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[Terca]

"Sir, our firing positions are not effective with the current distribution." The voice came over the radio to Deidrus' helmet and he agreed. Right now it was a war of Attrition across the tops of the cargo port and though they weren't taking a lot of damage courtesy of their position they were only pinning the Collectors below a certain angle. Within that space the chitinous creatures had free roam.

 

"Agreed. I want four havocs and two ghosts on me, we're going to need to clear the trenches. The rest can continue fire support but expect to be repositioned. Focus on keeping some of the heat off of the Asari... They're pulling enough fire as it is." His orders were met with agreement as six turians moved from their posts and along with Deidrus dropped down onto the second-last tier of the dock. They were off to a side to make sure the units behind them didn't need to fire around them. "Keep with me, the Asari should be pulling enough attention for us to be able to push from the opposite side.  Pinch them between and crush them." The Turians with him nodded and they jumped down into the near-maze, turning on their FoF notifications. The last thing they wanted was to be on the wrong end of a claymore.

[Cainhurst Crow]

As soon as the firing begun, vayne need it was time to get moving. His position within the cargo labyrinth that had been set up for cover was some distance away, and while it provided him cover, it didn't do much to help provide a clear line of sight. He held down the trigger for his chakram launcher, charging his disc so it'd have maximum force behind it when it fired, and began to move up, watching the air as he did so. Vayne was just in time to see some collectors take flight, taking aim for one and firing his disc, striking a collector in the chest as it flew back a bit from the force, a few seconds later the explosion dropping it down towards the ground. He was prepared to fire again when the collectors dived, seeing the reason quite clearly from the snipers.

 

'Gotta love that turian air supremacy.' Vayne thought with a chuckle as he continued to move up, passing a few of arias men as they peaked over their creates to give suppressing fire. He couldn't afford to get distracted now, not against the collectors. Even with the damage they were taking, they'd still be quite a threat. As he moved up, vayne got behind the creates periodically, giving himself as much cover as he could while he got into range to use his more explosive methods of engagement. Finally, he got a sight of a group of three collectors, apparently using a similar idea to them as they ducked behind their own set of creates. Vayne smiled as he aimed upwards with his omnitool, the multi-frag grenade launcher forming as it launched the volley of explosives in an arc towards them. By the time the grenades landed at their marks, some were going off already, and he smiled as he saw one of the collectors go flipping into the air over the cover from the blast, while the other speed away with their wings.

 

"Choke on it, you back stabbing sons a bitches!" He said with a laugh, getting a inferno grenade from his belt to throw when he heard the sound of a high pitched chitter and stopped. While obscured by some of the cover, one of the black  praetorians floated near the creates his explosion had blasted, a bubble like shield around it as it soared out of cover. Its limbs landed on the ground with a heavy screech as they scratched the surface, apparently finding a foothold of some kind. It looked up towards the second floor, eyes glowing a bright blue before it fired two beams of energy up at the upper level, towards where the sniper fire had been coming from. Vaynes eye widened at seeming it, gritting its teeth as he primed his inferno grenade.

 

"Not this time you black plated bastard..." He said, remembering all too well the damage it could do as he tossed the grenade full force at the  praetorian, aiming it like a baseball towards a pitcher. The grenade soared, smacking against the shield and bouncing off it as the lasers stopped firing. As it flew in the air it detonated, sending a shower of fire down on the monsters shields, and after a few seconds of burning onto the bubble, the shields dropped. Vayne aimed his chakram lancher and fired the 3 shots left in his guns thermal clip, the disk flying forward and striking the creature between its upper and lower "head", the glowing disc visible before they detonated into a small explosion and the praetorian reeled back with a screech, arms moving up towards its now smoking mouth.

 

"That one was for salem..." He muttered to himself as he ejected his fresh clip, getting ready to fire again as he charged up his shot. "And this ones for Gr-" vayne stopped mid sentence as he looked at the creature, emerging from the smoke seemingly undamaged, say for the plating that had been in its mouth apparently being damage, holes now allowing people to see inside of it.

 

And to see the glowing blue eyes inside its maws, as human like heads peaked out from beneath it, and its 4 massive blue orbs seemed to train themselves on vayne. 'W-what the hell are those!?' He thought as the  praetorian planted its limbs on the ground once more, eyes flashing brightly.

 

"Oh ****!" He cursed as he fired his charged shot, hitting the  praetorian in one of its eyes as his disc exploded, the  praetorian apparently unaffected by the damaged optic as it fired its blue torrent of energy towards him. Vayne dived for cover, hugging the ground as the entire area around him was now tinted by the blue beams glow. "This was not a good idea."

 

The create began to smoke as the laser was concentrated on it, smoldering a bit as vayne looked up in surprise, "Really not a good idea!"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"How are you doing, Naleena?" Aria said as she reached over and grabbed the Collector that was taking cover on the other side of the crate, pulling it across and stomping it in the chest and blowing its head off with her shotgun.

 

"I've been better," Naleena replied, "My leg hurts like a sonovabitch. I'll manage." She shot at some more collectors with her pistols. "Vayne looks like he's in trouble. We've got to get that Praetorian off of him. I'll cloak and ...."

 

"The hell you will. Cover me," Aria loaded a fresh magazine and charged out of cover. A group of collectors were in cover behind a barricade. Aria lashed them stunning them and blew their heads off then moved to the rear of the group.

 

The praetorian maintained focus on Vayne and was slowly approaching. 

 

Naleena kept firing, shooting any Collector approaching Aria. When Aria got close she switched to the particle cannon.

 

Aria was behind the Praetorian. "Now!" she shouted. Both hit is with their flares. Naleena fired her particle cannon. It broke off its attack on Vayne. 

 

"Krath, hit it again with the grenade launcher. Now!" Aria shouted.

 

Krath stood and fired, scoring a direct hit. 

[Terca]

Working their way through the maze of containers and cargo proved an effective sweep-and clear method, Deidrus found. They spread slightly, two in a group as they made their way through their side of the dock towards the others. If they came across a collector group trying to retreat successive bursts of cryo and overload powers wore the defenses down to nothing making the followup shots easy to land. They experiences glancing blows on their shields for this, a fortunate tradeoff.

 

When they got to the thick of it, however, things became more of an issue. Silver Collectors with barriers had taken to setting up their other units in a semi-circular shape of crates with a rather inconspicuous opening and as the Armigers had passed by they took shots to their back. Deidrus took the brunt of the damage as he had been covering rear and threw himself behind some stacked boxes to the ringing sound of rounds impacting his side. He didn't feel a breach and brought his gauntleted hand over his stomach to check for anything wrong and found that there was a chewed-up section of the armor where he had been hit. The armor wasn't compromised as he had thought but if anyone unarmored came this way... Barriers failing would be followed by bisection with bullets.

 

"Sir, you alright?" The message over the comms was somewhat concerned, something Deidrus didn't care for right now. "You took a whole volley of rounds, Kalinrok owes his ass to you."

 

"Stow it, we need to see what the hell that was." Deidrus replied, voice stern. He pulled his paladin off his hip and peered around the corner to get a long stream of rounds flung past his visor. That's what cloaking is for, ******. He reminded himself before he cloaked and snuck the other way around. Minding the timer on his capacitors he saw two Collectors standing near the entrance to their little cave with chest-high barriers protecting everything below their arms. "We have a nest, the top is uncovered. Ghosts perch, Havocs will charge."

 

"Aye sir.."

[Kel Riever]

With half their numbers down, the Collectors had finally gotten into the battle.  A few troopers were about to land next to Armigers, who launched towards them just before they touched down.  Armiger and Collector grappled each other, falling from the air in a deadly melee.  On the ground, the hex shields filled the gaps where cover couldn’t.  The Collectors focus fired at their targets, concentrating beams that would drive their opponents to cover, or incinerate a more unfortunate foe in golden energy.

 

Krath’s grenade blast forced the monstrous praetorian to retreat momentarily.  One of the turians in Blue Suns armor on the ground saw the opportunity.

 

“With me,” he called to his two nearest companions, “All phaestons on my mark!”

 

The three turians opened up, phaestons on full auto.  Round after round slammed into the black carapace of the monster.  Krath took aim for another shot.  Then the Praetorian shrieked out, and in a flash, pounced forward with its pincers to smash them into the dock’s deck in front of the turians.  A shockwave erupted from where it had hit the deck.  The three turians were staggered momentarily, unable to do anything but try to stay on their feet, and Krath was forced to fall back.

 

Other turians saw the trouble and tried to assist, blanketing the Praetorian with a full barrage.  Aria saw the danger as well, and blasted with her Claymore dead center into the monster.  Yet each projectile fell short, as if an invisible barrier were expanding outward from the creature.

 

Suddenly, a wail like a choir from hell burst forth from the Praetorian, and a spectral blaze exploded from its form.  The mouths of the three turians in front of the monster dropped open, their eyes went vacant, and they collapsed, dead at its feet.  A supernatural, violet glow surrounded the Praetorian and it floated forward, driving all before it from their hiding places.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Krogan felt himself begin to cook from the inside. He had one urge. Charge. He went into blood rage and charged at the praetorian firing his grenade launcher wildly at it. Most shots hit some part of the monster. A few missed and hit other parts of the dock. Krath felt the heat begin to grow hotter. His insides expanded but he kept charging. When he got to nearing contact with it the monster dropped open again, Krath exploded sending pieces of cooked Krogan all over the dock, but the heat detonated every single grenade on his belt.

 

Naleena hit it with a rending warp, and fired the Particle Rifle, and Aria unloaded six rounds from her claymore. Bray emptied a magazine from his Mattock. All of them concentrating on the Praetorian.

[Terca]

Deidrus heard the conflict not far away and knew that this fight would either need to be a massive success or a decisive stalemate. He chose the first.

 

Driven back from the initial push against the Collector stronghold he signaled for the Armigers to pull back to significant cover. When they were suppressed but safe he did a quick rundown of the crew. All had used at least one stimpack, a Havoc had lost all of his in sideways fight between three collectors. It wasn't clean, this was going to be dirty.

 

"Men, now is the time to show what the name Armiger means." Deidrus spoke, his voice a darkened shadow of his normal one, intense and violent. "We will not be held down by the mere likes of these who would spit on the graves of our ancestors. We are the twenty-first. Al Koriin Vash Luj."

 

Every Turian around him nodded his or her head and repeated the words silently to themselves. This was a time to shine or burn out. THey chose to do the first over the latter any time, any place, any age, any enemy. And Deidrus would drag them to the pinnacle of their performance. They were Turian. They were Armiger. They were the vanguard of their people. Al Korrin Vash Luj.

 

They spoke in hushed tones for less than thirty seconds, minds ablaze and claws itching under their gauntlets. When they were finishes sharing the plan for the hunt the true conflict began, the prey was sealed in its fate.

 

First the ghosts disappeared, their cloaks engaging as they dashed with their assisted armor, in seconds they had crossed to create a staggered pentagonal shape. A suicidal formation without superior firepower. Each performed it as if they were made of steel to the core. Confident, cold, unwavering. When they were in position with their leader as the southern point the Havocs positioned themselves. They would bring the chaos of the first roar, from there the divide would be swift.

 

By the time they had positioned the Collectors had holed up again, barriers replenished, only two of their bretheren downed in the firefight. They were waiting like snakes in the underbrush. Their hiding was brought to a close with fiery speed as from two completely different angles four havoc soldiers crashed into the fray, the lacking ceiling of the Colleter stronghold proving a fatal flaw. The collisions brought with them fiery explosions that rippled across the ranks of those just around. It was a stunning attack and while the Collectors with barriers survived and the fires extinguished many lacked the capacity and their chitin began to burn.

 

Before the smell could even begin to catch in the air or the Collectors return to focus the Armigers jumped in opposite directions, from their omni-tools came spheres of ice that impacted the nearest enemies not on fire and they dashed to odd corners. By the time the heat was being reapplied from those untouched soft sounds of electrical discharge were followed by intense heat. Deidrus and another ghost stood in the middle of where the carnage began and with the charred corpses falling the two looked like they had arrived from hell. A round discharged from the compressed coil in his paladin removed whatever safety the closest captain had and removed two sets of eyes with a sizeable hole.

 

More guns were brought to face them but before anything could be done those collectors fell to the ground, nervous systems brought to heel by the leaping arcs of electricity created by the last set of ghosts. The entire event had taken less than a minute.and only seven collectors remained standing of the initial fifteen. No time was wasted as they focused fire on Deidrus, the man they had nearly killed before and as they shredded their shields their insignificant insect minds had little time to realize that there was no target. As their rounds impacted empty space their was a thunderous crash as the Spectre Deidrus Androkan drove an omni-blade through the chest of a Collector, crashed it to the ground, electrocuted those standing right beside, and removed the heads of  three that had fallen to the ground with the remaining clip in his Paladin.

 

He looked up to see the last collectors being executed manually by the group except for one of the silver units that was pinned to the floor. His mind was blank as he walked to it and crashed his boot into each joint in the thing's body.

 

"Keep it alive." Was his order to the Havoc that was staying behind. The woman nodded, a look of debauched revelry in the carnage around her barely hidden by the dark visor.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Aria walked over to Naleena and helped Naleena to her feet. The Asari smiled. 

 

"Thanks, Aria," Naleena said.

 

"It was good fighting with you again. Next time just level with me about what's going on," Aria said, "Getting this filth off my station was worth the intervention. The Suns will pay harshly for this." Aria turned her attention to Bray.

 

With the fighting over, Naleena's attention turned to the pods, and she limped over to them. "Vera, have you made any progress on the pods?"

 

"Yes. With Arrin's help we were able to come up with an activation sequence. Arrin knew how to access circuitry that was beyond Dahlia's expertise. Sending it to your omni-tool now." Vera said.

 

"Is it the same for every pod?" Naleena asked.

 

"There is a non-zero probability that it is not, however we have successfully opened all six of the pods aboard the Audron, and their former occupants appear to be healthy," Vera said, "They want to go home, but Dahlia said you want to question them first. They understood with reluctance. They are now in Med-bay."

 

"Thank you, Vera."

 

Naleena limped to the exhausted Spectre. "My shuttle's VI, with the assistance of the Quarian, was able to decode the activation sequence for the stasis pods. There are six humans in the Audron's Med-bay."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne peaked his head up as the beam stoppped being fired at him, hearing the explosion as he saw the Praetorian being ripped into by aria and naleena, the krogan he had helped earlier supplying explosives to this fight.

 

"That's right, take that varren humper down..." he muttered before the Praetorian began to glow an etheral glow, and a howling noise filled the air. Vayne could only watch in horror as it released a wave of energy around itself, killing and cooking everything around it like some kind of perverse star. He stared at it horrified, not having expected it to do that of all things, and then got angry. Very angry.

 

"Die already you son of a ******...DIE!!!" He yelled, aiming his chakram launcher at the Praetorian and firing rapidly, the three discs all sailing through the air as his ammo clip was spent. Vayne ejected the clip and quickly reloaded, aiming and firing again rapidly, reaching his heat limit for the clip and firing all 4 shots in a matter of seconds before he reloaded again. He didn't care if each shot wasn't packing a lot of power behind it, nor did he care the explosives weren't as powerful as the grenades going off against it. He wanted this thing dead, for the deaths it had caused, and the deaths machines like this caused 90 years ago.

 

As vayne was aiming for another volley, getting out of cover and firing with a slow march, he stopped as his shields began to drop, feeling a few rounds pepper him as he looked up to see a 2 collectors and a silvery one flying in, aiming for the group. "Die..." he said as he aimed and fired his launcher, sending his 4 discs sailing towards the collectors. The silver captain ducked lower towards the ground, missing the disc as the two behind him ended up hit. One of them took one of the discs to the shoulder, the explosion sent it wobblying uneasily as it tried to keep up with its leader, while the one behind it took two discs to the face, and one disc straight through one of its wings, sending it into a dive as the discs exploded and the impact helped to bash its brains in.

 

"DIE...." he said as he aimed his wrist rather then reloading, his omnibow coming online as it cycled to the concussive arrows, sending out a rapid fire shot of concussive arrows towards the two in front of him. The silver collector weaved lower towards the ground, stilling coming at vayne firing its rifle. Its comrade took the arrows head on, sending it careening out of control and smacking into the middle of some creates, enough force to send the stack toppling onto it with a smear of yellow gunk. Vayne snarled as his shields dropped, his armor dinging and clinking as it came under fire from the now lone collector flying towards him, as vayne felt a round skirt past his face on the right, hot searing pain and cool feeling blood making his eyes go wide as he felt another such pain in his forearm.

 

"DIE!!!" Vayne yelled visciously as he sent the signal for his omnitool to fire out its ballistic blades, the salvo of hot material flying forward as the collector, still flying low and fast, rammed straight into it, and kept going, even as its body, and two of its eyes, had spikes jetting from it now and was bleeding profusely. Vaynes eye went wide as he finally figured out the collectors trajectory, taking the full impact of the collectors body head on as he skidded back a bit, feet sliding on the ground. Vayne dropped his launcher as he reacted instinctively, grabbing the collectors body and hoisting it up before he slammed it onto the ground as hard as he could. Its body was cracked, blood poured from its wound, and it gave off a constant chittering noise as its head twitched occasionally, trying to move its battered and broken frame. Vayne looked at it a moment, only needing that time before he brought his foot down on its head as hard as he could, and with a sickening crunch, broke through the exoskeleton and crushed whatever vital organs were left undamaged. The collector twitched twice more, before it was forever silenced by the krogans foot.

 

Vayne stood over the corpse, staring for a few moments before stepping over it, walking towards his dropped chakram launcher. Vayne grunted in pain as he moved his right arm, seeing a hole in his armor and a slight trickle of blood where the round had gone through. He instead moved his left arm to pick it up, grasping it as he positioned the gun so his right hand could grasp it properly. He ejected the clip, reaching up to wipe some of the collectors blood from his face, pausing as he felt the cut its bullet had made and saw his own blood mxied with the collectors, before taking one last look at the insectoid. Without another seconds hesitation, he spat at the things motionless body, and moved on to help with the clean up.

 

It didn't take long for vanye to notice the others, walking over with the front of his armor still coated with a light amount of the collectors blood and vital fluids. He stopped in front of Deidrus and Naleena, his face one of solemn exhaustion as he looked between the two. "Captain..." he said as he gave a nod to the turian, "Commander..." he said as he gave a nod to naleena. "How bad were the casualties on our end? My area on the battlefield wasn;t the best to see..." he said as he looked back to where the dead praetorian lied, body lookign like a crashed skycar that had been crumpled a few times over.

 

He hoped that the cost of the victory they had here, was worth whatever it was they'd won today.

[Terca]

Hearing Vayne off in the distance dealing with the rest of the Collectors satisfied Deidrus to an extent and he let out a sigh as he pulled off his helmet. Sweat was moving along his crests and down his neck onto the connection with the body of the armor. The breeze (relative to the inertia of the inside of his helmet) was nice after the extreme workout... Very nice. He ignored the charred gore on his body as everyone else was and nodded to Naleena. "Good."  His brows were still creased and his jaw tense as he tried to change his state of mind a bit. "We dealt with the Collectors that were coming up. No casualties on our side, managed to capture one of the Silver units. It can't move without assistance and has been... Disarmed."

 

He took a deep breath to centre himself before lifting his arm and pressing the signal for everyone to be on alert, but that the active combat was over. "We'll get to the humans but first I need to know if you saw any of my men go down during the battle." His eyes were serious, not pleading or desperate but there was still a sense of urgency in needing to know one way or another. He wiped some grime off his shoulder and shook his hand in the direction of the ground, the ash dislodging itself with a light thud.

[Kel Riever]

Morgan rushed to the corner where the Collector had dropped and placed his shoulder against it, before peering around.  There was no further movement, but in the chamber beyond, he saw several of the oval shaped objects, some emitting an inner light, and some dark.

 

“It’s clear just ahead,” Morgan told Stone and Anika, “Though it looks like there are…more pods?”

 

In a low, almost crouching position, Morgan moved into the room.  Anika covered his blind spots while Captain Stone entered more casually.  One of the debris piles was nearby a lit oval, and Morgan began picking out the details of its contents as he approached.

 

“These are uniforms.  Colonist environment suits.”

 

A golden energy beam sliced through the air.  Anika shouted, “Look out!”  The tall woman shoved the Captain under cover. Morgan rolled a different direction.  When he came up, two Collector troopers were charging the pirates, though one caught a shot full in the chest from Anika’s rifle.  Morgan then heard a flittering behind him, getting louder.  He wheeled with his Kovalyov, but not quickly enough.

 

Morgan was hit full in the chest as a Collector rammed him from above.  He fell under the body of trooper, and the assault rifle was knocked from his hands.  The Collector pinned him with its weight.   One arm helped hold Morgan down while from the other, a blade sprung forth, and the Collector made to rip the human open.

 

There was an abrupt energy discharge that shoved the Collector off Morgan and backwards.  Morgan had detonated his tech armor, blasting the Collector with an energy pulse.  While the Collector was stunned and bleeding, Morgan pulled the Katana shotgun from his back holster.  He fired twice, hitting the trooper once in the knee and once in the abdomen, each shot ripping open chitin and causing fluid to spray out.  The Collector crumpled dead to the floor.

 

More wing flittering caught Morgan’s ear and he pushed himself up, shotgun ready.  But the sound was fading, and Morgan spotted its source – one of the paler, horned Collectors retreating further into the ship.  Morgan fired, but the horned Collector had already moved around a wall edge.

 

Stone and Anika had dealt with their attackers.  Morgan picked up his dropped rifle with one hand while pointing his shotgun towards the fleeing Collector with the other.  “One ran.  It can’t be for any reason that’s good for us.”

[Redbelle]

 Jess nodded. "We should follow it. Chances are good this was a surprise encounter for them and that things heading off to sound an alarm. Or find friends". She started in the direction the Collector had retreated. "Besides..... It knows the ship, we don't. So better odds, following it'll take us somewhere we can do some damage".

 

Anika slapped a fresh clip into her rifle. "She's right". She told Morgan as they started after Jess. "We're in the dark here. Following it isn't going to give us any advantage, or disadvantage. Plus we'll be attacking. It's better to be on offence than defence and taking the fight to the enemy will give us a chance to take them by surprise".

 

Jess called over her shoulder. "He went down the ship! Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll take us to the power plant"!

[Redbelle]

As the other's moved to take the forward and aft position Jess's eye followed the embedded cabling in the walls. At points it came up and out, linking into boxes of metal and illuminated panals. Her earlier observation had been half right. These things were like bee's. But also knew how to fabricate devices to modulate and distribute their power.

 

Of course they did. They were flying a wacking great big space ship! This wasn't like those stories people like to tell of Rachni. These things had minds. Simple, focused minds that kept their goals in mind even when bigger profits were waved under their nose. Jess tried not to allow herself to think that these things were all alike, but if they were, this mission they were on would quickly turn into a bloodbath at some point in the future as both sides slugged it out.

 

All the more reason to hurry and live up to her side of the bargain she'd struck with Eteon and get out, back to the Medusa. Much as she liked the people she was meeting, she had no desire to die for them, or the Spectre that had somehow coerced them into following him.

 

Finally, with no more signs of an ambush, they arrived at a huge set of solid metal doors. Jess put her ear to them and listened. "I think we're at whatever passes for engineering". She whispered as suddenly her comm slaved to her group flared to life. "This is Eteon. Clear the remaining targets then triage the survivors. Wait for order's before moving out. Clear"?

 

Jess cancelled the comm and hissed. "Collectors lost". At that moment, the decking underneath them thrummed as the waxy sections of wall were the cables lay under began to pulse with orange light. "And now the fun starts". Jess said out loud. "C'mon luv's. We're out of time".

 

Putting her hand on the what she thought was the door control she squinted and her omni-tool sprung up once more as a hacking program appeared. "Whadda you know..... compatible". She mummered as she manipulated the program as Morgan and Anika got ready. The program blinked green. Jess pulled Bernard out, opened the door, and strode inside bringing Bernard up.

 

The room they entered was large and spacious with a large core sitting at the back. All around them, natural and unatural walkways crisscrossed the front of the core and Jess spotted a control console.

 

Behind three Collectors.

 

Jess shouted out a challenge. "By insteller salvage law I claim this vessel and everything as plunder. All those not in favour? Say Die"!

 

The collectors looked around and seeing who was standing before them, reached for their weapons. Bernard rang out and one collector took the shot in what she thought of as his stomach. Distance and it's barrier's saved it but it went down on one knee as the other's fly up and away into the walkways, firing their weapons causing Jess to dart ahead of the other's into cover.

 

Anika called out. "I don't think they were impressed"!

 

"Keep em away from that panel"! Jess shouted back. Looking over she saw the wounded collector stagger upright and turn around back towards it as the other's began firing once more. Slapping a fresh clip home, Jess bolted from her cover and ran towards the third collector. Hoping that the other's wouldn't shift their fire in time for her to reach it.

[Redbelle]

On the Audron, Aelias heard the passive scan operator call. "Power surge near the bay the Captain is on".

 

The XO strode forward. "What's happening"?

 

"Power reading consistant with weapons being powered up. Reading's show engines coming online. Best guess..... that ship is going to do something".

 

"What"?!?

 

The operator shook his head. "I can't tell".

 

The XO cursed and strode up behind Aelias. "Get the captain". He ordered. Aelias nodded and moment's later nodded he was live. "Captain". The XO began. "We're picking up power buildups on the collector ship. Weapons and Engines are hot. Recommend you get out of there, looks like that things getting ready to take a chunk out of that part of the station your in"!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Aria approached Bray who was tending to their wounded. "Make sure the Krogan's family gets triple his credits. Tell them he died in battle with honor. More would be dead if not for him. How many did we lose?"

 

Bray nodded. "Six. Three more seriously wounded in the last attack."

 

"You need to step up your training, Bray," Aria said, "If we're going to face this kind of threat in the future we need a better trained presence."

 

Bray protested. "With all due respect, Aria. This is the police force of Omega. Not professional soldiers."

 

"And you wonder why you get such crap details?" Aria replied, "Just do it. Our enemies could see this casualty rate as a sign of weakness. I won't have it. Is that understood?"

 

"Yes, Aria."

 

"We need to make the Suns pay for dealing with.... this," Aria gestured at the carnage of the Collectors.

 

Naleena limped over to one of the pods. She knew the pain in her leg would go away eventually. The Medi-gel had stopped the bleeding and the damage now was strictly muscle tissue. That would heal within the next few hours. There was no time during the battle for a second injection at the site. She saw the Turians dealing with their own. Aria was in a heated discussion with Bray, she assumed over the losses of her own men that would have to be replaced. Her concern now turned to the pods.

 

"VERA, I'm going to open a link directly to my omni-tool," Naleena said, "I'm at one of the pods. Let's get this one open."

 

"Very well," VERA linked from Naleena's omni-tool to the pod to monitor while Naleena used the activation sequence that she had given her. The temperature inside the pod began to slowly rise, and a sterile mixture of oxygen and nitrogen was introduced. The person inside took a gasp. Naleena hit the final sequence that opened the pod. The man inside opened his eyes and started to panic after seeing Blue Suns armored soldiers.

 

"Easy, it's okay, you're safe," Naleena said. She touched his forehead and and touched his mind, Calm. Trust me. We saved you. (Paragon +5)

 

The man's heart and respiratory rates returned to normal, and he looked Naleena in the eyes with complete trust. "What happened? Where am I? Who are all these people?"

 

"You are in an abandoned mining dock on Omega. We just fought a big battle and won. Aria took personal interest, and there is Turian military here as well helping."

 

"What of the others? Where's my family?" The man asked.

 

"There are over three hundred people in stasis pods. You are the first we've opened on the dock. They are probably among the others," Naleena assured him, "They may even be among the ones back on our frigate. I'm told those people are in Med-bay and doing well. We had to figure out the technology. These pods are... unusual."

 

The man sighed with relief. "I'm cold."

 

(Paragon Interrupt) Naleena removed her coat and wrapped him in it. (Paragon +9)

 

The man should feel like he is wearing the coat of a goddess. Naleena's coat is worth war assets equivalent to Aria's couch.

[Redbelle]

Jess reached the ramp section of the walkway and hurled herself up, grabbing part of it's structure and using it to add her momentum to the turn as it twisted it's way up to the console. She heard weapons going off where she had come from and hoped Anika and Morgan were okay.

[Kel Riever]

Without hesitating, Morgan kept pace with Stone, one step behind her.  She didn’t seem to notice him as she was single mindedly racing for the control console.  Morgan knew why Stone had called out her warning and he didn’t want to think about the consequences of the Collector ship getting under way.

 

Shots were fired from the walkways, narrowly missing Morgan and Captain Stone.  At that second, the world around Morgan seemed to lag as his combat instincts took over.  What time others had spent studying  biotics, technical abilities, or other various talents,  Morgan had spent being a pure soldier.  His experience and reflexes surpassed even a veteran combatant who had other, more diverse skills.  When it was critical, and he was pushed to the limit, Morgan became a killing machine.

 

One hand returned Morgan’s shotgun to his holster while the other drew his Kovalyov rifle.  With a fluid sweep of his arm, Morgan’s omni-tool came to life and his tech armor activated. There were more Collectors in the walkways than the two who had alighted up to them.  Anika was picking one apart with her gun, each round landing in slow motion in Morgan’s vision.  A Collector took aim at Stone, and Morgan pushed off harder while he ran, so his speed put him in the path of the enemy’s weapon.  The Collector’s rifle beam lanced out to strike Morgan instead of the Captain, catching one of his tech armor plates. 

 

Instead of firing at the Collector who held the beam steady on him, Morgan allowed the energy to spend time cooking its way through the armor and pointed his Kovalyov up at two other troopers on the opposite walkway, preparing to shoot.  Morgan pulled the trigger, tracing a trail of projectiles across the two troopers.  Bits and pieces ripped off their chitin and they went down, as they had no barriers, though it was hard to tell if they were dead or not.

 

The golden beam hitting Morgan sliced its way through the tech plates and burned into his Predator armor.  Morgan saw Stone hurl herself up towards the third Collector who was at the control console, and he helped move her along by shoving her in the back.  Another beam passed through the space just occupied by the Captain, and right in front of Morgan.  In the blink of an eye, the Kovalyov was held with both arms again, and Morgan dumped the last of his clip’s ammunition by firing towards the Collector tracking him with the energy beam, and another next to it who had shot at Stone.  These two Collectors were protected by a barrier that Morgan’s phasic rounds did not seem to ignore, but the fusillade forced them to break off.

 

Morgan sped forward, still in an overkill mode, replacing his rifle’s slagged clip with blinding speed.  He followed the Captain. More rounds from Anika whizzed past as the tall warrior continued to cover with a barrage.  Morgan brought up his Kovalyov again, suppressing the walkways and staying with Stone.

[Redbelle]

Stone saw Morgan out of the corner of her eye. How does he move so fast? She thought one second, while the next, she was pushed forward. A beam illuminated the space she was in as she barreled up the slope, higher and higher.......

 

And without warning she was up and level with the Collector by the panel, practically on top of it!

 

Using her momentum she charged it, bending over as she ran and catching the Collector in the side before lifting him and thrusting him over the railing that seperated it from the fall that waited beyond.

 

The collector toppled over feet flailing comically as it disappeared as Jess spun around and grabbed hold of the sides of the console. Obscure glyphs occupied the display and Jess brought up her Omni-Tool's translation software, connecting it to the console.

 

The glyph's shimmered as the panel's lighting stuttured. Then came back on in Galatic Standard, revealing a wealth of information in front of Jess. The most critical piece being that the collector's had nearly charged one of their point defence beam canons that was pointing right at the bay where everyone was gathered. Flipping her way through menu's, trying to get her mind around their file structures on the fly, Jess found the power divertion application and killed power to the canon. The bar's indicating power level's began to fall, but to slow. If anyone was manning that canon they could still release the stored up energy at the station.

 

Finding the menu's easier to navigate she stopped the power drain, engaged the engineering override safeties on the canon and raised the power back to where it had been, and further, beyond the red line. The core's steady thrum increased in tempo as the sudden power drain caused it to meet the demands being placed on it.

[Redbelle]

The XO was pacing as the scanner specialist's worked to gather the information he needed. Growing impatient he barked at Aelias. "Why don't we have clearance to depart"!

 

Aelias lowered her tone to one that was neutral in an effort to avoid antagonising him further. "Omega Control refuses to grant us clearence at this time".

 

"Can't we pull free? Blast the mooring"?

 

One of the scanner specialist called out. "Omega has their defence net online sir. Some of the fixed placed turret's have us targetted".

 

"Us"!?!

 

"Yes sir"!

 

The XO was about to spit back a response when the specialist saw something bloom on his console. "Detonation! Something on the Collector ship just exploded"!

 

"What"!

 

"Checking.....". The specialist's talons flew over the holo display. "..... Profile suggests fixed defence canon. It was powering up when the power went crazy caused it to explode"!

 

The XO's ridge plate's came together in a concerned frown.

 

What in the void was going on down there?

[Redbelle]

Jess disconnected the power to all other ship areas and systems, pulling their power before inititating a ship wide lock down. The doors to engineering slammed shut sealing them and the collectors within inside. Checking to make sure she knew where the outer airlocks were located she opened them and all the other doors in the ship except their own.....

[Redbelle]

"The ships venting atmosphere"! The specialist called. The XO marched up behind him and leaned in behind him.

 

"Report"!

 

"Explosive decompressing of collector ship! I count bodies being ejected out of the interior".

 

The XO brought his fist down on the head rest of the specialist's chair.

 

"What is going on down there"! He demanded.

[Redbelle]

Jess heard the flapping before she was finished restoring the ship. Pulling Bernard she spun around with the gun levelled just as the collector she ha shoved over the side re-emerged and dove at her.

 

The collector slammed into her and Bernard went flying, skidding across the deck as Jess was grabbed in a bear hug before the collector proppeled both up and away. The whole while, squeezing down on Jess. It was insanely strong. Jess heard her borrowed blue suns armour crack as the collector upped the pressure. Her left arm was pinned and she tried to bring the other up in it's shotgun configuration.

 

She registered the seals and mechanisms begin moving, then they stopped and returned to their previous state. Error appeared in her silver eye's view and she realised. This armour was not her own. It was not configured to split open, instead it was solid and would not allow her arm to open for the gun to emerge. The pressure was growing around her and it was getting hard to breath. In desperation, Jess pulled out a flash grenade. The collector was screaming as it flew. Using her body as a human shield against her comrades as she brough her fist, with the flash in it.

 

"Choke on it"! She screamed and dove her fist into and as far down the collector's mouth as she could. Releasing the grenade she forcibly withdrew her hand as the collector clawed at it's throat. Dropping Jess inthe process. Free falling, she looked and saw she was falling neary one of the walkways that lay around the side's of the compartment. Clawing she reached and managed to snag a railing. Pulling herself up she saw the collector collide with the walkway she was clinging onto, desperately retching but to no avail. It looked at her and with it's last act of aggression, pull it's weapon from it's side.

 

To late.

 

The flash went off. This time, Jess had activated it's concussion feature and the throat of the collector bulged obcenely for a moment as it's scales shone with a white blinding light.Then the force exploded outwards. The collector's body was unable to contain the pulse of the shockblast the grenade had generated. It ripped and tore leaving slimy parts of body flying everywhere and at Jess who simply clung to her rail, riding it out before throwing a leg up and climbing up and over to firm ground.

 

Wiping the blood from her visor she eye'd the collectors weapon. Still in it's twitchng hand. Some sort o SMG she guessed and prised it out of it's grip. Standing she hit her comm. "Jess to all you freaky darlings! Tell me we're done here! I need a shower"!

[Terca]

When Deidrus and the rest of the crew was done dealing with their losses he turned his attention to the Collector vessel. He was pleased to know that the Turians that had died were going right against policy when facing new enemies. They were in too close with too little knowledge and with too little firepower to take on the unknown foe. It was a loss but it was a loss that they could have averted. It didn't make things any nicer.

 

He turned on his comms unit and opened a channel to Jess. "We're done on the docks. All enemies eliminated with some unfortunate losses. We captured a collector which may or may not speak. Naleena's 'VI' friend has helped crack the Cryo pods so now we can start moving them out. How are things on your end?"

 

While he waited for her to respond he called out to Naleena. "Is the mechanism to open the pods transferrable as of yet? I can dedicate some of my men to helping to get those humans on their feet."

[Kel Riever]

Morgan had slid next to Stone when they reached the control console.  He kept protecting her by keeping the Collectors down with his shooting.  Without him having any idea of what she was doing, Morgan was surprised that whatever it was, Stone was able to work the interface.  The two Collectors with barriers popped up again, but one was blown away by Anika, and the other Morgan dispatched with his rifle. 

 

Yet another Collector on the same walkway rolled behind a pillar.  Morgan felt his adrenaline surge abating and attempted to make the most of the next valuable seconds.  He tried to line up a shot on an exposed limb, but then noticed the limb began to shake, and then the Collector leaned forward, its head vulnerable to Morgan’s aim, with its whole body trembling. 

 

The Kovalyov fired, but not before several small insect-like creatures crawled from the base of where the Collector’s head met the back of its neck.  Assault rifle rounds then penetrated cleanly through the Collector’s skull.  Morgan immediately switched back to his shotgun, fingering one of the settings on the Katana.

 

This looks bad, he said to himself, as the insects began to cluster in a small swarm.

 

Changing the Katana to fire fine flechettes, Morgan opened up on the swarm.  The creatures' small size, distance, and rapid movement would have made for little chance of killing them all, but they hadn’t separated from their cluster.  It took three shots from the Katana before Morgan was satisfied he had taken care of the unknown threat.

 

That’s when a flying Collector used Morgan’s distraction to grab Captain Stone.  With his battle-high coming down, and the shotgun in his hands, Morgan couldn’t react before the Collector was able to callously use Stone’s body as a human shield.  Morgan swapped his shotgun for the phalanx, and did his best to get a clear shot, but he watched Stone struggle and shove something down the throat of her attacker.  When she dropped and the Collector burst into a slime cloud, Morgan figured out what she had fed it.

 

Captain Stone recovered and Morgan gave a rare smile of approval.  She looked like she found a weapon that she hoisted up, while speaking into her com, “Jess to all you freaky darlings!  Tell me we’re done here!  I need a shower!”

 

“Nice take down, ‘Jess’.” Morgan complimented.  Then he saw something zip past his eye.  Morgan reached out reflexively to catch hold of an object about the size of his hand.  He brought it around to see it was one of the creatures that came from the back of the Collector’s head.  Small, light brown, with hook like appendages and wings, it struggled in his grip.

 

“Looks like one of you got away,” Morgan muttered, bemused.

 

One of the hooks sunk into Morgan’s palm, piercing the thick protection like it was paper, and nicked him.

 

Morgan flicked the claw away, but began to feel his body seize.  He tried to call out.  Instead he dropped to his knees.  Before his system could be entirely overtaken, Morgan yanked off his Blue Suns helm and shoved the insect inside.  When he hit the ground, he put the helmet to the floor and removed his hand, trapping the insect.  As everything faded to black around him, Morgan slumped over the helmet, so the insect couldn’t escape.

 

His face frozen in a silent plea, Morgan’s last thought before darkness overtook him was about his sister.

[Redbelle]

"Oh swell luv! Really swell"! Androkan's query came amid the chaos of of the fire fight going on. Lookng downwards Jess saw a collector getting ready to fly out from a walkway beneath her. "Ships safe! lemme know if you want permission to come aboard". She grabbed the railing. "S'cuse me. Bucket list"!

 

The collector flew out with it's rifle raised as Jess swung her up and over, landing square on it's back where she brought her right hand down on it's neck. The synthetic servos squeezed and the Collector screeched in pain. Using the height to her advantage, she brought the captured SMG up in her fist and used the height advantage to help Morgan and Anika root out the last of the Collectors......

 

Morgan and Anika? She only heard one weapon firing.

 

Looking down she saw Anika advancing on a Collector. Her shots grinding down it's defences till it's barrier's failed. At the same time Anika's rifle hissed empty.  Anika's response was to use the butt which smashed into the Collector's head, knocking it to the ground. Planting a foot on it's torso, she grabbed it's head and squeezing between her hands, pulled up and around violently. There was a wet snap and the spray of blood and Jess looked away, fighting to hold her lunch down as she spotted the final Collector.

 

And Morgan.

 

He was down. The collector was advancing. Jess twisted her hand one way causing another shriek from the Collector under her as it twisted to get away from the grip, pointing itself towards the fallen soldier and the advancing would be executioner.

 

Jess couldn't exactly aim it but her ride barreled forward enough that it covered the distance enough to allow Jess to unload into the Collector, grabbing it's attention. Another twist and her vicelike grip caused another wet snap and the body she flew on became dead weight metre's from the walkway Morgan lay on. Jess pushed off and her ride collided with the wayway and bounced, clipping the other Collector, throwing him off balance enough for Jess to land with her feet out. Planting both in it's chest. It was flung backwards, it's own gun slipping from it's grip as Jess raced forward, planted herelf on it's chest, and began raining blows down into it's face like shell.

 

It's chitonis armoured exterior cracked under the blows as it's arms tried to ward her off but Jess was unrelenting. She hammered and hammered and only when she felt a hand grip her shoulders and pull her off did she hear Anika shouting in her ear.

 

"Enough! It's dead! Enough"!

 

Jess looked back at Anika, eye's wide and shook herself out of her grip, taking a moment to kick the dead Collector husk in the midriff. It stayed motionless and Jess, satisfied it was dead, turned to Morgan. She saw him there. Slumped over his helmet. Actually..... slumped over as if holding the helmet down had been...... She shook it off and kneeled down beside him. "Morgan"! She shouted, shaking him. He didn't stir and Jess reached to feel for his pulse. It was there, slow but steady.

 

A buzz came and she looked around, fearful they had missed one. Anika looked to but shook her head. "I accounted for all of them Captain. We're clear".

 

Jess squinted as she focused on where the sound was coming from. Her eye's alight on Morgan's helmet. Gritting her teeth she commed Androkan. "Tushy! Ships secure! Get me a medical team and quarantine here now"! She reached over and began to finish waht she had started in repressuring the ship after locking down the air locks once more. "Way's clear"! She told him. "But keep your eye's open. This ships all kinds of strange. No telling what other surprises it has for us"!

 

With that done Jess backed away from the console and knealt down beside Morgan, taking his hand. "It's alright luv" She said, unsure if he could hear. "Help's on way. We got it done". She paused unsure of what else she could say to him. "...... Do you like Chilii"?