Blessed or those who are prepared, they shall His holy ordinance in plenty.
"Wait, you're stopping me, but not them? You frakking xeno!",
Amie Davis said hotly as she glared into the red painted face of the Turian guarding the door to the slums of Omega, cursing even more silently too as she watched the door behind the guard opening.
Turning towards her the Turian regarded her for a moment before his mandibles moved lightly into what might have been a patronizing smile on a human face:
"You don't have a grenade launcher, lady. Get lost.",
The xeno dared to say to her and Amie crossed her arms at this, giving him a heated glare, which the turian seemed to ignore pointedly, instead looking at the small group of three he wanted to let inside:
They were led by a woman wearing a rather dull grey armour, seemingly shifting its colour a tiny bit from time to time, which made her a bit distracting to look at against the dark material of Omega's walls, as one sometimes couldn't really be sure where wall and woman started or ended.
She was accompanied by two other persons, next to her was a dark skinned man, he reminded her a bit of Brother Anytos, with short dark hair, the beginnings of a beard and a solid overall solid build which just seemed to scream "military"…she had had opportunities to see something similar to that for herself in the last few weeks.
The third companion in the group was a bit….uhhh…let's say weird to see even on Omega: outside of the Afterlife that is. Amie really couldn't imagine why any woman would run around in a suit like that, especially on a station like Omega, were armour was your everyday outfit anyway.
Not that the woman wouldn't fit into the afterlife's entertaining ranks: envy had to be honest when it came to her looks, she seemed to have been truly gifted in the genetic lottery.
But one thing made Amie a bit nervous and a small voice in the back of her mind was trying its best to curse: mutant, mutant – beware the malformed.
What else could the woman be? She wasn't armoured and was only armed with a pistol while the two other members of the group carried guns: the darker one had an assault rifle and the helmeted woman a sniper rifle. That practically screamed: biotic! Witch! As it was not far away from the way the blue skinned xeno witches dressed and fought…and no one wants to get close enough to them to be shredded by a biotic charge usually.
"Fortunately, humans are immune to the plague.", the dark haired mutant said in a surprisingly rich voice, only surprising because it seemed to be…unnatural for someone to have been born with so much perfection in her appearance and demeanour.
Just as the group was about to step through the open door Amie stepped forward, turning to face the single man in the group saying quickly:
"You are searching for the Salarian doctor? I can get you to him!",
She declared quickly, trying to smile as she ignored the scowl of the turian guard, before continuing: "I know a way past the blue sun and the vorcha, honest! Just let me come along and I will introduce you to some friends who…"
"Whoa Whoa, slow down…I'm not sure if this is a good idea, look here: we can't simply take you inside if the guards do n-…",
the man began and she felt a small pang of disappointment…which quickly faded as pain cursed through her body and she felt herself pulled backwards on her shoulder as said guard had pulled her back, before beginning again:
"Let those people go, I already told you, it's for your own best that you can't get in, you will be either killed by the vorcha, the blue suns or…", he didn't get much further because Amie stomped down on his talons, not really paining him but at least making holding her uncomfortable enough for Amie to slip out of the grip and quickly reach under her working clothes, pulling a small chain out: "Look here! I'm with the Cult!",
She cried at him, raising the silver double headed eagle of prey for him to see, at which his scowl only worsened and he tried to swipe it out of her hands while shouting:
"Why should I care about that you idiot human! My orders are to let no one in and no one out, it doesn't matter if your head cultist has given Aria a Collector head for her bar or not, I d-"
"A Collector head?", a sharp voice suddenly said, The icy detachment in its tone, silencing both of the adversaries who looked surprised to the side as the grey armoured woman stepped in between them, metal clad hands pushing both of them to the side
Suddenly Amie found herself looking into her own slightly fearful face: mirrored in the dark visor of the woman's helmet and the icy voice once again said with a strange intensity:
"Tell me about it…where did it come from? Who gave it to Aria?"
Her whole body trembling as she averted her gaze, Amie gulped nervously before trying to distance herself, there was a strange tone in the woman's voice, maybe a bit of insanity, she didn't know, but the simple chilling voice without much further emotions displayed in it was…putting her on an edge, it would have been far more easier if the woman would have simply grabbed her shoulders or shouted at her.
"It…it hangs in the back of Aria's lounge…..she can point at it if she wishes to…she found it…amusing, as the collectors are widely regarded as drawn back….and puzzling.",
Amie said quickly, remembering her own marvelling back then when that strange procession went through the station and towards the afterlife:
It had been a day like any other, she was just going back into the slums after her shift at one of the local "recycling centres": simply dismantle everything which gets put on your work station and do not ask from where it comes from.
Her bag wasn't filled with many credits, but she had slipped a part or two into her pockets to sell them to her neighbours in the slums, after all this was Omega, her employer was even simply closing one eye when she and the others gathered the more negligible parts after work.
Exiting the air-bus which had carried her and her colleagues from the depths of the tumour like growing sprawls of "industry", which filled the bowels and niches of Omega with workshops at every step, Amie joined into the bustling traffic between the Afterlife and the living quarters, trying to appear as unobtrusive as possible.
On Omega one needed to live without attracting attention, as almost always it was the wrong sort of attention one gained in the end: she only had to think of poor Marc who arrived together with her at Omega and who had been her roommate for nearly a year, before he attracted the attention of a group of asari maidens from Eclipse.
And one day he simply didn't come back to their room and when she checked in for her shift she asked the foreman if Marc had gone home yet or not.
He seemed to have exited the workshop after his shift, but then never arrived at their home: at that point Amie was stricken with worry and had tried to find anyone to help her…looking back she could see that this might have been the point at which she really grasped that no one cared about what you did on Omega, no one would help her or investigate into her friends disappearance, they would simply shrug and say: this is Omega.
Maybe it was only a small mercy, but she still thanks the Emperor for the certainty she had finally gotten in regards to Marc: by hearing a group of Eclipse sisters whine and shout about Jaroth having broken their newest fuck toy.
She had known the worth of being unnoticed in the masses of mingling people and xeno which filled Omega's streets and she had always tried to fit into the brown and orange tones the working class of the station wore all around the clock and to a degree she had grown used to it: a fact which made her stop and stare at that day.
It wasn't only her, all around the new arrivals, people were stopping and staring: as a young blonde woman stepped out of the docking area: she was tall and lithe build, her face seemed to be set in a serene mask as she walked through the people who parted at both sides, even if a sea of calculating eyes followed her highly visible white and red clad form and paid special attention to the large and heavily ornate necklace with the nearly fist sized icon of a bird of prey of sorts.
Even if it was only gilded…today she knew better of course….people were killed for far less on Omega and it only served as a deterrent for any thoughts in that direction when an entourage of six black armoured menacing figures followed the white dressed woman, each bearing a long rifle with a wicked looking knife on their ends….something which brought some laugh's from the mercenaries in the crowd as they regarded that with the same amusement they usually saved for recruits who had watched too many holo-vids.
Far more interesting, in the same way the gold on the leading woman was wearing, were the two attendants following the woman: one young man and a girl, both wearing similar cut robes and instead of the golden icon they had the same bird of prey weaved into the white of their clothes with silver threads.
Not that their clothes were the centre of attention: it was the wooden box they were carrying between them. Wood of all things! Amie couldn't even remember the last time she had seen real, organic wood instead of the prefabricated plastic and metal alloys which were so much cheaper to buy and easier to work with.
The box seemed to be of a darker complexion and even in the distance she could see carvings artfully worked into the wood, depicting….lots of figures, she wasn't that sure what any of them were showing…but some seemed to have small eyes set in with glass and there were either two or four per head.
What could be inside that thing? The small procession was heading straight for the Afterlife and if something expensive and most likely rare was transported into that direction there was no doubt about the identity of the recipient.
Still the box was barely big enough to fit…
"..a head inside.", she ended the sentence she had begun in the middle of her reminiscence her eyes once again finding themselves staring back at their own mirror image in the faceless helmet before her.
"Where did they get it from?",
Came the next question, quite simply in fact, as if the person simply listened to her answer and then went through the next point on her list…quite a change to have someone listening to her…..except the Confessors of course.
"I do not know…you would have to ask Sister Marie or one of the Tempustus Scions who came with her….something about an attack…",
Amie replied after a moment, hoping that being truthful with this woman might be her best bet, regarding the looks of the other two it was clear she called the shots.
"They visited one of the attacked colonies?",
The woman asked her now and Amie noticed that it wasn't really the icy tone of her voice which made her uncomfortable: it was the slightly synthesized edge which was carried out of the speakers she now noticed on each side of the helmet. She would also wager that there was a bit of distortion in play, as if the woman wouldn't want to be recognized.
"No…I mean…I think not…they told us they got it when their colony was attacked…",
Amie said a bit helplessly, after all Sister Marie had once transmitted the image of Missionary Sophana, who was building up the Cult on the moon Cyrene, into their little chapel and she had found herself listening rapidly at the at first smooth and then steadily rising force behind the preaching voice coming out of the hologram emitter the Sister had installed on the isle above the chapel.
"Nonsense, there were no indications for another raid, if there would have been survivors the Alliance and the Council would surely have tried to play it up as the first step towards stopping the abductors by identifying them.",
the dark skinned man suddenly said and shook his head giving her a light smile as if that would help after being called out as someone who tells…or at least believes and tells tales like that.
"Not if that would mean that they had to admit that they didn't care about the already lost colonies, even if they were outside of the Systems Alliance, the fact that only human colonies were targeted shows that…",
the muta...ehhh…..dark haired entertainer called in from the side, crossing her arms under her needlessly displayed breasts….honestly, she wouldn't even dare to think about the things that could happen when walking through Omega clad like that…suddenly she blinked and blurted out:
"…someone is targeting our race in particular…Sorry?",
The last part came out a bit sheepishly as a set of slightly annoyed blue eyes gazed at her and she quickly raised her hands in meek surrender towards the eye candy of the little group...after all it was eye candy which could tear her apart molecule by molecule.
"No, you are right, telling the people out there that someone like the collectors, a big damn mystery, is interested in them, won't be well taken by the general population…I would bet the Alliance hopes to solve the problem without hanging a lantern on it. ",
The soldiery typed man said with a thoughtful expression as he glanced at the once again silent woman with the sniper rifle, as if waiting for her to drop her thoughts into the pool too….too bad that a slightly forgotten figure butted in and drawled now with less good natured annoyance:
"Ahem….as interesting as your conspiracy theories are….that's a quarantine zone and as long as you are standing there and chitchatting the door is open, so you three should hurry up and…",
The red faced turian didn't get to talk like this when she was so close to….urggs! Exploding Amie cried out:
"Hey! Didn't you listen, you freaking metal bird? They are taking me with them."
Less than amused at this the guard raised his rifle to poke her into the belly, pushing her backwards, as he repeated with a slowly becoming weary tone:
"Now, now, as I said: it's for your own protection that you stay here and I'm sure you haven't pulled out a grenade launcher yet, So I would advi-",
Just as he was about to press the muzzle against her again, cool metal touched his own metallic skin as the armoured woman had her sniper rifle out in one fluid movement, unfolding it and pressing it against the bottom of his chin as a small laugh escaped the speakers and she said:
"She's coming with us…it this…enough? I wouldn't want to make a mess with a grenade launcher after all….A nice clean bullet will make far less of a mess, wouldn't it?"
Staring into the inhuman blank visor, the turian tried to nod…but only flinched as that pressed his hard chin against the sniper barrel and he quickly rasped:
"…uhh….yes….quite…very…impressive arguments…",
Spreading his arms out to the side to show that he wasn't going to try jumping that scary bitch, he let out a long held sigh as she let go and sunk backwards against the wall of the corridor, his mandibles flaring as he waved towards the door, eager to be ride of them again.
"Ohh~ Thank you~",
Amie chirped in good humour and gave him a smug look as she walked to the side of the only man in the group, feeling a bit safer around him than near those two strange women.
The turian only shook his head and said:
"Ohh damn you, just go inside and get eaten by vorcha! What do I care!",
With that he simply watched the group enter the slums, the heavy door falling into place behind them and with a small curse directed at the ancestors he shoved himself of the ground and back to his post, straightening his back as he let his watchful eyes look up and down the hall way: it was a quarantine zone…no one entered.
Yes, it was very important to stretch the last part out…thank the spirits he wasn't one of the poor bastards who had to guard the barricade, since the quarantine started the slums were….different.
"So…I'm Amie Davis…and you are?",
The native, so the speak, said idly as they left the small barricade behind them which closed the slums of from the rest of Omega, now they were walking through dark and deserted halls, while the sound of gunshots echoed until it reached their ears from time to time.
"The people with a grenade launcher.",
Came the surprisingly…amused sounding voice from the leading woman, who had started to check all passing buildings and stores as soon as they became visible, as if…not as if: she was obviously military, that kind of behaviour: looking out for ambushes must be natural for her.
"As the commander said…but she made me carry the heavy thing of course.",
The single man in the group said with a good natured smile, which only earned him a scoffing from the cat-suited model to his side and Amie`s lips were conflicted between a smile and a small frown at his evasion.
Walking forward to the leading woman she tried to appear relaxed, but Amie had not forgotten the woman's action against the turian guard…and appearing relaxed in a group of people who looked at the deserted streets warily and tense wasn`t easy either.
"So…you are the commander….and what are these two then?",
She finally asked, trying to keep her voice a bit vague at the start, only to end with a small smile as she nodded towards those two.
Waiting for a moment Amie simply held her smile, only hearing the crackling of fire coming closer as the smell of smoke intensified and only slowly her lips slipped into a frown again as she urged the silent commander:
"Come one, I know you are military, are you Alliance spec ops or something?"
As soon as she said her words, Amie stumbled backwards, not because someone had shoved her, but because the commander had stopped walking at the mention of the Alliance and walking into an armoured person who didn`t want to budge, when you just tried to appear calm and relaxed in your walk, isn`t that good for your balance.
But as such she had a good point of view as the man rushed past her and put his hands on the commanders back, urgently whispering something she couldn`t make out. As she tried to push herself up again, the woman was at her side and gave her a healthy glare:
"The commander had a few….stressful events recently, it would be the best if you wouldn`t pester her like that, who we are and why we are here is of no importance to you."
Making a face, Amie pushed herself up and shook her head as she glared back at the model or whatever she was…maybe a robot? It simply wasn`t natural.
Shaking her head she replied as she continued on the way:
"Of course it`s of importance to me, you could be heretics for all I know and I`m leading you to His faithful."
For a moment everyone looked at her puzzled, even the commander who had stopped trying to crush her armoured gloves with her own hands. Shaking her head at their clueless expressions Amie said:
"Frakk this, I only want to know your names so I can call you something else other than…",
She shrugged and pointed at the black haired woman "Pin-up", then at the man "Soldier-boy" and finally at the armoured person "Commander."
Now dubbed Pin-up seemed to redden in anger…or annoyance, she wasn`t sure…not that it was good either way with a…most likely…biotic and Amie was only glad as a laugh filled the awkward silence which had come over them and the man offered her his hand:
"Jacob, it´s nice to meet you Amie….and the most dangerous person you must have made angry in your whole life…",
He threw the woman in the suit a grin: "…would be Miranda…but don`t try calling her Miri or anything like that, it wouldn`t end well.",
he leaned forward in a conspiratorial whisper: "Believe me… I tried it."
Miranda Lawson for her part only huffed a bit annoyed and gave Amie a curt nod before walking past her and taking the lead of the small group as the commander let herself fall back and also offered her hand, which Amie only took with slight hesitation:
"I`m Alexandra, feel free to shorten it how you wish…people generally don`t use it anyway.",
She said with some dry humour and a non-caring shrug, even if there was also something else in her tone Amie couldn't quite make out.
Giving a slight nod in return she grew silent as the group continued, carefully looking out for any ambush by either group of mercenaries.
But they saw no one and the halls seemed utterly deserted, only the smoke seemed to become thicker and they could easily imagine the groan of tortured metal coming from somewhere inside the walls being caused by the overburdened environmental system.
The coughing which started to spread over those without helmets on their head….or years in which they could grow used to Omega`s worst pollution like Amie…soon give away to grimaces and appalled looks at the smoke's origin, as they found themselves walking past Quadratic pits, filled with bagged corpses which burned like macabre logs and filled the air with a thick black smoke.
"They….are burning the corpses….ughhh….it stinks…",
Jacob gasped as his dark skin lost its colour and he quickly reached up covering his nose as he seemed to grow ill. Miranda looked a bit better, but she seemed just as unwell and it was clearly visible that she wanted nothing more than to quickly leave this place.
"At first the other xenos tried to get rid of the illness by that….but those which handled the burned died next and no one dared to continue the work.",
Shrugging coldly at the slightly mortified idea of things like that happening….after the time of the Black Death….Amie continued:
"Now some of the brothers and sisters are keeping the fire burning to keep the zone as clean as possible before…normal pandemics break out."
As the group shook themselves out of the shock they wanted to continue but Alexandra stopped and turned to look into a corner behind one of the large smoking piles, walking towards it, even as Miranda stopped and turned away, unwilling to endure more of the stench filling her nose with the smell of burnt flesh.
Hearing a weak sounding coughing just behind the wall of smoke rising up from the pile of badly burned bodies, the sniper crouched down as she spotted the batarian male leaning against the wall for support, while his four eyes moved without focus until slowly settling on her.
"What…..do you want…human….here to steal my things….",
He growled but the words quickly ended in another coughing fit as he clutched his chest and red blood spurted out of the openings batarians had instead of a nose.
Trying to push himself up he slurred with sickness visible even in his dark dull eyes without irises:
"Was it not enough that you…that you brought this plague onto us….now you are looting and…finishing us off…"
As Amie stepped closer and watched with a light frown as Alexandra kneeled down next to the four eyed xeno, touching the side of his head even as he struggled weakly against the touch.
"Humans did not spread the plague. Let me help you.",
She said in a surprisingly gentle tone and Taylor who had also come closer looked at the miserable figure of the batarian with pity.
He on the other hand, struggled and tried to push the cold touch of the armour away from his sickly wet skin as the blood dripped over his chin.
"You humans…are the only ones immune to the plague…except the vorcha…and they are little better than animals…they wouldn`t have the means to…to engineer…"
Whatever else he wanted to say drifted off as three of his four eyes closed and his mouth remained half open, drool dripping onto his chin as the commander stood up again and looked over to Jacob with a helpless wave at him:
"Can we give him some medi-gel?",
She said with a strangely warm undertone, expressing her sympathy as she wanted to do something helpful, to which Jacob nodded with a grabbing motion into his pocket.
"Yes Commander, if we would give him one of our three-",
He started to say while pulling the medi-gel container out of its place, but was then interrupted by Amie who threw a disdainful glance at the batarian and shrugged, while saying:
"It won`t help…or did you really think no one has tried that yet?",
Seeing their slightly off put faces she shook her head once again:
"It`s pointless, if you really want to waste it you can give it to the xeno.",
Frowning lightly she pointed to the pit burning next to them and then nodded to the batarian:
"It would be far more useful if you would throw him into the fire right now, it would give one of the cleaning crews less work to do."
Staring at her with shocked eyes, at least she presumed it from the sudden silence under that spooky helmet; both of them faced her incredulously:
"You want us to….burn him alive?",
Jacob stammered after a few moments and the commander seemed to give her another piercing glare….but right now Amie didn`t feel afraid of it, after all they had thought about helping a xeno of all things: they had to be weak willed xeno-lovers who do not have the stomach to either face reality or to walk upright in honour of their human heritage.
"Then shoot a bullet through his head or leave him be.",
She said coldly and turned around, walking back past the burning corpses, without sparing a glance at the charred black flesh or the exposed bits of alien bones.
Behind her Taylor looked a bit helpless towards the commander who shook her head and gestured him to carry on. Folding his rifle he kneeled down next to the batarian and injected the medi-gel into him, stepping back with a relieved sigh as his breathing steadied slowly but certainly.
"We should get him out of the smoke….do you have any idea why he is lying here? The smoke must be poison in his condition.",
Taylor said with puzzlement but the commander simply pointed at his neck, towards a necklace adorned by a caste symbol…and then nodded towards the topmost corpse on the pile, with a nearly identical piece of jewellery wrapped around the rests of its neck.
"Family….friend…someone.",
Alexandra said slowly and then stood up, leaving a handkerchief on the batarians face, before touching Taylors shoulder and pulling him towards the waiting Miranda and Amie, who was now glaring at them mistrustfully as she crossed her arms and snapped:
"So you wasted it on the xeno? Pfff….simply hope you won`t need it in the next firefight…the mercenaries are still fighting all over the place if you haven`t noticed.",
She said and pointed towards the end of the corridor with a grimace:
"Kokomo Plaza is that way….it's the shortest route to your salarian.",
She said and stressed the word salarian in a way others would have spit out murderer or rapist.
Nodding towards another door at one of the buildings she said:
"Or if you are not too much of xeno-lovers you can come with me and travel through the region held by the Imperial cult, the side streets will also bring you to the doctor and are not full of fighting mercenaries."
Looking up surprised at the woman's acid tone, Miranda raised an eyebrow on her slightly sweaty face, only feeling a bit better now that they went away from the pyre's smoke:
"What`s with your mood change? You sound as if the commander did something terrible to offend you."
Throwing Miranda a dirty look Amie nodded "She helped a xeno….what greater slight is there against the Emperor`s sacrifice and humanity's struggle?"
"Only slowly….I`m not fond of those four eyes either, but they are living and sentient beings just like us.",
Jacob tried to say soothingly, even if he was from Cerberus, that didn`t mean he did not see most of the aliens as people who also tried to live their life in some way.
"The xeno is nothing like us! They are out to exterminate humanity, to enslave us or to turn us into their pawns and playthings: just look around!",
Amie spat hotly and glared at Jacob ignoring his efforts to calm the situation down again as she pointing with her hand at the broken open and sometimes even falling houses.
"Can`t you see how all of them decided to prey on us humans as soon as the slum was quarantined? Doesn`t that show you the malicious nature of them?",
She said firmly and glowered at him with a burning look as if condemning him for even daring to think otherwise.
Before Jacob could open his mouth again to antagonize their local guide, even if her beliefs seemed to be more…extreme than the ones she heard even from Terra Firma.
"That is a broad generalization.",
She interjected with a calm voice, touching the agitated woman`s shoulder with her heavy gloved hands, trying to gesture Jacob to let the matter drop right now.
While he did so, Amie strained against Alexandra's grip and simply continued with venom in her voice:
"And? Does that make it less true? A xeno will always care more for a member of its own species and they will mug you just to get your things when you walk through one of the wrong alleys….this is Omega and you can see everywhere that the xenos tend to stick together to kick us around."
Giving them a glare, daring them to say anything, Amie turned to face Jacob as he opened his mouth again, even at the warning movement of Alexandra.
"Yes….but in Council space at least…",
He began barely before Amie snapped with a pissed off attitude:
"Now I call bullshit, if it wouldn`t have been for Shepard the Council would still have been dominated only by three of the xenos with humanity being at best a junior member."
The commander chose the moment to intervene again, not even sighing as she stepped before Amie, blocking her scornful glare with grey armour.
"This discussion brings us nowhere….",
She said in an attempt for diplomacy, even if her voice didn't seem used to this role as she shook her head and pointed towards the Kokomo Plaza
"I can understand how it must seem to you living in here Amie. So let's not fight about this issue and better go to your people before one of the mercenaries run into us."
Giving her a tight clipped nod with her lips pressed into a thin line Amie turned on her heels and hurried into a small side alley not sparing another glance at them as she hurried down a slippery set of stairs and then took a left turn into a maintenance tunnel of sorts: dry nearly waterless air hitting them as they moved through it, dark metal shining in the light of a few spare lamps still hanging here and there, some being even small glass bowls with a candle of sorts burning inside of them.
With a quick step the group moved through the guts of Omega, past multiple intersections with ladders not only allowing one to move to the right or left, but also up and down, the only thing one could hear being the sound of fans in the distance and their own heavy steps.
"How do you know where you are heading?",
Miranda asked as they stopped at another junction and Amie headed down the left path without even glancing at the other possible directions, pulling her head down for a pipe….against which Taylor promptly walked and stumbled backwards again with a wince….and Amie was totally not smirking at that one, woe unto those who would say otherwise.
"The Emperor guides me…and I read about an Imperial Hero who might have grown up in an Underhive himself.",
She said simply without turning back to the black-haired woman, simply side stepping an empty crate as they stepped out of the tunnels, finding themselves in a big clearing of sorts: a cavern in the guts of Omega which lead to another street just like those above, one of the many interlaid living quarters the slum was made of.
But unlike the empty streets above, this one was bustling, people where shuffling from one direction to another, carrying bags and crates, not even one of them idling around on the street without purpose as the crowd pushed its way from house to house, alley to alley.
"You didn't expect this, did you?",
their guide quipped amused and with a hint of pride as they walked towards the only thing cutting them off from the milling mass of humans….and solely humans as the commander noticed quickly, her eyes taking in the obstruction on their way: the bastard child of a bunker and a garbage litter maybe?
She had seen quite a few strange things before her death, but this? Her mind quickly raced to try taking the image, in: calculating the area, which the fire slits on the five sides of the slightly slopped bunker could bring to bear against them.
It didn't look that good: while maybe mostly two or three weapons could come to bear on them on a frontal assault, the checkpoint leading to the habituated streets was guarded by two of those makeshift constructs, with a sandbag wall or something similar connecting them and only leaving a small gap to calmly walk through.
The slits made into the walls, which seemed to be armoured with the severed walls of crates and thereby resistant to small arms fire at least, where small enough to shove a barrel through it and from what she could see, six of them seemed to be permanently pointing at them and….was that a Gatling gun?
She was already starting to calculate the best trajectory which might just hit a gunner behind it, when two black armoured slim figures where stepping from the shadows of one bunker, carrying far too long rifles in their hands and…was that a wooden stock?
Amie seemed to know what was going on, so Alexandra was content with watching for now, her hand resting on the butt of her carnifex, sure that her teammates where doing the same in this moment as she watched those three change words in another language….one of which her implant wasn't translating right now.
Tilting her head a little to the side to face Miranda with the plate of her helmet, the commander only got a slightly clueless, but also annoyed shrug as the Cerberus agent tried to make out the words which were spoken before them.
The exchange seemed to be over after some moments and all three of them intoned some sort of wording at which they all lowered their head and crossed their hands before their chests.
Giving Taylor a small nod, who continued to watch the dark figures with keen eyes, Alexandra walked slowly towards Amie as the guide turned around and smiling lightly…even if a bit strained:
"We nearly missed the meal…Sister Marie will talk to you afterwards; if you would follow me please?",
She asked and started to walk past the makeshift fortification, giving the three person fire team a weak smile as they nodded down the street.
Reluctantly following her Taylor shook his head as he said:
"We don't really need this too commander, our primary goal is to get Doctor Solus. I mean…I would doubt that this is even really a collector head they brought to Aria…It's a bit silly to…"
He didn't get much further because a hand had grabbed his wrist and was now holding him in a vice like grip: the dark face plate of the commander only inches away from his face as an ice cold voice slowly said:
"Charles Pressley, Roberta Dreico, Carl Emery, Addison Crosy….shall I tell you the names of the other seventeen crew members too Taylor?",
The voice whispered nearly tenderly as the pressure on his wrist became even worse and he found himself gasped as the voice pierced into his mind like ice:
"You will not question me at this….they are no fairy tale….and they will pay for the murder of my crew…all leads will be looked at: understood soldier?"
"Yes Ma`am…..", he was able to press out before the pressure left his wrist and his other hand reached for it, clutching the bruised wrist. Giving him a last glance, the commander turned and walked after Amie as if nothing had happened, boots echoing as they kicked against the dull metal of the station.
Only a moment later Taylor found Miranda staring down at him, a small frown tugging on her perfect features as she whispered:
"Did we do something wrong?…if Project Lazarus was defective…TIM will want it terminated, we can't have a broken hero."
Shaking his head Taylor slowly stood upright again, massaging his hurting wrist with one hand while replying:
"No…it only shows that you did it perfectly Miranda….she's human…",
Raising his hand to keep her silent he quickly hushed:
"She died…was brought back to life by one of her enemies….attacked by bots as soon as she woke up and then promptly shuffled above a ship looking just like the one where she lost so many friends and her life…..we can be glad she hasn't broken down yet."
Giving him a slight smile, even if it a bit of gloomy to think about things like that, Miranda nodded and strolled after the commander:
"Then I will take this as proof that her cybernetic implants are working just fine….and her strength is up to par to crush wrists.",
She said to Taylor as she hurried into the bustling life of the street, her partner quickly following her and leaving the checkpoint behind…never noticing that he had taken his eyes off the two guards and that a small helm mounted camera had documented their whole exchange.
Even now the data was being sent through the nods installed all throughout Omega and thanks to the pirate Queens's favour they went through the com buoy as high priority. With more than the speed of light the message was sent from relay through relay, carried on tight laser beams, just until…
…a small chirp made Antonio Grimlay look up…or at least try to as even the smallest movement sent shocks of pain along his spine….he wasn't sure if they had broken it….he felt the iron still grinding against his skin and greedily sucking in air whenever he moved and it broke more of his flesh.
"Good evening Mr Grimlay.",
Said a civil voice and he looked up…with his one good eye, the other one now being only a burned out empty eye hole with the burned and cauterized remains of a once good eyeball stick sticking into it….itching from time to time.
Another one eyed person looked at him…but this was where the similarities ended: Missionary Flavia was standing before him straight as an arrow and with her white robe unsullied and her hair flaming bright red as her bionic eye regarded him in company with her sincerely looking smile:
"While I found your obvious interest in the humble lasguns quite amusing…there are now other things of more importance…especially a few more information I want to know of you Mr Grimlay."
He didn't know why: but this woman horrified him more than all of his other torturers put together: was it because she never sullied her hands? Always letting others send him through a new trip of hell. No, it was the pitying…even regretful expression on her face as she regarded him at every visit: like an adult would look at an unruly child who seemed unable to learn its lesson. The way she showed neither joy nor indifference to his pain, but even expressed her hope for him and the "cleansing" effect it would have on his immortal soul.
This woman as simply certain of herself. Certain of her place in the world and of the way it ought to be…all centred around her God-Emperor.
"….what?",
He crooked through his broken teeth, his tongue touching the broken and bloody stumps as he stared down at the filthy ground of his cell…the blood pooling into a small hole dug on one site…his legs nailed to the wall….spreading his body over a cold steel imprint of the Imperial Aquila….while a furious vision of the Emperor was looking down at him, whenever he raised his eyes to look on the other wall: its eyes blazing as if crying: "Repent!"
"Do you know this woman?",
The missionary said and an image appeared just below the image of the Emperor, filling all of the wall…the quality wasn't good…subpar to most of the current technology he knew but….you never knew with these Imperials….at one moment they seemed like barbarians and in the other…..DEW using barbarians….
"Lawson…Miranda….",
He barked hoarsely, his throat burning, cried raw from the pain before.
The missionary only nodded and reached for her side, pulling her own flask off her belt and unscrewing it before she stepped closer and looked into his eyes, her bionic flaring up just as the cold water gushed down his throat, soothing the hurting flesh with its coolness.
Slowly she whispered to him
"Now Antonio…..a wise saying is: The worst enemies are those we make ourselves."
Smiling lightly she stared deeply into his eyes:
"You don't want me as an enemy do you?", not even waiting for him to whimper something she simply grinned broader:
"Why don't you show me the way to the guardian of the underworld?"
For the Readers (Who thankfully made me notice I uploaded the uncorrected version first!):
douchiesnacks: Thank you
jakejakereal: I was a bit unsure about the perspective change beings silly, but thank you. I thought Mass effect battles were more like artillery duels~
LordGhostStriker: For Emperor, Imperium and Humanity!
Lovin it: Hope you weren't to disappointed in my Shepard then.
RED Roman Pyro: Ok ok~ I think I got that people do not want three chapter long combat scenes~
Imperial-Priest Engelbart: For Him.
Jouaint: Thank you
Commissar Critical: Then I hope you didn't find any in this one, even if it was more of a filler.
OBSERVER01: True enough, but I know books were its quite interesting to see that engagements take hours and days of maneuvering, only for both fleets to rush past another near light speed.
KhazintheDark: Which was the idea why two frigates were dispatched to get a sensor reading and play bath before the rest of the squadron jumps the collectors.
PredatorPuck: Horizon would be the first planet ;)
Anon: True True...even the armor...
The Praetorian Guard: In this time of strife and with the need of protection...thanks to rampant plagues and xenoes~