Chapter 2: The Spectre
Calm down and get straight
It's in our eyes, it's how we operate
You're true, you are.
A little joy, a little sorrow
And a little pride
So we won't have to borrow.
Kaidan Alenko was by no means a man prone to curse. Quite the opposite – he prided himself with the ability to stay calm in most situations and keep his thoughts focused. Curses were not more than a waste of precious energy and even more precious time and since he was also a man that was prone to be under fire, he could not afford to lose either.
It had thus to be attributed to the bullet that got stuck somewhere in his leg armor, the biotic hum that grew louder (and angrier) by the minute somewhere not many steps behind him and probably mostly to the gun pointing at his face that he did take the time to utter a quiet "Shit". Just as a side note – the fact that they had just watched the release of a biotic wave that had killed not only one or two, but overall at least five soldiers… Well. That was not helping the tension in the air.
Shepard moved faster than he did, raising the sniper rifle like it was a part of her arm almost casually and stepping to the side, and he did not need to look at her to know she would nod ever so lightly to the right side. James followed the wordless command and moved to the other side and immediately the pistol that had been pointed at Kaidan was leveled at the tall soldier.
"Don't come any closer or I will shoot", the woman at the other end of the rifle said in a dangerously low voice. She wore no armor and blood was trickling from her nose – a biotic backlash if he had ever seen one. He could feel her biotics, angry and surging around her, and felt his own skin crawling with the familiar feeling. A quick scan confirmed his first thought that she was one of the teachers of Grissom Academy – there was no insignia of Cerberus to be seen anywhere and she looked like she had been in a fight. Her brunette hair had at some point been pulled up to a ponytail, but at the moment it looked rather disheveled and loose. Despite the blood on her clothes and boots and the way she was pressing one arm against her chest (fractured rib or broken arm?), she had her hazel eyes trained on Shepard, while she was pointing the pistol at James, unwavering.
The woman was shaking slightly, almost not noticeable, but had her feet firmly planted on the floor. Her eyes wandered between the three of them, reluctant to let anybody out of her immediate sight, as though she expected them to shoot her the very next moment.
Shepard took another careful step, slow and without any emotion on her face. Immediately the teacher flared, blue biotic currents dancing around her – it was a desperate measure, because her nosebleed intensified and she stumbled slightly. If she kept going, she would pass out – or worse, overheat her amp.
Kaidan lowered his rifle and slowly extended his arms outwards as a sign of surrender that did not go unnoticed by Shepard, who threw him a quick glance he could not quite interpret.
"We are Alliance", Shepard said in her unmistakable even voice, calm and quiet and reassuring. James moved just a tiny step to be right next to her and the teacher's hand twitched, gun raised to aim at his forehead. It was a useless maneuver, because despite the fact that they had taken off their helmets, their shields were at full capacity and would block any bullet coming their way.
"I said don't move", the woman repeated tensely, but Kaidan could feel the biotic forces dancing around her lessening and calming. He took a few steps back, arms still extended and very slowly and beckoned to Jack and her students to stop and wait at their position instead of pass through the door.
"We are Alliance, I am commander Shepard", Shepard repeated, "We were sent here to help with the evacuation and assist in any way we can." She slowly lowered her sniper rifle and nodded at James, who reluctantly let his shotgun drop to his side, not taking his eyes off the possible threat the woman represented.
The woman barked out a laughter that lacked any positive feeling, and then said: "Help? Say that to my students." Kaidan wasn't sure if she was about to finally let her arm drop and before he could so much as try to say something, Jack stalked through the doors with a snarl on her face, pushed him aside without so much as a look and gave them all a onceover.
"What's this bull….sense here?!", she demanded to know. "We have no time for one of your tea parties, Shepard! Every minute we spend here gawking around is a minute where more of those f..reaking bastards enter the station!"
James did not even have the decency to try and hide his grin, but Kaidan assumed that he should already consider it thoughtful of the soldier to not say anything right then and there about impending tea parties. However, that could also be attributed to the fact that Jack did not exactly allow much time for snide comments, because she simply moved past Shepard, grabbed the gun in the other teacher's hand and pushed it away to the side before she turned back to look at Shepard.
"Are you f…loating idiots or what? We're under attack and we're on the same side, you nut-heads. Let's get going", she barked and when her fellow teacher only reluctantly stepped back, she turned to face her. "Jill, we don't have time for this. That's Shepard, I know her. She really is one of those little boy scouts, their queen, probably. Now move!"
And just like that Jack passed by them once again, waved her students to follow her and waited for Shepard to start moving again. The commander shot her one exasperated look, but then started to move forward again, putting a hand on the teacher's – no, Jill's shoulder. "We will get you out of here. Stay next to Major Alenko", she ordered and looked at him. He nodded his understanding and within moments they were on the move again.
Jill was able to keep pace, but looked quite pale and kept her arm pressed against her body. Kaidan quietly pulled an energy bar from one of his many pockets and offered it to her: "Here, take a few bites. It will not help much, but it will keep your metabolism going until we're on the ship."
She reached out hesitantly, wrapping her fingers around it and offered him a tired smile. "You might have need of that yourself in just a few minutes", she said, but he simply shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile. "I have more of those, don't worry", he assured her and looked ahead. Shepard was leading ahead and had commanded James to fall in behind as rearguard. The soldier kept looking over his shoulder to make sure they were not followed, but ever so often his gaze would land on Jill, as if he expected her to do something stupid or perhaps break down any minute now.
As Jack moved up to them, Kaidan immediately made way for her. The woman was small but had a remarkable temper and even in the few minutes he knew her he had learned that it was best not to stand in her way. "Where are the little guys?", Jack asked her colleague and Jill lowered her gaze, breaking eye contact. "Dead", she answered and Kaidan felt a pang of guilt at not arriving here faster.
"The door is blocked", Shepard suddenly announced in front of them and when he looked up, he could see her running her hand over the door-lock interface. She was pressing her lips together angrily and finally moved back to bring up a map of the academy on her omni-tool and check for alternate routes.
Kaidan walked past her and connected his omni-tool with the electronic interface of the door without even waiting for her to say anything else. "It has been hacked closed, but I can overwrite that. Just give me a minute, it won't take longer than that", he let her know and started to find a way to get through the firewall they had set up when hacking the door locked.
"Good. There is one alternate route, but it would cost us an additional 10 minutes and they could flank us easily if we had to try that one, probably already have set up an ambush. I still have no radio-contact with Sanders, but she should have the shuttle ready by now", Shepard answered him and impatiently shifted wait from one leg to the other as he worked. He could feel sweat form on his brow, less from his work on the door, but because the temperature in the academy had been climbing steadily over the last few minutes. Perhaps Cerberus had also hacked the temperature control to try and pressure them or perhaps it had been an involuntarily result from the destruction of one of the command rooms. God knew they'd not cared for what exactly their bullets and missiles hit.
The telltale clicking sound let him know that he had achieved his goal and he stepped back, rifle raised ready to shoot at sight, Shepard right beside him.
The door swooshed open and revealed a long empty corridor and the faint sound of gunshots and explosions not far from them. Shepard lead on and with a sign of her hand, James appeared next to her, readying his shotgun. "There is the auditorium behind the next door, big room with gallery up on the top. Just behind that is the shuttle Sanders has located and secured", Shepard told them and moved forward cautiously.
The noise grew louder with each step and Kaidan could feel that something heavy had landed not far from them as the floor vibrated ever so slightly beneath his feet. He could feel his biotics pulsing under his skin, growing increasingly difficult to keep bottled up and shut down like he had been ordered to by Chakwas.
"Sounds like Cerberus knows we're coming", James growled and cast a look at their leader, who stood now poised in front of the door separating them from the auditorium. "Sounds like they have a heavy mech in there", he added then and an almost feral grin appeared on his lips.
"We have to move fast. Our objective is to reach the shuttle. Jack, Jill – you and your pupils stand behind us, we will give you covering fire. Kaidan, you move with them, make sure their path is free. James and me will keep them off your backs. When we enter, you all get into cover – you move on my sign", Shepard ordered, her green eyes scanning the pupils' faces.
"Aye, aye", Kaidan and James murmured automatically, while Jack gave an impatient nod and let her biotics flare up again. Kaidan cast one last glance at Jill, who was holding her gun at the ready and looked stable enough despite her wounds for now. She had moved to the other side of the pupils and looked determined, anger obvious in the way she had her brows knitted together and the dark shine in her eyes.
"Now!", Shepard said and pressed the interface to let the door slide open. They moved immediately, diving behind benches and columns for cover, bullets zipping past their heads. Kaidan risked a peak around the column and could see Shepard cloaking and moving in to align herself for one of her perfect headshots. He was surprised by the sheer amount of troopers, Centurions and other Cerberus soldiers already congregated in this room, but once he scanned the room, he knew why.
They were not alone. Close to the door on the opposite side of the auditorium, the one they needed to reach, were two Alliance soldiers. They were covering behind a downed heavy mech and were only partially visible to them, until one of them moved to cover behind a column, throwing a Heavy Shockwave towards a patch of incoming troopers.
His gaze registered the blue insignia on their right shoulders and he blinked in surprise. "They are Biotic Ops", he shouted to Shepard, firing at a Centurion that had emerged from a hole in the wall in one corner of the room. "They are both under my command."
The two soldiers had registered them as well and their comm.-link flared alive as the one behind the heavy mech tuned into their wavelength. "Operations Chief Andrews, Special Operations Biotic Company reporting in", a male voice said in a pressed tone. The soldier moved up from behind the cover to quickly overload the shields of another Centurion that was dispatched quickly by James.
"Sitrep", Shepard ordered and took out a Nemesis that had honed in on one of the pupils. "A first group of students has been evacuated with one of our man and Lieutenant Sanders. One shuttle is ready for evacuation, Lieutenant Grimm decided to keep position until your arrival. More Cerberus troops are incoming", Andrews reported and grunted when a grenades exploded right in front of his cover, pushing it hard against him.
"We have two teachers and five pupils. We need covering fire – and draw the heavy mech away from here", Shepard said and appeared next to Kaidan, ducking into cover as her cloak dissipated. She held her hand up for Jack to see and kept ready. "Aye, aye", a female voice confirmed over their comm.-link and Kaidan readied for the sprint towards the shuttle.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Author's Comment: Thank you very much for the feedback and the reviews we have gotten. :) We apologize for letting this rest for so long, but life is throwing things at us that keep us very busy. :/ We hope to be faster with updating from here on out! :)
Please feel free to let us know if you like this story so far, if there is any way to improve it and if you have any suggestions! We hope you enjoyed this chapter - more action is imminent in Chapter 3!
