Following the command from EDI, we immediately headed to the point from which we could throw singularities at the opponents. To do this, we had to move through the technical tunnels for about three minutes before finding ourselves in a spacious hall—more accurately, at the entrance to a spacious hall.
The sentries were eliminated by Chifuyu Orimura and Rebecca Lee, and we, appearing in the doorway, immediately threw the singularities.
"Attack!"
Someone still noticed us, but they couldn't do anything, as the singularities reached their ranks and began mercilessly destroying the members of the Blood Pack.
At that same moment, the two LOKI Mechs and the girls opened fire on the enemy, while I deployed a barrier to protect our people.
"Damn..."
Jack was shocked by how quickly we reduced the Blood Pack's numbers.
Of course, not everyone was caught by the singularity—we didn't even hit half—but a third certainly received injuries at minimum, and at maximum, they died.
"Don't get distracted; better prepare and launch another singularity..."
"I have a better idea..."
Jack smirked and moved in bursts to one of the LOKI Mechs, then removed a large case from its back—thanks to biotics that this was even possible—and then pulled a grenade launcher out of it.
"Well, what now, bitches, shall we dance?!"
And with that shout, she opened fire on the mercenaries.
Panic and chaos...
Those were the words that could describe what was happening in the ranks of the Blood Pack after they were subjected to the singularity attack, but they don't eat their bread for nothing, so by Jack's first shot, they had almost recovered. But the grenades that began arriving in various places ignited the panic anew.
"Eat this, monsters!"
Jack knocked Tali off her feet, and armor-piercing bullets—which, due to the density of fire, had still overcome the barrier—whistled through the spot where her head had just been.
"They told you! Cover!"
"Ahem... a little..."
"Shut up and work; you'll make excuses later and not to me!"
Tali took the grenade launcher from Jack and opened fire herself, but did so much more cautiously.
"Switch in thirty."
I calmly informed the girls that a new shield would be needed in thirty seconds.
"I'll pick it up."
Samara created a shield, but naturally, my shield didn't collapse after thirty seconds; it held for almost another minute and a half, and only then did Samara's shield take the load.
I pulled out my rifle and opened aimed fire on the opponents.
"How many more are there?"
Jack asked the question in a voice where worry could be heard.
"Still many..."
EDI began to answer after about ten seconds.
"...due to the surprise attack and the subsequent panic you fueled with grenades, a little more than half of the opponents remain."
"Fuck..."
"Don't worry, we'll cut the numbers in half again and it'll be fine. We'll be able to just stand at full height..."
"I AM KROGAN!"
This shout rang out from several sides at once, and five Krogan slammed into Samara's barrier; they were gunned down almost immediately, but it still put an additional load on the shield.
"Ready to pick it up!"
Jack understood the situation and began creating her own shield, and managed it just in time, as several Vorcha with flamethrowers had somehow miraculously reached the barrier and were then detonated by their own people's shots. And that was the last straw for Samara's barrier.
"Son, maybe a double singularity?"
Samara asked the question with a light smirk, but I just shook my head.
"No, they're too scattered, so it would be a waste of strength. Now, if you could spread the attraction over a larger area..."
"The larger the area, the worse it works. I can tell you right now that it won't affect the Krogan—that's for sure. But for the Vorcha and Varren..."
"And that's all we need... you'll know when to pull the opponents in."
Samara smirked, while I concentrated and created a singularity between us and the Blood Pack. Of course, it wasn't as large as the ones we used at the start of the battle, but it was more stable, which meant it would last longer.
"That's a good idea!"
Samara created an attraction, and seven Vorcha and six Varren flew toward us at once, flying exactly into the singularity. Then there were several more attractions, and afterward, I had to pick up the barrier for Jack, as the opponents finally remembered they had heavy weapons. However, at the moment they were supposed to hit us with another volley, someone struck them in the back.
"EDI?"
"I simply contacted Garrus Vakarian, and he sent his people... He also didn't really like the prospect of someone trying to flank him from the rear."
"You did well."
I couldn't help but praise EDI. Of course, I had been thinking about calling Garrus Vakarian myself, but she did it at a more appropriate time.
Not ten minutes had passed before the Blood Pack was destroyed and the head of Garrus Vakarian's squad approached us.
"Lieutenant Storm!"
"Spectre Shepard."
I extended my hand, and the Turian shook it.
"Thanks for the help."
"Forget it... you came to help us, got into a fight with such an opponent..."
Storm shook his head.
"...how could we leave you? In any case, talking here isn't very convenient. I suggest moving to our base. Especially since Garrus Vakarian will be very glad to see you."
I could only nod, after which we, a small but organized crowd, headed to Garrus Vakarian's base, which wasn't that far away.
"John..."
As soon as Garrus Vakarian saw me, he immediately approached and simply squeezed me in an embrace, and I returned the embrace with my own.
"Friends..."
Pulling away from me, he went to Chifuyu Orimura, Rebecca Lee, and Tali in turn and gave them short and much more gentle hugs.
"Allow me to introduce: Jack and Samara. They are new crew members."
When Garrus Vakarian looked at the faces new to him, I hurried to introduce them.
"Samara, Jack, this guy's name is Garrus Vakarian."
"Very pleased."
Samara nodded, while Jack only scanned the Turian with her gaze after he said that.
"Friends, allow me to introduce John Shepard; under his command, I hunted Saren Arterius. Also Chifuyu Orimura, Rebecca Lee, and Tali, they also fought alongside."
Garrus Vakarian's subordinates greeted us in a disorganized fashion.
"So, what brought you here?"
While there was a small lull and the enemies were trying to understand why no one was attacking Garrus Vakarian's base from the rear, we could talk calmly.
"I'm putting the team back together..."
Garrus Vakarian laughed joyfully.
"Just like last time?"
"Even more dangerous..."
I replied, not hiding a smirk.
"...Collectors, Omega-4 Relay."
"Oh..."
Garrus Vakarian shook his head in shock.
"...before that, I should finish things here. I started the cleanup, but there's no end in sight."
"EDI?"
"Activating protocol: 'Insignificant meat bags!'"
"John?"
EDI said this with such feeling that Garrus Vakarian got nervous and shot me a questioning look.
"You'll understand in a moment."
At that moment, shots and explosions rang out from the direction of the enemy base.
"I didn't understand anything... but it's very interesting."
Garrus Vakarian shook his head.
"They had LOKI Mechs and YMIR Mechs there; I hacked them. Of course, it wasn't easy... First, I had to hack the technicians' Omni-tools, then write and implement programs that, when the Omni-tools were connected to the robots, reprogrammed them..."
Pride in her own achievements sounded in EDI's voice.
"...and now they are destroying those meat bags they were originally supposed to fight for!"
"Well, that's good... probably... though your words about meat bags lead to certain, not very bright thoughts."
"Oh, come on, so I'll blow up a couple of stations!"
EDI tried to convey through the voice sounding from my armor's speakers that there was nothing so terrible about it.
"But I won't blow up the Citadel; I'll blow up something Batarian... or Salarian..."
"Of course, that makes it easier, but not by much..."
Garrus Vakarian shook his head.
"John, you keep this girl under control; I don't fancy waking up and finding out that someone destroyed a large number of sentients and a hunt has been declared for our team."
"Oh, oh, oh... how sensitive we are..."
Mockery could be heard in EDI's voice. However, after just a few moments, she became much more serious.
"They've launched the birds, having ripped the onboard computers out of them beforehand."
"What did they do?"
Disbelief was heard in Garrus Vakarian's voice.
"Well, logical..."
I nodded thoughtfully.
"...you can't hack what isn't there. You can still fly them, though they'll become flying coffins with guns, so they can still cause us harm."
"Get ready!"
Garrus Vakarian shouted this loudly; however, there was no need to do so, as all his comrades heard him perfectly. And they had begun preparing to meet the birds even before he did.
"Samara, you and I cover against the birds; Jack, back us up."
"Got it."
Jack and Samara replied almost in sync, and then Mother and I took the only position from which an approach by the birds was possible.
Meanwhile, Garrus Vakarian's guys prepared heavy weaponry, and some again took up defense on the side where the opponents were. However, the birds reached us first. Two barriers closed the wall so that these would-be pilots couldn't wound anyone, and Jack had already managed to launch a small but extremely powerful Warp at one of the birds.
The bird didn't stay intact; it veered first to the right, then to the left, and this time it caught its comrade, and now the two of them spun and began to fall. However, there were more than enough birds. So the fall of two was almost imperceptible to the opponents.
However, next, Garrus Vakarian's comrades began working with their heavy weaponry.
Regardless, Jack still had to intervene so that no one died, and everything was limited to only moderate injuries.
"Did we fight them off?"
One of Garrus Vakarian's subordinates looked around in surprise.
"Seems so..."
Jack replied with a quiet rasp in her voice. She, like Samara and me, was now on the verge of fainting, and all because the enemy was simply drenching us in fire from heavy machine guns, and so that our allies could calmly deal with the birds using heavy weapons, we had to put in a great deal of effort.
"...but I'm not sure."
"You did it."
Garrus Vakarian nodded.
"I'll take it from here, thank you..."
** Perspective from the side. **
"Documents received."
Aria T'Loak squinted contentedly because a huge mountain of documents had arrived, which would allow her to crush three mercenary groups at once. Of course, not completely, only those stationed on Omega Station, and some would surely try to resist, but...
"That's good, because we took a big risk to steal this data. Some of it even had to be collected from corpses, as they kept the data on isolated drives rather than on their Omni-tools."
"Don't worry, we'll get our benefit from this..."
Aria T'Loak smirked.
"By the way, Jane Shepard with the support team is ready to arrive at your first call."
"Did John head after Mordin Solus?"
"No... he and the team are returning to the ship to rest."
"What's wrong with him?"
Notes of concern appeared in Aria T'Loak's voice.
"Everything
It's fine, but all the team's biotics are very tired, so for now he'll be resting…
***
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