Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the various X-COM games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not written for profit. It is not for sale or rent.

Chapter 7: Citadel Blues

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Part 9

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15 June 2177 CE

Tayseri Ward

The Citadel

The Spectres approached on an Assault Shuttle of their own, just in time to see Vasir slam a perfectly good C-Sec air-car into the side of the target building.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea to leave Tela spinning her wheels for months on end." Saren's mandibles twitched in exasperation.

"She at least has Psionic support." Nihlus grumbled. "We know for a fact that our counter-measures don't work. The young Spectre was busy monitoring the Battle-Net and that much was painfully obvious. While Biotics remained a powerful power-multiplier, the fact that an Asari Commando team was down, mostly dead due to combination of Psionic disruption, laser weaponry and mechs, didn't pay a pleasant picture.

"Spectre Vasir, Spectre Jien, hold position. A Spectre units is en route, your location, ETA thirty seconds. J'ien over."

"Do try not to run them over, would you?" Fern, their Salarian colleague suggested in a desert dry tone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. All my landings are legit." Saren declared proudly.

"Well, people usually are able to walk from them, true. The vehicles you've 'piloted' on the other hand…" Nihlus began.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Serin asked incredulously and wrapped herself in the strongest Biotic barrier she could produce.

"We're in the troop compartment of an Assault Shuttle, we'll be all right." Fern tilted his head to the side, observing his Asari colleague. "I think."

"We're so going to die…"

"Brace for impact!" Saren declared and the shuttle shook with deceleration a moment before slamming into the building and rattling everyone on board despite all the precautions they took.

"Go, go, go!" Fern moved like lighting and in a blink of an eye released the straps holding him in place before opening the ramp at the back.

"I told you we'll be all right!" Saren's smug voice came over the Battle-Net.

"Spectre or not, I'm going to fry the brain of the next bastard who crashes something in my general vicinity, am I bloody clear!?" A furious shout came both through the Battle-Net and somewhere above them.

"Great, you almost ran over Vasir and the X-Commie." Nihlus groaned. "What's next, Saren? Taking a frigate for a ride and crashing it into ta cruiser?"

"Been there, done that." The older Turian muttered while slamming his fist into the shuttle's side door, which refused to open.

"Drones deployed, no hostiles detected in the immediate vicinity."

"I can make only a few minds nearby, far end of the floor. Keep an eye for mechs." Veil's voice cracked over the net.

"What about more of those things we encountered at the warehouse?" Vasir asked.

"That's what I'm looking for. There's still too much Psionic energy saturating the whole building. If there are more of them, we'll have to find them the hard way. The good news is that all this interference should make it harder for them to locate and mind-fuck us. The bad news is that someone already mind-fucked one of the assault teams above us."

"Is that the proper term for mind control?" Nihlus inquired.

"That's me being pissed off because Vasir crashed us into the building!"

"Did you really want to take the stairs?"

"Spirits, let's secure the damn place so the two of you can get a room…" Saren snapped after making his way out of the Assault Shuttle.

"There's a lot of unresolved sexual tension here." J'ien announced after jumping into the hole made by the shuttle and landing beside the youngest Asari surrounded by a bright Biotic corona. "Come on, children, we have work to do. Play time will be later if you're good boys and girls."

"There's nothing sexual about it!" Vasir snapped.

"Whatever you say, sweetie. Now get those drones scouting, time's wasting." The Matriarch spoke in a tone that any drill sergeant across the galaxy would recognize in their sleep.

"Affirmative. I'm on point." Fern announced and vanished, surrounded by a thermo-optical cloak.

"There are four people moving in our general direction, our floor." Veil announced. "One of them is terrified, the other fell, dull, like they're either drugged or have their emotions otherwise suppressed. The last one… it's slippery, possible Psionic."

"Redirecting drones." Fern promised.

"Stand back, I'm making a hole." The Matriarch ordered and sent a rippling warp field at the ceiling, disintegrating a large jagged hole in it. She used her Biotics to enlarge it and sent a scout drone through.

"I've got eyes on you entrance, Matriarch. The room is clear."

"Serin, Fern, you're with me. The rest of you, up. We'll converge on the target's location and assault them from the front and below." J'ien ordered and pointed at the hole. "I'll pick you up." She added a moment before using her Biotics to lift the Turians one after another and put them on the floor above.

"This is the third time she's manhandling me like a trash bag!" Nihlus muttered as he stumbled when the mass effect field let him go.

"Hazard of the job." Saren shrugged and took point, waving at Vasir and Veil.

"And now you two are going to be used as live shields, boys." Tela smirked at the heavy armoured Turians.

"Less chat, more moving." Saren suggested and went down the corridor following a pair of glowing flash-forged drones.

"Ladies first." Veil added and a muttering Vasir went after her fellow Spectres.

"Command, be advised, I'm sensing a group of people converging three or four floors below my position." The X-COM operative warned.

"Not our problem for the moment. We secure these two floors, bag the four approaching us and then we'll act depending on the situation." J'ien said.

They advanced carefully, using drones to scout for turrets, mechs and other unpleasant surprises, of which they thankfully found none, until Veil sent a short burst transmission – the approaching hostiles just entered a nearby office space.

"Concussion and flash-bang grenades. You breach from the front and the moment you get their attention, I'm tearing my way through behind them." J'ien ordered.

Three Spectres stacked near the door, while Veil hung back, using his Psionics to keep track of the targets. The moment the four hostiles reached the middle of the large room, Nihlus overloaded the door's electronic lock and opened the way, while the other two Spectres bounced multiple grenades inside. At the same time, the X-COM operative struck the "slippery" feeling mind with everything he had and the Matriarch tore a hole in the floor so Fern and Serin could throw more grenades and just after they detonated with blinding light and deafening roar, the young Asari jumped up, shotgun on the ready.

The Turians breached next, going left and right respectively, while Vasir Biotically charged inside seeking cover. Rifles and shotguns barked, sending concussion rounds at the closest targets, soon followed by a pair of overload charges, courtesy of Fern who appeared surrounded by the Matriarch's Biotics.

A wide-eyed and scared Asari protected just by a barrier vest simply stood stunned by the sudden fury of the onslaught and went down in a heap when two concussion rounds tagged her. A man clad in black armour staggered from another two rounds, however that merely ensured that his aim was off when he opened fire at the Turians.

His two friends were less lucky. One, a tall woman who had unnaturally long and thin arms and legs fell to her knees clutching her head, while the second man aimed his assault rifle in Vasir's general direction and let it rip on automatic fire. Fern's overloads splashed over the two of them a moment before Tela pulled the shooter her way with Biotics, right into waiting right hook enhanced by her gift. The overpowered punch sent the target of her ire crashing through multiple desks to stop only after he hit the wall, hard.

Fern wasted no time and the moment his feet touched the floor, he went for the convulsing woman and slammed a fist enveloped by a flash forged gauntlet sparkling with enough juice to knock out a Krogan. A moment later, the Matriarch jumped in and immediately charged at the last shooter, sending him skidding across the floor to land between the Turians who immediately went to subdue him.

"Good work, everyone." J'ien said cheerfully after making sure that no one was about to ambush them. She looked around once more and grimaced at the demolished office room. "I'm damn glad we aren't C-Sec or we won't hear the end of it…"

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Part 10

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15 June 2177 CE

Insight Cyber-Solutions Corporate HQ

Tayseri Ward

The Citadel

Not for the first time I was very glad for the sealed armour I wore. While this was far from the worst place I fought, the smell of burning plastic, paper and sparkling electronics was far from pleasant at the best of times. I was also glad that we were operating under Spectre authority, because such collateral damage, even caused in the process of apprehending suspects was usually frowned upon by C-Sec, which when you think about it, was not surprising. At the heart of it, Citadel Security was a police organization, not a military or paramilitary. When the Council needed the later, they did have their Spectres and the CDF after all.

"I can't sense any more minds on this or the floors below and above us." I said aloud.

"We only have to worry about mechs and anyone able to hide themselves from you, joy." Vasir concluded.

"And the ten or so people gathered about four floors below us."

"Serin, Nihlus, keep the prisoners secure until the marines arrive to take custody of them. The rest of us are going to coordinate with the ERS and go see what's happening below us." J'ien set up our next task.

"Keep this one knocked out." I pointed at the odd proportioned female. "Her mind was odd, she's possibly a weak Psionic."

"Will do." Nihlus nodded and his omni-tool ignited with cascading energy.

"See to it." The Matriarch nodded in approval. "Saren, take point and keep a full spread of recon drones. Command, Spectre J'ien, we've got four prisoners at the waypoint S-1 requiring extraction. One is possible Psionic so take proper precautions. We're moving to the fifteenth floor, where our Psionic support sensed ten plus targets…"

The only resistance we faced on the way down was a pair of turrets at the stairways on the floor below our access point and a roaming mech squad, which we took out at long range using overloads, disruptor ammo and Biotics. It quickly became clear that most of the defences were concentrated on the bottom and top ten floors of the building, which actually made sense – to turn the place into a proper fortress, whoever ran this show would have needed a lot more people and hardware.

It was still a tough nut to crack fast without liberal application of high explosives, which would be counter-productive because we did want as many prisoners and data for interrogation and analysis.

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With the junction secured, medics and reinforcements flooded the area, locking it down, took custody of the few prisoners and began treating the wounded. Meanwhile, Nyreen's unit received a fresh squad and went to clear the rest of the floor. They faced one more strong point, predictably near the stairway at the west corner of the building, where a squad of security had dug in around metal barricades, backed up by six mechs and two laser turrets which promptly shredded the drones sent their way.

The only cover the Turians could enjoy was the corner of the corridors leading to the stairway, which simply wouldn't do.

"I want fire-teams covering all ways to that position. The rest of us are going to breach multiple walls and put the enemy under proper crossfire." Lieutenant Quentus explained his plan. "When we begin our assault in earnest, we'll have an unit breach the ceiling right above them and we're going to take them out that way. Command, Talon One-One, I've got a problem and a request…"

Two minutes later, a Commando team was above them, setting breaching charges and preparing to unleash grenades and Biotics on the strongpoint, while the Turians were in position as well.

"Everyone set up?" The LT asked and received multiple confirmations.

"Good, we breach on three. One, two…" A shot and surprised shout echoed from above a moment before Quentus shouted three.

Five breaching charges detonated, while three fire teams popped up smoke and threw flash-bangs before laying down suppressive fire. More grenades flew through the holes blown through the walls and the rest of the marines joined the fray.

"Huntress Three-Two, Two-One is down, we have confirmed Psionic interferrence and need a medical team at our position. Breaching now." Another explosion shook the floor and a directed blast-wave slammed into the dug in enemies from above, followed by grenades and Biotic pulls pulling people and mechs out of their cover.

Nyreen concentrated of holding a barrier in place offering some additional cover for the combat engineers doing their best to fry the laser turrets, which continuously sent lances of coherent light down the corridors, suppressing two of the fire-teams.

Concussion shots and precise busts hit floating targets, shattering droid plating and slamming enemies into walls, hopefully knocking them out. Inferno slugs melted through turret armour, before even more overloads cascaded over them.

A Turian screamed just before one of the laser emplacements went out of action. The second turret turned and aimed at one of the breeches, opening fire before the Blackwatch troopers could properly chew through its heavy armour. A fire-team scattered chased by laser pulses blasting through the walls and one unlucky soldier got caught in the side and fell with keening how.

Even more fire converged on the turret and its armour finally gave up, opening the way to the delicate components inside. The weapon fizzled and went out of action, significantly diminish the defenders' firepower.

At that point, the Asari unleashed another round of Biotics through their breaching point and all the remaining enemies found themselves floating in the air and thus easy targets. Massed concussion shots saw them temporarily disabled and the Turians charged to secure any and all prisoners.

Only then Nyreen had the time to check the Battle-Net and see that they've lost four more people in the assault – two to the laser turrets, one unlucky marine who took a sniper shot to the head and a Huntress who had been mind-controlled and possibly stroked out after being subdued by her team-mates.

Then there were the two poor bastards hit by the lasers but still alive and screaming in pain.

"What a bloody mess…" Nyreen spat.

They needed armours better suited to deal with laser weaponry and a proper counter-measures to Psionic, Spirits damn it! And what was with those turrets? They took at least twice the punishment before going down that saw any other such weapon emplacement they faced until now demolished?!

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There was at least one Psionic in the large room below us, and they were very much aware of our presence. While the Spectres and ERS set up to breach, I was too busy keeping the bastard from mind-fucking anyone, especially yours truly, to pay much attention to anything else. This particular bastard wasn't like those we encountered at the warehouse, neither like that woman above us, he was the real deal.

I could feel his presence blazing brightly the moment he noticed me and from then on, we clawed at each other's minds, searching for a weakness to exploit. A battering ram slammed into my shields followed by mental stabs closely resembling sharp spears trying to pierce my defences. I deflected and absorbed the attacks, cursing my luck and the fact that I wasn't in an armour meant to enhance my Gift, before responding in kind. I threw a blunt attack straight back, followed by swords of Psionic energy masking a pair of thin, potent blades, which I hoped would be able to slip through his defences.

The bastard scattered my attack and did his best to bludgeon my defences to pieces with good old fashioned brute force, which made me bit my lip and see stars, yet I held under the onslaught.

A moment later, a loud bang slammed into me and the floor shook, cracking my concentration. If it wasn't for the bastard taking the brunt of that and more, I'm sure he might have been able to break through then and there. The following sharp crack of multiple flash-bangs was a music to my ears and I threw everything I had into attack following the distraction, paying no mind to the fire-fight erupting below me.

At least one of the flash-bangs caught the bastard, because his onslaught not only ceased abruptly, but when I went on the offensive I found his mental defences much weaker this time around. I slammed into them with abadon and began clawing and stabbing, seeking a crack to exploit. My opponent tried to rally, yet he was too confused to do it properly and his efforts were uncoordinated – wide wall of diffuse power slammed into me, breaking over my defences. That failed attack took a lot of him, giving him a pause, which I wasted no time in exploiting and redoubling my efforts.

More flash-bangs echoed and I could feel his mind recoil as if touching a live wire. His defences cracked and I slammed straight through them, laying his mind bare and pushing down upon it with all my might. He flailed against the Psionic chains I bound him with and I choked that resistance. Then someone either shot or knocked him out, because his mind simply blinked out, and the backslash slammed into me like an enraged Mutton Berserker.

"Area secure!" A familiar voice echoed in my pounding head as I slid to the ground and removed my helmet to clear the blood leaking from my nose and the corners of my eyes.