Chapter V
Vallok looked cautiously around the landing pad trying to be as ready as possible for anything that may happen. He didn't want to think that anything could go wrong being right outside C-Sec but after the shooting, he was on edge. His mind was constantly flooded with the paranoia that came with having someone trying to kill them. The platform was mostly empty other than a few officers that stood in front of their cars talking to each other. He turned to the skycar behind him and nodded at Miara who sat inside waiting for him to make sure it was alright. She looked around, trying to stay behind Vallok as he began to walk towards the C-Sec building.
Vallok's focus shifted from the building as he watched the turian that steadily approached them. As he got closer Vallok clenched his talons around his sidearm, getting ready to shoot him.
"Vallok?"
"Who wants to know?"
The turian shook his head a continued to walk next to him "It's not important, all you need to know is that they are waiting for you inside!"
The turian walked off in another direction towards the upper platforms of the shuttle pads.
"Do you suppose he's telling the truth?"
"I don't know but I am about to find out." He turned to Miara and stopped her, looking into her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"I need you to go back to the car alone and make your way back to my apartment."
"Alright" Turning around, she walked swiftly towards the car they had arrived in.
Vallok watched Miara as she walked briskly down the bridge leading to the landing pad to make sure she got there. He couldn't help but wonder what was going on and who was trying to kill her. Shrugging it off, he turned and started to walk up the stairs of the C-Sec office, hoping to find answers inside. Approaching the door, Vallok stopped when he heard shots ring out above the landing area.
"Vallok!"
Vallok panicked as he looked around for the asari, hoping he wouldn't find her wounded or dead. So caught up in finding her, he failed to pay attention to the bullets flying by him.
"Vallok!"
She was pinned down by a container a few feet from the car they had arrived in. Vallok snapped himself out of his trance, realizing the incoming danger of the mercs that continued to shoot at him as he took cover behind a pillar. The rest of the C-Sec officers in the vehicle area fired at the mercs above on the catwalks, giving Vallok enough time to rush a little farther down the bridge towards Miara. He rushed from cover to cover, stopping as the bullets hit in front of him.
Returning fire, Vallok unloaded three shots at the mercs, making one of them fall from the balcony as he ran to the cover Miara was sitting behind.
"Are you alright?"
"Mostly..." He looked down at her seeing a pool of blood form from a hole in her leg.
"Hold on!" Vallok raised himself from cover, firing more shots, making the mercs duck.
"Here, I got some medi-gel but it won't stop all the bleeding." She gasped as the medi-gel took effect.
Vallok raised himself up again, firing two more shots at the mercs, hitting another to give a little relief to some nearby C-Sec officer. His mind raced as he tried to figure out another way off of the landing pad. Nothing came to mind other than to continue to hold out until help arrives and that didn't look like anytime soon. Vallok rose again, firing three shots, killing one of the last seven mercs. There were too many and they had the upper hand and the only other people nearby was the C-Sec officer on the nearby landing pad. His thoughts were interrupted as he was knocked to the floor in pain as two bullets ripped through his shoulder.
"Vallok!" Miara could feel the panic take her over as she stared at Vallok.
"I'm... fine" he grunted in pain as he brought himself back up to sit against the cover of the crate.
Vallok screamed in pain as he tried to move his shoulder to raise his gun at the mercs. He looked at his shoulder which was now covered with blood and ripped armor. He knew that armor-piercing rounds were no joke but he never knew getting hit with one would hurt so much. He tried to raise his arm again, only to be stopped by overwhelming shots of pain going through his body.
"Damn it!"
"What?"
"Listen I can't pick up my gun, let alone use it! I need you to take it and fire a few shots at the mercs to get them off those C-Sec officers over there."
"What? You want me to get myself shot for them?"
"They are our only hope of getting out of here!"
Vallok clenched his teeth as he handed his gun to Miara. She loosely held the gun, looking down at it with fear.
"I've never even shot a gun before!"
"Easy point and pull the trigger!" Her face was terrified as she continued to stare at the blood stained gun. "Listen you don't even have to hit them... just... shoot in their direction."
Miara looked over Vallok, clearly terrified, then focused on the gun again. She nudged herself against the crate and peeked around the corner firing three shots at the mercs. Each shot missed, hitting the surrounding pillars and glass of the balcony above.
"Nice." Vallok forced a smile through the pain to reassure her.
The nearby C-Sec officer raised from their cover and pelted the mercs with gunfire, each shot ripping through the mercs, making them fall lifeless to the ground. The officers stopped as the last merc fell to the ground, then rushed to both Vallok and Miara.
"There is an emergency shuttle coming. We will stay with you until it comes." The officer looked both of them over, assessing their injuries.
Vallok shook his head as he tried to speak but he was interrupted by the pain. "We can't wait that long! I need to get her somewhere safe!"
"You're safe sir! We just need to get you to the hospital!"
Vallok grabbed the officer's shirt, pulling him closer. "I don't think you understand! They were after her!"
"Sure they were sir!" The officer tried to loosen his grip.
Vallok shook the man by the shirt, getting his full attention. "My name is Vallok Arus and I'm in charge of security for a politician's daughter!"
The officers scowled at Vallok, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. "The Asari politician that arrived a week and half ago?"
Vallok nodded, clicking his mandibles with a mixture of pain and irritation. The officer's face changed quickly as he realized what had just happened.
"Lazen get over here!" he called, gesturing to one of the two officers standing watch.
The human officer rushed over, giving a crisp salute to the turian officer. "Yes, sir!"
"Go get a shuttle quickly and bring it around!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Gantry!" he called, raising his hand again, gesturing to the other human officer.
"Sir?" he responded, giving a salute.
"Contact C-Sec dispatch and tell them we need a seven man protection team to meet us at the hospital.
"Yes, sir!"
Both of the officers gave a salute a ran off in different directions, leaving the three of them on the bridge.
"We will set up some protection at the hospital to keep you safe."
Vallok acknowledged him with a nod, sighing in relief. He figured they were the best security he would get and he couldn't exactly do his job with a ripped shoulder. He didn't like the idea of going to the hospital. Too many possible security threats. His thoughts were broken as he heard a shuttle land on the pad next to their skycar. The turian officer picked up Miara in his arms and carried her to the shuttle, laying her down in the seat. Vallok grunted at the turian as he came back trying to pick up Vallok.
"I can take care of myself!" Vallok struggled to get up from the floor, making the turian flare his mandibles in amusement as he stood back, watching him.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing in particular."
Vallok didn't really care at this point. His shoulder throbbed in pain and he was getting light headed from blood loss. He walked to the shuttle as the turian officer followed slowly behind him, waiting for Vallok to need assistance. He stepped into the shuttle, looking around at the empty cargo area, finding Miara laying in one of the bench seats. He sat in the seat next to her, keeping a close watch on her as she closed her eyes, trying to push out the pain. He sighed, laying his head back, trying to relax and hoping to decrease the amount of blood flow to the wound. He felt a little relieved at the fact that someone else was looking out for her, almost giving him a break.
He opened his eyes as he felt Miara nudge him with her arm, holding his pistol loosely in her hand. Vallok smiled at her, amused at the fact she still had it. Grabbing the pistol from her hand, he looked down at, it running his talons over the mixture of blood that stained the grips. He remembered when he got the gun back on Palaven just before he left.
"Its a Karpov Pistol XI, only six ever made." The turian woman let her hand sink into her hip as she looked at Vallok with an inquisitive look.
"This is too much!" Vallok extended his arm with the pistol in it towards the woman.
"Nothing is too much for my son!" she replied, flaring her mandibles.
"Mom, this has got to cost a lot of credits."
"Don't worry about it! You're going to need it."
Vallok shook his head in refusal as he tried to give the gun back to his mother. She turned her head and put her arms behind her back refusing to take it back.
Vallok sighed looking at his mother then looking at the pistol. "Thank you."
She unfolded her hands from behind her back and flared her mandibles with happiness before grabbing Vallok's shoulders making his eyes meet hers.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
She let him go and turned him around towards the docking bay. Vallok's heart sank as he walked down the bridge towards the ship as he thought about what he was doing. She had no clue that he wouldn't come back and it tore him apart to not tell her. Could he have told her? Would she have let him go? Did she know? He continued to walk down the bridge to the ship, stopping at the airlock of the ship to turn and look at his mother. Was he doing the right thing? He waved at her and turned into the airlock, stepping in and waiting for the door to lock.
The room hissed as the airlock pressurized before letting him in the ship. He couldn't help but feel bad. She thought he would be back in a few months from his new post. He didn't want to leave but he couldn't take it anymore. He was always being told about what he should do and what the honorable thing is. He would have been able to have dealt with it, maybe, but after what happened, there was no forgiveness. Valerie was heart broken and wouldn't talk to him anymore and it was the final bit of crap that drove him out. The door of the ship opened, revealing a turian in military dress waiting.
"Garrus! What the spirits are you doing here?" Vallok clenched his talons, making a fist.
"I heard you were leaving." He crossed his arms, looking at Vallok disapprovingly.
"Yeah! I'm going to my new post. What's so special about that?"
"Don't play games with me Vallok! I'm not stupid! You withdrew your account holdings and changed your omni-tool information. You're not just leaving for a few months. You're leaving for good." Vallok glared at Garrus, trying to find another excuse but he couldn't. He sighed, letting his head sink, taking his talons to his head plates and rubbing them. "I just want to know why."
Vallok lifted his head, looking into Garrus' eyes and hesitated. "Valerie."
Garrus let out a deep breathe and paced the deck once before looking at Vallok again. "Really? A girl? That's why you're doing this?"
"You make it sound so trivial! Do you know what he did?" Vallok's tone became more irritated.
"Not all of it, no. Still this is family we are talking about! Nothing is more important."
"Dad was never as harsh on you as he was me. He always made everything I did sound so medial or not good enough." Vallok began to pace back and forth along the deck.
"Damn it Vallok, calm down and quit being such a child!"
Vallok stopped pacing and took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. "He did it again with Valerie, but he took it to far."
"You got shot! What did you expect?"
"I don't know. I was just hoping he would leave it alone or give one of those speeches."
Silence crept in between them as Garrus tried to think.
"You know what? Just go then!" Garrus moved aside, clearing the hallway for Vallok and pointed.
Vallok walked down the hall before being stopped again.
"What's this going to do to Mom?"
He stood still for a moment, thinking about his mother and what she would do when she learned he was gone. He shook his head, trying to shake off the thought before continuing silently down the hallway.
Vallok's chest rumbled as the doctor approached him with a syringe. "Doc, do the surgery, but I am not taking a sedative."
"You don't understand, I have to go into the shoulder a repair the muscle and bone. It will be extremely painful and you wont want to be awake."
"I need to be awake!" Vallok glared into the eyes of the doctor.
"You should listen to the doctor." Miara stood in the doorway holding onto the door, looking at Vallok with a smile.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
Vallok looked her over noticing a white gauze that wrapped around her leg. "You know, they got some good meds here." She smiled, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
Vallok forced a smile before looking back at the doctor, trying to decide what to do. He sighed, laying down and looking at the doctor with a sternly. "Alright lets get this over with. If I don't wake up, Doc, you are going to be in trouble."
The doctor laughed, finding what he thought was a joke amusing until he looked back down at Vallok, who still had a serious look on his face. The doctor removed the grin and grabbed a nearby syringe from the table, jabbing Vallok with it. Vallok began to feel a numbness come over his body as he tried to fight the urge to close his eyes and fall asleep. He couldn't hold the fight for very long before he let his eyes close as he drifted into sleep, letting his mind go blank.
Hours had passed before Vallok finally opened his eyes, sitting up and grunting in pain as he looked around the room. The recovery room was dark with a few lights that laid scarce around the room, just enough to see with. He let his legs hang off the side of the bed as he stood up, grabbing at his shoulder as it throbbed. His armor was nowhere in sight and he was still wearing the standard skivvies they gave to patients.
"You shouldn't be up." The doctor walked into the room, shaking his head at him.
"I feel fine."
"You need to rest for a few days."
"No. I need to get back to work."
"You need to rest." The doctor walked over to Vallok, putting his hand on his other shoulder, trying to push him back down to the bed.
"Doc I appreciate what you did for me, but you need to let me go." He pushed the doctor's hand away and stood up, giving him a stern look.
"Where is my armor?"
"Well it was torn to shreds by the rounds you took. We had to get rid of it."
Vallok sighed, closing his eyes as he was irritated by the situation. "Do you have any other clothing I could wear?"
"Yes we do." Walking across the room to a cabinet, the doctor reached In grabbing some clothes and giving them to Vallok.
For the first time in six years, he finally wore something other than his armor. As he put on the clothing he couldn't help but let his mind start to wonder as thoughts drifted to the mercs. Who were they and who did they work for? No one knew that they were heading to C-Sec, so it begged the question: How did they know? As he pulled the shirt over his chest a soft voice came from the doorway of the recovery room.
"What are you doing?" Miara stood leaning against the doorway with her hand on her hip, looking at Vallok.
"Just getting dressed. They took my armor, so here I am."
"You look nice. You should dress normal every once and a while."
Looking down at the clothes, he shook his head in disapproval.
"Though, if you are going to continue to protect me you will need armor."
Vallok gave her a puzzled look, noticing the crate that she had sitting behind her as she smiled.
"What's that?"
"Its a tool that you are to use to keep me safe."
Vallok smiled at her as he walked to get the crate. Grabbing the crate, she stopped him, putting on the visor they took off before surgery.
Vallok flared his mandibles again. "Thank you."
She nodded, leaving the room so Vallok could change. Opening the crate, he was surprised to find a suit of black armor inside. He hadn't ever thought about a different color than blue and he always thought black made him look like a mercenary. Figuring he didn't have much of a choice, he slipped on the armor, fastening it to his body.
The door opened, revealing Vallok in full black armor, surprising Miara at how different he looked.
"Why black?"
"I don't know. I thought you would look nice it black and besides, are you really going to argue with free armor?"
"I guess not."
She smiled, looking Vallok over. "So what now?"
Vallok scoffed. walking to the window overlooking the presidium shops below. "I honestly don't know. My plan was to have C-Sec protect you while I tried to figure out these mercs, but it seems like they are always one step ahead."
"We have to do something."
"We? We aren't going to do anything. You aren't going with me."
"Where exactly am I going to go?"
Letting his hand rest on the window, he sighed, letting his weight fall to his arms resting against the glass as he tried to think. The hallway fell silent as Vallok continued to stare out the window, trying to figure a plan of action. She had a point. What would he do with her?
"Glad to see you're alright."
Vallok turned his head to look at the approaching C-Sec officer.
"So am I." Vallok hesitated before taking the officer's hand and shaking it.
"What's your plan?"
Vallok raised his eye plate at the officer, trying to figure out his interest in his plans. "Why?"
"You're going to need help aren't you?"
Vallok sighed looking at the man and nodded.