Chapter 3: Stowaways

"What do you say we get started?" the mystery youth quipped before promptly cutting down two more Yahg with devastatingly powerful biotic slash. His attack not only killed them but also sliced through their armor and dismembered them, stunning their cohorts who were slow to react.

The young warrior capitalized on their panic by tearing into another member of their squad with an abnormally powerful warp before pulling out a Will-O-Wisp and firing a volley of shots that took down yet another giant. At that point, the Yahg had become quite enraged and immediately targeted the civilians with their enormous assault rifles. The youth however, reacted instantly by disappearing in a blur after initiating another biotic charge and reappeared in front of the frightened innocents. Using his barrier and maintaining a defensive stance with his blade, he warded off the barrage of gunfire that was unleashed before growing slightly agitated himself.

"You really are a bunch of oversized cowards when it comes right down to it." he scoffed.

He'd successfully protected the civilians but sacrificed his barrier in the process and the Yahg were quick to exploit the advantage. They prepared to fire another volley but suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of a ballistic blade salvo that ripped through their ranks as a young Batarian, who was also sporting a set of Terminus Hound Armor, dove into the fray. The Yahg who weren't immediately killed by the assault attempted to hammer the newcomer with their gauntlet reinforced fists but quickly suffered further injuries when their newest adversary's armor sprouted blades and inflicted several nasty lacerations during their attack. The Batarian then wound up his own punch as a massive omni-gauntlet appeared on his left fist. He then punched one of the giants square in the face, shattering his skull in a potent explosion and bringing down yet another menace.

The three remaining Yahg immediately rushed him after summoning their own massive omni-claws but were quickly gunned down by another human who'd just caught up to his friends. After bringing down the remaining opposition with a pair of hand cannons of the particle variety known as Spark Surges, the newest youth quickly holstered his weapons after skillfully twirling them in his usual but pointlessly flashy display.

"The gunslinger saves the day once again." he confidently announced.

"Keep telling yourself that. It won't change the fact that you were late." his Batarian friend taunted.

"Cut me some slack, pal. Jordy practically moves at the speed of light." he joked. "And your legs are longer than mine so of course you managed to catch up first."

"Jordy, Damen, Travis!" a stern but familiar voiced suddenly shouted in a fury.

"Uh-oh." the Batarian and his pistol wielding friend both muttered together.

Moments later, another teenager joined them. A pretty young woman with slightly tanned skin, cinnamon colored hair and dazzling light brown eyes was already bearing down on them. "What do you think you're doing!? We all agreed to stick together!" she raged.

"Can this wait? We really need to get these people somewhere safe and then regroup with the other landing teams while blending in before anyone realizes what we've done." Jordan irritably responded before turning his attention to the confused civilians they'd just rescued. "This place won't be safe for long. We can lead you to a Fang field base that isn't far from here."

The citizens remained wary of him until his Batarian friend, Damen, approached. "You can trust us, especially Jordy. He's the Terminus Hunter's youngest son but more importantly, he's my best friend and a man worthy of respect. You won't come to any harm if you allow us to help." he assured them.

The sight of one of their own fighting within the Fangs seemed to ease the people's concerns considerably. "How old are you child?" one of the older women in the group asked out of curiosity.

"Younger than you think but old enough to carry the burdens that few others will. I ceased being a boy long ago, before I could even walk so don't concern yourselves with me. I haven't seen this place since my uncle fled with me when I was still being swaddled but it's my home nonetheless and I intend to drive these eight-eyed kra'tash from here with my own hands. But not at the cost of the people. Now please, follow us." Damen sincerely requested.

The civilians exchanged curious looks with one another before finally complying. A moment later the group set off towards the field camp where they'd slipped in only days earlier after hitching a ride on a landing shuttle that departed the cruiser they'd stowed away on. The teenagers would undoubtedly be in a lot of trouble if anyone within the Fangs discovered who they really were and what they'd done to get there.

"Jordy, are you hurt? You rushed off by yourself as usual and those Yahg looked dangerous." Cherish anxiously inquired.

"I'm fine." Jordan responded tersely. "Yahg are always dangerous and it's not your job to be worried about me anyway. Save the concerns for your new boyfriend back at home."

"Matthias isn't my boyfriend! How many times am I going to-"

"Oh man, here we go again with this crap." Travis interrupted in exasperation.

"She did kiss him. That's a big deal for humans, right?" Damen curiously remarked.

"Yeah, it is." Jordan angrily agreed. "I thought so at least." he quietly added before pressing forward.

Less than an hour later, the group arrived at the Fang field camp amid a frenzy of activity. Troops were moving out, civilians were pouring in and gunships were taking off to head towards their next destinations. It was easy enough for Jordan and his friends to pass through without arousing suspicion and once they ensured that the civilians that they'd accompanied were safely deposited at an emergency shelter for noncombatants, they quickly snuck back to the small barracks they'd claimed during their initial arrival.

"See? Piece of cake." Travis quipped as they strolled inside. "We got to get in on some action again, saved a few civvies and no one's the wiser."

"I wouldn't say that." a familiar voice responded in amusement. Sitting on one of their bunks was one of the last people they ever expected to encounter during their excursion. "Helluva stunt you brats managed to pull."

"Damn it." Jordan grumbled. "Okay, you caught us Randall. But please, can we just keep this between us? We had to come here, no matter what and I knew my family wouldn't approve."

"If it were up to me, I'd put you to work and call it a day." Randall replied earnestly before slowly getting to his feet. "But I'm not the one calling the shots on the ground. Let's go." he added with a trace of sympathy before leading the way back outside of their tent.

It didn't come as a surprise when he brought them to the camp's command center where a calm but extremely angry woman with long dark hair and enigmatic eyes that were gleaming with a carefully restrained rage was awaiting them.

"Um, hi Fox." Jordan nervously greeted the senior Fang member.

"Jordy, this isn't like you. You're the last one we expect any mischief from and yet you've gone out of your way to sneak into one of the most dangerous military operations that we're carrying out right now. I hope you're aware of how serious this is." Fox sternly explained while eyeing the youths.

"Don't blame Jordy. He was simply accompanying me." Damen explained.

"Your uncle made it quite clear that you weren't to be involved in this battle. Cralle was rather emphatic on that point." Fox informed him.

"Uncle means well but I have my own journeys to make. He needn't protect me anymore. This planet was my home in the past. Its people are my people and regardless of where I walk now, that won't ever change. I couldn't stand aside and do nothing while the fight to finally free them was being waged." Damen insisted.

"And I couldn't stand aside while my friend walked into a warzone. I can be punished later but right now I'm seeing this through, Fox." Jordan resolutely added.

"Same here. Plus, I don't plan on being the one to tell Liv about this." Travis joked.

"I'm here for Damen as well. Mother will probably be upset with me when she returns with Mal and the others but I've made my decision." Cherish stated determinedly. "And Jordy needs someone to-"

"Jordy doesn't need a damn thing from you." Jordan quickly cut in. "We didn't ask you to tag along in the first place. You know what? Feel free to send her back home, Fox. Let her precious boyfriend put up with the hassle." he bitterly continued, visibly upsetting her. He immediately regretted what he'd said after meeting her eyes which were now filled with tears but promptly turned away to continue his argument with Fox. "Anyway, we're all here now, you'll just have to deal with it."

"A group of teenagers dares to tell me what they plan to do during MY military campaign? Or have I misunderstood?" Fox responded coolly while quietly seething. "I'm only going to say this once. The four of you are going to stay here until we've completed our operations. You will remain in the barracks that you unlawfully procured and you're going to stay out of everyone's way until further notice. Am I making myself clear?"

"We can handle ourselves Fox, we've already proven that plenty of times since we got here and-"

"Am I making myself clear?" Fox reiterated more sternly while locking eyes with Jordan before he could finish his retort.

"Yes, ma'am." Jordan sharply responded with a look of defiance.

"Good, now return to your tent. Randall will keep an eye on you for the time being." Fox ordered.

The youths hesitantly obeyed while giving her the most mutinous looks imaginable. Once they and their new chaperone were gone, she released a sigh. "Rika, you trained him too well."


"This is bullshit!" Jordan raged while pacing around his barracks in a fury. "Dad took down Vorcha gangs when he was seventeen and I just wiped the floor with a bunch of Yahg at the ripe old age of fifteen! I'm sick of everyone treating me like I'm a damn baby!"

"It is starting to get annoying." Travis agreed while lounging on his bunk.

"I was hoping I'd be able to do more once we arrived here. I suppose I'll have to be satisfied knowing that we saved a few dozen people who would've otherwise been killed in the streets like animals." Damen contemplated from his own bunk.

"Jordy," Cherish quietly began, "Nevermind." she quickly added while lowering her head in thought as she nervously shifted on the chair she was sitting on.

"Impatience must run in the family." Randall mused while observing Jordan. "Don't be too hard on Fox, she's got a lot on her mind right now."

"Like what? We've got these bastards beat and everyone knows it. I just can't figure out why they're still trying to hold out here. They're actually fighting us to the last man and defending their bases like there's no tomorrow." Jordan replied while pondering the enemy's motivations.

"They're trying to drag this out for as long as possible." Randall casually stated. "The situation's the same in space. Most of their fleet has been annihilated and now they're delaying us with suicidal diversionary tactics. That's part of the reason why Fox is so stressed at the moment."

"What do you mean?" Cherish curiously inquired.

Randall took a moment to survey his young charges before finally coming to a decision. "Hell, we've got nothing else to lose at this point. What I'm about to tell you is classified, most of the ground troops don't even know yet. A few hours ago, the Yahg tried to drop a decommissioned space station on the planet. Luckily, Fox had a few of her people board the damned thing and avert a catastrophe. Before they reversed its course though, they discovered that the space station wasn't the only large scale kinetic impacter that those giants were planning to drop. Two asteroids were being mined for materials just outside of the planet's orbit before we got here and now they're both on a collision course for Khar'shan. You've gotta appreciate the irony but I guess you brats are too young to know anything about Terra Nova and the X57 incident." he explained.

"Actually I do." Jordan quickly countered. "My grandmother died in that mess, Mom cries about it sometimes when she and Dad are alone…she still regrets that she never got to know grandma."

"I suppose that's why she bears such a harsh grudge against Batarians. I guess I would too if I were in her position." Damen thoughtfully added.

"So, wait a minute. The Yahg are using old school Batarian terrorist tactics?" Travis asked incredulously.

"This is pretty disgraceful even for them. Having our planet destroyed by methods that the worst of our extremists pioneered in the past." Damen lamented. "But why? Why would they go this far? They're prepared to die themselves in a calamity that they engineered. Are they that vindictive?"

"Like I said before, this is all one big diversion." Randall continued before hesitating slightly. "Not long ago, the fleet got a distress call from Heshtok. It's being attacked by almost every pirate in the Terminus Systems along with the bulk of the Forgotten, Yahg Marauders and Batarian Raiders. I guess their common hatred for the Terminus Hunter superseded their disgust for each other. That's the only way I figure they could've joined hands. The bastards here are just trying to delay us and do as much damage as they can in the process. My guess is they're trying to lure out the fleets protecting Cartagena and they're doing one helluva a job hammering Heshtok in the process."

"Heshtok!? But Lou, Liv, Leon and the others, that's where they went for their vacation!" Jordan shouted in outrage. "You mean to tell me they're caught up in-Damn it! I've gotta get to them!"

"Calm down and listen. They're hanging in there so far but they definitely need our help and we can't leave until we stop those asteroids. An hour ago, Cralle took a team to secure the final Yahg command center where the controls for the asteroids' thrusters are located. It's our good fortune that we don't have to manually shut them off but that base was heavily guarded and we haven't heard back from him yet. Time's running out and Barney is planning to assemble another team once he gets back from the front near the capital but he's gonna need a lot more divisions to stand a better chance than Cralle did. So right now, we're kinda fucked." Randall explained frankly.

"No, we aren't." Jordan replied resolutely. "Randall, take me to that command center. I'll handle the rest."

"I'll join you. If something has happened to Uncle…I'll finish what he started." Damen firmly announced.

"I'm going too. You idiots are completely helpless without me." Travis humorously added.

"Then it's settled, we're all heading out." Cherish agreed.

"Yeah, 'we', as in me and my boys. You're staying right here where it's safe, case closed." Jordan sternly ordered.

"And exactly who's going to make me?" Cherish challenged after shooting from her seat and approaching Jordan while staring daggers at him.

He returned her glare while lowering his head as she leaned upward to meet his eyes. The defiant gazes that they were directing at each other remained unchanged even as their faces drew closer together.

"This crap again." Travis sighed in exasperation. "Just kiss each other and be done with it. The mutual attraction, the life and death situation, the pent-up frustration, the fact that you've been crushing on each other since we were all kids, everyone gets it. Now hurry up and work through your dumbass problems so we can save Khar'shan and then Heshtok. Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

"Shut up!" Jordan irritably responded after distancing himself from Cherish in embarrassment. "She already has a boyfriend or at least a guy she wants to go out with."

"Why are you so stupid?! For the last time, Matthias is NOT my boyfriend. Get it through your head! And you don't have any right to be jealous! Did you have fun feeling up Zel'me?! That's right, I know about it! I saw you two together!"

Jordan went slightly red at the remark before quickly recovering. "You know what? I did, I had a LOT of fun and I can't wait to get back to have even more once this business is settled. It'll be nice getting closer to a real woman."

"GO TO HELL!"

"I will! In the soft, sweet lap of an asari!"

"What did you start?" Damen asked his meddlesome friend while observing the shouting match.

"Yeah, okay. This one's on me." Travis guiltily admitted. "Do you think he really nailed Zel'me?"

"I hate to interrupt your little teen drama but I've got business to take care of." Randall casually interjected. "And you wonder why everyone treats you like children." he derisively added, instantly silencing the bickering youths. "Under normal circumstances, I'd leave your sorry asses here but we're running low on time and options. It's gonna take Barney way too long to organize the men he needs and I'm not planning to die just yet. You brats are the closest thing to soldiers that I have to work with right now, so gear up and get ready. I've got a plan."

"Seriously?!" Travis asked in disbelief.

"What can I say? I'm a lousy babysitter." Randall replied before smiling a little.


Sometime later, outside of a massive Yahg military complex, a small group of soldiers were preparing to board their modified Gaia mechs in preparation for another possible incursion attempt on their base. After performing a quick patrol around the hangar where they stored their war machines, they quickly regrouped and opened the large doors that led inside. The moment they did, each behemoth was killed in rapid succession by a carefully aimed particle shot from a Spectrum Sniper Rifle. Their mystery killer then snuck into their hangar while cloaked and calmly hacked into the security and surveillance systems for the outer perimeter of their installation before shutting them down entirely and sending a signal to his young cohorts. Moments later, the group of teens joined him inside of the hangar where they prepared to carry out the next phase of his plan.

"Wow. You really are a sharpshooter. Not as good as me though." Travis quipped while examining the bodies of the dead Yahg."

"You can be a wise ass all you want later, punk. Right now just get inside one of those mechs and start causing as much mayhem as you can at the front entrance until the Yahg start dispatching reinforcements. When they do, kill as many as you can before bailing out and retreating to the rendezvous location I told you about earlier. I'll slip inside and cause a few more disturbances myself once they deploy their first wave of troops. The rest of you will head for the thruster controls inside. You'll have to cut through the basement after you take the maintenance shaft from this hangar and from there, you're on your own. The intel we've got on this place is sketchy at best." Randall explained.

"We understand, Randall. And thanks for trusting us with this." Jordan replied earnestly.

"Like I said before, I don't have much of a choice kid. We've got too many guys in the field right now and this has to get done. Fox can chew me out later, assuming we're all still alive." Randall stated wryly.

"Well, you've got my gratitude too." Travis cheerfully remarked before swiftly making his way into the cockpit of a nearby Gaia mech. The machine quickly sprang to life as he grabbed the controls and he immediately took aim at the other machines in the hangar. "You should all probably get clear." he warned.

"Have fun you lunatic!" Jordan joked as he, Damen and Cherish sprinted for the maintenance shaft while Randall instantly disappeared from view after cloaking.

As the trio descended the shaft they promptly heard the sounds of rocket fire and explosions above them. "It's as though Randall knew he'd be the perfect man for such a job." Damen humorously commented as they continued their descent.

The corridor at the bottom was almost completely dark but several dimly lit lights running along the tunnel's walls provided just enough light to see ahead. The young soldiers cautiously made their way forward and eventually reached a door. They all stopped after hearing the furious sounds of snarling and what they could only interpret as humming. Loud, sad, and strangely melodic humming that seemed to resonate across the chamber. A few moments later the snarling grew more ferocious and the humming suddenly stopped and was replaced by an earsplitting roar of agony that appeared to shake the door.

Unwilling to hesitate any further, Jordan gave the nod to his friend and Damen quickly opened the doorway standing before them and tossed a pair of inferno grenades inside after catching four Yahg guards by surprise. The bruisers instantly fell after being engulfed in flames and the trio carefully entered the room the guards had been protecting. It soon became apparent that they were now traversing a prison level. The area was filled with holding cells but sadly the occupants were no longer among the living. Most of the jails were filled with the lifeless bodies of Batarians but a few held the tortured and mangled remains of several Terminus Fangs who were only recognizable due to their armor.

"Uncle! Damn it, NO!" Damen frantically shouted while scanning the area for any sign of the only family he had left in the galaxy.

"Damen, he's not here." Jordan gently informed him. "Which means he wasn't caught or-"

"Or they're in the middle of torturing him right now! When I get my hands on those murderous kra'tash-"

"Pardon me but if you happen to be looking for a Batarian member of your group, I'm afraid he was taken some time ago." a deep and placid voice suddenly interjected.

The trio of teens instantly whipped their heads around to discover the very last thing that any of them expected. Inside of a cell that was separated from the rest was a massive, heavily shackled Yahg. The giant was wearing all manner of restraints and appeared to be suffering from a multitude of bruises and contusions. Despite that, he actually seemed to be in a good mood and even began humming. The melody was the very same one they'd all heard earlier.

"What the hell?" Jordan whispered in shock.

"Oh, was my droning perhaps distracting you from your mission? Do forgive me, it certainly wouldn't be the first time that my love of music has gotten me into trouble. Though it does help a great deal in getting me through the beatings and the more sadistic punishments of my brethren." the Yahg politely responded.

"Y-You're a Yahg, right?" Cherish quietly asked in an almost mystified tone.

"Indeed I am. But based on the looks that you're all giving me, I imagine that your perception of my people is a sour one. Sadly, it's also probably quite accurate." the mystery Yahg lamented. "Ah, but where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Garr. A pleasure to make your acquaintance or it would be if I weren't in such a deplorable state at the moment. Nevertheless, a man should always do what he can to enjoy new meetings with good people and I have a feeling that you more than meet that criterion." the Yahg added in a somewhat jovial tone. He was without a doubt a complete anomaly and perhaps more.