Author's Note: Hello my lovies. I have a new chapter for you! Sorry on the delay, I have issues with deadlines it seems...lols.
Anyways, got a fun Chapter for you guys, a bit longer than usual, but it didn't want to end. So you get a nice long chapter for your patience.
Enjoy! As always, read and review please!
...
"Batarians," Shepard growls, ducking into cover from the onslaught of batarian mercs at the base for the mercs on the planet's surface, "Why is it always batarians?"
"Because fate knows how much you love them." Deunan crows with mirth as she pops over cover to release a volley of strafing fire onto the mercs, forcing them to duck back inside their base or take cover behind low walls and vehicles.
"Fate and I need to have a talk…" Shepard grumbles, "Cover me." She tells her squad fanned out along the route that leads to the base.
"What hairbrained stunt are you planning now?" Deunan's tone is wary, but her eyes echo Shepard's, dancing with mischief.
"You know me and how much I love when things go boom." Shepard grins her wolf's grin nodding towards the large truck the mercs are using for cover; crates in the bed of the truck labeled 'hazardous: Combustible' are the source for her mischievous grin.
"Oh heaven have mercy on us…" Maggie swears, shaking her head at Shepard, "If you're determined to pull this off, you best go now." She kneels from cover to fire on the batarians, signalling the rest of the squad to lay down covering fire.
"No one better peg me in the ass…" Shepard groans as she ducks and runs as fast, and low, as she can. She scurries to a stop, ducking and rolling under the truck to grin looking up at the myriad of hoses, pipes, cords, and mechanics of the underbelly. It takes her only a moment to rewire a few of the necessary hose and pipes and wedge a well placed grenade.
Knowing she has only moments until the boom, she rolls out the far side of the truck and comes to a crouch, hurrying over to the nearest cover. Throwing herself behind it she comes face to face with a batarian merc.
"Howdy." She greets him,"Nice day we're having here." She grins and ducks as he swings his fist towards her face, coming up she twists around, sweeping his legs out from under him, dropping down on top of him she hooks her elbow around his throat to pin him down.
"Trust me, you'll want to stay down." she warns him, not a moment too soon as the blast goes off. The force of the shockwave is enough to send Shepard tumbling across the ground, her back complaining loudly with each hit to the ground. She barely keeps her head up and from cracking on the hard ground as she tumbles.
Coming to a rest on her back, she is looking into the face of a merc, and muzzle of his rifle, "Hi there." She carefully pushes herself to her knees, hands up, trying to figure a way out of this one. "How can I help ya?"
The merc she had tripped and pinned comes up to face her, his humorless grin has her stomach going into knots. He reverses his rifle and her world explodes in pain as the butt of the rifle cracks against her nose, blackness soon follows as she slumps forward.
…..
Coming to, the first thing Shepard notices is she's sitting up in a chair or something. Her head is hanging forward, her hair hiding her face. She can feel the blood clotted on her face from her broken nose. Attempting to move her hand to swipe her hair back, she discovers her hands are bound behind her back, tightly bound, she can barely even twitch her hand at the wrist.
"Looks like she's coming 'round." A rough deep man's voice permeates the ringing in Shepard's hearing.
"Wakey wakey, sweetie." A female voice mocks her, the woman lifts Shepard's chin as she blinks her eyes open.
As her vision slowly comes into focus, Shepard can see she is inside a brightly lit small square room. The woman holding her chin grips Shepard tighter, forcing her focus back to her.
"That's better." The woman smirks, she jerks Shepard's chin, letting go, "Now, we can get to business."
"Who the hell are you?" Shepard looks the woman over, she's wearing a Eclipse merc insignia on her armor. It confuses her, what's a human eclipse merc doing with batarians, "What's going on here?"
"You can call me Boss, and I'll be the ones asking the questions, sweetie." The woman's voice almost purrs. "What brought the Alliance to our doorstep? How many of you are there?"
"Go to hell." Shepard growls at her, "Look here, lady. I have no clue who you are, and I ain't ever calling you boss. Don't you have a name?"
"Alright then," Annoyance briefly crosses the woman's face before being replaced with smugness again, "Mel is my name. What's yours? If you insist on knowing mine, it's only polite I know yours too."
Shepard scowls, remaining silent. Like hell she is gonna give this woman, Mel, any kind of information.
Shepard hears the sound of a door sliding open, "Boss Lady," Another male voice comes from behind Shepard. The term he uses for Mel rings some recognition in Shepard. But through the fog of pain, and most like concussion, she can't place it.
"The others are pushing harder, they'll breach the base soon." Shepard wonders who these others' are. Her squad maybe? The man continues speaking, "The shuttle is ready for your departure."
Mel scowls and swears. Pushing herself up from kneeling to look level with Shepard, she orders the two men, "Evacuate all essential personnel and notify Luther in the change of plans. Tell him, we'll be bringing a plus one with us."
"Plus one, ma'am?" The second man asks from the doorway.
"Find room for our guest here." Mel leans over to look Shepard in the eyes, hers stern and merciless, "You're going for a ride, and you're going to tell your friends, over this wonderful coms we found on you, that they are not to pursue on penalty of your life." The woman holds out Shepard's omnitool and the wireless headset that has her com unit on it. They must have gotten them when they stripped her armor, Shepard can tell she's sitting in her undersuit uniform.
Shepard glares at the woman hard, but knows that if this woman is true to her word, this is the only chance she has at living to see Lin again.
"Have we a deal?" The woman purrs again, "Your life for their stand down."
Shepard hesitantly nods, scolwing as she looks at the woman, "Alright. But I can't guarantee that they won't follow."
"I'm sure they will listen to you." Mel smirks, "After all, even a lieutenant is high enough a rank to give an order."
Shepard sighs, "Fine." She growls between her teeth.
"Atta girl, sweetie." Mel holds Shepard's coms close enough that they'll pick up Shepard's voice.
Sighing and closing her eyes, Shepard speaks to the unit, her voice activates it, opening the coms line with her squad. Instantly they hear Deunan and Lin's voices coming across, ordering each other and the squad. They must not know she's gone. Or it'd be her name she'd be hearing across the coms..
Shepard clears her voice, she is careful to use her formal tone and military speaking, and not calling out Deunan and Lin specifically. So that Mel will not know their importance to her, or her to them, "This is the lieutenant, ordering the squad to stand down. I'm five by. Repeat, I am five by and ordering the entire squad to stand down and not to pursue the escaping mercenaries. On penalty of my life, do not pursue. I will be out of contact, Lieutenant out." The coms' line goes dead, Shepard looks up to Mel. "There, you should be in the clear now."
Shepard hopes they take her orders and don't come after her. She's not sure how she's getting out of this one. But she knows she doesn't want the others at risk.
"Very good." Mel snaps the coms headset in half and pockets Shepard's omnitool. She jerks her fingers, signalling the men, "Load her into the shuttle, I will follow shortly." Mel walks past Shepard, turning her head, Shepard sees her leave through the door directly behind her.
The second male voice is from another batarian merc, armored and uniformed like the one already in the room with her.
"Let's go you." The merc in the room grabs her forearm, yanking her up from the chair she was seated in.
Her wrists wrench against the bindings painfully, causing her to gasp out as the merc shoves her towards the door, into the hands of the second merc. He takes her wrists in his hand and pushes her down the corridor outside the room, the second falls in ahead of them, his hand ready on his holstered pistol.
They traverse the myriad of corridors ending in a shuttle bay; Where havoc reigns as mercs, both batarian and eclipse, scatterer about loading crates and supplies hurriedly into shuttles and taking off.
"Get in." The merc holding her shoves her towards one of the shuttles with its side door open.
"Hey!" She cries out at him as, unbalanced by her hands being bound, she trips into the shuttle, landing across its deck. "Easy does it, asshole."
"I'll go as easy as I want." He growls, smirking at her, "And if you don't like it, I can always be rougher." His smirks is that same predatory smirk she had seen many a time before. She knows what that smirk and those words mean.
Scowling as she pushes herself to her feet,"Am I to stand the whole trip? With my hands bound, I won't be standing long."
"Shut up and sit down," the other merc snaps at her as he steps into the shuttle, indicating one of the side seats. She carefully sits, perched on the edge of the seat, "Try anything funny and you're a dead girl."
Shepard's scowl deepens but she remains silent as the two batarians sit; one beside her, the other across. Mel boards the shuttle, closing the door and looking to Shepard, "Your squad had better heed your orders." She comments to Shepard as she takes a seat.
"They will." Shepard says sternly, internally praying that they do, as she feels the shuttle bump and shift as it takes off. Then the internal dampeners kick in. easing the shaking and shudders of the shuttle leaving atmo. Shepard has to think quick, and hard on how to get out of this mess.