The Spartan Effect

Infiltration

     "I'm always up for blowing something up, but what I have a problem with is only getting an hour of sleep every day."

      Before any more snark could be thrown around, the door slid open, and Thomas walked in, followed by Tali. They went straight to the weapons racks. Grabbing an M45 and MA37 and loading it, he turned to everyone and handed Tali the shotgun.

     "Hostile forces of unknown number and strength have boarded the Idenna, were going in with a medical team following behind to clear her out." 

     All Spartans present replied in affirmatives, and they began heading out. Two pelicans left the Eternity and immediately made for the Idenna. As they approached, they began getting hails from nearby ships, and Thom replied to them all over the same channel.

     "This is Captain Thomas of the Eternity. We observed Idenna's scout ship Cyniad fire on Idenna's communication relays and have been unable to contact her since. We are leading a boarding party to begin rescue operations and clear the hostiles from the ship."

     The first pelican reached the hangar doors and found them shut already. Thomas had thought ahead and brought Zayn along just in case. From his seat in the cockpit, he unplugged Zayn and slotted her into the pelican for this next part. 

    "Zayn, can you get a signal over to the Idenna, we need her hangar bay opened."

     Zayn popped up on a pedestal next to the pilot's chair, a thinking face on and a hand on her chin. 

     "The relays have been disabled, but it looks like it could still be usable. Let me try something, I'm gonna boost power to the comm systems, see if I can't push a signal through."

     While Zayn was trying to force her way into the ship's systems, Thom called over the radio to the other pelican. 

     "Medical team, hang back for 60 seconds, then follow in behind us and treat any wounded."

     "Copy that spearhead."

     The bay doors opened then, and the first pelican rushed in to find several quarians already wounded. The bird swung around, and the back opened, and without it touching the ground, outran the six occupants. Tali landed next to Thomas and sprinted to the nearest quarian. 

     "Keelah, what happened here, who did this?"

     The pelican didn't hang around and flew out the hangar bay doors. The quarian Tali talked to replied to her after getting treated with medigel. 

     "Cerberus, boshtets took the Cyniad, wore the crew's suits. They even knew the passcodes. They stormed in. Anyone who got in the way..."

      Thomas had heard enough and wordlessly gestured with his right hand towards the hangar exist. Every spartan raised their weapons and moved for the door. 

     "Check your targets, and make sure you don't shoot a quarian. Cerberus is a human-only group."

     The group moved into the hallway outside the hangar with Tali lagging behind and found bodies. Thomas sent a message back to the medical team that they had several dead already when he noticed that some of them had been moved aside. Cerberus wasn't just massacring them, they were clearing a path afterward. Thomas knew they needed to move fast now. 

     "They've brought something with them. Let's not give them the chance to use it. Move out, double time it."

     As he finished his words, all five spartans took off in a dead sprint. Every corner was stopped at, checked, and then ran around. Gunshots sounded further down the hallway, and as they rounded the last turn, they saw another quarian go down. Tali tried to run forward, but Thomas grabbed her and pulled her back.