Enjoy guys.
Wrex always knew his limits. He never outright showed them of course. That never did well against your enemies.
But damn, there was a lot of times Wrex wished he was invincible.
And to some extent, he was. Or at least pretty damn close. There wasn't much in the galaxy that could kill a Krogan with a thousand years of wisdom to teach him a trick or two.
But these collectors were really something else. The way they fought showed no measure of preservation. Every grenade he'd throw? Limbs would always fly. They wouldn't even try and run from it.
Many of them would ignore cover entirely. And anytime they'd ever use it was just so they could get closer to them.
Not even the geth did that.
"Garrus." Wrex stooped from his rock to shoot off a couple rounds, "You ready? We have to move again!"
Garrus couldn't hear him. "What?"
"We have to move again!"
"Oh!" Garrus said as he pulled the pin on another grenade, "Fine!"
Suddenly, before Garrus threw his grenade to the horde chasing them, the gunfire ceased into unnerving silence and all the collectors retreated into darkness.
"... What the hell. Where'd they go?"
"Huh." Wrex grumbled, "Odd."
An empty and threatening voice spoke loudly to them.
"You Fight The Indestructible."
"Aw, fuck! Not again!"
"Save the grenade, Garrus." Wrex said as they started walking backward further into the chasm, "It's clear the fool can respawn..."
"You Run From The Inevitable." It boomed like a god.
The black and fiery collector thing dropped in right next to Garrus, stared at them both with its empty and hollow eyes, and sent their way a vicious blow of biotic energy.
Wrex was far enough away to dodge the incoming blast, but Garrus was far less lucky.
The attack threw Garrus far ahead of Wrex and he tumbled end over end in what looked to be an endless summersault.
"Garrus!"
The poor soul tried stopping himself with an outstretched arm, only to have his elbow hit a boulder at an odd angle and have it pop out of place.
At the very least, he did stop himself.
Unfazed by the dislocated elbow, Garrus rolled to his feet, dropped his rifle, and ran without even trying to look back.
"Garrus! Your rifl—"
"—Fuck the rifle!"
They sharply turn at the next bend and take cover together behind a giant pillar like thing.
"You okay?"
"I'll live." Garrus mumbled.
Amidst the crowd of advancing collector spawns, the charred looking fellow spoke out to them.
"Gaze Upon The Instruments Of Our Will."
Wrex removed the sling from his back, attached the only box drum he had for this special gun, and loaded in its long belt of ammo.
"Getting real tired of this guy." Wrex drawled.
A smile crept along Garrus' face as soon as he realized what Wrex was about to do.
"Do it, Wrex. Waste the bastards."
He chambered the first grenade on the belt and turned the corner.
"Gaze on this, you fried pyjack."
He pulled the trigger and swept the area with a cloak of automatic grenade fire.
A hundred and thirty four explosions later, Wrex could hardly recognize anything in front of him anymore.
"Third time we've killed him Garrus. The bastard's words ring hollow."
Shepard and the crew pile through into the hangar bay without much resistance. As they took up positions to prepare a defense, Shepard handed Ash and Stacker the bag of weapons Garrus had told him about so they could get them passed out to their marines. Anyone who hadn't had a collector gun yet went searching for one from the plethora of dead bodies lying around. Then the rest of them spread out across the bay in a large firing line and waited.
Tali, John, Marcus, Joker, and Chakwas stepped down onto a landing pad sunken a little beneath the level of earth and toward the only ship that looked capable of getting them all out of here.
"This one looks good enough." John said to Tali as they come up to the ship, "What do you think?"
"I think it'll work just fine." Tali answered as she gave the shuttle a quick once over. "Space looks big enough for the crew."
"We've got contact!" Stacker yelled out across the bay to get everyone ready for the coming fight, "Get ready!"
Gunfire quickly followed.
Ash and several crew members slide into the landing pad and run to John.
"Commander, we'll buy you both as much time as possible, but damn, there's a lot of them!"
"Don't take any unnecessary risks, do you understand?" John ordered, "How many of us are armed?"
"The entire detachment sir and pretty much the entire crew," She said with slight surprise, "Garrus and Wrex really cleaned house here. There were still plenty of bodies and guns lying around in the trenches..."
"Good. Hold them off as long as you can. We'll get the ship working in that time."
"Aye, sir!" She said before climbing back out into the fray. The crewmen behind her were quick to follow.
John returned his attention back to the ugly looking ship and frowned.
"Tali, any ideas?"
"So, Garrus managed to hijack one of these earlier. That's how we got aboard the ship. I'm not really sure how he did it, but I'll figure it out."
"Right. Marcus? See if you can't get the door open from the other side."
"Aye, sir."
"You sure you got this, hun?" John asked as Tali tried accessing the ship's systems with her omni-tool.
She visibly paused at 'hun'.
"H—Hun?" She squeaked with her rosy flushed cheeks.
"Yes." He said with a smile, "Hun."
She beamed at him and he came up right next to her.
"When we're out of here? We'll have more time to talk later. I promise."
She felt like nuzzling him, "I'll hold you to it... Nehya."
He couldn't help but give her a quick hug. "I love you Tali. Know that."
She felt a tear cradle her eye as he said that. "I love you too, John."
"Now come on. We really need to find out how the hell this things works."
"Shepard!" Garrus yelled through his radio, "What's your status on the ship and crew, over?"
"We're in the bay now, Garrus. We're working on the ship as we speak; Have any pointers?"
Garrus dashed from behind a rock, limp arm and all, to the next checkpoint he marked on the map. Wrex followed right behind.
"Would love to give them, but I don't have the breath or time to explain right now! We're dealing with a lot!"
"How far out are you?"
"Five minutes I think! We'll be back there soon!"
"Five minutes? We'll make it work, Garrus. But you really need to hurry."
Garrus gasped for breath and cut the com.
He fell behind an alcove, clumsily inserted a new sink into his gun, and waited for Wrex to come rearing around the corner behind him.
"What are you doing?!" Wrex bellowed as soon as he saw Garrus just sitting there, "We don't have time to hide! Let's go!"
"I was just waiting for you Wrex, god!"
Garrus rose, fired several times to help Wrex along, and started running again.
"Keep going!" Wrex said as he fell in behind Garrus before priming his last two grenades.
"Shit, you couldn't have used those earlier?" Garrus complained loudly as they ran.
"Just realized I had them," Wrex admitted as he threw them both, "Sorry."
The grenades exploded from behind them and dozens of the assholes chasing them fell.
"DIE." The fiery grease stain of a collector demanded loudly.
They kept running.
"He reminds me of Sovereign." Garrus scowled, "Think it's a reaper?"
"After all we've been through Garrus, I wouldn't be so surprised if it was."
She landed on her back in a rain of dirt and mud.
Wispy trails of smoke danced above her, and she watched them as if she hadn't had a care in the galaxy.
For a moment, she couldn't remember anything.
Not her name... not her mother or the friends that needed her right now.
She couldn't even remember the very explosion that felled her to the ground.
"Fuck! Liara's down! We lost Liara!"
In a sudden panic as reality set back in, she rolled onto her side, crawled desperately behind a boulder to keep herself from getting picked off by a stray bullet, and leaned back before cradling her stomach and taking the chance to look down and see the damage.
Well. It didn't look good. Shrapnel wound with blood already seeping into a pool beneath her.
And she was losing it fairly fast...
Her hands started to shiver and she started to feel cold.
"Not good..."
Distantly, she could hear Tali call for her over the radio, but she didn't respond.
Everything felt... far away.
Her sense of sight and smell.
Touch.
Pain even.
But she was brought back to her senses by a strong grip on her shoulder.
"Liara!"
She looked up to see it was John.
"Hey! Look at me!"
She tried speaking to him but fell short of breath. "I..."
"I know, I know! It's fine!" He reached for her arm and pulled her up to bring her back to the drop ship.
"Shepard..."
"Stay with me, Liara, stay with me damnit!"
Liara tried desperately to keep up with his pace, but she tripped and fell, dragging him with her. He pulled her up again and kept going.
"Just a little longer!"
Blackness cornered her vision and the sounds of battle grew farther and farther away from her.
They dropped down into the landing area and Chakwas instantly went to Liara to try and get her stabilized.
"Will she make it?" Tali asked as she worked on the ship.
"If I stem the bleeding and get her stabilized? Maybe." Chakwas answered, "But... judging by the damage here alone? She's going to need surgery. Or she might not make it."
John ran a hand through his hair stiffly before turning back to the ship to help both Tali and Marcus.
"We need this ship up and running now."
"I think we almost got it, John." Tali said as she worked with her omni-tool with Marcus inside the helm already pressing buttons, "Just—"
The ship turned on.
"Oh!" Tali panned with a surprised face, "Never mind! It's up!"
"Joker, get in the ship. Karin, let's get Liara inside."
As Joker hobbled into the ship, both John and Chakwas lift Liara as carefully as possible and carry her into the cabin.
An explosion sent a wall crashing down and swept the docking bay with a cloud of brown smoke.
"Commander! How much fucking longer!?" Stacker's disembodied voice screamed through the billowing smoke, "We can't keep this up!"
Shepard ground his teeth. They were out of time. If Garrus and Wrex didn't come in time...
John didn't even want to think about the alternative.
"Fall back!" John ordered, "Fall back!"
Men and women started dropping into the landing pad in droves before taking cover near the ship to suppress the enemy.
"Garrus!" John called through the radio, "Where the hell are you?!"
"Coming, Shepard! Thirty seconds!" Garrus answered.
John whipped back around and faced Tali. "Can you fly it?"
"I think so. Could use Joker's help."
"Go." He commanded before turning to his crew, "Engineering! Move! Aboard now!"
The engineering crew jumped aboard.
"Ancillary! Move! Go!"
Ancillary crew hopped on.
"Bridge, Move! Get on the ship!"
Bridge crew climbed in.
Tali turned the ship a full one eighty to face the enemy and powered up weapons.
Then she released a salvo of yellow noodles at the collectors and watched them evaporate into vapor and burnt chitin.
Tali released another pair of lasers into a nearby cave and watched it collapse in on at least a company sized group of bad guys.
Thick clouds of dust plumed from the crash and covered the hangar again.
Then out popped Wrex and Garrus from the smoke with their flailing arms.
"We're here! Fuck! We're coming!"
"Suppressive fire!" Ash and Stacker ordered to their marines, "Cover them now!"
"Everyone else! Get the hell on! Move!" John yelled with a wave, "Go!"
The CIC crew and entire detachment of marines slowly started moving backward toward the ship in a tactical withdrawal.
"We're almost there, Wrex!" Garrus exclaimed through a short and excited breath, "We're gonna ma—"
"Wait! Help! Help me!" A voice choked right to Wrex's side.
Without even bothering to ask any questions, or even looking to see who it was, he bent down and snatched what looked to be a ruffled looking shirt and tossed the human onto his hump.
"Hold on to my crown, human!" He ordered as he kept running.
Palermo, the woman Wrex had just saved, nodded dumbly to her savior and did as she was told.
With everyone aboard except the three, Tali turned the ship back around to face the evening sky and started inching the craft forward.
"They're turning the ship around!" Wrex yelled to Garrus, "Run faster!"
"I am!"
Several of the crew still standing from the ship's door waved them on.
"Hurry the fuck up!"
"Come on!"
"Get on here damnit!"
Wrex quickly caught up to the moving ship with giant heaves of breath before grabbing the human like a baby.
"I'm throwing you!"
"What?! No! N—"
He threw her.
Her scream of terror fell short when Marcus and several of the crew caught her fall before setting her down on the cabin floor.
Shortly after, Wrex heaved himself into the ship before turning around and grabbing for Garrus' collar.
"Jump you goddamn idiot!"
Garrus leapt as hard as his tired legs could muster and Wrex yanked him inside.
When Garrus crashed to the floor, Wrex slammed the hatch shut and locked it into place.
"Tali, get us out of here."
Tali didn't need to be told twice. She pushed the ship to full throttle and they flew free from the collector ship and into the horizon.
"Holy fuck." Marcus breathed with a wide eyed expression as he faced everyone in the cabin, "We did it... We made it..."
"Not all of us." Pressly said as he finished a head count, "Commander. We lost six more."
"Who." Shepard asked simply when he rose up to stand after checking over Liara with Chakwas.
Pressly took a slow breath. "Pakti. Dubyansky. Rahman. Felawa. Negulesco. And Tanaka."
There was silence between all of them.
"...What do we do, Commander?" Heathers asked quietly. Dozens of eyes turn to him.
He swallowed and felt each and every one of their stares. His mouth hung for a moment as he fought down indecision. "...I... uh..."
"Sir?"
"Just— just give me a second."
"We need orders, Commander."
He gave everyone a hard glare. "You'll get them. Just wait."
Garrus stood by John and knelt down next to Liara as he cradled his hurt arm. "Spirits." He murmured.
"...She'll be okay, Garrus."
"...Yeah." He nodded blankly before briefly looking at John, "yeah."
John turned to the helm, walked up to front, and leaned into Tali's chair.
"How far out are we from the Normandy exactly?"
"120 or so clicks." Joker answered for her, "We'll be there in about ten minutes."
"Okay..." John nodded slowly with a mellow look on his face, "You okay?"
"Been better." Joker admitted with a sigh before rubbing the kink in his neck, "Just glad Tali and the others got us out of there..."
"Yeah... we have them to thank." John said as he pat Tali's shoulder softly.
She peeled her gaze away from the windshield and looked to him. The amount of stress John had been put under the past hour was starting to take its toll. The bags under his eyes and glossy gaze he had told her everything.
Leadership would do that to you.
And, as she turned back around to face the dirty windshield, she felt, for a long moment, how unfair it all was for him.
His hand squeezed lovingly into the soft fabric of her shoulder and she smiled.
It was unfair. There wasn't a question about it. But they would cope.
Together.
"Is the ship space worthy?"
"Definitely." Tali answered.
"Then I got a plan." John finally said, "We've got wounded and need supplies...When you guys get the ship on the ground, I'm going to have the crew split into two teams and have them gather whatever we need and get off this planet. I want to be in and out inside five minutes."
"Sounds good." Tali intoned quietly, "We're almost there, John. You should tell the crew then."
"Right."
He turned back to the crew and stood between them all before getting their attention.
"Everyone. Listen up. This is the plan."
Everyone huddled closer around John.
"Chakwas, Pressly, Stacker, and Ash. Step up."
The four of them get in front of the group.
"Ash? Stacker? You and your marines are blue team. I want blue team in full combat gear and to gather weapons and ammo when we land."
"Aye, sir."
He turned to Chakwas and Pressly.
"You both are red team. You and the rest of the crew need to head straight for whatever food we have left and take all the medical supplies available to us. Chakwas? Leave two of your nurses here for the wounded."
"Of course, Shepard."
"I don't know if it isn't clear already, but the Normandy crew is on red team. All of you have exactly five minutes to do your task. Are we clear? After that, we're leaving the planet and the Normandy behind."
The cabin conceded with nods and yeses.
"Good." He nodded before clapping his hands together, "We'll be there in less than ten minutes, people. Get ready."