Paying the Price

And Chapter 2 is done. Didn't come out exactly as i planned, but it's still alright in my opinion. Again i ran it through a spell and grammar check, but don't be surprised if there's errors i and it missed.

Paying the Price

Chapter Two
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Shepard hesitated for a moment, before carefully dropping out of the airlock and to the ground below. Luckily it was only a few feet and her armour absorbed most of the impact.

She spared a glance over her shoulder, and winced as she examined the exterior of the Normandy. It was in bad shape, the crash alone had done a number on the lower decks, but the fight with the collectors had almost taken a layer of plating off it as well. "Even if they get the power back…I don't think she'll be flying again." Melina commented with a sigh, they knew this was a one way trip. But that didn't make the truth any easier to swallow.

A loud bang brought her back to reality, and the following tremor almost threw her off balance. Though she quickly regained her balance and turned her gaze to Grunt, whom had just landed next to her.

A metallic clank followed a second later as Legion hit the deck. Had the ship been properly docked, it would have been a simple matter of just walking out the airlock, but in this case they weren't safely docked, and that meant things were just that much harder.

Shepard scanned the area, noting nothing, she gave her two companions a nod, before a hand swept behind her and retrieved the rifle clipped to her back. "Were on the deck. Everyone else okay?"

A string of confirmations followed as each squad member responded. Good, everyone was ready to go. Once she was satisfied, the commander paused to ensure her rifle had a fresh clip, and it was in working condition, before sinking into a low crouch and pressing forwards, Grunt had a hard time copying her, but then again she didn't expect him to be stealthy, he was a krogan after all. And besides, the Collectors knew they were here already, so it hardly mattered.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Shepard commented after a few minutes of silence, so far they'd made it, by her guess a kilometre or two into the station, and nothing had happened, no collectors, no husks, nothing.

She wasn't sure which was worse, the tense silence. Or having a massive army standing between her and her goal.

At least the second option offered something interesting to do…

"Shepard, we've got a problem." Tali's voice broke into her thoughts. "There seems to be some kind of, gate blocking the way." Melina cursed quietly, before breaking into a jog.

"Hold on. I'll see what I can do from my end." She tried to reassure the qurian, she didn't know why exactly, but something about the vent being blocked just put her on edge.

"Hurry. It's getting hot in here." Her pace increased again as a computer terminal came into view.

"Please be the right one." She repeated under her breath as she skidded to a halt and started pressing buttons somewhat randomly.

"Alert! Reinforcements incoming." Legions voice suddenly snapped from behind, a second later it was followed by scattered rifle fire as he and Grunt tried to delay whatever was behind them.

"Come on, come on!" Melina cursed again as she finally hit on the right combination and heard the dull hiss of the hatch opening.

"That got it. Moving forwards." Tali confirmed, a sigh escaped Shepard as she spun on her heel to join the fight.

A second later she ducked as a volley struck the console and fired the controls, and almost took her head off at the same time. Ignoring the shower of sparks that rained down on her, Melina easily ducked behind a support beam and cast a glance around the side.

The collectors were everywhere. There had to be dozens of them! Shepard shivered and tightened the grip on her rifle. It didn't matter how many there were, they weren't going to stop that easily.

Peering around the side, she fired off several short bursts, before ducking back out of sight, an answering barrage chipping away several pieces of the beam. This wouldn't be easy,

"Encountering heavy resistance, nothing we can't handle." Garrus reported, though his voice was almost lost in the constant barking of rifles and pings of bullets hitting metal.

"Makes two of us." Shepard mumbled, before ducking out of cover long enough to fire off another, sustained burst. This time she took the time to aim properly and smiled as several collectors fell. Though where one died, it seemed five more were quick to dive in and join the fray.

Once again she was forced back into hiding. Though only long enough to replace the thermal clip in her rifle before leaning out to fire another burst. "This isn't working." She called out to her companions, neither of which responded.

Ducking under another barrage of fire, Shepard picked out a famillar, and worrying sight, namely one of the collectors calmly stepping into view, a distinct glow encasing his body. "Damn it!" She wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but usually it was followed by a lot of pain.

Clenching her teeth, she was proven right as a loud bang shook the ground beneath her, the impact knocking her rifle from her hands.

Shaking off the momentary disorientation, she left it for the moment, instead snatching her prize sniper rifle from her back and shouldering it. Regardless of what was powering up the collectors, they went down just the same.

Before she could line up the shot however, Legion beat her to it. The last she saw of Harbringer was his head exploding, before the glow vanished and the now lifeless corpse crumbled to the ground.

Shifting her aim, Melina instead picked out a different target, and with a loud crack, he too fell. "To, easy." She grunted, before chambering another round and slinging the gun over one shoulder. As much as she loved the massive rifle, the fact that she'd been forced to upgrade her armour or risk dislocating her shoulder with each shot wasn't pleasing. The payoff was worth the extra padding however.

Snatching up her assault rifle again, the commander ensured it wasn't damaged from the fall and swiftly resumed firing almost blindly into the collector lines. With Harbinger dead, the assault seemed to waver and lessen. Without their leader it seemed they were falling back.

"Were at the door." Garrus's voice filled her ears again, and Shepard nodded to her squad.

"Lets move!" Once the last few collectors were dealt with, she easily broke into a run towards the door.

"Another hatch is blocking the way. I can't open this one either." Tali warned her, and Melina silently cursed the poor design choice, not that anyone should be crawling around in the vents, but it made things much more difficult.

Spotting another terminal, she skidded to a halt and set to work copying her earlier attempts to open it. "Damn it!" The code was different, that made things awkward.

"I'm burning up in here! Hurry!" Several more curses escaped Shepard as she continued typing in random commands. Nothing was working, if she didn't get it open soon…

As if on cue, the sound of rifle fire picked up in the corridor behind her. "For god's sake!" With a savage growl, she slammed her fist into the terminal, and almost laughed as the light clicked green and the hatch opened.

With Tali safe, Shepard whipped around to join the fight. Only to receive a powerful biotic blast to the chest and slam into the terminal a second later.

Gasping as the impact sucked the air out of her lungs, she shook her head and tried to scramble back to her feet.

To late however, she spotted the collector approaching, it's rifle aimed squarely at her head. Still disoriented from the attack, Melina knew she wouldn't get her gun up in time.

Before it could finish the job however. A familiar figure materialized behind it. Before the collector could act, Kasumi's pistol splattered it's brains all over the wall, and to her disgust, on Shepard's armour as well.

"The hell are you doing here?" Melina asked as she accepted the thief's hand and dragged herself back to her feet. "Thanks." Kasumi simply offered a nod, before vanishing as quickly as she appeared.

Melina knew she'd sent everyone save Grunt and Legion with Garrus, though it didn't surprise her that not everyone was following her orders to the letter. And considering she'd be dead otherwise, it wasn't something she'd argue about.

A quick check reassured her that despite the energy blast, her armour wasn't damage, not anymore then usual at least. So she wasn't out of the fight yet. Her gaze shifted back to the battle, which was far from over.

Legion was behind cover a few meters away, perfectly still and nigh invisible save for the occasional flash and loud crack as he fired a shot from his rifle and downed another collector.

Grunt had, at some point charged into the fray and what wasn't torn to pieces by his shotgun was swiftly crushed under fist or foot, or in some cases he simply slammed head first into something and pulverized the bones without even the slightest hint of damage in return.

The newly revealed Kasumi was easily dancing between targets, vanishing one moment and reappearing the next to end someone's life with a spine snapping kick or well aimed shot to the head.

Spying the door across the field, Shepard wasted no time directing everyone to it and attempting to reach it herself. "Get to the door!" She shouted over the gunfire, though it hardly mattered, everyone knew where to go, and were doing their best to reach it.

Narrowly avoiding getting hit several times, Melina finally breathed a sigh of relief as her shoulder slammed into the thick door. While it wasn't open, at least she was here and ready. "Ready when you are Tali." She called out, before ducking behind another support beam to avoid yet another barrage of collector fire.

"Working on it, just a few more seconds." Legion skidded to a halt next to her, his rifle firing wildly, yet still somehow each round hit a target with perfect precision. For one brief moment, Melina felt a pang of jealousy towards the geth. Though it instantly vanished as she focused on making her own shots count.

Grunt finally gave up his rampage and stumbled over as well. Shepard winced as she noted several wounds where his armour had been breeched, but he either didn't notice them, or simply didn't care.

Assuming Kasumi was present as well. Shepard simply focused on holding the line until the door opened a minute later.

"Go!" She nodded towards the door, and despite a questioning glance, the rest of the squad swiftly backed through the door, Melina right behind them, her rifle still blazing as she cut down anyone stupid enough to try and follow.

Glancing over her shoulder once she had the safety of the doorframe between her and the enemy, she breathed a sigh of relief to see the others all present and accounted for. Though the victory was short lived.

"Something's wrong, the door isn't closing!" Tali cried as she fought to hack the door controls and shut it again. Knowing she was exposed, Shepard moved forwards and sunk into a crouch next to the qurian, her rifle once again flaring as she tried to cover her companion.

Melina cursed when she heard the rifle click empty, and desperately tried to eject the spent clip.

As she did so however, her attention faltered, a costly mistake.

A second later a loud boom deafened the commander and the resulting blast knocked her off her feet, and back several meters. For a moment, she was sure she'd been hit, and likely died again.

Though as the white light that blinded her began to fade, she found herself face to face with Garrus, who was saying something she couldn't hear, the explosion having left her ears ringing.

"You okay?" The sniper asked for the fourth time, finally Shepard heard him.

"I will be." She coughed, a hand shifting to her ribs as shock gave way to pain. "What the hell was that?"

"Rocket round I think." Melina accepted the turian's offered hand and shakily stumbled back to her feet. "Luckily you were far enough back."

The commander was in the process of nodding, when a thought occurred to her. Forcing her aching limbs to move, she pushed Garrus aside and stumbled back to the thankfully closed door, several members of the squad were watching it for signs of it reopening, however, Thane and Samara were distracted by something to one side.

They swiftly withdrew as Shepard approached and fell to her knees next to the still form of Tali. Ignoring what the others had to say, she gently rested a hand on the qurian's shoulder and tilted her head slightly. "Tali?" No response. Shepard's breath caught in her throat as she examined her friend. Her visor was cracked, possibly breached, and her enviro-suit was scourched and blackened in a few places.

"Tali!" She called her name again, the only response was a slight flexing of her hand. Which the commander swiftly gripped with her own. "Stay with me!" Tears began to sting her eyes as she squeezed her hand. She could barely hear the gasps through Tali's visor, see the very slight movements of her chest. She was still alive, but barely. And she doubted for long.

With her free hand, she began punching in the commands on her Omni-tool and gave her a dose of Medi-gel. It would either stablize her. or at least ease the pain. "Stay with me." She said more urgently, the tears now trailing down her cheeks as she struggled to think of a better way to help Tali. "Someone do something!" She shouted, her head snapping around to focus on the rest of the team. Most fidgeted uncomfortably, some shrugged, powerless to help, Garrus simply looked away, the pain in his expression alone tearing at Shepard's already shattered heart.

"Don't die on me! Please!" Melina's gaze snapped back to Tali, who's already ragged breaths were growing shallower by the second. The grip on the commanders hand was beginning to weaken as well.

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Bit of a cliffhanger ending...In a fashion anyway. Normally i hate cliffhangers. But i felt this was a good point to stop for now. Chapter three soon to follow i hope.