Tanya was surprised Iosef managed to reach the hanger so shortly behind herself and Saseen. The Slavic man provided suppressive fire of his own after dispatching one of the turian mercenaries, joining Tanya’s own suppressive barrage, forcing the SI troops into what meager cover they could have. Kosso lead Saseen to the upper deck and towards what she presumed was to the CIC and cockpit, so it fell to her and Iosef to mop up. Two on two weren’t bad odds, especially when they had the advantage of positioning. As Iosef kept the SI mercs’ heads down with accurate bursts, Tanya broke from her cover and moved back to the ramp leading to the enemy’s level, letting loose a five round burst every few seconds as their cover grew smaller and smaller. One had taken notice of her approaching and rose up to engage. Tanya had anticipated this and used Sabotage, shorting out the electronic components of the asari’s assault rifle and causing it to overheat, locking out the firing mechanism as the weapon attempted to prevent catastrophic failure. The asari was quick to her biotics and Tanya found herself enveloped in the disorienting and horrible sensation of a biotic push that lasted only a few moments before smashing hard into the bulkhead of the ship, her armour absorbing the brunt of the impact but her vision still dimmed and stars filled her field of view. She started moving before she could see properly, bringing her weapon to shoulder.

When her vision started to recover, she noticed the asari already had her weapon on her, but the nervous glances to the weapon suggested she was still waiting for the final moments of the heat sink to unlock the firing mechanism. [I]Fuck it.[/I]Tanya thought, centering her sights on the asari’s skull and squeezing the trigger. The turian-made rifle bucked in her shoulder and the asari dropped from Tanya’s optics, a purple blood splatter in place of what had once been someone’s face on the far bulkhead. She scanned for more hostiles, but Iosef had managed to dispatch the remaining mercenary. Tanya rose to her feet, shaking her head clear. She fucking hated biotics. Turning to Iosef, she thumbed towards the entryway that Kosso and Saseen had disappeared to. “Come on. Let’s go see what trouble the others got themselves into.” She said, swapping to her shotgun.

As it turned out, the trouble turned out to be a standoff between Kosso, Saseen, and five unarmoured crew members; two salarian, a human, an asari, and a turian. The turian was the only one with a submachine-gun while the rest were armed with pistols. All parties stood on opposite sides of the CIC, the deactivated galaxy map between the attackers and defenders. The sight of two more heavily armed and armoured intruders did little to steel their resolve. 

“So, as you probably guessed, you guys were set up and we’re taking this ship. The question is, how much do your value your lives to keep it? Judging from your uniforms, you’re the captain, XO, navigator, chief engineer, and… I don’t know what the fuck you are.” She said to one of the humans, a buzz-cut hardass of a man.

“Weapons Systems.” He scowled. It wasn’t a good look.

“Wait one.” Tanya opened up the comm-channel on her omni-tool. “Ship is secure; it’s time to get the fuck out of here, ladies and gentlemen. We have in our possession the people who operate this ship. What I want from you guys is to know if you think you’re capable of running this ship without them. Start making your way back here now; it’s only a matter of time before the Administrator starts getting upset with us for trashing his station.”

_ _ _ 

“The Administrator should have known better than to trust a human!” The batarian voice over the omni-tool boomed. Captain Hoshik held the omnitool away from him, as if Deputy Administrator Bar’an’s volume was enough to cause hearing loss. The truth in the matter was he didn’t have time to deal with a bureaucrat’s whining when several of his officers in the precinct were down and several more were at risk, as well as the general public who was caught in the crossfire. At least they knew who the perpetrators were, or at least their aliases. Unfortunately, Cartagena Station wasn’t a part of Citadel Space; it wasn’t as if they could call C-Sec and ask to see their files. The batarian police captain called over his sergeants, who were directing the individual operations. 

“Sir, I appreciate your concerns about dealing with criminals, but I have a job to do.” He cut the communication and prayed he had more than five minutes before the overbearing bastard tried hailing him again. 

The joint hanger E-15 and E-16 was close to being accessed; it was locked down by whoever was in the security room where some of the most intense fighting was happening. A group of sixteen armed and armoured officers were waiting until the technician managed to override the blastdoor lockdown, which estimates said was anywhere between five and ten minutes. 

The administrator’s office was currently being stacked by Special Tactics and Response officers, where breaching charges were being placed on the ceiling and door. A pair of riot shield carrying officers would be the first into the breach and the two teams of four would enter at both points after flashbanging the room. Hoshik called the team leaders.

“Saber, Status.”

“Saber 1 Ready.”

“Saber 2 Ready.”

The Captain only paused long enough to inhale deeply, anticipating the worst. “Execute.” he said, turning to the vidscreen connections on his omnitool as he watched the assault on the administrator's office unfold.