Bullets and Scars Ch. 13

“Vakarian, gear up.”

Shepard called out to Garrus as soon as the elevator door opened in front of her. She stepped out, heading towards the drive core.

“Alright,” she heard him respond before getting to the door to the engine room.

She stopped once in the room, her silver eyes scanning through the space before they found what they were looking for.

“Tali?”

The quarian woman turned towards her, “Shepard?”

“I, uh…” Avery chuckled, “I’d tell you to suit up, but, well…” She smiled. “I need you to come with me on this next mission.”

“Of course, Shepard.”

“We’ll be there in just a few minutes.”

Tali nodded as a reply.

She waited for Tali to finish what she was doing, to walk back out to the cargo bay with her.

“If you need better armor, just let me know, and we’ll put in a requisition order,” Avery said as Tali joined her side. “I don’t want you to take any unnecessary risks.”

It was impossible to see any kind of emotions when her face was hidden behind that helmet, but Avery could hear a short chuckle.

“Thank you, but it’s tougher than it looks,” she replied, “I have good shields.”

Shepard nodded and smiled, “Alright.”

When they got out, Garrus was already in his suit, getting his weapons ready. He turned towards them.

“So what’s this mission about, Commander?” he asked, fastening his handgun to his hip.

Avery opened her locker, clearing her throat. “We’re going to Armeni,” she replied, “We’re going to pick up a team that’s under attack by geth.”

“Armeni?” Garrus said, “I recognize that name. Isn’t that the planet with-“

“Yeah, it is.”

None of them said anything, because both of them already knew what this meant. That humanity had deliberately disobeyed Council law, and gone to Armeni in secret to study the crypts of the zeioph. If this got out…

They all knew what it would mean for the Alliance if word got out about this, and she was taking a huge risk just telling them about this, not to mention bringing them on this mission.

Avery continued putting her armor on, getting ready for the mission in silence, as did the others.

She strapped on the pieces of her armor, muted grey in color, except for the red stripe going down her right arm. Over the right side of her chest, the N7-patch. She still remembered the day when she got offered to join the program. It seemed like such a long time ago now.

“Commander?” It was Joker’s voice coming over the intercom. “ETA in two minutes. You better get ready and get into the Mako.”

“Alright, Joker.”

She turned to the two others, and saw that they were ready to go. Shepard nodded towards the Mako, and started walking towards it when they did.

Avery’d seen Garrus in action before, and he’d worked in C-Sec for years, but the most she’d seen of Tali was when they first met. It was a good guess that she knew how the geth worked and how to best disable one, and she could handle a small fight, but she had no idea if the quarian could handle a bigger fight, like one she suspected they’d get into when they got down planet side. If the archeologists had soldiers with them for protection, but they still needed help handling the geth, that meant that the geth outnumbered them. And from what she’d seen on Eden Prime, she guessed that their numbers was in several dozens.

She was just hoping that Tali would prove to her that she was able to handle the kind of mission they were on, chasing after Saren.

- - -

They had barely landed on Armeni before they were attacked by geth. At least a dozen troopers and one colossus they encountered before getting to the zeioph crypts, and where the archeologists and soldier who had survived were. Apparently there were too few of them to handle this kind of attack, and the maze that were the tunnels down underground were the best protection they had against the geth. If they tried to make it to the surface without someone first killing the colossus, Shepard knew that they would never have survived.

They were standing by one of the entrances down to the crypts - Tali, Garrus and Shepard – and she could already hear the fighting down in the tunnels. She looked back to her team for a moment, readying herself by taking out her assault rifle and then turning to the opening again.

“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”

“What?”

“Sorry, I just couldn’t help but to think about a book I read as a kid,” Avery relied, turning to Garrus with a smirk on her lips, “Alice in Wonderland. I’ll tell you what it’s about sometime, when we’re not going down into catacombs filled with geth.”

“Deal,” Garrus chuckled.

She switched on the flashlight on her heavy pistol as she went into the darkness of the tunnel, already seeing the corpses of fallen Alliance soldiers along the walls. There were at least a dozen of them, and they’d been completely taken by surprise – they didn’t stand a chance against the geth. They didn’t make a sound, they didn’t even breathe. At least they’d manage to take down two, no, three geth with them.

They continued down the tunnel, finding more bodies along the way, though the numbers became fewer with every corner they passed. Avery wondered if anyone were still alive.

But then gunshots echoed through the crypts. Someone was still alive, and they were still putting up a fight. Shepard signaled to the other to be quiet as they got closer.

She stopped when the tunnel turned again, peeking around the corner.

Three geth, and they seemed to be standing guard at the entrance to a bigger room. She waved over Tali, who also glanced around the corner, then nodding to her as she brought up her omni-tool, immediately understanding what it was the Commander was after.

Avery peered once more, watching as there was a slight disturbance in the air around the geth as Tali disabled their shields, and soon after one of them quickly gunned down the two others after being hacked by the quarian.

Shepard rounded the corner, gunning down the third and last of them, hurrying towards the entrance where she still could hear the sound of a fight going on. She stopped for a second, turning to her team coming up behind her.

“Garrus, you go left, and Tali go right,” she said, “I’ll take the offence. Just wait a few moments before coming after I go in and you’ll hopefully take the geth by surprise.”

“You’ll take a lot of heat going in alone, Shepard,” Garrus said.

“I can handle it,” she replied with a small smirk, “As long as you don’t take too long.”

“I’ll try to disable a few geth shields for you,” Tali said, getting her omni-tool ready once more, “Or at least hack a few of them, so you won’t be as outnumbered.”

“I won’t be alone there, you know,” she responded, “They’re still soldiers and scientists alive and fighting.”

“Right.”

“Get ready. Don’t come after me too quickly, but don’t wait so long that they’ll have time to kill me, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

She looked out through the entrance. It was calm, for now. She hoped that it didn’t mean that all humans were dead now. The geth was in cover behind large stone chests, but only for those on the other side, to her they were open targets.

“See you on the other side.”

In a blue flash she was gone. It was a biotic move she’d learned during her N7-training years ago. It was called ‘charge’, for good reason. In just the blink of an eye she could move at least thirty meters, even from one floor to the other, without ever touching the ground. So when Shepard just appeared behind the geth from what seemed to be nowhere, she had the upper hand. She realized though that Tali probably hadn’t been able to disable any of the geth’s shields yet though, and she could waste a lot of heat sinks in an effort to get through. But charge wasn’t the only thing her biotics was good for.

In the moment after she appeared the geth was floating in the air, and she could hear those Alliance soldiers that were still alive shouting orders, joy in their voices, and then a hail of bullets piercing the geth.

The fight was over in seconds. Avery hadn’t fired even one shot.

She walked over to the humans peering at her from behind their cover, not yet convinced she wasn’t a threat to them. She didn’t blame them. Then one of them stood up, lowering her weapon.

“Well, if it isn’t Commander Shepard, first human Spectre.” The dark-haired woman jumped over the broken stone crate, walking towards her. “Still trying to surpass everyone else, I see?”

Avery grinned, “Endoh-san.” She’d finally learned how those Japanese suffixes worked. “You’re getting yourself into trouble again?”

The Japanese woman scoffed. “I’m almost happy that the geth showed up. Otherwise I might’ve died of boredom.” She looked over Shepard’s shoulder with her black eyes, at Tali and Garrus walking up behind her. “You brought aliens?”

She frowned. “I brought allies.”

“You know what we’re doing down here, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied, “So do they.”

“Is that wise, Shepard-san?”

“Hackett asked me to go, and he knew about them being on my ship,” Avery replied, “If there’s a problem with them knowing about humanity’s screw ups, then talk to him about it.”

“Alright,” Keitari sighed, “If he knows about it, then that’s his call. As long as it’s not on me.”

“It’s not.”

“Good.”

Avery’s silver eyes scanned the room. She counted four in total, three soldiers, including Endoh, and one she assumed was an archeologist, since he wasn’t wearing any armor. “Are you the only survivors?”

“No. At least we shouldn’t be.” The Japanese woman pointed to another opening in a wall, to the west side of the room. “Another team of archeologists was doing some research in a chamber further in. They had a group of soldiers with them, and we’ve had contact with them over the com, but...” She tried to bring up her omni-tool, but the only thing she got was static. “Those bastard geth hacked it somehow. We had time to warn them about the attack though, and if we survived, some of them should be alive too.”

“Hopefully.”

“You shouldn’t expect too much. They were few to begin with, and the geth overwhelmed us all.” Endoh shook her head, “Why are they even here? The geth haven’t ventured outside the veil since-“

“Someone’s coming!”

They all turned to the tunnel on the west wall, and saw the darkness being slowly lit up.

“EVERYBODY BEHIND COVER,” Endoh commanded, and they all listened.

It was only a short fight, the geth coming back through the tunnel being no more than half a dozen. Avery doubted that was the last of the geth, and if it were, they wouldn’t return unless they had what they came for. But she realized that this wasn’t a good time for questions, and after making sure that no more were coming to ambush them when they least expected it, she leaned over to the Japanese woman.

“We need to get you out of here,” she said, “We’ll get the rest, and you get out from here. The Mako is outside, and from there you can radio our pilot and tell him to bring the Normandy down to pick us up.”

“I won’t flee and cower while you rescue the rest of us,” Endoh growled, “There’s no honor in running away.”

“I’m not telling you to run and hide, Endoh, I’m telling you to protect those of you we know have survived.” Her silver orbs swept over those few left alive, watching them trying to bandage their wounds, barely keeping their emotions at bay for losing their colleagues and friends. “That was your duty here. Mine is to get you out.”

Keitari glared at her for a few moments before looking over to the other soldiers and the scientists. She then turned towards Avery again. “Fine.”

“There are medical procurements in the Mako if you need any,” Shepard said, “How far until we reach the other team?”

“It depends on how many of those AIs managed to get into the tunnels, but you should be able to get back out within an hour.” Endoh turned to her subordinates, “Get ready to leave.”

“I’ll take my team into the tunnels,” Avery said, getting herself ready to leave, “I won’t let any geth get through, but don’t wait too long to leave.”

The other woman gave her a short nod before turning back to her men and women, getting them up on their feet, and Shepard turned to hers.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” they answered in unison, with their weapons in hands.

They headed for the tunnel, and Avery could hear Endoh ordering her subordinates and the scientists to get ready to leave.

The tunnel in front of them was pitch black, but she wasn’t sure that turning on their flashlights would be such a good idea, since it would warn the geth about their arrival, removing the element of surprise and they would no longer have the upper hand in the battle. But on the other hand they couldn’t just wander around in the darkness, hoping that they wouldn’t stumble over something, or into an ambush. So she turned on the small light on her handgun, slowly walking into the tunnel.

The tunnel was clear of geth so far, but just a few meters ahead the tunnel would divide into two, which would be the perfect place to set an ambush.

The three of them stopped, and she waited for a few seconds before even looking around the corner, but it seemed to be as empty as it had been so far. The geth might’ve assumed that there wouldn’t be anyone else but them coming through these tunnels, and not bothered with any traps or guards of some kind.

This time the tunnel went on straight for a long while, the walls filled with chasms where she presumed had been the resting places for the ancient zeioph, now nothing more than dust in the wind.

But then she saw something. Just a glimpse of something made out of metal, hidden in the wall that caught her eye as she passed it. A…

“TRAP!”

There was a series of small explosions, starting at the device she’d seen, and then above her in the ceiling. Her instincts took over and with a biotic push she got her team out of the way as rocks and stones started coming down on them.

Garrus and Tali crashed into the floor, landing on each other. The turian got up on his feet, and then helped the quarian up on hers before turning to the commander, but all he saw was rubble and dust.

“Shepard?”

As the smoke began to fade, they could see that the explosions had caused the whole tunnel to cave in, blocking the path ahead. And Avery was nowhere to be seen.

“SHEPARD?”