Faustus sank down next to them, his omni-tool glowing as he passed it over the fragments in Talyet's back. "Nothing fatal," he reported, "not yet, anyway. I've got him--but you stay yourself put, Commander, doctor's orders." He clicked his mandibles inside his helmet as he looked Talyet over. "Just couldn't go<i>one</i>mission without sticking something foreign in yourself, could you, Maos?" he muttered as he applied a layer of medi-gel to each injury. Makeshift for now, but it would keep infection and exposure damage to a minimum until he could get back to the ship.<br/><br/>Cole gave Talyet's shoulder a grateful squeeze, then turned to resume combat, the SMG folding as he slid it back onto his hip. He drew his rifle and knelt down against the Prime's unmoving bulk, taking deep, steadying breaths. "Arty, give me thermals," he murmured, and his HUD flickered before an overlay appeared, highlighting heat sources in the room. Talyet had the right of it--four more platforms were active across the room, but Calypso had their attention, halfway behind a hub of her own. One of the arms of her battle suit was damaged, the weapons inoperable, and Cole tapped into direct comms with her. "Callie, status?"<br/><br/>"Callie? Ballsy kid--I'm fine. Can't get an angle on these bastards, but armor integrity's holding. One of them got a lucky grenade off right next to my arm, blasted out the firing circuits."<br/><br/>"Can't get the other side to bear?"<br/><br/>"Not without exposing my viewer to direct fire. Shields can't regen, and this glass plating's way flimsier than the rest of the suit."<br/><br/>"So your left side's busted, but your right is operational. That's the cannon, right? That thing have enough firepower for four geth if I can give you a line?"<br/><br/>"Kid, that arm's enough firepower for forty geth if I can get a fucking line."<br/><br/>"Charmer." Cole looked back at the other three, switching over to externals. "Commander, gonna go make a hole." He paused as Arty flashed a notice on his HUD. "Hacking complete. Uploading geth database to AIDEN's servers for analysis now." With that he killed comms, shields, external lights--anything that might give him away. Then, with a faint<i>whoosh</i>, he vanished where he was entirely. The stealth field generator built into his armor was robust.<br/><br/>The Alliance hadn't known about it, and considering where he'd got it that was just as well. Rank and file soldiers, even N7s, weren't allowed to use black market gear. Something about galactic image. Cole didn't give a damn, though. What good was a rule when it got you dead? Hidden in a pocket of bent light augmented by his own biotic field, he moved, keeping low and quick as he crossed the field of fire and picked a spot low against the wall to once more shoulder his rifle.<br/><br/>The four geth were just ahead, their fire staggered as they kept up a constant stream on Calypso's location. The hub she'd taken cover behind was starting to fall apart, and sure enough if she shifted to the other side she wouldn't have any kind of shot. The bulkhead they were behind wasn't thick, but it was sturdy, made of titanium alloys that typical rounds wouldn't punch through. He connected to Calypso again and dropped his cloak, aiming down the scope of his rifle. "Shift to your right," he told her, one eye on the four geth. He was in plain sight with no cover to speak of. His rifle could take care of one of them, easily, but the other three would shred his shields and then him in seconds. This would have to go perfectly. "Calypso, give me a laser sight from your arm. Feeding your system targeting data now. I need to know exactly where your cannon is going to be firing to make this hole count."<br/><br/>"Better know what you're doing, kid," the old asari grumbled, but her suit whined faintly as she complied. Calypso leaned out and lifted her right arm, the cannon projecting a laser over the patch of bulkhead as she lined up with the icons he'd sent her. He took a deep breath, hardly daring to exhale.<br/><br/><i>I hope so too,</i>he thought fervently, and activated his biotics. A surge of blue lightning shot down the streak on his armor and into the firing chamber of the rifle, and an instant later he squeezed the trigger. The round fired with a deafening<i>crack!</i>and surged through the darkness, bright and electric blue, spinning like a drill. It struck the bulkhead and with a small explosion bored a hole clean through the material. The geth all turned to face him, but Calypso was already firing, cannon thumping heavily as it sent dense slugs downrange. Two of them were shredded before they knew what even hit them, and the other two barely reached cover before they were hit too. Cole aimed, breathed, fired again, and Calypso's cannon took them too, the oil-like fluid that assisted geth processes spewing against the back wall as they were liquefied.<br/><br/>Calypso stepped out of cover entirely, gun barrel steaming in the cold vacuum. "Clear," she called, and Faustus glanced up from his work to look around the room.<br/><br/>"Clear," he repeated.<br/><br/>Cole's head was pounding, stars dancing in his eyes and darkness flickering in the corners as he pushed himself up to his knees. "Clear," he confirmed. Artemis was blinking a warning about overusing his implant, but he ignored it. He had known the price it would take to punch through the bulkhead. He stood slowly, yearning to take his helmet off, but the stifling heat of it was preferable to violent asphyxiation. "Recommend we fall back to the ship before more geth show up, Commander. I'm still in their systems but I can't keep these doors locked forever."