And so the talks progressed. The mission to Sur'Kesh was approved. One pissed dalatrass and hopefully, many very happy krogan and turians. Fair trade-off, right? All they would need to do is perform a simple retrieval job at a secure STG facility equipped with top-notch surveillance gear. Of course, 'simple' things tend to get complicated when the Exalted are around.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">___</div><br/><br/>Smoke, burnt meat, and boiling blood. Those were odors with which John had grown too familiar in the past months. Their Kodiak shuttle lay on its side, blasted by a guided missile. Punching the hatch off its hinges, John climbed out, pistoning his fist through the sternum of a nearby Cerberus trooper. What he saw was a beautiful vista of lush greenery marred by tracer rounds, missile contrails, and the passage of Cerberus-painted assault transports. Squad vitals showed that everyone was alive, despite some minor injuries. Well, everyone except the pilot, whose viscera painted the ruined cockpit a vivid red. His ID tags were retrieved and stored in a thigh compartment. They would be delivered to next of kin later.<br/><br/>'This is Spectre Team Saber to any allied forces in the area. We've been shot down over our LZ. Pilot's dead, currently on foot at the western landing pad. We are on station to assist, over.'<br/><br/>Static, then the garbled tones of a krogan. 'Saber, this is Wrex. Precious cargo's intact, but we're running into heavy resistance. Shepard's on her way up from the labs, but there's still too many hostiles to extract her safely.'<br/><br/>'Noted, Wrex. We'll help clear the way from here. Saber out.'<br/><br/>How the hell did Cerberus dodge the Salarian Union's defenses? Not just the anti-air defenses, either. How did they manage to bypass spaceborne detection, entire battlefleets, and heavy-duty observation relays? Was Reaper stealth tech simply that good?<br/><br/>Bau grumbled, claiming that STG really had simply gotten that sloppy in the intervening years since he left. Regardless, they had a job to do.<br/><br/>'Looks like mortal forces only so far,' the Sidereal said. 'Assault troopers and guardians, maybe a few combat engineers.'<br/><br/>John knelt by a fallen Cerberus trooper's rifle and drew his combat knife, carefully checking its underside for booby traps and wires. Nothing. Satisfied, he retrieved the Mattock and ran a few more checks just to be safe. The heatsink was intact and free of tampering, and the mechanisms inside seemed workable. It would do.<br/><br/>'Noted, Five. Alright, Saber, move fast and hit hard. Go charmless for now. Conserve your motes in case something hits the fan. Four, see to the wounded. 042, watch her back. The rest of you, on me.'<br/><br/>And with that, the Exalted leaped into the fray.