Chapter 7
"Keep your distance" She whispered leaning eagerly against Mr Wiggles adapted seat, "Are you sure stealth systems are online?"
"All systems are functioning commander" The Co-pilot said quietly, "They won't see us unless they turn around"
"Good", hey had tracked the Cerberus shuttle from Omega, spotting it by chance as they were leaving, it was heading deep into the Terminus systems to nowhere in particular it seemed. It was moving slower, orbiting an uninhabited planet. "They can't know we're here"
"They won't Commander, we're equipped with state of the art stealth drives" The shuttle began to make a descent.
"Stay orbiting the planet, shut of the engines until I say otherwise, Shields at full. The field team and I will head in."
"Commander" Cartwright was at the entrance to the cockpit, saluting. "Who will join you?"
"M.T, Holi and Cristia"
"Shall I ask them to meet you at the shuttle?"
"Please"
"Very well Commander" He marched off intrepidly, as The Bitch made her way to the shuttle on her own. It had already been prepared, as she ordered when they first started to track the Cerberus troops. She decided to check their lockers to make sure everything was present as asked, She of course had her shotguns, M.T had relinquished his to her, her helmet, and an extra sleeve for her armour, apparently this planet had a dangerous atmosphere. M.T had a replacement shotgun and a couple of slam grenades, he didn't really need them though, he's a cannon all on his own. Holi had three drone modules, two active one backup, three turrets, one of Quarian build, one Geth and the other Cerberus. There was a Phalanx pistol, as well as a Phaeston rifle, a small pile of grenades, shiny things and sweets. The Bitch had seen to Christia's supplies herself, A handful of her Pollen grenades, a Geth made Smg, and a modified Phalanx, although she was counting on Christia knowing a few Biotic abilities. Holi and Christia were the first to arrive, deep in conversation, or an argument, about how to improve the stealth systems. M. T lurched out of the elevator shortly afterwards, his heavy footsteps causing tremors in the cargo hold.
"Sleep well?" She asked with a wicked grin
"Uuhhhh" He groaned stepping onto the Shuttle, tilting it slightly under his weight. The Bitch banged her hand twice against the cabin, the door shut and they set off in pursuit. The Cerberus shuttle had disappeared whilst she was waiting, forcing them to use radar, but as they drew closer to breaching the clouds, the Cerberus shuttle went dark, forcing them to use their eyes like primitives. The shuttle pilot spotted it nearby and took them down to land alongside, Cerberus had abandoned it, not even the pilot remained. She commanded her pilot to return to the ship, they'd call if they needed. Several tracks ran into the bleak grey horizon, five sets of human footprints, but there could be more troops if they kept in single file.
Gunshots echoed from the distance, but in front of them was only rock, dirt, mountains and hills. They sprinted toward the sound, weapons drawn and abilities charged, ready to fight their enemy. As they breached the peak of the hill they noticed Cerberus were fighting with an unrecognised enemy, but they didn't have time to survey the situation, they leapt into action, almost literally, as M.T flew into the foray of battle knocking a Cerberus Centurion to the ground and stomping on him to make sure. The Bitch Shot off a few omni-arrows, and managed to hit a trooper right between the eyes. Holi tossed a turret out, which immediately began spewing Pollen, her upgrades had worked it seemed, whilst Christia threw Trooper's into the air before slamming them down in a magnificent biotic explosion. The Alien race ceased firing, and began to tend to their wounded as The Bitch and Co tore through the miniscule Cerberus offensive. Eventually after a few gut shots, a couple of grenades and one guy being torn in half the Cerberus attack was halted, and the Alien race began to crowd round. They had large black eyes, and pale white skin, the appeared insectoid at a glance, wearing mismatched armour cobbled together from Turian, Asari, Volus even Cerberus. They each had four arms however, and one stepped forward carrying two rifles at once, he wasn't very tall, none of them were, they couldn't have breached five feet at most. She noticed they all wore long slicked back dreadlocks, hanging freely down their backs, and their tiny little mouths appeared to contain not only teeth but mandibles on the inside as well. The one who stepped forward began to talk.
"Vesarr Relei eri jhot foss lerrerr" He shouted, she activated a translation module. "These Aliens Srhike Ves Repinture" They all began to lower their weapons, as the leader did so, "They jei not be our werrass, but they are our ally!" He turned to face them "I am Prince Jedirrass, Kollarrit of the Sidae army"
"I am The Bitch, Spectre of The Citadel, and Commander of my Ship…Kevin"
"I am pleased to meet you The Bitch, but please tell us why you killed these men"
"Orders" She answered coldly, "Why did you kill them?"
"Orders" He replied, he waved his hand and his men began to move in pairs, parting to leave an island around them. "My men will continue to hunt, and scavenge" he stated turning and walking through the line, "I will lead you to our Queen, I am sure she will be most eager to meet you"
They followed him hesitantly. "You are Female, yes?" He asked
"I am and so are, my two comrades, Christia and Holi" She pointed to them respectively. "M.T back there is an old man"
"Ah, well, he may be permitted, if he is under your rule"
"My rule?"
"Or command, however you wish to identify it. The Queen does not entertain men, especially not free men" She pondered on that statement, free men, why would this Queen be more open to the thoughts of slaves. She discarded the thought and replaced it with one involving an Asari, two Krogan and a hell of a lot of Vaseline. In the distance there was a bright amber glow emanating through the deep grey fog from a divot in the ground. Small lanterns lit the pathway toward it, held up on crooked poles, some lay on the floor smashed, their entrails leaking across the path. "This is Thivven, our home, the Queen lives deep in the centre" He keyed in a combination, and what appeared to be the airlock door from a Salarian vessel, opened revealing a bright world underneath the surface. Lights of yellow, orange, gold and red lit up the tunnels and bridges that spread throughout the caverns, several other doors looted from alien ships line the walls, and signs hung above them indicating shops where there were some and houses where there weren't. Many similar looking Sidae were walking throughout the various spiralling pathways, most of them stopping to stare at The Bitch and her companions as they were led deeper into the ground. Eventually after many tunnels, arches bridges and steps they reached a large cavern, where a large female sat upon a large stone throne, her dreadlocks were intertwined in a tight spiral that draped over her shoulder and across her body, she wore flowing silken robes, but her rotund body was well visible. She had the same large black eyes and pale white skin, and she sat with her stubby arms in her lap. Two smaller, thinner females sat either side of her.
"Mother" Prince Jedirrass bowed as he declared.
"I am your Queen Jedirrass, and you will address me as such"
"Forgive me I-"
"Just because you clambered out of my cunt does not give you any special right"
"Please, Queen Thillarra, I meant no offense"
"Well you caused plenty of it when you revealed the stubby little cock between your legs"
"Mother!"
"Your Majesty!" She shouted with anger, causing her daughters to giggle. "Where is your hunting party?"
"I sent them to hunt without me, I felt this matter to be urgent…Your Majesty" Jedirrass stepped to one side, and bowed his head yet again.
"Abandoning your squadron? I never should have given you command. I had hoped you'd be dead already"
"Thank you, Your Majesty"
"Who are these aliens?"
"They fought with us against the invaders, they saved many lives with their prowess in battle"
"A pity they saved yours" She looked into The Bitches eyes, "Well step forward then, you have an audience with the Queen, try not to look too happy"
"Queen…." The Bitch began, pausing nervously
"Thillarra"
"Thillarra. We come in peace"
"Everyone comes in peace, until they find the thing they want." She leant forward her fat belly bulging, "What is it you want?"
"The same thing you do, to kill Cerberus, the invaders"
"And why should we believe you? Hmm, could you not be Cerberus?"
"Well no, we're much better looking" The Queen laughed at this, her daughters joined in. "We believe Cerberus was looking for something, we need to find it first"
"What do you think they are looking for?"
"We don't know, we were hoping you had an idea"
"The artefact?" Jedirrass interrupted
"Jedirrass, Leave us"
"What artefact? Jedirrass stay"
"No, Jedirrass leave! He cannot stay, men like him have such feeble minds, talking strategy to them is a waste of time and breath"
"What is the artefact?"
"Simmarra?" The Queen turned to the daughter to her right. Simmarra stood, her dress hugged to her figure, revealing quite a buxom form, she stepped forward slowly, gliding elegantly down the steps and standing in front of The Bitch, her hair was in a similar fashion to her mothers, only white in colour as opposed to black.
"The artefact of which my insubordinate brother speaks" She placed a hand on Jedirrass' shoulder at the mention of his name. "Fell from the sky many thousands of years ago. A gigantic metal shell, with technology far beyond our comprehension, by utilising the weapons and the energy it emitted we were able to build Thivven and become the apex race on our planet"
"But" Interrupted the other daughter, her hair was ragged and she wore slightly damaged body armour, "There was a price"
"Those who used the weapons began to hear voices, demons, that clouded their vision"
"There was a rebellion"
"The possessed attacked and tried to enslave and overthrow our bloodline"
"So they were imprisoned"
"The artefact was sealed away, the cursed weapons hidden from touch and sight, we attempted to build our own technology, in a similar manner, it works but not quite as well."
"Was this artefact a Reaper?" The Bitch asked the obvious question. Thillarra hopped from her seat and placed her hands behind her back.
"Have you encountered these before?"
"We have, we recently won a war against them"
"How!?"
"I punched one to death, the others got real scared and surrendered"
"Then you know what they can do"
"Yes, and I know that Cerberus want that technology, they want to use it to assimilate me, you and every other race in the universe, we have to destroy it" Thillarra pondered for a moment.
"It is too valuable to be destroyed"
"Cerberus won't stop until they have that technology, is it worth your lives, your freedom?" Jedirrass chortled at that. The Bitch continued, "If you help us destroy this technology, we will give you better" Thillarra began listening intently. "I noticed the armour of your hunting parties was mostly scavenged, well we can give you armour made to your specifications, we can give you weapons suited to your needs, and we can give you a place on the Citadel, the centre of galactic society, new homeworlds, open trade, money. Help us destroy this technology and we will help you to rise"
"Jedirrass!" Thillarra shouted, "Lead them to the artefact, help them destroy it, if you begin to hear voices in your head. Kill yourself"
"At once your majesty" Jedirrass lead them form the great cavern and through a dark narrow path that lead down.
"So she seems nice" The Bitch said clapping her hands together.
"She…is my Queen" Jedirrass spat the words through narrow teeth.
"She's also your mother"
"I'm not entitled to any of her possessions, she does not have to treat me as family, it was a kindness to give me my post as Hunt Master"
"So what's the deal with that?" M.T asked
"With what?"
"Why does she treat you like shit?"
"Because I was born a male, the power to give life is sacred, men are just a tool used once and discarded."
"Glad I don't live here"
"It is not the same elsewhere?"
"Hell, no" Jedirrass stopped dead in his tracks
"Take me with you."
"What?" The Bitch exclaimed stunned
"I cannot take the humiliation, the torture anymore. When you leave let me join you"
"I'll think about it, let's just focus on the Artefact for now"
"The door is close, The Vault is our most secure room, nothing can get in or out, and I don't know why anyone would want to" as they rounded a corner, a small light flickered in the distance, a Volus vault door was ahead of them, with a small keypad by its side. "The code is changed every day, by me personally" he keyed in a few digits and the doors began to slide open, a thick orange glow filled the tunnel, as bullets flew from the gap in the door.
"Get down!" The Bitch shouted, pulling Holi to one side of the door, M.T grabbed Christia and Jedirrass and pushed them to the other side. "Jedirras what is happening!?"
"We trapped some workers in here, the one who moved the artefact, they sacrificed themselves willingly to avoid becoming possessed"
"I don't think that worked"
"They should be dead, it's been over two hundred millennia since the artefact was sealed away"
"Two hu….nevermind, Holi drones, get a reading on how many targets there are" Holi sent out a small orange drone, "Only six, but they're reaper troops"
"Any you recognise?"
"No"
"Ok Christia Pollen, Holi I want you and Jedirras to hold the door, use your turrets make sure no one gets past, M.T-" M.T shot past charging into one of the Sidae husks and smashed him to the edge of the vault into the magma below, "-Charge" She uttered. She ripped her shotguns out and ran forward, a well-placed shot knocking another reaper off the edge, a Pollen grenade exploded toward her left, overloading the Reaper troop and causing it to collapse, she kicked it over the edge hesitantly. Jedirrass ran past her shooting two assault rifles at one, tearing through the Sidae husks fragile skin. M.t grabbed one of the remaining two hostiles and threw it at the last remaining one, causing both of them to plummet. "Everyone back!" She shouted, her allies reconvening at the door of the vault.
"How could they survive for so long?"
"They weren't Sidae anymore, they were husks, Reaper made troops, shadows of their former selves."
"But how…?"
"They're dead now that's all that matters" she looked at the edge of the vault, it was a thick platform hovering over a pit of magma, probably leading down into the core of the planet. "We need to destroy the ledge"
"What?"
"Are all the Reaper weapons in there?"
"Yes"
"And all of the other technology?"
"Yes"
"Then we can't waste time, throwing each one individually into the core, we need one big explosion to destroy it all"
"I'll grab some explosives" M.T murmured
"No need" Holi shouted holding out a remote detonated miniature warhead.
"Holi, how long have you had that?" Christia asked.
"For emergencies"
"I said how long-"
"For, emergencies"
"Ok Holi prep the explosives, M.T toss the cadaver"
"B..But"
"What is it Jed?"
"The Artefact, the core, the explosion"
"That's the plan"
"Won't it destroy our planet?"
"That's a risk we're all taking" She placed a hand on his shoulder. M.T threw both halves of the last corpse into the magma below, as Holi scanned the ledge and dug a small hole in the ideal spot. Once it was buried they left the Vault and Jedirrass closed the door.
"How far away should we go?" The Sidae asked
"Holi?" The Bitch inquired
"This is a Volus made door, impervious to all kinds of damage, and really difficult to hack into, if there's one thing they love it's money"
"So we're safe?" Jedirrass questioned
"Let's find out!" The Bitch shouted, slamming her hand onto the remote detonator. The earth rumbled slowly around them, Holi fell flat on her face, M.T leant back against the wall, Jedirrass was pacing up and down mumbling under his breath and Christia was grasping tightly to the Bitches arm. A few lumps of dirt fell from the roof landing at their feet, they heard a loud hissing sound and then a second loud explosion, this one bigger than the first. They probably should have ran, she thought standing with her free hand under her chin, the other still firmly under Christia's control, Jedirrass was now cowering his hands covering his ears, or at least the small holes where his ears would have been. Eventually the tremors faded and they managed to regain composure.
"Are you fucking crazy!?" Jedirrass yelled.
"Maybe" M.T responded on her behalf.
"We could have all died!"
"But we didn't" The Bitch replied this time
"But we could have!"
"But we didn't"
"Oh Gods, I have to explain all this"
"No you don't, we did it. It was our decision" She looked at her shaken comrades, and merrily skipped away back through the dark tunnels.
"Still want to come with us?" M.T asked patting Jedirrass on the back and walking away
By the time they arrived at the royal chamber, a crowd had gathered, hundreds of Sidae not looking too happy. The hunting party looked to have returned and were busy trying to keep the the crowd from bursting in, the Queens daughter, the one wearing armour was leading the guard.
"You have some explaining to do Jedirrass" The Queen bellowed as they walked into the fray.
"Jedirrass saved my life!" The Bitch declared, silence fell upon the room, "This man saved us all by destr0ying the cursed artefact and freeing the eternal suffering of its prisoners" She said in the most dramatic of tones, "If anyone here deserves thanks, respect and gratitude it is him" The Queen stirred restlessly on her throne.
"Is this true Jedirrass?" She asked folding her stubby little arms and legs, The Bitch pushed the heel of her hand into Jedirrass' back and forced him forward.
"It….is?"
"Very well then" She cleared her throat "My People, fear not, the noise you heard and the earthquake that you felt, were the result of the heroic actions of our very own Hunt Master Jedirrass Sillia. He, along with a handpicked team of the finest alien allies managed to find and destroy the Artefact of legend ending it's multi millennial long reign of terror, which should in turn lead to Thivven no longer being attacked by the wicked army of Cerberus. Jedirrass step forward" He did as he was bid, "Sidae people I present to you our saviour" a cheer rippled thoughout the crowd eventually building to a crescendo, before simmering down. "As is worthy of our saviour I will grant you anything you desire" Jedirrass pondered for a moment, he looked back to The Bitch and her team, then gazed across the crowd of people staring at him, before finally looking to both of his sisters.
"I wish leave, so that I might become an ambassador in the Galactic community for the benefit of our people" The crowd listened eagerly
"Very well, I grant you the title of Ambassador Jedirrass, you will broker communications in the Galactic community on behalf of the Sidae," She leant in close and whispered, "Don't fuck this up" before retreating to her throne. The Sidae people began cheering some stepped forward to congratulate Jedirrass, a pat on the back, a shake of the hand, his armour wearing sister even hugged him. Eventually the crowd trickled away leaving only the royal family and The Bitches crew. The queen shrugged exaggeratedly "Well why are you still here Jedirrass?"
"I will need an escort, may I choose my own?"
"Do as you wish" She shooed him away.
"Your majesty?" The Bitch queried, as she watched Jedirrass hurry away.
"You may call me Thillarra, dear"
"Thillarra, Jedirrass mentioned that the artefact had been around for two thousand millennia"
"That is true"
"Care to explain?"
"Simarra?" The elegant daughter stepped up
"The artefact crashed down two million one hundred and sixty years ago, our ancestors sealed it away in a primitive vault, that we upgrade every opportunity we get, we have shared the story with every new generation"
"How long do you live for? On average?"
"Two hundred years"
"So your ancestors fought the reapers?"
"No, They hid"
"Hid?"
"Thivven was expanded, so that we could all live underground, we used up all of the resources we found, eventually heading to the surface to scav...to hunt"
"Why didn't you find another planet?"
"Some of our ancestors tried, we lost contact with them, we fear them deceased"
"Is that all, Bitch, you are trying my patience?" The Queen boomed, rubbing her forehead wearily.
"I suppose Jed can fill me in"
"Pray he doesn't, you'll only be disappointed."
"I'll take my leave if that's ok, I'm sure Jed needs a lift anyway"
