published: 3/15/16; update: 5/4/16

"Fear can claim what little faith remains"
- Reignite by Malukah

Arcadia

The rain still pattered down on them. It drummed down on her helmet, her chest- and shoulder plates increasing the weight of her armor before it beaded down off of her in small rivers. Only to be replaced by the next heavy and cold load of rainwater. And although her armor was able to withstand even the rigors of outer space she couldn't help but feel a chill running down her spine and causing goose bumps on her skin.
But Max couldn't mind that right now.
She tried to concentrate and focus on taking in the familiar and welcoming scent of Arcadia and its surrounding forests that gave off a light whiff of blooming pines during this time of the year. Or the fresh and salty sea aroma near the adjacent shores, when the waves came in, crashing down at the cliffs near the city on windy days like this one.
She failed bitterly in trying to do so.
All there was right now was the penetrant tang of wet concrete under her boots and the biting stink of the spaceship's overheated motors, which caused the air to flicker around them like it does, when different temperature extrema commingle. Meanwhile the oil from their gearboxes formed its oil-slick rainbow-patterns on the dank ground. Only to be disturbed and rearranged by a never-ending flow of raindrops crashing into the uncountable puddles all over Arcadia's main spaceport.

"Finally some fresh air, huh?!" Warren uttered directly behind her. He had to speak in a loud voice to overcome the rain's noise and those clamorous engines that still continued to clang for a while, even after their shutdown.

Max took a peak over her shoulder to face him through the rain-sprinkled visor of her helmet, but couldn't figure out if he was jesting or if he actually had meant it, so she didn't respond. And neither did Victoria, who just wrinkled her nose at the stench.

The Commander's two squadmates followed behind her within arms reach. The trio had to make its way alongside the spacevessel's entire length and towards the three men, who were approaching them from the port's ATC tower a few hundred meters away.

She could watch the half a dozen M-35 Mako they had brought all the way to Arcadia. And right now these tanks finally got unloaded from the cargo bay. They slowly rolled down the ship's huge main hangar ramp in the rear, before driving off in a convoy towards the port's nearest parking space.

Meanwhile the Blackwell's technicians under Chief Engineer Scott performed their usual safety inspection. They checked the ships outside for any damage from the last week in space and the following rough descend, which might have caused some issues hindering their next launch.

Everything was just standard procedure. Even in this deluge of a rainstorm.

In front of her the men were much closer already: All three were wearing uniform as well as light arms. The one walking ahead of them had a dark moustache and wore a cap reading a bright white 'SECURITY' on it. The spaceport's personnel as it appears.

"Officer Madsen at your service!" The leader of the welcoming committee saluted harshly as soon as they came within hearing range before he added a "Welcome to Arcadia." without any detectable friendliness: The phrase almost went under in the surrounding noise.

Either way Max was already about to lift her arm to reciprocate the formal salute as a matter of routine, when she noticed something about the men's uniforms. "Wait... You're not Alliance, are you?"

Victoria next to her stiffened immediately at the discovery. "Who are you then? Talk, civilian!"

"Just as I said: Officer David N. Madsen. I'm the official and presiding Security Officer in this colony. And who are you, if I may ask humbly?" his attitude was filled with sarcastic rudeness while the men at his side remained in silence.

"We are the requested reinforcement, Mister... erm... Officer Madsen." Max replied before her XO would explode "I am Commander Caulfield. Leading Officer of the SSV Blackwell." She pointed her thumb across her shoulder and at the ship.

Madsen's gaze followed her direction. "The Blackwell?" He read the name on the ship out loud. "Never heard of a 'battle of Blackwell'. What kind of joke is this?"

Warren jumped in at the question: "She's no frigate, if you think that! The Blackwell's been formally defined as a cruiser. Just look at our heavy cargo."

"This... is supposed to be a cruiser?! I've seen larger commercial ships already. And this here doesn't even possess any firepower worth mentioning. I just knew you Alliance would be a disappointment. Just like always, isn't it?"

"HEY!" This guy provoked Max's waning patience as well by now. "I won't accept criticism by any civilian security guard! You hailed us - here we are! Now deal with what you've been given! I can't see anything threatening this colony, anyways!"

"It wasn't me, who wanted your help! If it had been for me, you guys were still lightyears away from this planet and would let us in peace with your warmongering and your giant guns!" He nodded towards the tanks, which meanwhile had parked in the distance.

"What do you mean 'it wasn't you'? Where's Arcadia's garrison? Where's the Alliance on this planet?"

Madsen eyeballed her for a second before he answered with a sigh. "Follow me inside. I'll explain as soon as we're out of this wet mess."

He turned around and the three security guards escorted Max and her squadmates leaving the Blackwell behind and heading through the rain towards the spaceport's flight control tower, from where the Security Officer and his subordinates had come from.

They covered most of the distance in silence until Max heard Madsen again addressing a question to Gunnery Chief Graham. "This an M-6 you're carrying there, son?" He pointed at the assault-rifle in Warren's hands.

"Yes, sir. It is." Warren held up his gun, in order to display it, whilst walking.

Max knew how proud her Marine Commander was being able to use such an antiquity. The weapon had been developed almost a quarter century ago by now and actually was terribly outdated today. But it still did got the job done and she could understand how the soldier would be into old fashioned stuff like this. Everything was much easier back then.

"Nice choice. I didn't know anybody still uses one of these nowadays. They'd been basic equipment back in my time. When we fought those turian bastards off of our colony on Shanxi." Remembered Madsen. "But then everything went south afterwards."

And it still does...


Inside the ATC it was finally quiet enough to talk undisturbed. As Max entered the room together with the rest of the group it was already brightly illuminated with artificial light to keep the darkness of the cloudy and rainy weather outside. Only one of the lights wouldn't work properly and continued to flicker in an erratic rhythm in the far side of the place.
The whole room was filled with terminals for traffic control. Except that all of them but one were shut down right now. Not much traffic on Arcadia these days, huh? The one computer active currently showed a 3-D model of the Blackwell and some of her statistics and data on its screen. Probably the place from where we received our landing permission.
Max took off her helmet for the short moment in dryness. Through the window front towards the airfield she could still watch the going-ons outdoors and around the actual Blackwell and her crew. The storm lashed its heavy raindrops against the glass panes like it wanted to splinter them in pieces and break in. Meanwhile another lightning appeared beyond the far and foggy horizon and behind the conifer forests that had defined its shape ever since.

"The Alliance forces garrisoned on Arcadia have been annihilated." Madsen declared as soon as everybody was inside. "They were dead before the distress beacon's been activated about two weeks ago."

"What?!" Max, Victoria and Warren all three were shocked at the news. "What-... How's that possible?"

"They've been attacked and killed by some criminal gang on one of their routine missions. Dying in battle. That's what you guys always want, anyways, isn't it?"

"It's not! And how could a bunch of pirates murder an entire squadron? What the hell happened here?!" Victoria was more than upset by the turn of events.

"Their leader -Commander Amber- led them into an ambush, that's what happened!" The Security guard got angry again as well, but he managed to keep calm and continue. "These... pirates, or however you wanna call them, couldn't have been that well equipped. But it was apparently enough to defeat them."

Victoria became only more furious. "I want more details than that. Spit it out!"

"All we know is that one day an illegal mining site was set up far off, outside of Arcadia City. Sometimes they just appear, you know. Some scoundrels thinking it's a good idea to dig up some minerals or ores and smuggle 'em off planet. Make some quick money. But the Alliance, of course, always has the last word in these cases. 'Showing the flag' -especially after what happened fifteen years ago. And usually it works out perfectly and the scum shows the white feather as soon as anybody advances on them."

"But this time they were prepared." Max finished.

Madsen just nodded downcast. "We only found the remains some time after the battle. Your comrades probably showed their attackers a good fight and caused them so heavy losses that they had to retreat afterwards. But not prior to pick their corpses clean and looting what they could. Those scumbags!"

"And that's when you activated the distress beacon?"

"Well... yes." He looked up at her again. "But as I said before: It wasn't exactly me, who wanted your help." He gritted his teeth before he continued. "That damn asari that keeps-"

But he wasn't able to finish as this last part of his sentence went under in another rumble, shaking the whole room they were in. The whole place started to vibrate and the rest of the lights now also started to flicker. They were all startled by the sudden occurrence, but after a few seconds the earthquake was gone as quickly as it had begun as everything went back to normal and they were in silence again.

"An earthquake?" asked Warren downright silly.

"Yeah. They occur once in a while on Arcadia. But they're never stronger than this one. Never did any notable damage." The security guard shrugged his shoulders.

But Max was curious. "I can't remember experiencing any earthquakes the last time I was here."

"And when was that?"

"About fifteen years ago."

"Oh." For the first time Madsen showed some genuine empathy. "One of the orphans of the attack, I guess?"

It was to the Commander to nod this time .

"Well, these quakes just started to arise a few years ago. I don't know what causes them, but since they do nobody any harm, there's also nothing really to worry about, is there?"

Warren had to jump in there once more. "But it's strange: Arcadia isn't known for its seismic activity. In fact I believe any volcanism had seized a billion year-"

"That's interesting and all, Gunnery Chief, but we're not here to study the planets geological history, are we?" Victoria cut him short. "We're here to show these pirates what law and order is. Am I not right?"

The question was indirectly addressed at her Commander. "You're right. Although technically these criminals are no 'pirates'."

Max's First Officer just gave her a deadpan look so she clarified: "They operated on Arcadia, which is rightfully part of the Alliance and no law-free zone."

"Whatever, smartass. I propose we move out in thirty. Our forces should be ready, anyways, so why should we delay the mission? Mister Madsen, I expect you to send us the exact coordinates of that mining site, as well as where our predecessors were attacked. Anything else, Commander?"

Did she just call me a smartass?! "N... No, it's OK. You two go and instruct our crew while I'm going to write the report for Admiral Wells in the meantime."

"Aye, Commander!" Both Warren and Victoria saluted and headed towards the exit and into the storm outside.

Alone with the three guards Max only nodded her head as a 'thanks-for-the-help-but-goodbye' to Madsen and went on to follow her comrades.

"Commander!" Before she could turn around fully the Security Officer spoke up once more. "There is... something more I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"We errm... we lost... someone. We believe she's been captured by those... pirates. I don't want to cause any false hope, though... She's probably dead already."