DATE UNKNOWN, INSUFFICIENT_DATA?/2820-2183
It was too cold on Menae. Vetra had troubles with the temperature drop, even in her stolen Blackwatch armour, and tried not to fidget warmth back into her carapace. "Report," a voice said through the comm; she stood up straight, hands on her rifle.
"At the third door," she replied. "We're ahead of ourselves."
The view was beautiful, even from the little she allowed herself to look at. Palaven glittered on the horizon, and Vetra glanced once to see if she could see Cipritine from here, even if she knew there was no chance to- her home faced the other side of the moon, bathed in the sun.
Home, hah. That's rich. Home was several light years away with Sid- they left the planet years ago with all they could carry. With a mental shake, she adjusted the hold on her rifle and focused on the job. She was on guard point, waiting for Avelius to hack the third door. No time for memories, not now.
"Keep at it. Good luck, Night Nurse." Vetra rolled her eyes at her code name again. She was confused as to why she had to be the damn nurse. Since when did her skills go beyond slapping on medi-gel? If the mission didn't go to shit -which it might- she would ask later, hopefully over a drink.
With a wincing inhale at the cold again, Vetra scanned their location, heart in mouth as she saw a lone figure head their way. He was a sanitation worker, going by the uniform. This was not part of the plan; no one would be here for another ten minutes, according to the guard schedule. "Shit," she caught herself mumbling, and fumbled her visor into zoom mode.
They were still unobserved. Vetra gestured for Avelius to get to cover with a swift hand, and both of them watched as the worker pulled out a chocolate bar, huddled in guilt at his bounty. If he looked up, they would be spotted- and soon.
Vetra wasn't much of a sniper, but for now she had to be. The original plan was minimal violence; two shots from her silenced rifle put an end to it. Her target fell down with a thump, and Avelius helped her move the body into the shadows before taking point back at the door.
The comm hissed static in her ear again. "Your suit triggered a readout, any trouble? Don't speak, I can see you from here." Vetra made the gesture for one enemy, followed swiftly with a dealt with. "You're lucky it wasn't a guard. Keep quiet and on target, and hope they don't have friends. ETA in six until pick up," came the reply.
"Nothing wrong with a good ol' double tap," said a voice to her left. "Gets it done, eh?"
Vetra jerked in annoyance. No one should be that loud, not here- this was a stealth job, after all. "Keep it down, asshole," she hissed, pulling the body to cover. Two pairs of eyes blinked at her, and her old Batarian mentor smiled around a cigarette.
"Can put a skinny bitch like you in their place," she replied in a puff of smoke. "Don't try me."
"Umak?" Vetra was confused, but there was a job to do. She checked the progress of the door hack- 56%, and counting. "Why are you-"
"You still pull to your left when you shoot," Umak said, wincing in distaste. "Thought I taught you better. Remember to breathe out when you pull the trigger, always helps. And stop it with the ego shots. They ain't worth your time."
Vetra gripped her gun again, snapping her open mouth shut. "What are you doing here?" Last she saw Umak was in some rundown station bar in the Skyllian Verge- she had even helped her back to the awful motel she lived in, still reeking of the stale rum her mentor was fond of. "Keep your head down, the door's almost-"
"Where do you think you are?"
She looked down, confused at the question. The Blackwatch uniform she wore for the Menae job was replaced by the usual colours of her undersuit. Where was her armour? It was as cold as Voeld here, why-
Voeld? Vetra suppressed the thought in a snap so sharp her temples throbbed. No one was allowed to know about that, she knew. That part of her had to be protected. Where was she?
The lights of Palaven were swallowed in darkness, and Menae fractured into dust. Vetra opened her eyes to a dark cell, surrounded by metal walls. The cold floor seeped into her plates, and she shivered. It was a place meant to break her; there were no windows and lights. Vetra had no idea what she had done to get there in the first place.
While the moon base and Avelius had disappeared, Umak had not, a comfort in her confinement. "We're shit out of luck," Umak whispered near her. "Could do with a drink."
She could hear disjointed murmurs of a conversation muffled through the wall, and Vetra sat up in an instant. "We're not alone. Hey assholes!" Vetra pulled herself up slowly, legs unsteady. "I know you can hear me."
Umak blinked four eyes at her in the gloom, puzzled at the reaction. "There's nothing there."
Was it some sort of comm she had heard? Vetra shook her head, irritated by the low buzz still. "We need to get out," she said, shaking her head. "This isn't right."
"It never is." The pair of them paced their tiny cell, looking for an exit along the walls. Vetra felt the breeze of a gap just below her chin, and her talons slipped around the edge of it. She hit the spot as hard as she could with a fist, growling in frustration.
"Nothing." Vetra grit her teeth as pain throbbed her hand. "Come on, someone must've heard us."
"On a scale of one to ten, how fucked do you think we are?" Umak scratched at an ear, a nervous gesture Vetra knew well. "Could really use that drink."
"You always did." The past tense gave her pause, and a memory rose through the haze. Why was Umak even here? "It'll be the death of you some-" Vetra stopped herself, and the thought ran away with her. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark now, enough to see a bucket placed in the corner.
"How thoughtful of them," Umak said, noticing it too. "We get to share."
"This isn't anything official. Which means we've pissed off some shitty gang, which makes no sense as I cleared access with the Eclipse before coming. I thought I had Iliak in my pocket- this was meant to be an easy job."
Words bounced back at her. "Iliak? Eclipse? Try again." An image bubbled up in her thoughts, of sunlight and alien shades of people watching her as she checked over the cargo needed for-
No, that's not right. She was in- she was where Scott- another place, where-
In anger, she hit the gap in the wall again. Umak shrugged, staring at the floor instead. "They always start out easy," she said. "Never trust easy. There's always a catch."
"I have no idea how I failed the pick up," and Vetra felt herself fumble through her words as if they were rehearsed, heavy and cloying in her mouth. "I swear everything was under control- didn't think the buyer would stiff us. Did-"
The background noise came back, hissing through the wall. She could make out voices this time, but the droning murmur was the same as it before.
"What's she saying?"
"Garbage, mostly. Decrease her dosage. I want her controlled, not inarticulate. I thought you said this would work?"
"You didn't check everything," Umak growled, lighting a cigarette with her omni-tool. She had an omni-tool? Useful, they could use that. "You thought you were safe. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. I taught you better! Start from the beginning, Vee- what do you remember?"
"I'm at the port, waiting for the authorities to clear our access. The pick up was on-" Aya.
"Illium," Umak finished for her.
"It always comes down to that shithole. Sets my teeth on edge," Vetra said, pushing up a visor that wasn't there. "I was in the right place and at the right time. Had to get the supplies to-" the Tempest.
Umak blew out a puff. "Your ship? You still got that heap of junk with Grank?" Umak chuckled at the thought of him. "He still get angry if you put the boxes in the wrong place? He's the only Krogan neat freak in all of Terminus, I swear."
"Don't I know it. 'Hey Nyx, what did I tell you about throwin' 'em like that? Everything has its place in the universe, even-'"
"'-shits like you.'" Umak finished, and the pair of them smiled at the other.
The memory of her Krogan friend merged and vibrated with another, this time of an older veteran wreathed in bones and kind eyes. Shaking her head cleared the double vision, and Vetra sat down. "I don't feel so good," she said, hands over her eyes.
"That's because you're out of your plates on something. Could've shared before we got here." Sarcasm dripped through Umak's speech, annoyed now. "Thanks for dragging me into this, by the way."
Vetra shook her head. "You know I don't do that shit," she said. Her skin itched beneath her carapace, fingers too stiff to scratch at it. "This isn't right, I can feel it. But I don't remember how."
"Who would drug you, then? Think girl."
"Don't call me girl," she said. No one would ever call her that, not again.
Umak leapt up, somehow finding a seat on the wall to perch on. Was that there before? Vetra couldn't remember. "I'll call you as I please, if you're going to act a child. Use your head."
The answer bubbled up through her fuzzy thoughts in an instant. "They want me controlled. Which means they want something, or they think I'm dangerous. Which is it?"
"I don't know, sweetie. This is your hallucination."
"Hallucin-?"
Huh. Vetra shook her head, trying to shake the dizziness away. The walls began to move now, spreading further and further from her point in the room, just like the time a whole bottle of Cipritine brandy in an hour seemed like a good idea. "I can't move-"
Her ears hummed with static. Another loud buzz filled the room and her head throbbed in pain, shooting through her crest and back. When the floor to her cell fell away, Vetra had no choice but the follow, falling into darkness.
She did not wake again that night.