The Red Moon Collection - 4 - Fragments and Ire
Chapter 9
ISV Trueshot, en route to Omega, Sahrabarik System
Will had been staring through the viewport in front of him for almost an hour now. Through it he could see the arcing and shifting energy that was contained in the FTL core of the Trueshot. He had caught himself staring at a drive core or piece of machinery more than a handful of times over the past few years. Something he chalked up to Eleena's innate interest in engineering and their frequent melding of minds. This core was significantly larger than the Hyperion's had been, but this was also a larger ship and had been built by turians. They had had hundreds of years to hone their mass effect technology as well as access to all the collective galactic knowledge they could hope for. The Hyperion had been built before humans even made first contact. He shrugged off his thoughts of the old, long-destroyed ship and tried to clear his mind as he stared into the core.
"Am I interrupting something?" Kay asked in an amused tone.
He blinked and looked to the side where Kay stood in one of the doorways with her arms crossed and eyes wandering curiously.
"I was just thinking," Will finally answered.
Kay raised a brow. "Yeah? What about?"
"Who about, actually," Will corrected. "Just... the people we're looking for."
She took in a deep breath and nodded in understanding. "Ah. Gotcha." Kay motioned over her shoulder. "You know, Fynnis, the Spectre and I were having a drink the mess if you wanna join."
Will stared into the core for a few more seconds before smirking lightly as he finally turned away. "His name is Vayren. I don't know if he'd appreciate being called 'the Spectre.'"
Kay grinned and urged him to follow with a beckoning finger. He sighed passively and followed after her as she led them into the starboard hallway and up to the door leading into the crew's quarters. Fynnis and Vayren were sitting at the table, each with a drink in front of them and a third set by an empty chair. Kay retrieved a fourth drink and held it out to Will, who grasped the bottle and sat down with the others. Vayren was sitting up in his straight posture, as usual, while Fynnis leaned back in the chair with a hand resting on the table. Kay sat down in the empty chair at the end of the table and looked toward Vayren.
"So ya like the ship?" She asked proudly.
Vayren nodded in approval and took a small sip of his drink. "I do. It is much more than I was expecting." He glanced over to Will. "I was anticipating something more in line with the Hyperion."
Kay shook her head and smiled. "Nope, the Trueshot here is a grade-A turian warship."
Fynnis snorted slightly. "Maybe seventy years ago. And if its gun batteries still functioned."
"They don't?" Vayren asked, surprised.
"They've been... out of commission for a little while now," Kay answered hesitantly. "We haven't exactly had the creds to get them fixed up."
"Sounds like something Eleena would love to get her hands on," Will mentioned with a soft smile.
The salarian took a small sip. "How did you acquire this vessel? As you said, it is a turian warship."
"It kind of defaulted ownership to me after our captain and most of the crew was killed," Kay answered. "As for how Drasa got it? Heh, that's a much longer story that I don't know if I feel comfortable telling given our present company."
"Funny, I came in possession of the Hyperion the same way you did the Trueshot," Will added with a bittersweet shake of his head.
"Hmm. And how was the rest of the crew killed?" Vayren pursued.
Will wasn't sure if the salarian was genuinely interested or attempting to judge the moral character of the two strangers. Perhaps it was both.
Kay nodded and sat forward. "I kinda dodged the longer story when Will first asked me, but I guess we've got time." She took a big swig of her drink and looked around the table. "It was a little over a year ago. I had put some feelers out on Drasa's account, she was our captain, saying that we were looking to offload some... chemical cargo at a reasonable price. I got a few responses from an Eclipse cell out in the Traverse and we setup an exchange. In hindsight I should have been a little suspicious that they didn't even try to haggle on the price per unit."
"What exactly were you trying to sell?" Vayren asked straightly.
Kay looked to the salarian and met his challenging gaze before responding. "Sinaxx. It's a narcotic."
The salarian nodded slowly in consideration. "I see. Please, continue."
"There were seven of us on the crew at the time. Me, Drasa, our pilot Salnor, our engineer Francis, two deckhands named Talsus and Venterius, and of course, our brand new recruit by the name of Fynnis Cortillian." Kay gave the turian a sideways glance and grin.
Fynnis took a sip of his drink and sighed. "Yep. It was only second or third away mission, too."
Kay nodded. "That's right. I agreed to their condition that the meeting would occur in this old, abandoned asteroid mining station, neutral ground and all that."
"I know this story goes wrong eventually," Will pointed out.
"Yes it does," Kay replied with a hint of sadness. "We docked and headed into the main assembly area for the facility. It was all six of the ground crew and just our pilot back on the ship. The assembly area was a fucking wreck. This place had been abandoned for centuries and was clearly nothing but a place for seedy folks like ourselves to butt heads. But, the Eclipse showed up with only six people as we'd agreed, so I didn't think anything of it. Luckily, our turian friend here was less than convinced."
Fynnis flared his mandibles and leaned back coolly. "I'd overseen enough gang meetings on Omega go awry to know when something didn't feel right. And something felt damn wrong about that place. I brought up my omnitool while Kay and Drasa were first meeting with the Eclipse contact and tapped into the Trueshot to load up some of its sensors remotely. Hit me like a slap in the face." He took a quick sip of his drink. "The ship's security was already being compromised. I called Kay over, since Drasa was working on the deal, and pointed it out."
"I knew shit was going down the second he told me," Kay continued. "Off a hunch, I switched my helmet's optics to thermal and did a quick scan." She shook her head. "At least four snipers were perched around the upper level of the room lining up shots. Stealth field generators."
"I'm surprised they had ready access to that kind of technology," Vayren commented.
Kay nodded in agreement. "Me too. But it's not like the cloaking systems were top of the line or anything. They didn't even hide thermal emissions."
Will took a large gulp from his drink. "So? What happened?"
"I was already sure a fight would break out, so I grabbed my gun and got close to cover," Fynnis answered. "Luckily I was already near the back of the group. Kay, on the other hand..."
"I was running back up to Drasa," she finished. "By the time I reached her, the Eclipse had already realized that Fynnis and I were aware of the danger." Kay averted her eyes. "Their snipers opened fire without warning. Two shots went straight into Drasa's chest. The first took out her shields, the seconds tore her chest wide open."
The group sat in silence as Kay took a long drink before speaking again.
"The Eclipse lieutenant that we were dealing with had still been faking the diplomatic intentions, so he was just pulling out his weapon when his men opened fire. I jumped forward, punched the gun out of his hands before he could raise it, and wrapped him in a nelson hold. The rest of our team was already firing at the Eclipse, so I just started backpedaling to keep the Eclipse lieutenant between me and the snipers." She shook her head. "I yelled for everyone to run, to get back to the ship, but Fynnis was the only person close enough to the exit. If I hadn't had their officer acting as a human shield between me and the Eclipse, I'd have been dead too."
"None of the others made it?" Vayren clarified.
Kay nodded solemnly. "Yep. They got overwhelmed in no more than a minute."
"And the Eclipse officer?" The Spectre inquired.
Kay remained silent for a moment. "I got out of the central chamber with him and wanted nothing but revenge. So I told Fynnis to overload the lieutenant's shielding and shot the son of a bitch in the fucking head."
The group remained silent for a few long seconds. Will looked over to see Vayren eying Kay closely. He wasn't quite sure of the Spectre approved or not, but Vayren certainly wasn't doing so openly. Instead, the salarian simply watched with stoic eyes as Kay stared down at the table lost in the memory of the moment.
Will shrugged. "Probably deserved it."
"There's no 'probably,'" Kay quickly objected as she looked up to him. "The Eclipse are the scum of the galaxy."
"I don't know, the Blue Suns aren't much better," Will muttered.
Vayren looked between the two of them. "Sadly, I can assure you that there are far more dangerous groups."
"I didn't say they were the most dangerous," Kay corrected him.
"Fair enough," the salarian relented. "So you then took over the ship?"
"Yeah. I found out as we were making our escape that Fynnis had been multitasking the entire time to keep the Eclipse out of the Trueshot's network. Apparently they were trying to lock down the drive systems. Probably wanted the damn thing for themselves," Kay spat angrily.
"Or, you know, the crates of sinaxx in the cargo hold worth nearly half the value of the ship itself," Fynnis added sarcastically.
Kay gave him a joking glare. "Either way, smart ass, I was pretty damn impressed. You got yourself promoted from fresh meat to full crewmate that day."
Will smiled as he finished off his drink and looked over to Vayren. "So I've gotta ask, what have you been doing the past few years?"
Kay and Fynnis both perked up at the change in subjected. Will suspected it was both equal parts interest and relief that they were no longer under the scrutiny of the Spectre.
"You know I can't answer that question," Vayren replied regretfully. "Not in great detail, at least. I will simply say that I have been busy. I have been involved with quite a few situations that I would not have expected to see in my days."
"That's obvious," Will chuckled. "I'm in one of those situations right now. When we were looking for Antarian I would have never imagined that we would sit down and chat over a beer."
The salarian gave him a curious look. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but you're a pretty 'down to business' kind of guy," Will answered cautiously. "At least, you were when we traveled together a few years ago."
Vayren considered the thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Since I earned my Spectre commendation I have worked almost exclusively alone. I suppose I've come to miss the comradery of the STG."
"Are you saying that you actually enjoyed spending time with me and the crew?" Will asked with a small grin.
"I certainly didn't mind it," Vayren answered plainly. "But we had an important mission and I had to remain professional. Now?" He took a sip of his drink and sighed contently. "I'm on vacation."
Fynnis snorted. "I hope I don't get to the point where my vacations involve packing state of the art weaponry and armor."
"I don't entirely anticipate using them," Vayren pointed out. "But it never hurts to be prepared."
"I really don't want to do this," Will said quietly.
He stared across the street to the nondescript mechanic shop that housed the entrance of the RMC's relatively hidden headquarters. Beside him, Vayren stood fully equipped in combat gear and weaponry. The very idea of Omega had been enough for him to plan for the worst case scenario. Kay and Fynnis were back on the ship, as Will had been unsure if he would be able to get them into the Collective's headquarters. However, given his former position with the group and the fact that Vayren was a Spectre, Will was fairly certain that the two of them would not have much difficulty gaining entrance.
"I don't believe you have any other options," Vayren pointed out. "Other than giving up, of course."
"I said I didn't want to," Will reiterated. "Not that I wasn't going to."
Will took a calming breath and stepped into the street, moving around the foot traffic that passed by in either direction. He reached the door and stepped inside with Vayren on his heels. Will tapped on the control panel just inside the door and waited for a response.
"State your business."
"I'm here to see Kallux," Will answered. "Name's William Hume. I used to be a member of the RMC."
"William Hume... one second."
"They seem a tad suspicious," Vayren pointed out.
"They should be," Will reminded him. "They think I'm dead."
A few seconds later a large set of doors in front of them began to slide apart to reveal the security checkpoint of the Collective's headquarters. Will and Vayren were immediately met by a group of four RMC soldiers with their weapons cautiously held at the ready.
"There's only two of them," one of the turian guards reported over his comm.
"I could've told you that," Will muttered irritably.
"Are you really Will Hume?" The turian asked.
Will shrugged. "You need a fucking picture to check?"
"Hey, according to the records you've been MIA for nearly two years," the guard pointed out. "Jackson, grab me the scanner."
One of the human RMC soldiers ran back toward the checkpoint to retrieve a tool as Will crossed his arms and waited.
"Can't be too certain," the turian reminded him.
Will sighed. "Whatever."
The human, Jackson, approached with an active bio-scanner and held it up to Will's eyes. "I need a retinal scan."
The device beeped a few seconds later. The human looked over to his turian superior and nodded.
"Matches our records, sir."
The turian let out a small laugh of disbelief. "Damn." He shook his head and stepped forward with an extended hand. "Welcome back, Captain Hume. Sergeant Bratus."
Will pushed aside his lingering anger for Kallux and shook the guard's hand. He had no grudge against this man or anyone else serving with the RMC.
"Thanks. But it's not 'captain' anymore," he informed him.
"I'm sure you'll have your rank reinstated," the Bratus assured him.
Will pulled his hand back. "I'm not here to jump back into the ranks. I just need to talk to Kallux and I'll be on my way."
The sergeant nodded. "I see. Well, I'm certainly authorized to let you in, but I'm going to have to run the full procedure on your friend here."
Vayren crossed his arms. "I would rather not."
Bratus put on a diplomatic tone. "Sir, it's simply a standard scan. And I'll need you hand over your weapons... all of them."
"No, he doesn't," Will said firmly. "He's a Spectre. One of the two that Kallux and I served with a few years ago."
"A Spectre?" The turian paused before letting out a defeated sigh. "Yeah, okay. But if he pulls out any of those weapons..."
"I have no reason to harm anyone here," Vayren assured him. "In fact, I find your organization to be quite an admirable endeavor."
Will kept his dissenting and cynical response to himself. "So are we clear to head in?"
Sergeant Bratus nodded and stepped aside. "Jackson, disable the security alarms so they can pass through."
Will and Vayren were escorted through a large, inactive body-scanner and into the main hall of the RMC headquarters. The building looked exactly as Will remembered it, but he felt nothing but a growing resentment as he turned down the hall that led to Kallux's office.
"I wasn't expecting such a robust facility," Vayren admitted.
"All this came together after our time with you and Corsin," Will informed him. "After that mission, Kallux decided that the RMC had too much wasted potential and pushed for some actual structure and unification."
Will furrowed a brow as he stopped at the door to Kallux's conference room and office. The panel was red, indicating that there was a meeting in progress. He tapped the button at the center, hoping it would open the door, but was met with a negative buzz.
"Vayren?" Will asked as he stepped aside.
The salarian smirked and raised his omnitool. The Spectre cracked the door's lock as though it was nothing, allowing Will to press his finger to the panel once again. This time, however, the door pinged agreeably and slid apart. He looked straight ahead to the conference table where a familiar female salarian and elcor stood around the table across from Kallux as he pointed to a few points on a holographic map at the center.
"No, they're simply not a threat now, but the Eclipse-"
Will watched as Kallux's voice stopped on a dime as he noticed the door had opened and looked to his side. The krogan straightened up and turned to face Will and Vayren with his mouth slightly agape.
"Hume?" He blinked and looked over his shoulder. "And Agent Vayren?"
"That's right," Will answered as he stepped into the room.
Kallux shook his head slowly. "I don't... Ralliston said you were dead."
"I can understand how he came to that conclusion," Will responded as he came to a stop at the side of the table. "But he's wrong."
Will had never been good at reading the krogan's emotions, but he was sure that he saw genuine happiness in Kallux's face. The krogan looked to Malylen and Orrat and motioned toward the door.
"Please, give us a minute," he asked.
The salarian looked as shocked as Kallux, but nodded in agreement and quickly made her way to the door. The elcor, however, simply turned and slowly followed her out. Vayren stepped to the side and let them pass before closing the door behind them. Once they had left, Kallux took a step toward Will with his eyes looking the man up and down as though he was afraid they would find something out of the ordinary. Something to give him a hint as to how Will might be alive, or that he was somehow being tricked.
"How?" The krogan finally asked.
"Who told you about what happened?" Will asked.
Kallux continued to stare him down. "Ralliston. I haven't spoken to any of the others since you disappeared."
Will nodded. "What did he tell you?"
"He gave me a full debriefing of your final attack," Kallux responded, his mind finally starting to catch up with what he was seeing. "He told me that they found thewreckage of the Hyperion and another ship cluttered together. They assumed you had rammed it to give them a chance to escape."
"They assumed correctly." Will crossed his arms. "So they found the wreckage?"
Kallux nodded. "Yes, Ralliston said they made it back to the debris field no more than twelve hours after the collision."
Will smirked lightly. "Well no wonder they didn't find me. A ship found me after only a few hours. A Blue Suns ship." He paused and took a small breath. "They dumped me in a slave labor camp where I stayed until a little over a week ago."
The krogan stood nearly frozen in place. "Are you saying-"
"I was there for about a year and a half, yeah." Will clenched his fists involuntarily.
"But you're alive," Kallux said quietly. "Damn, you're alive, Hume!"
The krogan smiled and took a step toward Will with an outstretched hand. Will stood firm and stared him down until Kallux slowly lowered his arm and ruffled his brow.
"I'm alive," Will repeated. "But I lost a year and a half of my life. I lost my ship. And my crew, my friends... I don't know where they are or if they're okay." He took a step toward Kallux and pointed to him. "And you know who I have to thank for that? You."
Kallux narrowed his eyes defensively. "Me? Hume, are you crazy? You launched that suicide mission against Cerberus, not me! If you had listened to me and dropped off the radar-"
"Then what?" Will interrupted. "They'd still be out there looking for us! And we'd all be in hiding for what, five years you suggested? We damn near took them out on our own, Kallux! If you and the rest of the RMC had been there with us..."
The krogan snarled. "This again?" He spun and stomped a few steps away. "I have the welfare of this entire organization to think about, Hume. I can't compromise that. Not even for you."
Behind Will, Vayren stepped closer and cleared his throat. "I don't believe we came here to argue," he salarian said firmly.
Will and Kallux both looked to the Spectre in surprise, having almost forgotten he was present. Will nodded in agreement and glanced back to the krogan.
"He's right. The only reason I'm here is to find my crew. All their ID numbers have been wiped and I've got no leads." He sighed and looked to he side defeatedly. "But it sounds like you don't know what became of them either."
Kallux frowned and leaned against the table. "I don't. I'm sorry, Hume." He turned to face them. "And there's only one person I know of who might: Ralliston."
"Perfect," Will muttered sarcastically. "And I see you just let him back into your ranks." He turned Kallux and laughed. "If you knew what that son of a bitch did-"
"I know," Kallux interrupted sternly. "I know everything. He came to me after you disappeared and admitted to betraying you and the rest of the crew. And then he told me about what you did to save him on the Citadel. How you and Eleena stayed in a damn clusterfuck to help him." He let out a pained sigh. "He's practically a kid, Hume. He'd never had people he could depend on like that."
"A kid? He's been running with gangs since he was a teenager!" Will objected sternly. "He's not an innocent little flower."
The krogan shook his head. "I'm not saying he is. I'm saying he never had people who he could truly trust until he served with you. It's just a damn shame he didn't realize it until after he had a hole blown through is stomach." Kallux looked to the side. "I've never seen a man with more guilt and regret."
Silence descended over them as Will tried to collect his thoughts. He hadn't planned on this reunion being as heated as it was, and he should have anticipated it. But Vayren was right. He didn't come here to argue.
"So... you think he can help me find them?" Will finally asked.
Kallux reached for his holopad and began searching through a list. "Maybe. But if the rest of your crew knew that Ralliston betrayed them, they've probably kept their distance from him as well."
"But he might know why they all wiped their ID numbers," Will hoped aloud.
"Well I can tell you why he wiped his," Kallux said as he read over his tablet. "Ralliston is working as an infiltration agent."
"I believe the word you're looking for is 'spy,'" Vayren quipped.
Kallux nodded in agreement. "He's currently embedded with the Eclipse on Illium to gather intel for our possible expansion to that system." He lowered the holopad and motioned toward Will's wrist. "I sent you his last known location. Obviously we're not in frequent communication, but he shouldn't be far from there."
Will activated his omnitool and looked over the file Kallux had sent. He nodded to himself and shifted his eyes back to the krogan.
"Thank you," he managed to say.
He turned to leave with Vayren following close behind. Kallux cleared his throat as he placed the holopad on the table.
"Good luck, Hume. If you need any help..."
Will glanced back over his shoulder and gave Kallux a single nod of acknowledgment. Together, he and Vayren began the walk back to the entrance of the facility and the exit.
"I didn't know you were on such rough terms with Kallux," Vayren commented offhandedly.
"The fact that he thought we would be buddies after what he did to us was enough for me to wanna punch him in the gut."
The salarian gave him a skeptical glance. "Hume, he did what he thought was right as a leader. You should know that sometimes tough decisions have to be made. I imagine that he would never want to abandon you."
Will shook his head. "This damn Collective came between us watching out for each other. I'm not going to put myself in a position to be betrayed like that again."
