Hello there, I'm The Lord Protector and you're reading the seventh chapter of Mirror Images… which is on time, I swear (terms and conditions may apply, namely almost half a year of delay)
This chapter has been sitting in a folder long enough I think so I decided to publish it, with lots of modifications… Yes, if you've read the Author's Note for Hearts of Iron then you know that I have a completely different (and better) story decided for this fic and so I will update previous chapters to fit in continuity wise.
And for my (probable) return I made this chapter more than 10 000 words long. (Totally trying to hide the fact that it was a coincidence), anyway so here it is and I hope you enjoy.
EDIT: Reading this chapter again, I noticed a few problems, namely a lot of grammatical errors at the end and a few unclear parts. I updated the chapter and fixed most of those. Also at the last part I suggest you listen to the russian theme for COD WoW. On a final note, I'm looking for a beta, so if anyone is interested, PM me.
dekuton: It's from Stargate Atlantis :)
aquos dragon: lol now that I think about it you're right :D
Toothless is best: It's a fun game if you don't mind about the weird japanese parts.
Sagely squirrel: I hoped someone would notice :)
and of course I would like to thank everyone else for reading/following/reviewing this story.
"speech"
'thoughts'
*sounds, gunfire, etc.*
(notes, addendums)
(A/N: Authors Note)
Disclaimer: The Mass Effect franchise is not mine, only things I own are my OCs.
Chapter 7: Blood
The ball bounced back for the umpteenth time from the wall today as I was laying on my surprisingly comfortable, under the circumstances of course, bed. The ball flew back to my hand and I threw it at the wall again, continuing the cycle that has been going on for hours, days, weeks, probably months for all I knew with the occasional meal or cigarette breaking the monotonous activity that I got used to calling my "hobby" in my time here.
Why, you ask? Simple, really. The others wouldn't talk to me even if they could, but I didn't blame them. I was probably a mix of the messiah and the anti-Christ at the moment and nobody knew what to think about me, so I spent these days in my cell, since they wouldn't let me out even though I was the most well behaved prisoner on the entire station.
As the ball returned to my hand I could hear someone clearing their throats in front of my cell. I lazily turned my head towards the intruders and saw the two guards that were most often patrolling the vicinity of my cell standing beside a third man with normal civilian clothing. They had their weapons at the ready, for what reason I don't know, the glass between me and them was more than bulletproof for their peashooters.
"Colonel William Carter?" The man in the middle asked, probably awaiting confirmation.
"You can leave the Colonel part out" I told him, head turning back to my ball that I was playing with.
"Right, they stripped you of your rank before imprisoning you?" He inquired, bringing up his omni-tool and seemingly taking notes.
"Fastest court martial in Alliance history" I confirmed his suspicions and there was a dull in the conversation.
"Is there any reason you're here Mr…." I let the sentence open, waiting for him to answer.
"Oh, where are my manners" He apologized "I'm Lucas Brody, journalist and I'm here to interview you" He explained, this got my attention, I caught the ball midair, stood up and walked over to the glass.
"That was unexpected to be honest, I don't really have guests nowadays" I said, stopping about a meter from the glass.
"I got permission from the government to write your viewpoints down, of course due to the current political climate I'll only get to publish it years from now" He continued, I nodded and sat down on the white floor of my cell.
"Well, since it's quite lonely in here you can go ahead" I said "I would offer you a chair but as you can see I'm not in such a position" I pointed over my shoulder, indicating my rather large, although lacking, white cell, where I had a toilet, a bed, a shower and a little cupboard. Thanks to the shower and a little hatch in the glass, which through I got my food I didn't have to go out at all. The administration liked this, me, not so much.
"Don't worry about it, I've had worse" He said, sitting down as well on the cold floor. He looked up to the two guards and said.
"I don't think our friend will be a problem" The guards looked unsure but a glare from the reporter convinced them to leave. Once they left he turned back to me.
"So, what do you wish to know?" I inquired. He looked unsure for a moment before speaking up.
"I don't know how to say it, but what you did was unprecedented. I wish to know how you did it, why you did it and what do you think after you've done it." Brody managed to ask, his green eyes eager for an answer. I looked down at the floor for a good minute before looking back at him.
"Do you want the short version or the long version?" I asked.
"I have all the time in the world, so by all means tell me the long version" He smiled, I don't know if it was because he was genuinely interested or if he could see his Pulitzer prize in front of him already.
I brought my hands up against my face in a thinking manner and after a few seconds I spoke up.
"Have you ever killed someone Mr. Brody?" I said in a curious, yet low voice. He looked at me with a taken aback expression.
"O-of course not" He denied "I'm a journalist, not a soldier"
"It changes you… the way you think…. how you perceive the world around you" I explained "And I'm not talking about killing because of self-defense or killing someone who you didn't even see their faces" I clarified and looked him in the eye "I'm talking about when you deliberately kill someone, plan it, pull the trigger, see their faces as their souls leave their bodies…" I stopped for a second and shook my head, the memory still strong within me.
"I'll start with my first kill…"
Ah, the wonders of modern medicine. Back in the day, a gunshot wound would heal over a few weeks or months. Here, it takes a couple of days. So after a couple of days in a medbay with Zhang and Shepard we were released. We were the only ones who got seriously injured, the others had a few scratches and bruises but that was about it.
Of course, after regaining control of the mechs, the simulation had ended and they promptly scrapped the idea. I can't say I blame them for it, someone can take control of lethal weaponry in the middle of a military exercise? Not the best definition of 'safety' in my opinion.
But anyway, after arriving back at base, they collected our equipment and analyzed our helmet cam footages, trying to make sense of what happened down there. We did our part and I think we've managed to give quite the show for brass. Although we didn't complete the second objective, Martinez assured us that we passed our graduation test with flying colors.
That brings us to the present, our graduation ceremony, we stood in our dress blues in rows looking over the crowd of family members and other acquaintances gathered to witness us. On an elevated podium stood our Training Officer, Sergeant Vasquez. He was speaking about some general military bullshit, like what you would hear in movies, all the while praising us. We didn't really listen, or at least I sure as hell didn't.
"Corporal William Carter" called Sarge from the podium. I blinked once and started moving towards him.
'Well, that's new' I mused as I made my way to the man 'Last time I've checked I was still a private, guess they took the pay raise comment seriously' I thought, I arrived in front of Vasquez and snapped off a salute.
"At ease" He returned it and I stood in a parade rest. He produced a ribbon from an elegantly decorated box and pinned it to my chest. The ribbon was that of a corporal, two stripes with the crescent symbol of the Alliance in the background.
"Wonderful job, Corporal. Make us proud out there" He congratulated me, smiling in a salute.
"I will do my best, Sir" I replied, with that I turned away and left the podium. I returned to my spot on the line and waited for everyone else. A couple minutes later it was Shepard's turn, she walked up and received the same ribbon as me, Corporal Kyra Shepard. That was a surprise as well, but the real surprise was when the other members of Raptor squad got their ranks, all specialists.
After we were dismissed our platoon and the crowd started mingling with each other. Other platoon mates went to their families and friends, even the others in Raptor squad excused themselves to their relatives. You can guess who didn't have any family attending. It was a bit depressive, really. I just collected my duffle bag's worth of stuff and moved to the sidelines, I leaned against the wall of a building and fiddled with my omni-tool, waiting for my new orders to arrive.
"I think I've found my long lost twin brother" came a sarcastic comment from in front of me. I looked up from my omni-tool and was faced with Shepard, who had a similar duffle bag on her shoulder.
"I guess he got the genes for the good looks then" I replied with a smirk on my face. She rolled her eyes and joined me in my solitude.
"I guess your family didn't have the time to attend either" She said, voice half joking, half solemn.
"You could say that" I said, looking at the ground for a moment "Well, You hungry? 'cause I'm starving" I continued, abandoning that line of thought. She was silent for a moment, then spoke up.
"A bit, got a place in mind?" She asked.
"I heard there is a nice pizza place in town" I replied, smirking.
"The last time we ate pizza, you made me join the military" she told me in an amused tone and with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh really? If I remember correctly it was you who came running after me" I was not amused, she just put a hand on her hip
"Details, details" she waved away my accusation and just the way she said that made me crack up.
"Corporals" said a voice from our left, we turned to see who just interrupted us and saw that it was a certain base Commander. We hastily leaned away from the wall and stood at attention "Sir" we said in unison.
"At ease" Martinez told us, we stood at ease and awaited what he wanted to say.
"I have news for the both of you" he stated "Firstly, you must wonder why you are Corporals" he left the thought hanging, waiting for a response.
"It certainly was a surprise" I said, Shepard nodded in agreement.
"When brass reviewed the video footage from your op, they were impressed" he explained. That got me to raise an eyebrow 'The higher ups liked what they saw?' I questioned, we just barely managed to get out of there by the skin of our teeth.
"So much in fact, they decided on special treatment for you" he continued with an unreadable expression, Shepard and I looked at each other in wonderment, what the hell we've got ourselves into?
"The rank was just a necessity for the place you're going to go" he got our attention back and I think my jaw was close to dropping.
"Now, you and your team are to head to Arcturus shortly. You'll get further orders a few hours from now. The SSV Dresden is launching in three hours" he told us with a smile, he turned to leave and started to walk away.
"If I were you, I wouldn't want to miss that flight, your equipment will be waiting for you there" With that he disappeared in the crowd, leaving us bolted to our places, jaws on the floor.
For a few moments we just stared at the crowd where he disappeared, then we turned to each other and shared a victorious high five.
We managed to gather the others in record time and make our way to the Dresden, apparently we were expected and got onboard without a hitch. True to the Commander's word, the same equipment we've used before was waiting for us in the ship's armory.
The frigate launched on time and the crew went on with their daily routine. Since we weren't part of the crew, we were just hanging around the mess hall, talking, eating and occasionally making a jab at each other.
"Still, it's weird, we got selected for something because of our stunt?" commented Adrian from his seat, tray in front of him. We were sitting around a table, eating dinner, discussing our strange situation.
"Yeah, now what? They're going to make us N7s or something?" questioned Rodriguez, while playing with her food.
"Don't be ridiculous, only veterans can go to N school" Shepard chimed in as she ate her jello.
"Would be nice to know why we're sent to the capital on such a short notice" grunted Zhang, she was in a bit of a bad mood, since she was meeting with her boyfriend, who she hadn't met in months.
"All of us had a program not centered around the marines, Zhang" bit back Sheffield, he was meeting with her aunt, his only family member. His parents died in an outbreak of some sorts not long after he was born and his aunt took him in. From the times he spoke of her I got the impression that they were very close.
"I just hope it turns out go-" I started saying when I was interrupted by not only my, but the others' omni-tools.
*BEEP-BEEP*
We all looked down at our intruding screens and inspected them. It was a message, to me, curious, I opened it.
To: Corporal William Carter
From: Human Systems Alliance Naval Department of Logistics
Subject: Transfer orders
Previous posting: 5th training center, Australia, Earth
New posting: Alliance Special Forces Group, Team Delta
Report deadline: November 7th 2172
Posting time: Permanent until further notice
I looked at my arm with wide eyes, my arm started shaking and my heartbeat skyrocketed for a few seconds. 'They want me in a spec ops team?' I trembled. 'I don't even know if I'm good enough for that' I thought 'No… brass tells me I'm good enough, my actions tell me I'm good enough, I think I'm good enough' I scolded myself, I stopped my arms from shaking and took a few breaths.
"Soo, I think brass wants me to play spec ops, but I need someone to confirm it" said Rodriguez, showing her omni-tool. We all looked up at this and our eyes were on her. Sheffield ran over the message and nodded.
"Pinch me, 'cause I see it as well, even to the same place as me" he said, voice a bit shaky. Everybody knew that if they send you to spec ops, they mean business.
"103rd Marine division?" questioned Adrian, eyes glued on his omni-tool.
"No, Alliance Engineering Corps, Spec Ops Team Zeta" he shook his head.
"The Bridge Burners?" I asked, remembering them as a war asset from ME3.
"Yeah, the same, although I have no idea why they would want us" Rodriguez confirmed and shook her head.
"Why wouldn't they want you? You and Sheffield are one of the best explosive experts I've ever met" I argued "Plus, you are the best tech person that I know of, and Sheffield is great commando material" I encouraged them. They still looked unsure, but let out a sigh and a "If you say so".
"What about you Zhang, where are they sending you?" Asked Adrian, looking at the small asian.
"Coming with you, big guy. 103rd Marine Division" she answered, her mood a bit better than before.
"So, I'm guessing I'll be alone in ASFG Team Delta?" inquired Shepard, looking around the table, her expression a bit sad.
"Nope, for my misery, I'll be there with you" I said with an exaggerated sigh. She huffed and leaned back in her chair.
"Poor you, you'll have to spend more time with me" she said with an even voice, crossing her arms, I rolled my eyes.
"I'll find a rope and a chair" I stated, taking a sip of water "That one minute of pain would worth it" I continued, motioning to the ceiling. Shepard was about to retaliate when Zhang cut her off.
"If you could stop bickering like an old married couple for a second, that'd be great" she got our attention "Do you know what this means?" she asked us, waving with her omni-tool. We frowned, trying to figure out what she meant.
"We're being split up" stated Adrian in a monotone voice, our eyes widened at this and we looked at each other in surprise.
"This is likely the last time we're together as a unit" picked up Rodriguez, voice somber and a faraway look on her face, we nodded our heads and sat in silence for a while.
"So, I guess this is goodbye" said Shepard, her sad expression returned and she started fidgeting with her hands, again, we just nodded and the silence continued. We got close in our time together and being split up hurt like a bitch, true, we're not saying goodbye to everyone and we'll likely meet again, but it won't be the same.
"Then let's ma-" I started saying but I was interrupted by the sound of warning klaxons going off. We were shaken out of our trance and got up fast as lightning, warning lights came online and bathed the mess hall in red lighting. A voice spoke up from the ship intercom.
"This is the Captain speaking, the colony world of Sordis is under attack by slavers. The Dresden and the rest of the 6th Fleet is now moving to intercept. All stations, prepare for combat, marines, suit up and get ready for boarding action" the captain's voice cut off and we rushed to the elevator. We technically weren't part of the marine detachment, but we sure as hell weren't going to sit this one out. As we piled into the elevator I spoke up
"It seems we're having one hell of a goodbye party"
Two hours later the Dresden managed to arrive with the rest of the fleet at the colony. We were a bit late, since we had caught a transmission saying that about 80% of the population was already on the ships in orbit. As soon as the pirate fleet detected our presence they had turned tail and ran like hell. It was by no means a large fleet, numbering maximum in the twenties, but they were fast, no dreadnoughts, just a few cruisers and frigates. This meant that our fleet couldn't catch them before they got to the other relay in system. To solve this problem the Dresden, with the other frigates in the fleet decided to go full thrust and slow them down. I, with the other 40 or so marines onboard, was waiting in the hangar bay, fiddling with our thumbs. The ship shook as the central spinal cannon fired, our commanding officer brought up a hand to his ear, after a few seconds he turned to address us.
"Listen up, lads, the Dresden managed to take out the engines on one of the cruisers, meaning it's dead in the water. Now comes our part, we go in with shuttles, rescue the civilians, download any useful intel they might have onboard and get the hell out of there, understood?" he told us with his british accent, we replied in various positive responses and made our way to the shuttles. Raptor squad took one shuttle and we made ourselves comfortable. We had mostly the same gear as before, just less explosives on Sheffield and Rodriguez, and I opted to leave my sniper rifle behind, since I wouldn't be able to put it to good use on a spaceship, instead I had a Paladin strapped to my thigh.
The shuttle ride was quiet, no sound in space and all, so I couldn't hear the battle that was undoubtedly happening outside and nobody said a word inside, preferring to make final preparations instead.
The silence was broken when our pilot yelled from the front
"Hang on to your seats, LZ is hot, we're coming in rough" he helpfully informed us. I strapped myself in with the seatbelt and waited. As we were about slow down and land in one of the hangar bays, a rocket slammed into the cockpit and destabilized the craft. The shuttle continued on its course and once we crossed the atmospheric shields it turned sideways. Gravity took over and we impacted the floor, rolling on our sides for a bit. We stopped rolling and instead turned upside down, but it didn't stop there, inertia carried us forwards and the shuttle skidded on the hangar floor until we hit the opposite wall and came to a dead halt. The impact almost managed to knock me out and I might have gotten a concussion.
"Everyone good?" asked Adrian in a hoarse voice, with a cough afterwards. I opened my eyes and shook my head, trying to come to my senses, my vision was a bit blurry.
"Ah, never better" groaned Shepard from next to me, I heard a thump and another groan from ahead.
"He wasn't exaggerating when he said it was going to be rough" complained Sheffield, I shook my head again and my vision cleared, I looked around the shuttle, only to realize that I was upside down, in fact, everything was upside down. I glanced down and saw that I was strapped into my seat 'Thank god for seatbelts' I thanked the universe. Without thinking I pressed the release button and my head was promptly introduced to the shuttle ceiling. I let out a groan and spoke up
"I've had worse" I replied truthfully, nothing beats a good old fashioned car crash, although I'd place this a close second, my body was aching all over and my head was ringing.
"Zhang? Rodriguez?" asked Shepard. We heard two distinct groans of affirmatives and I laid back on the ceiling, hoping it would ease the pain.
"We're all good" declared Shepard, she surrounded herself in a blue glow, released herself and she promptly dropped to the floor. She didn't seem fazed by it in the least and got up. She stumbled over to me and offered her hand
"Come on, we still have a job to do" she declared confidently, her posture like that of a leader. I looked at her and noticed a trickle of blood running down from her temple, with a few bruises accompanying it. I took her hand and she helped me to my feet, I was standing a bit shakily, but otherwise I was fine. It was at this moment when we noticed bullets ricocheting off of the outside plating. I collected myself and, with Shepard, I moved to assist the others. We helped them out of their seats and I moved to the door, Sheffield took the other side and we readied our weapons. We looked at each other and nodded, I closed my visor and punched the opening button.
We stormed outside and were faced with an interesting situation.
The hangar bay was in complete disarray, at the outer side were our guys and shuttles, firing at the defenders, who were in the inner parts, hiding behind crates and dropships. Tracers were flying everywhere and explosions erupted all over the place from grenades and exposed fuel cells. Everybody was so focused at the fight that they hadn't noticed the most important development.
Us.
We were at the rear wall, and had a perfect field of fire at the defenders' back. We got in cover behind a supply crate and I turned to Sheffield, a plan forming in my head. He looked at me with a wolfish grin, seemingly knowing what I was thinking about, and nodded. I turned on my radio and whispered under the gunfire
"Guys, come out quietly and take up firing positions" I said in to the comms, I received several clicks in response, the others came out the shuttle with their weapons raised and took up positions behind crates. Without saying a word we all took out various grenades and braced ourselves. I waited a moment and pulled the pin
"Now!" I yelled, I got out of cover and tossed the frag into a group of unlucky batarians, the others doing the same. We still weren't discovered as our grenades rolled on the floor.
*B-B-B-B-B-BANG*
The various grenades exploded at once, fire from biotic and frag to arc, causing devastating damage in the defenders' line. We brought up our weapons and started unloading on the slavers. They finally noticed us and started returning the favor, after a few seconds I was forced back into cover and reloaded. As I was about to come back up Sheffield pulled me down, just before a harpoon whizzed past where I would have been standing and planted itself in the side of our shuttle. I glanced at it, then at Sheffield and gave him a thumbs up, he nodded and we continued fighting.
After a few minutes, only a few of the defenders remained, courtesy of our intervention. Slowly, but surely the hangar was starting end up in our hands. I popped up from my cover and aimed at the head of a vorcha, who was stupid enough to get out of cover, as I was about to end its life a glowing disk hit me in the chest, knocking me back and taking out most of my shields. 'What?' I glanced down at the intruding object and realization hit me like an eighteen wheeler 'Shit' I simply stated as the Chakram launcher's disk exploded and sent me flying. I impacted the floor a couple of meters away and blacked out for a minute. A few moments later my vision returned and I let out a moan of pain, if my body wasn't aching before, it certainly was now. My ears were ringing like I took a flashbang to the face and my head felt like I just took it out of a blender.
A hand intruded my personal space and started clicking in front my face, me, in my dazed state, didn't realize what it was and continued inspecting the ceiling. The hand was trying for a while before giving up, another hand came into my field of vision and pain flared across my face. This got me to bolt upright into a sitting position, I glanced around only to see that the fighting was over, and the very amused faces of Shepard and Zhang.
I brought my hands up to my face and winced as I touched it, I turned to Shepard with a suspicious look.
"Did you just slap me?" I accused her with an incredulous expression. She just turned to Zhang with an innocent look.
"Did I?" she asked in a sing-song voice. Zhang started vigorously nodding her head with a grin on her face.
"Indeed, I believe you did" she confirmed, struggling not to laugh.
"I just took an explosive point-blank and you two are joking!?" I asked with a shocked expression 'were these two for real!?'
"Oh, relax, you're fine, your armor and shields took the brunt of it" Shepard reassured me with a roll of her eyes. I turned my gaze downwards and indeed, my vest was almost shredded, but I wasn't bleeding anywhere, granted that didn't mean I didn't have internal bleeding but I felt alright enough to rule out that possibility. I looked upwards again and was helped up by the combined efforts the two women. I felt something missing and was about ask Shepard, when my eyes caught sight of what I was missing.
"Ahh, hell" I complained as I walked towards the remains of my Valkyrie "Now I have to get another one" I picked the rifle up, or at least what was left of it 'Must've slipped out of my hands while flying'.
"Just pick up another weapon" suggested Zhang as she patted my back.
"These unmaintained pieces of shits?" I shook my head, discarded the unfunctional rifle and took out my Paladin. We walked towards the rest of the marine contingent and formed up.
"Thanks for the save" said our Lieutenant, while motioning teams towards different doors.
"Anytime, sir" Shepard replied while I asked a marine for his Avenger. He handed it to me and I inspected it 'Not a Harrier but it'll do for now' I mused when he finally turned to address us.
"Alright, here's the plan. We go in towards the storage compartments, that's the most likely place we'll find civilians" he motioned to a door across the hangar "We bring them back here and load them onto the shuttles" he continued "Now comes your part, you go towards the bridge and secure any useful intel you might find, locations, attack dates, names, anything that could help us, am I clear?" he concluded his monologue and we nodded.
"Aye aye, sir" replied Sheffield for us. With that we turned to a door that would lead us to the bridge and made our way there. Arriving, we stacked up to the locked door and Rodriguez took out a breaching charge.
The charge detonated and we stormed in, we were faced with a large, empty corridor. It was a bit dark and badly maintained, but it still functioned. Seeing nothing I called out.
"Clear!" I got a round of affirmatives and we turned to follow a red line on the floor, hoping it would lead us to the bridge. A few minutes had passed and we hadn't met any significant opposition, only a few vorcha and one turian. Needless to say, we dispatched them quickly and continued on our journey.
As we were about to reach another locked door the lights changed to red and warning klaxons started going off. We stopped and observed our surroundings.
"I have a bad feeling about this" stated Will as he searched for anything out of the ordinary. I activated the radio and contacted the other marines.
"It's Raptor squad, anyone knows what's happening? Over" I asked, maybe they knew what was going on.
"Hold on, Raptor squad, I'm contacting the Dresden for a scan, over" answered our CO's voice, the line was silent for a bit before he spoke up again, although his voice was far from calm.
"The Dresden's scans indicate a build up in the ship's reactor, it will go critical in the next couple of minutes, over" came his voice from the comms. Our eyes widened with realization.
"They activated the self-destruct" I stated, shocked that they would do this so soon.
"Precisely, now we are nowhere near finishing transporting the civvies and we wouldn't be able do it in time either" he said "Engineering is on the way towards the bridge and your squad is the closest one" he left the thought hanging.
"Understood, sir, we'll deal with it, Raptor squad over and out" I answered his unvoiced order and faced the others "I assume you've heard everything" at their nod I continued "Rodriguez, you're our tech expert, you shut down the self-destruct, Sheffield, escort her there" I ordered, turning to them, they said a "yes, ma'am" and started running along a yellow line, indicating the route towards engineering. If the resistance was anything alike to previous then two people should be enough.
"Okay, people, we still need to get to that bridge" I watched as they disappeared behind a corner and turned to the others. They said an "Aye-aye" and stacked up to the door. Adrian produced a breaching charge and placed it on the door, he activated the countdown and stepped away.
*BANG*
*Crack*
I removed the head of a batarian that thought that charging straight at us was a great idea. The shotgun blast took his head clean off and his body slumped to the floor, motionless. I got behind the door frame and hunkered back, shielding myself from the batarian's friends' return fire. On the other side of the frame was Adrian, he was pinned down up to this point but thanks to my intervention they focused fire on me. He took the opportunity and stepped out of cover and brought up his Revenant, he pressed the trigger and kept holding it. This created a wall of bullets that effectively suppressed the slavers, they got behind corners and overturned tables and didn't even dare to peek out. This short break allowed us to collect ourselves, it has been a good five minutes since we've heard from Sheffield and Rodriguez and the warning klaxons were still going off, if they didn't get there, we were as good as dead.
As if some higher power was listening, the klaxons stopped and the red lighting disappeared. We let out a collective sigh of relief, hoping it would be the end of our worries. I activated my radio and contacted the duo
"Sheffield, Rodriguez, it's Shepard. Judging from the fact that I still exist I take you have stopped the self-destruct?" I asked them, I didn't get a response for a few seconds and I started to get worried when Sheffield answered me
"Yep, sorry for not replying right away but we're kinda under fire at the moment" there was a break after that and I heard a shotgun going off "We're hold up in engineering, keeping the original owners from claiming it back" he added, continuing his line of thought.
"Can you keep them out or do you need assistance?" I asked, we couldn't lose that room and risk them reactivating the countdown.
"Nah, a few close calls here and there but we're doing fine. Just get to the bridge so we can get the hell out of here" he replied in his normal, sarcastic tone. I looked around me and to the others, we needed to get past this group somehow, problem was that we could only attack from this doorway, since they have sealed every other door leading to the elevator and they've made it so there weren't any objects we could use as cover, we could charge in and get a few dozen bullet holes as a reward. I peeked out of cover and glanced at our opponents, a few batarians, vorcha and a single salarian were pinned behind cover, waiting for a mistake they could take advantage of. I brought my head back and let out a sigh of defeat, we couldn't get past them, no matter what we did.
"Alright, I'm open to ideas here" I said, hoping the others had a plan of action. Everyone who wasn't firing seemed to be in thought when Will suddenly had an eureka expression plastered on his face and I swear I could see a light bulb appear over his head.
"Got one. Zhang, I'll need your help with this" He said, turning on his heels and running down the corridor, without question Zhang got up and ran after him.
"Will, what the hell are you doing?!" I hollered, he just kept running and glanced back before disappearing behind a corner.
"Thinking outside the box" He shouted, I cursed internally, that man could be more cryptic than an enigma at times.
Seeing no other option I joined Adrian and started pumping lead down the hall. About a minute and a few dead pirates later I heard a familiar voice speaking through the radio.
"Going to spook them a little, get ready" said Will over the comm. I had no idea what he meant but I reloaded and prepared for… something.
*BOOM*
The breaching charge detonated and created a hole large enough to walk through on the right wall of the hall.
Just behind the enemy's line of cover.
Before the dust has even settled a continuous stream of bullets started pouring through the opening, several hitting the flanked pirates. The remaining pirates somewhat wised up and were in the process of changing cover when me and Adrian added our guns to the fray. Needless to say, we made short work of the disorganized, flanked and somewhat disoriented enemies until only one batarian remained standing, or rather hiding behind column. The way he was positioned meant that only me and Adrian could see him, but he was doing a good job of hiding and we couldn't get a clear shot on him. We stopped firing for a moment and just waited.
Our wait was worth it since the idiot shuffled behind his cover and in the process managed to expose one of his feet. Adrian and I looked at each other and nodded. He brought his LMG up and fired a single shot.
The round hit its mark and the batarian collapsed onto the floor, screaming and clutching his leg. Now exposed, Adrian fired once more and his skull had two more holes in it. A strange calm descended onto the hall as I observed it, the dust had finally settled, letting me get a good look at it.
All the tables were overturned, with food and drinks spilled on the floor 'Strange, must've been in the middle of eating' I mused as my gaze continued onwards. There were scorch marks on a few surfaces, traces of explosives used, one such mark had a body right next to it, it was bloody and its legs were missing.
You didn't need to look for them for long.
Blood was covering a good portion of the whole room, dripping from the walls and in pools around bodies. But that wasn't all, there was a certain smell present, eezo. Unlike archaic firearms that used gunpowder, modern weapons used eezo and electromagnets, but technology didn't get rid of the smell. Small amounts of eezo still left the gun barrel and had quite the smell. People from the past associated death with the smell of gunpowder, modern people do it with eezo. The blood and the smell in the room seemed to send one message.
"Death" I whispered as I tried to step forwards only to kick away a bottle. It rolled a couple of feet then stopped, label facing me. 'Thessian Red' I read and after a second realization hit me 'They were celebrating when we busted in' I made the connections.
'We gunned down people who were enjoying a meal and celebrating'
"Room clear" yelled Adrian as he advanced further into the room, this got me out of my trance and I shook my head.
Two forms stepped through the hole and we grouped up in the middle of the hall.
"Hope you liked our entrance" Smirked Will as he reloaded his pistol.
"Next time when you 'think outside the box' please tell me in advance what you will blow up" I said with finger quotes and an amused expression. He brought his hands up in a placating manner
"Hey, if it gets the job done" he defended himself "Anyways, can we get a move on? I hate this ship more and more by the second" he said, looking around at the destruction surrounding us, all four of us nodded and we proceeded towards the corridor that would lead to the elevator.
We were halfway there and I could see the elevator when all of the doors started to open. We brought our weapons up and scanned the hallway, there was not a soul in sight and only the sound of doors opening in the distance could be heard.
"Now they open themselves" muttered Zhang as we slowly advanced forwards. The silence was broken by the warning klaxons and emergency lights coming online again.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" exclaimed Will in an annoyed tone "What is it this time?" he continued with a frustrated expression. I frowned and brought my hand up to my ear
"Rodriguez, it's Shepard. Is the self-destruct on again?" I asked. I didn't know what would be worse; the self-destruct or something else entirely.
"Rodriguez here, main reactor is still offline, so no, it's not that" answered the Brazilian girl. My frown only deepened at this, what the hell was going on?
"Then why is the corridor swimming in red right now?" I demanded an answer, alarms usually don't go off by themselves.
"I don't know! All I can see from here is that all the doors from your position to the hangar bays are opening by themselves" came her frantic reply. I let out a sigh and started thinking.
'Okay, every door in this godforsaken ship is opening, right up until the hangars, alarms are going off and no one is in sight' I pondered over this problem, walking up and down a bit while the others were on their guards for anyone. After a bit I started hearing a whistling sound coming from where we came, then as if a maglev had hit me at Mach 1, the solution came to me and I turned to face the others
"Oh, for fuck's sake, hold onto something!" I cursed and charged my fist with dark energy. Will seemed to realize what was happening and his eyes widened, Adrian and Zhang just looked at me with confused expressions. Then the whistling became louder and louder by the second and Will collected himself, he brought out one of his knives, held it in an icicle grip and stabbed the right wall with it. I focused my biotics and swung at the floor. The impact shattered the floor beneath the punch and my fist got imbedded in it. The other two came to their senses and started looking for something to hold onto.
It was too late.
The whistling became thunder and the wind blew past us as the ship vented its atmosphere, Zhang and Adrian were blown off their feet and were sent flying towards the airlocks towards the hangar. 'Oh hell no' I thought as I concentrated on them, my other fist became charged as well and I pointed it towards them. They stopped in place and were levitating motionlessly, they were saved, but not for long, holding onto a person was tiring, holding onto two people was exhausting.
"Rodriguez, would you kindly close the doors?!" that was Will, he was holding onto his knife with two hands, struggling to maintain his grip.
"On it" came the simple reply from her, but even the deaf could have heard the urgency in her voice.
Several seconds passed, the wind seemed to become stronger and stronger or maybe I was getting weaker and weaker. Will was doing okay for the most part from what I could tell, although that didn't mean much in this situation, someone could be fine at one moment and then dead at the other. I on the other hand was going through hell, my whole body ached, I could feel my muscles slowly tearing themselves apart, I could see blood coming from my embedded hand and I could hear the bones cracking in it one-by-one, but I held on, with gritted teeth I held on, they weren't going to take away my friends again, I was going to make sure of that.
Time didn't stop despite my heroics and I was way past my stress limit, my vision started to blur, the edges started to turn dark and I could feel Zhang and Adrian slipping from my biotic grip. Slowly I closed my eyes and only silence remained, no wind, no voices, just silence.
"Wooooahh" A feminine scream woke me up and I felt something missing, I faced my two brothers in arms, only to see one in place and the other flying down the corridor
"Zhang!" I called out, I could do nothing else, I was close to blacking out and I could only watch helplessly as she get farther and farther away.
I brought my legs under me and my left hand reached for my other knife. I braced myself and waited for the perfect opportunity. And when it came I took it. I pushed myself away from the wall and flew towards the other side. Me and Zhang collided midair and my momentum sent us crashing into the left wall, at the last moment I brought out my knife and pointed it at the wall, the knife's blade sunk into it and with my other hand I kept Zhang close. We skidded about half a meter before we came to a screeching halt as friction finally did its job.
"Gotcha" I said over the wind, she gave a weak "Thanks" and I contacted Rodriguez again
"Anytime now, Rodriguez!" I said as a not so subtle hint to hurry the fuck up, I was holding on with only one hand and I didn't know how long I could do it.
"Almost there…. done" she declared in a victorious tone, I could actually imagine her fistpumping. True to her word the wind stopped and all the doors suddenly sealed themselves, this was nice and all but the lack of airflow meant that we dropped to the floor like bricks.
"Ahhh, Remind me to never go on a ship ever again" groaned Zhang as she shakily stood up, me and Adrian gave a grunt of agreement and got on our feet as well. I waited for everyone to collect themselves as we were stumbling around for the most part but Shepard caught my attention. She was in a sitting position, looking at her hand with a pained expression. I followed her gaze and flinched. Her right hand was covered in blood and I swear I saw a bone protruding out of her hand.
I went up to her and crouched next to her
"You okay?" I asked, I know, idiotic question, but it was mostly just to get her attention. She looked away from her hand and to me
"Never better, just need some medigel and I'm good to go" she stated in a 'I know what you're thinking and I don't give a crap' voice. I frowned and motioned Zhang to come over and treat her.
I glanced at her hand and quickly decided that she wasn't combat capable in almost any way, but I knew that telling her that would be like arguing with a brick wall, so I offered a compromise.
"We can't send you back right now, especially not alone, so do me a favor and stick to the back" I told her in a somewhat kind manner as Zhang sprayed the magic foam on her hand.
She looked like she was about to argue even against that but she let out a muffled cry of pain, courtesy of the bandage that Zhang was rolling around her hand just to keep that mess together, so she just gave a weak "Fine" and stood up with help from the both of us. We turned towards the end of the corridor and the elevator that we've tried to reach the whole time we've been on this ship. Shepard took out her N7 Eagle and moved to the back of our formation.
All four of us went into the elevator and I punched the button for the second highest level, most probably the bridge, by what I know of ME ship designs, which admittedly wasn't much. The others didn't voice any objections so the doors closed and we ascended several floors in the bowels of the ship.
'Okay Kyra, you're doing fine, just one more stop and you can get out of this godforsaken ship and seek more appropriate medical attention than a few bandages and medigel' I winced as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened
To a bridge full of armed individuals.
"Watch out!" I yelled as I rushed to the front of the group all the while focusing dark energy to my still functioning hand. I arrived just in time to erect the biotic barrier as a hail of tungsten pellets started peppering it.
"Got any ideas?" I asked as I struggled to hold the literal wall of bullets coming at us.
"Yes, could you charge like the last time?" inquired Will as him and the others braced themselves for something.
"Yes, but I will be probably spent for a good while" I complained through gritted teeth.
"No choice, on my mark, charge" He declared and put a hand on my shoulder and indicated the others to do the same. When everyone's hands were on my shoulders a member of the bridge crew had the excellent idea of throwing a fragmentation grenade .
It flew a bit and landed a few meters away from us, but it kept on rolling until it reached the barrier.
"Now!" Shouted Will and I dropped the barrier and focused behind a panel behind most of the enemies. My vision narrowed until I only saw where I wanted to end up and I could feel my biotics activating in every section of my body.
What seemed like an eternity for me was a split second to the outside world, so when the space-warping miniature FTL drive that I created formed and the grenade went off, we didn't feel anything and just passed right through the explosion at hypersonic speeds. A hundredth of a second later we emerged on the other side of the room, the others standing, me rapidly nearing the floor, face first.
As soon as we exited the warp me and the others took cover behind a few panels and work stations and waited.
"Are they dead?" Hollered someone from the bridge crew.
"Don't be an idiot" Someone else scolded him "People don't just evaporate from a grenade. They must have cloaks, keep an eye out!" He ordered the others. 'Shit' I thought 'a competent adversary, that's not something you see everyday' I half thanked the universe, half cursed it 'Too bad he's going to die' I shook my head and popped out of cover, Avenger in hand, and sent a five round burst clear though his nape, the others doing likewise with other crewmembers.
'3 down, 7 more to go' I mused as they got to their senses and changed cover to face us. There was only one problem with this situation: 7 rifles versus 3 meant that once they started firing back we were absolutely suppressed.
'At least they aren't shooting Shepard' I thanked the Lord, probably because they thought she was dead. Well, they were wrong but it was true that she wasn't combat capable with her amp overloading and all, again.
I become more and more distressed more and more as time went on, since they were getting closer and closer, with us sparsely returning fire barely slowing them down. Then an idea hit me, I peeked over my workstation and noticed that none of them were wearing any headgear. I went back when a burst connected with my shields, bringing them down to forty percent. I searched my vest for a particularly useful item and after a few moments it was in my hands. I glanced at the others, seeing that they didn't have any helmets on whatsoever.
'Meh, I'm sure they won't mind'
I pulled the pin on the flashbang and cooked it for about two seconds before throwing it up in a perfect vertical line.
*BANG*
The magnesium inside reacted violently and the world became white and the only thing one could hear was a ringing noise in their ears.
Not for me, though. The visor compensated for the increased brightness and promptly polarized itself enough for me to not notice a thing and the receptors in my ear piece reacted to sudden increase in decibels simply by muting everything around me.
The others in the bridge weren't so fortunate and were rolling on the floor holding their heads that were about explode.
Literally.
I stood from my cover and simply walked to every enemy in the room except one, which I assumed to be the XO, and put a bullet into their heads. When I saw that he was about to recover I introduced him to sole of my boot, which knocked him out cold. After that I waited for the others to regain their body-eye-coordination.
"Carter" Called Zhang.
"Yes?"
"Once I'm able to stand without vomiting out my lungs, you're dead" stated Zhang from behind a workstation.
"Get in line" Grunted Adrian from somewhere else. This just made me smirk.
"You're welcome, for saving both of your asses" I simply said, laying back in the captain's chair, speaking of which.
"By the way, did anyone of you see the captain? We should capture him for interrogation" I asked.
"Negative, he must've escaped before we stormed the room" Said Adrian, finally managing to stand up and stumbling over to Zhang.
"You're probably right. I'll update the LT" I stood up and contacted the others.
"This is Raptor squad, all objectives complete and we have captured one pirate for further questioning, over" I reported.
"Understood Raptor squad, any other sources of intel? Over" came the voice of our Lieutenant.
"One second, over" I moved back to the captain's console and searched for anything useful, to my dismay I had found nothing.
"Negative, looks like the databanks were wiped, over" I informed him, when an idea formed in my head "I will check the captain's quarters for further information, over"
"Roger that, we're done loading up civvies and are evacuating right now. A shuttle will dock at the forward airlock right at the bridge and will wait for you there, over" His raspy voice told me.
"Acknowledged, Raptor squad over and out" I ended the transmission and turned towards Adrian, who had managed to help Zhang up from the floor.
"Zhang, when you're able, take a look at Shepard, her amp had probably overloaded again. Adrian, keep watch, I'll go up a level and look for a few things" I told them the situation.
"Affirmative" "Will do" came their responses and I made for the elevator, once getting inside I pushed the button for the uppermost floor, a disapproving beep told me that floor was only accessible for the XO and CO of the ship and that I had to give a code. 'Fuck that' I thought and simply walked towards the escape hatch, opened it and climbed outside.
(A/N: you can start the music here, if you'd like to)
I grunted heavily as I opened the door to the upper floor, done with that I stepped through and brought up my Avenger. I scanned the rather large room before me. There were four rather wide columns leading into the room, to the left was a king sized bed with trophies of what seemed like alien animals above it, on the right were a few couches and a TV. Directly in front of me at the opposite wall was a large terminal, my objective, there was only one problem with this situation.
"Step away from the console and put your hands where I can see them!" I ordered the figure standing at the terminal. His hands froze and he slowly turned to face me. Once he fully turned I could make a few details out, first of all he was a human and he looked to be in his fifties, although it was hard to tell with the increased lifespan of humans and such, secondly, he did not seem armed, so I closed in the distance with my weapon lowered. He most likely wasn't a slaver, since he was a human.
"You're the cavalry?" he asked, his voice carried a bit of Italian, but I wasn't sure.
"Yeah, I presume since you're human, you're an escaped colonist?" I inquired when I reached him, he vigorously nodded and motioned to the terminal.
"Yes, yes, I escaped when the chaos started and I was searching for clues that might help the Alliance tracking down these bastards" He then showed me what he had found.
"There is a treasure trove of information here, bases, attack plans, fleet numbers, everything" He listed and I began to inspect the list.
"I see, Command will be jumping in joy." I declared and I got an idea.
I closed the file and the man was about to protest when another file got my attention.
"Unity?" This file was much larger and it looked extremely encrypted to say the least.
"Do you hav-" I gasped when I felt a burning sensation right in my ribs.
"Sorry kid, but you were a bit too nosy" said the man, hosting my paladin and aiming at my side. I collapsed on my knees "If you were to simply leave the other file alone this wouldn't have happened" The 'captain' continued, he worked at the terminal for a moment, probably to erase any evidence. Once he was finished, he put the Paladin against my visor and slowly pulled the trigger.
"For what it's worth, I didn't mean any of this" he said, then the firing mechanism activated.
*Crack-Crack*
The pellets travelled through the air in less than a second and impacted the visor. Fortunately, chemistry was on my side and the palladium-glass alloy proved hard enough to completely deflect the rounds with only tiny cracks forming in the process.
Of course that didn't mean that inertia wasn't carried over and I didn't fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"Nice visor, but it won't help you this time" He said in a menacing tone and lowered the pistol so it was pointing at my chest.
He pulled the trigger once more, but instead of a crack, a hissing sound could be heard as the weapon ejected the spent thermal clip onto the floor, leaving the man confused for a moment.
"Count your bullets, you fucker" I said and raised my Avenger up. I was a too little too late when he kicked the weapon out of my hands and I could hear it skitter on the floor. He stepped on my side wound and I let out a cry of pain.
"How could you betray your own kind, you sick fuck?!" I shouted at the man towering above me, he snarled at this.
"I'm no traitor, I'm a goddamn savior" He took out a rather large knife and held it in an icicle grip.
"You're enslaving humans and sell them to the highest bidder! How can you justify that?!" Me too, looking for my boot knife.
"You have no idea what you're talking about" He said, pointing the knife at me "It's about ideals, we're protecting humanity for god's sake!" He shouted, some of his spit landing on my visor.
"What the hell are you talking about?! Your raid alone killed hundreds!" I accused the 'pirate' leader, my hand now firmly gripping my boot knife.
"To save millions!" I was taken aback by this "Have you noticed how the number of incursions have more than quadrupled in the last two years?!" He continued "And have you failed to notice how defenseless our colonies are! No fleets garrisoned at eighty percent of the colonies and your relief fleet arrived a dozen and a half hours later than it should have!" My mouth was hanging while the captain continued his monologue.
"We're just pointing out the biggest threat and hope that the people notice!" He looked really emotional at this point so I kept him talking.
"What danger? The batarians? The Turians?"
"No! The danger comes from inside! Why do you think we can't even defend our territory, Horizon, Noveria, Freedom's Progress! They are all leaving the Alliance! They know what will happen soon and it will be much worse than even the darkest hour of The Great War!" He ranted like a madman "At least you won't have to witness the destruction, my friend" He said after he calmed down and prepared to plant the knife into my throat.
I chose this moment to strike and stabbed my knife into his right arm. My reward was a cry of pain and a loss of grip from his part. I took the knife out of his hand and rolled away.
I stood up just as he did and we stood ready for any moves the other would try, with him unsheathing another blade and with me trying to ignore my wound.
He tried to swing his knife at me, but I kicked his hand, this seemingly didn't surprise him and he went with the blow, doing a 360 and coming in again, this time going for a stab at my left shoulder.
I managed to parry his knife just in time, which gave me about half a second to recollect myself before another strike came and I was forced to back away slightly.
I wasn't lucky enough and he extended the motion into another stab that I caught with my armpit and headbutted him in response, we backed away a bit, getting ourselves some breathing room.
A moment later I closed in the distance and tried to stab him in his left shoulder. He blocked it easily and I tried to put him off balance with my other hand, but he was quicker and pushed it away towards our other arms and interlocked them together.
When I freed my hands and tried to get another strike in, he thrust his knife into my right shoulder and I backed away, hissing in pain.
'I must take him down soon' I thought in pain. I couldn't afford to waste time until I bled out, I had to finish this fight, one way or the other.
I didn't have time to think as he attacked me once more, a simple try at stabbing me in my right lung, fortunately I brought my right arm up, grabbed his wrist and pulled it away in time. In a swift counter I brought my left hand up and tried to stab him. He could barely block it and maintain the deadlock until I started to turn our arms clockwise, He used this as an opportunity to lash at my throat. I let go of his other hand and blocked him at the wrist, bringing our hands slightly above shoulder level. I added my knifed hand into the fray as well and we ended up hands interlocked and blades clashing.
Due to the knife in his right arm, he couldn't bring as much force to bear as he could have and I won the duel. I knocked his knife out of his hand with my blade and broke up our little clash.
I swung at the now disarmed man, it didn't connect but he was forced to back away, I did it again with the same results, for the third time I went for a stab aimed directly at his heart. He defiantly blocked my arm and looked me in the eye, a maniac grin forming on his face.
This was it, now or never.
Time slowed down to a crawl and I could see everything clearly.
I released my grip on the knife and observed how it slid out of my right hand.
Right into my left hand.
I caught the blade midair and in one swift motion thrust it into his stomach, again, again, again and again until I left it in there, tore out the one in his right arm and stabbed him in the heart.
His face was frozen in horror and surprise, but somehow he was still alive, at least I thought he was. I watched as his eyes dwelled up with tears and franticly looking at different parts of my face before coming to a dead stop eye to eye. Then suddenly as if somehow I was able to sense it he was gone. His muscles gave up and he collapsed in place, he laid on the floor, unmoving.
I just stood there, looking at the corpse, thinking what had just transpired.
I just killed someone… saw their final death throws… that man probably had a family…. friends…. He truly believed in something and fought for it with all his willpower…. he said he only wanted good… I just saw a man's soul leaving his body….
And I enjoyed every second of it…
End of arc One
Anything unclear will be explained in further chapters.
