It did not require a detailed observation for Avatar to determine that the situation was not tactically favorable. The gunfire began 2.38 seconds after the first of its allies fled through the open door, and casualties were immediate. Three of the Turian representatives who had been relatively close to the door had started to run as soon as they were warned, but two of them were shot in the back before they could make it through the door. 

By this point, Avatar had secured the shotgun from the guard it had incapacitated, so it returned fire on the group of two Turians and a Batarian who were focusing most prominently on the fleeing dignitaries.  As it was a semi-automatic shotgun, Avatar was able to fire two shots before they could react. Unfortunately, at the current range, the first shot was not sufficient to deplete its target’s shields, so most of the pellets impacted the shield, and the remaining ones which penetrated did not produce a fatal wound. Regardless, the incoming fire was enough that the Batarian and the wounded Turian moved to spread out, though they had no cover which to move to. Meanwhile, the other Turian’s omni-tool activated, delivering an overload attack to Avatar. Its shields were more robust than the Turian it had stunned with a similar attack, so its mobile platform remained undamaged, but its shields were entirely depleted. 

Avatar fired another shot for the purpose of suppression before quickly falling back through the door. However, instead of retreating completely, it made use of one of the only cover positions available by hiding behind the metal frame on the right side of the door. It had to take a few moments to allow its shields to recover, during which time the battle within only grew more chaotic. Several of the enemy guards in the middle of the room had formed a wedge between the allied force, forcing half of the Citadel representatives to trap themselves in a corner on the opposite side of the room. On the far side of the room, two of the Quarian representatives had been grabbed by a group enemies and were being held with weapons to their head. The Alliance soldiers nearest to them were unable to fire without hitting them, and while even Avatar could not hear what was being said over the gunfire elsewhere in the room, there was a strong probability that they were demanding surrender in exchange for letting them live. Though, in the rest of the soldiers in the room were simply engaged in direct firefights. 

Had the situation remained constant, allied forces would have had an approximately 70% chance of victory, given their superior training and equipment, but on the second level of the room, enemy reinforcements quickly moved in. From all sides, they started to fire down from above, quickly turning the favor of the battle in their direction. They focused on soldiers first, though some fired at diplomats trying to flee. Avatar set out a combat drone to harass hostiles on the second floor and fired on those trying to block escape, but the enemy’s numbers were now too great for victory to be a reasonable possibility. Retreat was the only option with a potentially favorable outcome.