THE RAINS OF KAHJE
Chapter 4
AN: Bioware owns everything *sigh*
Jacob was not totally happy with having to babysit a distressed Kolyat. He had never been particularly close to Thane, so it was not like he could provide much comfort to his son. The Silence had been awkward in the cab-ride from the institute to Inkahjra. Mordin spent most of the time fiddling with the diagnostics on his Omni-tool or murmuring "Fascinating" at the stilted and infrequent exchanges during the few hours it took to get there.
The feeling of discomfort was mutual. Kolyat had worked in C-Sec long enough to be used to humans, but Jacob was not the type of human he had much experience with. Relaxed, wise-cracking, unorthodox enforcers under Bailey's command in Zakera Ward, were a world away from Po-faced, collaterally-damaging military types. He knew his dad had worked with a seriously eclectic mix of people on the Normandy, out of which Jacob was probably the most predictable. But it still didn't make him any happier about relying on a Marine who had defected to Cerberus.
His thoughts turned to Thane. His feelings towards his father had always been….complicated. He had spent years hating him, feeling abandoned and betrayed on behalf of his mother as well as himself. Then he had heard stories about him, from people who spoke of Thane with reverence and awe. Despite himself, he had begun to feel a sneaking pride in his father's achievements. But he was not his father, he thought bitterly, his one attempt to emulate him had been a disaster.
Well perhaps not a total disaster he thought with a half-smile. After all, it had been the catalyst for a reunion between them - perhaps not one that he had initially welcomed.
He just wished they had had more time to talk, to be, to know each other. He realized that he was now in truth, totally alone in the world and he felt suddenly young and rather helpless.
There was Shepard…
Yes, if they found her, if she wasn't involved in Thane's disappearance in some way. He knew about his father's relationship with Shepard. He had run the gamut of disgust followed by jealously, ending with a kind of acceptance.
She is not my mother…… why should she care…… we owe each other nothing.
Still, his outburst in the institute had been unworthy and he regretted it. He had time now to internalize everything and concentrate on the mission ahead. He was going to enjoy tearing that Hanar limb from limb he thought grimly.
The cab driver broke into his thoughts, announcing their arrival, before speeding off after leaving them at the entrance to a trackway leading through thick trees, with no sign of habitation in sight. The area was surprisingly silent, the only sound being the rustle of leaves and the distant sound of waves on the shoreline.
The skin between Kolyat's shoulder blades prickled. He felt as though they were being watched. He automatically moved into a more defensive stance. His movement caught Mordin's eye and he nodded approval at the young man's reaction.
"I somehow don't think we are alone," whispered Jacob, and signaled for the other two to follow him under the canopy of trees.
As silently and as stealthily as they could, they moved parallel to the path, following its winding route, but remaining under cover as much as possible. After roughly half a mile, the trees began to thin and the undergrowth became less abundant. Jacob signaled for them to stop. Peering through bushes and around tree trunks, they looked out onto a large clearing. Slightly off-centre stood a substantial and vaguely pyramid-shaped structure. Rising around 4 storeys, it was roughly constructed of what looked like mud and seemed to be of considerable age. Four other similar structures were dotted around, but they were much smaller in size.
As they watched, several figures emerged from the entrance at the bottom of the large structure. They were armed and patrolling the perimeter of the building. Jacob felt Mordin's hand grip his arm and looked were the Salarian was indicating. A small pile of crates were stacked by the closest small mud pyramid to their right. Every crate was marked with the Cerberus crest. Jacob smiled in relief. He holstered his weapon and strode confidently out of the trees, beckoning to his colleagues.
A rapid burst of gunfire peppered the ground around his feet and he instinctively leaped to safety, hiding behind the nearest crate.
"What the hell!?!" he yelled, "I'm Cerberus for fuck's sake!"
The gunfire ceased and he peered out. A small gunpoint had been constructed on top of one of the smaller structures closer to the big pyramid. He could see a man crouched behind the metal plates protecting the position. The two patrolmen had come running over, their guns raised. Jacob stepped out from behind the crates and walked towards them with his arms raised.
"Hey, guys, I'm with Cerberus too! I work directly for the Illusive Man…"
The two patrolmen looked at each other and one spoke into his communicator.
"Boss says he doesn't know you or the Illusive man, and if you're with Cerberus, what the hell are you doing with those alien freaks?" Mordin and Kolyat had prudently remained under the trees, although they were plainly visible.
Jacob frowned, "The Illusive Man is the head of Cerberus, you should know that! As for them, they are crew mates, they helped us save the human colonies that were being attacked, they are helping humanity!"
The man spoke into his communicator again, then looked at his colleague and turned to nod at the gunner on the roof.
"Fleming doesn't care what they've done, they're aliens, and you're a traitor to humanity….."
Jacob remembered the rest in slow motion. The two patrolmen raised their weapons in preparation to fire and he heard the click as the round chambered on the roof. There was a bewilderingly fast streak of greenish blue and something smacked into him from the side, bowling him over several times until he came to a stop, feeling winded and stunned on his back in the dirt. Crouched over him was Kolyat, his weapon drawn and firing. Jacob shook his head, rolled over onto his front and grabbed his carnifex. He never fired a shot. Kolyat had taken down the two patrolmen without too much effort and Mordin had sniped the gunner on the roof.
Impressed, Jacob got to his feet and dusted himself off. Turning to Kolyat he grabbed the young Drell by the hand.
"Thanks kid!" he grinned, "I owe you one! I've never seen anyone move that fast!"
Kolyat smiled, "I guess I learned something from C-Sec training".
"Good example of camaraderie, but we have company!" Mordin's voice made them swivel round.
A swarm of men were disgorging from the door of the large pyramid. Jacob and Kolyat took one look and dived for cover behind the handy crates, while Mordin remained behind his tree. A hail of bullets rattled their cover. Jacob knew they were in trouble.
He tapped his communicator "Joker, you there?"
"Whats up Jacob?"
"We're gonna need backup…….. and fast!"
Miranda stalked angrily out of the briefing chamber and took the lift down to the Mess.
"This is going to be good," muttered Joker as he patched himself through to the Mess com relay. He had heard every word of the conversation between the former Cerberus Operative and her ex-boss, and it hadn't been pleasant, or ultimately very useful.
In the mess hall, the remaining crew members sat around watching Miranda's stormy approach. She spoke without preamble.
"Well, the slimy bastard isn't giving away anything!" She stood with her hands on her hips looking pissed. "He claims that it could well be one of the autonomous scientific cells over which he has only nominal power. He says that it would take too long to track down which one."
Jack snorted "Bullshit!"
Samara agreed, "I find it hard to believe that man does not have a firm hand on the reigns of his own organization. He is after all the Puppet Master."
"So….do we fight?" Grunt tried unsuccessfully to mask the hope in his voice.
Miranda look round at all of them and nodded, "Yes, we fight!"
Just then, Joker's voice sounded across their coms, "Sorry ma'am, I've just heard from Garrus. They've found Shepard and she's ok!"
Shepard was glad to see most of her crew on the shuttle when it collected Garrus, Tali and herself. They had brought her armour and favourite weapons too. It wasn't long before she felt like she was returning to some semblance of normality. The comfort of familiar things helped assuage the grief and guilt that still choked her. It helped her focus on the situation at hand.
Miranda briefed her on the intel received from Jacob who was holed up with Kolyat and Mordin, trying to hold what sounded like a full Cerberus battle cell, at bay. Shepard's lip curled in contempt when Miranda recounted her confrontation with the Illusive Man. She knew that he was perfectly capable of having masterminded this entire situation. But with the theft of Thane's body he had crossed a line. This was now getting personal. Was he mad to divert her attention from the very real Reaper threat?
She looked around at her crew and her heart warmed. They were all there for her, well maybe Jack was there in search of a chance to kill some more Cerberus goons, but otherwise, she knew she was not alone. Movement caught her eye and for a split second she thought she was looking at Thane sitting in his usual place, doing last minute checks on his armour. A second glance told her it was Zaeed and a sad smile lifted the corners of her mouth. His loss was going to take some getting used to.
The Kodiak made short work of the trip north and they were soon landing amongst the trees a few hundred yards beyond Jacob's position. They could hear the sound of gunfire and stealthily approached the compound. Jacob, Kolyat and Mordin, had bunkered up inside the small pyramid by the furthest treeline. They were surrounded by enemy on three sides. The first thing that Shepard noticed was how sporadic the fire from the building was. That could only mean two things – either they were badly wounded and unable to retaliate, or that they were running low on ammo. There was no response from them over the com link. She really hoped it was the second option. She couldn't face any more losses at the moment, especially not if that loss was Kolyat.
"Miranda, we will split our forces. I'll take Garrus, Jack and Zaeed round to the left. You lead the rest round to the right. Flanking them will divert their fire from Jacob and the others. Rendezvous at their position."
Miranda nodded and turned to her team, "ok guys, move out!"
Shepard lead the way through the trees, round to the left. It wasn't long before they came upon the first group of Cerberus soldiers. They made the most of their one chance of using the element of surprise. A burst of gunfire and biotic power ripped into the enemy's right flank decimating their ranks. It didn't take much longer to pick off the remains.
"Six down", thought Shepard, as they carefully negotiated their way round some crates.
This time, the enemy knew they were coming. Several bullets impacted her shield and she threw herself to the ground, rolling over and coming to rest against another crate. She felt the box reverberate against her shoulders as the bullets meant for her, thudded into the crate's metal casing. Across the gap from her, Garrus and Zaeed were sniping at anything that moved in front of them. Leaning out for a couple of seconds, she counted around a dozen men, the largest concentration of them surrounding another of the small pyramid-shaped buildings.
Reaching behind her, Shepard grabbed one of her grenades. Flicking the switch, she counted under her breath and then lobbed it with deadly accuracy into the thick of the group she had spotted. Screams followed the explosion. Garrus picked off a survivor.
"Firing a concussive shot!" warned Zaeed. A loud bang followed and Shepard risked sticking her head out again to check on the numbers. Immediately, she had to duck back down to avoid the barrage of bullets. Damn it, still another four of them left. She carefully edged her way to the opposite end of the curved line of crates. If her calculations were right, this would angle the remaining enemies more or less in a straight line from her position.
She took a deep breath and activated the amp at the base of her skull, feeling the dark energy ripple through her body, coalescing into a straining mass that she could barely contain. She leaped up into the open and simultaneously launched a vicious shockwave down the line of the remaining Cerberus forces. Like a deadly game of skipping stones, it bounced off all obstacles, including armour and flesh, reducing the enemy to a pile of very dead contorted limbs.
"Damn Shepard!" said Zaeed admiringly, "I never want to face you when you're pissed off!"
Shepard smiled grimly and waved them on. She could hear firing and shouts from the opposite side of the compound, so it would seem that Miranda and her team were also gaining ground. With confidence they advanced, picking off the remaining stragglers who were no match for the Normandy team that had taken down the Collector base single-handedly.
By now, the hut occupied by Jacob's team, was ominously silent. Shepard's group was the first to get there and she did not hesitate to push her way through the barricaded doorway.
"Jacob?" she called anxiously as she walked through, and then smiled in relief at what she saw. Jacob sat on the floor while Mordin applied medigel to a gunshot wound to his left arm. Kolyat, apparently unharmed, was standing sentinel over them.
"Everyone ok here? Report!"
"Everything's fine Commander", Mordin was his usual quick-fire self, "Mr. Taylor has a mere flesh-wound which will heal quickly and neither myself nor Mr. Krios is harmed. Only trouble was lack of ammunition."
Shepard flinched at Mordin's use of Kolyat's surname. It reminded her that she still had unfinished business with the young Drell. Business that she could not put off any longer. Showing more confidence than she felt, she walked over to where Kolyat stood diffidently, the only outsider on the team and uncertain of his reception, especially after the wild accusations he had flung about at the institute.
He had had a chance to repent those words and felt ashamed, especially as he remembered the admiration and praise that his father had for the Commander.
Shepard halted a couple of feet away from him and cleared her throat nervously. Despite obvious differences such as age, colouring and height, he showed enough of his paternal inheritance to make her heart ache when she looked at him.
"Kolyat…… I…." She floundered over her words uncertainly.
She tried again, "Look, I know this must be horrendously difficult for you to deal with. I know you and Thane were just starting to get close again and it must really hurt. He always spoke of you with such affection and hope. I….. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you got here. It's my fault this has happened, if I hadn't run out…"
Kolyat stepped forward suddenly, raising his hand to her arm. Shepard felt the touch so keenly her words dried up. It was so similar and yet so different.
"Shepard" Kolyat's voice was low and calm, "Please don't apologise. I know how much you loved him, how much you loved each other. It is I who should be thanking you for making him happy over the last months of his life."
Shepard looked down, she was desperately trying to blink back the tears that were threatening to spill out. She took a deep breath and mentally told herself to get a grip.
Stepping back she looked up at him, "Thank you, but now I need you to get back to the Normandy."
Kolyat frowned, "What? I don't think so! I'm seeing this through to the end."
Shepard looked at him bleakly, "Kolyat, I have to know that you are safe, you are the only thing of his left alive in this world. I cannot face the possibility of losing you too."
The Drell's frown lifted, but a stubborn expression took its place, "I understand Commander, but this is just as much my battle as it is yours. With respect, I am not a member of your crew and I have the right."
Shepard was about to argue the point when she felt Garrus's heavy hand on her shoulder. She turned to see the Turian's blue eyes looking steadily into hers as he shook his head ever so slightly. Shepard sighed acknowledging defeat. On impulse, she crossed the distance between her and Kolyat and threw her arms around him in a hug. The Drell started in surprise, then slowly lifted his arms and hugged her back.
For his ears only, Shepard whispered fiercely, "We will get him back, I swear to you!" His response resonated within her.
"I know".
I really thought this was going to be the last chapter.
There will be more shortly!
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