Disclaimer
While this story contains all original characters the universe is entirely the property of EA and Bioware.
The Red Moon Collection - 5 - The Empty Night
Chapter 1
Hub One, City of Pugnax, Altakiril
"You want your fucking teeth knocked out?"
Will rolled his eyes, gently sipped from the drink in his hand and leaned an elbow on the bar. He set the glass down and reached up to itch a spot on his chin that was buried in the brown beard that hung from his jaw. For a moment he had trouble locating the source of the discomfort in the tangle of stiff dark hairs, accompanied once in a while by the rare gray strand. There weren't nearly enough to be noticeable at a quick glance, but they were appearing just often enough to remind him that they would inevitably spread unchecked. After finally vanquishing the itch he sighed in relief and picked up his drink once again to take another sip.
"Hey!"
The fuming human dockworker grabbed Will's jacket in his fists and yanked him a step away from the bar, causing nearly half the contents of his drink to spill from the glass and splatter onto the floor. The man's breath stank of too much drink as he leaned in in an obvious attempt at intimidation. Will glanced over the shoulder of the gruff, irritable local to where a lavender-skinned asari stood watching intently. The pale wing-like patterns beneath Eleena's eyes scrunched ever-so-slightly as she squinted subconsciously in focus, waiting for the situation to deteriorate beyond recovery. Will's gaze snapped back to the glass in his hand as the last of the liquid lost trickled down the side onto his fingers.
"I was planning on drinking that," he remarked indignantly.
The man swatted clumsily at Will's hand, knocking the glass to the floor.
"I don't fuckin' care!" The dockworker blurted out. "Now say it again! I fuckin' dare you!"
"I've already repeated myself once," Will reminded him. "But since you insist, I'll repeat it for a third time: shut the fuck up so I can talk to my bondmate."
The man tightened his grip on Will's jacket and pulled him closer as he bared his teeth in yet another primal attempt to frighten him.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Were we being too loud?" Mocked a nearby turian.
The turian was one of the five people sitting from where the human dockworker had charged Will. They all wore the same style of jumpsuit and were laughing and muttering between each other as they watched the confrontation for themselves.
Will glanced over to them. "Yeah, shithead, you were. I couldn't hear the goddamn conversation that I was a part of. Which, let me tell you, is an incredible feat. My wife has a big mouth."
Eleena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Will met her flustered gaze and shrugged.
"You don't come into my bar and tell me to shut up!" The human dockworker exclaimed.
Will fixed his eyes back on the large man still holding onto his jacket. "Oh, come on. This isn't your bar."
"I'm here every night of the week!" The human bellowed. "So if you think you're just gonna-"
Will opened his mouth and let out a long, exaggerated yawn.
For whatever reason, the dockworker had clearly taken that as the final straw. He clenched his teeth and cocked his fist up behind his right shoulder. Admittedly, Will hadn't expected the quick turn of his temper and raised his brows in surprise. Just before the fist came barreling down a bar stool flew into the man's back and knocked him forward. Will stumbled to the side as the dockworker fell to his knees and a batarian stood over him with the stool in hand. A shriek rang out as one of the patrons not involved in the dispute jumped up from her table and ran toward the door, followed by a handful more.
Will nodded once to the batarian. "Thanks, Mag."
The batarian laughed and tossed the stool to the side. "You bet, boss."
"Stupid move," Eleena chided from a little ways down the bar.
Will and Mag followed her eyeline to the side where the dockworker's five friends were scrambling up from their table. The closest, the turian that had mocked Will earlier, was just reaching forward to grapple with them as Will raised his hands in defense. A biotic burst punched him in the chest, toppling him back as Eleena leapt to Mag's side.
"Probably gonna regret that," Will reminded her. "Security here doesn't take kindly to biotics."
"I'd love to see them try and cuff me," she said with a grin.
Another one of the dockworkers jumped forward and swung a fist at Mag, which the batarian easily dodged and returned with a swing to the gut. The human that had first instigated the fight grabbed the bar and pulled himself up with his eyes set on Will. He growled and leapt in as the others did. Will darted to the side and turned his concentration solely to himself and anyone who decided that he was their prime target. Mag and Eleena could handle themselves just fine. The dockworker grunted and swung hard at Will's head. Will could have sworn the balled first brushed some of the hair in his siderburns. He countered immediately with a low kick to the knee to knock the dockworker off balance just in time for another one of his friends to come in screaming.
This one he wasn't as prepared for. Will coughed as a sharp right hook caught him square in the stomach. With the wind knocked out of him, Will held up his hands for balance and stumbled back a few feet before his hands caught a chair to give him stability. His initial antagonist saw the chance and jumped for it by pulling himself up and leaping into Will's torso, pulling him to the ground. Still trying to catch his breath, Will struggled from being thrown onto his back only to be hit hard on the cheek. Then, like a miracle incarnate, Eleena wrapped her arm around the dockworker's neck in a choke hold and yanked him back with all her strength. Will followed up in perfect time as though they were cogs in a well oiled machine. He pulled his legs up and braced his feet against the man's chest before kicking off hard and sending them sliding apart.
"Thanks, babe!" Will called as he finally drew in a deep breath.
"Don't fuck up next time," she teased.
Eleena spun and punched a charging turian in the jaw. The turian fell as she recoiled and grabbed her fist.
"Sonofabitch!" She yelped. "Damn turian leather!"
"Bet you're wishing you'd inherited some of that from your dad," Mag chimed in as he planted a roundhouse kick to another human aggressor.
Eleena shook off the pain and clenched her teeth. "It doesn't work that way! Why do they always think it works that way?" she mumbled under her breath.
As Will turned and readied his arm for another punch the door of the bar pinged and slid open.
"Everybody put your hands in the air!" Barked a turian marching through the doorway.
Will immediately complied and looked over to see three members of the Altakiril Security Agency pushing their way into the center of the room.
"What the hell is going on here?" The turian officer asked.
Will sighed and proceeded to answer. "I was trying to-"
"I'm not asking you!" The officer snapped.
The turian nodded toward the bartender that stood in the corner. "Those two got into an argument about something," the bartender replied. "The one guy," he pointed to the dockworker, "was about to hit the other one. Then the batarian hit him with a bar stool and it kinda all went to shit."
The turian looked back to one of the other officers. "Any blood?"
"Na," he replied. "Doesn't look like it."
The turian officer pointed around the room. "I want everyone out now."
Will grumbled and activated his omnitool to close out his tab before shuffling toward the door. A few of the dockworkers bumped into him as they neared the door. He ignored them and stepped to the side after exiting the bar, waiting for Eleena and Mag. They appeared not long after and watched as the six dockworkers gathered up to mutter irritably to one another. The three security agents came out behind them and split up between the two groups, with two of them heading toward the dockworkers and their turian leader approaching Will, Eleena and Mag.
"I don't want to see this shit happen again," the turian ordered firmly.
"Won't be a problem," Will assured him. "We're leaving the city in an hour or so."
"Spacers, eh?" The officer pointed around the group. "Let me see your IDs."
The three of them activated their omnitools as he pulled up his own and gathered the data. "Been here a few times, I see." He made a few taps on the screen. "I'm putting a note on all your immigration files. This happens again and you're barred from exiting your hangar on any subsequent visits. You violate that and you're barred from landing clearance for three years."
"I hear you," Will replied.
"Good. Now get back to your hangar and stay there for the remainder of your stay." He glanced over his shoulder. "I've got citizens to deal with."
Will, Eleena and Mag promptly turned and began their walk down the hall of Hub One's main commercial district toward the elevator that would take them to the hangar levels.
"I can't believe we got off that easy," Mag muttered quietly.
"It's not that surprising," Will responded. "Altakiril's relatively small and they can't afford to lock people up for too long."
"Oh, so you knew. Is that why you were egging that oaf on?" Eleena asked. "Or were you just really dying to get punched in the face?"
"That guy was an asshole," Will remarked plainly. "All I did was ask him to keep his voice down."
"And you said it so politely, too!" Eleena said with more than a hint of sarcasm.
"Regardless," Will said flatly. "Thank you for preemptive strike, Maglin."
The batarian chuckled. "Wasn't just gonna let him clock you in the face."
He'd known the batarian for nearly half a standard year now, yet Will was still surprised when Mag so earnestly stepped up to have his back. Out of the half dozen or so deckhands that the Trueshot had seen over the past six years Mag was far and away Will's favorite. The dark-skinned batarian reached up and wiped a tiny bit of blood from the corner of his mouth that Will was thankful the security officer had not seen.
"I appreciate it," Will reiterated. "And thank you for the biotic intervention with the turian," he continued as he turned his eyes toward Eleena.
The asari gave him a playful grin. "And?"
"And getting that huge son of a bitch off of me," Will said with a sigh.
"You're quite welcome," she said while snickering to herself.
The trio slowed as they reached the elevator and waited for a few seconds as it hurried to meet them. The door pinged excitedly as it slid open to reveal an empty elevator car. Will entered and punched in the level for their docking bay before activating his omnitool and sending a call request out. A few seconds later a turian woman with deep blue markings beneath her eyes appeared on screen and gave Will a respectful nod.
"Hey Corintha, we done offloading or what?" He asked.
The turian looked up and out of the sight of her omnitool camera's view. "Almost. We have three more pallets and then we're ready to head out for Euntanta."
Will grumbled. "From freezing cold to burning hot, lovely."
"Yes, sir." She affirmed.
"Well, tell the people doing the unloading to pick up the pace. We're headed back to the ship now," he informed her.
"Aye, sir. Anything else?"
He shook his head. "That's it. We'll be there in a moment."
Will cut the connection and looked up. Eleena and Mag stood to the side talking as the elevator ascended toward the top of the Hub structure. The car ground to a quick halt and pinged once again as the doors slid open to deposit them near their docking bay. The three of them walked casually down the hallway and through the security checkpoint for their hangar before entering the enormous enclosure that housed the Trueshot. Will smiled warmly at the sight of the old turian vessel. When he and Eleena had first embarked alone with the ship over five years ago he had been worried that it would never feel quite the same as the Hyperion. Thankfully, he was soon proven wrong. The Trueshot felt just as much a home to him as the Hyperion had been, and it came with the added bonus of military-grade hardware and construction. Eleena headed toward the personnel airlock on the port side of the ship as Will and Mag walked toward midship where the cargo airlock was open.
The ship's large delivery was almost finished being unloaded, just as Corintha had reported over the comm call. The turian stood right on the lip of the cargo bay airlock with a holopad in hand and attentive eyes scanning all the crates sitting on the floor of the hangar. Corintha had proven herself a hard worker and invaluable asset to the crew in the three years she had been with them. She started out as a deckhand, but soon convinced Will that the ship needed someone to help manage and schedule cargo and deliveries. He couldn't argue. By that time the Trueshot was almost always at cargo capacity and Will was getting far too frustrated managing, for all intents and purposes, a flying warehouse.
"Everything okay?" Will asked.
"Perfect," Corintha replied. "Just making sure I counted correctly."
Will reached the cargo bay airlock and jumped up to climb in. The airlocks, both cargo and personnel, were suspended a few feet off the ground when the ship sat on its landing gears. Will turned and offered a hand up to Mag before turning back to Corintha.
"The three pallets?" He asked.
"Still here," she said, motioning back into the cargo bay. "I'm waiting on them to return with the heavy-duty lifter."
Will grunted and turned toward the interior of the ship. "Mag, stick around help them when they show up with the lifter."
The batarian stepped up beside Corintha to read over her shoulder. "You got it."
Will looked to the side as he neared the cargo bay's aft door. The armory and workbenches that lined the wall had long been taken over by mechanical components and other assorted pieces of hardware. He felt a tinge of nostalgia for the years past when his rifle used to hang above one of those shelves. Now it sat in a footlocker in the closest of his and Eleena's quarters. His hardsuit remained in the bunkroom locker, ready for the rare occasions that they made delivers to less-than-hospitable worlds. But the shielding hadn't taken a gunshot in years. He stepped through the door and walked down the port hallway to the stairs that led up to the command level. Will rounded the corner and spotted Eleena in the copilot's seat as he had expected. She glanced over her shoulder upon hearing his footfalls and beckoned him over before turning back to the engineering holopanel in front of her.
"We ready to blast out of this place?" She asked hopefully.
"Still waiting on three more pallets to get offloaded," Will replied as he slipped into the pilot's seat.
"They've had five fucking hours to get this done, what is their port authority doing?" Eleena asked.
Will grinned and leaned back. "Sending their dockworkers to fill up the local bars, apparently."
She snorted and closed out a few windows on her panel. "Oh, of course!" The asari glanced over and scrunched up her nose. "Are you gonna shave that damn beard soon?"
Will frowned. "I thought you liked it!"
"I like the hair on top of your head," Eleena explained. "But I don't like being pricked when I kiss you."
He reached up and ruffled the hair on his chin. "I suppose I could shave it. I was really just trying it on for size."
"Then let the record show that it doesn't fit," Eleena quipped. "Doesn't fit my tastes, at least."
"Well if it doesn't please you then what was thinking?" Will remarked.
She laughed softly and closed out that which remained on the engineering panel. "Do we have anything lined up after the delivery to Euntanta?"
"I think so, but you'd have to ask Corintha to be sure," he replied. "I was actually thinking of letting her and Mag handle the rest of this shipment."
"Alone?" She inquired.
"Yeah, sure. We could take a few days for ourselves."
Eleena turned in her seat to face him. "Mm, I like the sound of that. Assuming the beard is out of the equation."
Will smirked and shot her a sideways glance. "You could've said something about it weeks ago, you know."
"I'm just fucking with you," she chuckled. "Did you have something in mind?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe head back to the apartment for a day or two then head to the Citadel?"
Eleena nodded in consideration. "I could do that."
The comm panel chimed. Will reached forward and accepted the requesting link.
"Captain, they're pulling the final pallet off now," Corintha informed them.
"Great," he replied. "We'll get departure clearance and prep for takeoff."
"Affirmative."
Will looked over to Eleena. "Want to do the honors?"
"Goddess, do I," she answered. "There's nothing I love more about this damned ball of ice than leaving it."
Their departure was perfectly ordinary. Will was actually surprised given the mark on their record that the security officer had allegedly given them. The crew got a decent night of sleep during the seven hour FTL flight from Altakiril to the Xe Cha system, after which Will ate a quick breakfast and headed back to the cockpit to prep them for the relay jump. He was half way through the pre-jump checklist when Corintha came hurrying up the stairs loud enough to wake a drunken volus. Will placed his arm on the back of the pilot's chair and looked over to see her sliding to a halt behind him.
"Captain, come with me," she urged.
Will furrowed his brow. "Is the comm system down?"
The turian shook her head and beckoned him with one hand. He sighed and canceled out of the mass stabilization sequence before pulling himself to his feet and following her back to the stairs.
"Is there a problem?" He asked, now slightly worried.
"There's… something," she replied quietly.
Will frowned and continued down to the first level as she led the way to the crew's quarters. As he stepped inside he could see Mag sitting at the dining table staring intently at the viewscreen on the wall. Eleena was leaning against the table with her hand covering her mouth and an unreadable look of concern in her eyes. She too stared at the viewscreen. Corintha stepped to the side and crossed her arms over her chest.
Will had seen a lot in his life, but none of it had prepared him for what he saw on the screen. The stream of video appeared to be from Earth, somewhere in North America by the looks of it and the camera was capturing aerial footage of a city some ten or fifteen miles away. His eyes fell on the image of a purple and black object, seemingly the size of a starship, as it descended from the sky. Then another. And a third. Claw-like appendages bloomed from the underside of the vessels just before they impacted with the ground, undoubtedly crushing whatever was beneath them.
"Where is that?" Mag finally asked.
Will broke from his temporary trance and forced his eyes to the skyline. "I think it's Chicago."
Silence fell over them for a few moments. The alien figures on screen were now taking slow, ominous steps among the city's buildings.
"Are those what they've been whispering about the past few years?" Eleena asked slowly.
Will looked to the headline at the top of the screen.
DEVELOPING - Earth under attack by unknown force
"What does this mean?" Corintha asked desperately.
One of the dark, distant figures suddenly illuminated as a red beam shot from its body and pierced through a superstructure. The building listed for a brief moment before the damage finally took its toll and brought a large portion of it crashing downward.
Will shook his head slowly. "It means we're not going to Euntanta."