Chapter Seven: The Pack

The commander looked through the shuttle window as it darted through a dusty orange sky, tearing through a paper thin layer of clouds in the atmosphere. Jagged cliffs and rocky canyons sprawled across the dry earth as their vessel approached.

"Alliance forces are doing sweeps of the worlds where refugees crash landed," he began as he turned to his selected crew: Ashley, Liara, and Tali, suited up and intently hanging on his words. "But a few of them were intercepted by Cerberus. We still don't know what they're planning, but they can't get these people."

"What about Reaper troops?" inquired the quarian, "Is it possible we'll encounter those drell things like on Belan?"

"The Reapers have deemed the population of this planet too low to launch an invasion," EDI's voice echoed through the shuttle's com system. "And there are no other ships matching Reaper signatures in this system."

"All the same," said Shepard, "be prepared for the worst." The hatch door opened as the shuttle hovered over the flat, rocky platform. Rectangular buildings spread out in front of them, with smooth surfaces and minimal detail, as if they had sprouted from the harsh terrain. The commander and his squad burst from the shuttle, trampling over a field of grounded pebbles and sand. As they crossed through the decayed remnants of a kinetic fence, a flash of blue light bloomed in the distance.

"Looks like we got here just in time!" proclaimed Liara as she pointed ahead.

As the four drew closer, rushing through a complex of single-story boxes, they found a krogan standing under the orb of biotic light. His bulky hands were outstretched, defying the oncoming crowd of white and yellow clad soldiers. Shepard glanced beyond the barrier and locked onto a suit of gears, claws and armored plating. "Ash, Tali, go flank that Atlas. Liara, you and I are on crowd control."

The soldier and engineer broke off their formation and made a sharp turn to the side. The commander and shadow broker ran to the head of the assault, weapons readied, power coursing through their bodies.

Liara sprinted to the krogan's side, her little frame drenched in his massive shadow. She let out a spry, "Need some help?" as a whitish blue bubble flickered from her fingertips to the Cerberus vanguard, snatching Assault Troopers and Centurions by their boots and enveloping their bodies in a state of burning paralysis.

"Oh good, an asari," huffed the hefty krogan as he whipped out a clunky rifle, letting his barrier dim. "Now I can focus on the fun stuff!"

At his other side, Shepard unfurled biotic energy that smacked against Liara's bubble, chucking the troopers across the field, and the resulting blast lashing against all the troopers nearby.

The krogan advanced into the chaos, knocking down every trooper he passed. His movements were slow, like a statue come to life to walk among them. The earth quaked around him; first a single armored foot bashed against the hardened ground, then the rattling clink of a metal foot that hit the earth and shook it like a thunderclap. Cerberus soldiers receded in his approach, shrunk in his shadow like puny waves against the hull of a mighty ship.

Shepard took quick notice of the krogan's power, or some mix of strength and foolhardiness, he was not completely sure. But as slugs showered the hoard as quick as a lightning storm, the enemy force seemed to cower at his behemoth stature. "Hey," he said with a sense of fellowship, loud enough so the asari could her and nod in understanding. "We'll set 'em up, you knock 'em down!"

"Sounds like a plan!" he roared, "Only thing takin' the kids is a working shuttle outta here!"

"All ri—wait, what? Kids?"

Across the field and around the body of the hoard, Ashley and Tali scurried down a road lined with abandoned weapon sheds and soldier dormitories. Through the gaps between buildings, they could both see the Atlas, preoccupied with backup fire, exposed. Each one of them scrambled until they found a safe position; a hollowed shack, with a cracked window wide enough for both of them to fire.

"Ready, Tali?" said Ashley with enthusiasm as she readied her sniper rifle. A blue holographic, bullet-shaped sign flipped alongside the sleek body of the rifle, indicating her ammunitions were infused with shield-destroying energy.

"Let's do it!" said Tali, her forearm bright with the glow of her omni-tool. Turned on, her sphere shaped drone revealed itself to the giant mech. The driver within locked it in his sights, completely unaware that the glass over his canopy was in Ashley's scope. The Cerberus soldier heard the faint poundings of shells against his shields just before a heavy tap against the yellow glass. It paved the way for a second shot, one that darted through his helmet.

"Nice shot!" cheered Tali.

"Thanks. Now let's…" Ashley paused in her words, head tilted towards the door.

"What's wrong?" The battle still raged in the distance, the clamor of blasting bullets and whirling biotics rung in Ashley's ears, but there was something else worming into her ears. She stepped away from the window, then out of the shed. Her steps were careful and precise, so she would not miss it. The quarian followed, confused. "Ash?"

"I heard something. Something nearby."

"Is it Cerberus?"

"It sounded like…" The soldier shuffled onto the path connecting all the buildings in the complex, switching to her assault rifle. She blocked the out the sounds of battle, concentrating on the road ahead. She advanced until the disturbance wriggled into her ears again. A tiny, sniffling sound. "Is that… someone crying?"

The quarian walked to Ashley's side. "I think I hear it, too," she whispered. They proceeded down the road until a faint sob leaked from the tiny crack of a nearby door. With a shared nod, they each went to opposing sides of the door.

Another pained second of silence, and Ashley burst through the entrance with her foot. A wave of shrieks and cries washed over her. Her head was knocked back, eyes widened at the sight of a crowd of children, huddled together between boxes and shadows. At the head, the first one she saw, a young woman—no older than eighteen, cloaked in pink—cradling a small pistol in her hands. The girl gasped as she flung it upwards, elbows wobbling. A firm "Don't shoot!" left Ashley's mouth as her kinetic shields blinked, deflecting the single bullet.

"Oh no!" the girl exclaimed, her eyes welled in tears at the sight of what she had done. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I thought… I had no idea!"

"Hey, hey," the lieutenant commander said in her most soothing voice. "It's okay, you didn't hurt me. It's going to be all right."

"Everyone, please," Tali said softly, "we're here to help."

"I thought for sure you were Cerberus or… or something worse. I heard footsteps and… I thought it was over. Crux told me not to hesitate if the worst happened, so I… I'm so sorry!"

"It's really okay, kid. Just relax and put the gun down. What's your name?"

The girl in pink reeled the pistol to her side and sucked the tears back into her face. "Aisha," she said with a shaking voice.

"Aisha, are you and these kids the only ones here? Is there anyone else?"

"No," as she spoke, the small children crowded around her, clutching her waist, their startled little bodies still quivering. They were mostly human, but a small asari leaned against her, sobbing into Aisha's dress, and a little turian reached for her free hand. "It's just us."

"Where… did you all come from?"

The young woman clutched the turian's hand as she spoke. "Little Lykus here ran off… the kids all followed me and I stupidly let them. We were heading back when we heard machines, so we hid. I thought Crux had killed them all already and we'd be heading home any minute."

"Oh Keelah," Tali gasped, "were you the only ones to survive the shuttle crash? Is it… just children here?"

Aisha swallowed her apologies and smoothed the strain from her round, dusky face. She looked down upon the children and gave them a reassuring smile. "There are a few adults, but they can't fight. Some of them are sick. Crux… he's a krogan, he rounded up most of us when our ship was attacked by Reapers. He was just helping us with food and fire, and then Cerberus came and… he took it upon himself to protect us all."

The soldier gave the girl a respectful nod. "Thank you for holding down the fort while we got here. We're going to clear the bad guys out and make sure you all get to safety."

"Thank you, ma'am."

The sounds of battle still rang in the distance. Ashley and Tali both stepped out of the building, looked out across the horizon, and saw Cerberus resistance crumbling. A few troopers were hiding behind boulders and in trenches, while the combined torrent of biotic powers from three figures swirled in the distance. The soldier couldn't help roll her eyes. Always with the flashy powers.

"Aisha, I need you and the kids to stay put and stay low," she commanded, then turned to her quarian comrade. "Let's finish this off with some realpower!"

They zigzagged through the buildings and hurled themselves onto the field. Tali ran to a Nemesis, masked eyes locked on Shepard's form. The machinist slung a heavy blast from her shotgun that slammed the sniper against the surface of the boulder, marking it with a flower of blood. Ashley trailed behind her, firing rapid ammunition upon the heads of the Centurions.

The soldier and engineer closed the distance between themselves and Shepard with each fallen foe. Liara distinguished them across the field, but troopers were scattered in their stony cover. "Let me help you finish this!" she said as she readied her hands, biotics beaming through her fingers. She opened her palms towards the rust colored sky until a sphere of black energy emerged from wisps of air. The sphere unfurled invisible strings that latched onto every foe, snatched them from cover and dangled in the air like fish, helpless to the hook. The two women on the other side of the field grinned as they raised their weapons.

"Pull!" Ash said with exhilaration as her assault rifle pounded against the suspended Cerberus bodies. Tali joined her with single hard-hitting shots until her fire combined with the soldier's heavy concussive blast, knocking the troopers out of suspension and onto the unforgiving earth, as corpses.

"That appears to be all of them," said Liara as she ran up to the soldier and machinist.

"Nicely done, ladies," Ashley said with a satisfied grin as she held up both her hands with open palms. The asari and quarian simultaneously smacked each one of her palms with their own, rejoicing.

"Hey," their commander bemoaned, knowing he was out of the loop, "since when do you two know how to high-five?"

"Since I taught them how," smirked Ashley.

"Watch out!" a young voice called, in the direction Tali and Ash came from. The squad snapped around to find a lone Phantom, her nimble body swift in silence. She closed in, sword in hand.

"Ash!" Shepard cried, seeing the soldier was first in line against the Phantom's blade.

"I got this!" she said. Seeing the Cerberus acrobat loom closer from the shadows, Ashley grabbed the other end of her rifle, planted her other foot forward as if she had stepped onto home plate. The Phantom's sword was raised, but the soldier swung her gun. The uncloaked Phantom received the end of Ashley's rifle with a hard 'thwomp'. It twitched on the earth before giving up. "Gotta conserve ammo."

"Wow!" that same young voice cried. Ashley looked up and saw the girl in the pink hijab jogged in her direction, the small flock of children at her side. "They're gone? They're really gone? You saved us!"

"I think that's all of them, at least for now, but I told you to stay put."

"I… you're right, I'm sorry. The kids all said they heard something, and I thought they were gone, so we started heading back. But then I saw that thing coming from behind, and I got so nervous… but you took it down like it was nothing!"

"That didlook pretty satisfying," Shepard commented from the side.

"I… I recognize you! From the vids!" The girl's brown eyes widened as she looked upon the lieutenant commander, as if she were the only one there. "You're the new Spectre! The second human Spectre ever!"

"Heh, Alliance really plastered my induction ceremony everywhere, didn't they?"

"Wow, I knew the Alliance wouldn't abandon us, but I didn't think they'd send us you! That was amazing! The way you shot all those guys in the air and… and the way you… just… wow!"

"Hey, hey, come on now," Ashley feigned humility in her voice, though her grin continued to expand, "I wasn't the only one who beat them. It was a team effort."

"Oh! Of course, how silly of me!" the girl squeaked, flushed in embarrassment, then looked towards the children, "Say 'thank you' to the nice ladies for saving us, everyone."

A collective but disorganized, "Thank you nice ladies!" came from the mouths of the children.

"And really, we were just following our commander's orders. You should all be thanking him, especially."

"Don't worry about it," Shepard approached with a smirk, "I've never been one for the public eye, anyway. It's about time you got a little fan recognition, Ash."

"I… thank you, Commander."

"Commander Shepard! I'm so sorry, I should've…" Aisha's words trailed off as the Commander walked closer. The subtle glow of his cybernetics caught her attention, silencing her thoughts, and closed up her throat. She could barely muster out a new word when the little asari at her feet began to wail, staring at the commander like a deer before headlights. "Ssh, come on now, it's okay, don't cry…" she cooed as she brushed her gentle fingers along the top of the asari's head, slowly lulling the child's frightened cry. The asari child took refuge in her chest as she knelt down. "I'm sorry, Commander. I'm sure she didn't mean it. She… she got separated from her mother and…"

"There's no need to apologize," replied Shepard, inadvertently running a finger against his cheek, as if to test if the wiry stitching for signs of healing, of which there were none.

"Commander!" a thunderous voice boomed from behind the crowd. The commander found the hulky krogan stomping towards him like a moving tower, grabbing one of his hands and shaking it with such fervor, Shepard's whole body shook with it. "Crux Olyndik. I understand I have you to thank for ending the genophage."

"Uh, yeah," said Shepard, still shaken by the krogan's massive and unusually friendly presence. "Did you hear from Urdnot Wrex?"

"What?" he barked. "All krogan have to know each other? Is that what you think?"

"What? No! I just—"

"Haha!" the krogan's entire body trembled in laughter, "I'm just kidding! Yes, Wrex has spread word all over. I can't fight like I used to, so I've been helping refugees. Everything was fine until we got blindsided by a Reaper. Snuck outta nowhere like a stray varren, and just as cheap, too."

"You were protecting all these children?" inquired Liara, "That's very noble of you."

"Humans have a saying, 'stick up for the little guy', and these are the littlest guys I know. This war might've been a lot easier if certain folks didn't have their heads up their own tailpipes, but the kids shouldn't have to pay for it."

"Right," the commander said with a mild nod. His mind formed burning cities and crumbling colonies, and his gut twisted, knowing the Reaper menaces did not discriminate in their ruthlessness. The images went further still; he had known the grip of violence and death at an early age. The memories were dusty and stale, but gave a useful message: the galaxy doesn't care how young you are, how pure you are, or how much you deserve to live. He shook his head and tried to banish the images in order to see the task at hand. "Do you have any idea where these Cerberus troops are coming from? We need to eliminate them."

"Damn right. I've done enough fighting to know we're in an old turian military base. My scout tells me they're coming from the far side of the complex, but they've been pushing me back, and I couldn't get too far from the kids."

Shepard's brow curled. "Your… scout?"

"Yeah. Quarian kid. No warrior, but he looked like he'd been in a few scraps and he wanted to be useful. He's helped me anticipate some of their attacks, but he stole one of my guns and hasn't come back."

"What!?" Aisha cried, her voice so sharp it startled the little asari and she started to weep again. "Neekos left again? That idiot! I told him…"

"I'm sorry," said Crux in a low rumble. His attempt at being gentle sounded like the whimpers of a big attack dog. "He at least had enough sense to take the only weapon of mine that wouldn't break his arm."

"But he doesn't have any real combat experience! He'll die out there! We need to get him!"

"That kid clearly didn't have a lot going for him. He didn't have a home, like all of you."

"Now wait just a minute!" snapped Tali, "You think he's some kind of vagrant just because he's a quarian?"

"I knowhe was a vagrant," the krogan said matter-of-factly, "only reason he was on that ship was to steal what little refugees could carry. I didn't tell him to go, damn it all. But if he wants to redeem himself and kill a few Cerberus freaks in the process, I can only tell a crazy kid 'no' so many times."

"Don't talk like that, Crux!" wept Aisha, "He's not bad! He didn't want to steal, he just…" the girl in the headdress withdrew her indignation, bit her tongue in hopes to hold it all back. She looked towards the commander, her cheeks red and eyes dry. "Commander Shepard, Sir, I… I know I can't ask you to go out of your way to find Neekos, but if you could just… maybe just keep an eye out… he's a good guy and…"

Shepard groaned. The last time he was asked to keep an eye out for someone, he got chemical burns. "What is it with you refugees and leaving the group? Haven't you ever seen a horror movie?"

"Commander," interrupted Ashley, maintaining a professional tone, though she directed a disappointed frown at Shepard. "We should get going. If there's anyone to save, they can't wait much longer."

"There's one other thing," the krogan said with an ominous tone, "Well, several things. It's not just Cerberus that's out there."

"Reaper troops?"

"No idea. The way scout described them, they sounded more like nathak. Not like any Reaper soldier I ever fought."

"Things just keep getting better…"

"Then we'd better get on it," said the Commander as he began the advance. His three squad-mates walked ahead, and as they passed, he took one last look at the group of refugees. "My ship is coming to pick you up and get you all out of here." They responded with grateful but weary grins. He began to walk away, but turned back to glance at the girl in the headdress. She steeled her face and took a hard swallow. The children buried their faces in the ends of her dress. He muttered, "I'll… try and look for him," and she forced a smile.