Title: Shine in the Storm
Prompt: "The Darkest hour of the Night" for the me_challenge 12-19-2012 Insanity Round at the masseffect community on livejournal.
Characters: Hannah Shepard, Peri Whitaker (OFC), David Shepard (OMC)
Disclaimer: Mass Effect is property of EA Games and BioWare. I own nothing except the original characters and the idea behind this shortie.
Pragia, for all its uselessness to the Systems Alliance, wasn't a planet Hannah ever saw as a reasonable place to stuff with civilians. The first attempt to colonize the planet ended in such a way that the Alliance typically denied any involvement with the non-indigenous plant and criminal massacre that drove them off-planet in the first place. History books and terminals spoke little of it; it was a relative footnote of irrelevance in the illustrious and troubled history of the unified systems.
Nothing this budding Lt. had to worry about, or so she thought. The rapid increase of attacks on the fuel depot situated within the Dakka system was beginning to cause some worry within Alliance brass, especially when the civilians became targets. Hannah didn't think much of it at the time, another situation someone else would handle, not her problem. Then David was requested to report to their C.O. and the next thing she knew, she and their team of eight (not including Peri, herself and David, which made ten) was being sent down into the thick hide of the planet to curb the increasing pirate and merc activity that attracted the trouble to depot.
"But why attack a depot and retreat to the planet furthest from the damn depot? It makes so, sense," Hannah mused, looking over the map. "Protection, probably. Planet life is said to be worse than when it first went nuts. It's the perfect cubbyhole," David mused. That meant the whole station would be babysitting duty until they returned to look after the mini-Shepard's and right before Jane's birthday ("She's gonna hate me," was all Hannah could think). Sufficed to say, the team's sentiment was that if the pirates don't kill them, the plants would. Being the optimistic man he was, David mandated any further behavior damning them to the afterlife would result in disciplinary action. "We've dealt with mercs before, this time is no different," He said. "Yes, sir, mon capitaine Shepard, sir," Peri quipped as she readied the ship to depart for the Mass Relay. Their friend was never one for boosting morale, the sarcastic creature she was.
Depending on whom you asked, planetfall on Pragia either went off without a hitch or was like experiencing a tumble dry without the dyer. For most of their team, it was a cakewalk, primarily as a result of dropship two taking the brunt of the fire from monitoring towers armed with NFHI artillery canons strong enough to split the dropship in two. When Hannah came to, the darkest hour of the night had fallen, it was raining and she was hanging upside down in her seat, firmly dislodged from the back half of the dropship, now sitting snug in the riverbed.
Peri and David managed to bail from the dropship without incident, the worse of their troubles being wet boots and a concussion from "landing" front half of the drop ship into the thick of trees. Most of the team on their ship was scattered, most likely working to regroup with the first dropship. When Hannah was discovered by the wandering Shepard and Whitaker, the "landing on your ass" jokes were more than a bruised pride could handle, what with the blood pressure in her head being unbearable. Cut loose from the seat's harness, Hannah joined the pilot and captain on the trek across unchecked and humid wilderness, periodically checking herself over whenever a bruise made itself known. "We lost most of our stuff in the crash, hopefully the rest of guys have located those towers and taken them out. We won't be able to get anywhere near that damn base if those AC's are still active," David recounted, wiggling his soggy foot. "I think there's something in my boot."
"I'm sure it's nothing your manly feet can't handle," Hannah patted him on his side.
"Thank goodness I left my ship in orbit," Was all Peri could consider. "To think that could've been her, blown to oblivion and by a damn AC, no less."
"We're lucky we're not dead, AC or no," David muttered.
"I guess it wasn't such a bad idea leave Mattie at the wheel, yeah?" Hannah grinned. Peri's face puffed at mere mention of the rookie pilot who was far too eager to situate herself in the pilot's chair. She prepared to respond to her friend when David interjected. "Whitaker, take up the rear, Shepard, front and center." The two broke apart and took their assigned positions as David fell into the center. "We're still on a mission, so keep the chatter to a minimum, alright?" Hannah could hear the terseness in his voice as she checked her pistol over. "This is not a sight-seeing tour."
"What crawled up butt and died, Shepard?" Peri muttered.
"A goddamn artillery canon," He retorted. "I'm a little pissed there was no mention of them in the Intel and I'm feeling decidedly under-prepared for this crap. Now cut the chatter."
"Yes, sir," They responded in the affirmative.
"I don't think the captain likes flying, Lt," Peri intoned as she pushed a shrub from under her arm.
"I don't think captain likes crash landing in dropships, Whitaker," Hannah remarked as she continued to scope out the encampment just below. "Understandable, considering this is a first."
"I mean, I can't say I was cool, calm and collected myself when the ship came apart, but the captain… he was freaking out and I ain't even lying. We both thought you were dead when you went flying."
"I thought I was dead," Hannah remarked.
"He had the shakes something bad once we got out that scrap heap," Peri continued on. "I had to check him over more than once when he started rattling."
"I'll check with him later on about any injury," Hannah sighed. "I count five batarian on guard duty. All of them are bearing an insignia I've seen before."
"Let me see," Peri leaned toward Hannah and held out her hand. Hannah placed the binoculars in her care without incident. Peri adjusted the focus accordingly; she scanned momentarily before catching sight of the insignia Hannah mentioned. A circle suspended above the head of a male lion's head and Kukri underneath, cradling the lion's mane. With a tap of her finger, she captured an image of the insignia before the merc moved out of her line of sight. "Any idea what it is, Per?"
"Not a clue, Lt.," She said handing the binoculars back to her. Hannah sighed in frustration. "Great. Shepard."
"Go ahead," David said.
"We've located an encampment just a few clicks from the base. Their definitely mercs, but we've no idea who's faction they're with. I'm sending you an image, now."
"Well… I won't be much help in that regard, either," He said after a moment. "I've never seen this one before either."
"Did you find the others?"
"Well, I found Rocky, Brandon and Demarco," David muttered.
"And?"
"Some warthog looking thing had them for lunch," He replied.
"How do you know it was a warthog thing?" She asked.
"It just tried to eat me. Ate the end of my rifle, though," He answered. "Smells delicious."
"You are so gross, David."
"If the others are alive, they're maintaining radio silence or-" Hannah's hand jerked away from the earpiece at the not so far off boom of an explosion somewhere off on the base. Black smoke billowed upward into the air followed by the screech of metal crashing into the earth. The batarian mercs abandoned their posts and rushed into the thick of the forests, shouting orders in their native language.
"The heck was that?" Peri scrambled upward into a crouch, snatching their sole pistol off the ground.
"I do believe we found the rest of the team, Lt. Rendezvous on my point. Shepard out," He said. Hannah hooked the binoculars back onto her belt; dusting the soil from her armor she followed Peri down the slope into the thick and toward David's position. "You alright without a pistol?" Peri asked.
"Yeah, I've got a backup," Hannah answered, patting the sheath on her right arm.
"Hey, you okay?" In any other situation, David might've been reluctant answer the question, but sitting in corner of their quarters, hands visibly shaking as they held his helmet, he assumed he had no choice.
"Peri said you were real shook up after what happened."
Shaking his head he scooted over to allow Hannah space on the bed. "It was nothing I couldn't handle," He answered. Hannah regarded the blue and red accented helmet with some suspicion, reaching over she took the object from his grasp and sat it on the floor next to her feet.
If the bed were high enough from the ground, she might've kicked the helmet underneath. As it stood she was content to have within her jurisdictional space. Opening her hands, she intertwined her fingers with his in an attempt to quail the shaking. "Have you gotten appointment yet?" She said.
"I'm scheduled for the day after whenever we get back," David huffed. "I don't think I need it-"
"Of course, not," Hannah interjected, stopping him cold in his tracks. David regarded her with an exasperated look. Ever since they'd destroyed the base, he'd fallen under Hannah's watchful eye and he could only assume Peri told her something - the conspicuous looks the pilot gave him when she met his gaze were rather telling. "-But, I've got an appointment, you don't have to ask. And yourself?"
"The same, actually," She said. "Holland thought it was important after he received the footage."
"That bad?" David grimaced. Hannah scratched the back of her neck in hesitation. "Yeah, I was surprised myself. I don't really remember how I fell," Hannah mumbled. "Still, emotional management and all that."
"How are the kids?" He asked, changing the subject.
"I could only hail one of them; John says he's fine, he spent most of his time with his friends. He also tells me Jane is pissed we missed her birthday and has vowed never to speak to us," Hannah replied. "So, they're alright, just… being kids I guess."
"That's good, that's always a good thing," David breathed, feeling the tightness in his chest ease some. Adjusting his fingers he stared down at her hands, his hands weren't shaking anymore.
"You didn't hear it from me, but, according to Peri, Holland plans on trying to persuade the Alliance brass into using the NFHI artillery canons for outposts in hostile territory," She explained.
"How does she know?"
"Peri has friends and high places. Trust me, I don't know how she does it," Hannah grinned.
David felt his heart skip and a tremor run down his arm. "Is that right?"
"Yes, apparently, he feels the military should be on top of whatever rogue tech is being used and turn it against the enemy."
"Yeah, except, the Alliance would never go for it. NFHI's are notorious for overheating worse than standardized turrets. They're useless in active combat," David said.
"I agree, which is why she also thinks they'll just turn him down flat. So-" she readjusted herself on the edge of the bed and nudged him on the shoulder. "You hungry?" She asked, switching gears on the conversation. "Peri and Ernesto are having this thing on the observation deck-"
"Uh, not really, I'll eat whatever's left in the fridge," He cut her off. "You have fun, though."
"Right," Hannah frowned at his response, but got the message. Pressing a kiss to his head, she untangled her fingers from his and headed for the door. "I'll see you later."
(FIN)
Author's Note: So, what started out an open ended drabble that was already far too length for the required challenge, turned into a little something more.