“Captai-i-in…”
Tali’s voice trembled slightly as the Makos raced at full speed toward the obstruction, but she didn’t get to say anything else because a biotic structure began to form in front of us, carrying us higher and higher until we were above the obstacle.
“Contact!”
Jane shouted this, and I immediately flattened myself against the armor to minimize my profile.
Fortunately, we were now positioned above the presumed enemy, making it difficult for them to hit me or the Mako, which was protected from below by a barrier.
“I’ll drop the barrier on my count of zero.”
“Tali, mark the targets.”
Jane decided to advise the quarian, who didn’t reply, but I doubted she would dare disobey her direct commander.
“Three, two, one, zero…”
At the last word, I dropped the barrier and the Mako’s thrusters kicked in, tilting it so the nose pointed diagonally downward.
The auto-targeting system engaged, and the cannon began firing at the marked targets.
The second Mako repeated our maneuver, and soon there wasn’t a single intact geth platform left on the small rocky outcrop.
The Makos simply crashed to the ground, which was somewhat unpleasant for me.
“Hrk…”
“Captain?”
Jane addressed me worriedly.
“I’m fine.
Just tell Chifuyu not to forget she’s carrying a captain on the outside — that landing was a bit rough.
I think I bruised my ribs.”
“Understood.”
Chifuyu replied almost immediately.
“Alright, give me two minutes to collect myself, and we’ll move on…”
At that moment, I wasn’t just recovering; I was also scanning the comm frequencies.
On one of them, I heard an asari cursing about the geth and krogan who kept pouring in.
They’d been ordered not to push ahead.
“This is Captain Shepard, I’m coming to your aid, transmitting coordinates.
Advise the best route forward.”
A couple of seconds of silence, then the voice on the other end swore again — this time directed at me.
“So you’re the one we’ve been waiting for?”
“Affirmative, the cavalry on two Makos has almost arrived.”
“Two whole Makos?!”
The speaker’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“We’ve got an entire army bearing down on us!”
“Step aside.”
Liara’s stern voice addressed her subordinate, and then she got straight to business.
“John, we’re pinned down in the Prothean ruins.
The geth and krogan are trying to reach us.
You won’t be able to get to us in the Makos — at least not from your side.
You’ll have to drive to the elevator and descend from there, in several groups since the elevator isn’t that big.
Sending you the map.”
“How are you holding up over there?”
“What could happen to us?”
Her tone was casual.
“They can’t do a thing against a squad of commandos, especially since Mom has been running her subordinates ragged in recent years…
well, you know.”
“Alright, wait for us…
we’ll be there soon.”
“We’ll wait.”
Liara was clearly a bit nervous but trying to hide it.
Soon, though, she wouldn’t have anything to worry about.
“How much fuel do we have in the boosters?”
“Enough, Captain.”
Chifuyu was the first to answer.
“Of course, if the drop is very high, the landing will be rough, so you’d better get inside, but we definitely won’t crash.”
“Excellent.
Then let’s move.”
Well, Chifuyu, along with Rebecca, floored it.
They floored it so hard that the colossus — which had been folded up and was just beginning to unfold as we approached — was simply bowled over.
I didn’t even have to use biotics; it was shot to pieces at point-blank range.
While Tali was mostly aiming at its legs, the gunner in the second vehicle fired at its head first, then the legs.
“Sniper!”
Jane shouted this as a laser shot splashed against my biotic barrier, dealing no damage.
However, I wasn’t about to wait for them to pick off the small, nimble targets.
I yanked the first geth sniper I saw toward me, suspending it directly in front of my Mako’s cannon.
One shot, and the strange cloaking sniper was no more.
“I’ve never seen geth like that before!”
Tali’s voice was panicked.
“We can’t take them apart right now…”
I dodged behind cover from another shot and pulled a geth into the line of fire of the second Mako’s cannon, while Tali managed to lock onto another one, and the Mako’s auto-targeting opened fire.
“…but if you think it’s important, information about these geth can be transmitted to the Migrant Fleet.”
“Yes!
Thank you!”
Joy and immense gratitude were evident in the quarian’s voice.
“Careful, Captain, or this little one will fall in love with you.
Then what will you do with me, after what you’ve done?”
Jane allowed herself a light taunt.
I thought for a couple of seconds about what I could have done.
My mind only went back to the first order, when I told her to undress.
Surely she couldn’t have figured out what else I was planning…
And no, I wasn’t planning just to sleep with her — if I could seduce this red-haired wildcat, of course — but also a little surprise.
never…
Captain…
you…”
Tali was flustered and seemed to have jabbed at a few unnecessary spots on the computer, because the cannon fired at places where there were no enemies.
“Tali, easy, don’t panic like that…”
Jane hurried to calm the quarian down.
“…there’s nothing between Captain Shepard and me…”
Was that a hint of sadness I heard?
“…so even if you’re thinking of seducing him, the path is clear.”
“I…”
“Shh…
don’t shoot at nothing again.
I’m just joking.
Don’t take it to heart.”
“I’m not taking it to heart…”
Tali’s voice sounded like she wanted to sink through the floor.
“Good.
Now, come on, don’t just stand there!
Let’s go!
Let’s go!
We need to move!”
I slapped the hull a couple of times with my palm, and the Mako’s engine roared back to life, revving up as we headed toward the location where the elevator was supposed to be.
“Five-second readiness!
Four, three, two, one…”
On zero, the Mako’s nose punched through a weak railing and we plummeted downward, falling at tremendous speed.
Inside, Tali was squeaking softly, which was strange since we’d dropped from a much greater height not long ago.
The second Mako was following us, but on a slightly different trajectory.
I was closely monitoring the enemy forces who, hearing the noise, had looked up and were now a bit shocked.
The organics were shocked, but the geth…
well, no — judging by the fact that they hadn’t opened fire, they were also shocked, causing a short circuit somewhere in their electronic brains.
“Well…
Geronimo!”
Just before the Mako’s thrusters began braking, I used a Biotic Charge to push off the armor and flew at double speed toward the nearest krogan.
“Kha!”
He didn’t have time to react.
The omni-blade drove straight into his forehead, piercing the bone plate, killing him instantly.
Covered in biotics, I tucked into a roll and landed on the ground.
“Well?
Who’s going to tell me a human isn’t a bird?
Nobody kicked me, but I still flew right to you!”
Under my helmet, I had a slightly crazed smile on my face.
They opened fire on me that very second, but the Makos had already landed and were also opening fire on the enemies.
There were a lot of them, but they were just infantry.
Even worse, they were shooting at me, and I was protected by a biotic barrier.
“Well, that’s not necessary…”
I shook my head.
Realizing they couldn’t break through my defenses, the enemies tried to focus on the Makos.
I used my charge again and landed right in the thick of it.
This time, I simply hacked off a krogan’s leg.
He screamed in pain, and I shoved my pistol into his mouth and fired a few shots.
“Such fun and without me?!
I am Kroga-a-a-a-a-an!”
Wrex, climbing out of the Mako, charged toward the enemies.
Behind us, single sniper rifle shots started ringing out.
A couple of biotic lifts also hit the enemies, indicating that Kaidan had gotten out of the Mako as well.
They focused on me again.
Several krogan rushed in my direction, but I calmly launched myself up and slightly to the side with biotics, crashing down on a geth, crushing it to hell.
“Come on, come on!”
Wrex plowed into the enemy crowd.
“Show me what you’ve got!”
I smirked under my helmet as Wrex started getting fired up.
His shotgun kept spitting out pellets, destroying geth, while his fists drove the frontal bone plates of krogan into their heads.
It was exhilarating to have such a powerful ally on our side.
“Little man, toss me up!”
He was next to me and pointed at a cluster of geth he wanted me to throw him toward.
I didn’t ask questions.
Biotic energy enveloped him, and he flew in that direction.
I ducked behind cover for a couple of seconds.
His bulk was heavy, and launching him at sufficient speed, even over a short distance, wasn’t easy.
Stationary constructs were one thing; this was another.
“Yahoo-o-o-o-o!”
The krogan crashed into the enemies, clearly very pleased.
“Forward!”
A beautiful female voice issued the order from somewhere behind the enemy lines, and a combined biotic strike hit the krogan and geth simultaneously.
Now they were being crushed from both sides.
The ones in the rear had no heavy equipment, but we had two Makos…
Makos aren’t exactly heavy equipment, but in this situation, with the enemy having nothing like that and relying purely on numbers…
Anyway, at some point, they were cornered against a rock formation.
The geth were ready to fight to the last platform, but the krogan didn’t show the same resolve and raised a white flag.
Although, by that point, only about ten to fifteen of them were left.
An asari standing next to me was wiping sweat from her forehead.
“We did it…”
“Almost…”
I turned to Tali.
“Tali, get me a link to the Normandy.
Have them check the records of these krogan.
If they don’t have anything really serious on them, we’ll let them go.
But if they’re dangerous repeat offenders…”
“You want to put them all down?”
The asari looked at me with interest.
I glanced at her briefly and realized I didn’t know her.
She must be one of the new commandos in Benezia’s squad.
“John!”
I turned a bit more and saw a young asari approaching me quickly.
Ignoring the fact that I was in armor, she threw her arms around me.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
She was clearly very grateful.
“Hey, hey…”
I carefully patted her on the back.
“Liara, what’s wrong?
Everything’s fine…”
“There were so many of them that, honestly, I didn’t think we’d make it.
Of course, we could have held out in defense for a long time — provisions and our numbers allowed it — but sooner or later they would have brought in something more powerful than missile launchers.
And then…”
She let go of me and shook her head.
“Alright, don’t worry.
Better give the order for everyone to regroup.
Are these all your subordinates here?”
“Yes, myself and two dozen commandos — the most skilled ones, though there are a few new faces.
Everyone, regroup!
And plant explosives everywhere here!
I don’t want these ruins falling into the hands of those who attacked us!”
“But, ma’am…”
“I’ll take responsibility.
As a Spectre, I can certainly authorize this.”
“Huh?
A Spectre?”
The asari looked at me.
“Oh…
so you did get that title?”
“Yep…
not without pressure from Aria and Benezia, as I understand it, because Tevos made her displeasure known.
But they recognized me as a Spectre.
So…
plant the charges and don’t worry about anything.
Just extract whatever data you can.”
“You heard her?!
Move!
Move!”
The commander in Liara woke up, but just as quickly as it had awakened, it fell back asleep.
“Oh…
I…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I patted her on the shoulder.
“Tali?”
I turned and looked at the girl, who hurried over to me.
“John, they have…”
She showed me her omni-tool, which displayed ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’ notices.
That answered my questions.
“Tell Jane she knows what to do.”
“Understood!”
Three minutes later, the krogan were subjected to a massive cannon barrage.
With my biotic barrier cutting off their potential escape routes, it wasn’t even a few minutes before they were all dead.
“Jane, while we have time, record every face.
When we get back to the ship, I’ll report to the Council that I didn’t just come here for nothing — I not only saved Liara but also cleaned the Citadel Space of scum.”
“You think the Council’s clean?”
Wrex said this with a gloomy look.
“The wanted posters weren’t from the Council.
If they were, I might have thought twice.
Most of the marks were from colonies — border colonies or those in the Terminus Systems.
And there were notes about them being wanted for slave trading.”
“I see…”
Wrex calmed down a bit after my words.
“You can check everything yourself on the ship.
And yes, Tali, contact the Normandy — have them send shuttles.
It’ll be faster to get out of here that way.”
“Understood!”
It all helps promote the story.
And every 100, 300 and 500 stones adds a bonus chapter.
Every 5 reviews too.