I think I would have been done with this chapter earlier if not for the fact that I had my high school graduation on Monday. 7th in the class, not bad at all. :)
I actually had some trouble figuring out what I wanted to do with this chapter, but I settled on this version. As always, please enjoy!
The quarian exited the hotel room just in front of Shepard and emptied his pistol's six round magazine into targets down the hall. The last target: a male Bureau agent with three tightly grouped bullet wounds in his chest, crumpled to the floor between his two comrades just as Shepard poked his head around the corner. They had just come out of one of the elevators.
Reegar ejected the spent heat sink from the weapon and pulled another suppressor pistol from his hip and offered it to the Commander. "You'll need one of these." He said. "Your gun isn't silenced and we don't need to cause a panic with the other humans staying in their rooms."
Shepard hastily re-familiarized himself with the weapon; small clip size but extremely accurate and powerful. It had served him well when he was nearly murdered by CAT6 mercenaries on Silversun Strip, and it would have to do so again.
"By the way Commander," The marine added as they reached the emergency stairwell. "Jezik says he wants his gun back, and a new mask too."
"Who?" The name sounded familiar, but Shepard couldn't quite place it.
"The guy you slugged in the trash system, you left a huge crack in his mask." Reegar said, smirking behind his own dark mask while he interfaced with the door. "When he came to he called in about you, and I told him to let you out of the tunnel. He's the reason I was able to find you."
"That was him?" Shepard replied, surprised that the man he punched would be so willing to help. "Uh… I'll have to forward him some credits then."
"Later." Reegar said. "This damned door hasn't been used in forever…" His omni-tool worked feverishly to deal with the older code, but a chime from down the hall indicated that another party of Bureau goons had arrived on their floor. They were out of time.
Hoping that it would work in their favor, he planted a shot in the control panel. Fortunately, the door shorted and opened just as the agents stepped over their fallen allies. Shepard dove out of the way and Reegar was right behind him as they opened fire with their own suppressed weapons. Bullets shredded the wall behind where they had just been standing.
"STOP THEM!" One of the enemies yelled.
Reegar slammed the console on their side of the door, and the door slid shut again. He turned to Shepard. "It won't stop them forever." He said, pointing up. "We need to get to the roof; my men will be waiting with a shuttle." Sure enough, as they began to climb the steps, the squad of agents started working on the door, interspersing their efforts with various muffled expletives.
The climb was not long, as Shepard's room was fairly close to the roof. They ascended in silence, broken only the quarian telling his men that he was approaching the roof and calling in the escape shuttle. They soon reached the exit: a door setup similar to the one they had come through.
The moment it opened to the light saturated city night, an unsuppressed sniper shot blew a hole in the wall behind them. "Bosh'tet!' Reegar yelled. Both of them took up a position on either side of the door. He pulled up his omni-tool to contact the escape shuttle as the sniper fired a shot through the wall, missing Shepard's head by little more than a foot.
"We're stuck in the stairwell!" He yelled into the comm link. "They've got a sniper on the roof! I need him dead!" Another shot blew a hole between his bowed legs, causing him to instinctively jump.
"Understood, we'll take care of him. Stand by." Responded the pilot. The shuttle roared overhead moments later, and muffled cracks of gunfire echoed through the stairwell. The pilot came back on the channel. "He's dead; we're ready for you and the human sir."
"Come on Shepard." Reegar said, gesturing at the door. "Let's go."
The shuttle, a plain gray Kodiak, settled next to the roof's edge, above the street. A few quarians dressed in suits similar to Kal'Reegar's stood in the access hatch, each of them carrying an assault rifle. One of them helped both of the escapees into the vehicle.
At that moment the squad they had eluded inside the building burst out onto the roof. The two groups immediately began to exchange fire; one of the Bureau soldiers went down as the Shuttle roared away and towards the traffic headed away from Rayya.
Reegar entered the cockpit, leaving Shepard to his own devices. He took a seat against the wall; the quarians whispered animatedly amongst themselves, occasionally glancing at him and quickly looking away when they saw he was staring back at them.
A woman appeared in the doorway to the cockpit, looking straight at him. The marines all turned and saluted her, but she ignored them completely, her glowing eyes fixated on him. Kal'Reegar appeared behind her. Shepard raised his eyebrows.
"Shepard…" She finally managed to say. He instantly recognized her accent, just as he had with Kal'Reegar.
"Admiral Raan!" He exclaimed, a smile coming to his face as he stood up and offered his hand. She slowly shook.
At the mention of his name the quarian marines off to the side had become even more excited. "It's really him!" One of them said, a bit too loud.
"That can't be him!" Responded a younger sounding quarian. "Commander Shepard is as tall as a Geth Colossus and twice as tough!" His comrades laughed heartily at his naïveté.
"Enough!" Reegar barked at them, trying to sound serious through his own laughter. They quieted down, but they continued to whisper about the human.
Raan was leaning against the wall of the shuttle, wondering still at the dead man standing in front of her. Kal'Reegar, concerned by her silence, placed his hand on her shoulder, but she waved him off.
"I'm fine Kal." She said, glancing his way quickly. "I just… don't know what to think about this…"
"It's good to see you again Raan." Shepard said.
"I don't know if I can say the same about you Commander." She said, a note of sadness in her voice. "You've been considered dead for so long. I can't even begi-"
"Wait a second!" Shepard interrupted. "How long exactly?"
Kal'Reegar stepped forward. "You were killed 32 years ago Shepard… they had your body and everything."
"I… I…" Commander Shepard could not even begin to comprehend what that meant for him. He looked around the shuttle with a sudden sense of fear and desperation. "This isn't right! This is not what I remember! I don't know what's going on!" He shouted.
"Commander…" Began Raan.
"No!" He drew both of his pistols and suddenly found himself in a standoff with the marines. Reegar's men cowered at being threatened by the man they knew only in legends, but still they kept their weapons trained on him. Reegar himself, completely unfazed, had stepped in front of Raan to protect her, but she pushed him aside.
"Commander!" She implored. "Please listen!"
"I need answers!" He replied, his tone dangerously hostile.
"Let me say what I need to say." She responded. "Then you can ask us whatever you want."
Shepard knew than Shala'Raan had always been one of the more sane minds on the quarian admiralty board. She had always been honest and forthright with him, especially when it counted, such as during Tali's trial. He was incredibly wary of his current surroundings, but…
He sighed, and lowered the guns. "Alright… Maybe I should sit down." The quarians holstered their own weapons as Shepard sat back down. Raan sat next to him with Kal'Reegar keeping an eye on him from the other side, just in case.
"I don't know how you survived or why you're here." She started.
"Neither do I." Shepard replied blankly.
"I have no reason to doubt that Commander." She said, nodding. "But we need your help. It's a situation that you inadvertently caused with your death on Earth."
"How did I die?" Shepard asked, still staring blankly at the shuttle bulkhead next to Kal.
"During the run to Conduit in London, you were nearly killed outright by a blast from the reaper called Harbinger. Tali and your Prothean, Javik if memory serves, called in the Normandy for an emergency pickup." Raan started playing with her hands the way Tali used to do when she was uncomfortable or nervous. "It wasn't enough though. You… died in Tali's arms."
Shepard's heart lurched. He could imagine her holding his broken body as he passed away, tears nobody would ever know about pouring down her hidden face. Even if he wasn't dead, he still firmly regretted dying. A tear of his own slipped down his cheek while Raan respectfully waited.
"Who fired the crucible?" He asked after re-composing himself.
"Your admiral, David Anderson."
"What about the Illusive Man?"
"They don't know what happened to him. Cerberus has not been active since the end of the war though, so perhaps he's dead." She made an obscene gesture. "If so, good riddance."
"Did the crucible stop the reapers?"
"Yes. It also destroyed the Geth and apparently your ship's AI as well." She looked away from him. "A lot of our people have not forgiven Anderson for it either."
"What about my crew and my ship?"
"The Normandy is docked in Vancouver as a museum ship." She chuckled. "The Alliance couldn't find anyone willing to step into your shoes. As for your crew, I only know of one…" She said, her voice filled with dread at her mention of the one.
"Tali?" He completed.
"Tali is dead Commander." She said, a bit more harshly than she intended. "Queen Zorah is all that remains of her…"
She leaned in, staring intently at him.
"…and you are our only chance to end this abomination."
Queen Zorah's private chamber always gave Zaal'Koris a sense of dread. Perhaps it was the painting of the reaper war hanging above the opulent bed bringing back unpleasant memories, or the various objects that once belonged to Commander Shepard displayed prominently on some glass encased shelves next to the bed, he could never tell.
But right then he felt terrified, because his report to his monarch included a failure that could be considered his fault in entirety, and he was now kneeling and awaiting his sentence.
She sat facing the token window in the room, one which gave a highly impressive view of the capital. He could only see the back of the chair, but any room she occupied gave a feeling of being watched even when she wasn't physically watching.
"Admiral..." She said, her calm voice stiffening his spine. "Do you remember why I spared your life even when I had that miserable wench Xen executed on trumped up charges?"
"You… you, thought I was c-c-competent at the- at the job you g-gave me." He managed to choke out.
"Yes." She replied, her voice sounding quite condescending. "That's right…" Her unsuited arm and hand appeared out of the side of the chair, holding a beverage glass. "Do you think I should have you executed Zaal'Koris?"
"No!' He squeaked.
"I thought I had made the right choice keeping you and Gerrel around…" She stopped. "But perhaps I was wrong…"
"I beg your forgiveness you majesty!" He nearly screamed. "I swear I'll get them caught within a few days! I just need more time!" He dropped to both knees. "Please your majesty! I beg you!"
"Hmmmm…" She sighed. Her hand began toying with the glass. "Very well… Admiral… Do NOT fail me again." Her tone was extremely deadly. "Or else…"
"You are truly great Queen Zorah!" He shouted, getting to his feet and bowing.
"I know." The glass retreated back behind the chair. "I can still change my mind if you would like." But Zaal'Koris was already running out of the room, cursing his old age with every stride.
Queen Zorah makes a somewhat more personal appearance and we get some more scuttlebutt about the Commander's bizarre situation.
More to come! Please let me know what I'm doing wrong (or right, right is always good, as opposed to left... never mind...)
End Transmission.