"Kasumi, are you in position?"
"Yes…"
A slight relief could be heard in the girl's voice. She wasn't a close-quarters fighter, after all, and was somewhat afraid I'd make her fight the enemy. However, I had another idea and sent her off with a supply of explosives, far away from us.
"Excellent. You know what to do."
"I know."
She was supposed to mine and blow up as many Batarian shuttles as possible, and from her eyes when I gave the assignment, I could see she liked the task. Even more, she slightly regretted that there wouldn't be any Batarians on the shuttles during the explosions. This added a few extra traits to her portrait.
"Good luck."
"Yeah, you guys don't die either. Because getting stuck on this planet would be a bit disappointing, and I'm sure they won't let me back on the SSV Normandy without you."
Sarcasm practically dripped from her voice, but I decided to ignore it. I just continued to prepare.
"Contact!"
Lissi let us know that an enemy had been spotted on her side, but no one rushed to help her. All firing sectors were divided, and those responsible for that sector began shooting at the enemy. The Batarians immediately hid behind buildings. But our guns were a bit more powerful, as the exoskeletons fully allowed for it. So very quickly, the Batarians had to retreat a bit to avoid dying from bullets that punched through the buildings.
"Contact."
Firing also began from Jane's side, and after that, there was no time to pay attention to those around us. Or rather, to where their enemies were. There was only enough time to shoot at Batarians, cover our own with barriers, and keep an eye out to make sure our people were alive. There were just too many Batars.
"Hacked their network."
"EDI, thanks."
"You're very welcome. Beginning to mark their locations and predicted maneuvers."
From that moment, it became a bit easier—actually, not just a bit, but significantly easier, as the Batarians had nothing to counter us with. They changed frequencies for their conversations several times, but against EDI, it was useless.
Then several explosions rang out, and the Batarians got very nervous. Some of them rushed toward the explosions, hoping to catch the saboteurs, but Kasumi's green dot on my small map, which I saw in the corner of my face shield, moved away very quickly. So I wasn't worried about her being caught.
"How is it in space?"
"For now, the Batarians have retreated, but for how long?"
"Time will tell."
A short answer before another attempt by the Batarians to take us by numbers. They had snipers too, but Garrus was very efficient at picking them off, so they barely had time to do anything. That was very good.
And then silence fell…
The Batarians abruptly stopped trying to storm us. They retreated, but not to their shuttles—only back a bit to regroup.
"Report."
"All good."
That was the answer heard from all sides, and though I knew everything was fine and our people had no wounds—except maybe someone being grazed by a stray shot—I still breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, Chifuyu's group to John, Rebecca Lee's group to me."
Jane gave a short order, reacting to the actions of the Batarians, who had coordinated after backing off slightly, gathering into two large squads. At that moment, several more explosions rang out, indicating that Kasumi was continuing her work.
"Why don't we have equipment like this?"
"Because we don't work with Spectres, and it costs as much as a civilian shuttle—and that's for one person."
The second Asari answered her friend. They were among those temporarily attached to our squad and were very surprised by such gear.
"Are you saying Benezia doesn't have that kind of money?"
"I'm saying we weren't given tasks that implied even a theoretical need for such equipment."
"Don't worry, girls, when the Reapers come, everyone will be jumping around in exoskeletons like these. At least everyone in my colonies or working with those I'm connected to will get toys like these."
"Really, everyone?"
"Really, everyone."
"Even Quarians?"
"Those who will be defending colonies or just fighting on the surface…"
I shrugged carelessly, showing there was nothing strange about it.
"…they provide themselves with toys like these. They work overtime specifically for it."
"Contact!"
However, I could clearly see for myself that an assault had begun from Jane's side, while those on mine weren't in a hurry to attack yet. Apparently, they decided to wait a bit so we'd think they were all coming from the other side and then strike us in the back. And if not for EDI, that plan might have worked.
But we had EDI, and we already knew exactly what they were planning. And our armor was good enough that we didn't have to worry about Jane and her group. Though despite everything, the anxiety was still there.
"They seem to have no idea that we outmatch them in everything."
Tali expressed bewilderment at what was happening, and I partly understood her, but it seemed to me that they understood perfectly well; it only looked like an absurdity from our perspective, while they had their own plan. And they were sticking to it, though not without difficulty.
"They understand. They just don't know that their plans for reinforcements to arrive while we run out of ammo are doomed to fail."
Jane answered Tali's words.
"No, if the pilot were anyone other than Jeff, they'd have a chance, but a symbiosis like the SSV Normandy, EDI, and Jeff isn't that easy to beat. No, there are chances, of course, but not in the near future. And by then, we'll have dealt with these… and they'll be hit from orbit."
"You didn't make me feel better."
"Oh, come on…"
A note of disdain for the situation could be heard in Jane's voice.
"…if we were afraid of death, we would have locked ourselves in our apartment long ago and surrounded ourselves with Krogan who would shoot any outsider. Or better yet, connected EDI to the security system and let her shoot the outsiders."
"Hey, I'm not a butcher!"
"Oh, come on, you understood perfectly well what I meant.
"I understood, but that doesn't mean it was pleasant to hear. So I would ask you to be a bit more restrained."
"Sorry, sorry… it's just that shooting doesn't really lend itself to choosing one's words carefully."
At that moment, firing began on our side as well, and there was even less time to talk; however, that didn't mean the conversation died out completely. It just became more fragmentary, constantly interrupted by extremely loud sounds that punched through even the noise cancellation of the armor and exoskeleton.
** Third-person perspective. **
"Freeze."
Kasumi froze, as EDI's voice sounded very threatening, and about twenty seconds later, five Batarians ran past where she was supposed to go.
"They've gone to check their shuttles, and to put them under guard, so from this moment on, your job will become a bit more difficult."
"No big deal; if there aren't many of them, I can handle it."
"Good, then I'll help if anything happens. Just don't rush."
"Just don't you dare jump in the middle of things like that… or I'll flinch, cross the wires of the explosive devices, and there won't be a Kasumi anymore."
"Don't worry, I have no intention of getting rid of you that way, and John still needs you, and I don't want him scolding me for your death."
Kasumi heard the undisguised mockery in the AI's voice and couldn't help but smirk herself.
"I see, so I don't have to worry about my death right now—that's a relief."
She moved in bursts from one building to another, then to a car—this colony had some outdated wheeled vehicles—and then back to a building.
"There's a sentry on the right. He needs to be eliminated."
"Understood."
Drawing a suppressed pistol, she was about to act, but EDI stopped her. She had to freeze in place, waiting for the command.
"Go."
One word, and Kasumi literally lunges from around the corner and puts a short burst exactly into the back of the Batarian's head. Right where the armor is thinnest due to the hose connections.
"Good girl."
"Hey, I'm not a kid who needs to be praised in a situation like this!"
"Fine, then you're a slowpoke; you almost missed the shot—another three point twenty-one seconds and the Batarian's head would have shifted, which would have led to him noticing you. Then he would have rolled aside and raised the alarm."
"Is it just me, or are you swinging from one extreme to another?"
"Well, you said yourself that I shouldn't praise you…"
Kasumi could only sigh and continue moving, soon finding herself near more shuttles and beginning to mine them under the cover of her cloak.
"Damn, did you hear that?"
The translator was doing an excellent job with the Batarian speech, so she understood what the two Batars guarding the shuttles in close proximity were saying.
"What?"
"They say they're all wearing some kind of high-tech armor… and when we kill them, our commander will be able to use his right of salvage and will probably take the armor for himself."
"And why are you happy about that?"
"What do you mean, why…"
"Oh, shut up and think! Since we got involved with the Collectors, we've been making very little! Look around, we're raiding a backwater colony with a small fleet, when before we could have tried picking on a much larger target!"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying the Captain has changed somehow, and I'm not sure he'll think about getting armor like that for us. It seems to me he's stopped thinking about loot altogether. I mean, remember when we raided that last colony—there were so many opportunities for extra profit besides the Collector contract, but basically, everyone just grabbed what they could for themselves."
"If that's the case…"
"What?"
"Maybe to hell with the shuttles; look, the houses are close, let's go have a look around…"
"Are you an idiot?! Our shuttles are being blown up! You want to be left without transport?"
Kasumi clenched her fists for a few moments, but regaining her composure, she continued mining the shuttles.
"You're doing great… holding up well."
EDI's voice gave her strength, and now she had moved far enough away. Reaching for the detonator, she pressed the button, noting with particular pleasure that those two were still near the shuttles, and the explosion that occurred a second later caught them.
"And you seem to be enjoying yourself."
"My home planet was attacked by these creatures… I lost my family back then. And having the chance to get revenge on them, I'm only glad."
EDI didn't answer those words, only made a note that she needed to report this information to John so he would be more careful with her if necessary. However, she had already studied the commander enough to understand that there would be no pirates in his crew…
Well, with the exception of Aria T'Loak, but she supposedly never engaged in piracy personally. And those crews working for him did so according to strictly given instructions, not touching civilians, but he still needed to be warned…
** End. **
"Is that it again?"
About a third of the original markers remained on the map, and the Batarians had again interrupted their assault, but they didn't seem to be planning to attack again. Now, the bright idea of starving us out had entered their heads.
"Jane…"
"A breakthrough?"
"Yeah, I want you to break through their ranks and then start raising hell."
"Oh, I'll do that with pleasure."
Quickly gathering a small group consisting of Chifuyu Orimura, Tali, Liara, Lissi, and Missi, as well as several other huntresses, Jane rushed for the breakthrough, and the Batars didn't have time to react to my girl's actions. She went through their ranks like a hot knife through butter.
"Excellent… now the main thing is for Jeff to handle everything in space and we'll be happy."
"Jeff will handle it, especially since we sent a signal when we were flying here, and literally thirty seconds ago, we received a signal from a Turian fleet saying they'll arrive to support us, or just to check that everything is fine. So Joker just needs to hold out for another hour, after which the Batarians will simply be scattered across space."
"Good… that's very good…"
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan