Chapter 9
Location: Milky Way, Serpent Nebula, Widow System – The Citadel
Zakara Ward – Chora's Den
"You know, I can't say I really expected to be back here again." commented Kaidan.
"Well, this time I expect there will be less dancing girls, and more gunfire." teased Ashley.
"We had gunfire last time too."
+Expect a lot more this time.+ echoed the voice of the absent Major. +Fist has at least two Krogan bodyguards that I saw, and an alert just went out that everyone at Chora's was kicked out about 10 minutes ago. They know you are coming.+
John nodded, checked his weapons, making sure they were strapped on. "Garrus, any idea on how much resistance we will have?"
The turian shook his head. "Not for certain. We never placed him as having more than twenty individuals that worked for him, and not all of the ones we identified would be worth anything if it came to a fight."
"Eh, won't matter." grunted Wrex. "Like anything he's got could stop me, let alone all of us."
"Maybe, but let's try and do it so we can all come out in one piece. " murmured John. The krogan battle master just grunted in response, and he found himself shaking his head, and hoping that he had made the right decision with letting Wrex come along. He triple checked the side arm and stepped out to the hall that would lead to Chora's Den, and Fist.
Fist, it turned out, had worked for the Shadow Broker, an enigmatic and nearly invisible figure, who seemed to have his fingers in every pie. He knew next to nothing about him, other than two simple facts: if the Shadow Broker didn't have the information he could get it, and that you crossed him at your own peril.
Fist had sold his allegiance to Saren, and neglected to remember that second fact. When the Shadow Broker found out, he had hired Wrex to give him a single chance to surrender. Rhia had apparently been witness to Wrex's attempt at negotiation, which had been dismissed. John prayed that he could keep the Krogan in line long enough to get the information that Garrus had found, at the least, before Wrex carried out the summary execution part of the contract.
Garrus had tracked Saren's contacts through Chora's Den, and that Fist had obtained information linking Saren to Eden Prime, but the trail he'd been following didn't lead to any hard evidence, at least not in the time had been given.
John nodded at Kaidan, as the other man started to hack work his way into the clubs security system and override the doors. "How long?"
"Two minutes or less." Answered Kaidan absently as he worked his way through the security.
John nodded, and looked over at Ashley "So, Chief. I hear you stood off four gunmen earlier, single handed?"
"I…yeah. Just doing what I could." She replied, sounding more than a bit uncomfortable at mild compliment.
Garrus eyed her as he commenting offhand as he checked his weapon on last time. "What you could was better than most, Chief Williams." Ashley looked clearly unsure how to respond and finally just shrugged.
Kaidan clicked the panel back down, and drew his own weapon. "Ready to breach, just give the word."
"Williams, Alenko, stun grenades. Wrex, you are first through the door, then me, going left. Garrus you are next, going right, Williams with you." He pointed at each as he spoke. "Alenko, you are filler and covering the middle if they have placed anyone on the stages above."
+Expect at least one, according to the analysis here. I'm also starting to get comm interceptions from inside Chora's Den as well. At least seven unique comm signals are transmitting.
"Alright, breach on three."
He flicked the safety off the Predator-pistol and started counting down. As he finished Kaidan hit the control, popped a grenade free and threw it one side of the door, even as Ashley mimicked him, her own grenade sailing through the door on the opposite side. Bullets ricocheted around them as gunfire exploded out of the room, one skipping off of Garrus's shields, then abruptly stopped as the flash grenades went off.
And Wrex thundered forward with a roar that left John stunned for a full second, leaving him to see exactly why the Krogan had a statue in the Presidium. Wrex slammed into the hastily overturned tables that some of Fist's men had tried to use as cover, and crushed them under their own defenses, before leveling his shotgun and finishing off the luckless survivor. Before the shotgun could even cool properly, Wrex had turned and was firing on the pair of Krogan enforcers, sending three more shots in their direction. The shots ripped their shields apart, his last shot tearing across the face of the leading bodyguard, shredding one of its reptilian eyes.
John stormed forward finally, firing as he came. Three precise shots hammered into the man behind the bar, even as the unfortunate thug whipped at his eyes, trying to clear them. The first shot was stopped dead by the kinetic shield, but remaining two punched through it, taking him dead center of his chest and flinging him into the wall of alcohol behind him with a crash.
He slid down behind the bar, catching a glimpse of the action on the other side of the room as Garrus and Ashley exchanged fire with another pair of thugs in a defensive position identical to the one that Wrex and smashed through. He didn't see him, but her heard Kaidan shout, and then a scream of pain as the Alliance Biotic did something painful to another of Fist's hired guns.
John peeked up from the bar, just in time to duck as one of the krogan bodyguards slammed into the bar with enough force to crack the ceramic surface. It didn't move. John looked up again and could see Wrex, breathing a little quickly, but appearing otherwise unharmed. He turned back to aim down on ones engaged with Garrus and Ashley, but found them standing up tentatively from their cover, their opponents dispatched. All in all, the fight had taken seconds.
"Status everyone?"
"Clear." Called Ashley.
"Clear here." Called Kaidan.
+Should be clear to Fist, though I'm getting some strange electrical readings from his office that are getting flagged with a warning.+
"Alright, you heard the lady." John vaulted over the bar. "Wrex, take point."
"Heh...fine by me." The Krogan stepped up, and slammed his hand into the holographic panel to open the door, his shotgun pointed ahead with one hand. The door hiss open and Wrex abruptly turned with a shout, slamming himself into cover on one side of the door. "Down!"
John threw himself to one side at the warning, just as the auto-turrets on the other side of the door opened fire, sending a vicious hail of gunfire hurtling through the open door.
"Major, remind me next time that thing flags a warning, to take it a bit more seriously!" shouted Ashley. A particularly vicious barrage tore a hole through the table she had ducked behind, causing sparks to fly off her barriers. "Fuck! Really seriously next time!"
"Kaidan, can you overload them?"
"Yes, but I need a moment!"
Garrus grunted in pain and surprise as a ricochet clipped him above one eye, causing him to duck down more. "With all due respect, Lieutenant, now would be a very good time!"
"You know, every time someone says that, what they really mean is kiss my ass!" Shouted Ashley, "Alenko, any time now, though would be good!"
"Let's see you do this!" He snarled back before shoving his OMNI-tool hand around the corner, and a discharge of energy pulsed past the rest of the squad and into the next room. There was a thrumming sound, and then several sharp pops, and the turrets stopped firing.
John peeked his head out. The turrets twitched and sparked. "Good work."
"Thank you sir." said Kaidan with a nod, even as she shot a cold glance at the others.
"S-stay back! I'm warning you!" Shouted a voice from the office.
"Fist? Come out, with your hands in the air." Shouted Garrus. A pair of shots rang out, ricocheting off the wall. The turian officer made a sound that sounded a bit like a sigh. "Commander, I believe he has elected the 'hard way' "
"Noted. Williams."
"On it." She said, and stepped up close to Wrex. The krogan glanced down on her, giving her a speculative look through one serpent-like eye, and she held up another of the flash grenades, and flicked the arming switch. Wrex grinned suddenly. "Oh, I think I like you guys."
Ashley flicked the small device, sending rebounding off the wall and into the office. Fist shrieked, even before the grenade went off, and his tone stretched into a painful falsetto. John tried to contain his exasperation as he led the way into the office.
Fist's office was a perfect match for his club; small, dingy, and badly lit. The turrets that had menaced them had been concealed by panels in the wall, and still clicked and shuddered, sending off sparks that gave more light to the room than the actual fixtures. The office contained a small cheap looking desk, a small dark couch, and a few a holo displays that had apparently been linked to the power source for the turrets, as they too sparked in what was probably their death throws.
Fist was on the floor to one side of his desk, a pale and extremely thin looking man, narrow faced with a long hooked nose. He lay there, his hands on his ears, his eyes squeezed shut, a small pistol on the ground a few feet from him.
John kicked the pistol farther out of the man's reach and knelt next to him as Fist rubbed at his eyes and head, trying to regain some of his senses. He heard the others crowd into the office behind him.
"Fist. You have information that we need. And if you hadn't decided to have your men start shooting at us immediately, we could have had that conversation and left you alone."
Fist snorted a bitter laugh. "So you brought the Krogan who said he's going to kill me?"
"Well, you did decide to fort up and refuse any attempts to contact you any other way. We did try."
"Yeah, right. Listen, if you are going to kill me, get it over with and don't talk me to death. If you aren't, tell me what you want. "
"You work for Saren."
"What of it?"
"You have information linking him to Eden Prime."
"No. But I know someone who does. Or did, depending on if she's dead already or not."
John tensed, but kept his voice calm, cold even. "Who and where are they now."
"Some quarian suit-rat. She had something, wanted to sell it to the Shadow Broker for protection. She didn't do much research before she came offering it, since anyone in the business knows I don't work for the broker anymore."
John jabbed the muzzle of his pistol up under the man's chin. "You sold her out to more of Saren's people." Fist's nod was barely perceivable, and he made a swallowing sound. John felt his eyes narrow, his voice calm and implacable.
"Where is the quarian?"
Rhia could hear fist stammer over the words, her fingers quickly stabbing over the console. "I-I don't know. s-she was s-supposed to meet them u-under the lower market. Where the back access tunnels are, just the other side of that used starship store. They never use the back tunnels there, and no one would see them." She shifted the view and working to narrow down the possible locations on a second holo-screen
+Rhi, what do- +
"I'm already on it, stand by." She said distractedly, sifting out the results the computer had overlaid of the citadel shops, the schematics overlaying with the shop details. She could hear John questioning the slimy little man more, but she paid no attention as the computer spat out one possible destination. "John, if he set the meeting on this Ward, there is only one store it could be. Sending the coordinate now."
She keyed in the command to update his HUD, and felt a chill settle over her, as John's voice cut across.
+Shit. That is practically all the way back to the Normandy, and it will be on foot almost the entire way.+
He was right. The route they would have to take from Chora's Den was up a dozen floors, and across on a section of the citadel that was almost completely sealed. It would take them nearly twenty minutes to get there, at least. She stabbed her hand down on the mute button, even as she heard other voices pipe up over the channel. "Joker!"
The lieutenant had taken up residence in his pilot seat again, and he craned his head around till he could see her out of the corner of his eye. She waved the headset at him. "Take over here, I need you to guide me!"
"Weren't you just complaining that Chakwas had ordered you to not leave the ship? Cause that was kind of the whole point of me setting you up on that thing."
Rhia closed the distance to him, and slapped the small visor into his hand.
"They have at best a 15 minute hike. I can be there in five. If we lose this quarian, or the intel she's got, we lose Saren." She slapped the airlock door open, and pressed the small ear-bud for her comm. "Get me there, now."
Joker looked at her for a long moment, indecision on his face before he finally shook his head, muttering. "Chakwas is gona kill me..." Despite his complaints though, Rhia saw him put on the visor, and start to pull himself out of the pilot chair.
"I would probably be more worried about John." She grinned at his startled expression and slapped the airlock closed with a hiss. It seemed like it took the airlock an eternity for the cycle to finish and let her out onto the Docking Bay, giving her more than enough time to let her mind race through all the of the people who were going chew her out later for this stunt. John. Chakwas. Anderson. Probably Udina too. Guess I better get here and make it worth it.
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya paced back and forth across the narrow service hallway as she waited, her nerves pressed to the limit. For the last two days she had been running from….just about everything. Hopefully this stupid deal with the Shadow Broker would put an end to it.
She shifted painfully, and adjusted the sling on her arm. The damage to her suit had been repaired, but the gunshot had cracked the bone, on top of the infection. Dr. Michel had given her antibiotics, and the infection was under control, but it had given her a headache unlike any she had remembered, and the aching in her shoulder and arm were agonizing, the pain medication only taking a bit of the edge off.
A skittering sound made her jump, her pistol pointing shakily in her off hand at where came from. A moment later, one of the Citadel Keepers, the strange green insect-like aliens that wandered and repaired the space station. The creature skittered forward and began to work on the console nearby. Tali held the pistol pointed for a moment longer as she heard her breath come in tense little rasps. But the keepers ignore everyone, focused singularly on their task of maintaining and repairing the citadel. She lowered the pistol as she felt her breathing slow to a more normal pace. Harmless but still...unnerving, she decided. She turned away, returning to pacing back and forth, and let her mind wander for a moment.
A bare couple of days ago, she had stopped with a small crew that she had joined. They had salvaged a pair of ships, a Geth ship that was some kind of frigate or troop transport, and the remains of a lightly armed turian vessel. The majority of the salvage crew had focused on the turian vessel, while she and one particularly brave turian had went over to the Geth ship to see if there was anything she could find.
And she had found more than she bargained for. A pair of geth data cores that by some miracle had remained intact, and had not been wiped when the synthetics had been rendered inoperative. They were a treasure trove of information, if she could decode it. She had spent the entire trip to the Citadel working on decoding the information contained in them, garbled though some of it was. And what she found was absolutely terrifying to her.
The Geth were on the move. The first data core had been some kind of piloting or navigation variant, and as she poured over the data, it showed the transponder signals of twenty geth warships of various sizes departing the Perseus Veil and spreading through the Traverse and into other portions of the galaxy. Aside from using the Relay's, the vessels had swung wide of anywhere they could be easily spotted it seemed. This particular ship seemed to been attempting to reach a asteroid field when it had encountered the Turian ship, and the ensuing conflict had resulted into the death of both vessels, as the Turian's rammed the more powerful geth warship in desperation, or so the telemetry seemed to indicate. That final embrace has resulted in a series of overloads and explosions that killed everyone on board both vessels. Or at least as much as the geth could be killed.
The second data core was even worse off, containing only one thing: A simple audio recording, between a Turian and an unknown woman, a though she couldn't be sure on the identity of either. The Turian was easy enough to distinguish, but the other was not so distinct, at least to her. Their conversation was about some Beacon, and the return of the Reapers, whatever that meant. But when the Turian had commented about destroying Eden Prime, Tali knew she had something huge. She had shown it to the turian who had joined her on the Geth ship, named Helithus, who had told her to keep the information to herself, that he would help her find the right person give it to.
And then, barely two hours after arriving on the Citadel on her way to meet Helithus, someone had tried to kill her. The shooter had hit her in the arm, and she had ran. Her suit had sealed around the injury, limiting the contamination but she had started to run a fever in minutes. If it wasn't for stumbling into Dr. Michel's clinic, she might not have survived at all.
Tali shivered and looked around, trying to shake off that morbid line of thought. Where was this contact? The Shadow Broker was supposed to be here by now.
A door hissed open and she started, grabbing at her small pistol again. A moment later, a turian she recognized, but didn't know his name, stepped into view, flanked by a pair of Salarian's. She kept her pistol on them, trying to keep her hand from trembling from the stress, pain, medication, or some combination of all three. The turian raised his hands as she kept walking toward her, motioning for the guards he had brought to hang back. He gave her the turian equivalent of a smile, though to her it seemed more of a leer. She shivered. Was it the smile, or her fever?
"Just me girl...take it easy. Do you have it?"
She looked past him to the guards, and back, and lowered the gun sliding it back into her holster. "Where is the Shadow Broker, and Fist?"
"They will be here. Where is the data?"
Tali hesitated. Facial expressions was something that were hard for her to read. Her people were all but concealed behind their suits masks, and as a result she felt she had very little experience in interpreting them. But...something about his almost feverish expression set her on edge. The fact he had stepped close enough to touch her, and felt comfortable running one hand down her arm in a manner that was entirely too friendly? Something was very wrong.
"No." She snapped, and batted his hand away. "The deal is off."
The turian eyes blazed in anger and he took a step away from her. "Take her, find the data. "
Tali was already in motion before he finished speaking, and flicked her wrist in the direction of the two salarian guards, as she dove for cover. Her arm screamed in pain as she landed, and she bit back a cry.
The small grenade went off with a vicious little snap, and bits of metal or debris skipped off the crate she was hiding behind. She scrambled back to her feet, to make a run for it, and had to drop again as the turian opened fire, his pistol punching holes in the flimsy metal of the crate. For a moment she caught of a glimpse of him holding his face, his blue blood pouring out of a handful of shallow wounds. Fear sent her heart racing as she tried to fumble for the pistol again.
And then a shout of defiance drew her gaze up the stairs as short redhead human woman hurled herself in a leap from the top of the stairs, nearly 4 meters up. As the human sailed forward, her momentum carrying her just beyond the crate Tali sheltered behind, energy seemed to hum through the air, building to a crescendo. And then she landed, and the shockwave that followed the woman's impact slammed the crate into her with staggering force.
Her arm exploded into pain again, and she found herself gasping as she tried to pull herself up. Someone lifted her, or tried to.
"Come on!" gritted the woman as she pulled Tali's good arm over one shoulder and started to haul her back up the stairs. "Run, come on, they'll be up in a moment!"
Everything snapped back into focus in a brilliant moment of shock and pain, and Tali staggered forward into the start of a run as the two of them pounded up the stairs. Just as they reached the top, the human pushed her forward and whirled back, dropping to one knee at the top of the stairs her arms crossed in a protective gesture. The rapport of gunfire made Tali flinch, but as she looked back, the human woman was holding a barrier. A biotic barrier, against the three would-be assassins. The gunmen hesitated, unsure of how to proceed, and when did the red-haired human flung her arms out, sending gathered defensive energy rushing out in a wave that took the three attackers from their feet yet again. She turned, wild eyed and sprinted straight past Tali, her strange five fingered hand snatching Tali's own and hauling her forward frantically into a run.
"John, Joker, anyone, we could really use some help! Have the package, hostiles in pursuit! I delayed them bu-" A bullet ricocheted off the wall bare inches from them, and Tali saw her new ally's face pale. "Danger close. Really, really close."
The pair darted into the next corridor, and the human slapped her hand on the controls, shutting the door behind them, she grabbed at Tali's hand, but Tali snatched it away, twisting her wrist to activate her OMNI-tool instead, shoving it at the door. "Wait, just a second."
"They are right behind us!" The human snapped back. "We have to go!"
"...come on your stupid bosh'tet...there!" Tali exclaimed. The doors locked sealed into place as her hack took hold on the simple machines controls. The woman's eyes widened in surprise.
"...damn. I think I owe you an apology. "
"Later, that won't take much to override, if they have half an idea what they are doing."
"Right..." She touched her ear. "Joker, I need an exit, preferably one that puts a bunch of people with guns between us and the pursuit." She paused, looking around as she clearly received directions, and nodded before turning back to Tali. "I know you really don't have a reason to trust me, but I'm on your side, and I can get us to safety, but I need you to trust me."
Tali looked her up and down for a second, but the choice was an easy one. "I'm right behind you."
Author Note: If I ever decide to re-write this, this is going to one of the top chapters for that. I think the current count of re-writing for this chapter is sitting at 5.
Hope you all like it though. I apologize, this is NOT my favorite chapter, but now it's got more Tali, which is always fun! Right?
As a warning, I will probably be late next week: I'm not sure how long, and I will post as soon as i can, but it will likely not be on friday. We will see though!