A couple of rockets slammed into my biotic shield, but Jane already had a sniper rifle in her hands and immediately opened fire on the enemy.
A bit late, Rebecca opened fire too, and only at the very end did Williams start shooting.
I noted all this on the edge of my awareness, lifting a geth off to the side with a short hand motion.
A shot immediately hit it.
That’s how we worked — I protected the group, lifted geth that my subordinates hadn’t spotted into the air, and they shot.
Work even found the people inside our armored vehicle, since several geth were particularly large.
Not primes, of course, but something between a standard model and a prime.
They were being shot at from the vehicle’s cannon.
A few more rocket explosions dissipated against my shield.
“Damn…
how is this possible?”
Williams’ voice wasn’t loud, but I heard her perfectly.
“None of the biotics I know could do that.”
“Most human biotics are pretty pathetic…”
Jane replied without hiding her attitude toward biotics.
“…no, there are some worthy ones among them.
Like Kaidan, who’s inside now…
he doesn’t have the captain’s power, but the skills he has are honed to an incredible degree.
From people I know, I can name maybe ten more who not only went through biotic school but also keep developing.
The rest…”
“Jane, less talk.”
I cut the girl off, though her words were pleasant to hear.
Still, my power isn’t entirely mine.
Well, it is mine, but…
Shaking my head, I pushed away the latest memories and focused on the job, especially since we were approaching the spaceport.
This was obvious not only because buildings came into our field of view, but also because we started taking fire from sniper rifles.
And the fire was so intense and precise that I had to create another small shield in front of my head — ten shots hit the same spot with very short intervals.
Ten, I managed to count.
But there should have been more, ideally.
“Why are you so slow?!”
“I was mostly shooting an automatic rifle!”
Williams snapped back at Jane’s indignation.
“And they never gave me enough ammo to practice my skills anyway!”
“Yeah, yeah…”
There was a hint of mockery in Jane’s voice.
“…and they issued you pink armor, right?
You didn’t find the dye yourself and paint it.
You had enough for armor dye and a bribe to get them to look the other way, so you could have spent that on ammo.”
“Ma’am…”
What Williams wanted to say remained a mystery, because a hail of fire came down on us.
Now Jane and Rebecca had to climb back into their exosuits to return fire from the weapons mounted on them.
“Damn, I’m running low on ammo…”
Rebecca said this into the air, but I heard.
“Well, sorry, with this caliber, even mass effect weapons with pseudo-infinite ammo run out of that pseudo-infinite amount.
It’s one thing to supply ammo for a rifle whose rounds weigh no more than a gram, and another to supply these beasts.”
“I’m not complaining…”
There was a guilty note in Rebecca’s voice.
“…it’s just that some spare ‘magazines’ would have been nice, letting me fire two or three times longer.
I’ve already used up two-thirds of my combat load.
With a regular rifle, I could fire twice as much and not even use half my load.”
“Hah, write a review after the mission.”
“Huh?”
Rebecca was clearly shocked by Jane’s words, spoken with slight mockery.
“Yeah, John is known in the fleet not just for buying gear for squads out of his own pocket, but also for demanding full reviews from everyone using that gear.
What they liked, what they didn’t…”
“Wait, Jane, I heard something like that, but I thought it was just stories…”
Rebecca was shocked.
“No, not stories.”
It was me who answered the question that, judging by the intonation, wasn’t a question.
“It’s just that I often supply my subordinates with experimental weapons.
It has passed testing, of course, but you should understand that a firing range and combat conditions are different things.
Reviews are needed to refine the gear and then put it into full production.”
“And these exosuits?”
“Yeah…
only the army already informed me they’re not interested in this development.”
“What?!”
Jane, Rebecca, and even Williams were shocked by my words.
Chifuyu, Jenkins, and Alenko, who were inside the armored vehicle, also reacted to my words on the common channel.
“It’s too expensive…
it’s not cost-effective to buy these machines for the army.
So the exosuit line will mostly be sold to mercenaries.”
“Fuck…”
Jane didn’t like my words.
“Well, I’ll always have suits like these for my own people.
I’m also acquainted with a couple of admirals — I’ve worked on their ships — so they’ll push through channels to get exosuits like this purchased specifically for their fleets.
Not a whole division, but a battalion, maybe a few platoons.
I allowed myself a slight smirk.
“Alright, enough talk.
Time to fight.
Chifuyu, get out.
You won’t be able to ride around at the destination, so we’ll work on foot.”
“Understood.”
One word, and soon the rear hatch opens.
Everyone who was inside climbs out.
“And where do you think you’re going?!
Get back!”
I tried to assert my authority over Nihlus, but I had none in his eyes.
“I’m not your subordinate.
I’m a Spectre, so I’ll work at my own pace.”
All I could do was wince at the Spectre’s words, but I couldn’t argue, and there was no time anyway.
We’d arrived at the final station, where we had to face new enemies.
Well, the enemies were familiar to us by now, but that didn’t change the fact that there were a fuckton of them.
A real fuckton!
“Captain, we have a problem!”
Kaidan drew my attention, but I couldn’t turn around — I needed to maintain the shield protecting us.
“What kind?”
“A nuclear bomb…
turian model.”
“You’re logging everything, right?”
“Yes, sir…”
“Well, then start disarming it if you can.
If not, just tell me how much time we have.”
“Five minutes…
and this bomb isn’t alone.
It’s linked to others.”
“Can I lift it and drag it around?”
“I’m not sure…”
Doubt crept into Kaidan’s voice.
“Step aside…”
The Spectre clearly moved Kaidan away from the bomb and immediately cursed quietly.
“What happened?”
“Old model, from the Krogan Rebellions.
Non-removable…
But you can even carry it around.
As long as it’s networked with the other bombs, it won’t detonate.
Well, unless the timer runs out.”
“Can you find out where the other bombs are?”
“One minute.”
We stayed put.
The only good thing was that the enemies were gradually thinning out.
“Kryik?
What the fucking hell, how long do I have to wait?!”
I tried to hurry the Spectre.
“Done.
The directions where the bombs are planted have been identified.”
“Then move!
Move, goddammit!
Or do you want to live forever?!”
“No, sir!”
Jane answered for everyone, then started swearing at the others to hurry up.
It worked.
Everyone started moving faster, and I noted to myself that I’d made the right call giving her the executive officer position instead of leaving it to Kaidan.
He’s just not a leader, even if he has the right rank.
Soon we reached the second bomb.
I also lifted it with biotics and was now dragging two bombs behind us.
Then came the third…
the last one.
“Kaidan, a shield!”
“I can’t…”
“I said a shield, you fucking moron!
Or do you want the bombs to explode next to us?!”
He didn’t answer and created a shield in front of the squad.
Still, all squad members understood perfectly that Kaidan’s shield was significantly weaker than mine, so they immediately started using cover.
I stepped behind a wall and began creating an acceleration module from biotics…
“Jane, you have command of the squad.”
“What?”
She looked at me in surprise.
Using all my strength, I not only created a kind of acceleration module from biotics but also surrounded the three bombs with a shield before firing them high into the air.
A single shot, and my strength completely left me.
I just slumped against the wall and slid down it.
“Commander!”
Williams was next to me. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Williams!
Why the fuck did you stop shooting?!
Geth reinforcements have arrived!”
“But…”
“Chicken!
You weren’t ordered to think!”
I smiled weakly, watching Rebecca get next to Williams and kick her toward the cover.
Then, throwing a quick glance at me, she returned to the combat task.
“Clear!”
I opened my eyes when I heard Jane say that.
“Sweep the area!
Work in pairs!
Chief and Revy, Kaidan and Jenkins, me and Williams!
Move!”
With great effort, I got up from the floor and took a couple of steps, but had to lean my hand against the wall.
“Interesting skills…”
“Just had good teachers.”
I replied to Nihlus’s short remark.
“Any asari who’s spent her life developing biotics can do that.
What’s more, she won’t look like I do afterward.”
“Hmm…
I once worked with an asari from the corps.
That mission became one of my easiest…
Are you saying you’re on her level?”
“I don’t know…”
I shrugged.
“You probably know my file…”
“Yes, your legend wasn’t much of an obstacle for the Council.
So I know you’re the test-tube son of the late Henry Lawson and Aria’s protégé.
And frankly, I’m amazed at how persistently she pushed to get you into this exam.
Does she think you’ll be her pocket Spectre?”
“Hah…
Are you saying that’s so surprising?”
Kryik kept staring at me, and I sighed.
“I know of at least three Spectres who don’t hesitate to cooperate with the Shadow Broker, for the common good, of course.
So tell me, how is cooperation with him better than cooperation with Aria?
In my opinion, it’s much worse.”
“Well…
you’re right there.
At least Aria is partially controlled…”
I mentally smirked at Kryik’s statement.
Aria, controlled?
That lady just pretends to be obedient because it benefits her.
As long as she’s “obedient,” some shipments happen on a perfectly official level.
And if she gets out of control, they’ll have to reinvent the wheel and place all orders through the black and gray zones.
And considering the upcoming Harvest — which she knows about, even if she doesn’t quite believe in it — it’s counterproductive for her to turn the Council against her now.
“Sir, we’ve found the beacon.”
Jane contacted me.
“But it’s active.”
“Active?”
“Yes, sir.
Some kind of energy is shooting from it into the air, and Williams says she hasn’t seen this before.”
“I hope no one approached the beacon?”
“I gave the order…
Williams!
I said stand down!
Stand down, you dumb bitch!”
We had no choice but to hurry.
We arrived just as Jane body-slammed Williams’ body out of the energy barrier, after which she was slightly arched.
“Fuck…”
I tried to grab her with biotics, but my strength still hadn’t returned.
All I could do was watch her hang there.
Then the beacon exploded, and her body was thrown to the ground.
“Rebecca, check Jane’s condition.”
“I…
didn’t mean to…”
“Chifuyu, take Williams into custody.
Don’t release that creature without my order or someone of higher rank!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Normandy…”
I contacted the ship.
“…we found the beacon, but it’s damaged.
Waiting for extraction…”
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