John leaned onto the railing and took it all in. It wasn't too long ago that he was on Illium with a bunch of drunk quarians and Tali at Vista Cova. But they were back and they had work to do. No time to drink themselves stupid and screw around.
In the more literal sense, John would add.
"Don't think I'll ever get sick of the view." Garrus murmured quietly, watching the cityscape himself with the milky red sunset behind it all, "It's really pretty."
Shaken out of his trance, John glanced at Garrus before looking back and nodding.
Several moments pass and John took a sip from his drink. "You know what I was thinking?"
"What?"
"Ash."
"Ashley? I. I haven't talked to her since... well. I haven't spoken to her for a long time."
"Really?"
"Really."
John grunted indifferently. "I guess that's not surprising. You two never did get along much."
"You're understating that." Tali finally decided to add, keeping her eyes on the tall skyscrapers, "The crap they put each other through was almost palpable."
Garrus scoffed and shook his head at their banter. "Just like old times."
"You're a sentimental man Garrus," John said with a small smile, "but the old times were shit."
"True." Garrus nodded, "But it was a lot easier to face what we had to face without knowing what we we're up against."
"Don't pull that on us now." Tali drawled, "I don't need any more of that negativity in my life."
"Just have to be fair with you. Who else is going to remind you of what's coming around this time?"
John sighed heavily and downed the rest of his drink before setting the empty cup on the ledge. "Miranda and Mordin. EDI and The Illusive Man."
"Fair point."
"How much longer is Liara going to take?" Tali grumbled.
Garrus shrugged. "Don't know. Ten minutes? Twenty?"
"Did you know Kasumi's got a problem we have to handle?" John decided to say, changing the conversation back to something else.
"I was there with you when she mentioned it on the Citadel." Tali said.
"Yeah. We have to go to Bekenstein."
Garrus cocked whatever passed as an eyebrow. "When?"
"Next week."
"But that's gotta be around three days away." Garrus said, surprised, "That's cutting it a little close being here isn't it?"
"Let's hope we can find Thane and Samara then. Otherwise we're splitting up and taking the Normandy while everyone else that needs to stays here."
Garrus pointed up to a car passing over them slowly. "Oh. Look. That's Liara's air car there."
"Alright," John flattened the ruffles on his shirt and turned around, "guess it's time to pay her a visit."
They started walking to Liara's office. About a minute goes by and the frown on Tali's face started to grow a little bit bigger with every step she took. God she didn't want to see that woman.
John faced Garrus as they walked. "When's the last time you saw Liara?"
"Quite a while. Don't really remember."
"That long?"
"Yeah. Kept up with her some, unlike Ash." Garrus said, "Same goes for Wrex."
"Wonder what he's up to."
"Something important apparently on Tuchanka."
"Maybe we'll stop by and say hi."
"Tuchanka hates aliens." Tali reminded.
"We'll see how the wind blows. Having Grunt with us might have its perks."
By now, the three were climbing the stairs to Liara's office. When they made it to the top, they noticed a desk on their right for what looked like a secretary or receptionist. No one was there however.
"Liara?" John knocked, "We're here."
"Come in." They heard her say.
They opened the door and stepped in. She was already at her desk typing away while eating some sliced fruit and a cup of steaming tea. The office itself was chic and well-manicured, and nothing about it seemed cluttered or dirty. It wasn't a surprise to see it like that either. Liara was known to be a little anal about being neat.
"We just saw you fly in. Seems like we've interrupted your morning routine." John greeted with a smile.
Liara got up and gave John a hug and beaming grin. She did the same for Garrus. When it was Tali's turn, Liara didn't hesitate. She hugged her tightly.
"Hey," Liara whispered into Tali's ear, "nice to see you."
Tali didn't say anything when they separated.
"Miranda told me everything about what you needed."
"Can you help us?" John asked.
Liara sat back down and brought up her contacts while nodding. "Yes. Do you know Nassana Dantius?"
Garrus crossed his arms. "That nasty crook? What about her?"
"She's made quite a presence here as a corporate executive on Illium. She also runs several LLCs, including real-estate, stock exchange, and banking. Her facets of business typically involve coercion, threats, heavy embellishment, and murder."
John scoffed. "A real go-getter."
"Can't help but think Thane's out to kill her." Garrus said, only glancing at John for his comment.
"He is. Not fifteen minutes ago, he came into contact with an ex-security official for Nassana and left shortly after."
"That's immaculate timing. Is he heading to wherever Nassana is right now?" Garrus wondered.
"It looks that way. For almost a month, Nassana's barricaded herself inside her penthouse with mercenaries protecting her."
"Why?"
"Someone tipped her off about a plan to assassinate her. She's rightly paranoid, given that she's done the same for many of her colleagues. I'll send you the address and anything else I find."
"Then we need to move now." John said, "Tali, call Olasie and tell her team to get their gear prepped. We're leaving in ten."
"Got it." Tali turned her omni-tool on and started making the call.
"Garrus, stay here and figure out what's going on with Samara. You have full discretion with this op. If you have the opportunity to find her now, do it."
Garrus gave John an appraising eye. "Just you and a full squad of quarians huh? That'll be a sight to see."
Tali grinned. "Sure will be."
John turned to Liara. "Thanks Liara. We'll keep you posted."
"Okay."
John and Tali headed out and made their way back to the Normandy as fast as they could.
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The kodiak fell in line behind the long stretch of air cars on its way to the Dantius Towers. Inside the hold was John, Tali, Juel, Olasie, and Olasie's squad: Teri, Talukh, Kylie, and Darehk.
For almost five minutes, the group stayed silent, only minding their attention to checking their chest rigs and rifles.
"Commander," EDI announced over the radio, interrupting the silence, "I have been watching the Dantius Towers through several camera feeds and see nothing that would suggest Thane of his arrival. He disappears shortly from view on the intersection of Kizoa Road and Rainer Street, two kilometers away from the towers."
"And I wouldn't expect you to find anything from here on out, EDI. The guy's a professional; he's going to avoid being seen."
"Yes, commander. I will keep you posted of any further developments. Out."
Juel took a steady breath and sighed. "Boss? Give us the run down one more time."
John nodded. "Good you bring this up. There's been some changes and updates. Nassana's up here in her penthouse in tower one. Intel's now expecting a sizable resistance with a decent armament potential. Expect dozens of guards and mechanized security."
"There's only…" Juel counted everyone in the kodiak with a finger, "—eight of us."
"That's more than enough." John assured, "Believe me. EDI's analyzed the floor plans and thinks we should land on tower two and cross over the skyway instead of landing at tower one."
"Keelah, Shepard." Olasie mumbled, staring at the simulated projection, "The skyway doesn't even have rails, and the wind can gust up to forty kilometers per hour."
"Then we're going to have to be really careful." John said.
Everyone on Olasie's squad looked disturbed by the idea of being suspended out in the open nearly a kilometer high. If the mercs didn't kill you, it would probably be the wind and subsequent fall.
"I think we'll be fine." Teri said to try and convince herself, "It's a big bridge."
"You know what the ROE is." John continued, "Check your fire and targets because there will be civilians."
"Just follow Shepard's lead, and we'll all make it out alive." Tali said, assuring Teri, "We've done much, much worse."
"Okay…" Olasie said timidly, still looking at the hologram, "Got it."
"We're almost there." John said with the towers in sight, "Get ready."
Everyone got their gear ready to go.
John's radio squawked. "Shepard? This is Garrus. We're on our way to find Samara."
"That's good to hear. Where she at?"
"Somewhere on Illium still. She's been living here about six days according to Liara. Hopefully the intel's good because she said she's somewhere near Illium's expo-center and surrounding business district."
"That's all you have to go on?"
"From what Liara told me, she's an oddity. I don't think it'll take long to find her. Probably stop by a police station to see if they have anything."
"Alright. Keep Miranda updated on everything. We have the rest of team on standby if anything goes south. And if things do get bad enough, Miranda's marines will become a supporting element."
"Roger that. Garrus out."
"Get ready Shepard," Juel called as they started making their approach to the two towers, "We're about to land."
As they touched ground, John and his seven quarian squadmates jumped out and established a quick perimeter of the area.
"God, I haven't done an op like this in years." Juel said sheepishly, "I'm afraid I might be a bit rusty."
"You'll get right back into it." Tali said with the dip of her head, "Now come on. We need to find a way to Dantius."
"She sounds like a bitch."
"She is."
John gave the signal and the group moved in unison.
In single file with Shepard leading them, they approached a wall of glass to which Teri and Kylie immediately got to work on.
Not sixty seconds pass before they cut a hole big enough for everyone to climb through.
"We do this right and we do it clean." John whispered over his throat mic to his team, "I'll say it again. Check your targets and don't fire unless fired upon. Move."
They advanced. As they reared the corner, they saw a pair of salarians mopping the floor with miserable looks on their faces.
"Do this. Do that. Mop this. Mop that. What have we gotten ourselves into, Louri?" The salarian sighed.
"This is what we get with a Ph.D. in enology. Worthless. Worthless!" Louri complained as he furiously mopped.
"Non-combatants. Subdue if needed. Tasers out." John ordered.
Olasie, Tali, and Juel rounded the corner with their tasers while John and the rest of the quarians fell in line with their guns raised.
To say the salarians were mortified and surprised would be a severe understatement. Not a moment passes and the poor janitors drop their mops as if they were guns.
"Oh my! Ohmyohmyohmyohmy! Please! We'll do a better job! We swear! We'll never complain again!"
"Yeah! Enology is great! Don't kill us!"
John put a finger over his lips. "Shhh. It's alright. We're not here to hurt you. But you need to leave. Now."
Olasie gave John a perplexed look. Let them go? For all John knew, they could be agents ready to flag the whole team of their whereabouts. If it were up to her, she would've stripped and plasticuffed the pair to a pole with tape over their mouths.
"We're going! No questions asked! Bye!" The two started running.
"What's enology?" Tali asked.
"Beats me." John answered.
Olasie watched the two salarians run out from where they came from with a look of partial disbelief. "Uhm… was that wise? Letting them go like that?"
"Concerned that they're going to tell on us?"
"Yes." Olasie said flatly.
"It doesn't matter. I'm not too concerned if Nassana knows we're here or not."
"…Okay?"
"You see the way they bitched?" Juel said with a grin to Olasie, "No way they snitch."
Olasie sniffed, "We'll see."
Without much of a second thought, Olasie fell back in formation with the others and continued on.
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From a distance, Thane watched the group with a lingering eye.
It was probably the rarest thing ever to see a single human with seven quarians together on a mission to engage the eclipse head-on.
What reason they were doing that was beyond him, but maybe it was to settle a score against Nassana. Wasn't too far-fetched, given the problems Nassana had hurdled herself into, with killing innocent people and whatnot just for a line of some zeroes in her checking account.
He watched the team of eight approach the salarians with tasers before letting them go.
Much to Thane's gratitude, they weren't killing innocents. Which meant Thane knew the group was good company. If time and circumstance permitted, Thane would help them if needed from the shadows.
Thane believed their arrival was a gift of fate. Odd timing Thane supposed, but it was something he could pull into his favor. The more of the eclipse fighting them, the less he'd have to get through to Nassana.
He kept watching until they disappeared around the corner in a single file, one by one. Unlike the Eclipse that they would soon be fighting, the human and quarians were obviously soldiers. They were no doubt a force to be reckoned with. But the eclipse had numbers on their side, which meant a frontal assault wasn't going to pull any advantages, other than maybe engaging them through choke points. But that was pushing it.
Thane thought it best to move ahead and give himself a head start.
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An eruption of gunfire. The sound was far enough away to know that whatever was happening wasn't involving them. They halted their advance and took up positions around an array of columns and pallets stacked with construction material.
"Where's that coming from?" Olasie murmured over comms, "Because I don't think that's for us."
"It might be Thane running into trouble." Juel thought aloud, "Hope not."
"Doubtful. Guy's supposed to be the best in the galaxy. Doubt he even uses a gun." Talukh took a prone position and forced the legs of his bipod out before tucking in the stock against his shoulder.
"Standby." John ordered.
Discharging guns continued to echo for the next minute without ceasing. The team all stiffened when they saw several janitorial crew turn the corner in a full-fledged sprint, eyes wide and breaths frantic.
Olasie rose a brow. "Commander?"
"Let them through." John stood from cover and rose a hand as a way to flag someone.
"What's going on?" He hollered out to those running their way.
The salarians didn't bother dignifying him with an answer. They all flew past him and kept running. As did all the others.
John's gaze fell to the floor when he noticed droplets of blood that had trailed one of the men.
"Caught in a crossfire?" Tali wondered as the gunfire continued to grow closer.
Another man came running but was too far behind his compatriots. A round passed through his chest and he skid across the recently polished floor in a dead heap.
That about answered it.
A mech turned the corner and Talukh took aim.
"Ready to punch," Talukh sounded, "Waiting for your say."
"Send it."
Talukh fired and the mech's head came clean off. As the robot fell, servo oil spilled from its neck and spread across the floor.
Several more mechs come into view. Talukh fired again and took down three before the LOKIs realized where the gunfire was coming from. They responded in kind and cloaked the field in suppressive fire.
Killing drones was easier than the war games they simulated on the Normandy. Despite the receiving volley, Talukh handled the rest without anyone needing to participate.
"Alright," Lukh murmured, "We're looking clear."
"Good work," John stepped and had them all round up, "Let's move."
It didn't take long until they started to see bodies.
"Oh my god." Olasie murmured, "This is... insane."
"Why would they be killing janitors?" Teri croaked.
"Paranoia." Tali offered.
"Enough to kill people wiping windows?" Darehk mumbled as they passed by a dead worker holding just a squeegee.
"Apparently." Juel spoke, "You can't fix crazy."
"You can. With bullets." Tali corrected.
Juel gave her what amounted to a scoff. "Fair enough."
John rose his fist to halt the group.
-STOP. TAKE COVER.-
They immediately spread out and took a multitude of positions the same way they had just moments ago.
-REPORT- Tali signed.
-TWO CONTACTS. OUR FRONT. 25 METERS. GET READY-
Talukh found the men John spotted and took aim with Olasie doing the same.
Both the quarians gave John a thumbs-up.
Seeing as there weren't any more contacts, John gave them the signal to fire.
Three seconds pass. They both fire in tandem and tagged their targets.
The two saps dropped and were dead before they even hit the floor. Silence ensued for the next several seconds; enough for John to assume that no one had noticed their passing.
"Man," John nodded with a grim-looking smile, "I should take you all along every time we do an op."
"It's why we're here." Olasie replied earnestly.
"Shit. Tanner and Sheila are down." A merc called from somewhere further down the hallway, "The cleaner's must've gotten to some of the mechs."
"Are you stupid?! We ain't getting smacked by a bunch of moppers you fuck! Call this in!"
It became strangely quiet after that.
John faced his team with a serious frown. "Cover's obviously blown. Stack up. On me."
Waiting for a good moment, they lined up and moved forward. They stacked up outside the entryway. At an instant, the team moved in and cleared the room.
"Clear." Olasie murmured.
"Clear." Juel announced quietly.
There were four bodies on the ground. Two of which Olasie and Talukh had killed.
The other two? John gave the extra dead a perplexed look.
"Uh. They're dead."
Tali looked indifferent. "Huh. Thane works fast, doesn't he?"
"You think it's him?" Olasie wondered, "Because we sure didn't kill them."
"Keelah. The guy knows we're here."
Olasie hovered over the body she tagged before shrugging at the two extra dead. "Odd exchange of gifts. But I guess I'll take it."
"If he can hear us, then he knows that we're looking for him. Let's keep moving."
And they did just that. They cross through several rooms and hallways without incident and come across more dead salarians.
"How many people did they need to keep this place clean?" Kylie asked in disbelief.
"Could be constructions workers too, working through night shift." Juel answered.
"Odd having only salarians though."
"Pretty odd, yeah." Juel shrugged.
"Hold it," John hushed, staring resolutely forward, "We're about to make contact."
The group set up.
Eight eclipse mercenaries came through a hallway on the opposite end of the corridor with their guard up and guns raised. John didn't need to think too hard to guess they were probably moving up to check in on why the forward groups weren't replying to their radios.
"Call it, boss." Talukh said, tracing a mercenary with his rifle, "I'm ready."
"Do it."
The quarian fired his rifle and the resounding crack sent the team of eclipse scrambling for cover.
"Ulrich's down!"
"Anybody got eyes?!"
"No!"
Kylie extended the bipod on her S80 crew served weapon and prepared for the volley of suppressive fire John would soon order.
A merc stuck his head out and his eyes grew two sizes. "What the fuck are a bunch of quarians doing here?!" The merc yelled. The poor fellow was cut down shortly after by a high caliber round to the head.
"Just killing you." Talukh intoned with a crass mumble.
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Nassana was watching the live feed of Shepard and seven quarians cutting down her guards.
Insofar, she was not impressed with the people she hired.
"This is the best you have?" Nassana growled, twisting on a heel and pointing at the feed with an open hand, "They haven't fought twenty seconds and your men are already falling back!"
"Don't worry ma'am. They were scouts. They did their job and are pulling back as ordered with the main force."
Nassana huffed and turned back around to keep watching. Four of the eclipse had fallen to the quarians inside a moment. As the eclipse retreated back from which they came, the quarian marines stepped over the dead bodies and kept moving with trained and practiced precision. It didn't settle too well with Nassana to see a human with them no less.
Of all the things Nassana was expecting to come after her, it definitely wasn't a bunch of quarians. Did she somehow piss off the Migrant fleet enough to have them personally send in a squad of their marines to kill her?
She couldn't remember. They must've been caught somehow in the periphery of her actions. For quarians to make this much effort into killing her men and infiltrating her tower meant they were pretty pissed off.
"What's your plan then?" Nassana asked in a rush.
"Regroup and take them head on. They're only a group of eight. There's over a hundred of us."
"And how do you know they don't have backup?"
"We're working on that."
"Your contract as a security force is dangling loosely over a fire, captain." Nassana threatened, "They better be dead soon."
Suddenly, the dozen or so screens that surrounded them filled with static, effectively making Nassana blind to everything that was happening to both her towers.
"Fucking..."
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"Thanks EDI. Should help with the strategy planning." Shepard said graciously, "Don't know what I'd do without you."
"I now have control of Nassana's entire network. Also, Miranda's marines are en-route to assist. ETA four minutes. They will arrive at the Tare Skyway and execute a base of fire from several vantage points."
"Excellent. Keep a look out for us in the meantime with the footage you're getting."
"Understood, Commander. I will remain on stand-by."
"We're about to turn the city into a warzone." Juel said in slight disapproval, "I'm thinking that might attract a lot of unnecessary attention..."
"Don't worry." John assured, "Cerberus gives out enough cash to make anyone turn a blind eye until we're done."
"I guess that's a good thing?"
"Keeps us out of jail." Tali said.
"We've got four minutes of downtime. Talukh, Kylie: Take a vantage point and maintain overwatch. We'll keep security down here."
"Acknowledged." Talukh nodded before heading off. Kylie followed.
The team spread out across the large room with Tali naturally gravitating toward wherever John was heading.
"How good are the Cerberus marines?" Tali decided to ask, "Never really had a mission with them yet."
"What about that mission on Haestrom? Don't you remember?" John mentioned.
"We never even fired our guns there." Tali argued.
"They're an excellent team. All ex-Alliance. Half of them were Army. Great guys."
"Oh."
"Why?"
"Just making sure." Tali shrugged.
"Well, Olasie's team is damn good too, if that's what you wanted to hear," John added with a grin, "Don't know if you're fishing for a compliment or something."
"Because I'm totally the kind of girl to fish for a compliment." She joked.
A loud speaker interrupted their aimless conversation. The whole team turned to the source of the voice.
"ATTENTION INTRUDERS. YOU HAVE TRESPASSED DANTIUS PROPERTY WITH A CLEAR AND DELIBERATE INTENT TO INCITE AND INSTIGATE VIOLENCE. WE WILL RETURN SUCH ACTIONS WITH AN OVERWHELMING AND UNMITIGATING FORCE. EXIT THE AREA NOW AND WE WILL ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE."
John bit his lip and looked at Tali.
"Think I should reply?"
"And tell them what?"
"That I'm Commander Shepard. And that they should just let me do my job."
Tali gave him a funny look. "You know what? You do what you want. Just don't get shot in the head."
Cautiously eyeing his surroundings, John decided to reply.
"There's no reason to fight! Just let me do what I need to do, and everyone gets to see another tomorrow! We can negotiate!" John shouted from the other side of the wall.
There was a long and nearly unending pause. But the person on the other end finally replied.
"WHAT ARE YOUR TERMS?"
"Get me to Nassana, and I'll double whatever she's paying you!"
Olasie looked pretty unconvinced by the idea of this even working. And she certainly didn't much care for negotiating with people who'd just got done massacring several dozen people.
John leaned toward Tali. "Tali? Ask EDI what Nassana's paying these guys."
Tali nodded and went for her radio. "EDI, find out what Nassana's paying these mercs. Maybe Cerberus can pay them off and make our day a little easier."
"Of course, Ms. Zorah, searching for Nassana's financial records."
"This is Lieutenant Dan: we're on site and can provide a base of fire on your command. Just give us the order." The Cerberus lieutenant called over Shepard's radio.
"Nassana is paying five hundred thousand credits per week for Eclipse's premium protection package." EDI answered for Tali and John; "Enough to station a security force of around 100 or more mercenaries. She's scheduled to have them until the end of the year."
John's brows shot up in surprise. "Jesus. That's a lot of money."
"And bad guys." Tali added before looking John straight in the eye, "Them asking for terms? Keelah John, they're just humoring us."
John nodded and called the Lieutenant over the radio. "Dan, we're on the 87th floor, leftmost balcony. Bad guys on just the other side of the wall. See us?"
"Roger that. We're seeing 40 plus soldiers in that proximity."
"You are a go for fire mission. Fire at will."
John and the quarians waited for eight seconds. Suddenly, the sounds of several dozen miniature sonic booms could be heard following frantic screams.
"That's our cue." John said as he lined himself up next to the door with Tali just behind, "Stack up. On me."
The quarians regrouped and fell in formation behind John. 30 seconds pass before John got a call over the radio.
"This is Dan, we probably got over half of them, but we're receiving effective and deliberate fire, how copy?"
"Acknowledge last. Disengage and stand-by for next fire mission, over."
"Copy Shepard. Disengaging."
John primed a flashbang and tossed it around the corner. The resounding explosion gave them the go to move in and mop up whatever was left.
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Thane wanted to say the eclipse were good at what they did. And Thane knew they were. But here on Illium? They were a bully force; all show and no skill. The experienced veterans were off in more trying worlds; not wasting their time with spoiled first-class asari glam addicts.
Thane, from the safety of a shadow, watched the quarians move in and kill anyone who happened to still have a rifle in their hands. Anyone who surrendered was immediately stripped of their gear and plasti-cuffed to a pole.
Thane couldn't help but smile when the human told the cuffed men that the police were coming; and that they would have to explain who carried out the massacre of innocents personally.
He was beginning to like the bunch a lot more. And now that he knew that they were looking for him, he would make his appearance known when the time was appropriate.
Between Thane and John's team, 46 of Nassana'a guards were either dead or pacified. Of the 103 that were stationed here, only 57 men remained. If they were lucky, the remaining eclipse would soon realize it wasn't a fight worth fighting. Nassana would go down, and no one would stir an eye over all the bad follow-ups of business.
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John took a sip from his canteen and sighed. "Mhm. Quite the stalemate we've got."
They both sat behind a giant brick of mortar with the occasional sound of a whizzing bullet flying past.
He offered his canteen to Tali. To which she gave him a blank look.
He withdrew the canteen and set it aside with a smirk on his face. "Ah. Right. Forgot."
She huffed. "Forgot?"
He laughed. "I'm just teasin', hun."
Olasie and Juel gave the couple an odd look.
"...You guys always this casual in a firefight?" She asked.
Tali uncrossed her legs and gave her friends a shrug. "When it's not intense."
Juel flinched from some flecks of concrete that flew past him.
"Not intense?" Juel gasped, incredulous, "You hear that Olasie? Not intense."
Olasie rolled her eyes at the two before giving Juel a rough pat on the shoulder. "It's okay, bud." She cooed.
The radio came to life. "Commander, this is Dan: we're on site and awaiting your command, over."
"Lieutenant, we're pinned down and can't cross the skyway. Possible marksman of unknown number engaging our position. Please advise and prioritize targets, over."
"We will survey. Stand-by for report, break."
Half a minute passed before Dan came back on the radio. "Ready to report."
"Report."
"400 meters. 2nd balcony right above the skyway. Deployables with crew served weapon. 400 meters. 3rd balcony on the right, 6 floors above the skyway. Sniper and observer. Another at 400 meters, 2nd balcony on the left, 2 floors above the skyway; sniper and observer team. Painting targets with IR, over."
Olasie's team, Juel, Tali, and John all activate the IR sensitivity gear.
John nodded as he watched the IR beam out to their respective targets. "Copy all. We see it, over."
"Uhm, uh... Be advised, just spotted possible AMR from last target. We'll strobe the IR on their position. Over."
John scoffed. "Christ. Anti-material?"
Talukh laughed and ejected his spent sink to the ground before inserting a new one. "Shit, they must really want us dead."
Flopping onto his belly, Talukh disappeared into nothingness and rolled out of cover. Regardless of the cloak, Talukh was still risking exposure to receiving stray suppressive fire.
The man fired twice and rolled back behind his slab of concrete. "Welp. AMR's down."
John took another sip from his canteen and raised it to the man. "Good job, now it's my turn."
With practice on John's side, he aimed down the sight picture of his own rifle, found the painted target, and fired. The spotter and sniper were down inside three seconds.
Tali nodded at his good aim.
"Targets down, Lieutenant. Maintain line of fire and provide suppressive assistance for our advance. How copy?"
"Good copy: Maintaining line of fire and providing suppressive assistance for advance, over."
"Kylie. I want you to stay back and sweep the area with cover fire."
"On it."
"Get ready to move!" John ordered. The team got on their feet and prepped their stuff to move up while Kylie extended her bipod for their charge.
John stood up and vaulted around his corner of cover. "Move! Go!"
Olasie and half her team gulped and fell in line behind The Commander with Juel and Tali right behind.
"You know what would be great?" Juel asked Olasie.
"What?"
"If the wind started kicking up."
"Shut the hell up."
Kylie braced the buttstock firmly against her shoulder, unleashing a relentless torrent of lead as she operated the crew-served weapon with precision. A fierce grin carved itself across her face amidst the chaos. This, here in the raw, almost primal, satisfaction in the symphony of her S80, was where she thrived. For Kylie, serving as a gunner wasn't just a role—it was a calling. The cacophony of rapid fire, punctuated by the streaks of tracers finding their marks, resonated with her on a visceral level.
With a straight face, she kept her fire high above her teammates in a good attempt to keep the eclipse on the other side of the bridge pinned down.
Ordinarily, her job was usually a lot more dangerous than this. By now, she would've started receiving fire, which would've forced her to relocate. But since they had a supporting element to back them up and help her out, her job was beginning to feel more like a cakewalk. Training was harder than this.
"Keep it up Kylie," John said over the radio, "Get ready to reposition and resume fire."
"Copy Shepard, waiting on your say!"
Heat sink at maximum capacity, she racked the long charging handle to eject the spent thermal as another loaded in. Taking aim, she held down the trigger again and grit her teeth as the gun punched her with its high-strung speed of staccato recoil. Exhausting her second heatsink, she racked the charging handle again, switched barrels, and continued.
"Kylie, time to move!"
"Copy Commander, moving!"
Stuffing her hot-as-hell barrel in her dump pouch, she grabbed the gun by its carry handle and ran as fast as she could to resume her suppressive fire.
A hundred and fifty meter sprint later, she met back up with her squad and redeployed her bipod on a crate.
"Good shooting, Kylie," Olasie congratulated, "You took out like four guys."
"Did I? How could you tell?"
"Watched your tracers. They got wasted pretty quick."
Kylie smiled and got herself ready for their next push.
There wasn't a doubt in her mind that her transfer to the Normandy was probably going to be the highlight of everyone's career here.
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ
The mercs closed the blinds of every window in Nassana's room and prepared themselves for the final stand. With a scornful look on her face, she began to wonder how close to death she really was.
"Ma'am, we're looking on calling in reinforcements."
She faced one of the three captains with a simple shake of her head. "I've watched you call in everyone with nothing but static to reply to you. You said you had this handled."
"We're getting to the bottom of it." He reassured as he loaded a block into his rifle, "And we'll finish—"
The doors opened and out stepped Shepard with no gun in his hands and his seven quarian friends tagging behind.
The mercenaries at the far end of the room next to Nassana immediately went to their guns.
"I wouldn't." John warned, "And believe me, the blinds aren't stopping us from seeing anything."
Nassana's eyes widened. "S—Shepard... But you're dead."
"I got better." He intoned quietly. The quarians lined both his flanks and stared down the mercs. "Drop the guns and you all come out alive."
There was a long moment of hesitation, but Nassana withheld.
"Don't listen to him."
"I don't like to make examples of anyone." John threatened, "But I'm about to if you don't drop the guns."
The merc farthest to the right of Nassana dropped his gun.
"Why are you here to kill me?" Nassana demanded.
"Not here to kill you." John answered, crossing his arms, "We're just looking for someone."
"And you want me to believe that? Migrant fleet marines and a platoon of men watching us from outside as you slowly destroy my tower? What is that you want? Credits? Just tell me the price. We can make this nightmare go away."
Thane dropped down from behind Nassana and her two remaining mercs with barely a sound. The eclipse merc who'd already surrendered backed himself into a corner with barely a peep and a horrified look on his face.
John and the quarians stared on so as to not give away the drell's slick entrance. Poised like a snake, Thane approached the first merc and snapped her neck before collapsing the windpipe of another. As Nassana spun around to face the ambush, she looked Thane in the eye, watched the tip of her own gun touch her left breast, and felt a bullet pass through her rotten little heart. She could barely register the sound of it firing, much less the last breath that left her when she died.
With a lot more tact than what was necessary, Thane lay her down and crossed her arms to let her rest.
"Holy fuck." The surviving merc stammered as he rose his hands up in surrender.
All seven quarians rose their firearms in unison at the lone assassin standing from the far side of the room.
A spectacle to be frank. It wasn't every day you saw people get killed like that. After everything they'd put up with today, the quarians weren't really in he mood to be on the receiving end of that.
Reticle trained cecnter mass, Tali's face was stunned. She was still digesting what just happened. And she certainly didn't find it the smartest jumping down the way he did, given the recent climate of their little war. But, in retrospect, it wasn't all that smart either to come waltzing into Nassana's room while there were still armed guards meandering around with her. A good calculation on Shepard's part, if not a lucky one.
Juel only glanced at the Commander. "That our guy, Shepard?"
"Yeah. He's the one." He nodded before reaching for his radio. "This is Shepard. You're free to disengage, Lieutenant. Maintain overwatch and then exfil in ten, over."
With several breaths of relief, the quarians lowered their weapons while Kylie and Teri went to detain the last surviving eclipse merc.
"Feeling lucky, punk?" Kylie spat as she put on the plasti-cuffs.
He stared at the three freshly dead bodies and shivered. "...Yeah. Luckier than them."
While all this was happening, Thane had his hands clasped in what looked like a prayer over Nassana's body.
However odd it was, John let him do his thing out of respect. But after almost half a minute of waiting, he decided to speak up.
"I was hoping to talk to you."
Thane didn't even bother looking up. "I apologize, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."
John glimpsed at Nassana's corpse and shrugged. "Does she really deserve that?"
Thane finally looked up and gave John a serious look. "Not for her. For me."
John took a breath at the metaphysics and pushed it out of his head.
"I've watched your progress since you started your attack on the Towers." Thane stepped around the desk and away from Nassana to face John up close.
"If you were doing that, then you must be aware of why we were coming here in the first place." John stated, a little agitated that Thane knew all along of their intentions.
"Yes. I did. But the measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you and your team. All this destruction. And calculated chaos. I was curious to see how far you would go to find me. Well. Here I am."
Tali's brows went into a knit and she frowned. "You used us. Just so you could kill her."
"I did, Tali'Zorah."
Tali stood up straighter and glanced at John. "...And when did you learn about me?"
"At the height of your fight against Saren and Sovereign." Thane answered, placing his hands behind his back, "I'm aware of you and everyone who served under Commander Shepard's team."
Tali didn't need to ask why. She already knew drell had perfect memories. And just for a moment, Tali pondered the immediate burden associated with having a perfectly cataloged bank of memories and thoughts detailing the entirety of your life. The highs of passing any and every form of academia would pale when compared to the torture of losing what you held dear in your life. The idea of recalling the exactitude of what you felt the night you lost someone you loved? Or when you broke your leg?
The very notion of having that made Tali shudder.
When she lost John all those years ago, a piece of her died. It took two years to climb out from the darkness. Now sufficiently healed, she could finally say the pain was fading. But to feel that again? To feel all that perfectly as it was that night she lost him? Over and over whenever your mind would will it? Even if you didn't want it to?
There wouldn't be a way in the universe for Tali to get past that kind of hell. To be imprisoned in your own library of memories would be like burning in an inferno. An endless sea of torture. She stuffed the floating thoughts to the back of her mind, thankful that she'd soon forget all about her aimless thinking.
"Then you know of everything that we've done." John started, getting them back on track, "Entire colonies are being abducted by the collectors. We're trying to bring along as many people as we can to stop them."
Thane pondered for just a moment before nodding, if only slightly. "I've heard of them. But facing the collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship ever returns from doing so."
"We've heard much the same with getting to Illos."
"A fair point." Thane deduced, "You and your crew have built a reputation on doing what would largely be considered impossible."
"Will you help us?" John asked simply.
"I will." Thane agreed, "I will work for you. Free of charge."