The Reclaimer Wars:The Reaper Crisis

Horizon Part 2

"Woah, woah, don't shoot!" The man clad in a black-and-white shirt, cap and cargo pants said as he raised his hands. He had hidden behind one of the boxes in the garage, but immediately noticed that the people who'd entered were human or humanoid, at the very least. He commented, "I'll be damned. More soldier types..." his accent audibly strange, voice gruff.

Shepard blinked as they descended, stowing her Mattock on her back and asking, "There more soldiers nearby?" before giving a wave of her hand for the team to secure the area, form a perimeter, that kind of thing. She wanted to have an uninterrupted conversation with their newfound buddy. Going by the looks of him and the tool box sat on top of the box he was taking cover behind, he was the mechanic. And he was tense.

Raising her hand, she spoke, "Relax. We're here to help. Even have a ship incoming with a lot more troops to get these bastards off your lawn."

The man blinked, staring at her, then crossed his arms and asked, "It ain't Alliance, right?" with concern. Shepard was willing to ask the man what was so bad about the Alliance, but, as far as she knew, in the two years they'd come to think of her as dead, not a lot happened. A short surge of military enlistments to help rebuild the Alliance fleet, followed by a drawdown as the losses felt at the Battle of the Citadel were being felt.

So, she shook her head and answered him straight, "No. My buddies over there," while jabbing a thumb back at Ahsoka and her Clones as they searched the place for useful intel, "Have a warship coming up. They're a fairly new addition to the Galaxy, though, so it's taking them a little while to pinpoint Horizon," and she crossed her arms. She asked, "Take it there's another Alliance troop here?"

"Just one," The man scoffed, "She was s'pposed to be helping us set up the GARDIAN lasers you saw outside."

Shepard sighed deeply, "Didn't get to do it before the bastards hit. What happened to them?"

"Targeting's scrambled," He replied, then leaned against the box, "Ain't got a damn clue how to fix it. And I can't reach the com tower and sensor suite alone to try," and he tilted his head toward the other door in the garage, sitting opposite the one they'd come in through. He shrugged, "Maybe you'll have better luck. You made it this damn far, right?"

"We'll get those guns online, get that ship to scramble," She offered, "Thanks. Any name you can give me on the possible Alliance casualty?"

"It's W-" The man was about to speak as the ground suddenly shook, the locked door next to them groaning under stress. He swore, "Damn!" then ran toward the security camera screens installed nearby. He activated them with his Omni-Tool and panned the camera at the locked door. A squad of enemy Drones were pounding at the door. A couple were firing their weapons at it to try and breach, while the others prepared to join in.

"Great. Stay here," Shepard ordered. She whistled to her team and gave a chop of the hand left and one right, to each flank of the door, then one in the middle behind a few boxes, one of which she lifted with her biotics and positioned as cover. She looked at everyone and said, "Breach and clear. Move fast for the antenna and let's get those targeting sequences in order. Bold?"

"Ma'am," The man tilted his helmet to mimic raising a brow.

"Right down the middle," The Commander ordered with a grin. The man seemed to let out a noise of excitement as he set up with his gun behind cover and started spinning it up. She looked at the man on the control console and ordered, "Unlock the door..." as she charged her biotics. Ahsoka beside her ignited her lightsabers. Shepard also drew her rifle off her back, while the others set up to engage.

Garrus quipped, "This is gonna be fun..."

Grunt let out a short, slow laugh as he racked the pump on his Claymore, Mordin checked his SMG and Zaeed simply zeroed his own rifle's scope, stating, "Bunch'a bloodthirsty lunatics, heh. More and more like my kind of gang," before properly pressing the Avenger into his shoulder. The lock ahead turned yellow, its central haptic interface connectors starting to glow a faint green, before it collapsed in on itself and the main door opened.