CHAPTER NINE
Cory and Kai leng had been getting their gear together preparing to make the strike on the Academy. The unintelligible voices in Cory's head had been getting louder but she still couldn't make sense of them and the sensation of a second party in her own head was becoming increasingly annoying. The duo made their way to the A-61 stealth gunship parked at the back of the house. The evening sky was a dark purple as twilight had begun to change over into night and the Joint exercise was about to start. Cory did her pre start checks, activated the stealth system and started the gunship's engines. Making her way across the cityscape of Ilyara flying over suburban communities, factory districts and office skyscrapers they were soon over the academy.
Kai leng tapped the Haptic interface of the gunship and activated the thermal scanner it picked up a large concentration bodies, the satellite imagery overlay showed that to be the dorms he looked again and six hundred meters south west he saw a small group not more that about twenty split into two groups in wedge formation under a thick forest of oak willow trees they were approaching from the section of the academy nearest to the military base.
"There that must be Hendel's team" he said pointing at the screen.
"Cory landed the gunship a few hundred meters to the left of the squad and the two exited the craft and began to make their way to the team."
Since his reinstatement Hendel Mirtra had been put in charge of training the latest batch of recruits at the Ilayara military base, the group had mixed skill levels some had no combat training while some had come from military academy programs across the Systems Alliance. He had picked a mixed group of twenty recruits of varying skill levels as Rear Admiral O'gilve had ordered, to participate in the joint training exercise being held at the nearby Naval exploration military academy the group had learned some basic combat formations and had been putting in serious hours at the practice shooting range but most importantly they had taken well to Hendel's instruction on basic squad tactics.
"Okay guys form up in wedge formation, I'll take point keep your eyes sharp and we can win this" said Hendel.
The recruits complied falling into position and making their way into the thick forest. Hendel heard the slight ruffling of leaves in the distance the lack of any strong winds made it an usual sound. that's when he heard two clicks as a metal canister skittered across his path after a few seconds a sharp hiss sounded as the area started to fill with a strange gas. Hendel looked to the left and could see the faint outline two figures in the dark.
"HOSTILE CONTACT RIGHT" shouted Hendel his voice wavering like he had been drinking all day.
Gillian mood was particularly happy as she had messaged Hendel earlier and learned he would be the commander of the squad her team would be facing today he had been busy training his new recruits and had not gotten much time to see Gillian since she started classes. Her dorm councilor Anna Kaye was in command of her squad consisting of ten girls from her dorm including Alegra Evans. Nick's team was being commanded by his Dorm councilor the plan was to split off into what what was called a pincer attack to envelope the enemy squad and out flank them from both sides. Gillian had even printed the upgraded ablative armor she had gotten from Octavia before she left Grisssom Academy the week before, She knew she wouldn't need it against practice rounds but want to see how it felt any way.
"still can't believe you won against me Cristina" said Nick referring to their match of Alliance Corsair. Gillian made a big grin and chuckled.
"Okay team lets move out" said the squad commander Anna-kaye.
"You guys heard her, lets split up and get to work" said the leader of Nick's team.
The two teams made their way into the forest to begin their attack.
Kai Leng and Cory had landed the craft, keeping the stealth system engaged as they made their way to the team Kai leng had spotted they put on their gas masks and began to approach. The duo activated their tactical cloaks and closed the distance within a few seconds. Kai leng pulled the pin on his canister of paralytic gas and threw it in the middle of the squad within seconds many of the alliance recruits had dropped, frozen on the ground. The squad commander shouted some order, his voice clearly affected by the gas. From the man's size Kai leng knew that this was most likely Hendel Mirta, the secondary objective but he and Cory had to neutralize the rest of the team that had not been downed fully Kai leng ran toward one of the Alliance recruits a young woman from the looks of her armor silhouette as she tried to find their location. He grabbed her shaking weapon arm a clear sign the woman was struggling to fight back against the gas, then he grabbed her abdomen, pivoted and threw her into a group of five recruits still barely standing they were caught off guard and were plunged into the ground were the gas had saturated thus increasing their dose they struggled to get up from the mess of bodies but Kai leng knew it was over. Cory closed the distance between herself and the remaining recruits but Hendel had cut her off the large man swung his weapon wildly at her trying to knock her off balance Cory easily dodged his confused movements, she grabbed his arm and wrapped her leg around his pivoting her body around and throwing the large man to the ground a move that she would have never attempted without her implants or if Hendel had not already been some what incapacitated. The remaining Recruits had now succumbed to being exposed the the gas and were now helpless on the ground. Kai Leng came over to the now limp body of Hendel he easily hoisted the large man's upper body mass over his shoulder and let his legs drag while he went to secure the captive in the ship.
" Go ahead to secure the primary I'll be right there" said Kai Leng as Cory checked her Omni tool for a visual readout on the location of the remaining team. What she saw was two separate teams remaining, each consisting of groups of ten, she tried to guess which one was Gillian but decided to hope for the best. Using her Omni tool as a guide she quickly closed the distance between her and one of the groups their silhouette showed them to be all girls she caught her lucky break. Cory hid behind one of the large oak trees that populated the forest she was in, the girls were in a staggered line formation with a leader on point Cory knew this was the squad commander by the way she walked confidently her form showed that she had at least finished basic training. Cory then checked her Omni tool a Cerberus artist had retouched Gillian's old picture with what she might look like at fifteen she then activated her Tactical Cloak and threw the remaining gas canister toward the group making her way toward the leader she took out her mono molecular blade hoping the stab the leader in her leg incapacitating her. However something strange happened in that moment as if by the invisible hand of a puppeteer she was forced to deactivate her tactical cloak giving away her position.
Gillian's squad had bean moving forward at a steady pace keeping their eyes peeled looking for the enemy in the moonlight. Suddenly a metallic canister fell in her path and clicked against the ground and a hissing sound started to emanate from the strange device in her way, as if by reflex Gillian kicked the canister away with all the force she could muster. Even in the dark she could see the faint signs of a lingering gas deciding to test the new move she had been practicing she began gathering a small amount dark energy around her right hand jumping into the air and punching the ground she set off a nova move at reduced strength as not to injure her team mates the force of the blast was enough to dissipate the gas that remained that's when Gillian saw a woman appear out of thin air attacking her squad leader. It was apparent that the strange attacker had not been Alliance as she had black armor white white shoulder pads and yellow gauntlets a set of strange red lights were arranged on her helmet. Gillian suddenly remembered her father's message and and a single thought occupied her mind was this woman with Cerberus. Anna kaye blocked the first slash by the strange attacker who appeared in front of her with her assault rifle while Gillian and the rest of the Girls opened fire on the woman even though they only had practice rounds a small amount of damage could be done to the woman's shields.
Cory's entire plan had fell apart in seconds, The group had been firing practice rounds at her but might as well been throwing rocks at her biotic barrier she was lucky that Gillian seemed to be the only biotic in the squad and the rest of the students had most likely only been doing weapons practice so far as more exotic attacks as combat drone use or specialized ammunition would have made her job impossible. She attempted to activate her tactical cloak again but to no avail, the sensation was exactly like the voices she had been hearing. She then felt a much larger hit the familiar feeling of a concussive shot but at greatly reduced effectiveness than what she was used to, the attack staggered her somewhat she was surprised one of the kids knew such an attack but it was not enough to make much of a dent in her shields. Under the moonlight Cory could see the squad leader fumbling with her weapon while her squad kept firing she was removing the bright orange practice ammunition thermal clip and replacing it with a lethal one the squad leader then launched an overload attack a high voltage electrical attack that disrupted a portion of Cory's shields then begun to open fire with the live ammunition. Cory re sheated her sword not wanting to kill any of the students she cartwheeled forward with blinding speed making the squad leader hit nothing but air while trying to bring her gun to bear, Cory quickly grabbed the arm of the squad leader flinging her into a nearby tree tree with enough force to knock her out. Cory reached into her pocket and took out a needle containing a dose of paralytic drug and begun acrobatic maneuvers making her way toward Gillian. The girl sent a warp field her way but Cory was barely able to dodge what she was sure would have been a devastating attack, that moment her movement became totally locked down, she was stuck in a stasis field.
Hendel was barely conscious he was being carried effortlessly by a man in a black combat suit suit that was less than half his size, a bizarre feeling as the man's muscle mass would have made it impossible for him to so easily carry him. This man had what looked like carbon fiber arms that gave off a silver glow in the moonlight. Hendel's muscles felt unusually numb and lifeless he tried to move them to escape but to no avail. The man carried him to a nearby tree, activated his omni tool with his free hand the action seemed to materialize a hydraulic loading bay out of thin air. The man then plopped him onto a bench in the back of the craft. Hendel tried again to attack this time trying to gather dark energy fro a Biotic throw. His arm awkwardly flopped forward and a miniscule blue glow hit the strange man and puttered from existence, a sad display of biotics.
"Well it seems you still have some fight left in you Mr. Mirta, understandable given your size" said the man.
"Gi..." Hendel mumbled.
"Gi ? Are you attempting to say Gillian ? Gillian Grayson, don't worry your interference will soon end and she will be joining us soon."
said Kai Leng as he waited on the gas to fully take, soon the large man slumped back in reaction to the drug now fully circulating around his blood stream. Kai leng then placed shackles on his legs and arms then secured the large man to the chassis of the gunship with locking bolts that fit into the shackles. He finally placed Biotic dampening cuffs a device used on Biotic prisoners to cut off their power as a final measure. Kai leng thought Cory must have been finishing up her end of the mission and returning. The reality however was much different he exited the gunship and could hear the faint sound of gunfire in the distance.
He activated his omni tool opening a channel to Cory. "Cory come in ! , Cory are you there." he heard no reply. He locked the gunship and begun to make his way toward the noise.
Nick and his team had been slowly combing the forest looking for the enemy team when his squad leader put up a fist in the air, a signal for the team to stop.
"Hey guys you hear that, sounds like gun fire" said the squad leader
"Yeah I hear it too" said one of Nick's team mates.
"How did they get around us ?, they couldn't close that distance if they started the same time as us" said Nick
"Who knows, lets check it out" said the squad leader.
Nick's squad did a full turn and with a brisk jog they were back at the girls squad within five minutes. Nick and his squad saw a bizarre event, a single woman was attacking the squad she was moving toward Gillian with a small device in one of her hands. Nick carefully followed the woman's movements firing off any Biotic attack too early would easily miss he time the attack and made a hit with a stasis field locking her in place.
Gillian took the opportunity to hit the woman with a biotic attack she started gathering dark energy but at reduced effectiveness hoping to capture the woman alive instead of reducing her to a lump of meat she sent a warp attack setting off a Biotic explosion the force knocked the woman into a tree her limbs skewed at unnatural angles. Gillian looked at the woman's body and hoped the attack was weak enough.
"Anyone hurt !" shouted Nick's squad leader one by one the students sound off indicating their status.
"Anna Kaye got hurt" said Alegra Evans the girl who had shot off the concussive shot earlier, she pointed to the tree where Anna Kaye was laying.
Nick's squad leader rushed over to Anna kaye her breathing was heavy he quickly loosened her combat armor enabling her to breathe easier.
"Anna Kaye !, hang in there" he shouted. inspecting her body he could see no wounds or broken bones he concluded that she suffered a concussion. he looked for any ammunition she may have as Squad leaders were given two clips of live ammunition to carry in order to be ready in case of an actual attack. He found her remaining clip and looking to the side he could see her assault rifle on the grass. He took it up and inspected it the red and black thermal clip of live ammunition was then activated his Omni tool and opened a comm channel to Rear Admiral O'gilve.
"Sir this is squad leader Ricardo Masters we have a possible Cerberus presence on the training grounds a single female attacked our squad, Private Anna Kaye is unconscious, requesting immediate back up"
"Reenforcement will be inbound momentarily ETA one minute" replied the admiral.
"Hey Nick take this and keep and eye on our guest if she moves hit her with another stasis field" said Ricardo throwing Anna Kaye's gun toward the youth.
"Alex you take this" Giving his best marksman Anna Kaye's live clip.
"You're Cristina right ? Anna kaye told me you're a strong Biotic, Take this" said Ricardo handing Gillian his extra live thermal clip.
"Everyone else stick close and look out for any one not in Alliance uniforms Cerberus may still be active we can survive if we stay alert until Rear admiral O'gilve arrives.
Kai leng made his way through the large oak and mahogany trees in the moonlight toward where he had heard the gunfire earlier, the sounds had died out and he still had not heard anything from Cory as he tried raising her on comms again after seeing her empty canister of paralytic gas on his way he cursed himself for letting her go alone, The group of remaining students were now in Kai leng's view he could see could see the group still largely intact, a woman in Alliance uniform lay at the foot of a large oak tree obviously knocked out and Cory was sprawled against another nearby tree being watched by a small teenage boy Kai leng recognized his face as the Kid from Grissom academy. He scanned the group again looking for the image of Gillian he had studied. The girl had her hair in a regulation Alliance bun she had dyed it dyed from black to a dirty blonde. Kai leng activated his tactical cloak and made his way to the girl he had no way to paralyze the squad so his plan was to take her hostage as none of the students would risk shooting at the risk of harming the girl he would then use his Omni tool to summon gunship having it's auto pilot function to extract him.
Gillain's heart was pounding she wondered what had become of Hendel's team, if they had ran into the same group of attackers. She thought back on her encounter with the woman her speed was unlike anything Gillian could have expected, she was even fast enough to dodge her warp attack. A silver blade appeared in her view not unlike when the woman had appeared in front of Anna Kaye earlier.
"Don't move little girl, You have given us a lot of trouble" said a strange male voice.
"EVERYONE STAY CALM, MAKE ANY SUDDEN MOVES AND THIS GIRL LOOSES HER HEAD" said the man.
Gillian took a deep breath and started transferring the dark energy of her biotic shields into her palm this time she wasn't taking any chances she didn't care if her attack killed this strange man it was either her or him. She then took advantage of his one mistake which was leaving her hands free. She let off a nova attack on the man's abdomen with as much force as she could, the attack knocked him a few meters back.
"OPEN FIRE EVERYONE" shouted Ricardo.
The entire team did just that, Ricardo threw a sentry turret at the attacker the device started to hover and column of flames engulfed him and gunfire started. Gillian now had to wait on her Biotics to cool down. She followed suit unloading the clip at the man who was now lunging toward her. She heard something shatter as the man moved toward her with immense speed. Ricardo's sentry turret had now run out of fuel and fell to the ground . As the man closed the gap she could hear the gun fire of her team begin to falter off , they did not want to hit her. The man whose face was now slightly burned slashed Gillian attempted to block but nothing connected. The man stabbed at her then stepped back she felt the hilt of his blade in her abdomen and could see a stream of crimson red blood flowing from the wound. She screamed focusing on the nearest tree, one motion of her arm she uprooted a large oak tree weighing at least ten tons and used it to slap the man away. She collapsed as a result of her wound and expending so much Biotic energy.
"Gillian !" shouted Nick running over to her side.
Nick crouched down looking at the wound. He applied pressure to stop the bleeding as he had learned in his first aid classes. Slowly, he removed what was left of the blade. Gillian's armor started to repair itself. Dammit thought Nick. She had ablative armor it would have been fine for a gunshot but such a large wound needed a direct application of medi gel. Nick clicked off the fasteners on Gillian's chest plate careful to keep pressure on the wound.
"Nick ?" said Gillian, with a weak voice barely audible.
"Don't say anything" replied Nick.
With his free hand Nick took a dose of Medi Gel out of his pocket and applied to to the wound the fast acting anesthetic and clotting agent went to work quickly stopping the bleeding and holding the wound together. Ricardo had been standing by quietly watching Nick work, his first instinct was to stop the teen and treat Gillian himself but the kid knew his stuff. Ricardo ordered Alex to take over watching the prisoner.
"Good work kid" said Ricardo.
"Thank you Sir"
That moment Rear admiral O'gilve's forces arrived in two m-35 Mako vehicles six marines and the rear admiral exited.
"Status report" said the admiral addressing Ricardo.
"One wounded and one unconscious and a single prisoner the other hostile was pinned by that tree over there" said Ricardo pointing at each.
" Roberts get these girls over to the Infirmary on the base Phillips prepare the prisoner for transport. Atkinson, Masters and the rest of you come with me lets secure this other intruder."
Nick could see an N7 logo on some of the marines armor an elite special forces designation showing that they had completed the toughest training the alliance had to offer. One of the marines walked over to Gillian and scanned her with his Omni tool it took readings of her heart rate and blood pressure the device was no where near as accurate as dedicated medical monitors but was good enough for a field evaluation.
"Did you treat her ? Good work kid" said the N7 operator.
"Thank you sir" replied Nick.
"Help me carry her to the Mako" Nick and Roberts carefully placed Gillian on a stretcher and carried her to the Vehicle the they then picked up Anna Kaye and made their way to the nearby base.
Since Cory was incapacitated by a Biotic explosion she was watching the entire battle unfold, a zit faced teenager had his weapon aimed had taken over from another who had hit her with a stasis field but rushed over to the target when Kai Leng attacked her as if he seemed to forget the mission objective. Cory could feel the tiny nanides surging trough her body working to repair her broken limbs and open wounds, by now she felt well enough to at least hobble away but could feel her movements actively being blocked by an unknown force. Two m-35 Makos pulled up and a squad of marines exited and one made his way over to man gave a sharp salute to the teenager then crouched down beside her and checked her for a pulse then pulled off her helmet and raised an eyebrow at her appearance.
"What up with your face"said the man.
Cory again felt her reply being blocked by an unknown force.
"No worries dear you will have plenty of time to chat"
The man then leaned her forward and noticed her Biotic amplification and implant marks he quickly took out some omni gel and fabricated dampening hand cuffs. He secured her and lead her into the remaining Mako as one had drove off while he was arresting her.
Kai Leng mind had barely processed what had just happened a massive tree had just hit him uprooted as if by a powerful hurricane. His arm was pinned under the large tree had it been a foot to the left his entire body would have been crushed. Kai leng concentrated on gathering the dark energy that served as his shields as Cory had shown him and fired off a phasic disruptor attack in an attempt to free his hand splinters flew and some progress was made. He could see vehicle lights approaching he waited ten seconds for his Biotics to cool down and fired again. He was free, his arm mangled the nanides in his body had begun to straighten his arm and rebuild it an impressive sight but Kai leng had no time to take in the view he pressed the fingers of his undamaged arm against his palm activating the omni tool command to summon the gunship. Kai leng hobbled forward. "There he is" shouted a voice in the distance as they opened fire.
Rear Admiral O'gilve gave the order to open fire. The situation seemed unreal the man he saw was making his way into what looked like the interior of a gunship but the exterior was completely invisible he reached for his Hydra missile launcher and tried to eyeball the target that had now again closed making it completely invisible he fired hitting nothing but an innocent tree. He cursed himself for being seconds too late. He activated his omni tool and contacted a commander of a Carrier in orbit informing of the escaping vehicle. He knew however that the stealth technology would obscure it from being detected.
Kai leng activated his tactical cloak as the gunship hovered near him, the invisible vehicle kicking up leaves as it descended and opened its landing bay. He climbed aboard and could hear the audible pinging of bullets hitting the metal hull. He closed the door and quickly grabbed the controls and began his ascent flying in a zig zag pattern he could see a missile shell explode on one of the trees no doubt a Hydra missile heavy ordinance designed to strip away shields and melt armor on any vehicle. Kai leng accelerated the craft and within a minute he reached the orbit of Elysium the Alliance second fleet still unaware of his presence thanks to the stealth systems. Within another five minutes Kail leng arrived at the moon of Tyre where the SSV Hera was landed waiting in stealth. He sent a tight-beam bit of data to the ship alerting the crew of his presence, if the alliance had been listening on that specific frequency then his position would have been given away but the crew of the Hera would have jumped to Faster than light speeds before any offense could be made. He docked with the Hera that had opened its landing bay and slumped back in his chair, clicked the interface on the gunship to open a communications a link to the Illusive man as the Hera exited the star system. A holographic three dimensional image of his leader materialized.
"Sir, partial mission success, we recovered Hendel Mirtra but were unsuccessful in capturing Gillian Grayson. Operative Kim was either captured or killed by Alliance forces her status is unknown." Said Kai leng
The Illusive man folded his hands together and after a few seconds of silence he said "I see... what exactly happened Kai. " asked the Illusive man.
" I found her canister emptied and well away from the targets location and the squad of students still active" replied Kai leng.
"Unfortunate but Hendel will be instrumental in our testing of the Dragoon initiative. This base has moved again your pilot has the new co-ordinates." The image clicked out of existence. Kai leng leaned back in his seat and relaxed as the nanides slowly healed his face and arm.