A/N: I want to thank LogicalPremise for taking the time to go over this and give some feedback, szierera and bloodsplatBOOM for grammar/spelling and clarity edits. Chapter 1-4 updated and posted and polished. 5-7 in editing and 8 written. Feedback always appreciated since otherwise improvement takes longer.
This is for me an experiment and exercise in writing something that's not an essay or research paper, and more content on me then helping others flesh out their work and universes (usually not plot-heavy on my end).
Chapter format is two in-universe pieces (one at the start, the other at the end) around the story section.
M for a reason, several instances and scenes are intended to be somewhat uncomfortable or graphic, but in the end it always depends on the reader.
C-SEC Report file: Zakera-EG-93716.
Date: 05/12/2181 Gregorian Calendar (Translation)
Access-level: Unrestricted.
Reporting Officer: Amstarim Heraxis; Officer Grade 2.
Report Prepared by: Amstarim Heraxis; Officer Grade 2
Sparen Venthas; Subsection-37 Clerk
AVINA Subset Protocol: Enforcement, Zakera, Quarian Pilgrimage Node
Incident: Death of one Zaltis'Zer vas Neema, Self-defense Case of one Nikolai Zeneska, Assault of unnamed Quarian pilgrim (Addendum; description of participant in event details)
Species Involved: Human, Quarian, Turian.
-CSEC-CSEC-
Detail of event: Police responded to distress call from (Suspect) Nikolai Zeneska along with undetailed C-MED request for dextro-amino casualty. Arrival on scene revealed Zeneska attempting to access model RN-746 HEVO suit with omni-tool, which ceased upon action. Cursory analysis of tool indicates suit security was not breached. Suit owner was one (Casualty) Zaltis'Zer vas Neema who by time of C-MED arrival had moderate cranial trauma to back of skull, splintered deformation to anterior cartilage plate and minor abrasions from suit injector wear. Intoxication was one of a BAC of 0.33 with a grade-9 autoimmune reaction to suit breach (Addendum; subject suit-data profile indicated moderate-secure Ipso Manducaverit condition). Unnamed quarian suspect found unconscious via neural shock dart on scene, escaped during cursory questioning of Zeneska. Suit described as purple-black (312C5B-4B476E) with gold-reflective faceplate (No Data), navy trim on limbs (6C33FF- 4A33FF).
Conversation with Zeneska indicated that pilgrims had seemed intoxicated and had harassed turian staff member Aldan T'Voyan-Heraxen with racial slurs and clan-derived insults. T'Voyan-Heraxen went into building to cool off, failed to alert additional staff to situation. Zeneska resorted to physically removing instigators from premise after unidentified quarian threw suit waste-packet at Zeneska. Physical confrontation within allowed limits by bouncer to remove unruly patrons as per C-SEC L/N.P/M codes. Unknown quarian attempted tech attack consisting of single neural-shock dart (Program level unknown) but had arm redirected by Zeneska into midsection due to inebriated reflexes resulting in self-incapacitation. Physical confrontation between Zeneska and Zaltis'Zer resulted in minor bruising for Zeneska, listed injury for Zaltis'Zer as result of custom-fabricated arm gauntlet severing air supply. Zeneska states he did not attempt to do severe damage, and security footage and testament of character from on-site employees support this.
-CSEC-CSEC-
Actions Taken: C-MED RRT#7560-Zakera/Dextro responded and determined care for Zaltis'Zer was impractical, pronounced dead during extraction preparation. No charges against Zeneska as Officer Heraxis deduced scene was self-defense, supported by lack of practical evidence for conviction, as security camera footage and testimony matched Zeneska's statement. Cursory interrogation at C-SEC subsidiary house Zakera-8 indicated no reason for restriction, subject appearing remorseful. Establishment Malto's Sunspot closed for customary 2-hour period.
-CSEC-CSEC-
Summary: No charges laid at Nikolai Zeneska (Evidence supports innocence), No charges laid to unidentified quarian (Unable to identify, 18 possible matches on-station.)
Warning: Nikolai Zeneska reported financial cyberattack on account used for employment wage 6-days after incident, see subset report Zakera-EG-93716-A. Secondary report of omni-gel explosive detonation in unofficial wards residence 2.753 hours later, see subset report Zakera-EG-93716-B.
Warning: As of 8-days post-report Zeneska has left the citadel.
-CSEC-CSEC-
End C-SEC report. Digital sigprint Heraxis G-2. AVINA cleanup present.
Date: 07/04/2182 Gregorian Calendar. Horizon.
I swallowed my worries at the sight of the Hanar's Table, continuing my pace onwards to the seedy-looking establishment. The lit-up exterior of the club making my thoughts turn to the reasons of past three years before I could bury them, instead taking the time to notice my surroundings. The side trip to Trinity Falls had taken an hour via aircar, and the setting was remarkably like some of the more human-dominated sections of the wards, with an even mix between my species and the big three, along with those batarians willing to deal with the cultural conditions to escape their own. A mix of wildcat miners bringing in their mineral hauls and purchasing supplies and amenities, to mercs and colonists mingling as they argued over protection rackets - flanked often by combat drones or mechs depending on the negotiation power they tried to compensate for. Asari and humans on business from Trident mingled with batarian refugees and rescued slaves. Turian outcasts haggled with their more loyal brethren while gangs of salarians and the occasional krogan merc rounded out the melting pot.
I saw a group of Blue Suns in armor mingling outside the establishment; a trio of turians and another human in an argument with a pair of batarians and an orange-crested krogan wearing gang colours, the asari and human bouncer pair keeping an eye on the proceedings though still letting people into the bar. Shrugging at the asari as I flipped her a credit chit, the doors opened automatically, and the atmosphere hit me. Dozens of smells permeated the room, racks of hookah on the wall with labels indicating the effects on various species in a variety of languages lending the air a smoky, multicoloured haze that seemed to settle in different layers and almost gave me a coughing fit. Suppressing my coughing reflex, I weaved between a pair of turians comparing omni-tools and blocking the door to get better look at the interior. The description from the wildcat who suggested it in the town over didn't do the place justice, as dozens of individuals from different species conversed in a stream of languages that my translator flagged when focused on, the cacophony of sound more bearable than the smoke that filled the room.
A maze of raised and lowered booths formed the perimeter around the main floor, dextro and levo bars interspaced with tables for drinking and gambling. The staff was mostly human with a few drell seeming to be dealers for the card games, and the handful of salarian and turian bartenders all had visible weapons on their hips or backs, clear warnings not to start anything. Haptic and older LCD screens showed krogan kowla fields and human football stadiums along with running bets on outcomes and players, along with a dozen other sports I had no ability to place. There was also what seemed to be a holo of two hanar wrestling – at least I hoped it was wrestling. Finding a small corner booth with a good view of the patronage and a quick path to a levo bar, I settled in and pulled up the menu.
This isn't a good idea, I have no idea what the locale is like and no backup plan. Stop whining and deal with it already, I killed them. Both of them.
I'm not a murderer, legally anyways. Shooting a gangster trying to hit the facility I got paid to guard with an eezo-rigged explosive satchel hardly constitutes murder. A logical thought, something many a security guard or merc probably had at some point. If I hadn't shot them someone else could have died, and besides, it was my job.
Such a clinical kill anyway. Rosenkov marksman rifle as she was trying to scale the security fence with a package. Might not have even known it was a bomb. I didn't question her, issue a warning or even give her the decency of a fight. Cold and premeditated, pretty sure that's murder. Now I'm trying to forget that, hence the "best goddam bar on the continent". After quitting the job anyways, they even gave me a nice bonus for securing the base from an incursion. You got a bonus and a pat on the back, merc-shit.
One pitcher into the local brew I'd selected and I'd only served to make myself feel worse, the burning hole in my stomach more a response to my nerves than the alcohol, though my monologue was interrupted as I politely waved off a turian merc. I took a moment to look as she walked away, chastising myself for not asking why some of the girls had a head-fringe and some didn't as I noted the spikes leading back from her skull, more curved than those of the males but still present unlike her friend at the bar. She did have a nice armor set though, high-quality medium gear with what looked to be medium-grade shield enhancers on the back. Freelancer of some success then, maybe I should have just had a conversation even with the lack of reciprocated interest, assuming I read her right. Too late now. Ordering another pitcher of beer as I settled in to look around discreetly, curiosity finally getting the better of me as the salarian bartender delivered my pitcher, staying a few seconds until I gave a small tip with my chit before walking off.
I really should have said something, maybe an actual conversation would do me better then moping around like a spurned stray. Would a turian really have been worse than drinking yourself into a stupor, or are my tastes a bit too normal for such? Either way I'm now continuing to walk the path of alcoholism, a bit less jokingly than I'd like. Useless.
Ordering another as the second pitcher went by too quickly, the clawball screen across the bar providing an entertaining distraction for my comfort, starting to have an easier time shutting out the more negative aspects of my thoughts until I caught a glimpse of a suited quarian getting waved away by the bouncer at the door. Memories of my time on the citadel began drifting in, and my mood went from pleasantly relaxed to irritable in the sharp shift that alcohol allows, a moment of focused clarity proving to be my downfall as I lost myself in the sea of thought.
Everyone walked away from this one alive, I'd say that's a better job than I did there. Murderer. Fuck, I killed a drunk kid in over his head. I ended a chance for a life probably more important to his people than mine. Investigation labelled it as self-defense, but I know that's wrong, I killed him and his friends watched.
I'd been working as a bouncer for a dextro nightclub on the citadel, on the portside edge of Zakera Ward. A medium-sized establishment that mostly catered to turians and quarians with the occasional adventurous and dextro-tolerant Human or elcor patron, it was in a better part of the ward and the most I'd had to do prior was steer out a few drunks. The place had got me my current dampening and neural shock fabrication programs for security purposes, mostly to ward off and deal with any drunk asari before biotics were used. That mess had ended with me fleeing for my life after an explosion next to my semi-official rented space.
Snapping back from my ruminations to the request of the salarian bartender stopping by to ask if I'd like another drink, I made a quick gesture to an imported drink from Trident, some sort of fermented seaweed beer that was closer to a hard liquor despite the technicalities of its brewing, also transferring a tip more generous than I would have while sober in appreciation for the silence. His robe-covered head nodded, and a few minutes of drunken glaring at the clawball screen later he arrived with the seaweed concoction. Saltier than I expected, but a pleasant combination after the few pitchers of hops-heavy ale that had already made the fogginess of the room impossible to distinguish from the smoke. Nursing the drink while watching the crowd, my booze-addled mind picked up details sober me hadn't paid attention to while thrashing myself.
The ominous glaring of a pair of Human miners at a pair of asari mercs, while a krogan and an absolutely massive bronzed man sat in a corner, omni-tool details of a heist on a rival group's ore shipment visible in haptic form on the table, relying on their sheer size to discourage interference by the Turian/Human couple edging around them, obviously connected with the target group. The pairing up of individuals as the night drew on, including the Turian who tried to talk to me prior and her friend walking out with a pair of human militia, slipping me what was probably a smirk on the way out. Chuckling, I raised my glass to her, the remnants of my drink sloshing as my fine motor control wasn't as fine at this point.
Too focussed on the Turian in my state I barely noticed the asari slip into the booth and take a seat across from me. Devlon Explorer-series armor with a M5 submachine gun on her hip. A light but consistent blue skin tone with the only markings a few subtle charcoal lines along her pharyngeal clefts, though a notable scar was visible on one of her left lowest head-tent, a good portion of the skin rougher and with a grey shade and mottled look. Average build and height as far as I could tell regarding the armor, but still shorter than most of the Citadel-bound asari with a steeled but playful expression that few there had. Weight shifted to her right side as crossed her legs and leaned into the corner, noting my attention with a rather charming smile. She stood and extended an arm in an invitation to follow, hips not cocked but in a relaxed stance despite the armor. On what a soberer me would've considered a bad judgement call, I got up and followed her out, downing my drink and waving at the salarian who'd kept me supplied during the night. The pair of us walked out and past the door, the arguing Blue Suns long since gone on to other business. A short aircar ride later saw us to her apartment, not too far from my own prefab rental.
My mind exploded awake with pain. Immediate, hot and all-encompassing as my hands reflexively went to my face, eyes squeezed shut and feeling wet as I rolled off my back and into a recovery position. Attempting to move anymore was sending spikes of white-hot agony down through my skull, the area behind my eyes screaming as my temples throbbed. Details began to surface of the night, shapes and forms and blue light and smoke. Attempting to sit up made me dizzy as well, a spike of nausea as I lolled my head to relieve the muscle tension, eyes still slammed shut. Tipping forwards I fell, barely controlling the roll enough to avoid smacking my face into what I assumed was the floor as my body rolled off what was presumably a bed. Quickly opening my eyes to get it over with, the dim lighting of the room was appreciated for all of three seconds before my nausea caught up and I retched on the floor, foodless liquid quickly running out as it shifted to a painful set of dry heaves.
I laid in a curled-up mess on the floor, ignoring the pool a few inches away as I shivered on the ground, the warmth of the apartment doing little to ease my chills. Eventually my headache died down enough to come to my senses, re-opening my eyes I sat up, the spike of nausea replaced by one of hunger. I took stock of my surroundings, small prefab interior with local furniture and a cheap extranet terminal in the corner, and a set of asari kitchen appliances mixing with a few varied human ones along the counter. Not my apartment then, which would explain why the bed seemed different when I rolled off.
Attempting to solve the state of undress that had been ignored in favor of more painful issues, I once again toppled over as a wave of dizziness hit after getting my pants on. Slamming into the prefab wall with a resounding clang and sliding down to a sitting position, I became aware of motion on the bed as my still blurry vision indicated a blue blob was performing an imitation of a beached whale. A second passed before I was able to clarify it as an asari rolling over in pain. Anger and sympathy spiked as a target for the current situation slowly came into focus, and I stumbled over to the bed to attempt to get some answers, the form on it twisted to the right and silent.
This isn't good, what bad decision did you just make here. Hope whatever fuckery occured has no adverse effects.
Biotics flared as my hand grabbed her wrist, and once again the wall became familiar with my back as I was thrown into it. I countered the action, rolling into what an adrenaline-hazed me counted as a leap but was more likely a flop as I landed short of my target. I scrambled to get purchase on the now-skewed mattress before catching my seeming attacker by the shoulder. There was a lack of response as we both seemingly calmed down, her finally exiting the stupor of being awoken in poor condition and me realizing that fighting a biotic in close-combat while wearing only pants was a good way to die.
Real nice job there, least she didn't break anything. Maybe you were drunk enough to ask for something like that. No, I wouldn't. You don't remember do you? Maybe enough pain or guilt and an Asari too drunk to care as she tried to help the poor little human.
"What the hell did you do? Not the first time that I've been with an asari and I don't recall feeling like my brain went through a blender." My voice was raspy, throat sore from vomit and dehydration and the words barely were audible, but the same asari from earlier looked up to meet my glare with eyes still slightly black from whatever meld-bullshit had occurred. I was not exactly an expert on the weirder aspects of asari physiology asides from some anatomy knowledge and first-aid training, but I figured that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
She shifted uncomfortably as she balanced her weight to her right foot, neither of us in the mood to care much for the state of the room after our scuffle, though I'll admit to a glance at her chest after looking to see if my armor was in the corner. Rubbing her eyes as she dealt with whatever the issue was, she finally turned to me with an answer as I went for a glass of water in the small kitchen section, downing a few while she contemplated her response.
Blue lips pursed, smudges of black lipstick worn off as I subconsciously brought a hand to my own lips, wiping a black smear into the sheet afterwards. I ignored the moment of annoyance that crinkled across her face with a wrinkled brow and a narrowing of eyes before she spoke, voice also worn by alcohol but with an uncomfortable amount of what I recognized as a satisfied tone still riddled with tremors. Her scleras dipped into a darker shade.
"I lost control, at the bar you seemed attractive enough and upset about something which I assumed would get a good response from a human, especially after you seemed amicable enough to the turian as she left. Tides thought one of the xenophobic Traverse types wouldn't have shown any interest there, but Goddess I didn't mean to go that far. Shallow meld with no risk of pushing, but that spark you had when I got in your mind, the berating subset of" - I tensed up as she shuddered, a trace of arousal rather than disgust sending all the hairs on my body standing on end - "yourself. I deepened the meld and gave in, my own repression breaking then straining as it fought to dominate the aspect of your psyche."
Too confused to do anything else, I continued to stare at her as my anger slowly resurfaced.
That explains next to nothing, you don't know enough about melds to figure out what the hell went on. I need to relax, try to listen and see what happened.
"It was unexpected, my control had already slipped and the fragment got into my own memories through the meld. I didn't know what to do…" Her voice cracked for a second, shameful and upset. "I lashed out, crushed it in a panic, sent us both into shock and we passed out. I took a part of your mind because of my condition, and Goddess forbid, it felt so good." Her voice dropped several octaves with the last few words, stance tightening in tension.
I pulled up my codex, and ran a search, amused my omni-tool had stayed on in the circumstances. I tried to focus, to determine a response as my control began to waiver and I slipped into panic, a white-hot spike of pain for the second time since I'd awoken. Rage flared at the conceptual realization that the monster atop the bed had stolen a part of me. This time I lost control, the haze of fury cutting through the fog and confusion as I lunged at her, straddling her torso with one leg over her own to prevent movement as my arms wrapped around her throat. I knew where to press for a relatively safe knockout from my bouncer training, but enraged I didn't care and simply squeezed on the muscle and windpipe, ignoring the burning in my arms as she grabbed them, her panicking action as my arms began to scream, skin sloughing as the flesh was warped by the biotic fields shimmering around her grip.
I grit my teeth when my blood began to drip onto her neck and the sheets under it. I ignored the pain, anger at the violation and a lust for revenge mixed with a scrambled and reeling mind keeping my hands where they were, staring at the blood that was creating a pair of Japanese flags on the bed.
Then my gaze moved up to her neck, the bruised skin and rapidly pulsing artery were barely visible under the thickening sheet of red dripping down from my arms, and her skin was shifting to a darker purple on her cheeks. I met her eyes. Filled with panic, a desperate look as tears rolled down from the corner, flickering around before settling to stare into mine for a second. Suddenly repulsed I let go and scrambled to the side as her biotics and arms had weakened enough for me to slip out with the sudden motion. Filled with disgust at what I'd been about to do, the thought of purposely taking another life and the method I'd been squeezing for making me recoil in shame. Falling off the bed, the water that I had downed before came up again, mixing with the blood still dripping from my perforated arms and stinging them as what sense of settling I'd achieved this morning disappeared, now replaced with an odd sense of loathing that wasn't coming from a formed line of thought, but weighed as a dreadful singularity in my core. Blood, water and tears mixed on the floor as I all but collapsed. Thoughts with words coming to a halt as I finally processed the last few days, from sniping the gangster to almost strangling someone in a fit of rage. An encore of my earlier performance upon waking up, but with less of a headache and a lot more resignation.
I almost just made it three. She said it wasn't intentional, why would it be? Who'd be so sorry for that. You don't know or care do you? What if she did this before, some sort of sick addiction that's oh-so-fitting with useless self-pity.
I heard the mattress shift behind me, a series of wheezes making me flinch again. I mumbled a few apologies as I attempted to feel what ragged flaps of skin hung off my arms, the blood still coming through in a lattice of hundreds of ruptured capillaries. I was almost welcoming of the pain before thoughts over what she'd done briefly flashed up before being squashed down by my conscience with the emotions they entailed, a coughing fit serving to punctuate the pang. Shuffled steps towards what seemed to be the bathroom ended with a cabinet slamming and a ripping sound, before a somewhat wet adhesive sound and a hiss of pain. Slowly I began to rise to a kneeling position, hands trying to wipe away the blood from my arms as the non-threatening but constant trickle had slowed and clotting began. Flinching as a hand touched my shoulder and retracted almost as quickly, I turned around to the same set of eyes that gave me a jolt to clarity prior. Medigel-soaked bandage slapped to the bruised neck, a canister of the goo held in her hand. Handing me the gel I coated my arms with a layer before wrapping them in the bandages she retrieved as I was doing so. Ten minutes of uncomfortable silence and first aid later before I went and got us each a large glass of water, a surprisingly grateful nod as we both greedily drained them.
"We should both eat." I looked up as she spoke, getting up to refill the pair of glasses as we both tried to apparently find some sort of direction for the situation to go in.
A quick affirmative from me before she got up. She slipped on her omni-tool and pulled up the menu for what passed as some form of asari cuisine in the town, paying for it and ignoring the chit I threw towards the bed. Attempting to provide some form of decorum to the apartment I attempted to make the bed while she turned a cleaning drone to the mess on the floor. A teenaged worker delivered the food, shooting us both odd looks but not saying anything about the state of the room or the lack of personal cleanup despite some hastily thrown-on clothing articles. I'm sure the sight of my own bandaged hands, her bandaged neck and lipstick and blood on the two of us set off a few alarms or a few stray thoughts, so I slipped a small tip their way along with a zipped-lips gesture. The food was simple, light seafood and pasta suitable for breakfast while still being filling enough for a biotic, if a bit sweet for my tastes.
"Low-mid grade, not severe." She said, noting that I'd pulled up my codex for a proper reading of the article I'd skimmed before. "Not a death unless I really pushed and still generally pleasurable, but I lost control and went in too deep. Bloody waves I'm sorry, that's the type of stuff they try to lock us up for, and I try to avoid it when I can but the conflict was just so tempting, I honestly didn't mean to. I'm really just happy neither of us are dead at this point, since that'd probably screw things up pretty bad for the other." She trailed off, bit of a stutter and still raspy while she sat cross-legged on the bed, slightly leaning to her right against the wall.
Listening to her blathering was both enlightening and confusing given my headache. Finishing the food and pushing my dish aside, I opened my mouth to speak and stopped as I didn't know what to say, settling on a "What's your name?" that seemed completely out of place. It was possible she had gleamed a bit more from the meld, but I couldn't even remember if she'd said my name or not.
"Syella R'vaein. Born on a small farming colony in asari space and fled when I realized the effect I was having on my first partner. Stuck to shallow stuff with aliens since, including the casual fling I was intending with you at the bar, though that ship's obviously sunk now that this mess happened. I don't really know what to do Nikolai, we both need to heal up with the medi-gel for a bit before going out but given the mutual states of our employment staying here awkwardly shouldn't be too much of an issue-"
I cut her off, conflicted guilt and anger mulling around and giving my answer an odd tone that caused her to flinch back a little. "I'm sorry. I was going to - was going… fuck, I was going to kill you and that doesn't make me feel good at all, but I lost it when I felt something off, something-"
Her turn to cut me off. "I know human, but I've got as much Goddess-damned reason to apologize to you. I'll consider us even with the medi-gel and the arms in regards, but neither of us killed the other when we could have. Lingering on it won't do us good. I'd suggest you go to a mind-healer on the Citadel but I gleaned enough to know your fears of doing such."
Welp, safe to say she gleaned a bit more info from you than you from her. Wonder what else she knows, the panicked gasps of the quarian on the floor when he could still breathe? The dull thud of a body hitting the ground as it falls down a wall?
I didn't trust her, and I was frankly scared of her killing me with biotics despite any assurances made otherwise, but I was in no position to argue now. Any chance of getting out alive would be with the dampening mines on my omni-tool, and she wasn't stupid enough to let me point it at her. Doing so also simply equalized the combat situation, and the state of my arms would be a hinder in close-quarters, she'd probably distract me enough with a simple grab to have free reign afterwards.
I think she's not going to do anything. She could have killed you when this was done, a biotic strike to the head or an actual warp-field instead of the paltry ones on your arms. Look at the same, gentle smile you remember from before. What can it hide?
Hours passed sitting in silence as we both just relaxed, watching some shitty vid on the old FLCD screen when the colony news flashed with a breaking story, and a warning banner. Some sort of warrior-monk visiting the colony in search of a target, and currently enroute to the trade post via shuttle. My reaction at such was a spike of curiosity, while my cautious companion on the other side of the room had a completely different response. For the second time today, I saw those eyes take a terrified expression, and grabbing a pack from under her bed and shoving it full of rations she started putting her armor on, nervous fingers making the action take longer as the terrified look persisted. Her body language had broke down from the relaxed stance to jittery, the air almost seeming slightly more intense even without a biotic corona.
She abruptly stopped for a second as if just remembering I was there, then deciding to speak quickly in the same tone as her apology prior. "Huma- Nikolai, put your gear on now. We need to get to the spaceport faster than a glide-ray or we're as you humans say, screwed."
Mounting confusion on my side as I started suiting up, my unwashed body not the most comfortable under the armor and my arms stinging as the suit slipped on. I clipped the extra arm gauntlets to my back as the pressure with just the standard plates was already uncomfortable, nevermind the extra straps and tightness over the bandages. I considered taking them off to let the suit's medical suite do a better job but kept them on, afraid they'd reopen the wounds in abrasion.
She's freaking out at the news story, possible that she's the target? I don't know enough to determine whats going on here, hell I don't even know what a justicar is. You need to find something out. Ask her already, it's bad enough she's telling you to gear up.
"Why does this concern me, what use would one of your enemies have with human security guard, unless it's something to do with your…" Oh. Her condition.
She responded quickly and clearly. "Justicars are vicious, if she thinks I've melded with you then the best you can hope for is a mind-rip as she tries to clear the waters. I'm going to continue that current and assume you're not comfortable having an asari who kills anyone she views as a criminal look through your memories?" Her tone was snappy, words rushed as she freaked out at the situation, probably not helped by the previous several hours making this seem to come at the worst possible time.
Okay murderer, might be a good idea to do as she says. The irony that your sexual escapism is going to be the very thing that gets you caught. I'm not a murderer, but she may not see it that way. There's not enough information and getting out seems prudent, already quit my job here anyways.
I redoubled the rate I was gearing up, grabbing my pistol from where it had fallen next to her door at some point during the night, my rifle still slotted onto the armor's back-plate. Turning around I walked into the bathroom where I'd assumed that she'd grabbed the medigel from. Three vials in the cabinet, grabbing them I filled my suits injector with one before slotting the other two onto my armor's belt. A glance at Syella, her to-go pack already slung over shoulders and armor on. We both ran out the door as her omni-tool set the apartment's terminal to wipe itself.
We stormed down the stairs, entering the street quickly. She turned to head to the spaceport, but I grabbed her by the shoulder and nodded to the perpendicular avenue when she looked my way.
"My place, got my gear and a few reserve items." I pulled away my hand as I spoke.
A worried frown crinkled across her face again, but she conceded and let me take the lead as we jogged, more and more people starting to seal their doors and windows as best as they could, flickers of the news rippling through the port town. Nonetheless we managed to reach my rented condo in a few minutes, and I grabbed my marksman rifle and a few omni-gel packets for my tool, along with a bottle of painkillers from the bathroom. I didn't have a lot of possessions and the furniture was stock, but I was willing to leave the clothes and medium-grade computer behind as we fled. Omni-tool wiping the household devices as I swiped my few stashed credit chits.
Out in less than two minutes, and we closed the distance to the spaceport, limiting my speed for the asari to keep up due to our different muscle structures, then bringing myself to a faster pace as she used her biotics to assist her run and passed me in turn. Only to stop abruptly as the southern entrance to the spaceport came into view as we rounded a corner. Syella and I both stopping for a few seconds to stupidly gaze upon the scene before I snapped and pulled her back behind the corner again.
You fucked up heading to your place, two minutes too slow.
Dozens of locals with a variety of guns were crouched behind assorted cover at the end of the road, streams of multicoloured tracers lighting up the avenue as they all concentrated fire at something on the end of the helmet HUD highlighted grenades and improvised explosive devices hurled through the air by arms or makeshift launchers, the coloured-salt tracers of tech-darts leaving flaming trails. All hit empty space as the figure charged across the street in the blue streak of a mass-effect tunnel. Said figure was the asari from the news broadcast, clad in off-red armor and advancing withpurpose down the street as return fire, more grenades and drones did nothing to slow her down, bouncing off the barrier or simply being absorbed, an agile throw sending the trio of grenades to the side of the street where they exploded against a civilian Grizzly parked in an inlet.
A stream of fire from an asari-made assault rifle neither I nor my HUD could properly identify cut down a trio of aerial drones, their angular forms crashing to the ground and exploding. A local wildcat miner in a hazard suit flanking her from the side managed to land a carnage round from his shotgun, causing her to stumble for a brief second. Her barrier held and she caught her balance, glancing at the miner as he loaded another round and ducked behind a stack of pallets. She turned up the pressure, the miner caught in lift field and flailing as he gained twelve feet in altitude. A blue streak and her charge blasted the miner into the wall before the form skidded down, broken body crumbling despite the suit as she returned to her original position a second after, hand raised as a crescent-shaped wall of shockwaves slammed towards one half of the firing line. Vehicles and bodies were sent tossed into the air before inverting and slamming the back down, charred bits of aircar flying as a core failed and sent a shockwave through the area.
None of the locals hit by the shockwave got up, the entire street a mess of ruined vehicles and bodies. A series of ball-contained warps lanced out at those on the other side still firing with decent guns, and with them ducking down to deal with the wisps of dark energy now ripping at their bodies the volume of fire diminished. Another lift field ripped several from cover to be perforated by the rifle, another one of the rippling shockwaves crushing the few who remained afterwards.
To our luck she didn't seem to notice the two of us as an initial threat given we were cowering behind the corner of a building, but the team of Blue Suns from the bar provided us a distraction to start heading down the street. Syella pulled me from the corner as we sprinted to take cover behind a car that escaped being used as a projectile in the previous attack, myself not feeling as safe given the lift fields I'd seen the justicar put out. Gunfire from the seven combatants started. Overload and dampening mines from the professional mercs lanced out, only for the justicar's barriers to morph into a swirling maelstrom, detonating the mines far enough out to cause only a distortion in her protection rather than short out equipment or disrupt eezo impulses.
Still they moved forward, green and blue salt-tracers streaking through the air as they tried to keep her barrier off-balanced enough for gunfire to get through and prevent any more overt attacks. The six mercs paired up and leap-frogged towards her, suppressing the justicar with streams of disruptor rounds from the turians and human. Green impacts of chemical rounds from the batarians' SMGs sparkled on the ground as the swirling barrier bounced them, the two grey-skinned aliens alternating with their turian cover-buddies while the human's Mattock fire allowed the krogan to move to closer cover, darting to the corner of the adjacent building that afforded more protection.
Need to move soon, best to run while she's distracted. Pair of us might escape notice as noncombatants if all we do is run away.
The more advanced gear and professional soldiers seemed to be slowing her down, until a burst from the asari-made rifle phased through one of the batarian's shields, the back of his helmet spraying brown blood as the corpse fell over. The turian, now robbed of covering fire, was lifted into the air before being hurled at the human, a biotic detonation knocking both out into the open where the phasic round stream killed them both, scattering vials of contraband as their advancement ground to a halt.
With the death of his human teammate the krogan lost control, a fortification package triggering as the Graal Spike Thrower stopped pounding on the maelstrom of a barrier and was shifted to one hand as the krogan started to charge. Thundering footsteps of a one-sixty-kilogram reptile in heavy armor building up momentum as he roared at the significantly smaller asari. A second of automatic fire did nothing as her phasic rounds failed to penetrate the closing target's armor. I had a moment of resignation as I expected her to crumple under the charge. Too hopeful for thoughts with words.
A shimmering blue enveloped the krogan as she created a lift-field, the massive form swept off his feet but continuing forward momentum with his head tilted down, still roaring in challenge as the Graal raised to fire. Biotic-wreathed hands pulsed and the momentum slowed while the Graal cracked open uselessly, those same hands reaching out to grab the edges of the krogans headplate. The reptile's body rolled over the smaller alien with its momentum but her grip remained, hands flaring with biotics for the second of motion. The orange plate ripped off and the krogan screamed in pain, the unworldly fluctuating pitch bellow sending a shiver down my spine.
The krogan landed as the plate was ripped away, trying to raise himself on stumpy arms before a causal memetic sent a throw that liquefied his brain, the grey gunk oozing onto the pavement. The pair of grenades that landed next to her unnoticed exploded, tossing her to the side with the force as her barrier reformed into a tighter sleeve.
Syella broke off at a run through the street while she was down, I followed and the pair of us made it to the next building unscathed, going around its back to put the prefab between us and the scene and hopefully stay out of sight. The fence of the spaceport drew closer, and I edged around first to take a look. The asari had recovered, remaining mercenaries dead but out of sight as we'd been behind the building. Syella caught me in a lift field, the gentle throw afterwards tossing me over the fence as she charged to my position in the air at the apex. Low-level of force as the pair of us tumbled down, my arms screaming in protest as I dropped the twenty feet and tucked into a roll, throwing them out at the end to slam against the concrete and bring me to a stop.
Recovering took too much time, and a voice rang out as I staggered to my knees, thanking my armor for my lack of broken bones, the power-assist doing its job as I landed. Syella was already running to the closest ship, I got up to follow slower then I would of preferred. Abject terror as a voice rang out, Syella's stunt having been detected.
"Halt, human. You have yet to fight and may still live if you are innocent." I froze and turned around while Syella started to hammer on the now-closed door to a turian pinnace, screaming and pleading for them to let us in. Now facing the being that forced us to flee from the town, a mix of dread and fury bubbled up past the solid front I thought I was presenting.
Frantically trying to come up with a plan, a spike of pain made me catch my head in my hands as I stumbled from the distraction, the justicar noticing and stopping her advancing walk to now look at Syella, almost broken down and on her knees as she uselessly banged on the unmoving door. Our pursuer's stance tightened and pace increased, having already passed through the entrance in a biotic charge. I frantically glanced around my vicinity to look for something, any piece of machinery, any weapon or just any sensory hazard I could use as a distraction. Fears and images swelled, visions of my own neck snapped by red-armored hands, terror of memories being ravaged as I lay unmoving on the ground.
My lips moved, stream of curses moving out as I stood frozen in panic, Syella's fists still pounding on the door as my mind filtered out the sobs. I didn't need to blot them out, the explosion that rang throughout the bay did that for me as the shockwave slammed me off my feet. I lay on the ground dazed for a second, picking myself up as Syella did the same from being thrown against the pinnace door. I looked around, the cargo door on the opposite side having exploded outwards to reveal a squad of human and turian local mercs pushing from behind a APC-model M-080 Bull, the extended troop bay topped with a turret mounting housing a Revenant LMG.
Humans and turians wearing grey urban-camo hardsuits rushed out, the Revenant spewing a stream of explosive rounds that lit up the justicar's barrier with light, the roiling maelstrom all but disappearing under the barrage as she was buffeted by flashbangs tossed by the mercs, dropping to her knees but maintaining the field.
Shaken out of my stupor by Syella, a nudge sent us running past the justicar's position, skirting the edge of the fence and exiting through the main entrance. My ears throbbed, no sound of explosions or the firefight behind us. Outside the port, I was shoved down against a wrecked car in a daze, not able to hear what my partner was shouting. There was a cool stinging sensation as she dispensed medigel into my left ear, fumbling with my helmet a second later before slamming it on my head, the suit automatically sealing when it hit the collar. I felt the shockwave of another explosion ever so slightly, the pair of us looking out from behind the car and into the bay area.
Carnage, the AFV having been tossed clear from the ground to slam into the cargo hauler also berthed, the two metal hulks twisted into each other. The mercs were smeared masses of limbs identifiable by pools of red and blue, the same turian pinnace Syella had been pleading with ripped open by something. The justicar stood over the pilot, pulled from the remnants of the cockpit. Black eyes shifted back to grey as she stood up and removed her hand from the turian, who scrambled away from the scene in a burst of movement. She hadn't turned to see us yet.
Find something or you die, no way you can escape on foot. A car over there, still intact with panicked civilian trying to escape. I have nothing else.
Not seeing an alternative I ran to the car, drawing my pistol as I approached the vehicle and terrified driver standing outside it. Pistol waving, I screamed at him to get out of the way, to start the vehicle. The terrified man complied, almost tensing as if about to be shot as he fumbled with his omni-tool for a few seconds. The car luckily did start and I swung into the driver's side, Syella deducing the plan and swinging herself into the back seat before turning to face my eyes in the mirror. I slammed the pedal down in panic as my attention flicked between avoiding the wreckage on the street as we built up speed and listening to her rapid, shallow breaths. A block away and I slightly relaxed despite flooring the vehicle, noting the low-quality car would go only up to one-eighty klicks an hour.
I just stole a car at gunpoint. Added armed robbery to your list of issues you little fuckup, sure that monk-thing has no reason to spare you at this point.
A frantic statement from Syella. "Go faster human! Go goddess-fucking faster she's behind us!"
Startled, I looked at the rearview and almost lost control of the steering in disbelief. A series of biotic charges from the justicar allowed her to catch up to us in spurts, lining up on the same street we were on and clearing the wreckage. Her red-armor settled into a biotics-assisted run that all but flew over the pavement and was able to keep pace with us through the streets, though hampered by other vehicles and pedestrians. I saw the streak of a mass-effect tunnel in the mirror as I lost sight of her but continued to drive. Dodging the now-panicking civilian crowds as local militia and mercs exchanged fire led me down a side street, only to have the roof of the car cave in slightly as the justicar launched downwards in yet another biotic charge. The roof slammed and deformed inwards from the blow, a sharp gasp from my passenger at the impact followed by the stowaway beginning to warp through the top rather than risk fire from the windows.
Syella blew out a window with her biotics, quickly landing a throw that sent the assailant stumbling enough that her balanced wavered as I swerved, the red-armored form tumbling to the ground and rolling before I lost sight of it. More of the grey urban-camo mercs were on the street now, dueling with another group in purple gear as frantic civilians scattered from the chaos-induced fighting. I had to slow for the mob of civilians to clear out, not willing to mow my way through a crowd.
I caught something in the mirror as I check it after clearing the crowd, an old hoverbike model made in imitation by human companies of a turian design encountered in the First Contact War. It seemed slower than I expected, probably weighed down by the extra armor slapped all over the body and painted in the same urban grey and blue highlights that the mercs had. What caught my eye was the figure atop in red armor, less shiny now that it was caked in grit and scorch marks, leaning way too hard on the handlebars but still chasing us.
The stretch of road cleared up, and I began to pick up speed as the hoverbike closed at a slower rate, a good few blocks still between us. My intended destination was a private dock one of the local PMC's owned, known for always having a corvette or two landed on-planet in case of needing to vacate or provide quick transportation. Then the car started to take fire, a few shots as I swore thanks the engine seemed to be in the front compartment, the non-air tires immune to being completely ruined with a single hit from her assault rifle. A shimmering barrier appeared in the rear mirror and I mumbled a thanks to my companion, doing what I could to avoid losing any speed as I made the turn out of the port-town and onto the little-used and poorly-maintained highway. Straightaway for several minutes as the bike approached ever closer, before the road turned into a gradual curve around the cliff formation that the private dock was situated in.
Not far now, I might make it out of this shit.
I'd spoken too soon, the gradual curve revealing a section of the road covered in collapsed rock and debris, scattered with room to maneuver between but not enough to maintain speed. I gritted my teeth and took the hit, the bike gaining a few dozen meters on us as the fire continued to hammer Syella's barrier in the rear mirror. Struck with inspiration of the rocks I looked up, the arches that towered over the road a source of the debris falling, not yet cleared out due to how disused the ground-route was. I had an idea.
I shouted to Syella. "Warp the rocks!"
"What?!" Her voice was strained, keeping the barrier up behind our vehicle and sending the occasional throw to buffet the bike.
I snapped out a response quickly, trying to pick one out that would work with my HUD giving size figures. "Rock tower up ahead, around 300 meters now. Collapse it as we go under."
A grunt in response, I left it at that. Warp fields sprung to life and writhed into the cracks, spreading their residue throughout the worn stone. A biotic pulse detonated them with a small thunderclap occured as we passed under, the the mirror view filled with tumbling stone and a massive dust cloud. We continued on the curve unmolested, the edge wall of the compound coming into view a few seconds before the hoverbike did, probably slowing to boost its vertical traverse and clear the obstacle.
We slammed to a stop as a kinetic barrier shimmered to life and blocked the vehicle access port, the tires screeching in protest as the brakes were floored hard and I spun the vehicle. I hopped out quickly, Syella doing the same from the back and staying on the inwards side of the vehicle. Humans in grey and red armor stood on the wall, and I mulled over what to say for a second.
Syella instead spoke first, to the point and effective. "Justicar on the hoverbike, we'll pay for a ride out of here."
A moment of staring from one of the mercs before he made a hand gesture. The kinetic barrier fell for a second and we scrambled inside, the field re-asserting itself almost immediately after we were clear. Mercs shuffled to defensive positions, spreading out so biotics didn't wipe out full squads while trying to lay down overlapping fields of fire from various vantage points on the wall and secure crates on our side of the barrier.
Just in time, the hoverbike engine whined as it decelerated and the justicar stepped off. Deep, medium blue skin with her previously grey eyes now yellow from activated contacts with some sort of tech. Her body armor was red, trimmed and ornamental in design but with overlapping protection and joints that presented a decent range of motion while weirdly emphasizing curves. She stepped off the bike, calmly striding up to the barrier and inspecting it with a glance and a brief surge in the yellow of her eyes as the scanners flared. Silence as everyone stood still, the mercs cocky behind protection while I slowly tried to back away without drawing to myself.
She spoke. "Human, that you run makes me suspect you may not be so innocent as I'd assumed. You've not attacked me yourself yet and may yet not have to die, but the actions of your companion during the chase ensure that she will die by my code, regardless of my prior intentions." The flat emotionless tone creeped me out a bit more than even Syella's presence at this point. "Lower the barrier and surrender, and you may yet provide a reason to live if I judge you clean."
Her rifle is aimed despite the barrier. You remember from watching before that she has high-grade phasic rounds. They may be enough to punch through and do damage to light armor from behind the curtain. I need to get to cover.
A glance at Syella, her posture bouncing from side to side slowly as her left side faced the justicar. I tried to disguise a nod to her as rolling my neck for a stretch in pondering or nerves. She didn't seem to notice, I suppressed a pang of guilt as irrelevant. Making my move I lunged, jumping behind a secure crate as she opened fire, phasic rounds passing through the barrier and clipping the neck of the merc officer not wearing a helmet, her form spinning to the left as it collapsed downwards. A flick of her hand and three mercs on the wall were pulled off in a field, spinning in the air as they floated outside the compound walls.
I ducked behind the crate as Syella joined me a second after, hearing the now-familiar sound of a biotic charge that preceded a scream and dull impact, before I felt a lift field envelope my own limbs and I drifted out of cover, two meters above the ground and out of reach as I spun. Luckily the justicar's focus shifted as a carnage round slammed into her swirling barrier, a few flashbangs tossed in the lapse of action it enabled. I lost sight for a second while they primed, my spin revealing she'd dropped and tucked herself up before they could explode, barrier still up. A blast of sound was filtered out by my helmet, and I was impacted by a throw-field from Syella's position.
The blast sent me hurling towards the ship, a good half the distance to the corvette's hangar bay before the lift field failed and I dropped, barely managing to catch myself without a roll with a leg spread out uncomfortably.
Mercs inside the bay had raised up sections of the hangar floor to use as cover, but all too often were picked up by biotics and perforated with the assault rifle while helpless. I watched a group of three in heavier gear that had been harrying the justicar with flashbangs succumb to a rippling series of shockwaves, tossed up by the explosions before a field crushed them back down into the metal pad floor. I sprinted behind a larger C-CAN crate, modular exterior cargo crate for a ship hopefully providing protection from the biotics. Syella was already behind it, having moved at some point while I was occupied. Another set of mercs fell to a lift field and warp detonation, leaving just us and three left.
The justicar still advanced, now no longer threatened by grenades or heavy weapons she methodically moved towards the corvette while the swirling barrier bounced fire from the remaining mercs. She moved past another prefab container, and the mercs all opened up with tech-mines that uselessly were buffeted aside, the overloads potentially doing damage to her armor's shields but negligible against the barrier that was the main issue.
The door to the cargo container burst open, several hundred pounds of metal smashing into her as she was flung aside at the impact, barrier tightening and flickering while rounds pinged off her armor for the first time. I finally acted, ducking out of cover as the green tracer of a sabotage tech-dart fired from my omni-tool, her rifle initiating a purge command afterwards to deal with the gunk and heat. A yellow-coloured metal body stamped out of the container in question, a human-made construction exo suit sending metallic footfalls as it advanced towards her. She finally reformed the barrier before any rounds hit her unprotected head, quickly leaping to the side to avoid the myomer and hydraulic-powered arms that smashed into her location a second later, denting the reinforced floor.
A blue lift-field surrounded the suit, and it strained for a second before settling back down, own eezo core and mass able to deal with her depleted reserves of energy. Her tactics switched as the suit was instead engulfed in a warp field, myomer bundles unravelling and splintering as the dark energy ate away at the suit, a more contained ball of warp-energy splashing into the torso and flooding the operator area with warp-residue. The operator screamed, speakers on the suit amplifying her frantic and torment-induced sounds as the legs were in turn collapsed by another blast, the suit finally toppling over.
My backing away turned into a full-fledged sprint towards the corvette bay now only a few dozen meters away, storm function on my armor activating as I made it up the ramp and hunkered around the corner of a crate secured-down for maneuvers. I flash-fabricated a thirty-second lifespan camera from my omni and stuck it on the side of the crate, streaming to my HUD to watch without exposing myself.
The suit operator's pained screams still rang out, amplified from the speakers and making me uneasy as they got increasingly short-breathed and wet, the baleful howling setting my teeth on-edge. Balls of warp energy lanced out and struck the ship, and the lack of a disintegrated pursuer indicated the GARDIAN emitters had been distorted beyond use. Syella tried making a break for it to the hangar but was caught with a throw and stumbled, only for the biotic charge from the justicar to send her to the floor afterwards. I got out of cover as she advanced on the downed asari, dropping to my belly and unslinging my marksman rifle. The heavier shots rung off her barriers, each tap doing little to the re-established if diminished maelstrom but catching her attention long enough for Syella to retaliate.
Blue energy lanced out from the smaller asari, a torrent of biotic force that crackled and pushed against the justicars barrier while the smaller form rolled to her feet. Warp-balls flung between the two impacted barriers with distinctive and soul-heavy impacts as Syella backed into the hangar, the justicar's barrier becoming less of a maelstrom and closer to something recognizable with each impact. A dampening tech-dart from me curved around Syella only to be flung away from the barrier, the green-tracered streak expending uselessly against the floor in a shower of sparks. I rolled back behind the crate, taking a moment to refill my gauntlet's supply of omni-gel from a solid brick on my belt, adding the cube of eezo-suspended mix to the secondary slot that the dampening mines required.
This ship can't take off with that level of biotics being thrown around. Crew is waiting for this to end one way or another before they try to leave. You need to do something, how many other people died by your actions today. I didn't kill them. You lured her here for a fight, she killed them as they defended themselves, that's on you.
The two asari were now closer, silently trading blows of biotic force rather than warp blasts. Silhouettes of warp energy competed with their barriers on each of them, savaging armor slowly but surely as the fight wore on. For the first time a sound of exertion came from the justicar, the roar of sound coinciding with a biotic shockwave that sent Syella flying back and dropped her barrier to an almost normal level. Once again advancing on her downed target she ignored the shots from my marksman rifle impacting her torso, a throw sending me back when my fire shifted to her face.
I crashed against the end of the bay a few meters back, winded and slumping to the floor. I raised my omni-tool, deciding a mine rather then a dart was a better course of action and preparing it. I was interrupted by the belch of smoke and roar of a omni-gel "distortion" rocket that lanced out from the shipboard entrance to corvettes cargo bay. The glowing munition exploded against the justicar and sent her stumbling back, barrier barely intact and armor blackened from sheer heat. My omni-mine launched and her eyes narrowed, barrier shorting out in the green arcs that erupted as it hit the ground next to her. Assault rifle fire pinged on her armor as purple blood seeped out onto the ground, her form managing to roll to cover to wait out the dampening effects.
Still slumped against the wall I felt the ground shift, the corvette now deciding to make a run for it while her biotics were down. Syella charged into the hangar and ended up stumbling to the floor after emergence, lying spread-eagled in the middle of the bay. The cargo door finished closing and the ship accelerated away, sonic boom inaudible inside as it got higher and higher into the atmosphere. My head throbbed almost as if a reminder, and I gritted my teeth as the medical suite in my suit did little for the bruising, painkillers administered along with medi-gel.
Now coming down from the adrenaline of the fight, my anger rose at the other armored form slumped on the deck. Sympathy and guilt over my actions along with annoyance - and fear - at hers. I shuffled around, refilling the medical suite with one of the medi-gel vials I'd snagged earlier. Images clamoured for attention; the plateless krogan and the downed exo-suit coming to mind to be shoved aside as I focussed my thoughts. Doing so brought the need to vomit after the days events out, bile rising in my throat that I forced myself to swallow. Armored footsteps sounded on the bay floor, and I glanced up at the form walking towards me.
"Hey, who let you guys on anyways. Not complaining since your asari's probably the only reason we got off-planet, but we don't exactly deal with strangers usually."
I looked up at the speaker, an average-height guy wearing the same armor as the rest of the group including his helmet, rifle held casually and the barrel still glowing from the omni-rocket it had launched.
I fumbled for a second as I tried to speak, mouth not quite working until I steadied myself for a few seconds. "The officer at the gate who wasn't wearing a helmet, I didn't get a name before she let us in. Thanks for getting us out."
Trying to be careful with my words and not upset our rescuers, I popped my helmet off and set the folded object back on its shoulder mount before broaching the next subject. "Sorry about the guys who, well, died. That's not how we wanted things to go."
Smooth work, seems you have a knack for making friends today.
Weirdly enough, he waved it off with a dismissive gesture and un-upset tone. "Eh, new guys to the crew always have a high turnover rate. It's best not to get attached, how about the two of ya come up and I'll show ya the captain. He wants to talk and its best not to keep him waiting."
Nodding, I spared a glance at Syella as she walked up to stand on in front of me on the left. Glancing around in the more relaxed conditions during the trip I began to examine the surroundings. Small ship with a small cargo bay, the back entrance having a staircase leading to the upper deck that the crewman had arrived from. Entering the upper deck was a close to standard corvette config, a hallway with various stations on either side and officers' quarters and pod rooms behind us. Strolling past a mix of batarian and human crew members we came up to who I assumed was the captain, a human with a scarred face and glowing cybernetic left eye who turned to speak to us in gravel-sounding tones.
"We'll drop you off at the trade post we hit next, but more the meantime feel free to get yourselves comfortable." He snapped back around with a slightly annoyed motion, something I considered appropriate in the situation.
I nodded, then turned around only to walk smack into a batarian that had silently gotten behind me. An armor-assisted arm smashed into my jaw and sent me sprawling to the floor where I lay without a sound. I saw a flash of light as biotics flared before another impacting sound coincided with the light disappearing, an asari grunting in pain before another thud sounded. A series of curses followed by a scream and an electronic sizzling before a form loomed over my unfocussed vision, heedless of my dazed attempts to roll over.
"You'll pay us back another way." The gravely tones of the captain spoke, but the form looming over me appeared batarian, needle-like teeth visible in a smirk as a glowing orange blob appeared. Said blob coincided with a momentary sting on my neck, and a fleeting second of painful struggle before the world dripped away from my eyes like paint on a canvass.
Horizon Travel Guide: Trinity Falls.
Welcome to the Horizon Tourist Bureau local extranet site! For options please see the settings page or consult your browser's help module.
Trinity Falls is a smaller port-town approximately 682 kilometers from the nearest city of Acadian Sunset. This small town boasts a fluctuating population of approximately 3,000 humans and 3,600 assorted alien species; primarily turian, asari, salarian and batarian.
The town's primary economic contributions are the several smaller spaceport docks, which ship high-end dome-grown dextro foods and luxuries to neary turian colonies and bring in a significant amount of credits to the local economy.
Let one of the local travel agencies provide you with a safe hotel, as while we on Horizon do our best to limit crime and unscrupulous activity, some invariably occurs as a result of species and cultures mixing with high-value products. Do not fear! Trinity Falls is safe despite the rougher edges, though civilians are recommended to carry a firearm simply to not be considered a target.
With exotic bars and clubs, and assortment of available marketing goods often limited in availability, and the rich amount of cultures and species available, Trinity Falls is a prime example of Horizon's tourism industry and fit for you and your friends to explore, blow off steam or just enjoy the independence of the colonies!
TRAVEL ADVISORY: As of 07/04/2182 Trinity Falls was involved in an escalation of conflict between biotic commandos and mercenary gangs that resulted in over 400 assorted casualties; mostly at the hands of local mercenary groups attacking each other and colonial forces in the chaos. Until further notice travel is not advised, and colonial authorities are cracking down on the hub.