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The Red Moon Collection - 4 - Fragments and Ire

Chapter 1

Undocumented Mining Facility, Kamarov, Pamyat System

Will stumbled forward and down the ramp in front of him as a harsh shove was thrown into his back. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself before falling into the prisoner in front of him and the line of others a dozen long. He was last off the ship and into the musty, hot cave inside which Janson's ship had landed a few moments earlier. Will looked up to see the shimmer of an atmospheric barrier. They had landed in what appeared to be a large crater that was partly excavated and lined with the markings of a significant mining operation. His shoulders pulled down on him as the planet's heavy gravity began to strain his joints, but he wasn't about to complain to his captors and give them the satisfaction of knowing his discomfort. The line of poorly dressed and malnourished people trailed along ahead of them as two of the Blue Suns on Janson's crew led the group toward a large, slanted door on the wall of the crater. Will glanced over his shoulder briefly to see Janson walking behind him, gun in hand and a wicked stare in his eyes.

"Might want to take another look at the sky," Janson taunted. "It'll be the last time you see it."

"We'll see about that," Will muttered as he turned his eyes forward.

The Blue Suns commander laughed at the perceived absurdity. "Keep thinking that." He took in a satisfied breath. "You and the RMC have been a fucking annoyance the past few months. Thankfully, I found just the place for you."

Will could hear at least one of the enslaved abductees in front of him sobbing as the doors opened and the Blue Suns guided the pack inside. Just through the doors stood a half-dozen armed guards, all watching the incoming shipment of labor with stoic eyes. Will did his best to calm himself as he stepped over the threshold into the enormous airlock and continued to scan his surroundings with constant vigilance. The facility's main entrance was a cavern forcibly carved out below the surface of the crater with a few large prefab buildings scattered around at the center. At least five wide tunnel entrances could be seen on the walls of the cavern, all leading down to where Will assumed the real work took place. As he pulled his eyes away from the prefab units and distant, hanging spotlights, he took another look around the cavern and noticed something rather unsettling: he could see no other slaves. The Blue Suns had led them to another five of the facility's guards, but other than them, there was no one to be seen.

"Order was for fifteen," a gruff batarian voice called out from the five guards.

Janson stepped past Will to meet the batarian as he swiftly made his way toward the back of the line. The Blue Suns commander nodded once.

"I'm aware."

"We only agreed to pay for fifteen," the batarian reiterated. "You'd better not be expecting-"

Janson raised a hand to silence the objection. "No extra payment, just think of it as a bonus for the both of us. I need this prick to get what's coming to him."

Will gave an exaggerated snort and roll of his. "The irony of that statement coming from you..."

The Blue Suns commander turned and lunged toward Will, slamming his fist into his stomach. With his hands secured behind his back, Will dropped to his knees and gasped for air. It had been a while since he had taken a hard hit like that without his armor. Janson looked back to the batarian and motioned over his shoulder toward Will.

"There's nothing wrong with him. Just pissed me off quite a bit," he explained.

The batarian eyed Will for a short moment before nodding. "Very well." He looked down the line. "The others look to be in decent shape. We'll get them into processing to confirm there are no complications."

"And the payment?" Janson asked impatiently.

"It'll come after the processing, like always," the batarian muttered. "Get 'em inside!" He shouted to the other guards.

"Any skills?"

Will shook his head. "What?"

The armed batarian bared his teeth. "Are you deaf? I asked if you have any skills!"

"Pretty sure deafness would have shown up on that medical scan," Will countered bitterly.

"Answer the fucking question," the guard snapped as he placed his hand by the pistol on his belt.

Will gritted his teeth and rolled his shoulders in discomfort. His hands had been locked together behind his back for at least eight hours now and his joints were begging to be set free.

"What kind of skills? What the hell kind of question is that?" Will grumbled. "I thought I was slave labor."

"Can you operate machinery?" The batarian barked irritably.

"Yeah, of course," Will answered indignantly. "Who the hell can't?"

The batarian growled and walked around the chair where Will sat. Behind him, Will could hear the batarian retrieve something from a row of lockers on the wall, only to jump as something cold wrapped around his neck. He quickly realized it was some sort of collar as it clasped together and adjusted to be skin-tight. A few seconds later, much to his relief, he felt the band holding his wrists together become loose as the batarian pull it off.

"Thank god," Will said with an exasperated sigh. He reached up and touched the collar. "Not sure I like this any better, though."

"Get used to it," the batarian said tauntingly. "It's not coming off."

The batarian returned to the front of the chair and ordered him up. Will stood and rolled his shoulders once again, thankful for the movement he was now allowed.

"You'll follow your commands or be punished," the batarian instructed.

He raised his omnitool and tapped a few buttons. Will shouted in pain as an intense shock emitted from the collar and into his neck, causing him to fall to the ground and writhe in pain.

"That was the lowest setting. Just a taste. Now get out." A door opened on the far side of the room. "Your group is waiting to be distributed."

Will panted as he righted himself and pushed his body to his hands and knees. With a groan of pain he was able to stand and stumble toward the door. He passed into a short hallway and out another door that opened from the prefab into the cavern where the others he had arrived with stood in five groups of three. Two guards immediately seized him as he stepped through the door and guided him toward the far-right. Will managed to focus his eyes long enough to see the batarian foreman and Janson shaking hands before the Blue Suns began their walk back to the exit. Janson glanced over his shoulder as he made his way toward his ship and caught Will's eye, giving him a teasing wave as he laughed and turned ahead.

The groups were quickly assigned a pair of armed guards for each and ordered to march toward their designated tunnel in the cavern walls. Will looked over his shoulder to the prisoner behind him and frowned softly. The woman was muttering something under her breath and nodding her head slowly and reassuringly. Will wasn't sure if she was repeating the same thing, or muttering incoherently.

"Keep your eyes forward," the rear guard ordered.

Will complied and clenched his fists to subdue his anger. He closed his eyes and took in a deep, calming breath as he remembered the past few days. He hoped beyond hope that what he had done had been worth it. That Shansa and Eleena had gotten away. That Cerberus had given up its chase. He shuddered involuntarily and opened his eyes once again. As far as he was concerned, this was the best outcome he could have hoped for after being picked up by Janson and the Blue Suns. Will had expected to be expected and dumped out the airlock, but instead he was given a chance. Janson had made a big fucking mistake.

The tunnel they walked down was dim, with at least half of the lights either off or dead. The smell of new gasses filled the air and a distant, unsettling rumble grew more intense the further they traveled. After a two or three minute walk, the descending tunnel leveled out and opened into another cavern. It was smaller than the main entrance, but still had a few large prefab structures lining one wall as well as two more tunnels that branched off on opposite walls. The biggest difference between this cavern and the entrance, however, was the fact that dozens of haggard workers appeared to be shuffling about. Some were walking in a line toward one of the prefabs while the others stood along what looked like a large conveyor belt, sorting through chunks of stone that were being continuously poured from a hopper at one end.

"Grab gloves from the bin and get on the line," one of the batarian guards ordered to the group of new arrivals. "Pull out the blue rocks."

Will reluctantly shuffled toward the conveyor belt as his eyes continued to scan his surroundings for even the smallest window of opportunity. He counted at five armed guards in the room and at least twenty other workers, some of whom wore some kind of armored hardsuit. Will made a note of this as he approached a bin of thick, black gloves and grabbed a pair to slide onto his hands. He stared at the ground as he walked toward the conveyor belt, his mind trying desperately to concentrate. He had very suddenly become dead tired. As he made is way to the long, slow conveyor belt he could see that lined beside it were troughs filled with heaps of blue, jagged stone. At least twenty people were lined up along the sides, scanning, grabbing and setting aside the wanted material while the rest was left to pour off the end and into an enormous refuse bin on a hover-cart. Will stepped up beside a particularly haggard looking man and gave him a sideways glance. The turned his eyes weakly toward Will, then looked back down to his work. Will sighed and looked own the belt and grabbed a small chunk of the blue material before tossing it into the trough beside him.

"So what is this crap?" Will asked.

The older man responded slowly. "We can't talk while working."

"Who do you think is gonna stop us?" Will said with a small laugh. "You think those five guards give a shit about us talking to each other?"

The man did not respond. Will shook his head and turned his attention fully to the task at hand.

"Whatever. This day better go by fast."

After fourteen hours of labor, Will and the other workers were rounded up and delivered to one of the prefab buildings in the small cavern. Inside he found rows of tables and chairs at the center of the room and a series of dispensers on one wall. He watched some of the others as they scurried to the dispensers and retrieved a rather small nutrient bar and cheap water mug before heading to the nearest table. Will quickly did the same as his stomach ached desperately for food. He found himself a seat at one of the tables on the furthest side of the room and began devouring the nutrient bar ravenously. The water in his mug had a disgusting brown tint, but he gladly gulped down every drop, having been worked to the point of near dehydration. Will looked up as an unexpected movement caught his eye: another man had come to stand on the opposite side of the table, staring down at him. He had long and ragged black hair and brown eyes that were nearly as dark looking Will up and down critically.

"You need something?" Will asked with a voice beyond the point of exhaustion.

The man continued to look him over closely as he sat down. "I imagine you've seen better days, my friend," he spoke in a voice wrapped with a thick Latino accent.

Will smirked at the man who was clearly covered in more than a few scrapes and bruises. "I'd guess the same for you."

He nodded softly and downed a large sip of his water. "So you can use your eyes," he mused cynically. "Shame they didn't keep you out of here."

Will narrowed his eyes curiously. "Who are you?"

"José Moore," the man answered, extending a hand. "And you?"

"Name's Will. William Hume." He accepted the hand and shook once.

"Hmm." The man continued to eye Will closely. "You're a new arrival, no?"

"That's right," Will said with an annoyed sigh. "And boy am I glad to be here," he grumbled sarcastically.

José raised a brow curiously. "You don't know much about this place, do you?" He shook his head. "I suspect you wouldn't be making jokes if you were aware of how fortunate we really are."

Will turned his eyes back to the man and snorted. "Fortunate?"

"Yes," José replied definitively. "How long do you think I've been here, Mister Hume?"

Will nearly corrected him with the title "Captain," but caught himself just before speaking.

"You can call me Will." He looked the man up and down. "Given your condition and the average life expectancy of slave mining labor in the Terminus Systems? I'd say two months."

José chuckled softly. "And that is why we are lucky." He took a bite from his nutrient bar and swallowed with a satisfied sigh. "I arrived almost eight months ago."

Will raised his brows in surprise. "Eight months?"

"That's right," he assured him. "This installation extracts a mineral called Morrosium. It requires a specific set of circumstances to be extracted properly, and a set of tools to go with it." José took another bite and washed the gray foodstuff down with water. "It's dangerous, though. Lots of gasses that can kill you before you even know what's wrong, if you're not careful. So, they work us to the edge of breaking, but not over. It would be far too time consuming to burn through their labor and train newcomers every couple of days."

"I'm no slaver, but that seems pretty stupid," Will muttered quietly.

"The tools require you to know what you're doing, but are not hard to comprehend," José countered. "And to hire professionals would cost far more in terms of hazard pay."

Will shrugged. "I guess. I still don't think that means we're lucky. Just means we'll be worked longer before they decide we're not worth keeping alive."

José took a quick swig of water. "Or die in an explosion."

Will paused for a moment, unsure as to whether or not José was speaking jokingly or not. As his expression remain stoic and grim, Will cleared his throat and chalked it up to harsh reality.

"So you're telling me that whoever runs this place is sticking complex tools in the hands of slaves and expecting work to be done?" Will asked.

José nodded. "That's right. And if you don't cooperate..."

He raised his chin and pointed to the collar on his neck. Will reached up and touched the metal of his own with an angry grumble.

"So we work the mining lasers, explore the caves, operate the extraction beams, and if you're new," José looked down and exhaled angrily through his nostrils, "or near the end of your usefulness, the conveyor belt."

"Yeah, I'm acquainted with it."

Will slowly looked around the room to the dozens of tired workers as José consumed the last few bites of his nutrient bar.

"So what kind of lasers and beams are we talking about?" Will asked as he turned his attention back to the man. "How much... damage do you think they could do?"

José clearly the read the intention in Will's words. He looked around the room before motioning for Will to rise. Will looked to him curiously, but obliged as José rose to his feet and nodded toward a door on the far end of the room.

"Come, I should show you the bunk quarters," José said distractedly.

Slightly confused, Will obliged. José led the two of them to the far door and into another room roughly the same size as their mess hall. The room was filled with dirty, unkempt bunks packed together in tight rows for the sake of efficiency. José quickly made his way to the back corner and pointed toward a few beds along one of the walls while glancing over his shoulder to speak to Will.

"These beds are empty," José informed him. "They were... recently vacated."

With a bitter frown, Will nodded and walked to the closest of the beds. José turned and scanned the room, taking note of who might be in earshot before turning back to Will.

"I believe I picked correctly when I sat with you," he said in a hushed tone. "Why do you want to know these things about our equipment? About the... 'damage they can do?'"

Will lowered his voice in return. "I'm not staying around here until I die," he said matter-of-factly.

"You are a soldier?" He asked hopefully.

"Not exactly," Will answered with a small smile. "Just a merc. But I can hold my own."

José shook his head. "I am not one to judge, my friend. I was an Alliance soldier for some time, but after too many years of inaction I left for a PMC. However..." He looked to the side. "Well, let's just say I probably should have stayed with the Alliance."

Will nodded slowly. "So those tools?"

"Yes, of course." His new acquaintance said, shaking his head in irritation of his digression. "The lasers are exactly what they sound like and can be tuned to very high power. We use them to bore further into the tunnels. The extraction beams would not be of much help. They are nothing more than small mass effect field generators that lift and separate the minerals we are mining."

"A modified mass effect field generator is more useful than you might think," Will said quietly. "Put it in the right place and you can throw a guard or two into the ceiling."

José nodded slowly in consideration. "Yes, very good." He glanced over his shoulder briefly. "Wait here for a moment," he asked.

Will crossed his arms and watched as José hurried off to the other side of the room where a door had opened to allow a small group of workers inside. The man approached one person in the group, an asari, and motioned for her to follow him. She agreed without hesitation and the two quickly made their way back to where Will stood waiting.

"There is a small group of us who have begun making plans the past few months. Plans to do the things you have suggested," José began as the pair returned. "This is Orassa Dalsori. She was one of the first to show interest in this action. Orassa, this is William Hume."

The deep-blue skinned asari stepped forward and extended a hand in greeting with her head bowed. She looked more aged than most asari Will had met, but he wasn't sure if it was just because of the working conditions. Will reached forward and gave a friendly shake as she opened her eyes and turned her gaze up to him.

"Hello, William Hume," she said in a soft and reserved voice. "I am glad to meet you, though I wish it could be under better circumstances."

Will chuckled. "You and me both."

José cleared his throat to interject. "She and I have been discussing our attempt at escape for some time now."

"Yes, we have many ideas," Orassa continued. "But we will need others to help us. We have just recently begun to reach out."

"You don't even have to ask," Will assured them. "If there's anything I can do to help with the planning, I'm more than willing."

"Then we will share our thoughts soon," José said with a nod. "But now, we are taking up precious minutes of our rest hours."

Will nodded slowly. "I'd rather discuss everything after I've gotten a chance to see the rest for myself. So far this place seems ripe for a breakout," he pointed out. "They're practically begging for some disobedience."

"I agree." José said as he stretched his arms and neck. "But yes, we should discuss this later. You will need your rest for tomorrow as I am sure you will be sent to the mines."

With a heavy sigh, Will dropped down onto the cot he had chosen. "Can't wait."

Orassa looked down with a small smile. "Be cautious and patient, and you will make it through the day," she advised him.

"Survive," Will summarized. "I can do that."