Garrus reacted the moment his mind caught up with everything going on around him. Which is to say he reacted about six seconds too late, as he flared his core, Gundam shining around him as the eezo powered up, and then he used his jets to rocket the mech into the sky. Reaching out the unit's hand, he grasped towards the veritech's cockpit as it auto-separated from the main body, trying to protect the pilot from the ruptured engine, only it wouldn't be enough, as the blast was just too strong.
His hand stretched out, he was able to aim it right for Nihlus' form as it was thrown out by the shattering glass and metal of the protective cockpit. The glow of the mass effect field shifting to purple as it covered the turian in its protective aura, Garrus descended back towards the ground below, where the three Terrans had at least stopped thrashing about, but were still laying on the ground. The other two members of their group were far more active, as Liara and Legion rushed to his side.
"Dr. T'Soni, can you help him?" demanded Garrus as he landed with a hard thud, opening his palm and showing off the form of Nihlus. It was...not good. Nihlus' right arm was gone, torn off by some piece of debris before Garrus had grabbed him, and one could almost see ribs through the torn off parts of his armor. Worse, burns seemed to cover large sections of the rest of his body, which twitched and jerked, but showed no signs of consciousness.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of doctor," she informed him, trying to recall anything that could be useful, but coming up blank as her mind just refused to find anything. Garrus, being a trained military officer, didn't berate or belittle her for her lack of knowledge, but Legion stepped forward, a panel in his chasis opening up as he did so.
"Captain, this unit's warframe is equipped with an internal stasis pod. It would reduce this unit's combat effectiveness by-," before he could finish speaking, Garrus shoved the body of Nihlus towards the geth, who, nearly dropping it in surprise, placed it gently inside the chamber, which hummed with a stasis field forming, even as the warframe itself seemed to dim all over.
"Eezo core activated, all protoculture engines disengaged. This unit is now down to five percent combat effectiveness," said Legion in that monotone voice of his, but Garrus barely heard that, as he sighed in relief, clicking his mandibles together to create a noise that would have been a chittering sound, if not for the universal translator.
"Legion, how long can you maintain a stasis field?" asked Tali, reminding Garrus that the Terrans had their partners with them.
"This unit's power supply will last for approximately eight hours," he said matter-of-factly, and Tali began to crunch numbers on how to make that number even higher, if it came down to it, only to be interrupted when a shriek echoed over the open sky. Turning, Garrus found another of those Terran horrors standing there, jerkily, with one leg still flesh colored, but the rest was that blue armor that had been on the one that had shot Nihlus out of the sky. The shriek came forth again as the thing saw them and charged.
Garrus whipped his beam rifle out, aiming the shot perfectly so that it blew off the left leg of the charging giant. The seeming armor offered little resistance as the beam impacted it, and blew the offending limb clean off. The giant fell to the ground with a blast that threw up a wall of dust from the dried out ground. It didn't stop though, another shriek coming out of it as it began to dig its fingers into the dirt, and drag itself forward. Garrus, taking careful aim, blew off one of its arms, and then the other when it kept coming, only for it to start wriggling closer.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said, and then aimed for the head. The pink blast of light ripped through whatever brain the thing had, and it went still finally, the torso falling flat against the ground, and not even convulsing as it finally succumb to death.
"So, headshots are the only way to take one of these things down easily. Good to know," said Garrus as he started his rifle cycling, letting the chamber inside refill with particles.
"Um, Captain, I think we have a problem," as her words came out, Tali gave everyone in the squad, including Liara and the downed Terrans, a view of the area. Heat signatures, all with that particular wavelength of eezo, were beginning to move around the colony. A lot of heat signatures. Thousands of them, ranging in size from Terrans to more normal races. Most were seeming to mill about, but a few were already coming towards them, not always quickly, but still, coming closer.
"I don't have nearly enough shots to take care of that many. Legion, transform and fly off. Tali, Charn, can you two get your partners moving?" he asked, and instantly got a lot of grumbles over the comm.
"This unit is incapable of transformation or flight so long as the protoculture engines are inactive. To do so would mean disengaging the stasis unit," said Legion quickly, and Garrus grunted in annoyance.
"And just how much control do you think we have over these big lugs? Tali might be able to get her beau up and running, but this lump's going to be just dead weight til she wakes up," complained the batarian.
"I wouldn't be able to move Jon either. A few strides maybe, but motion in a bipedal form is actually very complex and delicate, as you should know Captain," she told him, her voice chiding, and his mandibles clicked again as he acknowledged it, then without missing a beat, he aimed and fired his rifle, blowing the head off a Terran that had just been peeking around a nearby rise.
"Fine, then I stay and fight. Legion, you're in no shape for direct combat without your protoculture. Escort the doctor out of here," he ordered, and then was startled when the asari's wanzer suddenly jerked forward, the palm going flat, and the middle of it irising open. With a whine and then a popping sound, a field of biotic energy shot outward, grabbing a few Council races that had been turned into more of the blue skinned things, causing them to float for a moment, before being crushed into pulp.
"I can take care of myself, Captain. Besides, not much point in splitting our forces, when their's outnumber us this much," she told him, this time getting the Gundam unit to turn to her, looking her up, and down. Going over the sensor readouts, Garrus wasn't too impressed by what he saw, but at the same time, he figured ordering a civilian out of combat without a real escort was probably not a good idea, and he wouldn't even entertain the idea of abandoning the three Terrans.
"Then we stand and fight. Legion, Tali, tactical assessments. Tell us where our fire will do the most good. Hopefully, these three wake up before we get overwhelmed," ordered the turian, as he and the wanzer began to lay into a few approaching giants. One of them opened their mouth, a huge whine coming from inside, but before a blast of biotic energy could shoot out of it, the head exploded, the blast taking out two of the giants next to it.
"Interesting, the blast effect seems to be them using their internal protoculture to charge the eezo. It's still got impurities though, one spike in the wrong way, and it explodes," commented Tali, and Garrus again let out an annoyed click with his mandibles, realizing that, at the end of the day, Nihlus' condition was literally the result of some astonishingly bad luck. Still, even as he thought, he let loose with the twin gatlings on Gundam's head, tearing apart a team of batarians that had been charging at the feet of the three giants.
"Charn!" shouted Tali over the comms.
"I see him," responded the batarian, and then with a blue flash, Jane's arm shot upwards, her fingers still curled into a fist. Her body, following the motion of her arm, rolled over, the knuckle colliding with an altered drell by the looks of it just as the thing leapt off a bluff to begin its assault. Normally a drell was agile enough that it might have dodged the giant blow, but it was already in the air when it was hit, and the impact of the fist on the ground was enough to leave a deep impression in the dirt.
The fighting continued like this for minutes, as the team destroyed the oncoming horde one at a time, Garrus drawing his sword more than once to slash down an enemy that got too close to be blasted with his other weapons. Still, their foes seemed endless, and he could hear the asari's breaths coming in deep, ragged gulps as she let loose with her biotic fury, which was noticeably weaker with each burst. Legion, even without his ranged weapons, was at least helping out where he could with melee attacks, mostly crushing the micronian races underfoot, but even so, they were slowly being overwhelmed.
Just as Garrus took aim at a Terran that was charging, they heard a new sound. Not the dull drone that had begun this mad charge, or the screams of rage from the horde. No, this was a piercing shriek that made the turian wince in his cockpit as he missed his first shot on the enemy, only to follow up with a second that blew the head clean off, before finally turning towards the source of the sound. Whatever he had expected to see, however, the thing in his cameras wasn't even in the top ten.
"By the Goddess," swore Liara beside him, as everyone stared at the thing. It was an asari, the design of the head and bone structure could be little else, but really, that's all it was now, just bones, held together by the same blue metallic coating as the rest of these monsters. Unlike its compatriots, the altered asari literally glowed with power, the biotic energy inside it bursting outwards, and allowing it to float at almost eye level for the three mechs, who, after a moment of standing frozen, reacted.
Garrus opened up first, the head gatlings letting loose their fury that had so far shredded the smaller units, and even torn apart a few of the Terrans. The asari responded instantly, the barrier in front of it shifting into the purple of a hardened barrier, and blocking every shot cold, letting the material gather up in front of it, before it waved its hand dismissively. The gathered metal from Garrus' guns was sent straight back at him at blinding speed, forcing him to leap to the side, and draw his beam saber, intending on stabbing the thing with it as he charged forward.
"Captain!" shouted Tali in warning, just before the asari screamer used a biotic charge, a small mass effect jump, to teleport out of the way of his stab. Appearing behind him, Garrus had a single instant to turn, but even his unit was far too slow to do so as the thing sent out a throw field that tossed his mech forward. Landing hard on the ground, Garrus groaned to himself, trying to rise back to his feet, only for the screamer thing to teleport over him, and smash him into the ground with another blast, creating an impression of his Gundam in the soft earth.
"No!" this cry was from Liara who sent a warp field out, the shimmering field impacting the floating asari, causing it to drop for a moment, and just a moment, before it screamed out and did a charge again, appearing right in front of Liara's unit, screaming as loudly as it could.
"Shut up!" came a sudden, and unexpected counter, causing everyone in the field to freeze, even the asari. Shooting up from the ground, faster than the thing could charge away from, a powerful fist wrapped around the skeletal form of the screamer, bones cracking audibly under the force being used to hold it. Beneath it, Jane Shepard was now sitting up, and one could actually hear her teeth grinding over the comms and speakers on her armor, before she smashed the asari into the ground, then repeated the gesture half a dozen times more, creating a huge cloud of dust.
"You will stop making that noise!" said the Terran woman in a feral growl, and then she shot to her feet, the crater she had made showing no sign remaining of the altered asari. The other two Terrans were groaning as they rose as well, but Jane seemed to have recovered in body if not in mind, and when a group of Terrans and micronians came into view, she let out a savage roar, and charged at them, her feet churning the earth beneath her, throwing up huge chunks of it, as she slammed hard into the altered creatures, which for the first time showed some hesitation as her cry echoed over them.
She pounced hard, her fists coming down in a group of micronians, scattering a few of them, and crushing others. Before they could get back to their feet though, she was on them, smashing them into the ground with blows that left little trace of them other than the impressions in the ground, and once they were gone, she leapt towards one of the Terrans, grabbing the metallic skinned giant by the shoulders, and then slamming her head into its, once, twice, then six more times, before letting it drop, her dull green armor now covered with gore, while its skull was caved in.
Not yet done, the Terrans charged her, one of them trying to grapple with her, only to find her hands were faster and stronger, her grip cracking the bones and skin at its wrist, revealing half transformed flesh beneath. She barely seemed to notice this, however, tearing the limb in her hand off with a sickening squelch, then batting the things head off, before finally walking over to the remaining two, and with a whirring sound, she placed her hands on their faces, then let her palm blasters fire. Point blank against them, their flesh despite the improvements, didn't hold at all, and soon their heads had holes that took up most of them, before she spun around and tossed them to the ground with deafening thuds.
"Not strong enough! Kill!" cried out Jane, turning on her heel, and finding the group of allies. She seemed just about ready to charge when Charn, either having let her fight to thin the herd, or just taking time to react, finally used his pod to hold her in place, a blue glow covering her body that should have stopped her completely. It only slowed her down, however, her movements now like she was walking through thick goo, but still coming towards them.
"Jane, calm down!" shouted Jon, who was standing again, but woozily, his hands gripping one of the bluffs at his side to keep him steady, while beside him. Chief Bhatia was likewise only barely on her feet. Jane either didn't hear her brother, or didn't care about it, as she kept coming, grunting in exertion with each step, but not slowing at all.
"Jane!" he shouted again, and all he got in response was a roar, as he tried to get near her, only to fall to his knees, nearly collapsing to the ground, as his sister stood over him, her face inside the armor twisted into a feral grin as she pointed her palm towards him.
"Sergeant! Attention!" came a sudden shout, and Jane, the words reaching into her through the rage, snapped to attention, her arm going over her heart in salute, as her breathing could be heard over the comms changing almost instantly from deep growls, to ragged gasps.
"What the?" She said as she came back to herself, her hands gripping at her face, as she fell to her knees. Everything about her shook, as she lay there, trying to collect herself. Almost without thinking though, just as one of the altered Terrans popped its head up over a rise, she shot it, blowing the things cranium wide open.
"Jane, are you alright?" asked Jon, as he rushed to her side, his stance becoming much surer, as he helped her to her own feet, and everyone gathered around.
"I, I think so. But who was that purple guy? What was that stuff that he was shouting? It sounded like gibberish but I felt like I should understand it," she asked, her voice lacking anger now, or fear either, merely seeming curious.
"You saw a man with purple skin as well then?" asked Bhatia, and Jane nodded, Jon following a moment later.
"Good, I had hoped I wasn't mad. He was speaking ancient Tirolian," she said, and that got a start from both Terrans, whose faces turned towards her.
"You mean, that was a Master?" asked Jon, after a moment. Before more could be said though, the sound of massive feet pounding the earth could be heard, and everyone turned towards the source to find a throng of altered Terrans, with micronians at their feet, coming closer.
"Talk later! Fight now!" said Jane, and she began to fire into the crowd, the others following suit, with Tali and Legion both feeding tactical data to the others as they began to move in a fighting retreat. Everyone was acutely aware, however, of the massive legion of foes that were swiftly baring down on them, and that with all the firepower and skill they had, they would soon be swarmed.