Finding a way: Mass effect 3

Mars - part 1

They geared up and took the shuttle down to Mars. Joker had been unable to raise anyone at the base on their secure channels, but there was no sign of Reaper activity. Probably because the colonies and research stations on Mars were sparsely populated. Regardless, because of the lack of communication they went in expecting hostiles, making their way toward the base with weapons out.

"How are your barriers, Kaidan?" she asked him on the way there.

"Solid, ma'am," he answered, keeping it professional.

"Good. Six months without much use my biotics are probably gonna be a little rusty," she admitted.

He was about to reply when her hand shot up and then she quickly motioned them to take cover and he reflexively moved behind a rock, squatting down and readying his pistol. It was only then that he heard the muffled voices from up ahead. He craned his neck to get a peek over the rock and saw several marines from the base on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Facing them was a group of commandos in Cerberus armor. Dammit, he cursed internally. He glanced over to Aubrey, looking for orders as to how she wanted to play this out, at the same time that shots rang out.

"NO!" she cried, breaking cover and rushing forward without waiting for him or Vega. He stood and broke cover, too, looking back toward the marines. They had all been executed by the Cerberus troops.

He watched as Aubrey biotically threw one of them into a rock so hard that it split down the middle, following it up with several precise shots from her rifle to make sure he stayed down.

Anger flared in his chest as he moved up to join her, getting a barrier over them both as a hail of bullets came at them. James opened fire while he slung a warp at one of the commandos. Aubrey dropped a singularity over several more that came running out from behind a vehicle as reinforcements, so he and James switched targets to take care of them.

She clipped the shoulder of the last commando and then grabbed the man in a mass effect field, yanking him toward her rather than throwing him back. She quickly holstered her rifle and lunged forward to put her omni-blade through his throat when he got close enough. Kaidan heard the gurgle of blood from him as she let the body fall to the ground at her feet.

She was breathing heavily and sagged against the rock face beside her from the exertion. If she was really out of practice, then she had just expended way too much biotic energy.

"Damn, Commander," Vega said with some amount of awe as they jogged up to her. "Thought you said the biotics would be rusty?"

She huffed a laugh and stood taller, turning to face them. "They are. Six months ago, that wouldn't have tired me out."

He saw Vega's eyes widen a fraction and then saw the blood coming from Aubrey's nose. He quickly scanned her. "You damn near overloaded your implant, Commander," he said, not able to hide his concern. She had always taken calculated risks and put herself in harm's way to help others, but he'd never seen her be this reckless with herself before.

"I'm fine," she said curtly, pulling her rifle back out and moving toward the building.

"What the fuck is Cerberus doing here?" James asked, as they followed her.

"Good question," she said. "Probably should have left one of those assholes alive to ask, but... sorry, not sorry."

"You mean you don't know?" he asked without thinking.

"No Kaidan, I don't, because I'm not with Cerberus," she replied tersely.

"You have to admit, Shepard, it's a bit convenient," he said. "There's nowhere near enough vehicles here for them to have taken the base by force, which means they had help on the inside." Cerberus showing up here at the same time she does when there's a potential solution to beat the Reapers nearby couldn't be a coincidence.