Tali said as she moved deeper into the room.
Shepard was perfectly content to fall behind. As much as right now was not the time to be thinking it, she thought it. She really should have had Tali send her drone in first, that way they would have known how many batarians and varren they had been facing. Sure her team had her back, but fact was, she had rushed. Shepard could not afford any more mistakes. The hardest part of the operation was still ahead, and if they were to rob the batarians of any semblance of victory, the whole thing had to happen with surgical precision. She needed to get her head back in the game, think now, not then.
"I take it you are planning our next move already?" Nihlus asked.
Shepard looked up, Nihlus was beside her. "I gave it some thought." That was not a complete lie. As far as Shepard was concerned, she had given it some thought.
"We will need a solid plan if we are to take the main facility." He said in a manner of someone discussing the weather.
Shepard hummed, "I can't set the details without getting a look at what I'm working with, but I have some ideas."
"Good, that is all I wanted."
Shepard stopped in front of the control room door, it was not locked, and so it opened without hesitation. The sight that greeted her was truly gruesome. Two more project security personnel lay dead in the corner, both had been shot multiple times. However one of the victims was missing the whole lower half of his right arm. The flesh was raw and ripped. It was no great mystery what did it, and where the missing limb vanished. Shepard ground her teeth together. Just when she though they had found the rock bottom of batarian atrocities, the slavers seemed to find a way to one-up themselves.
It took everything she had to turn away and not show an outward sign of the rage that the sight had awakened. Now was not the time to tunnel-vision. She had to focus on the needs of those whom she could still help. Shepard turned to watch Tali as the quarian made her way over to the control console. A moment later she heard a ping from her communicator. Shepard raised her hand and switched frequencies. "Shepard here, what's going on, Joker?"
"The batarians just landed at your torch control facility," Joker announced.
"Right on time then. We secured the torch and Tali is working on shutting it down. The rest of us will roll out the welcome mat for our… guests."
"Welcome mat? I hope that's a euphemism for a pressure plate rigged to a bomb. That's the only sort of welcome mat they deserve." Joker replied.
Shepard chuckled, Joker was being irreverent again. Fortunately for him, his timing was on point. Any other time Shepard would have told him off for that sort of joke. Now though? She would have loved to do just that. She could not though. Not with the airlock being barely-functional as it was. "What did I say about being too merciful, Joker?" That was going to be her excuse.
"Right. Because being blown to bits is merciful. Careful Commander, I might begin to think you intend to torture them for personal enjoyment..." Joker paused and hummed. "Not that I would blame you. Now, I could make a joke about whips, chains, and gimp suits… but I won't. I'll let you have your fun. Joker out."
Shepard could not help but wonder, did Joker think she was the type to moonlight as a dominatrix? It was a good thing no one else heard that. She tossed the thought aside as quickly as it came up. With a tap at her controls she switched back to the team's frequency, "Joker just called, our guests of honor have arrived." She announced in all seriousness. "Time to roll out the welcome mat. Tali, work on the torch…"
"I will contact you when it powers down." The quarian girl replied without looking up from the console.
"Take your time," Shepard said. She knew that Tali would need to run a translator program with her HUD, so it was best to leave the girl to her task. Still, that did not mean she would leave her without some protection. "Legion, stay with Tali. Just on the off-chance some batarian somehow gets past us."
Tali looked up, surprised. Shepard would guess there was a protest on her lips.
"Acknowledged, Shepard-Commander. They will not interrupt or harm Creator-Zorah." Legion stated, before the quarian could say anything.
Tali shook her head and turned back to the console.
Shepard turned away, there was nothing else to say. "Everyone else, with me!" She exited the control room.
"Yes, ma'am." The marines chorused in a single voice.
Shepard mostly ignored the chorus of acknowledgements. "We will set up the same way the batarians tried to ambush us. Garrus, I want you in the back, HVR at a ready."
"Yes, Commander." Garrus replied automatically.
"Kaidan, how are you on biotics? Can you project another of your shields, if needed?"
"Surprisingly… I'm alright. Still just a minor headache." Kaidan replied.
Shepard nodded. "We'll try to make this clean. Richard, Ashley, first tier of the barricade, you'll be our vanguard. Kaidan, Nihlus… second tier." Putting Kaidan in the middle of the formation was the logical option. From there he could still use his biotics, and he was in the middle of everything if his shield was to be needed.
"I got the best shield hardware after Legion, you know," the Spectre replied as he drew his assault rifle.
"Keep gabbing like that, and we'll test that claim." Shepard deadpanned back. Really was now the time for complaints of that sort? She knew Nihlus preferred to get in people's faces, but she needed him at mid-range. "Final word, we are not messing around. Shoot to kill." She thought that ought to have gone without saying, but she would say it, just in case. When the team moved to take up positions, she lingered in the middle, next to Nihlus, where she could have the freedom to fire both the twins and if need be, switch to Nike.
The airlock's inner door had gone red at some point, indicating that it had sealed. There was no way of knowing in what phase of its cycle it was, but Shepard knew it would have to go through two cycles, emptying out for the batarians to step inside, and refilling to admit them into the torch control facility. The odds were not in the batarians' favor, for one they did not know how many enemies they were facing, but because of Joker, she did know there were eight of them. Her team was also far more disciplined and better equipped.
It was another couple minutes, but then the status indicator by the airlock door began to flash at an increasing rate. Then it turned off and there was a loud click. A moment later the door opened. Ashley and Jenkins raised their assault rifles on it.
"Hold your fire!" A voice called from within. "This does not have to end in bloodshed!"
Shepard's eyebrows climbed to her hairline. Did one of those no-good slaving two-bit scoundrels really just use that line? Before Shepard could say a word, the batarians filed out of the airlock, every single one of them had weapons drawn, but none were raised into firing position. That was about the only thing that kept her from ordering the team to open fire. Though she was tempted, oh so tempted. Did the batarians honestly think they had the upper hand? Or that they had something to bargain with? After the brutalities they committed? Did they take her for an idiot? She almost felt insulted.
"We can still end this peacefully," the lead batarian repeated.
Shepard was glad for her helmet, as it concealed the murderous glare she could not tamp down. "Peacefully?" She echoed, not bothering to keep the ice out of her tone. "I didn't think batarians knew the meaning of the word."
The leader focused on her like a bird of prey, but his weapon remained lowered. "Look, I'm just doing my job. Hijacking this rock wasn't my idea. I signed on to make a little profit. A quick slave grab. Nothing more."
Shepard heard Ashley growl, a quick glance over told her that the gunny's trigger finger was indeed beginning to itch. Not that Shepard would blame her, but right here and now, she saw another opportunity. How far would this scumbag go if she led him on a little?
"Slave grab?" She echoed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but slaves need to be alive. This isn't a slave grab any more, you bastards killed everyone you came across, and you're trying to kill millions more." Let him think she was buying the bullshit.
"Don't you think I know that?" He replied automatically, a note of frustration creeping into his voice.
She noted that Ashley had reached up to surreptitiously tap at the side of her helmet. Muting her externals. "Commander, we should ventilate these bastards and be done with it," she stated.
"Hold your fire, Gunnery Chief. I do believe the commander is… about to take them for all they are worth," Nihlus stepped in.
Shepard hummed a low 'mmmhm' by way of assent. It would figure Nihlus would know that she was playing her games.
"Understood." Ashley did not sound all too happy to be taking what amounted to orders from Nihlus, but she was smart enough to understand why Nihlus had been the one to say anything.
"Listen, I am just following orders here. Same as you are. If it was up to me, we'd have grabbed everyone and left a long time ago." The batarian went on, unaware of the exchange. "I am not an idiot. I asked those on our ship, they never detected your arrival, nor can they track your shuttles. Now that I've seen your team… you're not from some garrison on that colony of yours. You're not typical Alliance. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Turians is actually a Spectre. It would be just the way things go wrong. I did not sign up, nor am I paid enough for this."
"Well why not take your ship and run?" Shepard asked, call it a bit of idle curiosity.
"That's not an option. Balak left a few of his most loyal associates on board. If I tried, Balak would order them to skin me alive so he could sell my hide just out of spite."
Balak. Was that the name of the leader of this whole thing? Shepard grinned. Her instinct had been right to hold off on the kill order. This brute was dripping information, trying to buy his safety. She could see the beginning of his plan as well. Feed information to the enemy, arrange things so that the enemy does not fire on them during liftoff, then wait until Balak was out of the picture to handle the loyalists on the ship. After that, they could run off while the Alliance was too busy taking care of their own. He probably even thought that this was a win-win for the both of them, as them running off in the confusion would prevent her from taking flak, that way she was more likely to let him off the hook. A clever traitor was the worst sort of traitor. However, he was not clever enough. Everything hinged on whether she would agree not to fire on the ship. He would probably drip more information if she looked like she was hesitating.
"Crazy bastard. This whole thing has gone wrong practically from the moment we landed, and he wants me to pay for it." The batarian went on, muttering under his breath, though her translator still picked up on it.
"I understand your… situation," Shepard said. She could see right through it. His game plan hinged on her being amoral and-or corrupt. She took the insinuation that she looked at all corruptible as an insult. Time for the Oscar-worthy performance of making him think she was playing into his hands, only to yank it away. If that made her a sadist, then she was a sadist. "You want Balak out of the picture so you can stop kissing his boots, and start calling the shots, correct?"
"That would be a nice… side-benefit, yes," the batarian agreed. "I assume we have a deal?"
Shepard would let him assume everything and anything, if it kept the information coming. His errors of judgement were almost entertaining. She would not be surprised if he thought that she was soft, hesitant to get her hands dirty, or averse to undue to violence. The joke was going to be on him.
"Balak is holed up in the main facility. He has fifteen hostages, including that woman who was talking to you. She's alive, for now. You already know about the explosives. He'll probably try to use her against you, just because he can. Oh and there is one more thing… one of his engineers changed the lock ciphers. You will need a keycard to access the external airlocks. I have one. As long as we have a deal, I will give it to you." The amount of confidence in his voice increased just then.
Shepard had heard all she needed, and he had probably leaked about as much as he would. Now it was time to wrap up the game and claim her undisputed victory. "Deal? Hmm… I suppose what is on the table can be called that…" she began, not bothering to stop herself from grinning like the cat that had sights on the canary. "We are done here. Oh, to be sure, Balak will get exactly what he deserves. You needn't be worried about him anymore… oh no, your real problem is that…" she paused for a touch of the drama. "I'm not someone they send to negotiate with, or accept deals dictated by batarian terrorists." She let the menace seep into her voice. It took a long second but the realization must have sunk in. The batarian almost recoiled a step back. Shepard's grin was ear-to-ear by that point. Her hands drifted down toward Sin and Dex. "Ventilate them!" she ordered.
The batarians went to raise their weapons, but her team was faster. Ashley and Jenkins opened fire first, spraying them down to whittle down shields. Nihlus and Kaidan joined them after about a second. The batarians returned fire wildly, panic clear as daylight in their inability to focus on any single target, even as they inched back toward the airlock.
Suddenly there was a crack from the back and one of the slavers went down, toppling into another, causing him to stumble. Both ended up falling across the airlock door's railing. The yet-living batarian started thrashing, trying to get the corpse off himself. This arrested the retreat of the others as they had to step over the two. Shepard aimed Sin, supporting it with both hands, and fired, putting that panicked beast out of all the misery there, including his own.
Another batarian went down then, his shields obliterated by Ashley's focused firepower, his body riddled with bullet holes. There was one more crack from Garrus' HVR and a fourth dropped to the floor. The other four had managed to get into the airlock. The firefight ended, as there was no need to be riddling the airlock's walls with bullets.
"You Alliance whore! We tried to be reasonable!" The leader shouted.
Shepard shook her head, tamping down her urge to laugh. Was that the best he could sling right then? He must know he was looking at the end, and so was putting up some last minute bravado. "Garrus keep an eye on those bodies over the door. If anyone tries to move them…"
"I would have liked an actual challenge." The ex-detective replied.
"A challenge? From batarians?" Shepard rolled her eyes. Yes she sounded a little too arrogant then, but she had the batarians right where she wanted them, and with nowhere to go. What challenge could they be? "Tali, how's the torch?" She asked.
"The core is ramping down, Commander. It is at fifteen percent output and declining steadily. Legion and I will rejoin you shortly." Tali replied.
"Good." Shepard replied as she glanced at Ashley and Jenkins. The batarians would be expecting a direct entry. But would they expect a cloak-user? She reached up to close her external feed, that way no one other than the team could hear her. "Williams, Jenkins… I'm going to need a flash-bang and a smoker," she announced.
"You got it, Commander. What's the plan?" Ashley asked.
"On my mark, toss the flash-bang into the airlock. Jenkins when you hear it clutter across the floor, toss the smoker after it, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Both replied in a single voice.
"What's the matter, scared to come in here?" The batarian called.
Shepard wanted to laugh, but kept it down. "I'm going to show him the real meaning of fear…" she muttered as she brought up her omni-tool and accessed her cloak controls. A few key strokes later her shield disconnected, the cloak settled. When she was sure that she was fully invisible, Shepard came around the barricade and made her way toward the airlock. There, she put her back to the wall with the doorjamb to her right, "Gunny, if you will."
Ashley yanked the pin on a flash-bang she had drawn, wound up, and threw. Jenkins yanked the pin on his smoke bomb, and when the flash-bang hit the floor, he wound up and threw it in. The flash-bang exploded with a resounding, reverberating bang, momentarily illuminating the airlock in brilliant white. One of the batarians shouted something inarticulate, so loud that it was clear that his ears must have been ringing like a carillon after the loud bang. The smoke bomb hit the airlock's back wall and bounced deeper inside. A moment later it gave a loud pop and began to vent. Shepard waited a good five seconds until she saw the smoke begin to billow out from the top of the airlock door. Then she drew Sin and Dex and rounded the doorjamb.
Standard smokes were designed for a volume a bit bigger than the airlock, so using one here was overkill, but the combination of flash-bang, smoke, and cloak meant the batarians could not hope to figure out that someone was in there with them. Conversely she could see the batarians as clear as she needed. Their suit lights pierced through the smoke, and where there were torso status lights, the head was somewhere right over them. At close range it became near impossible to miss, nor would their shields be able to stop it.
She raised Sin at the first batarian on her left and pulled the trigger, Sin's barking blast was cacophony in such a tight space, but she heard something hit the wall and the suit lights slid down the wall.
"Someone's in he-"
Shepard raised Dex, aimed at the source of the voice and pulled the trigger. He died even before he could finish the sentence.
Shepard watched the two remaining sets of suit lights, which of them was the leader? She would not want to give him death too quickly, not when she was almost enjoying herself. A hand reached out through the gloom, groping blindly. For her? For teammates? It did not matter. Shepard raised Sin at the hand's owner and fired. The lights recoiled and she heard him fall against the wall. At that moment the final set of lights turned on her, and the only thing Shepard could do was raise Dex a final time and fire. The lights jolted and she heard something thud against one of the EVA suit lockers. A breathless moment later the slaver crumpled like a ragdoll.
"Commander, are you alright?" Ashley asked, breaking the communication silence.
"Of course," Shepard replied. As if these four could hope to defeat her when the odds were so stacked against them. "The batarians aren't though."
Ashley chuckled, "Why would they be?"
As Shepard looked from one dead body to the next, she realized that as far as she could tell, all four looked identical. "Well here's a rub, we still need that keycard, and with all this smoke, I can't tell which body belonged to their leader. We'll have to vent the airlock to get it."
"Easy enough," Kaidan murmured.
"Commander. The torch is offline. I locked out its controls with my birthday as the password." Tali announced.
"Perfect, Tali, thanks." Shepard replied.
"Jenkins, come on, help me move the bodies off the door rails." Kaidan went on.
"Ah… alright." Jenkins mumbled.
It took a good five minutes before the bodies were moved and everyone was inside the airlock. After that, they had to wait for the room to void out. After that Shepard performed the macabre task of frisking the leader's webbing and suit compartments for the keycard. She tucked it into her webbing before they exited the airlock out into the void.
Once out on the surface, Shepard was not surprised to see that the batarians had parked their transport right behind the Kodiaks. The Alliance craft did not look scorched, so it looked like the batarians had not used them for target practice. Nevertheless, she asked Legion to take a look around the craft, to check for any proximity mines the batarians might have buried right next to the hatches. By her estimation they would not have had the time, but being careful had never killed anyone. The scans took Legion five minutes, but she was never one to cut corners.
It was not long after that the two Kodiaks were airborne and flying toward the main facility. Shepard spent the flight playing with the keycard as she pondered the possibilities. She did not get long though, Nihlus gunned the accelerator, and she knew full well why, after all one would assume that if Balak did not hear from the ambush team, he would naturally assume they failed. This might light a fire under his rear to do something untoward to the hostages.
Nihlus landed their Kodiaks right in front of the main facility, and then turned to guiding the other down via remote. The pillbox bunker that topped the facility was a rather plain, rounded structure. Outside stood two large fuel storage silos and awnings that shielded rovers from Asgard's radiation. Were it not for the batarian shuttle off to the side, there would have been nothing to indicate that anything at all was wrong.
It was not long before the team gathered at the door leading into the bunker. Shepard pulled out the key card and swiped it through the reader. The door control panel instantly changed from red to green and the door opened. She led the team inside. The door was at the upper end of a set of wide spiraling metal stairs. The walls were covered in the same bland grey prefabricated panels. At the bottom of the stairs there was another, heavier door which opened into the large airlock, which took a good ten minutes to pressurize. On the other side was a larger ante-room with EVA suit lockers. The majority still had suits inside, but the batarians had shot them full of holes.
Leading out of the locker room was a short landing connected to an elevator. A sign next to the door indicated that the main facility had five floors. The top-most two levels were marked as habitation suites, the level below them as residential amenities, and the two bottommost as offices, laboratories, and the administration nerve-center.
Shepard led the team into the elevator and pressed the button for the top-most level. They would start from the top and work their way down, this way they would not lose the contingencies, but also pin the batarians with nowhere to run. Shepard would not let a single batarian survive this. She was ready and willing to slit all their throats if that was what it took. The monster was awake and baying for blood.
The elevator door opened onto a short corridor between two rooms. On the other side she could see it connect to a circular promenade. The lighting here was normal, but the emergency beacons were pulsing. Shepard stepped off first, Sin drawn, as she listened for signs of activity. Hearing nothing in the immediate vicinity, she let the muzzle drop a little, but she was still ready to whip it up at any moment. "Alright people, lock and load. We proceed with extreme caution. External feeds off, keep in comm contact, and mind how you step. By earlier estimation there are at least twelve Batarians here. We will take them down methodically. Civilian casualties are not acceptable, so check your shots."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jenkins reach up to his helmet controls. Shepard hummed, and made a mental note to give Jenkins a bit more of a primer on spec ops basics. Turning off external feeds was the most basic of basics. The structure was essentially a cylinder blasted into the rock. Right then she turned to study the facility map mounted on the wall. Each level had a ringing promenade connected with stairways. Some rooms opened onto these promenades, and others extended away like the spokes of a wheel. The center itself was a hollow atrium spanning all five levels. There was only one main elevator to connect the structure to the surface.
"The batarians will to be keeping the hostages close at hand, we find them, and we find the hostages," She muttered. "Furthermore, they would not keep everyone in the same room. The bigger the group, the harder they are to control. They will have divided them up between a few rooms."
"Multiple rooms would also allow them to use each group against the others." Nihlus agreed. "If one group does anything they do not like, the others end up paying for it."
Shepard looked up at him, Nihlus was on her wavelength again. "A million credits say they rigged the rooms with the hostages to blow. One more intimidation tactic. Both to the hostages and now us… That just means we can't go in guns blazing." She turned to look at the others. "There is a security office on this level. It's time to run recon."
"We're right behind you, Skipper." Ashley said.
Shepard nodded and turned to lead the group toward the promenade. She paused at the very corner where the ring met the corridor to peer around the corner and then slowly scan the whole circumference. The ring's diameter was about fifty meters, which would put its circumference at just over three hundred.
Once satisfied that there was no one in the immediate vicinity, Shepard made the turn and led the way toward the security room, hugging the promenade wall as to be out of line of sight for anyone who might be on the walkways below them. She noted that her team was taking the injunction for stealth with utmost seriousness. Legion had dimmed their light element, as not to cast light beams, though the geth could do nothing about their brushed metal finish.
The security office was unlocked. When Shepard stepped inside she was unsurprised to see more casualties. A man wearing a security hardsuit laying on the floor. He had been shot in the back of the head, and since he had no helmet on, the damage was heinous. A casual glance at the blood spattering on the floor and how he slumped over told Shepard that he had died on his knees.
"I'll note this as well," Garrus murmured.
"Thanks," Shepard replied as she approached the security office console. She was at that point where she could not possibly get angrier. All semblance of control had been abandoned at the third torch. When she found Balak, he would rue ever provoking her, right before he died. For now though, she needed to find a way to get to him. There were cameras all over the facility's public spaces, and the batarians had not done a thing about them. Some part of her wondered, but then she reasoned they must have their hands full right then. The leader had sent half his cronies on that fool's errand to the torch. She would tell Balak exactly what his men had tried to do behind his back, just to see the look on his face. It was not like those monsters could protest, or Balak would survive long enough to do anything about it.
All the feeds were conveniently labeled with room numbers, from which it was not difficult to figure out the levels. "They're sloppy," Shepard muttered, more to herself than to the others, as she could not help but grin broadly. She could see where each enemy was, where they put the hostages, and the bombs. "The hostages are in three rooms on the second level from the bottom. There are bombs with them. Each room is guarded from outside by two batarians. Three more are patrolling the promenade on the bottom-most level."
"They concentrated all their forces on the first two levels? Why?" Garrus wondered.
"Did they expect us to take the elevator straight down?" Ashley asked.
"In all likelihood… yes." Shepard murmured. If she squinted, she could even see why. If a squad of regular marines had been sent, their numbers would have precluded a stealth attack. They would have stuck to what they were trained for. Using their numbers, and superior firepower to launch a head-on confrontation. The batarians set up accordingly, ready to surround arrivals, using the elevation advantage offered by the promenades. Leaving the security room unprotected showed they decided the Alliance was more likely to send numbers rather than a spec ops team. And while her team was not Alliance spec ops, Shepard was. She trusted her team, such as it was, to carry out her orders with attention to detail. She could walk them through a stealth operation.
"Shepard, take a look at this one," Nihlus announced, finger pointed right at one of the monitors in the corner. "First level… that one looks like he might be their leader, holed up in an office with a very comfortable chair. He has a hostage with him, too. A female."
Shepard stared at the image, was that Kate? One of the batarians in the room had his helmet off as he sat at a large desk, on what looked to be a very expensive executive chair.
Kaidan drew close, staring at the image as well. "You see how she's nursing her arm? She's hurt. But that's… the worst of it. I think."
Shepard inspected the woman again, with an eye for different details. Kaidan was the closest to a field medic of the group, he would know a field injury. The woman's jumpsuit was dirtied, and she was cradling her arm in a rather tell-tale way, but there was nothing more serious to be seen. For all the hurt and pain, the woman was giving the batarians some rather nasty glares. They had done nothing to dampen her fighting spirit.
"I have a plan," Shepard announced as turned back to her team. It was time to do what she did best. "First thing first, we need to secure the safety of those hostages. That means defusing the bombs as well. Legion, I want you to take one of the rooms. Terminate the batarians guarding it, and once that's done, I want you to defuse the bomb inside. The hostages are bound, but… please be diplomatic." Shepard hoped the men and women in that room would not recognize Legion as a geth. There was no helping it though, she needed Legion's innate understanding of electronics on this.
"Acknowledged," the geth replied.
"Garrus, think you can do that with another room?"
"Two batarians in sub-standard armor who shoot like they are half-blind? I think I can manage." Garrus replied.
Shepard was not going to comment about his bravado. Now was not the time. She knew that Garrus would still take this job seriously. "Nihlus, third room. Ever defused a bomb before?"
"Once or twice."
"Tali, go with one of them. I need your skills with electronics more than your shotgun on this."
"I will go with Nihlus. I think I can help there… Well, I've seen Garrus at work, and Legion is... a geth, enough said."
"I will keep her safe, Shepard." Nihlus slipped in.
Shepard nodded, that only left Team Bravo. "Williams, Jenkins… your task will be blitzing the three batarians promenading on the bottom-most level."
"Leave it to us, Commander." Ashley replied.
"Kaidan, you're with me. We will handle the… leader and his guards. I need you to do something somewhat stupid." Kaidan would have his biotic shield to help him, Shepard hoped that would be enough.
"Draw their attention?" The lieutenant asked, a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes." Shepard needed an opening, she needed the batarians distracted while she got around and behind them. Other than that, she wanted Kaidan in position to have a look at Kate. Shepard still felt responsible for the other woman.
"Can do." Kaidan replied with a nod.
Shepard nodded and then turned to look everyone in the eyes in turn. "What we're going to do is risky, but I know we can do this." With that preamble out of the way, Shepard launched into the nitty gritty of her stratagem. The most important part of the whole thing was timing.
After that, the teams divided as assigned. Ashley and Jenkins went one way, Nihlus, Tali, Legion, and Garrus split up in three different ways. Shepard and Kaidan moved out last. Before exiting the security room, Shepard re-routed some of the camera feeds to her omni-tool. Right then was probably the most sensitive moment of the whole operation. If anyone was spotted, the gig would be up. She had made a point of stressing the importance of sticking to the external staircases and checking corners. The external stairs had solid railings, which provided ample cover and even movement track if one walked half-crouched.
Going from one level to the next gave them no opportunity to scout their surroundings. Anyone sticking their heads over the stairs railing might be spotted. The urgency to move swiftly but silently was there too. Shepard could feel her heart pick up pace, but not due to fear. She would be lying if she did not say there was some little bit of excitement in her. This was her jungle and she was the apex predator on the hunt.
"I suppose one part of my job will be to prevent the hostage from seeing what you plan to do to Balak and his cronies." Kaidan mused as they drew near the top of the stairs leading down from the fourth level to the third. "Also, to protect her as much as possible."
"Personal safety is the one thing I can't guarantee her." Shepard whispered, as she began to creep down, never looking away from where she was going. Because their external feeds were off and their helmets were closed, her own voice resonated in her helmet, drowning out the incoming external sound. Truthfully she would have liked to keep the chit-chat down as much as possible.
"I understand that."
"Thanks, Kaidan."
It took another couple minutes but they arrived at the top of the stairs leading from the third level to the second. So far the batarians were none the wiser to the trap closing about them. Once in position Shepard called for the team to check in when they were in position. It took a few more minutes for the actors to take their positions, but then she had the verbal acknowledgement from everyone else.
Some part of her was still a little bit nervous, especially for Garrus, who had to face two batarians on his own. She turned to her omni-tool. She had grabbed the feeds that showed the three batarians patrolling batarians on the bottommost level. All the others were in a single position, but these three were walking about. They had to time their attack on their schedule, to give Ashley and Jenkins the greatest chance of an easy take-down.
Right at that moment the three were on the opposite side of the promenade from where Shepard could see the marines hiding. "On my mark…" she murmured into the communicator. She would give the go when the three were close to the marines. They had to be brought down, because if they stopped anywhere else, they would have a line of sight on the level above them. Shepard would not let them pincer anyone.
Author Notes: You guys must hate me, but yes, this will extend into a four-part. In a way it's one of those mid-season specials that inevitably end up straddling the series' Christmas break, complete with a cliff-hanger. In my defense, I kept finding corners that were cut in the game plot, and welding them back on required material. That and there will be more aftermath to contend with from this arc, which will transition into the next arcs. I do not press the "status quo" reset button when things are said and done.
General Notes:
Nothing this time…
Chapter Notes:
Stellar Classification – This is a scientific shorthand describing stars according to their properties. First, G2 denotes its approximate surface temperature. The scale goes (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) by decreasing surface temperature (O-types are hottest, c. 30,000 K). The G-types are around 6,000 K. The number is a further refinement of that temperature; a G2 will be cooler than a G1 or a G0. The difference might be as little as 200 K. The letter/number also hint at color, as the hot O-types tend to be white to faintly bluish, while the cool M-types are red. The V is actually a Roman numeral and speaks about the star's mass. V denotes the main sequence and dwarf stars. At the top of that scale are the Ia stars, the Supergiants who have hundreds of solar masses to their name (1 solar mass unit = Sol's mass). For the record, our sun is a G2V too.
Human Glibness – The anecdote about the Swiss militiamen and the German Kaiser has been going around on the internet. Unfortunately I was not able to find concrete credits or a definitive version, thus I am not sure it even happened, but that really does not matter. What matters is that it's a good sort of joke, the sort of thing that passes into folk legend. Who does not love a good legend?