"Hold on there, chief," warned Lisea, as she took a few steps toward Dave. "You are NOT going out there."
"You know me too well to try to stop me." Dave said with a half-grin. "Look, there's no time to explain. Short version is that I upgraded my armor. I'm pretty sure I'll survive."
Lisea put her hand on her forehead and shook her head. "Take my shuttle, then. Another shuttle should've arrived with a security detail and the data bank aboard, but they've probably already left to help the civilians."
"So much for your assignment." Dave activated the elevator pad. "I'll do everything I can about Kenn." These were the last words he could muster before the doors closed around him. He didn't want to make any promises.
He ran a few meters to his room. Although he had no idea what he would do when he got outside, he did know one thing: he was their only chance of escaping. Dave grabbed a Viper from the weapons locker and attached it to his armor. He then walked to the armor locker, opened it and picked up his helmet, taking a deep breath as recycled air began cycling around him. The tactical HUD on his helmet activated, displaying every statistic about the armor.
Satisfied with his harried preparations, he headed to the door only to find it open on its own. Lia stood on the other side.
"Please..." she breathed, as she grabbed him by his left hand, her voice breaking. "If you find Kenn..."
"I already told you, I'll do everything I can." The way in which she tugged on his hand hinted at what she must have been going through. No, this was no time to be logical.
"Hey, hey, calm down." He caressed the side of her mask with his hand. "I promise, I'll get him back."
Two shining dots / orbs under her mask disappeared as she closed her eyes. She wrapped her other hand around Dave's right arm. He'd never seen her so terrified before. Suddenly, he found himself wanting to grant her everything for which she had asked, but there was something much bigger going on outside...something bigger than any one person. Hundreds of thoughts crossed his mind as he tried to decide whether he should ask her to help or not.
"Listen, I know it's hard, and I don't like asking you to do this, but I need you to find the safest route out of here." Dave bit his lip right after finishing the sentence. Dammit, Grayson, you are such an ass!
Lia's eyes flared at him in confusion.
"We need to stay out of the Collector ship's line of fire. If it fires at us, we're done for."
She remained silent for a few seconds, still trying to wrap her head around what he just told her.
"I'll see what I can do. Be careful," she implored, tugging on Dave's hand even harder. "Don't make me regret letting you go out there."
"That's my girl," Dave smiled, slowly breaking free of her hands. "Kinda wish I'd brought some Bloodwine onboard. You could use some right now," he added.
Lia let out a slight chuckle. "Can't you think of anything other than making me drink?"
"Nothing more fun," Dave replied, satisfied that she felt at least slightly better.
As he walked to the airlock, he could still hear Lia's footsteps following him. Immediately after the airlock opened, the faint thrumming inside the ship gave way to horrifying screams from the outside. Women, men... everyone was screaming: some in pain, some in fear. Dave's heart pounded faster and faster in anticipation of what was to come. He briefly considered the very real possibility that this would be his last moment of peace before entering hell itself. The swarms had not made it to the starport yet, but it was only a matter of time. Stepping off the ship, he turned back to Lia.
"Seal the airlock."
"Stay safe," Lia murmured. Dave nodded and turned around as Excelsior's airlock closed. Thinking that he had someone who actually cared about him so much warmed his heart, something he had long considered impossible. Maybe spending years in seclusion had not been such a good idea after all.
He observed the shuttles that were parked near the Excelsior. One of them was open, probably Lisea's. He ran towards it as he heard the sound of his ship's airlock closing. Just before he could get inside the shuttle, Dave heard chirping noises coming from the town. He took a few steps back from the shuttle to find the source of the commotion. The swarms had almost reached the starport, and the Collector vessel had almost landed on the other side of the colony.
"Hope your upgrades work, Mordin," he muttered.
Dave quickly got in the shuttle, sealed the door, took the pilot's seat and started the engines. The shuttle slowly lifted from the ground and headed towards the colony. He pulled up a navigating window to find the location of the colony reserves and changed course accordingly.
Suddenly the shuttle was rained with the Collector swarms. Dave instinctively covered his eyes with his arm as countless large insects collided with the windshield, clicking furiously.
"Warning. Critical damage to the engine systems," the shuttle's VI intoned. Dave looked at the damage report closely.
"They're flying inside the engines!" he exclaimed, as if expecting someone else to do something about it, or at least to give him advice. He looked at the map to see how far he was from the reserves: roughly one kilometer.
"Engine output pressure reaching critical levels. Overload imminent," the VI warned. Something below the shuttle floor exploded and the shuttle began to lose altitude. Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Dave gave up on controlling the shuttle and closed his eyes, forcing some of the fear out of his body.
"Activate emergency seatbelts," he said, with an icy calm. In an instant, metallic belts extending from the sides of the seat held him fast.
The shuttle hit the ground with great force and shook everything inside violently. Some of the conduits overloaded, filling the cockpit with sparks as the shuttle slid towards one of the buildings. Dave kept his hands clenched around his seat even though his seatbelt secured him.
The shuttle hit one of the building's walls, tearing it down. The console in front of Dave suddenly exploded, sending fragments of metal all around. He let out a cry of pain as one of the fragments stabbed him in the shoulder. The shuttle came to a halt inside the twisted remnants of the building.
Having found the metal shard lodged in his shoulder, Dave took a couple of deep breaths, wrapped his palm around it and quickly pulled it out with a jerk. The shock of pain caused him to let out a groan, but his armor soon sealed off the wound. Dave got on his feet and stumbled his way out of the cockpit, still trying to get back to his senses. He opened the shuttle door, revealing a disturbing scene.
The streets were filled with paralyzed colonists. Some of them lay on the ground, likely paralyzed when they fell. A few of them were still standing, helpless, completely unable even to try to save themselves. There was no screaming anymore, just the sound of the swarms flying around looking for new prey...and the dreaded humming of the Collector ship.
Dave pushed against a wall and tried to concentrate, breathing heavily. The Collectors would be at the crash site soon - he had to get out of there. Gathering all his strength, he began walking out of the ruin, when suddenly Collectors began appearing in the sky. Dave reached his Viper and set it on active use. The little box on his back unfolded itself into a sniper rifle in his hands. He looked through the scope, aiming at their heads, barely keeping himself from pulling the trigger.
It was too early. He had to stay hidden at least until he'd found the reserves, where he knew he would find the capacitor...and where he hoped to find Kenn. He activated his cloak and headed to where he remembered the reserves were, leaving the confused Collectors near the shuttle.
Dave ran through the streets, looking at each building carefully, trying to figure out where he was. He noticed a hospital, which he remembered was about three hundred meters away from the reserves. Some Collectors were dragging paralyzed colonists out of the building.
His helmet beeped three times, notifying him that the cloak was running out of power. Dave instinctively slid behind the nearest building just a moment before his cloak deactivated. Sneaking behind the Collectors would take too long, and the longer he waited, the more danger the Excelsior would be in. He peeked out of cover, slowly raised his Viper and aimed at some Collectors who were dragging humans out of the hospital. The closer he got to taking the shot, the faster his heart pounded, as if it were telling him it was a bad idea. He expelled the final remnants of air from his lungs, found a bead on one of the Collectors and pulled the trigger.
Dave didn't wait to see how the Collector fell. He quickly shot each of the three remaining insects around it. Two of them fell instantly, but the bullet bounced off the third one. The Collector swivelled in his direction before he could take another shot, aimed its weapon at him and fired a shining beam of light. Dave swiftly ducked behind the building, but the beam hit his barrier nonetheless. Then, a deep, soul-freezing voice reverberated through the confusion.
"Resistance detected. Sending drones to investigate."
Dave spun around the corner, aimed at the Collector and fired several times at it, causing it to fall dead and drop its weapon.
That must be the beam weapon Garrus mentioned. Wonder if I can use it... Dave attached the Viper to his back and ran to the weapon lying next to the lifeless Collector. It was nothing like he'd seen before, and he hesitated to touch it at first. Then, he found something that resembled a handle. Tentatively, he picked the weapon up and carefully wrapped his arm around the "handle", looking for something like a trigger on it with his fingers. After a few moments of searching, he felt something different on the handle and applied pressure on it. The weapon suddenly released a beam of light with a whooing sound.
"Looks like daddy has a new toy," he enthused, satisfied with the result. Suddenly he heard a sound that resembled that of a large insect flapping its wings. Dave looked in the sound's direction and narrowed his eyes as his HUD started identifying more and more Collectors approaching from amidst the swarms.
Dave jolted off the spot, using all his power to run as fast as he could. To his right, a beam of light hit his barriers, causing him to stumble in surprise. He quickly aimed his weapon to where the beam came from and returned the favour by frying two drones that had been aiming at him.
"Your attack is an insult," the deep voice thrummed again. "You are merely delaying the inevitable."
"Insult, huh?" Dave said, aiming his weapon at some drones running on the street. Just before he could pull the trigger, however, he heard a roar and was instantly knocked on the ground with a potent force. Before he could return to his senses, a Husk jumped on top of him and started tearing at his armor, roaring like a ferocious beast. Instinctively, Dave stretched his arms out to hold it back, using all his strength to stop it from tearing him apart. He managed to free his head from it and to cast about frantically, noticing several more Husks, a Scion and some drones about thirty meters away.
Fuck, this isn't looking good. Dave used a biotic attack on the Husk on top of him and kicked it, sending it floating away. Grabbing the weapon that he had dropped when the Husk had jumped on him, he activated his cloak a moment before more Husks swarmed the position. Shaking himself, he headed to the reserves again.
He kept thinking about what he had done to Lia. She was so terrified of everything that was happening here, she was worried about her childhood friend, who was like a brother to her, and he had told her to run a scan... It was necessary; she would understand.
But why had she held his hands? Maybe it made her feel safe... or maybe it was something else. Was he was becoming more than a guardian to her? More than a friend?
His thoughts were interrupted by the three beeps in his helmet again. A large building with two large doors stood at roughly one hundred meters' distance.
"At least I'm almost there." he mumbled. The cloak deactivated, and not a moment later, his barriers deflected several bullets coming from behind him. Dave kept running as fast as he could before his barriers could weaken too much from the impact. He vaulted over a small box next to the of the reserves to cover himself from the incoming fire, keeping his head as low as possible. Suddenly, the sound of repeating bursts erupted and closed in on him menacingly. He would have recognised the sound anywhere: a biotic shockwave. Without thinking, Dave turned to his left and prepared to jump away...but it was too late.
"OH SH..." he exclaimed before the shockwave hit him, sending him flying for meters. Dazed due to the huge force that had just hit him, he tried and failed to jump onto his feet, cursing. Reduced to crawling, he tried to ignore the roars the Husks were letting out, his heart pounding in anticipation of another shockwave. The bursting sounds exploded again the moment he finally got on his feet - but this time, he was ready. The closer the shockwave was, the slower time seemed to pass. As soon as Dave felt he had enough strength in his legs, he rolled onto his side, allowing the shockwave to pass him by without connecting with him. Before the Scion could attack him again, he aimed the Collector beam at it and pulled the trigger, anger and adrenaline clenching his jaws. After depleting its barriers, Dave aimed at its limbs, severing them one by one. Seeing that the Scion wasn't a threat anymore, a grin of satisfaction appeared on his face; however, it did not last long, as another wave of Husks and drones was already approaching him.
"Oh come on, give me a damn break!" he exclaimed in frustration, turning around and hurtling towards his destination as fast as he could.
After several seconds of dashing through Husks and a few drones, he approached the colony reserves building. Frantically, Dave sprinted towards a small door between the two large ones. Seeing that it was locked, two thoughts crossed his mind: either Kenn hadn't made it to the building, or he'd made it and had locked himself inside. A shuttle parked near the building gave him some hope.
"Is anyone in there?" Dave yelled, bumping into the door and hammering on it a few times, hoping for a response from inside. He looked behind him, raised his weapon and fired at the Husks, successfully disintegrating some of them. What would he do if he was wrong? What if no one was inside?
"Grayson? Is that you?" A familiar voice emerged tentatively from inside.
Dave let out a sigh of relief. "No, it's the Rachni Queen. Of course it's me!" He ducked to dodge some bullets flying directly into his face. "Open this goddamn door and let me in!" He fired back at the Collectors and scanned the area, taking stock of the situation. More and more Collectors were swarming the building. He hadn't planned on dying like this.
"Alright, alright, just give me a moment..."
"I don't have a moment!" Dave yelled back, firing at the Collectors again. His barriers wouldn't last much longer at this rate. Fortunately,the door behind him opened a few seconds later. Before Dave could fall back inside, his barrier suddenly burst around him and a couple of rounds hit his left leg. Careening wildly and groaning, he nevertheless managed to stay on his feet and stumble inside the building. The door closed the moment he entered, and the sounds of chaos were replaced with relative quiet.
Dave fell on his back, enjoying the moment of peace and safety as his armor sealed off the new wounds. Compared to what was happening outside, this spare warehouse seemed like heaven. He looked at Kenn, who stood next to the door from which he had entered.
"Are you alright?" Kenn ran to him, his voice reverberating around the walls.
"Do I look alright?" Dave mumbled, too exhausted to speak up.
"Can I do anything about your wounds?" inquired Kenn as he crouched nearby to examine Dave's leg.
"Unless you're a doctor, no." Dave pulled his leg away from him. "Just... see if you can find some medi-gel."
Kenn shook his head in response. "Not in this building. There are dispensers in the hospital, though."
Dave looked at him with a sigh. "I'll pass." He slowly got on his feet and attached the Collector weapon to his back. The pain was almost gone, but he felt numbness in his leg, as if it wasn't obeying his commands anymore. "We need to find a new way out."
Kenn looked at him, then eyed their surroundings appraisingly. "I should be able to get one of those cargo transports running. Would that do?"
Dave took a good look at the transport. It was a large truck with six wheels and a reinforced hull.
"Worth a try," he agreed. "Do you have the capacitor?"
Kenn nodded and showed him a small rectangular device, about the size of his palm.
"That's it? That's what we're risking our lives for?!"
"This is what keeps your ship's power systems from burning out. Let's get in the truck," he encouraged. "I'll only need a moment to start it."
Dave shook his head, walked to the car and sat next to the driver's seat. Kenn quickly jumped in the driver's seat and started doing something on a console in front of him.
"I can't tell you how glad I am that you came," he said without looking away from the console. "I never thought I'd walk out of here." He paused. "Lia must've been very worried."
"You have no idea."
"After her parents died, I was the closest person to her. She doesn't show it, but she's become much more sensitive since then," Kenn said. "It's good that she has someone else close to her now. That means she's moving on."
Dave stared at Kenn for a couple of seconds. "She's been through enough pain already," he said. "There's a limit to how much a person can take. I broke once, and I still haven't recovered. I don't want her ever going through that."
"You know, there's a big chance I won't be seeing her for a long time after today," Kenn disclosed, with an unconvincing attempt at nonchalance. "She'll need someone to fill the gap."
"You think I'll be that "someone"?"
"Why not? You're probably the only one close enough to her."
"Hmm." Dave considered what he said. A moment later, the interior of the truck lit up and the engine started humming.
"Got it!" Kenn enthused. Then, as an afterthought, "...How do we get out of this building?"
Dave realized that they were still in the middle of a war zone. "Just ram through the door and head for the starport," he reasoned. "You see anything on the road, don't hesitate to run it over."
The car slammed through the door and skidded out of the building, toppling several Collectors on the way.
"I am the Harbinger of your perfection. You can not escape your fate," resounded the deep, heart-stopping voice once again.
"What was that?" Kenn asked, startled.
"I don't really give a damn, but it's probably their leader or something."
"Keelah, the streets are so empty," Kenn observed. "I can't believe all this happened in a matter of minutes. All these people..."
"Stay focused, Kenn. We can't help them anymore."
Kenn shook his head in remorse, steered right and headed towards the Excelsior at full speed. The truck bumped a little each time they ran over a Collector. They could hear bullets and swarms bouncing off the hull of the truck.
Suddenly, Dave heard Lia's voice over the intercom in his helmet. "Dave? Dave, can you hear me?"
"Lia? How did you contact me?" Dave wondered out loud, knowing full well that all the comms were down on the colony.
"Keelah, you're alive! I managed to reactivate one of the backup transmitters on the Excelsior. I was afraid your gear would have been affected by whatever the Collectors are using, or that you'd be..." she sighed. "Never mind. Did you find Kenn?"
A smile broke on Dave's face. Telling Lia the good news would certainly be a pleasure for him. "He's with me. We're headed your way right now."
"I knew he'd make it! How far are you?"
Dave looked outside. He could see the starport's watch tower already. "A few minutes away. What's the situation there?"
"The Collectors have surrounded the ship. They tried cutting through the airlocks with their... beams, but the armor is holding, for now. Lisea's in the cockpit, trying to divert power to the point defence turrets, but we barely have enough to keep the basic systems running."
"What about the safe route out of here?" Dave inquired.
"There is none. But, I found out that this planet's atmosphere, combined with its strange magnetic field, causes some electronics to malfunction. That's probably why the capacitor got damaged. I should be able to polarize the hull and the atmosphere around the ship."
"Uh-huh..."
Lia let out a giggle. "Sorry, got carried away. Basically, the area around the Excelsior will match the ship's signature, so it will appear a much larger target, and there is a much bigger chance the Collector ship will miss us if it fires."
Dave demurred, thoroughly unconvinced. "That's the best we've got?"
"That's all I can do. Be careful when you enter the starport, it's crawling with those floating things."
"Praetorians? Thanks for the heads up. Be ready to replace the capacitor as soon as we arrive; I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Who needs some Bloodwine now?" Lia teased.
"Yeah? I'd like to see what you would do if you were out here and I was in there, safe and sound."
"Uh... David?" Kenn piped up. "I hate to interrupt, but the road is blocked."
Dave quickly looked at him, then looked outside. There were three black creatures floating above the ground in the middle of the street.
"Damn Praetorians." He shot a glance at Kenn. "Well, there's no turning back now, Kenn. Go through them."
"Keelah... I hope this works. Hold onto something."
Kenn throttled up and aimed the truck at the Praetorians. Suddenly, all three of them fired beams at the truck.
"Take cover!" Dave shouted as both men ducked. There was a heavy thud, followed by a tremor that shook the truck from stem to stern. When the shaking had abated, Dave looked up, only to see a large, razor sharp leg of the Praetorian thrust through the windshield and into the back of the cabin.
"Glad my head wasn't there..." Dave mumbled.
"It's moving!" Kenn suddenly exclaimed.
The leg moved slightly back. Then another leg thrust through the windshield above Kenn's head, eliciting a yelp from the startled quarian.
"Holy shit, this asshole's still alive!" Dave instinctively grabbed the Collector weapon and activated it. "Keep your head down and the wheel steady!"
He aimed at the leg above him and pulled the trigger. The Praetorian screeched in pain as Dave seared its leg off, causing it to fall on top of him. He then targeted the other leg and fired at it too, but the Praetorian moved it away.
"Brakes, now!" Dave shouted. Kenn hit the brakes and the Praetorian careered off the front of the truck. Kenn then increased speed and headed towards it. The truck slammed into the Praetorian, and then headed off to the starport again.
"That... was too close," Kenn said, breathing heavily.
"Don't get your hopes up. There are more in the starport."
"What I wouldn't do for a shuttle right now..."
The truck approached the starport. Dave noticed that several Drones and Praetorians were busily firing away at the Excelsior.
"That's it, Kenn, we're almost there," Dave soothed, patting Kenn's shoulder. "Now we just have to survive... that," he pointed at the Collectors around the Excelsior.
"You make it sound like just another task," Kenn replied, incredulous.
"Trust me, this is not normal. Even by my standards."
The Collectors suddenly turned around to face the truck as it got closer to the ship. Soon, every Collector in the starport was running towards it or shooting at it. Dave and Kenn ducked as bullets and beams flew above them, shattering the windows and bouncing off of the hull.
"Are we heading towards the Excelsior?" Kenn shouted.
"The hell if I know!" Dave cursed. "Hold on a sec." He quickly raised his head and peeked in front of him, then lowered it again as bullets bounced off his barrier.
"We're on the right track. Only a few meters away," he shouted.
"Great, because the hull is starting to melt from all this heat," Kenn informed Dave, gesturing at a flashing indicator on a holo-screen in front of him. The sudden sound of explosions rocked the underbelly of the truck.
"Damn, they got the wheels!" Kenn jumped onto his seat and gripped it as firmly as he could.
Suddenly realizing what was going to happen, Dave grabbed the nearest object to him and held onto it for dear life. Not a moment later, the truck drifted on its side with a screeching sound, then flew up into the air and spun before landing on its roof and sliding for several meters.
Dave slowly opened his eyes, looked around and realized that he was lying on the ceiling, as the seats and control panels were situated above him. He observed that the cabin was completely deformed, with metallic tubes and conduits extended from everywhere. It was awfully quiet, or so it seemed to him.
He heard a quiet moan and immediately tried to ascertain where it was coming from. Kenn was lying a few centimeters away from him, not moving a muscle.
"Kenn?" Dave asked, hoping for a response. A shiver of distress ran through his body when only silence met his inquiry.
"Kenn?" He asked louder and crawled closer to him. Kenn moved his hand a little and two blue orbs shone from behind his mask. Dave closed his eyes and a grin appeared on his face, the feeling of distress replaced in an instant with relief. Only then did he look outside, noticing that they were right in front of Excelsior's landing pad. All they had to do now was to walk up the stairs and board the ship.
"Come on, Kenn. Just a little further to go." He helped him up, then grabbed the Collector beam and crawled out of the truck through where the windshield should have been. Grumbling, Kenn followed him outside. The uncanny sounds of Husks and Praetorians were back.
"I guess the swarms can't paralyze non-humans," Dave said, seeing that the swarms did not pay any attention to Kenn.
"And I'm not complaining. Let's get out of here: the more time I spend here, the harder it is to look at all this. I met a lot of good people here..." reminisced Kenn.
"I know how it is; I've been there more than once. Be strong, Kenn. That's the only thing you can do now." Dave said and activated his communicator. "Lia, are you there?"
"Dave, are you okay? We saw your transport..."
"We're fine," Dave interrupted, worried that the more time they'd spend outside, the more danger they would invite. "Open the airlock; we'll be there soon."
"Understood. Be careful: I see the Collectors are surrounding you."
"Not a problem," Lisea's voice cut in. "I've managed to divert some power to the PD. A few seconds and the turrets will be online. Stay where you are Dave, and let the ship clear the area."
"Got it, Lisea," Lia said. "I'm recalibrating the targeting systems. Cameras and sensors will be offline for a couple of seconds."
"Time for some payback, huh?" Dave grinned. He was about to say something when a deafening screech burst out from behind him. Only one thing could make such a noise: a Praetorian. It just so happened that there was one right behind them, on top of the truck.
"Kenn, jump!" exclaimed Dave as he jumped, landing on his side. A moment later, he heard Kenn's gut-wrenching cries of pain and looked back. Kenn was lying on his chest: the Praetorian had jumped on him and had stabbed him with one of its spearlike legs. He stared at this for a fraction of a second, filled with feelings of failure and anger. Seeing that the Praetorian had raised its other leg to stab Kenn again, he broke free of his thoughts. If Kenn were still alive, this would be enough to finish him.
Dave glowed blue and sent a biotic attack towards the leg with a swing of his hand. The attack hit the leg ,stabbing it only a few centimeters away from Kenn. The Praetorian swiveled toward Dave, removed its leg from Kenn and started floating towards him, sufficiently provoked.
"Come and get me, you son of a bitch!" Dave yelled, determined to keep it as far away from Kenn as he could. He raised the Collector beam and fired at the Praetorian, but its barriers deflected the beam without as much as a flinch.
"You feel this," Harbinger spoke through the Collector. The Praetorian fired two beams at Dave, who quickly rolled on his side, evading the beams.
"That's all you got?" he yelled. It seemed like the numbness in his wounded leg was gone. He felt strength returning to his muscles, fueled by the rage inside him. He fired at the Praetorian three more times, still with no effect.
"Dave, turrets are online," Lisea said through the comm. "Stay clear of the Collectors."
Dave looked at the Excelsior from below. Only part of its wing was visible. A three barreled turret extended from the tip of the wing and aimed at the Praetorian. "Burn in hell, you sick bastard!" Dave yelled. The turret fired at the Praetorian at an incredible rate, shredding it in pieces within a second. Dave could hear other turrets firing at the Collectors on the other side of the flipped over truck, but that wasn't what worried him now.
"Airlock is unlocked," Lia's voice was heard. "The turret didn't hit either of you, did it?"
Dave hesitated. Telling her that he'd failed to protect Kenn would not be easy for him. "No, but that thing managed to jump on Kenn," he finally admitted, running towards Kenn.
"Oh Keelah..." Lia muttered, almost whispering. "Please, tell me he's alive..."
Dave crouched beside Kenn and looked closely at the large hole on his side, where a human kidney would have been. Dave turned him over and pushed his hands against Kenn's chest, hoping to feel his breathing. "He's alive," he said. "I'm bringing him onboard."
"Hold on, Dave. I'm coming out there." Lia said.
"What?!" Lisea dropped in. "He can handle himself, stay inside!"
"She's right, Lia. Don't leave the ship." Dave said.
"Lia? Lia!" Lisea shouted. "Damn it, stubborn as hell! Hold on, I'm coming out there too."
Dave knew there was no point in arguing anymore. He threw Kenn's arm around his neck and slid his hands below him. "Come on, buddy. Let's get the hell out of here." Dave lifted him from the ground and carried him to the stairs leading up to the landing pad, stumbling every time he put weight onto his wounded leg. The sealant must have been damaged when he jumped: the pain had returned and blood dripped down his armor, mixing with the blood from Kenn's wound. He glanced at the Collectors that were shooting at the Excelsior, but the ship's point defence turrets were annihilating them, firing thousands of rounds per minute. He stumbled up the stairs and headed to the airlock, trying to keep himself from falling.
The airlock opened before he was halfway there. Lia and Lisea jumped on the landing pad and headed towards him. Lisea arrived first, took Kenn from Dave's hands and laid him down. "Damn, what did it do to him? Impaled him?" She asked and used her omni-tool to apply medi-gel on the wound, stopping the bleeding.
"Oh no..." Lia crouched beside Kenn. "Kenn!" She exclaimed, pushing her mask against his. "Oh Kenn..." she mumbled, holding back tears. Seeing this scene reminded Dave of every time he'd lost someone close to him. Not this time. This time, no one was going to die - he would make sure of it.
"I can't do much more here," Lisea looked at Dave. "He needs medical help, not first aid. There is a research station orbiting the second planet from the sun. That's where we have to take him."
"Good. Bring him aboard; we can't lose another second."
Lisea gently patted Lia's back, signaling her to move away. Lia got to her feet and took a couple of steps to her side, allowing Lisea to gather Kenn up.
"Wait," Dave said, walked to Kenn and removed the capacitor from his suit. Lisea turned around and ran towards the airlock.
"Is he going to..." Lia swallowed. "Will he..."
Dave suddenly turned to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Lia was caught by surprise, but a second later, she reciprocated the gesture, wrapping her hands around his back and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Everything's gonna be fine, Lia. We'll save him," Dave averred. They stood like that for a few seconds, embracing, savouring the comfort they gave each other. Then Dave slowly moved back and showed her the capacitor.
"We need to get out of here, first," he said.
"Alright, I'll get that plugged in." Lia grabbed the capacitor and prepared to leave. Suddenly she looked down at Dave's wound. "Keelah… your leg..."
"Don't worry about it, I've been through much worse."
Lia crouched and applied medi-gel to the area. The pain quickly faded away and Dave felt numbness in his leg again. "Do you have to disagree with me on everything?" Lia said, raising herself to her feet.
"Since you're healing wounds, you missed one," Dave nodded at the hole on his shoulder. Lia used her omni-tool to apply medi-gel there too. "Much better," Dave exhaled. "Now, let's go help Kenn."
They headed to the Excelsior and were relieved to discover that she was still firing at the Collectors, turrets twitching around aiming at different targets. They split up after entering the ship. Dave used the elevator pad to get to the cockpit, then got into the pilot's seat and removed his helmet.
"Lisea, how's Kenn?" Lia inquired anxiously through the intercom.
"Alive. Can we get the hell off this planet already?"
"Just a second," Lia said. A moment later, the whole ship came to life. The generators and life support started humming, all the lights flared and the engine could be controlled once more.
"Good work," Dave said as he started the engines. "Get up here, we still have to escape the Collector ship."
"On my way."
Dave diverted more power to the engines, causing the ship to shake. Lia arrived shortly thereafter and quickly occupied the co-pilot's seat. "I have to warn you, I'm still not sure if this will work. I don't know what kind of targeting system the Collectors are using," she said.
"Nothing that can overcome your magic, I'm sure," Dave replied with a smile.
Lia took a deep breath and placed her arms on the screen in front of her. "Okay, I'm ready."
Dave throttled up and the Excelsior slowly lifted from the ground, revealing itself to the Collector ship. Lia kept tapping buttons and pulling holo-levers. A strange sound reverberated all over the ship, a sound that evoked a large force of electricity running through a thick cable. "Outer hull polarized. Polarizing the atmospheric particles," Lia said.
"Collectors are charging weapons." Dave said nervously, checking his monitor.
"A little more… done!" Lia exclaimed as she removed her hands from the screen.
"Cross your fingers. We'll need all the luck we can get," Dave said and increased the ship's speed. Suddenly, a yellow beam of light passed right behind the Excelsior. Dave accelerated again, his heart pumping as fast as it was when that Husk had jumped him. The ship's hull glowed red from the heat and the Collector ship's beams flew all around it. However, it was only a matter of time before the Collector ship was out of sight and its weapons had stopped firing at the Excelsior.
"Lia…" Dave looked at her, breathing heavily. "You just saved all our asses."
"Let's hope we can save Kenn's."
"We will. Get down there if you want, I can take care of the ship from here."
Lia nodded and ran towards the elevator pad. "Thank you...for saving his life," she breathed as she slowly descended to the lower deck.