Avatar had been running simulations on different approaches to the situation, though it had only been able to run 468,298 instances of the coming firefight since it learned of Ruvea's injury. Overall, it could not determine within an acceptable margin of error which approach would be the most likely to succeed, but Sura's intentions of simply performing a standard room clearing operation was far from optimal.

"Alert: a standard attack is not advisable. The probability that enemy forces are creating an ambush is approximately 96%. The Human pilots of the shuttle are still alive, and the shuttle has not been breached, but enemy forces are likely capable of doing so at any time, either with a security override, or explosives. Since they have not, it is probable they intended to use the shuttle as a lure for those who survived the initial ambush. Therefore, they will expect us to attempt to return to it. I recommend executing a non-standard plan of attack to confuse the defenders." Avatar explained.

Activating its omni-tool, Avatar projected several camera recordings of the room, along with a simulated 3-D model it had created based on them which included the cover positions that enemy forces had deployed and their average distribution based on observed patrol routes. "The station VI has erased most of the virus I uploaded into the station's systems, but there is one file of consequence remaining which I concealed in the systems. When activated, it will divert all power in the airlocks towards emergency lighting, which will deactivate the primary lights, and overload the emergency lights. Are any combat personnel incapable of low-light vision?" It asked.

Raa listened to Solares. She was still fiddling with the helmet he had passed her earlier as she tore out the ear piece, then inserted it into her inner ear. This allowed her to still hear the others without requiring the now useless and suffocating bulk, the air mask bit unrepairable. Her eyes tightened in her studying of his visor, her mind trying to determine if her gut was screaming liar. Sadly she failed, her vision unable to look past the darkened face piece and see his expression accurately. His body language was also hidden since she was currently being carried in his arms. His pace was slow and casual, keeping within the civilian group they were assigned to, while still tracking the Turian cabalists up ahead. His pace seemed off in the back of Raa’s mind but it could’ve been her stress from recent events. After all, according to Solares she was on the brink of temporary exhaustion period and that would likely affect her mind as well. At mention of a party, Raa smiled, a giggle starting up. “You need to ask your wife, Aviza, before you go partying all night. Else she’ll show you the meaning of pain if I recall the last time you had a wild party without informing her. “

Raa recalled Aviza’s last reaction to both Voira and Solares, the only one she wasn’t mad at was the younger Quarian. Thinking of Voira, Raa’s eyes shifted to view the Asari’s back. Naturally Voira had drawn her assault rifle and pulled to the group rear to lead the diplomats and civilians. Her eyes darted from end of the path to the other, seeking out potential threats, all the while keeping a steady pace between them. Something seemed to have upset her but Raa said nothing. She didn’t want to risk making the Asari’s mood worse, despite how much she wanted to ease over the hurt feelings. Of course Raa hadn’t heard the conversation RK and Voira had while she looked questioningly at the Asari’s relaxing posture shining through.

They continued down the lengthy hallway, drawing closer to their destination: the ship bay. A Turian, an officer under Sura’s command, had edged out of his hiding place and was immediately embraced by his commander. She naturally scolded him much in a way Raa knew Voira scolded her when she did something stupid. Tenderly and firmly. While the two exchanged information, Raa leaned into Solares’s shoulder to let her own emotions settle knowing they were likely to be out of this nightmare shortly. Sura had just moved to the open doorway, when a human voice popped up when Raa listened to Solares’ reply. The Qaurian blinked in confusion, until she realized the source and who it might’ve been. Gently she pushed her earpiece and listened to the information. She was relieved someone else was alive, her mind still rattled from the hostages being executed though she never saw or heard any of it, while she absorbed it.

"My group will provide covering fire and barriers as needed. We need to clear a safe path to the shuttle and eliminate any threat near it. Killing the hostiles in the areas is not our objective: Do it as we must, but we're not here to save the station. If any of you are injured, come see our medic immediately. We have plenty of Medigel and other supplies to ensure that you get out of here alive."

When the voice paused, a 3D map popped up on her Omnitool. Raa stared at wonder over the model, knowing it pretty well, as she couldn’t help but feel a spark of excitement. Though she knew she shouldn’t because of the danger and hostile threat baring down the smaller group. At any moment they could die and Raa still got excited over a ship. If she wasn’t distracted, then Quarian might’ve considered slapping herself for the silliness. Her mind returned to the mention of medical supplies and she couldn’t wondering outloud. “I wonder if they have immunoboosters I could use to keep my sickness at bay a little longer. It might help me later and prolong my collapse.”

The voice continued. "If there are any of you with stealth capabilities we'd like to you sneak in and get into position to attack the enemy from behind. Preferably any of those who are near the shuttle. Those with defensive capabilities I would suggest you stay with the VIP's to ensure their protection. Everyone else we need to shut down the enemy and prevent them from destroying the shuttle. I don't care how you do it. Any questions?"

Raa looked to Solares, and smiled sheepishly .She had shut off her ear piece then added what she knew. “Voira had me download a tactical cloak to hide. I can try to get into the-”

Anything else was lost when Sura’s reply caught Raa’s attention.

"No offense lady but you and your crew bailed on us earlier trying to save your own skin. You tell your people to get out here with your diplomat and to join the rest of the group. We are a cabal with the Turian military and per the treaty BOTH of our governments signed after the reaper war I outrank you. The plan is solid but me and my people train for these types of breaching scenarios. Give me Donny and we'll clear a path for you all. If you attempt to leave without us again you will be considered enemies of the Turian state and her clients. If we have an understanding let's go." Sura replied to the offered up plan, leaving the Quarian uneased at the tone and tension thickening among the group.

Even her squad seemed a little shocked she had pointedly threatened the humans and demanding Donny’s assistance. She knew conflict and stress wasn’t going to help anyone. The one Turian that had nearly caused Raa to be shot gave one of his companions a look and received a mouthed phrased in exchange, showing Raa how uncharacteristic this was of their leader. Seemingly not through, Sura turned on her heel then barked more orders. "We're doing a standard room clear here. Numso and Cactus, drop anyone with ranged weapons first. Everyone else, provide support and stay grouped and use your biotics to reach out and touch the bastards with the wrath of the spirit. Diplomats and Raa stay behind the spear and you'll make it out. If you panic and run away I cannot guarantee your safety. Are we clear?"

The other Turians bellowed out a ‘Yessir” as they scrambled to obey. Raa nodded, though she wasn’t sure how well she would do. Guns firing was one thing but watching people dying was another. She turned to Solares and smiled, adding her confidence into her next words. “I think I can walk now. The Turian diplomat will need help running and she falls behind, she’ll drag others with her.”

Plans seemed to change when Avatar spoke up. "Alert: a standard attack is not advisable. The probability that enemy forces are creating an ambush is approximately 96%. The Human pilots of the shuttle are still alive, and the shuttle has not been breached, but enemy forces are likely capable of doing so at any time, either with a security override, or explosives. Since they have not, it is probable they intended to use the shuttle as a lure for those who survived the initial ambush. Therefore, they will expect us to attempt to return to it. I recommend executing a non-standard plan of attack to confuse the defenders."

Still insisting on his plan, he pulled up a map of the room based off camera recordings, to show of his suggestion in a visual manner. Raa’s eyes were fixed on the image though she knew she wouldn’t be needed. "The station VI has erased most of the virus I uploaded into the station's systems, but there is one file of consequence remaining which I concealed in the systems. When activated, it will divert all power in the airlocks towards emergency lighting, which will deactivate the primary lights, and overload the emergency lights. Are any combat personnel incapable of low-light vision?"

“I think Solares has low-light vision.” Raa spoke out loud, recalling some of the trouble they were in and his keen eyes.

“I learned my lesson that day Raa, I am to always inform my wife if I am going to have a party at any of our houses, regardless what we are celebrating or reason. Aviza said that to me after I was pushed down a very large stairwell.” Solares laughed for a moment at those memories, not sure if they were good memories or bad memories. “Part of the blame as to what happened falls upon Voira as well, I knew she could party hard but I wasn’t expect that hard, impressive and concerning at the same time. Do not worry Raa, I will actually inform her and we will all have a good time.” After giving Raa a reassuring nod of his head, Solares continued to follow behind the group silently, checking on Raa every once in a while to see how she was doing. Further down the line after silently walking along the metallic hallways of the ship a while, Solares’s com quickly turned on to reveal the voice of a human female who started to give them orders. “This has to do with Donny, honestly surprised they have not left yet, typical thing for a human to do is to retreat with their own kind while the others are left behind.” Solares thought to himself. Letting the woman ramble on about precautions, warning, orders and how everything was going to be played out was giving him a headache along with his inside already hurting quite a bit. Upon his Omni-Tool a 3D image of the shuttle appeared with a map and the approximate location of the enemy with other important information, including command terminals and volatile materials. “She likes the sound of her own voice, doesn’t she Raa?” said Solares with a soft chuckle. The rest was common sense for breaching and entering the area though the attack plan that the human female had laid out was causing Solares some mental discomfort along the lines of “What the actual f**k are you thinking?”

He did not say this of course, but he did think it. Thankfully Avatar voiced his concern and recommended a different course of action, which sounded like a much better option. When Raa glanced up at Solares and smiled at him sheepishly over the comment of someone being needed that has stealth cababilities, Solares shook his head back and forth at her, a clear indication of no. To put even more emphasis on motioning the no, he said “There is no way in hell I am going to let you do that Raa, you are in no condition to do such a thing. Someone else can, we need you here safe in cover and out of the way. I know you want to help Raa but walking and even more so running is not advised. If you would fall or something would happen while assisting the Turian diplomat, we would lose not only but her also you and I will do everything in my power to make sure that does not happen. Do you not like being chauffeured around by your own and favorite Special Forces bodyguard?” Solares smiled at her from under his helmet, the visor now clear so everyone could see his face. Avatar asked if anyone was incapable of seeing anything in low light, Raa must of misheard this for she said “I think Solares has low-light vision.” Solares quickly responded, "She mistook the question and thought you asked if anyone had low-light vision capabilities.” Motioning with his head at Voira, he tried to get her to walk over to Raa and his side. “Please ask if they have any Immunoboosters Voira, they are for Raa of course.”

Off the comms, everyone of the humans audibly signed. It was pretty obvious that the turians were pissed at them, but to threaten to make enemies out of them for "Bailing"? Last time they checked they weren't in charge of protecting everyone on the station. A few were rather pissed that Sura had the gal to say what she did and disrespect them in such a manner. Others wondered on who's authority does she have to actually brand them as traitors for trying to get Eleanore out of here. Or were they just angry that they weren't being as big of heroes as they were? "Fucking turians. First they don't want us here and now they think we're a fucking liability." Rosemary called over the private channel. Eleanore spoke out. "Focus on the task at hand. Right now they're all bluster, and nothing they say matters if we're all dead by the end of the day. Donny take some supplies from Yaoso and go with the cabalist. Everyone check your gear. Let the Cabalist spear head the attack and get ready to bring everyone to the evac point." Everyone did a quick one over their gear, including making sure everyone was capable of some sort of low light vision. Donny's armor had night vision built in for him, though that was thanks to his father getting him the best he could find. He wasn't sure if everyone else had anything like it, but if so they didn't speak up.

Donny didn't know what to think. Frankly, he fucked up in many places. Maybe his first mistake was stopping to meet up with the turians in the first place. Seemed like they intended to just use the humans and throw them away as soon as they were an inconvenience. But what if they had a point? Before they had a few numbers; Donny was almost certain that with Alexander, Rosemary, and Aman, they could have tried to save a few others. Were they really just trying to do their job in protecting Eleanore, or were they cowards? Donny has a feeling that everyone thinks the latter. It angered him, if only because now he feels like he hasn't done enough. That now he has to prove himself, because the only thing that these people would accept is apparently sacrifice.

Donny headed over to Yoaso, getting a few shots of medigel and other supplies. He was actually surprised to see all this stuff: Immunoboosters, Burn Ointment, even blood pack. "Where the hell did this stuff come from?" Yaoso told Donny they were all mostly from Eleanore. Looking at the other room he remembered her swallowing down that small cabinet of medicine. Somehow, it was worrisome that she had all of this. Just what does she need these for?

Regardless he had to go now. Before he left Rosemary stopped him, putting her fist on his chest. "Don't die out there Donny. We don't want to lose any more people. I don't give a fuck what those turian bastards think. Once the coast is clear, get the hell out of there. Don't be a martyr." Donny gulped and nodded. He continued until Aman stopped him, handing him something. "This was Alexanders... He gave us most of his equipment before he stayed behind. Most of it we broke down into Omnigel, but I think you'd need this more then us." It was a shield upgrade. He supposed if he was going to charge into melee with the others, extra shields would be nice. Certainly an upgrade from what he currently had. "Thanks. This should keep me alive. You guys take care of yourselves too. No one... No one is going to die on my watch." An idealistic statement, but it was the only thing keeping him sane. Going home was the only reason he hasn't deserted.

Walking out of the rooms Donny had the supplies in hand, and his barriers upgraded with Juggernaut Shields. He walked out of the entrance and saw the cabalist and the others. Somehow, he felt like he was in hostile territory. Like at any moment these guys were going to shoot him. Donny was scared. But he stepped forward nonetheless. "I have supplies. Uh, Medigel, Immunoboosters, ointment... And blood packs..." Now that he thought about it maybe the blood packs were useless. He doubts anyone here could take human blood. Looking at the civvies his eyes laid on one person. The turian he had taken down. Without much thought Donny walked over to her. He tried to speak gently, and would be understanding if she freaked out at seeing him. "Hey... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you that bad. I was... Scared. We're almost out of here though. Are you doing okay?" Then he noticed Raa, and while he couldn't say for certain since this was the first time he has ever seen a quarian's face, she looked ill. Maybe that was just how quarians looked underneath their helmet, but just to be safe he took out an immunobooster and a bit of medigel. "Raa, are you alright? You don't look so hot."

As soon as Avatar heard the confrontation between the Human and Turian forces, it began modifying and running new simulations on their escape. With tension between the two groups, unit cohesion was likely to suffer and would decrease the likelihood of success. With animosity between allied forces, there was a chance that some individuals might not behave as expected for soldiers, which made it difficult to make accurate predictions on the outcome of the firefight. However, the options it simulated with the best outcomes tended to require that they quickly shift their attention to the escape to prevent further arguments.

Sifting through the thousands of recent simulations, Avatar settled on the plan of action with the highest probability of success, approximately 40%. The criteria of success in this case was the evacuation of the civilians present in the group with no severe form of further harm. The likelihood of severe injury or death for combat personnel was significantly higher. "I recommend securing civilian extraction via a distraction. Enemy forces are prepared to defend against an attacking force from any entrance to the room, the airlocks themselves excepted. Their defensive line is focused in the center of the room, which provides a weakness. Biotics have the capability of charging immediately to the center of the enemy force, and those with a tactical cloak, in low-light levels, could move to the center of the room similarly quickly. From that position, enemy forces would be unable to fire freely without a high probability of hitting their allies on any side of us. Therefore, allied forces in that position could expect less incoming enemy fire. Close range combat weapons and techniques would be the greatest danger. Attacking in this manner would provide a distraction for allied civilians, escorted by the remaining combat personnel, to sprint to the shuttle. With power in the room disabled, the manual override for the airlock could be used to access the shuttle. The surviving members of the initial attack could then attempt to reach the shuttle. Additionally, I require a digital copy your Alliance security credentials, Corporal Saraph Angelica, in order to activate and upload to the interceptor craft also docked in the airlocks."

The whole Cabal began checking their weapons making sure sights were aligned and full cooled before they were ready to walk into an assault that would almost certainly kill most of them. As Avatar gave out statistical chances about their survival it only helped to solidify the possible finality of this situation. Sura had made her way over to the Geth with the map up on her Omni-tool. She now had a cold air of command around her now that the Humans had regrouped with them. She cared very little for their survival at this point but she intended to use them as tools to the greatest effect at this point. She knew the plan Avatar had given them would result in most of what she thought of as her adopted children we're going to die. She knew that it was also likely she would die herself. She quickly composed a message on her omni-tool to the Hierarchy about what happened on the station and one to her husband... just in case. She encrypted the messages and distributed to all of the Cabals omni-tools. Even if she couldn't pass off the information maybe one of them could. Turning to Avatar she finally made up her mind. "The plan you are giving us means most of my men will die here. Chances are we would have died anyways had you not reacted as fast as you had. I can not think of an option that gives the diplomats a greater chance of surviving. We are all capable of low light vision and thus those of us that can will join in on your diversion, my two wounded soldiers will... escort the diplomats with barriers and hopefully secure the transport if the Humans turn on us again."

Sura turned to Cactus who quickly looked up from his rifle. "Cactus you'll be with us on the diversion. But keep some juice in reserve so you can assist with the shuttle. We must evacuate the diplomats at any cost."

Tacticus knew what that meant. "Sir, there has to be a better way. Something we could do differently..." Sura had just authorized him to subdue the Human pilot if he attempted to leave with the diplomats. He couldn't imagine the Humans enjoying that situation but he knew that the diplomats were the priority. He really hoped the most extreme version of that scenario played out but.... Tacticus was ready for that. The Humans had a terrible track record of cooperating after all.

Sura smiled briefly at Tacticus's response. "If you figure it out don't hesitate to say something. I don't see another way right now though." Sura still having the map up and looking at it walked over to Donny who was dropping off immunoboosters to the Quarian. "If you have any cain mines left over I'm going to have to ask you for them. I'm going to be clearing a path for the diplomats with them."

Tacticus's hands began shaking for a moment as he brought up the map and ran through in his head the ways he thought it could go. All of them ended up with most of his brothers and sisters dying while he left with the objectives. His hands still shaking he deactivated the map not being able to think of a plan any better than the one they had. He leaned back against the wall and let his mandibles flare in shock. This whole situation was fucked. Maybe if the Humans had just stayed with them this wouldn't have had to go down like this. At the very least they would have more people going into this fire fight. There was nothing he could do about that now though. They had what they had, there wasn't anything he could do about it now except follow orders.

Raa fell silent. She was both hurt and inwardly injured by Solares’ comments. First by his outright denial for her offer her help and second by his assumption she misunderstood the question, making her feel like a child. A fact which added to the hurt was she partly was. She quickly hit the mute button on RK before the AI’s over protective nature rose up and struck. Sadly, it didn’t stop her from replying in her own earpiece.

“The fucking nerve that Turian has!!!” Raa snapped in her venomous tone.

While RK complained, Raa leaned her head against Solares’ shoulder spotting him getting Voira’s attention, his head waving the Asari over. He then inquired about Immunoboosters for her which they all three knew she was going to need if she was expected to run anywhere. Already she knew her temperature had risen a degree or two, becoming a slow burning fever. In a few more minutes, a little under an half an hour, she would come crashing to her knees and slow everyone down. Her head rubbed into Solares’ shoulder like a sick child out of habit when Donny approached them, his eyes studying her in concern causing her to peek upward at the human asking her condition.

“Not really. My immune system is crashing because I used my filtering mask’s tubing to drain the diplomat’s lungs, making my helmet useless. I haven’t had a change to slowly adapt to the station’s environment since we weren’t suppose to be here for longer than a few days. So now, in a little under a half an hour I’ll end up crashing but it will only last a short time. Bad part, all my immunoboosters were back in my room so I don’t have any on me.” Raa’s arms clutched her middle harder to ease the queasiness building, her arm lifted for a moment to read out her temperature being three degrees higher than normal. It was slowly and steadily rising. She didn’t even bother to try to listen into the others formulate a plan though she note the cabalist preparing, adjusting and loading their weapons.

She reached out for the Immunoboosters when Donny offered them, her hand’s grip weak and pulled back to stick herself. The young Quarian hissed when the end injected her as she waited for the drug to take effect. It wasn’t going to be long while she smiled, softly, at both Solares and Voira. “Thank you, this will help me keep up on my feet for a bit longer.

Voira eyed the map critically, listening to the human. If her information was right, that was the best plan the Asari could think of to get them through the hell hole with all the diplomats intact. One group to attract fire, the other to keep barriers up to ensure that the diplomats and, most importantly, Raa didn't die. She began to get ready, checking her weapons and remaining armor, looking up as someone else spoke. The Turian Cabalist Commander seemed to have a completely different idea. Voira visibly face palmed as Sura spoke, groaning in exasperation at the distinct lack of tact. Goddess above. Now we know where her diplomatic genius got his skills from. She thought, coughing again. More violet blood splattered on her gloved hand. She eyed it for a moment. At least it's the one shot. We can pass it off as blood from the bullet wound.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the humans appeared to agree to the plan. Voira cocked her head as Avatar spoke. Standing, her Assault Rifle at the ready, she spoke. "We don't have any low light capabilities, but we can do a biotic charge. We'll go with you." She started approaching Solares at the Turian's gesture, noting immediately how Raa seemed to be even sicker (expected) and upset (not expected). Her eyes narrowed as she managed to catch a bit of RK sounding angry before the Quarian muted her. The Donny approached and offered Immuno boosters to Raa, earning him a grateful look from the Asari, before she could question Solares as to exactly what had happened.

"Thank you...Donny, was it? We were worried she would have succumbed to her sickness before we could get to the shuttle." Her grateful expression turned more serious. "Solares, stick with Raa and get her to the shuttle. We're going to help distract all the hostiles outside with the Cabal. Get her to the shuttle. We're trusting you." She turned her gaze to Raa, smiling softly. "We'll be right behind you, don't worry. We just have to make sure that none of the idiots outside the door stop you from getting to the shuttle." Her uninjured and clean hand reached out to give the Quarian's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "See you on the shuttle. Try not to make yourself any sicker while we're not looking again, hmm?" She felt another cough coming on, and gave Raa a brief smile before turning away and heading to the cabalists. Once Voira was a small distance from Raa she, as quietly as she could, coughed more blood up into her hand. She looked up at the Cabalists.

"When do we charge? We're as ready as we'll ever be."

Tacticus started staring off at the grey metal wall as the cabal checked their gear for the final time and gave what they all assumed would be their final words to each other. They were all preparing themselves to die at this point but Tacticus thought there had to be a better way to do this. He began to wonder if the interceptors were even going to be of any use to... he stopped for a second. The blood rushed to his face as he came up with an idea. He dropped his shotgun and ran over to Sura who was still studying the map. Before Sura managed to get a word out Cactus blurted out "I may have figured out a way that does not involve us all dying."

Sura looked at Cactus as if she was waiting for him to say something. It him a moment to pick up on this but when he did he quickly went into idea. "The interceptors that are also docked with the station that we were planning to take anyways? We could just grab them first instead and use them to kill all the hostiles. We don't need to worry about air as after a couple of seconds the shields will fill in the holes we just made. I assume either RK or Avatar can fly one of them and since they're machines they should just be able to fly the interceptors remotely. Obviously we would need a way to get them past the mercs and the milita but that shouldn't be the hardest thing ever since the Geth has a cloak. We also still have access to the lights which we could again use to help mask their approach. If that isn't good enough we can try to make a diversion at the left door here." Tacticus said pointing to the left door on the map that Sura was still holding up. "Either this spares us all or most of us. But it's better than us trying to fight our way through superior numbers."

Sura was visibly surprised for a moment and took a second to think about it. "That might work... we would need to talk Avatar and the other AI into it but... it might work." She raised her left hand to her mandibles for a second to think and then turned to the geth. "Well would you be willing to put your "body" on the line like that Avatar. We'll try to cause a diversion at the other door and give you the best chance of not being seen unless someone else has a better idea."

Shortly after Avatar received the credentials it required from Corporal Angelica, and Donny shared his equipment among the cabal, one of the Turians, Tacticus, proposed an alternative solution, one that Avatar's initial projections found potentially favorable. It posed significantly greater risk to its own platform, but that was preferable to risking the others' lives. Although, the plan still did not eliminate the risk to them entirely.

"This platform is expendable." Avatar answered to Sura as it was running simulations on potential outcomes for this new plan. With the security credentials Seraph provide, RK and itself could upload to the interceptors in only a few seconds, and since the hull of the station was not as heavily armored as a military vessel, they would be able to pierce through into the room from the outside.

"This plan is approximately 23% more likely to succeed with minimal civilian casualties. However, the distraction will be necessary. The estimated time required for me to reach both interceptors is twenty-seven seconds. The estimated time before the station VI restores power to the room is twenty-one seconds. You must hold the enemy forces' attention both during and after the outage in order to minimize my risk of detection. Since this plan does not require an escort force for civilian forces, I recommend all civilians wait in the room the Human forces are currently occupying, and all combat forces, including Humans, aid in the distraction. You will be able to use the doors as a defensive chokepoint, but you will still be at a significant numerical disadvantage. Once you begin your attack, you will also need to hold the right door in addition to the left, as they may use it to gain a flanking position. RK, I recommend you upload into my platform now." It explained as it sent a download request to RK. Avatar's firewalls would prevent her from accessing motor functions and other commands within its platform, but she would be able to observe its software and hardware architecture.

Avatar moved itself into cover around the corner from the right entrance to the airlocks. It had its shotgun drawn, though ideally, it would not be necessary to use it. "I will disable power to the room as soon as you begin your attack. After another five seconds, I will activate my tactical cloak and advance."

Rk wasn’t thrilled at the plan. Not at all when she was informed and liked it even less when Raa attempted to coax her into it. Her face frowned on the digital pop up from Raa's omnitool as the Quarian attempted to convince her this plan was the best option, her eyebrow raised in protest. RK's jawline tightened with the words before she finally gave in.

She hadn't spoken to the Quarian for several movements as she turned her sight away, her eyes narrowed into space. Even she already had given into Raa’s request. Sighing, the AI keep her disgruntled face when the Geth started making recommendation, causing her to snap back with a sarcastic, human reply. “No, I thought I would try to walk my ass over there on my own.”

“RK..”

“Don’t RK me, Raa. It’s bad enough you risked your healthy for a complete strange, even knowing it might’ve killed them or worse, both of you, so don’t RK me. I do this, you better stay with the civilians.” RK said, eyeing Raa up and down.

“You don’t have to worry about that, RK. I will. Just… be safe.” The Quarian stated timidly as she looked at the retreating Asari, her expression fell a little into worrying, causing RK to speak again.

“Will you stop worrying over her? She’s going to be perfectly fun unlike Avatar and me, which still seriously irritates me.” RK began to download herself into Avatar’s plate form while also making a digital, simple grade copy to leave behind. Not that she would admit the idea of going neck deep into a possible gunfight made her fear ‘death’. After all, how could one really die if they could always reload themselves into a new body but even that had its limits and data was still corruptible in the end. Sighing a little, RK grudgingly finished downloading before she commented. “This better work.”

She watched Raa head back to where the other diplomats were collecting for safety.

RK made one last sarcastic, half-hearted statement under her breath. “I think I liked the Turian’s suicidal plan a lot better.”

"Better idea Avatar, we'll get in position at the other door and mine it. We'll sit back at the end of the hallway and fire down it. But first take this." Sura said to the machine. She pulled a grenade off her belt and tossed it to the Geth. "When we're ready we'll signal over the comms. When that happens blow your door wait a few seconds and then cut the power. Once the lights go out we'll blow our door and try to coax them out of their positions towards us. If we time it right they won't even have time to see you with any thermals or low light they may have. Turning to Solares Sura finished off the plan. "Your job is going to be to drop anyone you see wearing a helmet first. It should make the AI's jobs easier if no one can see them. Figure that widow of yours can accomplish that." She turned back to her cabal who had all been ready to go for awhile. "Space out any barriers you can into the hallway so we have more firing points than just the corner. Our goal is suppression not necessarily accuracy. You have my permission to do what you need to."

Tacticus and the whole cabal knew what she had just implied to them. He had heard stories of Sura's earlier career in the cabal corp. They had to execute some cowards who had broken when facing a group of Krogans. She repeated that final sentence them whenever she even vaguely mentioned it. Given what she had said about the Humans earlier... they all knew what it meant. Everyone gave off a yessir and stacked up on the hallway and began to file around the corner towards the hallways leading to the lounge. When they got there they all stacked up on the left side Sura gave Tacticus and Numso each a widow mine. With out saying a word she pointed Tacticus to a small alcove and Numso to the door. Since the door was automatic it would only take a couple of seconds to activate so he would have to place the charge down fast. They both nodded to her and jumped into their biotic charges. Tacticus quickly brought the mine up and put it roughly at ankle level in the small alcove and pointed the laser to run across the hallway. If anyone came running down the hall they would trip the mine. He quickly turned catapulted himself back behind the lip of the wall. Seconds later Numso did the same. Taking care to not set off the mine Numso came out of his charge about a foot in the air in an attempt to not blow himself up.

Sura then signaled the Geth over the comms with ping notifying it that they were ready.

Avatar moved into position by the right door, acknowledging Sura's modification to the plan. A quick recalculation of the probable outcomes concluded that it took advantage of common organic psychology more effectively, as the enemy was more likely to view the first detonation as a distraction, rather than the second. It found a place in the door to plant the grenade, drew its assault rifle, then waited for the others to be in position. For this plan to be successful, it would need to move quickly, quietly, and directly to the airlocks. It made sure that RK had access to its sensors so she could provide additional observational capabilities while it dedicated more processing power to other tasks.

Once the others were ready, Avatar armed the grenade, then took cover. The blast blew the door mostly open, apart from a few plates near the edges. Avatar leaned its assault rifle around the corner and blindly fired several bursts into the room, though the enemy quickly returned a hail of gunfire. It waited seven seconds, enough to allow all members of the hostile force time to focus their attention on its door, then sent the signal to activate the virus which was dormant in the station's systems. After another 3.2 seconds, all lights in the room darkened apart from the emergency lights. Then, they grew brighter and brighter until they blew one after another. The room was in total darkness, and ready for the distraction force to attack.

Voira listened idly to the plans, focusing on getting her assault rifle ready and taking as deep of breaths as she could. Trying to calm her nerves. She was just about to jump into a room filled with very angry hostiles, with a group of Turians she had literally just met, outnumbered heavily, with no way to see anything, and distract them all by trying to kill them. All we have to do is keep the attention of all the enemies, in the pitch black room, long enough that everyone else can slip away, and then we have to retreat, while being shot at still. Simple! She thought, chuckling morbidly. This chuckle turned into a cough, which caused more blood to splatter onto her hand and in her mouth. Voira grimaced at the taste, spitting the remaining violet blood off to the side.

"We just need to last long enough to make sure she's safe." Voira muttered, quietly, to herself. "We just need to last long enough..." She was fairly certain a bruised lung, which she hoped is where all the blood was coming from, wasn't lethal. After all, RK hadn't talked to her about anything privately. Hopefully that's just because there's nothing wrong us...rather than she doesn't want to worry us. When the doors exploded, Voira counted the seconds as a hail of gunfire answered. Just as her team's door opened, the Asari mercenary placed a barrier around her own body. She started firing with the rest of Cabal, aiming at the last known enemy positions as the lights began to go out. Damn Turians better not leave us behind in this darkness...

After a few moments, a painful ache settling in her shot shoulder as the assault rifle's recoil hit her, the Asari felt another coughing fit come on. And this one was bad. Voira stumbled quickly away from the doorway, her barrier still tenuously held up over her own body, and tossed her assault rifle to Donny. She placed a barrier on him, letting her own dissipate as she crouched behind the wall and violently coughed. Blood splattered her hand and the floor, for the first time legitimately worrying the Asari. We can't die. Not yet. Not like this.

Taking a deep breath, Donny tried to calm his nerves. This was all just... So much. Everything was happening so fast it was all a blur in his mind. He could hardly believe it himself... How was it that in just a few hours his life would have turned upside-down like this? There was some protest from his fellow soldiers, but both Seraph and Eleanore put a quick stop to that. "Put your pride aside and do what they say. We need to get ourselves out of here first. We'll deal with the fallout later." Donny couldn't help but think though. He wanted to blame the turians. Why should he risk his life for their colony? This wasn't their fight. He only needed to get Eleanore back alive; fuck the turians and this rebellion they're having.

But then he really thought about it and felt guilty. This isn't how a hero acts. That's the thought of a coward. Donny didn't want to think of himself as a coward, and his mind rationalize his actions in many ways. But ultimately, they were all just excuses to get himself out of here alive. Even if he had to abandon Eleanore, Donny's sense of self-preservation was telling him to flee for his life. Clenching his teeth Donny took out his Grandpa's knife. "No. I can't run. He didn't run. He fought, even when death was standing before him. My grandfather was a hero who was willing to die to fight for earth, for humanity. How can I carry this knife if I can't do the same? I... I have to trust them. They'll save us all. And I have to help them. We all have to. We... We have to... Oh god, please help them... Help us..."

Donny let out a single tear from his eye. No one was asking, but if they did, he wouldn't hesitate to admit he was scared. The drills they did, the practice he had, they just weren't quite enough for something like this. He wasn't a harden soldier. He was a green recruit way in over his head. He didn't even have the slightest clue to what "Being a hero" was going to be like. Kill bad guys were much harder knowing that he could easily die like the rest of them. His mask covered his face, but looking to the others he wondered how they were able to keep their cool. Even Raa, a civvie, was able to operate well under fire. And if he remembered correctly, Quarians like her have a hard time breathing. Given that she needed those immunoboosters, she was also sick. She was sick and still keeping her cool. Just what sort of crew did Donny get himself into?

Soon Avatar left with RK for their task. From what he gleamed from Seraph they were going to sneak in, hijack some ships, and use them to provide heavy firepower. The task of the turians and the humans were to provide a distraction to keep the enemy from stopping the geth. It sounded so simple and yet Donny had doubts. He was still scared, he was frighten, and worried about what would go wrong. He was being such a coward. And yet still he needed to fight. Donny raised his gun up to help the Turians fire back when Voria tossed him her assault rifle. "Huh?" Then Donny noticed that she put a barrier around Donny, distracting him from the fact Voryia was wounded and was using his blanket as a bandage. Donny has some basic training with an assault rifle but never really specialized in it. But he understood why she gave it to him; his shotgun was strong, sure, but he needed to lay some suppressing fire. And suppress he did.

Just as the enemy fired a hail of bullets towards the door, Donny, Rosemary, Aman, and Seraph returned fire with their assault weapons as well. They didn't just waste bullets however and were trying to hit some, managing a few nicks, but failing to kill any. The battle just started but the enemy were hunkered in. They needed to be cleared out. The lights went out, signaling their offensive. Donny saw two turians move in and drop mines; Donny made a note to avoid them. With the lights out this would give Donny precious seconds to move in; bullet were still flying but with a combination of his Juggernaut Shields and Voria's barriers Donny could risk a few bullets in his direction. More importantly he needed to move to a better position to flush out the enemy. But not yet. There will be a chance, but he needed to be patient. It was all on the robots now. "Don't lose your way..."

Avatar’s internal clock counted off the time after the lights darkened. Its omni-tool was already active and waiting for its command to initiate the tactical cloaking program. It had activated thousands of instances of analysis programs to its auditory and visual sensors to heighten its awareness. There were currently 638 redundant programs dedicated to projectile trajectory analysis alone. Once it stepped into the room, its projected processing utilization would be at a staggering 81%.

…4.97, 4.98, 4.99, 5.00 seconds passed, and Avatar engaged its tactical cloak. With its assault rifle in hand, it rounded the corner and moved into the room, sticking close to the wall on its right. The room was exceptionally dark, to the point that only those with low light vision could navigate to any extent. The only reason that those hostiles without low-light vision could return fire to the distraction team was that the hallway through the door was lit.

For Avatar, the distraction was working perfectly. There were few hostiles who were properly equipped to see in the darkened room, but with its tactical cloak, even they had an exceptionally low probability of detecting Avatar’s presence. It moves carefully and quietly along the wall, passing within two meters of a disoriented Turian at one point, but within ten seconds, it had managed to move into the back corner of the room, with the airlocks.

Avatar’s platform could not sustain a tactical cloak whilst it was interacting with the airlock terminal, so it had to remain visible in order to upload RK into the interceptor. However, since the airlocks were in the back corner of the room, and all hostiles were focused on the distraction team, none of the enemy were looking in its direction. Unfortunately, it encountered a delay when attempting to allow RK to upload. The airlock terminal seemed to have a firewall which had not been listed at the security console. However, it was an old, outdated system, and a quick search through its memory revealed that there were known exploits which it could use to bypass the security. In particular, this system was actually vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack, but hacking through would require approximately another ten seconds.

The Krogan leading the mercenaries acted quickly as soon as the doors had been breached. He was wearing a full helmet, and seemed to have no trouble moving, so his suit was likely equipped with low-light vision. Immediately, he ordered a group of his Vorcha, about five or six strong, to rush the left door while their allies provided heavy covering fire. Some stumbled in the darkness at first, but the leading Vorcha was wielding a flamethrower, which he let loose towards the open door, illuminating the area around him enough for the other Vorcha to make their rush for the door as well. At the same time, the Krogan, with a group of three Turians and a Batarian along with him, seemed as if they were making for the right door to move around and flank the distraction team.

---

When RK was loaded up, her mind immediately took to exploring. Promptly her 'subconscious' turned in nothing more than co-existing electrical data. It flowed and spread through Avatar like a thing with a mind of its own, prodding the existing systems and their security measures. Each time she had instinctively tried to seize control, a fire wall shut her down. It easily detoured the AI's scattered data protocol as it sought to collect itself. The best description was like donating sentient blood into an individual. It wouldn't be able to keep together and when introduced, the program's default functions were to 'secure' her environment for safety.

Though RK was a computer program first and foremost, she never liked entering another system. It made her feel weaker and less whole when her original program came to the surface. Especially when there was no anchor back to Raa. It was a distasteful reminder of how easily she could be taken apart or entrapped in a well crafted encryption. Though the scattering and reassembling within Avatar seemed to take forever for Raa, it was only mere seconds to gain her awareness again.

It was within those seconds the AI was left reflecting on the reason she was against this. In blunt terms, RK was reminded she was merely a machine. This was the sole reason she fought intergradation into her own body and even with her logical arguments, the truth was strictly because being so close to Raa had made it easier to eliminate her awareness she would never be organic. It was like the story about the AI who wished she was flesh and blood.

When her data had collected, RK was gaining visual and sensory feedback through Avatar's. Her mind seeing through his eyes, hearing through his ears and more but had no influence over his actions. Placidly she watched as she monitored Voria's bio status with some concerns. If it wasn't for the attack, she would've long ago alerted the others to the Asaira's condition.

Now it was too late.

The plan seemed to run smoothly. While the others were providing the ideal distract and the lights abruptly shut off, the Geth slipped easily by the hostiles with its tactical cloak. It moved against the wall easily, keeping hunched and quick paced toward the airlocks. When he reached it, he was forced to drop his cloak as it required more processing power to keep both functions up which would slow down the hacking considerably. A fact they knew would hurt their allies' chances of survival.

RK groaned inwardly within Avatar's system, both at the fact of the encounter with an unregistered firewall and Voira's life signs slipping.

'If you're having trouble let me do it!' RK snapped in Avatar's program as she added. 'Voira's currently has sustained serious internal structural damage, which is hurting her effectiveness in her primary function. In organic terms: she is coughing up alarming amounts of blood. Means she's likely got a bruised rib as I can't read any interior ruptures or overly warm spots where blood could be pooling at.

After her informative input, Avatar had manage to finally break through the defense causing RK to upload immediately with a gift of her final words. 'About time. It took you long enough!'

When RK was uploaded into the ship, she ran an instant check over the systems while her essence spread and infected it. There was little resistance since she was an authorized user so she quickly hijacked the ship. Her first task was to detach the stabilizers and turned the weapons to the nearest wall, her targeting systems rested on the hull. She fired four shots into it. They rumbled and echoed in the small room as they first dented then sizzled through the metal into the space beyond.

The moment RK was able to upload into the interceptor, Avatar reactivated its tactical cloak and sprinted to the airlock holding the other interceptor, on the opposite side of the shuttle. It too had the same security measure as the first airlock, but since the solution to bypassing it was identical, Avatar needed only repeat the same process. As such, it was able to bypass the console in a mere 1.3 seconds. However, it did not immediately upload itself into the interceptor. Rather, it uploaded instructions to the vessel's autopilot to decouple from the station, then shoot another hole into the hole.

Before it could begin firing, Avatar, ran to the shuttle's airlock. By this point, the enemy has spotted Avatar, but few were intent on shooting it. Rather, they were attempting to run and duck for cover from RK's interceptor, which was rapidly depleting the hostile force. The heavy, fighter based weapons could penetrate through all of the cover the enemy had placed, as well as personal energy shielding, in only one to two shots. Once the other interceptor broke through the hull, there would be few angles at which they could not fire.

Avatar opened the airlock, then requested that the shuttle pilot whom the enemy had trapped inside unlock the shuttle's door. It took approximately two seconds for the pilot to comply, during which time the second interceptor breached the hull. A few hostiles did fire in its direction, but by the time it made it into the shuttle and closed the door behind it, its shields had only taken minor damage. "Decouple from the station and maintain a minimum distance of 35 meters." Avatar said loudly to the pilot before its platform suddenly, and without warning, collapsed to the floor seemingly lifeless.

Having wasted no time, Avatar had remotely uploaded itself into the second interceptor, which it had placed on standby. It quickly took control of the targeting system from the autopilot and, once the shuttle was a safe distance from the station, expanded the size of its hull breach to fire on hostiles that had managed to find a blind spot in which to hide. It would only take a few more moments for the combined fire from RK and Avatar to eliminate the remaining hostiles, after which the shuttle could use the sizable hull breaches to land inside the room so their allies could board. Energy shields had activated automatically to retain the atmosphere within the station, so depressurization would not be a issue.

RK had focused on the enemies nearest the exit as soon as she was able, killing or otherwise disabling all of the Krogan's personal guard, but the Krogan himself had survived and made it through the right door. Although, he was heavily wounded, even by Krogan standards. Shrapnel from the near-impact of the interceptor's weaponry had riddled much of his torso and left leg, filling his armor with dozens of small holes. He was in a position to flank the distraction team, but as enraged as he was, he had no interest in suicide. Rather, he took the chance to flee, but unbeknownst to him, he was fleeing in the direction of the civilians.

Voira stayed on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. Her coughing fit seemed to have ended, but there was an alarming amount of purple blood splattered all over the ground and her forearms and hands. That's....not good. She thought, hazily. She was aware of a battle going on behind her, but the sounds of combat (most notably the sound of ship fire.) were away from Raa and that's all that mattered right now. Deep breaths, even though they hurt. She had to get more air in her body. She had to get back up on her feet, and soon.

Just because the fight wasn't near Raa didn't mean it wasn't going to get near the Quarian, or that they wouldn't have to move soon. Raa could give into her allergic reaction any second now, and she'd need someone to carry her into the ship. Muttering curses, Voira struggled to her feet, leaning heavily against the nearby wall, taking in the information her senses were giving her. More gunfire. Enraged screaming. The stench of blood that wasn't her own. Heavy feet pounding towards....Raa. Voira's eyes focused to see a damn near dead Krogan charging the civilians.

Her eyes snapped open wide with fear. Raa! NO! One hand shoved herself off the wall, as the other reaching to draw out her shot gun. Blue biotic energy gathered around her as she drew her shot gun and then charged straight into the Krogan's side. Snap! Biotically aided or not, hitting a Krogan at that speed, with her weakened state, caused damage. Serious, rib breaking, damage. There was no time to focus on the agony though, the Krogan was going to get up at any moment and she had to protect Raa. She had too. It was more on auto-pilot muscle memory and desperation that Voira began firing her shotgun at the Krogan, sending round after round of armor piercing slugs at the enemy.

The chaos following the distraction was unbelievable to Tacticus. The sheer amount of weapons fire exchanged and the quickness of it all was not something he was prepared for. When the team moved quickly into the corner of the hallway and breached the door they had not for a moment relented in their torrent of gunfire. While several of the cabalists focused on making cover for themselves and the humans to shoot from, some had decided to provide biotic artillery. Waves of biotic energy served to bolster the already incredible amount of weapons fire the 2 deep line of soldiers were dishing out. Thankfully the Humans did not break or wavier in the face of a pseudo assault, something Sura had planned to need to deal with. But no, the two races worked together like they had in the videos they had all been made to watch of the Reaper war. No politics, no divisions just pure exhibition of the warrior spirit of the squad. He even thought for a moment that he could feel the spirit guide his weapon to cut down one of the heavily armored Vorcha with a trio of shots to the skull.

It took Tacticus a moment to realize that his gun had overheated and actually had been for several moments. The chemical cocktail his body was flooded with by his own glands was enough to overcome any sense of wanting to back down or run and hide. When he ducked down into the chest high barrier he was inhabiting with Numso waiting for his weapon to cooldown he noticed something warm on the left side of his face. He reached up with his left hand and felt the liquid stick to his fingers. He pulled his hand away from his mandibles and found that it was fresh blood. His brow furrowed for a moment as he tried to think if he had been shot or not. He went so far as to begin checking himself before he got his answer. He looked to his right and saw the contents of Numso's skull strewn out on the floor in a chunky pool of congealing blood. For a moment Cactus froze and the noise of the gunfire began to fade away from his perception. He felt his throat began to burn and turn as he had to choke back vomit. His eyes also widened in surprise and then entered a state of what could only be described as confusion. "No, no it's.... no...no."

Tacticus gripped his machine pistol and chalked up the body to his mind playing tricks on him. Numso wasn't dead, he could see him in his peripheral still shooting. He wasn't on the ground right there, certainly not. He could still "feel" Numso, he wasn't dead. Cactus jumped back up into a crouch to fire over the low barrier that had been set up to allow his teammates to fire over him. Pressing the image of his dead friend out of his mind his mandibles involuntarily began to flutter as he began pulling the trigger again. He was numb to it all, he couldn't even hear anything anymore. He could just feel the recoil of the rifle and bullets whizzing near his head. There was nothing but what he was doing and who was at the end of his gun. While there was comm chatter it sounded so distant to him that it may as well have not been there at all. He put his sights over fellow Turian's upper body and aiming for his exposed neck region began to push his weapon close to it's overheating point again. Right before it redlined he ejected the thermal clip and kept firing neglecting to put a new one in. The barriers of the traitor broke and his hail of bullets finally began to tear up his kin.

Tacticus felt nothing. No remorse, no regret, no sadness, just nothing. The Turian's body was shredded away and beat into nothing but bits of discarded flesh and liquid flying up and covering the area around him. Then his weapon overheated once again and he was forced back into cover. This time he made sure to not look at the body and instead reloaded one of the few remaining thermal clips he had left into his weapon. At that moment he felt the ground shake beneath him and he looked over his left shoulder through the mostly translucent barrier at the enemy combatants. He also began to feel the air rush out of the room. This simply pressed his back against the barrier as the air rushed out into the large explosions shredding the remaining enemies. At that moment though he saw something more concerning. A large mass running back past them and another blur of color which he guessed was the Asari they had with them. Not thinking he jumped into a charge after the mass of what had to be a Krogan. The Krogan was making a run for it, unknowingly he was running towards the diplomats however. Something he couldn't let happen.

He arrived just in time to hear the Asari crack her ribs against the Krogan in an attempt to stop him. Though it did work throwing him to the floor which she then followed up with several shotgun rounds to the downed Krogan. Tacticus began unloading his pistol by simply holding the trigger into the krogan adding to the increasingly large pool surrounding the still twitching Krogan. His weapon quickly over heated, Tacticus began yelling as he ejected the thermal clip and again continued firing. Letting his pent up rage out on the surely lifeless corpse. When the Asari's weapon finally overheated and his did shortly after he discarded his weapon. He filled his arms with biotic energy as they both ceased firing and he began beating into the mass of flesh that was already barely recognizable. Still yelling primally and almost degrading into a growl he punched the slowly decaying Krogan into but pulverized bits as blood sprayed up at him and got into his mouth. Numso wasn't dead, this Krogan was dead. Numso was still alive back at the line waiting for his best brother to shore up the flank. Numso was still alive.