The asari vessel Sword of Lucen had been a part of an expedition three millennia ago on the part of the asari to claim the omega 4 relay (and whatever nameless treasures lay beyond it). However, without a Reaper IFF signature, the trip had all but careened out of control in transit, and had no maneuvering thrusters left when they came through to the other side. They had crashed into one of the many Prothean wrecks and had lost hull integrity.
There had been no survivors. Not that surviving such an event would have even been desirable given their probable fate at the hands of a Collector salvage crew.
The drones manning each of the stations now, were a model of efficiency, following my mental commands to the letter. The asari ship had been given a full overhaul, pieced back together with signature Collector rock-looking bulkheads (organic bio-steel bulkheads, as it turned out). The overall effect had served to turn a somewhat incongruous space vessel into something that resembled a clawed hand, with two arched wings from a Densorin wreck bio-welded to each side.
"Do the Leviathans have something against curves and symmetry, Cheshire?" I asked the Leviathan-made android, who was moving from station to station on its self-proclaimed inspection.
"Symmetry makes it easy to identify critical areas of a vessel," the hulking synthetic answered. "Asymmetry seems to confuse organics and synthetics alike."
It was about that point when I realized what was so off-putting about Cheshire: when he talked, his lower jaw remained motionless, and the top half of the synthetics head bobbed up and down to form the words as he spoke. The whole effect might have been comical, if it didn't just… look so wrong. It was subtle enough to set you on edge when you were staring at him as he talked.
"When we are fired upon, it is unlikely they will recognize this location as the command bridge."
"Yes, very reassuring, Cheshire," I retorted. "Full points for comfort and bedside manner."
"I was not constructed to be comforting, Ordained," Cheshire replied, completed missing the sarcasm in the sentence.
"Obviously not."
"Coming through the relay now, Ordained," the big android informed me suddenly. "In five…four…three…two…one."
We exited FTL, the blurred white lines around us suddenly snapping into focus to reveal…
To reveal… oh, gods, no.
For half a second, I thought something had gone wrong: that we had somehow made a circular path, and ended back up at the Core.
But no…that was Omega that spun there, with a field of wreckage in loose orbit around it. Ships of all shapes and sizes lay in hulking ruins, ripped open from stem to stern. The few closest to us bore the battle-scarred but still-recognizable emblem of the Eclipse Corporation, while that one there….
The unmistakable golden "C", once notorious for Cerberus, now serving to identify vessels of the Conclave, hove into view.
"What happened here?" I whispered breathlessly.
"Reapers?" Cheshire postulated, but even his haphazard face showed confusion and bewilderment.
"No," I countered, "If it was Reapers, they wouldn't have left the station intact."
What in Mother's name…?
Suddenly from behind one of the larger Eclipse ships, two smaller vessels came hove into view.
Conclave corvettes. Tychus class, Ko'le's analytical mind recognized instinctively.
This was only confirmed when one of the drones patched in a radio call seconds later:
"Unknown vessel, you are in violation of the Conclave Blockade of Omega Station. Identify yourself, or we will open fire."
"FOOLS! DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR MASTER?!"
I whirled to face Cheshire, whose challenge echoed and screeched still in my ears, and over the airwaves to the two accompanying vessels.
Exactly the wrong thing to say.
Gee, you think?
"Cheshire," I managed to say aloud, "You're a supreme idiot."
The android's confused look showed he completely and honestly didn't know why, but whatever questions he may have had were cut off when the main cannons of the corvettes came online, and blue beams of energy came streaming towards us.
"Evasive Action, Delta 9!" I ordered. "Hail those vessels again, and DO NOT return fire!"
The Sword of Lucen twisted and turned, avoiding the barrage from the nearby corvettes. However, contest was too one-sided to last long, and the drone pilot at the helm was no Jeff Moreau. Plus, the further away we got from the pursuing vessels, the closer we got to Omega.
And its automated station defenses.
Row after row of twin turrets deployed in front of us.
Too late for any corrections.
"Get us above the station," I ordered, "And then all hands to escape pods and abandon ship."
"I do not derive pleasure from this statement, Ordained," Cheshire added quietly, "But I did tell you so."
As did I.
"Shut up," I snapped, to both Cheshire and Ko'le.
Something scored a direct hit on our starboard engine, careening us into a blinding tail-spin. I saw Cheshire pull himself (or itself… did it have a gender, or did I just ascribe it one?) into one of the escape pods, the bulkhead sealing behind him and launching the pod towards the station beneath us. I decided to emulate his example, using my biotics to boost me across the hallway and into an empty seat. Strapped into the other twelve seats were more Liberated Drones, their faces placid and serene.
Like the goddam Tranquil in Dragon Age: they don't even realize they could die in the next second. Or maybe they do, and they don't care…
With a hiss and a THUMP, the pod detached from the Leviathan-made scout ship, and streamed towards the station. Just barely through the tiny porthole, I saw the Sword of Lucen explode before colliding with the station, fragmenting into multiple smaller pieces.
Damn. It was such a nice ship, too.
The fragments will serve to take out most of the cannons near our estimated impact zone.
That's true, Beast, but what then? We'll be facing down Aria T'Loak's horde? Or has the Conclave seized control of the station. What the hell are they even doing here?
Later, Kevin. Brace for impact.
The small cylindrical escape pod crashed into something. From my secured position, I couldn't see anything, and the small porthole had just gone black. With the screeching and shuddering finally stopped, I unclenched my teeth and looked around. All the drones seemed to have survived, which was a miracle in and of itself. I powered up the onboard systems and checked to see if there was any connection from the other pods. Aside from a signal indicating that they were still broadcasting, there was nothing. No communication, no radio, nothing.
Now, for the real question: What are we going to find when we open that door?
One of the drones reached for a nearby locker that had come open in our abrupt landing, and pulled out a hulking weapon, handing it to me wordlessly (like everything else they did).
The Collector Rifle was an obvious bastardization of the Prothean Particle Beam Rifle, but… with the Collector's love affair of bio-organic matter thrown in for no good reason. Also, it looked like the Leviathans had further modified it to get rid of anything that resembled grace and comfort. The gun was bulky, and jabbed me in places it shouldn't have when I raised it to my shoulder experimentally.
Jeez, gonna have to get with Cheshire to overhaul our design team. Maybe something that didn't look like was designed by giant space squid with little or NO understand of bipedal mammals' anatomy.
The hydraulic release for the door was jammed, of course, but it was nothing my biotics couldn't handle. With a massive pulse, the door and a portion of the hinge tore free, clanging loudly down the… empty hallway.
We exited slowly, weapons up. Above us, I could see the gaping hole in the floor above where the pod had come tumbling through. The distinct lack of the vacuum of space, however, showed that some kind of emergency bulkhead or force-field had activated to seal the outer section of the station, at least. The drones formed up around me, silently falling into an escort formation as I got moving away from where the escape pod had impacted the station.
What is happening here?
On the list of "things I'd thought might happen when I came back through the Omega-4 relay," being shot down by my own fleet and then crashing into Omega had been... well, despite Ko'le and Cheshire's warnings, it wasn't really on my list. Somehow I always thought I could talk them out of opening fire, or convince them that I had survived somehow. Of course, that would have been easier if the Leviathans hadn't rebuilt me to look like a Predator cosplay.
Chakwas… Chakwas could've helped. Microsurgery to remove the Leviathan implants, or skin grafts to normalize my…. looks. Maybe even gene therapy for my claw-like hands.
She's gone, Kevin.
Fuck you very much, Beast. Like I didn't know that.
Dwelling on what could have happened will aid us little in accomplishing our goals. Now is the time to focus on the task at hand. Miranda Lawson survived the mission. Her experience with the Lazarus Project could help us.
That is… actually a great idea.
First we must find her, and then convince her that we are not indoctrinated. But BEFORE ALL THAT, we must find Cheshire and the rest of the drones and navigate a way out of here.
Right… focus, Kevin. Focus. I don't know... where is everyone?
I'd have expected to see someone around after crashing into the ancient structure. If Aria still held the station, she would have anticipated boarding pods, and had gun-crews ready to answer just such a situation. Same if the Conclave had taken over the station. I should be facing at least several squads of soldiers now, or at least panicked civilians rushing to get out of the way.
Instead there was... a whole lot of nothing.
Granted I wasn't exactly wandering around near Afterlife, I wasn't even sure where on the station I was, but I'd have thought I'd see the usual assortment of downtrodden people you ran into on this station.
"Keep your guard up." I ordered, keeping my own rifle at the ready as we exited the alley we'd first emerged into. The street proved to be just as abandoned, to the point where most of the lighting was either offline or flickering badly.
Afterlife is near the heart of the core... this looks more like the lower levels, so I need to find a way up.
Easier said than done, Kevin. Who knows if the passages are the same in schematics we have?
Just blast holes in the ceiling and jump up.
Great idea, Beast. And get sucked into space when we pick the wrong spot?
Better than wandering.
Sighing, I just shook my head and kept walking, keeping my eyes open for any familiar sights. Kevin's knowledge of the games was good, but Omega was... well, massive. Even if the games had entirely taken place on station it was entirely possible that most of the real station would never have been explored. Even Ko'le's eidetic memory was useless, as we had never frequented this part of the station before…
A faint stirring of alarm broke me from my internal debate, and I snapped my head around until I found the drone that had focused its attention on an aircar that wasn't ever going to be flying again. The others had already begun to break into a semi-circle around it, all of them pointing their weapons at the wrecked vehicle as their wings buzzed angrily.
I frowned, taking a few precautionary steps back as I tried to figure out what they were so focused on.
LOOK UP!
My head snapped up, my heart hammering into rapid motion as I realized that, while I'd been focusing on making a plan, we'd walked into a relatively open area surrounded by two story buildings... with the crashed car positioned more or less in the middle of it.
"GET BA-"
My command was too little, too late. There was a muted flash from within the aircar's frame, and then I was diving for the ground as a wall of force and noise blew the entire thing apart. I felt maybe half of my surviving drones fall, the pressure wave probably more than enough to kill them even without the pieces of car flying around as shrapnel.
"COVER!" I snarled as I staggered to my feet, my biotics swirling around me in a blaze of green as I tried to find some. After a second's hesitation, I flashed forwards, diving into a nearby doorway that would cover me from most of the taller building's windows. Mentally, I sent a command that sent two drones buzzing upwards, to attempt to gain the advantage of height on our ambushers.
Somewhere nearby, the characteristic crack-whine of a Kishok was followed by a drone tumbling to the ground, most of its skull taken out by the flash-forged harpoon. A millisecond later another spike slammed into my barriers, making me flinch and curse. Wherever they were, they could see me.
There!
Shifting into a quick run, and ignoring the gunfight blossoming around me, I flashed forwards and upwards, straight through the window the sniper had shot through.
An Asari in pitch black armor yelped in surprise as I hit her head on, her heavy rifle tumbling from her hands as she flew backwards. My lips pulled back in a fighting snarl as I summoned my own power, hurling a reave straight at her... only for her to use her biotics flash away to her left as she sensibly got the hell away from me, my fists leaving an indention in the concrete floor where she'd been. Cursing, I blurred after her, firing my bulky Collector Rifle as I went. Here and there, dark figures stepped out, leveling guns in my general direction. With a feeling of annoyance more than anything else, I threw up a small barrier, then blasted the nearest two out the window before following the sniper.
She stayed ahead of me for three more jumps as we tumbled through what might have once been a small apartment complex of some kind. I caught her as she came out of charge number four, all but tackling her as we flew back out in the street. Seizing her by the back of her helmet as I took her to the ground, I slammed it down hard enough to stun her before again summoning my biotics to finish her off so that I could start directing the drones properly.
Just as my reave began to flow out from me, there was an annoyingly familiar quiet snapping sound as a grenade went off right behind me.
Disorientation immediately sent me staggering as the dark energy I'd been gathering was scattered away by the nullifier grenade, leaving my just holding a hand out stupidly towards the woman still groaning beneath me.
Standing, I got my gun up and was trying to find the whoever had thrown the stupid thing when no fewer than six overloads hit me more or less at the same time. Lightning convulsed around me as my armor's barriers shorted out, alarms blaring in my helmet to tell me that several systems I didn't even know my armor had as my protection failed.
I had time to see a Batarian standing maybe thirty feet away, an unfamiliar heavy weapon held in their hands before the incinerates began to hammer at my body. The thing was shooting incinerates at me, the flashes of orange light blinding me and searing my armor even as I stumbled. There must have been more of the nullification grenades in the mix because I couldn't flash away or summon a barrier to protect myself.
RUN!
I tried, lurching away from where the blasts were coming from, feeling the Collector-built armor cracking and beginning to shatter as I did. I managed about one long step before something caught my left ankle, yanking hard enough to send me crashing to the floor. The Asari I'd tackled must have gathered her wits enough to lunge after me.
Cursing, I lashed out with my other foot and was rewarded with another sound of pain as my armored boot collided with something.
The little moment of satisfaction faded as a shadow abruptly loomed over me. Rolling right on reflex saved me from a concussion of my own, a heavy foot slamming down right where my skull had been. Converting the motion into a rising one, I bobbed woozily to my feet and found myself staring down my enemies.
There was... quite a few of them. At least a dozen figures were on the street with me, and I could see more snipers and riflemen openly taking positions on the higher floors around me. They were mixed species, though Batarians and Asari seemed the dominate members, and all were in pitch black armor that lacked any logos or markings. All of their weapons were up and pointed at me, ready to hose me down long before my own rifle could do any appreciable damage to them.
Biotics. We need our- Another snap of a nullification grenade made me flinch, and made Beast snarl.
This... is how it ends? Ambushed by a bunch of thugs on Omega?
An apt ending for us then...
Ko'le, SHUT UP.
"You wish to end me?" My throat felt like it tore from the force of my shout, and I felt a tiny bit of satisfaction as my assailants all paused their motions... and when they didn't just shoot me. Ko'le's despair vanished as Beast roared his approval in our mind.
"Come on then! Who thinks they are worthy to end the Seneschal of the Prothean Empire!?"
Silence was their response... until there was an almost girlish giggle from right behind me, my senses recoiling from the vicious satisfaction radiating from its owner. "Always wanted to fight you..."
Beast seized control as I spun around, my gun ready to kill whoever had gotten behind me. A foot slammed into my helmet before I was halfway through the motion, my opponent little more than a whirling blur as she re-chambered for another pair of kicks faster than even I could move. The first hit my rifle, knocking the bulky weapon out of my hands, while the second sent it flying away to land at the feet of one of the others.
A snarl erupted from my throat as I threw a quick punch at her head with my enhanced limb, only for her to nimbly twirl back, taking it as a glancing strike to her helmet rather than a head on collision. She followed the motion with a quick pair of steps back, letting me see... a petite Quarian, dressed the same as the others, even her visor had been polarized to black.
That was all the time I had to analyze as Beast threw us forwards, arms blurring as punches were thrown, my legs burning as kicks and stomps followed them.
She dodged them.
She dodged all of them.
Her lithe little body, barely encumbered by the light armor it was wearing, bobbed and weaved like a dancer before Beast's furious assault, my own punches and kicks thwarted by the heavier, much bulkier armor I was wearing. Her hands idly slapped at my forearms, throwing punches wide. Throwing herself into quick rolls when we charged forwards to try and just tackle her to the ground. Twirling away from kicks and head-butts that would have shattered her armor and left her at our mercy.
And she kept giggling, like for all the world this was the most fun she'd had years.
More nullification grenades were tossed at us, keeping me from just ending this farce with a furious display of biotic power. Apart from that, the crowd seemed largely content to watch, having evidently finished off the few drones that had survived the initial explosion.
"STOP AND JUST DIE!" Beast roared as she once again avoided what should have been a knock-out blow.
His anger only grew as the crowd broke into laughter, several of them shouting encouragement to my opponent, asking her to dance even closer to me.
She hummed as she used a forearm to parry away another punch. Beast tried to pull the arm back, only to realize we'd thrown far too much strength into the strike. Another hammer blow kick from her damnably strong Quarian legs hit me on my right side, apparently in a spot where the mine barrage had torn through my armor because I felt it connect with my actual skin.
Father above, that hurt.
This time her laugh was lower, more wickedly excited than girlishly amused. Metal glistened as she ducked a quick counter punch, knives appearing in both of her hands before she shot forwards inside my guard. Sparks flew as she sliced at my armor plating, hunting for the weak points. More pain flashed as she found them, leaving shallow but painful wounds behind. Forcing Beast aside, I fell back, keeping my mostly armored forearms up as I switched from attacking to defending.
She was agile, almost unbelievably so, but it couldn't be something she could do forever. If I could just wait out her stamina, I was strong enough to take her out in one or two heavy blows if I could catch her in the head or neck.
A glint in the darkness was all the warning I had, and more by instinct than anything else, I flashed out a hand in its direction. I felt the blade bit deep into my palm, but then also felt my fingers close around the wrist that held the knife. I heard a short snarl of frustration as the Quarian's attack was stopped.
"MY turn, you SLIPPERY BITCH!"
I pulled. Hard. The quarian, to her credit, stayed on her feet, but the effort to do so left her open to the punch to the gut I delivered. Had I had my biotics to aid, it would have gone straight through her chest. As it was, I felt ribs crack under the blow. Beast's howl of satisfaction could be heard as he delivered another blow to the side of the helmet to keep her stunned, then flung her across the alley way against the wall.
Beast, the other gunmen.
No! We finish her now!
The OTHER GUNMAN, YOU FUCKING….!
Beast was so focused on ending this little nuisance and keeping Kevin out of the driver's seat, that he never felt the second attacker coming in.
What I did feel was the fist that slammed into my helmet at a million miles an hour, knocking me sideways as Omega whirled around me. I was vaguely aware at the acrid taste in the air around me, informing me that my helmet around my head was now gone. Or at least the visor was shattered.
"What the actual fuck?" A furious male voice snarled. "We don't have the time for this shit!"
"But she's… He's…"
"I know." The words were the last thing I heard as my eyes managed to focus on a dark blur above me, right before something seized me in a rear-naked choke. My heartbeat thundered as I fought for air, but I was winded from my previous efforts and dazed from the initial blow and my accumulated injuries to put up much of a struggle.
The darkness that followed was almost a relief.
I flinched reflexively as a horrific smell assaulted my nose, consciousness returning far more quickly than I was comfortable with. Especially since my body promptly began to inform me of all of its aches and pains, along with the fact that was really freaking cold.
But at least we're alive...
For now, Ko'le answered indifferently.
Opening my eyes revealed... absolute darkness. Footsteps echoed as someone walked around me, but I couldn't see anything. My initial panic that I'd been blinded subsided only as my mind caught up with what my senses were telling it. Whoever it was that had ambushed us had found a way to take off my armor, or what had been left of it after the fight.
Shit. If I still had my Prothean armor, they never would have gotten-
If we had our wishes, Kevin, we wouldn't be here in the first place.
Grimacing, I tried to shift my body around further and was unsurprised to find my hands cuffed to something behind me.
And they took all of our clothes too... what the hell is on our neck?
A SLAVE COLLAR.
Beasts's raw fury welled up in me, and dark energy moved with it. Or at least, normally it would have. Instead all I felt was a throbbing pain in my neck and a giant lack of biotic destruction to go with Beast's frustrated mental howl. The collar had to have some kind of nullifier in it then, it had probably been intended to lock up Asari. Even despite that, the air still crackled with static energy as Beast raged, the collar having obviously not being designed to absorb this much dark energy.
"He's awake." A woman spoke quietly, more footsteps echoing in the space as someone else joined us. "The collar is barely holding…I still say we should have killed him."
"We still might." I flinched a little as the newcomer spoke. His voice was low... and familiar. "Hello again, Imperator."
MOTHERFUCKER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!
"Kean." I managed to say out loud, summoning up all my willpower to fight back Beast's enraged threat. I'd lived through a lot in my various lives, been stuck in some pretty hair situations... but being chained to a wall, naked in the dark, was definitely calling up some VERY bad memories. "I thought you had a better sense of hospitality."
His voice turned amused. "Are you kidding? You're receiving the Resistance's finest VIP treatment."
The Resistance?
"What Resistance? Resisting what?"
An armored finger flicked my forehead, "You'll get to ask your questions after we decide whether or not you survive. For starters, you're supposed to be dead, not gallivanting around with Collectors."
Do we have any choice in this?
Yes. We break loose and KILL THEM!
Closing my eyes, since keeping them open didn't help, I felt Ko'le, almost unwillingly, join me in pushing Beast back down. Now wasn't the time to lose it, not when we were entirely at his mercy. Our best chance was to keep him talking and try to convince him that it was in his best interests to keep me alive. As a hostage if nothing else.
Time is on our side. Cheshire is still out there. It's possible he could find us.
If they haven't killed him and the other boarding pods already as well.
"I... basically did die." I admitted quietly. "But I managed to free the Collectors from Reaper control before I blacked out, and they saved me. It took me the last several months to heal, and for them to repair a ship enough to get back through the relay."
There was a quiet grunt. "That reaper tech you're sporting now?"
"I'm not indoctrinated." It didn't take a genius to realize what he was asking. A blind man could have seen that my arm wasn't a natural part of me. "I'm still me."
"Which you?" Kean countered, and then I belatedly remembered that he'd seen Beast take control on Xentha.*
All three of us went through a few mental curses at the luck of running into one of the few non-friends in the galaxy who knew about that, especially since he didn't know the whole story, but he knew enough to be suspicious.
And apparently he knows about indoctrination as well.
Swallowing back Ko'le's questions, which Kean probably wouldn't answer, I tried to reassure him: "The actual me. If I was really indoctrinated, wouldn't I have waited to come back with an army instead of a few scouts?"
"I did notice." The assassin replied dryly. More footsteps followed, his voice shifting subtly as he evidently began to pace. "You see, I'm in a bit of an awkward situation right now. Logic tells me that you're indoctrinated, and even if you aren't, you're an enemy I'd be better off eliminating."
I frowned a little at what he wasn't saying. "So why am I still alive?"
There was a long, absolutely silent pause before he spoke again. "Because you might still be useful. Also, you owe me a favor, and it's hard to collect from dead men."
Shaking my head slightly, I let it hang, feeling the slave collar biting into my neck as I did. "Kean... for the love of your Pillars, I've been gone for six months. Show me some pity. Why is the Conclave here? Why did they invade Omega? Where are my friends?
What the FUCKING HELL is going on?"
More silence followed Beast's desperate question, and then a muted sigh. Light abruptly flickered to life, making me flinch back even though my eyes had already been closed. It took me a few tries to get them open, revealing a cavern like room filled with rusting pipes and broken pieces of archaic equipment.
Cieran Kean, personal assassin of Warlord Yan T'Ravt, was standing in front of me. He was wearing light armor, colored black except for where Omni-gel patches were visibly keeping pieces of it together. The Asari who'd been silent after her initial words was leaning against the wall to my right, her own equipment in as equally battered shape. Worse, both of them were visibly slumped with exhaustion that their helmets and armor weren't doing anything to hide.
My own equipment was nowhere to be seen, but a quick glance down at least confirmed that they'd left me my shorts. And had even slapped some medigel and bandages around my various wounds.
A good sign.
"Like I said." I glanced up in time to see Kean shake his head as he removed his helmet. "We're the resistance now. Your Conclave lured Aria off-station, for your funeral no less, and managed to clap her in irons somehow. And they moved in as soon as she was gone. They control about a third of the station right now."
They'd put Operation Pinochet into play?
Why?
"What started the fighting? Do you control the rest of the station?
"Do we look like we do?" The asari scoffed as she removed her own helmet. Her voice was hard, matching her features. "The rest of the station is divided between the gangs your people tricked into letting them on station. Took them all of a few weeks to start killing each other without Aria to keep them at bay. We're stuck in the warrens, hitting both sides where we can."
"What about the Patriarch?" I asked, "Why did the Conclave come here in the first place?"
The human grunted. "The old krogan? Yeah, he's got a few of the top levels, last we checked. As far as the war, I have no idea. The Conclave actually says we started it, a couple of days after the geth assassinated the quarian who took your post. The last we heard from the Warlords was that your people were launching commando attacks across the Terminus. And someone, no fucking idea who, was taking out FTL buoys all over the place so neither side was coordinating for crap."
I just kind of... stared at him. "Wait, whotook my place and whathappened to him?"
"Zaal'Koris. Assassinated by the geth." Kean drawled slowly. "He'd been on the job for less than a week."
That was... that was...No... no no no...
Are you honestly surprised, Kevin?
YES! He'd NEVER have done anything to provoke the Geth!
"How?" I asked weakly. "How did..."
He held a hand up. "See the lack of communications comment. We have no idea what the fuck is going on, or what actually happened, but the last word we had before the Omega FTL buoy went down was that the Terminus Systems were being ripped apart."
My eyes closed as I slumped, feeling the cold metal of the shackles biting into my skin. "How long ago was that?"
He offered me a tired shrug. "Four months now, give or take."
Shit.
"You're in command here, then?" I asked, trying to formulate some kind of plan. "Of the resistance?"
"No. I am."
The closed eyes and deep sigh Kean let out before turning around showed what he thought of that. The speaker came into the light, red tattoos covering her face, matching the red stripes on her black armor.
My heart sank. "Nyreen Kandros."
Shit. Meeting all of the WRONG people on this station today…
"Do you have any idea how many of this station's people are dead today because of your precious little Conclave?"
"No."
Nyreen's self-righteous rant was cut short before it could even begin. "Wha…what?'
"I've been fucking DEAD for the past six months, for all practical purposes," I said slowly. "I have NO idea what's going on, and NO IDEA who the hell is giving orders for the Conclave, but it's certainly NOT been me!"
A biotically charged fist caught me in the face.
"You're a spirits-fucking liar, Imperator."
"HIT ME AGAIN, SHE-BITCH," Beast snarled before I could stop him. "IT JUST MIGHT BRING SOME OF YOUR PEOPLE BACK FROM THE FUCKING DEAD..."
Kean's eyes went wide as he recognized that voice and he reached out and put a hand on Nyreen's chest even as she started to charge another punch.
"Kandros. Maybe we shouldn't punch the prisoner we've got tied up and helpless?"
I smiled as I took in the picture in front of me: the assassin appealing to turian honor. I didn't believe for a second he actually had any qualms about punching a helpless victim. But by the way he kept eyeing the collar I was wearing, I figured he just didn't want to deal with Beast.
Then Beast ran our mouth off again. "YES! LISTEN TO THE ASSASSIN. TAKE HIS ORDERS LIKE THE GOOD LITTLE GENERAL YOU ARE…"
Kean let Nyreen go.
My head slammed back against the wall hard enough that I briefly saw stars whirling around in my vision, and I barely registered her grabbing my hair so that she could properly deck me a third time.
Beast... when are you going to learn to shut your mouth!?
"Enough..." I wheezed as I wrested control back. "Listen. I'm sorry about your…"
Her response was punch number four, hitting me square in the mouth and making me bite my tongue.
I do not think she cares for your apologies, Kevin.
No shit! Why don't you do something useful instead of just brooding!?
I could practically see him shrug in our mind space, his awareness retreating once again. Leaving it up to me and Beast to find a way out of this situation. The way biotic energy crackled in the air, I didn't even have to guess at Beast's idea of a solution. But then again, by continuing to hit me, she was fueling Beast's rage, and that could overheat the collar and...
The Crack of yet another biotic nullifer grenade coincided with yet another punch to my head, this one delivered without the aid of biotics, but hurting nonetheless. Reeling from the blows and the effects of the anti-biotic weapon, I could sense more than hear some sort of scuffle taking place.
Pulling Nyreen off of me, I don't doubt.
I spat blood out of my mouth, checking to make sure my teeth were all in place. They were, luckily enough. Focusing my eyes took longer than I'd have liked, but I couldn't help but slump in relief to see now two asari holding Nyreen back as Kean rubbed his forehead.
"Still alive?" he asked, his words muffled by the ringing in my ears somewhat, but I managed a nod, then turned and spat a bit more blood out.
"Yeah."
"Good, because we're going for a walk." The assassin walked over to stand in front of me, drawing a ridiculously over-sized pistol from his belt as he did. An Executioner, albeit one that looked like he'd modified the hell out of it.
"I'm going to reiterate my point, more for the… other you's sake. You will let us cuff your arms behind your back. You won't so much as twitch during that process. You won't try and escape."
"Or you'll kill me?" I guessed.
"Correct."
The MOMENT they let us go we-
SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.
Beast went uncharacteristically silent, and I very firmly shoved him as far back as I could while the two asari, whose names I still didn't know, carefully unchained me from the wall, while Nyreen stared at me all the while. At Kean's motion, and with his gun pointed right at my left eye, they got me on my feet and wasted no time in attaching both sets of cuffs to my arms, pinning them behind my back. Once that was done, we got moving.
Nyreen took the lead, now refusing to so much as look at me, while one of the asari drew a light pistol and kept it pointed at my side. Kean was behind me, and I didn't need to turn to know his hand-cannon would be pointed squarely at my head. The newcomer asari kept a hand firmly yet gently in my armpit, taking some of my weight off my feet.
"Do you know where we are going?" I asked her, glancing around a bit at the decrepit service tunnels we were moving through.
"Our nearest base," she replied evenly. Her voice was definitely softer. Younger than her compatriot by at least a century, if my estimations were correct. "We've got someone there who might be able to verify if you're indoctrinated or not."
What?
We could scarcely do that in our cycle, Ko'le marveled disbelievingly, his curiosity rousing him from his usual apathy.
"Who?" I asked, trying to keep incredulity out of my voice.
"Berra." Kean's voice was definitely a "Shut up and stop chatting" tone.
She rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "You'll see soon enough."
*See Warlord's Realm on my profile for the full story of Cieran Kean and Ko'le Seneschal's first meeting.
Author's Note:
Hope you enjoy this latest chapter! Full shout-out goes to Katkiller-V for use of his OCs, as well as beta-ing this chapter. For those who may be worrying about cross-over, I don't intend for Kean and Co. to become regular characters in my fics. However, I do strongly encourage people going to check out the Another Realm series, they're one of my favorite on this site.
Tune in next week for the next Chapter:
"The Witch of the Deep"
Please leave your comments/suggestions/reviews, or PM me with ideas for OCs of your own! I love your feedback, even when it's just "Good job, I liked it." It makes my day to get the review notifications!
Thanks again, everybody! EE-RAH!
Reviewer Responses:
KyuubiNodachi, Giamia, BJ Hanssen: Happy New Year to you too!
Squadpunk 2.0, tamagat: His armor looks like a collector, his hands look like a banshee, and his "hair" looks like a crossover between Hellraiser and Predator.
StrawHatLuffy94, Toothless is best: I appreciate your sticking by me! I hope I don't disappoint!
jackli10345: YOU KEEP on being awesome as well!
METALHELLSPWN, SpecterXCove: That was just one of my pet peeves about Mass Effect – saving the galaxy three times, and no military promotion, whereas Williams goes from Sergeant to Lieutenant Commander, and Kaiden goes from Lieutenant to Major. AAaaand Shepard is still… Commander.
Pietersielie: Glad you liked it. Unfortunately "real life" gets in the way of uninterrupted writing, but I'm excited as well!
GamerDroid56: Hope this chapter scratched at least some of the action itch.
Zeru'Xil, OBSERVER01: Yeah… Meeting Javik again (or anyone really) is going to be complicated.
redcollector: The Leviathans' help comes with a steep price tag, unfortunately.
maesde: Well, we'll be on Omega for a while, but we'll be saving people, killing monsters… you know, the family business.
Dragons guard, Asahar4: Hope to update at least once a week again.
Malhavoc Shadowlord: Wolf Queen won't have a regular update, as I'm trying to focus on Beacon's Effect for now, but I haven't forgotten it!