Demond entered compound C and took a left, away from the door leading out to the landing pad. He glanced through the window at the blood spatter inside and gave a quick check over his shoulder to see if some of the Batarians had made it inside. He spotted Milenya as he stepped up to the door. He stuck the master key into the checkpoint door, but the door didn't budge - Milenya's sabotage had worked. Demond looks at the key, confused and tried it again. The door emitted a an error message.<br/><br/><span style="color: red">Fucking WHORE!</span>He yelled, punching the door. He stepped over to the window and looked in at Milenya, furious. He gave her a long stare, then stepped back and lifted his Mattock. He double tapped the trigger, the semi-automatic weapon letting loose, firing high kinetic yield rounds into the window. It dented and spider-webbed in a dozen places as the bullet resistant material quickly began breaking down under the barrage.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>The twin barreled high power auto cannon on the roof swept through the slavers from behind. The gunship pivoted and dropped under the MAKO's cannon shots, the nimble craft outpacing the lumbering ATV and withdrawing from its range, peppering the landing pad with cannon fire. The MAKO squealed its tired on the smooth surface of the landing paddock, which was rapidly becoming pocked with craters and smoking debris, and headed off the base onto the uneven terrain, rolling over hills and returning fire at the gunship. But it made little difference. Even at full tilt, the mako was slow compared to the predator craft above. The ATV held out as long as it could until its shields depleted and the rain of cannon fire began making purchase on the vehicles armor, pounding, breaking and penetrating until a critical system was struck and the 6 wheeled vehicle exploded, scattering flaming shards of metal across the primeval landscape.<br/><br/>The Gunship turned, speeding back toward the base, guns ready. It encountered bursts of fire from the auto-gun mounted on the roof. The Batarian pilot locket the stationary target and hammered it with a return barrage of rockets, annihilating the weapon and leaving the gunship in control of the base exterior.<br/><br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/><span style="color: blue">Come on!</span>Firas yelled, holding down the trigger of the Revenant, keeping it on target while its deep pounding report filled his hearing, the muzzle flash blazing. He ducked back behind the door frame as the Batarians returned fire. The five remaining mercenaries huddled, firing back as they could, yelling at one another.<br/><br/><span style="color: darkgreen">We've gotta get the fuck out of here!</span>One of them yelled, blind firing from his position of cover. Firas had to agree. The Batarians were proving to be a vastly superior enemy to the rag tag band of mercenaries. Even in a poor position, they were accurate, letting the mercenaries fall into a sense of security as they suppressed, then striking, with a sudden lethal precision. The Mercenary peeked out of his cover and his head suddenly snapped back as a Kishock spike split his helmet in two, embedding in the man's skull.<br/><br/><span style="color: blue">Are there any other ways out!?</span>Firas yelled to the four remaining.<br/><br/>One of the slavers ducked back, reloaded his Avenger.<span style="color: darkorange">That fucking miserable fuck took the only other way out that isn't through them!</span><br/><br/>Firas half leaned out and fired a quick burst, side stepping a flurry of return fire. Darion's voice suddenly came over his helmet's comm. He had never been so happy to hear a Human chattering in his ear in all his life.<span style="color: blue">Yeah, no shit!</span>Firas responded to Darion's special forces comment, retracting from the door frame a little more as a Kishock spike ricocheted off it into the room. Firas risked a quick glance out the door in the direction Darion indicated. He saw a shotgun point out of the door with the window and fire.<span style="color: blue">Roger that, I see them! Negative!</span>He lamented suddenly Ashana's plan. If she had been right then she had no biotics for the time being, a tool that would have been invaluable.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>Sorv took a deep breath and spun out of cover, aiming his Mantis and firing. The shot hit, but the Batarian's shields were proving resilient.<span style="color: darkorange">Nope.</span>He responded to Darion's question about medigel, reloading his mantis.<br/><br/>From their position of advantage on the Batarian position near the large airlock, Sorv could easily see all four remaining Batarians. But any hope at a focused, and sustained attack from Darion and Sorv was quashed within moments as the Batarians returned fire, forcing the two back into cover before they could secure a kill.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Yeah, so I'm sort of rethinking that whole rescue idea from earlier.</span>Sorv joked, retreating behind his cover before he could get of another shot. Sorv checked his omni-tool. Drone and Tech-Armor remained ready to deploy, but he needed an opening. The Batarians were reacting so quickly, a drone would be cut down before it could possibly be effective. And what use was the drain the Tech-Armor would put on his omni-tool if he had to stay behind cover constantly?<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/><span style="color: navy">"Unbelievable!"</span>Shira'Va yelled, spewing Quarian profanity in rapid fire.<span style="color: navy">"A firefight and I'm stuck with you two! Get your asses in cover and stay there!"</span><br/><br/>Suddenly, under a barrage of cover fire aimed at Firas and the slaver's position, a Batarian broke from their formation, sprinting. The halo of suppressing fire around him kept them from returning fire. The Batarian was moving in for a kill, to secure the flank and break the defense.<br/><br/>Shira'Va jammed the slide down on the shotgun down, and smashed the exposed base of the kinetic rail against the door frame, dislodging the weapon's kinetic inhibitor, then squeezed the weapon as hand as she could and pulled the trigger. The weapon overloaded, the inhibitor unable to reduce the kinetic discharge. The shot kicked the gun out of her hands, painfully twisting her wrist and fingers, the barrel cracking and deforming, but the Carnage that followed achieved what it was meant to. The blast hit the Batarian in the legs, his shields fizzing and popping, the blast knocking his legs out from under him. He hit the ground, and in a flash, fighting through the pain in his hands, Shira grabbed the avenger and emptied the clip into the Batarian.<br/><br/>But it was too late. The Batarian threw a grenade into the room with Firas and the slavers.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>It was only a split second. Firas huddled behind cover as the Batarians threw everything they had at them. There was a loud thundering bang, and a small cylinder flew into the room through the door. In that split second, Firas had thought it was just shrapnel from whatever the bang had been. He realized almost too late what it really was. He dove further into the room, as far from the grenade as he could.<br/><br/>It exploded, scattering his helmet's HUD from the concussion and turning the room into a maelstrom of flying debris. He tried to push himself up, but his arm refused.<span style="color: blue">Aurgh!</span>He yelled, rolling off the broken limp and trying to right himself and reacquire his weapon. His HUD rebooted, throwing errors and warnings of armor integrity damage at his vision. Pain wracked his body, but the medi-gel mesh had been broken as was now filling wounds with anesthetic.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>Sorv opened fire the moment the Batarians turned all their focus on the gambit attack. Sorv fired, reloaded, fired. There was an explosion, he fired again. One of the Batarians shields went down. He fired again, caught him too high in his right shoulder.<br/><br/>Then the large airlock began to open, warning lights flashing. Five more Batarians waited on the other side, not out of position, but well covered inside the large docking bay. Sorv ducked behind cover as the full fury of the squadron was unleashed on Darion and Sorv, making it impossible to return fire, or even move. Their firing discipline was perfect, rotating bursts of fire covering the retreat of the three other Batarians still inside as they took up further position.<br/><br/>Sorv huddled in the corner between the walls, Mantis held close to him.<span style="color: darkOrange">Hey, if its not too much trouble, we could use a little help here!</span>From the Batarians position inside facility A, their only targets were now Darion and Sorv. they were pinned, and Sorv knew it was only a matter of time before they advanced into grenade throwing range, or worse. Darion at least still had the back door next to him, but with potentially two gunships and a MAKO still outside, using it was an incredible risk.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>As soon as the large airlock opened, Kala's confiscated omni-tool began spewing warnings of atmosphere composition. The huge gaping hole into the outside was turning the atmosphere lethal, and fast. Shira'Va saw the particulates flooding into the main hall. She looked at Kala and Ashana who were already feeling the effects. They had no where to go.<br/><br/>Shira grabbed Kala, dropping her gun. She pulled the breathing mask off and put it on Kala, holding it sealed to her face.<span style="color: navy">"Deep breaths and hold them!"</span>She ordered. As soon as Kala had taken a breath, Shira pulled the mask off and put it on Ashana. It was all she could do to keep them alive in the now toxic environment. As Shira felt her body convulse and demand oxygen, she put the mask back on, taking a breath, moving their one source of air around.<br/><br/><br/>***<br/><br/><br/>The glass splintered and cracked. Desmond emptied his clip into it, then struck it with the butt of his rifle, breaking a small hole in it. He pulled a Grenade from his belt and primed it then jammed it in the hole, walking around the corner from the checkpoint and waiting.<br/><br/>The grenade went off, shattering screens, crushing security consoles. The body within was turned into a twisted scrap of metal holding together a mess of viscera. The window had become a gaping hole. Desmond hopped through, looking for Milenya, ready to put several dozen bullets in her. Not seeing her among the carnage, he headed through the destroyed checkpoint, Mattock raised and aiming, moving toward the locked door in the north east corner of the building.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>