Mass Effect - Fragments

Chapter 9 - Flames From Heaven

Garrus slumped against the side of a container, wincing. Kasumi was panting next to him. She shook her head slowly.

"Three clips left. And we're only a few hundred metres from the warehouse."

Garrus groaned and touched his side; his hand came away blue, "One of them must've winged me."

Kasumi made a small noise in her throat and crouched next to him, yanking a medigel pouch from a pocket. The Turian hissed as the cool, healing gel staunched the wound. He managed a smile down at the diminutive thief. She glared up at him, her face set.

"You need to be careful. How'd my reputation look if I lose another…" her voice nearly choked. Garrus grasped her shoulder

"You aren't losing me kiddo. Just a flesh-wound."

"Then stop crying and get moving you idiot."

Garrus grunted and moved. He groaned as they heard the electronic chitter of approaching Geth, "Running isn't working. We'll get lost. We need to fortify. Ambush. Channel them, maybe salvage a heat sink or two."

"At least we killed the mercs. Just the zombies now."

"Because that sounds so much better. Over there, the containers make a choke point." With some effort garrus forced the access port on one container. He back-tracked and clipped a tech mine to the side of another container, then returned to Kasumi. The pair squeezed inside the breached cargo container, moving quickly to push the container's sparse contents of mechanical parts into a rudimentary barricade, "This should be fine. Now let's see if they ignore us, or if we're going to have to snipe with pistols."

They shared a brief smile and then propped pistols up on their cover, waiting for the end…

"EDI, get me a damn firing solution!"

"I cannot calculate an optimum firing pattern: the debris is preventing me from tracking the cruiser effectively. Additonally, they have projected a jamming net. We are unable to signal to the Citadel to summon aid."

"Good Liara got that message off. Just hope someone heard it. Why aren't the fleets responding to a damn firefight?"

"They cannot detect us - the nebula and debris prevent accurate readings and we are too far for a visual analysis."

The Normandy shook and Joker grumbled, shunting the ship between two hulking fragments of a Reaper. Lances of light tracered around them, "Goddamn fighters, they're herding us."

"Likely to allow the cruiser a direct shot with their spiral gun."

"Thank you for that EDI. What about the station?"

"No movement as yet."

Joker grimaced - he was damned if he was going to get outflown by a bunch of mercs. He'd taken on Collectors, Geth and Reapers. Debris or no debris, this was going to end badly for that cruiser.

Alenko cursed as another console sparked. Beside him the captured mercenary worked feverishly, swearing loudly.

"They're remotely locking us out. Trying to vent the corridors."

Kaidan slammed a hand down on a console, then activated his comm, "Status Vega?"

"We've stopped him at the junction between engineering and the bridge. Got them bottled up. They got heavy weapons, but aren't firing - don't want to damage the station I reckon. Vasquez is down, Richards is wounded but stable. Ammo holding. We've switched to emergency thermals to preserve heat sinks. More time to let weapons cool, but…"