"Captai-i-in..." Tali's voice trembled slightly as the Makos sped toward the blockage at full speed, but she didn't have time to say anything else. A Biotic construct began to appear in front of us, and we climbed higher and higher until we were above the level of the blockage.
"Contact!" Jane shouted, and I immediately lay flat on the armor to minimize my profile. Fortunately, we were now higher than the expected enemy, and hitting me was difficult, as was hitting the Mako, which was protected from below by the barrier.
"Dropping the barrier on the count of zero."
"Tali, mark the targets." Jane decided to give advice to the Quarian, who didn't answer, but I didn't think she'd dare disobey her direct commander.
"Three, two, one, zero..."
With the last word, I dropped the barrier, and the Mako's jump jets immediately fired, tilting it so the nose pointed diagonally down. This allowed the automation to work, and the cannon began firing at the marked targets.
The second Mako repeated our maneuver, and soon, on the small platform with rock formations, not a single Geth platform remained intact. The Makos simply slammed onto the ground, which was somewhat unpleasant for me.
"Kh..."
"Captain?" Jane addressed me anxiously.
"I'm fine, just tell Chifuyu not to forget she's carrying the Captain on the outside. That landing was a bit rough; I think I bruised my ribs."
"Understood." Chifuyu answered almost immediately.
"Alright, give me two minutes to recover and we'll move on..." At that moment, I was not only recovering but also checking frequencies for communication. On one of them, I heard Asari cursing directed at the Geth and Krogan, who just kept coming and coming. And they had been ordered not to push forward.
"This is Captain Shepard. I'm coming to your aid; transmitting coordinates. Report the best route for advancement."
A couple of seconds of silence, followed by more cursing on the other side, this time directed at me.
"So you're the ones we've been waiting for?"
"That's right. The cavalry on two Makos has almost arrived."
"Two whole Makos?!" The speaker's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "We've got an army pressing us here!"
"Step aside." Liara addressed her subordinate in a stern voice and immediately spoke business. "John, we're blocked in the Prothean ruins. Right now, the Geth and Krogan are trying to get to us. You won't be able to reach us in the Makos. At least, not from your side. You'll have to drive to the elevator and then descend, in several groups, as the elevator isn't that large. Transmitting the map."
"How are you all doing?"
"What could happen to us?" This was said in a nonchalant tone. "They can't do anything against a squad of commandos, especially since Mother has been training all her subordinates so hard in recent years... well, you know yourself."
"Alright, wait for us... we'll be there soon."
"We're waiting." Liara was clearly a bit worried but trying to hide it. Soon, she'd have nothing to worry about.
"How much fuel do we have in the thrusters?"
"Enough, Captain." Chifuyu was the first to answer. "Of course, if the height is very great, the landing will be rough, so you should get inside, but we won't crash—that's for sure."
"Excellent, then forward."
Well, Chifuyu and Rebecca really stepped on the gas. They went so fast that we simply ran over a Colossus that was folded and had started to unfold as we approached. I didn't even have to use Biotics; it was just shot at point-blank range. While Tali aimed mostly for the legs, the gunner of the second vehicle shot for the head first, then the legs.
"Snipers!" Jane shouted as a laser shot splashed against my Biotic barrier, doing us no harm. However, I didn't wait for them to fire at small, nimble targets. I yanked the first Geth sniper I saw toward me, suspending it right in front of my Mako's cannon.
A shot, and the strange sniper with cloaking capability was gone.
"I've never seen Geth like these before!" Tali's voice held panic.
"We probably won't be able to take them apart right now..." I shielded myself from another shot on the right and pulled a Geth into the line of fire of the second Mako, while Tali managed to calculate another one, and the Mako's automation opened fire on it.
"...however, if you think it's important, the information about these Geth can be passed to the Migrant Fleet."
"Yes! Thank you!" Joy and incredible gratitude could be heard in the Quarian's voice.
"Careful, Captain, or this little girl will fall in love with you. And then what will you do with me, after what you did?" Jane allowed herself a slight mockery. I thought for a couple of seconds about what I could have done. The only thing that came to mind was the first order when I told her to undress. She couldn't have realized what else I had planned...
```text
And no, I didn't just plan him only as infantry, especially since they were shooting at me, and I was protected by a biotic barrier.
"Let's not do that..."
I shook my head, and realizing that they couldn't break through me, the enemies tried to focus on the Mako. I used Biotic Charge again and found myself in the thick of things. This time, I simply cut off the leg of a Krogan, who screamed in pain, then shoved a pistol into his mouth and fired several shots.
"All this fun without me?! I'm a Kroga-a-a-a-a-an!"
Wrex, having climbed out of the Mako, ran toward the enemies, while the single shots of a Sniper Rifle began to ring out from somewhere behind. And a couple of biotic Lifts hit the enemies, which indicated that Kaidan had also gotten out of the Mako.
Attention was turned back to me, and several Krogan rushed in my direction at once, but I quite calmly used biotics to throw myself up and slightly to the side, crashing down on a Geth, crushing it to hell.
"Come on, come on!"
Wrex plowed into the crowd of enemies.
"Show me what you can do!"
I smirked under my helmet as Wrex began to work himself into a frenzy. His Shotgun repeatedly spat out buckshot, destroying Geth, and his fists drove the frontal bone plates of the Krogan into their heads. It was a thrill to watch, having such a powerful ally on our side.
"Kid, give me a boost!"
He ended up near me and pointed toward a crowd of Geth, asking to be tossed in their direction, and I didn't stop to clarify. Biotic fire enveloped him, and then he went flying that way. I ducked behind cover for a couple of seconds. His bulk weighed quite a lot, and launching him with enough speed, even over a short distance, was no easy feat. This wasn't like creating stationary constructs.
"Yahoo-o-o-o-o!"
The Krogan slammed into the enemies, and he was clearly very pleased.
"Forwa-a-a-ard!"
A beautiful female voice somewhere in the enemy's rear gave an order, and immediately a joint biotic strike hit the Krogan and Geth; now they were being squeezed from two sides. And while those in the rear didn't have any heavy equipment, we had two Makos...
The Mako, of course, isn't exactly heavy equipment, but in our case, when the enemy had nothing of the sort and was just trying to win through sheer numbers...
In short, at some point, they were pinned against a rocky outcrop, and while the Geth were ready to fight to the last platform, the Krogan showed no such readiness and raised a white flag.
True, there were only about ten or fifteen of them left by that point.
"Damn..."
An Asari stood next to me, wiping sweat from her forehead.
"We did it..."
"Almost..."
I turned to Tali.
"Tali, contact the SSV Normandy, have them check the personal files of these Krogan. If there's nothing truly serious on them, we'll let them go, but if they're dangerous repeat offenders..."
"You want to put them all to the sword?"
The Asari looked at me with interest, and casting a brief glance at her, I realized I didn't know her. Apparently, she was new among Matriarch Benezia's huntresses.
"John!"
I turned a bit more and saw a young Asari walking quickly toward me; ignoring the fact that I was in armor, she pulled me into an embrace.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
She was clearly very grateful to me.
"There, there..."
I gently patted her on the back.
"Liara, what's wrong? Everything is fine..."
"There were so many of them that, honestly, I didn't think we'd survive. Of course, we could have sat in defense for a long time—provisions and our numbers allowed for that—but sooner or later they would have been able to bring something more powerful than rocket launchers here. And then..."
Releasing me, she shook her head.
"Anyway, don't worry, and you'd better give the command for everyone to pack up. Are these only your subordinates here?"
"Yes, me and two dozen huntresses, only the most skilled, though there are a few new ones. Everyone, pack up! And plant explosives everywhere here! I don't want these ruins falling to those who attacked us!"
"But ma'am..."
"I take full responsibility. As a Spectre, I can certainly approve such a decision."
"Huh? A Spectre?"
The Asari looked at me.
"Oh... you were given that rank after all?"
"Yeah... not without pressure from Aria T'Loak and Matriarch Benezia, as I understand it, because Tevos expressed her disapproval to me. But I've been recognized as a Spectre. So... plant the charges and don't worry about a thing, just get all the information you can."
"You heard him?! Move! Move!"
The commander in Liara woke up, though just as quickly as it woke, it went back to sleep.
"Oh... I..."
"Don't worry about it."
I patted her on the shoulder.
"Tali?"
Turning, I looked at the girl who hurried toward me.
"John, they..."
She showed her Omni-tool, which displayed "wanted dead or alive" notices. After that, I had no more questions.
"Tell Jane that she knows what needs to be done."
"Understood!"
Three minutes later, massive fire from cannons was opened on the Krogan; given that I had cut off their possible escape routes with a biotic barrier, it didn't take more than a few minutes before they were all dead.
"Jane, while there's time, record all their faces. Once we're on the ship, I'll tell the Citadel Council during the report that I didn't just fly here for nothing and didn't just save Liara, but also cleaned Citadel Space of these degenerates."
"You think the Citadel Council is clean?"
Wrex said this with a grim look.
"The notices weren't from the Citadel Council; if they were, I'd have thought twice. Mostly there were notes that these were colonies, specifically border ones or those located in the Terminus Systems. And also notes that they are wanted for slave trading."
"I see..."
Wrex calmed down a bit after my words.
"You'll be able to see for yourself on the ship. And yeah, Tali, contact the SSV Normandy, have them send the Kodiak Shuttles; it'll be faster to get out of here on them."
"Understood!"
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan