Well it's pretty clear what I'll do regarding the quarians' faces. No description it is. Sorry for those who may have wanted it.
Mapped: Do I have to pay for shipping and handling? And to your confusion, I guess I should stick to the old way I write. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Chapter 21: Rescue and Revelation
"Darin, we're following the ship as close as we can, but we still need to keep our distance to avoid being detected. This ship is way more heavily armed and armored than that slaver ship that took me and Arenia hostage." Klenon said over the radio. Darin peered out from behind the boxes and looked for the humans that were there a second ago.
"Does the ship even have radars? If they do, maybe Darin can find a way to take them down." Arenia suggested.
"It's impossible to tell from here. The only way we can find out is if we get close enough, but they'll be able to see us if they do." Klenon said.
"Maybe Darin can snoop around for any signs of detection equipment." Arenia said.
"He can. The majority of ships have radars but a few are deprived of that. Darin, if you can, look for radar or ladar equipment that may be hiding somewhere on that ship. If you find any, take them down so we can board the ship and get you some back up." Klenon ordered, cutting the line off.
Darin sneaked to another crate and looked for the humans that had seemingly disappeared. He pulled out Klenon's knife and peered around the corner of the box. He was barely able to make out a sliver of what appeared to be armor. The humans were behind Darin's crate.
Darin lifted himself up onto the crate and laid down, trying not to be seen by the humans. He crawled to the edge and noticed that they were staring at the door ahead of them; they wouldn't be able to see him.
Darin tightened his grip on the knife and raised it high above one of the human's head.
"Hey you think I can ask your sister out?" one of them said.
"What? Why?" the other asked, surprised by the sudden question.
"Dunno. She is kinda hot though."
"I don't know. It'd be kinda aw-"
Darin jammed the knife into the human's skull, making a loud cracking sound. Blood sprayed over the crate behind him, onto Darin, and the human next to the unfortunate man.
"What the fu-"
Darin jumped down and punched the human in the face. He grabbed the knife just as the dead human slid down the crate and rammed it into the human's neck. Blood cascaded from the human's neck as he gurgled his last few words of confusion and anger.
Darin pulled out the knife and cleaned it with his coat. He bent down and took a pistol from one of the human's belt.
He quickly walked out of what he assumed was the cargo hold and found himself in an empty room. He walked over to a door in the corner of the room and cautiously opened it. He poked his head outside into a narrow hallway.
"Griffth and Delara, get to deck three and assist the captain with our passenger." a voice on the intercom said.
"I'm assuming their passenger is Tara. I have no idea what they want from her, but it can't be good." Klenon said over the radio.
"This is why we gotta get her out, but Darin is still going to need to deactivate any kind of detection array beofre we can move in." Arenia said.
"Right. Darin, proceed as planned. If anything goes awry, let us know so we can move in. I want for this to be quick and quiet." Klenon said, cutting the line.
Darin steeped out into the hall and looked to his left and right; no hostiles. He held his pistol tightly in both hands and walked to his left. The ship was quiet. Darin couldn't hear any talking or any other sign of life. The only thing he heard was the ship itself.
He stopped in front of a door and opened it, half expecting there to be someone on the other side. When it did, there was a turian sleeping soundly on a bed against the wall.
Darin pulled out Klenon's knife and sneaked to the turian's bedside. He carefully placed the knife on the turian's neck and cut cleanly through his throat, a slight gurgle was the only evidence to the turian's reaction.
Darin sheathed the knife and searched the room for anything valuable. His eye caught a few boxes stacked ontop of each other on the opposite wall. He briskly walked over to them and pulled off the top.
Inside were a few explosive charges and a detonator. He picked up all of the charges and the detonator and put them in every available space in his coat.
He put the cover back on the crate and sneaked out of the room, leaving the still-bleeding corpse of the turian behind.
Back in the hallway, Darin noticed an asari walking down the hall, facing away from him. Darin pulled out his pistol and aimed down the sights, carefully placing the sights on the back of the asari's head.
Darin was suddenly grabbed from behind. He was pulled to his feet and and an arm wrapped around his neck. The surprise made him drop his pistol.
"Paloa, check this out. Looks like we got ourselves a stowaway." the human said. The asari turned around and saw the helpless salarian.
"Rolana doesn't like having uninvited guests. Guess we're going to have to deliver you to her personally." Paloa said. Darin tried fiercely to get out of the humans grip, futilely elbowing his stomach.
"He's a fighter isn't he?" the human commented.
"He is. I'm sure Rolana will enjoy tearing him apart. I know I would" Paloa said in a sinister tone.
A voice started to come from Darin, which caught both the human's and the asari's attention.
"Looks like someone has some friends looking out for him." the asari said. She walked up to Darin to find out where the voice was coming from.
Darin jumped up and kicked the asari with as much force as he could muster, pushing her back. The human was about to hit Darin until he was headbutted by the salarian, letting him go.
Darin picked up his pistol and shot the asari three times. He quickly spun around and fired one perfectly placed round on the human's forehead. Both the human and the asari fell to the floor, lifeless.
"Darin, you there?" Klenon said.
Darin brought his hand up to his ear, where his communicator was.
"You owe me for that." Klenon said.
"Rolana must be the ship's captain. She might the one who wanted Tara." Arenia said.
"Then Darin may need to find her if we want to know where they put Tara." Klenon replied.
"I would actually advise against that. This person is the captain for a reason. I have no doubt that this Rolana person could hold her own in a fight and she may well have some muscle with her." Rekko said.
"I guess we have no choice but to continue with the current objective. Darin still needs to find any kind of detection units. Darin, we can't wait forever. We can only spare about forty-five minutes before we have to move in, regardless if they know we're here or not. Good luck." Klenon said, cutting the line.
Daron looked around the hall he was in, making sure noone saw the small skrimish. Deciding it was clear, Darin walked down the hall, pistol in hand.
Reaching the end of the hall, Darin stopped in front of an elevator. He pressed the call button and turned around with a leveled pistol, ensuring that nobody will sneak up behind him. A small ding sound was heard, telling Darin his elevator had arrived.
He turned around as the elevator door opened. Thankfully, it was empty. He stepped inside and thought about which floor to go to.
There were five decks, all them would be crawling with hostiles. Darin had to pick carefully. The choice could either keep him alive or kill him where he stands.
Darin ultimately decided to go to the lowest deck, figuring that there wouldn't be much people on what he assumed was the engineering deck.
He patiently waited for the elevator to reach the bottom floor, when he began to wonder if Tara was on this deck. He could set her free and then they could get out of here easier than planned.
The elevator's door slowly slid open, making Darin anxious to see what was on the other side. Darin walked through the half-way open door and was pleasantly surprised to still see noone.
The elevator door closed behind him and ascended to another deck. In front of Darin was a large blastdoor with lockers on both sides.
Darin also saw a computer on the wall to the left of him. He headed towards it and turned it on. A series of numbers came up and a menu came up that had the status of, fortunately, the radar array.
Darin brought up his omni-tool and took a snapshot of the menu's and sent it to Klenon.
"So they do have radars. Darin, find it, shut it down, and we can move in." he said. Darin quickly found the command for shutting down the array, and pressed it. A small window appeared for, unsurprisingly, a password.
Darin, despite the almost-true stereotype that salarians knew everything, didn't know how into a computer. A door lock yes, but not a computer. A thought suddenly popped into his head. If there was an array for the radar, that meant there was a machinery that could be destroyed to deactivate it.
Darin looked through the terminal some more, hoping to find the location of the array. He found a small file that read 'Power Flow' and opened it. Inside was a detailed diagram of the ship. Several blue arrows moved from the fusion plant of the ship, which was located in the back of the ship. The blue arrows all flowed to a grouping of antannaes outside the ship
The array was outside, in the vacuum of space. Darin would have to go outside to destroy it. He looked back at the large blastdoor that took up most of the far wall. It was most likely a large airlock.
Darin then eyed the lockers next to the door. There might be a pressure suit or a breathing apparatus that could let him survive the harshness of the foreign enviroment.
Darin headed toward the lockers and opened the first one. There were various tools and scrap metal, but no pressure suits or apparatuses.
He checked the next locker. Inside was only a helmet for a pressure suit. He still took it out and moved on to the last locker on that side of the blast door. Opening it, he found the rest of the pressure suit. He pulled out the suit and began to put it on.
After Darin put on the pressure suit's helmet, he activated his omni-tool and sent all of the information he learned to Klenon. He then attached all of the charges onto his pressure suit so that they wouldn't float away.
"Good, Darin, find a way to destroy the array and once they're blind, we can go in guns blazing." Klenon said.
"Would that be the smartest thing to do?" Rekko asked.
"Oh, right, probably not. Still, we go in to help you." Klenon said.
Darin stepped in front of the blast door and took a deep breath. He had never been in space. He walked up to a small red panel next to the door and pressed a button. The large blast door creaked open, showing that it hadn't been in use in some time.
Once the door had opened all the way, Darin stepped inside the airlock. The door closed behind him and a cool female voice said "Entering vacuum, please secure your pressure suits."
Air began to be sucked out of the airlock in a blistering pace. Once all the air was gone, the outer blast door opened and the beautiful vista of space appeared.
"Warning, faliure to stay on the ship will result in spacing. Please verify that your magnetic boots are operating at peak efficiency." the voice said. Darin stepped to the edge of the airlock and looked around. His eye then caught the radar array ontop of the ship; close to the bridge.
Darin hopped off of the airlock and his boots immediatly clamped onto the metal exterior of the ship. He was slightly relieved. He didn't think that would work.
Darin hurried to the array as fast as he could in the vacuum, along the side of the ship. Slowly but surely he made his way to the radar array.
Darin finally made it to the general area of the array and climbed to the top of the ship. It was strange. Everything around him was so...quiet; and he was about to ruin it all.
Darin slowly walked up to the base of the array and pulled out the charges. He placed each of them around the base and activated them.
The charges' lights bean to beep, but no sound emitted. Still, Darin needed to get out of there, fast. He hopped away as the charges blared their silent warning.
Darin suddenly felt a wave of heat on his back. The chrages had detonated and the ship was now 'blind'. Darin climbed back onto the side of the ship and began to make his way back to the airlock.
...
"Rolana, our radars have gone down." an asari said below her.
"What? How is that possible?" Rolana said while getting up from her seat. It was obvious the she was irritated.
"I don't know ma'am, but they just sort of...shut down." the asari said, not being able to think of a viable reason. Rolana stepped down the short, metal stairs, onto the CIC.
"Someone is causing trouble. Wake up Verres and check it out!" Rolana ordered. She walked back up to her captains chair and glared at the prisoner next to it.
"You better hope your friends stop here, Tara. Because you're dead if they get any farther." Rolana growled. Tara was on her knees with a piece of cloth over her mouth. He hands were behind her back with restriction cuffs on her wrists.
Tara only look at Rolana for a second before moving her gaze. Hardly caring, she sat back in her chair and ignored her silence.
"Rolana, we can't reach Verres. He's not responding." the same asari said.
"Goddess, where can I find some compentent workers." Rolana muttered.
...
"Darin, we saw that explosion from here. I assume that was the array?" Klenon said.
"It has to be. There would be no other reason for him to blow something up on the outside of the ship." Arenia said.
"She makes a good point. Do we move in now?" Rekko asked.
"Yes. Go in, Rekko. Fast and hard." Klenon ordered.
"That's what she said." Rekko whispered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Darin cut the line and put the pressure suit back in the lockers. Within a few minutes, everyone would be coming in.
He suddenly heard a ding come from behind him. He turned around and aimed his pistol at the elevator door. As expected, a turian ran out, assault rifle in hand. Darin fired three rounds, all hitting the turian in the chest.
Darin holstered his gun and ran into the open elevator. Once the doors closed, the ship violently shook. It was under attack.
"Attention, the ship is under attack. Please report to your stations. This is not a drill." a voice said over the intercom.
"Rekko, find us a way to board that ship." Klenon said.
"I think I see an airlock on the side of the ship. I'll try to steer us there."
Darin pressed a button on the elevator panel to make it go back to the bottom deck. The airlock he went through was the only one on the ship, so that means the other would go through there.
The elevator door opened, he was back on the bottom deck. The ship shook again as the Reinava boarded it.
"Alright, Darin, we're coming in. Hold your position until we reach you." Klenon said. The airlock doors strained to open, but as it did. Klenon, Arenia, and Rekko walked in with weapons in hand.
"Wow, that was fast." Rekko said as he saw Darin just standing there.
"We don't have a lot of time. At any moment they could decide to kill Tara. Let's get a move on." Klenon said, heading towards the elevator; Arenia following him.
"Here, Darin. Thought you might need a little more firepower." Rekko said, handing him a shotgun. Darin took it and went after the other two with Rekko behind him.
"Where would they keep Tara?" Klenon asked himself.
"Let's go with the top deck then work our way down." Arenia suggested.
"Let's do that. I just hope we find her fast. We don't know how big of a grudge these people have against her." Klenon said, pressing the top deck.
"Darin how many did you tak out? If at all?" Rekko asked. Darin thought for a moment before just shrugging.
"Great."
The group just stayed silent as the elevator ascended to the top deck. They kept their weapons ready just in case.
The ding sounded and the door slowly opened, they were at the end of a small hallway. The group walked cautiously out, slightly anxious from the relative silence.
"You'd think there would be more guards." Klenon said.
"They might be trying to use the elevator to get up here." Rekko speculated. He then bashed the panel with the butt of his gun.
"Not anymore."
Sparks flew from the panel as it struggled to stay active, but it ultimately fell dead.
"It won't stall them for long. They're going to have other means of getting up here." Klenon said.
The group hurried down the small hallway. At the end, to their left and right, were staricases that led up.
"Keep your guard up." Klenon advised. They ascended the stairs and once they reached the top, came face-to-face with ten assault rifles.
"So these are the bastards that came after you." Rolana said, getting up from her chair. She was at Klenon's right, on a short, elevated platform. Tara was next to her, not even looking at the group.
"I have to admit you gave me a little scare, but now that I see how many of you there are, I was a fool to think you idiots can overpower me." Rolana said mischievously.
"Why did you kidnap, Tara?" Arenia demanded.
"My buisness is none of your concern. Keep your nose out of it you quarian whore." Rolana growled. A bullet suddenly whizzed by Rolana's head. It had only missed her by an inch.
She looked around for the source of the bullet. She then noticed Klenon with a smoking rifle.
"You need to shut the hell up." Klenon said.
"Looks like I shouldn't waste any time. Kill them, don't leave any survivors." Rolana ordered. Her soldiers were suddenly thrown backwards. Rolana was surprised to say the least. She didn't see that coming.
"What the fu-"
Rolana was thrown from her seat of command and thrown to the floor. She noticed the blue aura around her. Somebody had biotics.
"You guys know what to do. I'll take care of her." Klenon said, glowing blue. He walked biskly over to the asari and grabbed her by the neck. He dragged her across the floor and and 'threw' her to the wall. She hit it with immense force, leaving a very noticable crack on the wall. When she landed on the wall, Klenon grabbed her by the neck again and slammed her against the wall, making the crack bigger.
All of the soldiers got up and turned their guns at Klenon, only to get shot at from behind by the group. They were torn between helping their captain or not getting shot in the back. They chose the latter.
Klenon dropped Rolana on the ground again and charged his biotic energy in his hands. Rolana stuggled to get to her knees and blood flowed from the back of her head. She pulled herself up just to get blasted by the full force of biotic energy.
She was blasted through the concrete wall into a supply room. Klenon follwed her through the hole that he made. Rolana got up and pulled out her pistol. Klenon slapped it aside and, again, wrapped his hand around her neck.
Klenon pulled his other hand back and a large ball of dark energy formed in his palm.
"There is no fucking way..."
"Why do you have to insist on cursing all the time?" Klenon said, tightening his grip. Rolana charged her own biotic energy in her hand, determined to even the odds.
Klenon grabbed her wrist and twisted it around her neck, putting his hand that was filled with dark energy in front of her face.
"I have to admit, you're not as formidable as I thought." Klenon said calmly. Rolana kicked Klenon from behind, getting free from his grip.
She tried to run to get some distance from each other, but she was suddenly lifted into the air and thrown to the ground, making a sickening crack.
"You're a stubborn one aren't you? Might aswell put you out of you misery. You have no place in the galaxy anyway." Klenon said, walking up to her. He put one hand on her chest and the other on her forehead.
Klenon began to glow blue from the biotics and within a second, Rolana began to scream violently. As the glow intensified, so did her screaming. Blood began to stream from her face and through her clothes. She furiously kicked in the air, trying anything to get away from the pain.
The pain was unbearable. As if someone stabbed her in the forehead with a white-hot rod. Burn marks began to form around Klenon's palms. Her body convulsed in pain...then slowly stopped. He limbs slightly twitching as the last bit of life left her.
Klenon finally moved his palms and saw what his power had caused. The result was nothing short of...atrocious. But then again, so was her attitude towards Arenia.
"Keelah se'lai." Klenon whispered, closing her still-open eyes. Klenon stood up and looked back through the hole behind him. He was just now hearing all of the gunfire in the bridge.
The hole he made was in the middle of the firefight and five of the soldiers were already dead. The last ones had taken cover behind various tables. Klenon ran in and pulled out his pistol, shooting at and killing one of the soldiers.
"Are you done, Klenon?" Rekko shouted over the fire.
"I am now."
Klenon walked back to his team's cover while firing back at the soldiers. He noticed that Tara was still where she was before he fought Rolana. Klenon fired three more rounds, wounding one of the soldiers, he then ran over to Tara and began to release her.
"How about you help us out here, huh?" Klenon said as he took off her restriction cuffs. Once her hands were free, Tara pulled off the cloth from her mouth.
"With pleasure." she said. She got up to her feet and fired a warp at the wounded soldier, killing him.
With four soldiers left, Darin grabbed something from his pocket, it was a charge that he didn't use on the array.
He activated it and the charge began to beep furiously. He threw it over the cover, and as expected, everyone behind the cover began to panic. The charge detonated, annihilating everything in the area.
"Go, Darin." Tara said.
"Good thing you kept that handy." Klenon said.
The group got together to take a moment to breath.
"Now, Tara, would you mind telling us why these guys kidnapped you?" Klenon asked.
"I knew she hated me for doing it, but I didn't know she hated me that much." Tara said to herself more than Klenon.
"Who was she?" Klenon asked, crossing his arms.
"That was Rolana, a young thief...and my sister." Tara said.
"Your sister?" Rekko said, shocked.
"We both were thieves, but I gave up that life; she didn't. I told her that it would lead to nothing, but trouble, as evidenced by Darin and I getting imprisoned by the CS. But that was only out of necessity!" Tara justified.
"Then why was she so pissed at you?" Rekko asked.
"When she didn't listen to me, I thought the best thing to do was to turn her in. So I did. Just so that she would learn her lesson. She was arrested and I thought I was done with that." Tara said.
"But it wasn't." Arenia said.
"No, guess she broke out of jail and wanted revenge. Didn't think she would be able to find me." Tara confessed.
"There some bad luck for you." Klenon said.
"Well now that has been settled with, we should get out of here. There's nothing left for us." Rekko said.
"Um...thanks you guys. For rescuing me." Tara said somewhat awkwardly. She looked through the large hole Klenon made and saw the still body of her sister. It brought of feeling of depression to her.
"No problem, Tara. We quarians look out for our own." Klenon said, subtlely getting closer to Arenia.
Always have, always will.
...
"Klenon, could I talk with you?" Arenia asked while sitting next to him on a couch. They were back on the Reinava's crew quarters.
"Of course you can, drema." Klenon said, putting his arm around her.
"Exactly how much do you trust me?"
Klenon found that question somewhat odd. Why would she need to know how much he trusted her after all they had been through.
"I trust you with my life." Klenon said with a smile. It brought some relief to Arenia, that was good.
Time to come clean
"I wanted to tell you something rather important. It involes our race." Arenia said.
"What is it?" Klenon asked. The fact that she had to tell him something that involved their race caught his attention.
"What I'm about to tell you cannot be revealed to anyone. And I have no doubt that it's something everyone in our species wants to know. It's something that's been kept secret for 200 years." Arenia said.
"Okay and why do you need to know that I trust you?" Klenon asked.
"Because I want to know if you'll think I'm doing something for the right reasons." Arenia said.
"Alright, so what is it?"
Arenia stumbled over her words, trying to find a way to best tell him.
"I don't think I can tell you." Areni said. Klenon inwardly sighed, he wanted to know what this secret was.
"So I'll just show you." Arenia said, getting up.
"Where are you going?" Klenon asked.
"To the bridge. C'mon." she said.
...
"Rekko." Arenia said.
"What?"
"I need you to follow these coordinates." Arenia said, handing him an OSD.
"Uhh. Okay." Rekko said, putting the OSD inside the Nav Computer.
"Um. Arenia, are these coordinates right? They're leading us to the edge of the galaxy." Rekko said.
"They're definitely right. Just follow them." Arenia said.
"Whatever." Rekko said, directing the ship towards the coordinates.
"Where are we going, Arenia?" Klenon asked from behind her.
"You'll see." Arenia said, walking back downstairs.
...
Arenia and Klenon sat together on the sofa. Klenon had been constantly asking her where they were going to which she only replied "Wait."
"Klenon, can't you just wait a few hours." Arenia said during their latest talk
"Well you are hanging this over my head so can you blame me?" Klenon said.
"Uh guys. You may want to check this out." Rekko said over the intercom.
"We're here." Arenia said, getting up from the sofa. The two got up to the CIC as fast as they could, both eager to see their new destination. Once they got up to the CIC, Klenon looked through the glass in front of Rekko. What he saw astounded him.
There was an enormous metropolis in a large clearing in a forested area. The buildings were made of stone and reached high into the sky. The city was surrounded by large concrete walls that were forty feet high.
"Arenia, where are we?" Klenon said, almost speechless from the sight. Arenia looked at him and simply said
"The Enclave."
My greatest creation so far.
Yay for the return of the Vemoren. That's what I'm calling that biotic power now. Vemoren.