My internal clock woke me up prematurely, but for once this was fine to me considering the situation. I took a quick shower and donned my C-Sec fatigues I had been issued finally the day before and quickly made my way to the SRD, going straight to the fourth floor and entering the waiting room of Talek's office, his asari receptionist, her name I learned was Vana, stopping me routinely and relayed I was there before allowing me to step through into the Commander's office, where I saw Talek was behind his desk, working on something before he looked up and regarded me evenly.
"Derek, what can I do for you?" he asked me as he sat down his datapad. I went over what I had rehearsed to say for a second as I met his eyes, finally speaking in a relatively steady voice, "I have this recording here implicating Benezia at the warehouse."
This changed the Commander's demeanor quickly as he frowned but didn't say anything, instead scrutinizing me, his eyes disconcertingly examining mine before he said in a stern voice, "I believe I told you I expect honesty from my operatives."
I almost broke down then and there, but I barely maintained my composure as I went by my practiced alibi.
"I didn't know I was recording it all, I must've hit a command or something, I don't know," I replied, the strain of the situation clearly appearing in my voice. Another silence for a few seconds as Talek continued to perceive me close to suspiciously, but that dropped as he motioned me towards him. I uneasily stepped forward as he stood, us a desk width apart, and he stretched out his arm suggestively, making me do the same. He reached out and gripped my arm firmly as he activated my omni-tool and began to surf through it until he reached the file. The turian stayed quiet throughout the recording, looking down pensively as he listened in, until it clicked off and he looked back up at me.
"We're going to the Council with this," he said suddenly as he stepped back and began to gather a few things together. Butterflies began to form instantly again as I replied, the shock evident in my voice. "The Council?"
"Yes. That is the quickest way to settle this whole ordeal," the turian replied as he tapped a few buttons on his omni-tool before saying, "Vana, get me an appointment with the Council, and a Presidium visa for Candidate Masterson." The asari confirmed it a moment later, me still standing there, taken aback by the flurry of events put into motion. Talek stepped out from behind his desk and motioned me to follow him out the door, me barely keeping up with his pace as we breezed past the secretary and to the elevator.
Once we were in, I found the words to ask, "Why am I going with you?"
"The Council will not just listen to rhetoric on this, they'll need something extra to put them into immediate action, and, as an eyewitness, you will be the catalyst to motivate them," the Commander replied after a moment.
"And they're just going to hear us?" I asked a bit skeptically. All the ME games told me otherwise; I mean, if they weren't willing to listen to the human ambassador and future Councilor more often than not, what's to say they'd be willing to listen to this?
"They keep an open door approach, when they're not having general, policy, sessions," Talek returned, his voice fluctuating on that one word. Sounded as if he wasn't too fond of them either.
This time, the elevator dispensed us on the roof of the SRD, where a personal shuttle was waiting and primed to go. We stepped in and it took off without ceremony, me being ready this time by holding on the support rail next to me.
We were both silent for a moment, the two of us lost I guess in thinking of the upcoming meeting, until Talek said, "Anything else you would like to tell me before we appear before them? They will not be restrained, and I'd rather be the one they direct their fire at than you." He looked sincere with this, but somehow managing at the same time to fix me with that calm, but inquisitive look of his. There was nothing to be said, nothing else I could say without delving into either Kasumi's involvement or spiritual context. And I wasn't going to compromise either. I shook my head silently in reply, making him look off in silence with a pensive frown.
A beep from his omni-tool shook him from this a moment later and he looked down. "Your visa has come through Derek, catch," he said, and then strangely pulled a holographic ball out of his tool and literally threw it at mine, my eyes instinctively following it as it landed and absorbed itself into my own omni, an image of documentation appearing on the screen with my name.
Before I could process the Iron Man-like hologram exchange I felt the shuttle a few moments later slow down, and then stopped completely with a thud and swayed a moment as it felt like something attached itself to the vehicle. The hatch opened a second later and an asari attendant welcomed us to the Presidium docks while scanning our documentation and letting us through the airplane-like docking tunnel and into the actual massive in magnitude docks that made me gawk at the view of what had to be hundreds of ships spanning to my left and right docking as far as the eye could see, the docks themselves vanishing to each side of me in an upwards circular direction, syncing with the Presidium's shape.
Talek snapped me out of my marvelling as he walked past me and towards an awaiting elevator, me catching up and joining him inside. In stark contrast to the game we rocketed up and stopped within what must've been five seconds. The doors opened, and I was greeted by the low lit interior of the Citadel Chambers, complete with cherry blossom-esque trees and a purplish hue from the Serpent Nebula coloring the surroundings. The place was moderately busy with several aliens in uniform rushing back and forth, checking a datapad or their omni-tools as they went, in addition to several well dressed persons who I guessed to be dignitaries and/or diplomats grouped together across the expansive room conversing together, who stopped briefly as they probed us with analyzing gazes before returning to their conversation.
We climbed the several flights of stairs that lead us steadily upward, until everything levelled out, and I got my first glimpse at the famed Council. Besides the raging fanboy emotions that were consuming my nostalgia side, I was feeling more than apprehensive about appearing before them. The whole podium area before us was arranged in the same way corresponding with the games, with a plank-like platform extending out in front of us that only barely fit two people together to be presented before the overshadowing terrace where the Council members officiated, and where they were now, talking amongst themselves quietly, before they turned in time with our arrival and went to their respective positions.
"Councilors Tevos, Sparatus, and Valern," Talek informed me in a low voice as we together came to the edge of the platform. There was a brief moment of silence as the Councilors surveyed us, making me feel already unnerved, when the turian Councilor, Sparatus, cleared his throat, cuing Tevos to speak.
"Commander Vraxis, it is not often that we see you here. What is the purpose of your impromptu visit today?" the asari asked, her voice completely calm and neutral. I glanced at the Commander and saw he was looking down as if weighing his words before replying as he looked up again.
"Councilors, I have come upon evidence indicting a significant official of the Asari Republics on Citadel charges," Talek replied as he stood more or less at attention.
"Correct me if I'm wrong Commander, but this is a matter for the Executor, your superior," Sparatus jumped in, his voice clearly displaying his exasperation already with having to hear this, freshly reminding me of why I wasn't fond of him in the games.
"The Executor...has no time for this case, as he has made clear," Talek continued, making turian councilor's eyes narrow, "but this issue I am confident is a clear and present danger to both the people of the Citadel, and those of your Republics back home," Talek said, turning his gaze on Tevos. This definitely gained her attention as her eyebrows raised and she frowned, but Valern was the first to speak again.
"And who is this notorious individual you speak of Commander?" the salarian asked as he crossed his arms.
"Matriarch Benezia," Talek replied without hesitation. Uneasy silence reigned for a moment as the Councilors all looked uncharacteristically taken aback.
"And what proof do you have arraigned against one of my people, no less a Matriarch?" Tevos asked, her gaze rigid upon the Commander. The turian turned to me and gestured for me to approach the front of the platform abreast with him. "This is Candidate Masterson, who took part in a recent operation to infiltrate an arms smuggler's warehouse, only to come into contact with the Matriarch inside," he said as I came into direct view of the Councilors and their gazes.
"Is it standard protocol to involve a yet to be full operative in a potentially life threatening mission without him or her being fully trained?" Sparatus asked before the others could respond, his critical eyes examining me.
"No, Councilor, it was specially authorized by the Executor," Talek replied, his voice not wavering. The Councilor seemed slightly shocked by this, but said nothing more, giving Valern the moment to ask, "And why is she not in custody now? What prevented her apprehension by your forces?"
There was a pause before Talek replied, "Unexpected complications."
"Complications, hmm? Like the fact that your undercover agent is the now deceased Lieutenant-Commander Dorn?" Sparatus asked as he tapped a few keys on his omni-tool and appeared to be reading something.
What?
I looked over at Talek for a reaction, but he was simply standing there stock still, saying nothing in reply.
It made sense now: why I didn't see much of Dorn until later in my training, the fact that only just enough evidence could be collected from the warehouse to trigger the operation, and Benezia's escape. All made possible by Dorn's indoctrination. Had he felt conflicted at all, like Saren had been, or was right now? He had to be, otherwise he couldn't have kept up the façade that he must've had for years. Or did that mean he had been a sleeper agent for the Reapers? At least he gave us info to go on, so that implied he still had some free will at the end. The only problem with it all was that I was the only one that knew this, that had a motive for it all, while Talek and others were wondering what had gone wrong, and why. And I couldn't say a thing. I sighed inwardly. There was no use thinking about it now, and Sparatus was speaking again.
"Is it possible Commander that your whole operation could've been undermined by faulty intelligence 'ascertained' by your second-in-command?" Sparatus asked with air quotes, giving me another flashback of him doing the same gesture when speaking of "Reapers", something he obviously didn't believe in.
Talek looked ready to reply, though I wasn't sure how, when Tevos interrupted and said, "Let's cut to the chase Commander. We cannot take a mere candidate's word that he believes he saw someone resembling a prestigious Matriarch committing a criminal act that he could easily confuse with someone else of my race, unless you have some other evidence to put forward."
This was it, now we could show them some veritable evidence that they couldn't ignore. Talek nodded at me, and I played the file, the Chamber atrium amplifying the sound to where they could here. As it played, it occurred to me that Talek had said nothing of the strange things that were said between the Matriarch and Dorn, specifically the words "thrall", "Cycle", "harvest" and "Leviathan of Dis".
Once it had clicked off, Tevos seemed to be at a loss for words and her face conveyed it all, but Sparatus was the exact opposite.
"So it is obvious that Lieutenant-Commander Dorn was under the influence of criminal types after all," Sparatus said with a cruel smirk as he added a snort to go along with it.
"I am curious to learn what the dealings were between the purported Matriarch and this Heralder character," Valern added.
"That is, if this recording is authentic," Tevos said, her earlier look of rare surprise turning into a hardened mask of sternness.
The other two nodded in agreement, making my insides start to curdle. In the games they had just been slightly annoying, but because this was actual life I was becoming pissed quickly. They voiced their doubt at almost every turn if it went against their interests in the trilogy, and it seemed they'd be mimicking that policy here also.
"If-," Tevos put great emphasis on that word, "it is proven this evidence is veritable, we will take steps to hold the Matriarch responsible in Citadel space." I caught the difference in tone conveyed at the end of that declaration. They weren't going to hunt her down like they allowed with Shepard, they were simply going to put conditions on where she could stay, and enable her to continue on helping Saren with his plan.
"You have to do more!" I suddenly shouted out at the Council, my thoughts becoming spoken word. My heart started racing once they turned their attention on me. I shouldn't have done that. I could see Talek had turned on me too out of my peripheral vision, his body language looking bewildered.
"And why is that Candidate Masterson? What else do your interests expect us to do?" Sparatus asked, his expression definitely one of condescension. So now I was in the spotlight, but at least I had past experiences to form a plea with.
"This asari has the potential to ruin billions of lives if you don't do something. All she has to do is move to a place like Illium or Noveria! Heck, look what she's already done with the Heralder, and then Sar-"
I stopped myself just then before fatally mentioning the turian Spectre. I couldn't tell if the three's scowls were directed at my outburst or the realization of who I was going to mention; maybe both.
"Commander, I believe we have committed to all we can at this moment. Thank you for your time," Tevos said a long second after my mini-speech, and then the three turned away from their podiums and unceremoniously walked out. As I turned around I noticed my speech had produced a crowd of listeners, and an almighty reprehensible scowl from Talek.
"Let's go, now," he said as he began to swiftly walk away, not waiting for me to respond. I caught up with him as we neared the elevator, him saying nothing as we entered it and the door closed, and me bracing for the inevitable criticism. Nothing was said though as we rode down and then stepped out again and walked to the shuttle. The whole tense silence reminded me of several a time when my father was so livid with me that he couldn't even speak, until finally later he was able to get out the words in a (relatively) calm and steady voice. He never raised a hand at me though, which I expected in those moments, and was anticipating now with the Commander.
We finally boarded the shuttle, the hatches closing, when he finally spoke. "I've never seen someone speak with so much conviction about an operation unless they had a personal stake in it. I want to know yours," Talek asked me, his faced arrayed like granite.
My stomach fell at this statement, and I was at a loss of words once again. I couldn't reveal anything, not if I wanted to keep this position. Yet, if I didn't say anything the turian might see it as grounds for dismissal, what with all the strikes I'd already attained. Another impasse. I opened my mouth to conjure up some form of a reply, but nothing could be produced. My mind searched for an explanation, but it was infamous for its momentary lapse of processing in situations like this.
Talek only nodded after a moment, a cool exterior dominating him as he said, "I understand. Personal issues are hard to reveal. I did tell you though I wanted complete honesty, so until you see it fit to expose whatever your history is with this, I must suspend your training until you are willing to come forward with it. I will allow you to attend Dorn's service tomorrow, but beyond that it is up to you."
This came as a shock to my system, and I stared at Talek in return, he giving me the same expression. I didn't reply, but internally I was processing it all. The shuttle soon set down, the Commander giving me the right of way, allowing me to step out on the SRD rooftop and look back at him.
He didn't get out as he said, "I have some things to attend to. Think on what I said, and give me an answer tomorrow," then he rapped on the cockpit door and the shuttle took off again with a blast of heated air that left me standing there, thinking on my situation.
I suspended all ruminations though until I let Teirla know my situation; she was probably pissed off I hadn't shown up on time. Turns out the whole ordeal hadn't even taken an hour, and since I had woken up prematurely meant I was actually a little early to the sparring room.
The sliding door opened as I reached it, leading me to see a match was already on between the asari biotic and Myrna, with Killek and Larcks acting as spectators. The salarian saw me first and waved me over to their area and we nodded to each other, while Killek didn't even acknowledge my presence and continued to watch. Something struck me right away about the spar: they were using biotics. In one instance, it looked like Teirla had been outmatched by Myrna's barely followable flurry of punches, but instead at the critical moment when it seemed she had been overcome the familiar blue aura surrounded the asari as she vaulted in an almost superhuman way out of position and landed without fault behind the drell, delivering a skillful combo of biotically enhanced attacks at her opponent to keep her in the game. The match ended a few minutes later, me not being able to decide who had the upper hand on the other.
The two perspiring operatives made their way over to the three of us, Teirla smirking as she no doubt saw my dumbfounded look at the performance.
"It's called Lanra, or 'the art of wind' in ancient Asari dialect. My people's way of describing their perception of biotics," the asari said as she accepted a towel thrown by Myrna from a nearby rack. "So, you ready to get started?" she asked before I could say anything.
"I- can't. Talek suspended me," I said, forcing the words out. I went on to explain, though not divulging Dorn's secret role in it all. Or maybe it hadn't been secret since Sparatus spouted it out in front of everyone. By the end of my recounting, to my surprise not one of the squad looked taken aback, even Teirla.
"Haven't I been advocating a closed off circulation system similar to quarian design for some time now to combat problems like this?" Larcks spoke up first. Killek sighed.
"Yes, we've heard it too many times, and it seems you were proven right, once. Spirits help us," he said rolling his eyes.
"A good point though," Myrna said as she joined us. We glanced at Teirla for her two cents, she saying nonchalantly, "The Matriarchs are fools."
Nobody replied as we waited for her to expound, she continuing, "They're given too much liberty, which leads to situations like this. One of the reasons I left Thessia. They can meddle too much, and many times expect it to just 'work out' if it ends up wrong. Either that, or they send Justicars in to clean up the mess," she said, crossing her arms as she stood there.
"They're lacking a code of honor," Killek muttered, just loud enough for Teirla to hear and frown at.
"I can name you a dozen examples where your unofficial 'code of honor' can be found wanting, turian," she said, especially emphasizing that last word. Her voice wasn't exactly hostile, just slightly irritated with a hint of retaliatory jesting. Apparently he took it the wrong way though as he let out a low growl and clenched his fists, but everything was stopped from escalating with Myrna saying simply but with surprising forcefulness, "Enough."
"Yes, enough, I think we've shown our resident human enough of how discordant we can be," Teirla said with a straight face to everybody, but gave me a quick wink.
"You'll find me at the range," Killek muttered as he breezed past us and out the door.
"And me with the geniuses," Larcks added, giving me a slap on the back as he walked out.
Teirla gave me a questioning look, I guess wondering if I understood, and I nodded, she smirking in reply. This expression fell away quickly though and was replaced by seriousness.
"So, don't know why you'd want to keep things to yourself, but you have reasons. You seem to want this, so I expect you'll come around eventually," she told me.
Right. I wholeheartedly wanted to be part of it all, the problem was finding a story as close to the truth as possible to tell Talek that he'd believe, and I would too, enough at least to keep me from manically breaking down in front of him. I didn't reply to the statement, instead nodding sort of halfheartedly along with it, to which Teirla smiled.
"Doesn't mean we can't give you some private lessons," she said, looking at Myrna, who nodded, making me groan inside.
I found myself back on the mat until the afternoon, ending up on my backside more often than not as we ran through different drills meant to increase the coordination of new candidates in response to rapid attacks that could come from enemy combatants, except these hostiles seemed to have the same forte and skill of a drell assassin, which was something Myrna was very close to. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if she could go toe to toe with Thane if given the chance; they might've in the past for all I knew.
"Knowledge of the enemy can overcome their unpredictability, Derek," the drell said as she saw the blatant exasperated look I'd been giving her and Teirla for the past hour. There was no way I was going to voice my complaints though, one because I was someone who'd rather pent up inside my qualms, and two they were pouring they're independent time into my training, even with the suspension Talek had declared on me, and that spoke volumes to me, overriding the increasing pain I had gained physically and mentally.
"Let's take a break from this for a while, give Derek a moment to recuperate," Teirla said, rising out of her prone position from behind me. We had just practiced a drill where both the asari and female drell had taken up positions on either side of me and proceeded to test the limits of my dexterity by both attacking at once, albeit at an acceptable pace for me to react and respond. It was probably the most tiring drill yet for me, and for someone who didn't sweat much I was profusely glistening. To my utter surprise so was Teirla and Myrna, giving me some measure of confidence. I was thoroughly grateful though for a pause, although it became clear she meant just a respite from sparring as she led me out and to the range, where Killek was still aiming down a few targets with a sniper rifle.
"Feeling better Killek?" Teirla asked with a tinge of humor as we approached the turian, who grunted noncommittally, not taking his eyes of the target, and fired a moment later with a deafening bang, making us look impulsively at the result, it being a golf ball sized hole just shy left of the bullseye. Killek swore something in turian as he saw and finally looked up at us, looking disgruntled towards us as he stood from his prone position.
"How are you going to get this by the Commander?" Killek asked, guessing what we were doing as his counterpart picked up an assault rifle that had been leaning against the barrier.
"It's my weapon Killek, I'll just say I was practicing, which I am," she said as she hefted the rifle and braced it against her shoulder, firing off a burst of shots before bringing it down and adjusting a few dials on the side of it, and firing it a few more times before handing it into my tenuous hands.
"Told you today would be about combat rifles," she said with a smile. I said nothing, instead stepping up to the barrier close to Killek, who refused to move and stood only a few feet away, observing me intently. With this on my mind I held the stock against my shoulder and ran through the breathing exercises Dorn had taught me, and pulled the trigger. The rifle bucked considerably more than I expected against its brace, making the three-burst go wide by a significant amount, and making Killek chuckle mirthly.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," he said to my side, his voice completely taken over by sarcasm. "What is your problem with me?" I muttered, but once again my out-loud rumination proved to be my undoing.
"Everything about you I hate human; what you stand for, your petty and arrogant claims to anything you want, even your religions are pathetic. You need to be taught a lesson," the turian growled.
There is no hesitation in impulse. Maybe it was those last words that were phrased as a threat that provided the primal trigger, I don't know, but before the logical side of my mind could catch up, muscle movements had already taken over, propelling my clenched fist into the close turian's jaw.
Half-comprehending what had happened, I turned and looked at the result. I had barely nicked him, much less hurt him in any way, and he even looked, judging by his expression, like he had expected the attack. I began deeply regretting what I had just done, but it was too late as was apparent by the cruel grin displayed on his face.
"Good," was all he murmured, and then in a barely discernible flash of blue he was on me, slamming into my body with pure biotic force. I had no time to process anything other than the name of the technique, a biotic charge, when I felt the crushing of the opposing wall I'd been flung in to on my back, making me gasp for air and feel sheer excruciating pain.
From then on I reacted on pure instinct. Killek's attacks were relentless, charged and brutal, but the brief training I had received seemed to have tuned my mind to be somewhat more reflexive, enough to ward enough the worst damage of his blows as my mind desperately tried to keep me from being pinned down by his attacks. An opening suddenly appeared to my conscious, and I rolled out from under a left hook the turian attacked with, giving me more room to maneuver with. He was too fast though, recognizing and adapting to what I'd done, snarling as he came around to face me. Around this moment, the sensation had been growing in me of something similar to when you get unexpectedly and abruptly hit with a sharp pain out of nowhere; it pisses you off, especially if it originated with somebody. So in a similar attitude to earlier, my body became illuminated with biotic energy, the only way I knew how to fight back, and with adrenaline fueling me I lashed out with all my power, but found myself strangely not moving. I began to panic as it seemed nothing of my body wanted to move, and I expected to receive a debilitating blow from Killek, but it seemed he wasn't moving as well. Then the realization hit me as Teirla stepped in between, her face contorted in lividness.
"What is wrong with you? You're willing to kill him just because of your blind hate? What has he done? What!" the asari shouted at the paralyzed form of the turian. She turned on me.
"I expected more of you. Of all the people I expected to react to Killek's prodding so stupidly, it wouldn't be you. Since you instigated this crap, then you're at as much fault as him," she said, speaking with as much authority to match the Commander. Her gaze lingered on me for an agonizing and demeaning second, before she sighed, rubbed her temples and said, "Myrna, release him."
The tingling, numbing, almost out of body feeling suddenly left, and I could move again, turning to see the female drell a few feet away letting her hand down. The stasis was still around Killek though, a slight shimmer outlining his body. Teirla had moved just inches away from the turian's frozen snarling face, and was scowling intently into his eyes.
"If you make one move against him when I let you go, you're unconscious in a few seconds, got it?" she said, a sharp edge to her voice. Only his eyes were able to move, and they flitted briefly side to side, making Teirla drop the stasis field, and making him slump over and drop to one knee.
I was tempted to step backwards and walk out quickly, but didn't due to the presence of the two deadly biotics, who were both tensed and ready for any action. Killek stood to his full height and regarded us all, especially me, with simmering eyes and clenched fists, but did and spoke nothing until Teirla pointed to the door and said, "Go."
Surprisingly, he didn't hesitate, and walked briskly out, the side door slamming shut, and leaving me to anticipate some more scathing. Instead, the magenta asari simply turned to me and regarded me evenly, reverting back to her regular manner.
"I've said all I need to say. I think you should go now, and we'll see you tomorrow at the memorial," she said, and then with a nod to Myrna she walked back to the sparring room.
I uneasily stood there for a moment, the weight of the situation bearing on me, not to mention the Myrna hadn't moved.
"Good reaction time, you're getting better," she suddenly said, catching my attention and making me look at her. Expressionless as always, confusing me even more.
"Huh?" I said, perplexed at what she was referencing.
"You were able to fend him off until help arrived. Just a few seconds, but still, good job. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, then turned away and followed her counterpart back to the room.
I stood there, emotions conflicting. I felt deeply shamed for acting the way I did, it was unequivocally uncharacteristic of me, yet the comments of a potential teammate had a measure of pride welling up inside of me. Potential being the stressed word. Worries from before came to the fore as I realized I had done something potentially fatal to my career here, and had the very glaring chance of being kicked out in the streets if Teirla said something. Which she probably would. What had I been thinking? It was all looking blatantly stupid now as the logical side of my mind tried to come up with some rationalization for it, to no avail or solace. Not only had I gone against every claimed standard I had, but I'd also put myself in jeopardy not once, but two times, due to my lack of thought. How was I going to explain it away if I was ejected to Helen, Oriana?
God.
My heart skipped a beat and began to race faster, and my skin became cold, clammy and sweaty as my body shook and my head swelled up with nauseousness, making me impulsively run for the cover of the elevator to hide the mental panic. I rushed in and hastily pushed the down button, leaning in silent relief against the wall as a crutch once the doors closed. This only served though to partially help my physical symptoms; the mental issues still lingered as the doors opened and I hastily forced myself to walk quicker with more calmer demeanor, so as to not alert any of the operatives around who had just now seemed to start accepting me, and make them think any different. With the SRD behind me with a usual frown from the guards my mind once again succumbed to the chaos of my hyperactive ruminations and I stumbled my way through the throng of alien and human traffic, although they all seemed to have the same condescending attitude and faces of those of dimension past as I tried to push my way past them fervidly.
Their faces, so judging and deranging, discriminating for no reason other than for the sake of it, not even giving it a second thought...
I had to stop in the alley I had been using to cross in between streets and lean up against a wall for support. I was probably in the best shape of my life to date, yet it had nothing to do with that. I...just couldn't stand the incessant chattering of contemplations, what ifs, and judgments cycling through my head that had no solution to speak of. Indoctrination could hardly be worse than this.
Gunshots, clear and coherent, rang out, delivering such a stark amount of blunt noise to my ears to rouse me from my internal agonizing. I flinched as several more cracks emanated, louder this time, close enough that I determined it was coming from the connecting alleyway. The next few rounds were accompanied by several angry voices shouting something unintelligible, then, suddenly, a blur of motion flitted by me down the other alley, fast enough for me not to get out anything but the form of the figure, quarian.
My wary curiosity got the better of me, and I edged closer to where my and the other alleys met, the shots and raised voices getting closer as I moved forward. Then, as I looked around the corner, blunt pain abruptly hit me as I went spiraling to the floor of the street, landing with a painful grunt. Adrenaline had now kicked in with this, making me scramble to my feet and see what/who I'd hit. Another quarian, this one had a purple tinted visor and a shawl of the same color with woven and intricate embroidered patterns that attached to clips on -her- enviro-suit.
An apology was about to work its way out of my embarrassed mouth when memories from before surfaced, and I stood in shocked silence before she stirred, and suddenly whipped out an extending shotgun as she growled, "You bosh'te-"
She noticed halfway through her words that I wasn't whoever was after her, and in the process confirmed to me who she was. Bullets suddenly began to ricochet off the walls around us, giving no time for getting acquainted as she took off without a look back and I half glanced backwards to identify the assailants. The alley was dimly lit, but the form of several different aliens were outlined by the little light there was and the bursts of fire coming from their automatic weapons. I was now in the fire zone too as was made apparent by the team of attackers shouting something incoherent and pointing towards me as I took flight along the route of the two quarians. The narrow way was dark, inhibiting my ability to outrun my pursuers, but it also meant they were having trouble locking onto me as I tried zigzagging desperately in the little space there was to avoid the intermittent bursts of their fire. The quarians had gone out of my line of sight, perplexing me because it was a straightforward alleywa-
An invisible barrier caught my feet, and I faceplanted, fracturing the fragile cartilage in my nose once more as blood burst from it and I tried to move, but was grabbed firmly by the wrists and legs and dragged into an alcove off to the side of the street.
I was flipped over roughly and a rifle barrel went against my throat as a heavily accented, electronically distorted male voice said, "We got 'im! Tali, quick, knock him out while I keep him restrained," he said as I thrashed about, but upon hearing the name of the familiar quarian I stopped completely. The form of the female quarian stepped over me, her shotgun at the ready.
"Keenah, I ran into this man while we were running, he's not one of them!" Tali's similarly accented voice hissed back at him.
"How do you know? Could be a plainclothesman!" the quarian Keenah retorted, with more attitude than heart it sounded to me like."This isn't-" Tali started to reply , but then her head darted to the recess's entrance, where the multiple pairs of footsteps that had been following had abruptly come to a halt.
"You had to be caught sometime," a gritty, threatening voice suddenly emanated just a few feet away in the dark. Tali's gun was up in a flash, but to no use as it was ripped from her hands in a flash of biotics and was pulled towards the unseen recipient. A second later, the biotic energy returned and whiplashed the quarian across her face, drawing a short cry of surprise and hurt as she flipped and hit the ground to my side, her visor visibly cracking. Keenah had been split second behind his companion as he turned his weapon toward the assailant, but he was hit by two cracks of a gun in the kneecaps, making him let out an even more distressing yelp as he slammed into the ground.
For some reason, maybe it was grueling training I had received, or the fact that a legendary character of the ME universe was in imminent danger, my mind was responding quicker to the crisis and had formed a retaliation. Blue aura encompassing me, biotic energy was already cascading towards the attacking party as Keenah fell to the ground. I heard several exclamations of surprise as the shockwave hit, and a resounding smash resulted as several objects and/or bodies hit the opposite wall.
Something was wrong though as I saw a spherical shimmer appear around a humanoid figure as the hit impacted, completely deflecting the attack and leaving whoever it was unscathed. The shield disappeared, and as I attempted to stand rapid footsteps came near, reaching me and suddenly appearing below me and whipping upwards until one connected with my jaw and sent me with a snap onto my back.
The world spun in a barely discernible path as pain originated from the back of my head, and the increasing pressure being put on my neck where a boot had been planted. A body and face to match the foot was produced a moment later; a turian with dark eyes with silver and red armor grimacing down at me.
"Impeding my acquisition of a bounty is not recommended," his cold voice from earlier told me. His other foot came up and caught me across the right cheek, drawing blood from my mouth and a pained gasp as he made some observant noises.
"Impressive biotic skill, I barely managed to keep that barrier up. I believe a certain Spectre will be quite interested in you if I were to bring you back, especially since you're human," he said as he examined me with a calculated stare. Suddenly, with a flick of his hand, the tingling numbness surrounded me again, indicating a paralyzing barrier was around me once more.
Panic exploded inside of me as I tried to think of a way out. I didn't have much time; the bounty hunter, or whoever he was, seemed to be looking on the ground for something. I thought back to when Myrna had surrounded me with the same type of barrier; it had to be made of biotic energy, so there must be a way to manipulate it just right to counteract the force with your own. I began exerting each body part, trying to see if there was any weakness in the field I could stab at, but each time the barrier held fast with no change. The turian was back now, and more panic swelled up within me as I saw he had recovered a shotgun, looked like Tali's, and looked poised to execute the two quarians one by one. I could only watch with helpless resignation as he wrenched Tali to her feet and put her against the wall, at which point she tried to put up some resistance, rather vainly, as she rushed him raggedly and tried to grab the shotgun away, but was thrust back with a grunt from the turian.
Wait, there it was, that moment a crack in the molding had been produced. I immediately strained myself mentally, not wanting it to pass by, pouring all of my potential energy and willpower into exploiting the vulnerability. Then, like thin air, it was gone, and I was able to move.
Shaking off the surprise that it had worked, I tried to focus through the mental fuzziness that came from getting a concussion two times over, and expelled as much effort as I could towards the unsuspecting turian. The result was low grade, only throwing him off his feet, but it'd be enough as I half stumbled to my feet, Tali noticing and rising at the same time, both of us it seemed looking for a weapon. Tali's head suddenly darted to Keenah, and I followed her lead to see his pistol was only a few feet away from me. A rustling came from behind me; it had to be the bounty hunter getting up. Awkwardly both Tali and I dove for the weapon at the same time, I reaching it first due to my position, and I twisted around just in time to face the turian as he lifted Tali's shotgun, too fast for any other response than impulse. I fired until the gun overheated. The hissing signalling the overheat finally died down enough for me to see the consequence. He was dead; several shots through the neck, a few to the head, the wounds bleeding profusely.
My first confirmed kill of another living being.
The realization of it hit me like an overpowered slap. Yes, I had already fought and possibly killed all those gang members in the other alley and house, but I had been too distracted to spare a glance at their conditions, much less their faces. I'd even seen Dorn die, but that hadn't been my doing. I wasn't even sure why this turian had been pursuing the two quarians, only that I'd given them the benefit of the doubt, and now I was responsible for this turian's death.
Opposite of what I expected to feel, I simply was taken over by a sensation of growing guilt, numbing enough I guess to slow my response time when Tali grabbed the gun from my limp hand and pointed it at my head.
"Who...are you?" she asked. Her voice was shaking. The question somewhat rose me out of my stupor and made me turn around and look at her.
"I..." I started to say, but realized I had no clue how to explain why I had done what I'd done. All I could do was stare down the gun barrel of the pistol and hope she saw the best in me.
A moment went by as she held the pistol out at me, my attention half-split between it and the condemning thoughts filling my mind, until a soft moan came from the other quarian, making Tali hesitate with her aim before she dropped it altogether and rushed over to help him. After a second of further staring at the turian's corpse, the practical and reality area of my brain seemed to emerge again as I registered the strangled cries of someone behind me. I turned to the source, seeing Tali trying to lift Keenah by his arms, but to no avail as he would let out a painful exclamation each time. She slumped back down the third time over, and just sat there cradling him, a weeping sound coming through her audio emitter. Humanity and memories overwhelmed guilt in that moment, and I stood and went over, kneeling at Keenah's feet as I said, "Let me help."
Tali's crying became subdued sniffling as she said in a low voice, "I don't know you."
"It's okay, I-"
"I don't know who you are!" she screamed at me from her prone position over her quarian companion. I flinched and took a step back as she shakily rose the pistol again at me. She was trembling, and I think anyone could interpret she just couldn't take anymore. I looked at the limp quarian she was holding, and realized what I'd needed to say.
"He's going to die if he's not taken somewhere," I replied as firmly as I could. Be strong, my mind muttered to me as I tried to focus.
She didn't do anything, just stared downwards at him. I followed her gaze, and oddly it seemed the male quarian's eyes had dimmed. Maybe I'd imagined it, but if it had happened it couldn't be anything good.
"Come on, I'll grab his legs," I said suddenly, and kneeled down and made a motion for his legs. She made no effort to stop me, and I lifted his legs demonstratively and looked expectantly at her after a moment. She hesitated again, but this time she grabbed by his armpits and we both lifted. He was surprisingly light, and I guessed Tali was even lighter since she couldn't pick him up.
"I...know where we can go," I told her after an epiphany of thought.
"Hh...how? No one will accept us," she stuttered, her voice overcome by dejectedness and emotion.
"Let's just go," I said, and began tugging on my end of the quarian, making her concede and push her part. We stepped passed the turian's corpse and the bodies of his cohort, me not giving any of it a second glance, and emerged out onto the freeway, a few gasps from the pedestrians clearing a way for us. I began to actively search for a fast transit terminal, not paying anyone around attention, and after a few moments of intense searching, my arms starting to get heavy, found one and called a car with my free hand. It arrived shortly later, people still staring at what was unfolding while Tali simply gazed down at Keenah in strict silence as it arrived, we urgently putting him into the backseat, Tali joining him there as I jumped in the front. I punched in the coordinates for Helen's clinic, the cab jumping into the sky mercifully fast as I checked the two in the seat behind.
Keenah was coughing now, and spitting a small amount of what looked like blood inside his visor, drawing a few indiscernible and worried muttered words from Tali as her hands ran a flurry over several of the exterior buttons on his suit, making a few hissing noises emanate from inside of it. Countermeasures, I thought. Tali looked up from her doctoring, her eyes squinting at me as she asked, "Are we almost there?" I looked at the console, and nodded back at her.
We landed a half minute later in the front of the clinic's three story building, I jumping out as soon as we hit solid ground, and helping Tali move Keenah out of the hovering streetcar and towards the clinic, whose doors suddenly burst open, and several people dressed in medical uniforms came towards us, one being Helen. During our brief ride I had sent a message to the nurse, hoping she was possibly on-duty when she got it, and thankfully she did.
The multi-species team rushed towards us, but suddenly stopped as the person in the lead, a salarian, noticed who we were carrying, and who one of the carriers were. He put up a hand to stop the group as his face morphed into a frown. Helen continued to walk unaware quickly towards us without them, her eyes arrayed in that familiar look of concern, as she reached us and knelt over the male quarian, slipping an arm under his back and lifting him to a sitting position.
She looked at us both and asked, "What happened?" Me and Tali exchanged looks. This was a situation that needed honesty.
"He was shot, I think two times," I told her. She wasted no time questioning the veracity of what I'd said, instead putting her other arm underneath the docile quarian as she shouted out presumably to the medical team, "I need somebody specializing in quarian physiology as fast as possible, and a tr-"
She stopped as she turned around with Keenah held in her arms and saw the same expressions of nearly everyone in the group. "What's the issue with that request?" she asked, her gaze looking fixed on the salarian at the head. He didn't respond for a moment as his eyes flitted with salarian rapidness to the group behind him, before back to Helen, his mouth in a thin crease.
"We don't treat patients that can't pay in some way Helen, you are aware of that," he said crossing his arms and nodding with his head to Tali.
"You son of a bosh'tet!" Tali shouted suddenly as she advanced at the salarian.
"Stop," Helen interrupted with such calm and sudden firmness to stop the quarian from going any further as she looked back at the salarian. "You can't be serious, this man is on the verge of death Talen. We'll find a way later," she reciprocated, her voice holding a sharp edge.
The group behind the salarian called Talen rustled at this, but did nothing more, giving the unflinching salarian enough clout to reply, "This is an unfortunate ordeal, but I cannot allow treatment if there is no possible form of payment," he said, and then without a further thought motioned everyone back to the clinic.
I found my blood boiling as I heard this. Some may find this notion comical, but something infinitely valuable I learned after finishing the trilogy was to never discriminate based on race, sex, religion, etc., and now species. I had developed enough bonds in-game and out to see the truth in such a notion and apply it to my reality. Now I was facing that issue in person now, with a being's life on a line, a friend of a friend that I'd made, and even though she was not conscientious of it, I would do my utmost to uphold that bond I'd made dimensions ago, now in the starkness of real life.
"What about your Hippocratic oath doctor?" I shouted after the salarian, getting his attention. This time no ounce of regret remained in me as he turned to face me and snorted contemptuously.
"Hippocratic oath? An unnecessary sentiment propagated by an emotional race in the form of a creed, something we- have no need for," he said with a flourish to those behind him.
My broiling emotions decided to take it a step further and draw the real reason for his aversion out into the open.
"It's racism then, isn't it?" I said as he began to turn back towards the clinic. The medical team now looked worried, although I didn't check to see the expression on Tali's or Helen's faces. The salarian looked livid as he faced me again, but I spoke before he could form something to retaliate with.
"They're suit rats, right?" I pressed, my biotics flaring unintentionally with my stirred feelings that felt equivalent to those displayed on Talen's face. He opened his mouth to reply, but the stern voice of Helen interjected.
"Enough of this. Doctor Talen, I'm taking this man to be prepped for operation, whether you're on board or not. My oath places his well-being in my care, so you can dock my wages or call C-Sec if you prefer, but for now, I will do my best to save his life."
She pushed her way past both me and the doctor with Keenah cradled, the team of staff at first hesitating to follow, but then rushing after her, lending hands to help. Doctor Talen looked purely shocked even as he looked at me, but then shook his head vigorously and ran to catch up with the rest, leaving me and Tali outside. I hesitated to look at her, but finally did, and saw her staring towards the building, her body language indicating the want, but hesitant will.
"I, uh- think we can go in," I told her. She looked at me after a moment, her bright eyes slightly slanted downwards because of trials I had no knowledge of she had to endure through, sending a pang of empathy through me because of memories past. She nodded slowly at first to herself, and then curtly to me, and together we walked inside.
A/N: Hey guys, just wanted to ask that if you have anything at all to say about the story so far, predictions, criticisms, or whatever else, please feel free to leave me a review about your thoughts. One of the greatest aspects I like about writing is the ability to receive feedback on your work. To me, writing a story is all about sharing your passion with the audience, and if you don't get any updates from those reading it's hard to gauge if your work is stirring their interest or not. So thanks for investing in the story, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!