"Presley, you have the ship."
I walked past the XO, patted him on the shoulder, ignored the elevator, and went down into the cargo bay. Presley only saluted, not bothering to respond otherwise.
"Jane…"
"Captain! The platoon is ready to deploy! We've split into two combat vehicles. I'll command the first, Revy commands the second. My Mako carries Alenko, Orimura, and Zorah. The second transport carries Wrex, Garrus, and Williams. You can choose which vehicle you want."
"Yours."
I shrugged casually.
"Tali, I see you took a sniper rifle?"
I looked at the girl, and by her gestures she was clearly embarrassed.
"Well, you said we shouldn't let the enemy get within shotgun range, so I… Shepard gave me sniper software…"
Somewhere off to the side, Garrus snorted quietly.
"…so I won't be useless."
"I never doubted you."
I nodded approvingly, then scratched my ear thoughtfully.
"Who goes first?"
"I do."
Jane shrugged as if it couldn't be any other way.
"Good. Then I'm going with you. The point man usually needs more protection than number two. Alright, soldiers, listen up. Our objective is to reach the dig site and evacuate Liara T'Soni, an archaeologist who Saren needs for some reason. More precisely, I understand exactly why. She's one of the best Prothean specialists, and she's accessible. The other experts of that level are mostly sitting on heavily protected planets, and you can't just smoke them out."
"Permission to ask a question?"
Kaidan looked at me carefully.
"Permission granted."
"You're talking like you know this T'Soni. Is that true?"
"Yes. T'Soni is an acquaintance. More than that, her digs are funded by my corporation, so I can be sure she really is a good specialist. Any more questions?"
"Expected opposition?"
Garrus tilted his head.
"I spoke with T'Soni not long ago, so I can say the enemy pressing them is geth and krogan."
"Krogan?"
Wrex frowned slightly.
"That a problem?"
"No."
He swayed his head side to side, amused.
"That's fun!"
The grin on his lizard face looked unsettling.
"Alright. Get in. The deployment will be rough, so don't forget to buckle up."
"Yes, sir!"
A synchronized response from the humans. The non-humans didn't respond. Soon we were in the Mako, and I watched closely as Tali settled into the gunner's seat.
"Is this… a problem?"
Catching my look, she jerkily pointed at the gunner's position.
"No. I'm just thinking how surreal it looks—a fragile little quarian behind the Mako cannon. You'd probably look even stranger only in an exoskeleton. By the way, Jane, why aren't we using them this time?"
"Orbital drop. In the Mako we'll barely feel it, but for anyone sitting outside in an exoskeleton… it would be hell. So we need to design a drop system for that kind of equipment."
"A system already exists, it's just…"
I grimaced.
"…No one planned for it on the Normandy, and building it now would mean giving up several escape pods."
"Hm?"
Jane threw me an interested look.
"They install a drop pod in their place. It deploys with the exoskeletons, opens right before touchdown, and ejects the passengers onto the ground. Although…"
I scratched the back of my head thoughtfully.
"…I think my people were developing a compact transport container. The idea was to mount a couple on the sides of a Mako, then open them after deployment and gear up. I'll need to check on that."
"That would be perfeeeect!"
By the end Jane was already yelling in delight, because the ramp opened and the Mako launched forward, dropping out of the cargo bay and falling toward the planet.
"I'll never get used to thiiis!"
The excitement in her voice was clear. I shared it, but Tali—sitting in her seat—hunched up a little. Understandably. Even turians didn't drop their vehicles from this high.
"You're craaazy!"
Garrus's voice came over the squad channel, along with Wrex's delighted laughter. He was praising the pyjaks who'd finally thought up something interesting.
Still, the fall wasn't very long—long enough for everyone to calm down a bit. When the thrusters began to fire, everyone took it calmly. Only Tali's shoulders twitched, showing she exhaled in relief.
"I'm outside."
The moment the Mako touched down, it surged forward, and I opened the rear hatch on the move, slipped out, and made my way to the nose, where I positioned myself, creating a simple flat barrier. Behind me, the hatch slammed shut by sound, and that was good.
"So far the road is clear, but they could've dropped us closer."
"They couldn't."
Kaidan answered Jane's grumbling.
"Closer means enemy presence. On deployment, with the right weapons, infantry can bring down a frigate. They don't even have to punch through the hull—just a few good rocket hits to the engines."
"I know, I know. Doesn't mean I can't grumble."
"Um… Lieutenant Shepard…"
Tali's quiet little voice came over comms. It was so quiet that everyone else shut up at once so the shy girl could be heard.
"…Is it normal that Captain Shepard is outside?"
"Normal. He's a very strong biotic and can handle anything they throw at him."
Tali didn't say anything else. About thirty seconds later, friendly chatter resumed on the channel. I noted to myself that Tali wasn't ready to join in that kind of banter yet. Which was good—there was time to work her over properly, so she wouldn't even think about returning to the Fleet. Better yet, so she wouldn't think about other men.
A predatory grin appeared on my lips.
"Enemy at one o'clock."
The Mako cannon came alive immediately. Turning in the right direction, it fired several shots. It was obvious Tali was shooting through the Mako's targeting software, since it was programmed to fire multiple rounds per target with slight adjustment—so the target couldn't evade.
"Well done. Quick response."
"It's… just… I only mark targets, and the automation does everything else…"
"Jane…"
"Got it. I'll run our shy girl through a boot camp course, including Mako gunnery. In a month she'll shoot better on her own than she does through the computer."
"Sorry!"
That quiet, frightened squeak made my eyes widen in surprise.
"Tali, stop that. We weren't scolding you, we were praising you. If you couldn't even handle the onboard computer—and believe me, you see people like that in the military—there wouldn't be any point in training you in that direction. But you've got potential, and we'll develop it. Understood, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy?"
"Yes, Captain!"
She answered extremely fast—clearly faster than she processed what I'd said.
"Thank you."
She said that more quietly, once it sank in that we were praising her.
"Ten o'clock. And don't get distracted…"
A few shots splashed across my biotic barrier, but then the cannon worked the targets again. I had to change position quickly so the turret's rotation wouldn't knock me off the hull.
"Multiple hostiles ahead!"
Tali began marking targets, and the Mako's targeting system started firing. The second Mako rolled up a bit from behind and opened fire as well. Thirty seconds later the enemy was fully suppressed, and any geth platforms that still functioned were thrown out of our path by me—I didn't want them exploding under the chassis.
"Captain, I'd like to dig through the geth…"
Tali's voice sounded embarrassed and uncertain.
"…I know we're on a mission, but when we finish…"
"If there's an opportunity, we'll secure a couple geth bodies for you."
"Thank you!"
We kept moving forward.
"Beautiful…"
Williams couldn't resist commenting on the lava lake we were passing. I wasn't going to scold her. I planned to ignore her presence entirely—she was Jane's subordinate, so let Jane deal with her.
A geth ship flew overhead and, without slowing, dropped something big onto the road.
"Colossus!"
Tali shouted with a hint of panic. Watching the large geth platform unfold slowly, I understood it wouldn't stop us. The smaller platforms around it unfolded much faster and opened fire, but…
A grin crept onto my lips.
"Too slow."
Tweaking my "Lift" technique, I dragged the Colossus—still not fully unfolded and with its shields not yet active—along the road, and when its shields should have kicked in, its right legs were already hanging over the lava. A couple seconds later they dropped in.
Then a few Mako cannon shots cleaned up the smaller targets, and the road was clear. By then only the Colossus's head protruded from the lava lake—and the indicator light in its head was already dead, meaning the lava had fully defeated the Colossus's materials.
"Outpost ahead. Chifuyu, full speed!"
"Understood!"
She didn't argue, stomped the accelerator, and the Mako's engine roared. With my biotic barrier we smashed the gate we hit, and Tali immediately began marking targets. The second Mako didn't stay out either—it burst into the outpost and started dealing death to the geth.
"Alright, and the second gate…"
Chifuyu looked at it, a bit thrown off.
"…We don't have enough speed to ram it."
"Tali, please put a few rounds on both sides of the gate, so when I push, it gets blown to hell."
She didn't question it and carried out the order, while the second Mako held the perimeter. Then I threw out a heavy push, and the gate simply collapsed to the ground.
"Ahem… I thought we'd have to get out and shoot…"
Garrus sounded mildly bewildered.
"Ha. Still young… still green… The commander's doing it right. While we can, we solve things with big guns, so when we actually have to do the work ourselves, we're not tired."
Wrex said it with open mockery.
"Um… is he really krogan?"
Jane's voice held disbelief and a slight jab.
"Because usually they all yell 'I am krogan!' and charge the embrasure. This one's happy he doesn't have to run…"
"Hey, woman, I'm not young anymore, so I've already tempered my hot blood. Sure, there are those among my people who act like a vorcha with a gun even at a thousand years old, but me? I'm a master of war!"
He said the last words—master of war—with unmistakable pride.
"I'll translate…"
Rebecca sounded like she'd decided to tease Wrex.
"…I'm old and I've done enough of that yelling, and now I want a quiet, peaceful life. I don't need these firefights for shit."
"Hey, hey! Little brat! Don't push it! I've still got it! And I like shooting!"
The big lizard's voice held mild offense.
"You'll see, when it's time to fight up close, I'll wipe the floor with all of you!"
"Come on, Grandpa Wrex, don't be mad at us youngsters…"
Jane clearly enjoyed what was going on.
"…We're just teasing. And you're acting way too quiet… unusual…"
"Yeah, yeah…"
"Obstacle ahead."
"And what do we do? A Mako won't jump that."
Jane sounded mildly annoyed.
"We drive over it. Just keep the pedal down."
"Understood."
Rebecca and Chifuyu answered in sync, and both Makos' engines roared as we accelerated.