Shepard tightened her grip on the floating platform as it shifted beneath her, struggling to maintain her balance as the platform glided through the air.
She tried to keep her mind off how the fight behind her was going as the platform followed the pipes along the walls and ceiling deeper into the station's core. Shepard did her best not to think about the fluids inside the tubes. Serina helped with the attempt somewhat when she contacted Shepard. "Be on the lookout Shepard. Some of the Collectors managed to make it past the defensive line before we could stop them, and they're on their way to you."
"Thanks for the heads up Serina. We'll be ready for them." Shepard responded.
After what felt like an eternity due to Shepard's anxiety, they arrived at the reactor. Her team swept the area as soon as the platform came to a halt in case there were any Collectors guarding the core, and were fortunate enough to find themselves the only occupants; for the moment, anyway.
Once the area was confirmed clear, Shepard allowed her eyes to follow the pipes, before they settled on the object they were feeding. A gargantuan orb sat elevated in the center of the chamber, supported by dozens of the over-sized pipes that ran throughout the station. And that's when she realized they weren't looking at a simple reactor.
Shepard contacted the Normandy. "What're we looking at here EDI?"
"I do not have enough data to make any conclusive statements." She responded.
"Then give me your best guess." Shepard said.
There was a moment of hesitation as EDI pondered. "According to data I am collecting from your armor's sensors, the structure appears to be composed of both organic and inorganic materials. If I am to guess, it seems they are building a Reaper."
"A Human Reaper." Garrus said in disgust.
"Why?" Shepard said, asking no-one in particular.
"I could not begin to guess." EDI responded.
Shepard watched in disgust and horror as the pipes pumped the liquefied remains of god knows how many humans into the core, before clenching her fist.
It didn't matter what it was being built for, it wouldn't survive the next few minutes anyway.
Shepard gave the order to destroy the tubes, and Garrus and Tali didn't waste a single moment before letting loose. Their combined fire tore gaping holes in the tubes, creating a grotesque "waterfall" as the remains inside gushed out, like blood from a severed artery.
They shifted their fire to the second pipe, and had nearly blasted their way through it when they were interrupted by the arrival of a fire-team of Collectors. The newcomers immediately opened fire, forcing Shepard's team to duck behind cover.
The Collectors maintained their suppressive fire, allowing one of them to flank Shepard's squad.
The insectoid leveled its grenade launcher at her team, and before Shepard could react, fired.
Shepard was thrown across the chamber by the invisible force of the detonation, her shields failing, and her armor barely protecting her as she crashed into the unforgiving ground.
Her head swimming, Shepard struggled to orient herself, before something roughly struck her in the chest, pushing her onto her back.
A Collector hovered over her, its weapon pointed at her skull. Shepard quickly snatched her sidearm out of its holster, and fired a single shot into the creatures skull. The Collector managed to get off a single round, the shot penetrating Shepard's visor.
Thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, Shepard barely felt the round tear a bloody path across her face, barely missing her left eye, and tearing apart her ear.
The Collector crumpled to the ground, and Shepard shifted her aim to target the remaining hostiles. She targeted the one closest to her first, and fired three rounds, blowing two holes in its chest, and finishing it off with a round to the skull.
She quickly shifted to target the remaining three Collectors, killing the first two with pinpoint accurate shots to the head, but the third had just enough time to get its shots off first.
It managed to fire two rounds, both of which punched through Shepard's armor, but was killed before it could get off a third, presumably by one of Shepard's squadmates.
Shepard was racked by a violent fit of coughs as she tried to stand, and sprayed the inside of her helmet with blood. "Tali, Garrus, sound off!" Shepard wheezed, barely able to speak. She hastily applied medi-gel to her wounds, hoping that would be enough to keep her going.
"Here." She heard Garrus say, next to where the last Collector died. The Turian slowly climbed to his feet, using a nearby console to help prop him up. Shepard could see that he had taken the brunt of the grenade, leaving him in just as bad a shape as Shepard was in.
Dark blue blood leaked from deep gashes in his armor, and it looked like he could barely move. "Shit Shepard, you look almost as bad as I feel." He said weakly.
Shepard ignored the joke, and removed her blood stained helmet. Thanks to the blood leaking inside it, visibility was near zero, and she didn't want to risk drowning in her own blood.
"Tali!" Shepard repeated, the words causing another coughing fit as they were forced through her throat.
Shepard barely heard the Quarian's response, coming from her left. Tali's response couldn't even be called speech, more so a barely audible vocalization. Shepard and a hobbling Garrus moved to where they heard Tali.
"Oh… fuck." Garrus said in disbelief when they found Tali. Her suit was punctured in numerous places, blood leaking from each, and her visor had been cracked.
For any other species, the severity of these wounds would be life-threatening, even with medical treatment. For a Quarian, they were a death sentence. Shepard tore her gaze from Tali as she heard the sound of more Collectors arriving.
She grit her teeth in frustration, before hoisting Tali onto her back. "We're pulling back, cover me." Shepard ordered. She didn't bother sparing a glance backwards, and ran as fast as she could back to the defensive position.
Samantha fired a burst into a small cluster of Husks, her rounds ripping through them with ease. The group of wounded humans the Husks were intent on attacking fell back, joining the rest of the assembled defenders.
The remaining Biotics who weren't too wounded to do so created barriers, sheltering the rest as the Collector forces threatened to overwhelm the remaining defenders. Artemis remained outside, giving the Collectors something to shoot at other than the fragile barrier. Samantha killed another half dozen of the insectoids when she heard Kara over the comms. "Artemis, status report."
"Two squads KIA, survivors inside a barrier." Laura said.
"Affirmative. I am inbound with armor and air support. When I say the word, get down. Kara out."
Sam felt the rumble of heavy armor close by, Kara was only seconds away. Samantha turned her attention to the people inside the barrier. She slammed a fist into the barrier, catching Mordin's attention. "When we say the word, drop the barrier and hit the ground, understand?"
Mordin nodded, and spread the word.
A few tense seconds passed before Samantha saw the barrel of a Mastodon begin to peak around the door the Collectors had come through. "Now!" Kara barked over the comm.
"Hit the deck!" Laura roared. The barrier collapsed, and everyone threw themselves to the ground.
The last of them hadn't hit the ground before the armor opened fire. Heavy plasma and cannon fire ripped and burned through the Collectors, the air filled with the deafening cacophony of electric cracks, and metallic booms as the reinforcements engaged the enemy. The mutilated corpses of the Collectors fell everywhere, including on top of the Normandy crew, but nobody dared move a muscle, even as they were buried under their enemy's mutilated remains.
The guns briefly fell silent as the turrets turned to face another oncoming wave of Collectors. The Mastodons maneuvered into a v-shape blocking the doorway, and launched smoke canisters to obscure the Normandy crew as the IFV came to a halt.
The defenders slowly got to their feet as the vehicles covered them, and Kara stepped out of her IFV. She saw that Miranda and Zaeed's squads had been killed, and only three squads, Mordin's, Thane's, and Jack's didn't have any wounded. Kara huffed, then cleared her throat before addressing them. "If you're wounded, file into the APC. Everyone else, help hold the position until more reinforcements arrive." She bellowed over the gunfire. Jack approached her.
"Did you… uh, did you find Rocket?" She asked, somewhat hesitantly.
"He's inside." Kara said, jerking her head back to the IFV as the wounded piled in.
Kara was amused to see a wave of relief wash over Jack, before the Human started to move. "I'm sure he'll be relieved to see you Jack." Kara said as Jack brushed past her.
Kara joined the rest of Artemis as they relaxed somewhat. "Good thing you showed up when you did, boss." Laura said. "Not sure they would have lasted much longer."
"As am I. But we're not done here yet. Sam, take care of the wounded. Everyone else, we're getting the KIA's ready to move." Kara said. Her sisters nodded, then moved to carry out their orders.
While Samantha entered the Procoptodon, the rest of Artemis organized the dead. Among them was Mess Sergeant Gardner, Kelly Chambers, and Donnely and Daniels.
They had just finished their grisly work when Kara felt what could only be described as two people running on one pair of legs approaching their rear flank. Sure enough, a mangled Shepard came into view, carrying an even worse off Tali. Kara didn't hesitate before running to meet Shepard halfway. "Give her to me." Kara snapped as Shepard came to a stop.
Shepard breathed a sigh of relief as she felt Tali's weight removed from her shoulders. Kara could feel a faint heartbeat and shallow breathing, and quickly brought Tali to Sam, who didn't hesitate to get to work.
"Will she be alright?" Shepard asked.
"Sam will do her best, but I can't make any promises. You should join the rest of the wounded in the IFV."
Shepard nodded. "Before I do, you should know the energy signature at the core isn't a reactor. They're building a Reaper."
"Did you destroy it?" Kara asked.
"No. We tried to, but the Collectors hit us hard. Me and Garrus had to fall back."
Kara's head tilted at the mention of Garrus. "Shepard, Garrus isn't here." She said.
"What do you mean? He's right-" Shepard started to say as she turned around, expecting to see her friend behind her, but her brain was thrown for a loop when she saw only empty space. "He was right behind me…" Shepard said as she looked about, confused, before realizing what happened. More Collectors were inbound when she gave the order to retreat, and Garrus must have decided to remain behind to hold them back.
Before Shepard could say anything else, Kara stepped past her. "Sam, you and I are going to keep helping here. Everyone else, push on to the core." Kara said, addressing the members of Artemis. Kara gently removed Serina's chip from her Ancilla, and handed it to Machiko as she joined the others. They acknowledged the order, and Laura, Nora and Machiko pushed onwards.
Jack brushed past Kara while she addressed her team, and entered the IFV alongside the wounded members of the Normandy crew. The vehicle was designed to accommodate Artemis, which meant for the assortment of human and human-sized aliens, the interior was downright spacious.
Her eyes scanned the inside, glazing over the wounded, before they settled on Rocket. She felt a flash of relief, then approached him. He slowly swiveled in his seat, and a smirk flashed across his snout as his eyes settled on her.
"Figured you'd be fine." he said, relieved.
"Yeah. It'd take more than these fuckers to kill me… but I was a little worried about you." She said, slightly embarrassed to admit as much.
Rocket shrugged. "It was pretty bad for a second, but Kara found me just in time. And while another one of those glowy bugs was preoccupied with her, I managed to put a round in its head." He continued.
Jack's eyes shifted. That would certainly explain the rough shape he and Kara were in. As skilled as they were, any decent biotic would be a stumbling block, and these new Collectors were much better than decent. "Looks like you and Kara had a plan when you came in?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. All'a you guys are gonna load up in one of these, and we're gonna drive to a rendezvous point with some of Artemis's dropships." Rocket said as he turned his attention back to the turrets display.
"That's a shame. Would have liked to kill more of these pricks before we left."
"Oh, don't worry." Rocket smirked. "After we're done, there won't be any Collectors left."
Garrus fired a burst from his rifle as the last Collector popped out of cover, the rounds effortlessly punching through its exoskeleton, killing it, and ending the fight. With no more threats, he allowed himself to collapse, the weight of his injury inflicted exhaustion finally overcoming him as the adrenaline subsided.
He tiredly examined himself as best he could, noting the level of blood loss was fatal; he probably only had another minute or two at best. He felt a small smile overcome him in spite of this. He was a soldier, and this was a suicide mission after all. Shepard and Tali had probably made it back to the defensive line by now, and that was all that mattered to him now.
He felt the ground beneath him tremble terribly, as though a small pack of elephants were rampaging through the station. His smile grew wider as the floor shook. There weren't a lot of things that could have that kind of effect on solid ground, and in the present context in which he found himself, all of them were friendly.
Sure enough, Artemis soon came into view. They noted his injuries, and Laura, and Nora set up a perimeter while Machiko knelt by Garrus's side, removing her helmet as she did.
"Staying behind was stupid." She said bluntly.
"Did Tali and Shepard make it?" Garrus asked, ignoring the criticism.
"They did. Samantha is treating Tali… but she didn't look good." Machiko said.
Garrus knew the implication, but fought to ignore it. "Her odds are better there than they were here." He said. "Can you promise me something?"
Machiko nodded.
Garrus gripped his dog-tags, and offered them to Chiko, who took them solemnly. "Take these to my dad back on Palaven. And this…" He reached inside one of his pockets, and to Machiko's surprise, pulled out an actual paper letter. "Make sure Tali gets it."
Chiko gingerly took the letter, and placed it, and Garrus's dog-tags inside a reinforced hardcase on her belt. "I'll make sure they get them." She said, placing a massive hand on Garrus's shoulder.
Garrus smiled, and nodded in thanks. "Oh, and one last thing?" He said, gripping Machiko's hand tightly with both of his own. "Give those fuckers hell."
The Hunter smiled. "We intend to." She said firmly. She felt Garrus's grip weaken, and his eyes closed as he exhaled his last breath. Machiko growled as she pushed herself to her feet. "Nora." She said solemnly. Nora turned, and Machiko jerked her head towards Garrus.
No further words or actions were needed to understand the request. Nora holstered her weapon, and gently placed her arms under Garrus's back and legs, cradling the body against her own as she retreated to the defensive line. Dead or alive, no one would be left behind.
The remaining two Hunters pushed forward, stepping past the corpses of Collectors that had been on the receiving end of Garrus's rifle, and arrived at the Reaper core.
Machiko could see that two of the pipes feeding the core had been damaged, but there was no way of knowing to what extent that would affect the core. "Kara, how is the exfil going?" She asked as she and Laura secured the area.
"Nora just got here, and she's helping us secure the body's before we pull out." Kara responded.
Machiko nodded, then turned her attention to the core. She ran a scan of the core, wishing she had the tools to glean as much information from the Reaper as she could. But alas, destroying this station was all they could manage with the means at hand.
A few moments later, her HUD displayed the results of the scan. The Reaper was being built around the station's reactor, which would then presumably act as the Reapers power source once its construction was complete.
Machiko smirked, as this new information would make destroying the Reaper much easier. She pushed the sensor readout to Laura. "Look for a terminal." She ordered.
Laura nodded, and the two of them spread out. All that was left to do was to sabotage the reactor, then leave the station behind them as the meltdown took care of the rest.
Barely a minute had passed before Laura called for Chiko. Machiko quickly moved to her position, finding Laura standing by the terminal.
Machiko inserted Serina into the terminal, then joined Laura in a defensive position as the A.I. went to work.
Serina quickly broke through the safety features preventing a meltdown, then pushed the reactor to the edge. Once that was done, she uploaded a virus into the station's network, making sure that nobody could try to fix the damage remotely. She watched as the reactor's output spiked to uncontrollable levels, and allowed herself an imperceptibly small moment of self-satisfaction before signaling Machiko to retrieve her.
As soon as Machiko pulled Serina's chip from the terminal, she felt explosions begin to rumble throughout the station. "How much time do we have?" She asked.
"Putting it on your HUD now." Serina responded, and a timer displaying three minutes appeared at the top of Machiko's vision.
Machiko opened a channel to Kara. "What's your status, over?"
"Everyone's loaded up, and we're on route to the landing zone, over" Kara responded. Machiko consulted her map, and saw that a small flight of dropships was waiting nearby.
"Solid copy, we'll meet you there, Chiko out." Laura and Machiko didn't waste any time; the two sprinted as fast as their bodies and armor would allow as the timer ticked down, and the station was torn asunder by explosions from systems not designed to handle the power coursing through them.
The two didn't bother to engage what few Collectors they encountered on the way to the exfil point, simply running through the bugs, leaving them to die with their station.
The timer reached two minutes when they arrived at the LZ, and found the remaining members of Artemis waiting for them. They all filed into the dropship, and immediately redlined their thrusters towards the nearest destroyer. Once the station was destroyed, the machinery protecting the area from the nearby blackhole would fail; it wasn't enough to leave the station, they had to leave the system itself as well.
Their landing in the destroyer was graceless, the hull of the dropship screeching as it grinded to a halt. There was a minute left, not nearly enough time to reach the mass relay, but just enough to reach the wormhole Kara's ships came through. The battle-group, alongside the Normandy, accelerated towards their exit. Kara watched the station grow smaller and smaller, pinpricks of light popping in and out of existence as detonations ruptured its hull.
They entered the wormhole with only four seconds to spare, and Kara was forced to imagine the station's destruction rather than be a witness to it, much to her disappointment.
With everyone back on the safe side of the Omega relay, Kara allowed herself to relax somewhat. There was still work to be done, seeing to the deceased, tending to the wounded; but at least she wouldn't have to worry about being shot at.
As Kara checked the status of the wounded crew, Shepard approached her. "We should transfer my crew back to the Normandy when we can. And give the Illusive man one last call."
Kara dipped her head in agreement. "Good idea. But speak to me before you start the call with Jack Harper, I have an idea concerning him."
As Kara walked past Shepard, she was left wondering what Kara could mean by that.