The Red Moon Collection - 5 - The Empty Night

Chapter 25

ISV Aberrant, Fathar System, Omega Nebula

Will pressed his back to the wall and sunk to the ground. He turned his eyes up to the sleek, sterile lights that lined the ceiling of the bunkroom and stared blankly as he tried his best to maintain a steady cadence of breathing.

"FTL drive is looking stable," Shansa's voice announced over the ship's intercom. "But the capacitor levels aren't where I want them to be. I'm putting us on course to Dorgal so we can discharge before continuing on to the Citadel."

Will sighed heavily. He, Vayren, and Shansa had promptly decided that the Citadel was to be their destination before he had ducked out of the bridge to collect his thoughts. The past few weeks were a blurred eternity in his memory. He had no idea how long he sat motionless on the floor before the door slid apart and set of boots appeared beside him.

"Captain Hume…"

Will's eyes refocused as he turned his attention to the quarian standing beside him. Tul'Sorrin knelt and looked him over curiously.

"Are you feeling alright?" Tul asked. "Were you hit?"

"Barely feeling anything," Will replied weakly. "So damn tired."

The quarian looked to the ground. "It has been a long couple of days."

"Where is everyone?" Will mumbled.

Tul'Sorrin dropped down to sit beside him. "Most of them are down in the armory putting up their gear… something I don't have to worry about."

Will nodded. "Right, right. I should do that at some point."

They sat quietly for as few moments until Will cleared his throat.

"You had people die under your command," he said.

The quarian looked to him curiously. "I did. Many of them just days before you came to my aid on Kaddi's moon."

Will leaned his head back on the wall. "It never gets easier, does it? I don't know why I keep expecting… hoping that it will get easier."

Tul chuckled. "I suppose that's more realistic than hoping that you'll never have another casualty."

"I mean, these weren't even mine," Will said with a shake of his head. "The security officers… they weren't my responsibility. Why-"

"Why?" Tul interrupted. "Why do you care that good people died? Because you're a normal person, Will. I may not be the grand, wise dispenser of advice that you're looking for, in fact, I've made quite a few bad choices in my life, but what I can tell you that it's not abnormal to feel this dread. We all feel it."

Will laughed and closed his eyes. "Fuck, when you put it like that…"

Tul chuckled. "I'm glad I could help you with this breakthrough. People dying is sad! Who could have theorized such a concept alone?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," he said said with a smirk.

The quarian laughed in response and pulled himself to his feet. "It's okay to wallow in your anguish once in awhile, Will, but we're all going through this." He shrugged. "And I'm here to talk if you need to."

He opened his eyes and stood with a grunt. "Yeah, I know. Everyone is. And I'm lucky for it."

Will's omnitool chimed to alert him of a new message.

Debriefing in command center in five minutes.

"Did Shansa send this to you as well?" Will asked as he looked up to see Tul peering down at his own omnitool.

"Yes," the quarian answered. "I assume she wants everyone there."

Will nodded and stepped toward the door. "I don't want to get stuck with a bad seat…"

"Right behind you," Tul replied.

The pair made their way to the command center to see Shansa and Kallux already talking quietly by the table at the center of the bridge. Shansa glanced over and gave them a nod of acknowledgment as Will approached her while Tul'Sorrin hung back near the end of the table.

"This is gonna be rough," Kallux grumbled.

"No shit," she replied with a heavy sigh.

Will raised a brow. "What's that?"

Shansa crossed her arms and shook her head. "You know more about what happened than I do," she said.

He had only given Shansa and Kallux a quick breakdown of the events that had transpired after their squad had split during their evacuation.

"How is Sergeant Lectus?" Will inquired.

"I was just down in the medbay with him," Kallux answered. "He's stable. And he insisted on attending the debriefing."

Tul snorted. "That turian isn't breaking any stereotypes."

The hall door slid open as two salarians entered. Seltara held out a holopad and narrated its contents aloud as Vayren read along and nodded while he scratching his chin in consideration.

"Under normal circumstances the data might be considered inconclusive," she concluded. "But circumstances are far from normal, my friend."

Vayren nodded solemnly. "I am acutely aware."

"Got something to share?" Shansa asked.

The salarians came to stand near the center of the table with the others.

"Soon," Seltara answered.

One by one the others began to file into the room. Some had found the time to remove their armor, while others still had weapons attached to their hardpoints. Sergeant Lectus was one of the last to arrive with a staggering limp and heavy eyes. Fynnis and Binta were the final members of the crew to find spots at the table. They had volunteered to tend to Bo, who had been rushed to the medbay and remained in bed.

"That leg is bad," Fynnis announced.

"Yes, yes," Binta agreed. "Quite bad."

The turian looked to Shansa and shook his head. "We've done all we can at this point, but we need to get him to the Citadel fast."

"I know," Shansa replied with a hint of aggravation. "But we have to make this stopover to discharge or the ship's going to fry halfway through the FTL flight."

"Sounds like we need a medic," Kallux mentioned.

"Medic skills, decent," Binta declared. "But medic… is not doctor."

"I can put out some feelers," Fynnis said in agreement. "See if we can find anyone."

Sai chattered his beak. "We must debrief, yes?"

Shansa nodded softly. "Yes. And I think I'll let Will take the lead on this one since he actually knows what the hell happened down there."

"Things… did not go well," Will said. "Sergeant…"

The turian officer let out a small grunt. "Qien, Prectus, and Thentorios aren't here," he pointed out. "I may be a grunt, but I'm smart enough to know where to set my expectations."

Will looked around the table to the dozen or so pairs of eyes watching him. "Unfortunately, the story isn't as simple as you all probably think."

He took a deep breath and placed his hands on the table.

"After we split, our group continued on toward what we thought was the network hub," Will began. "Resistance was surprisingly light, which should have given me an inkling that we were walking into an ambush." He shook his head. "Too many things in my head at once, I guess. Didn't really think about it."

"An ambush?" Kallux asked.

"Not in the traditional sense," Will clarified. "Doctor Prectus wasn't in his right mind. He led us back to the mess hall and by the time we realized what was going on that… thing appeared."

Will turned his eyes to their raloi companion. "Sai, we saw a mutated raloi there."

Sai raised his chin. "One of my people?"

"Yeah. The first one I've seen or heard of," Will continued. "But the fucked up thing was that she wasn't mindless like the other Reaper pawns. She spoke to us." His voice and grown quiet. "Doctor Prectus seemed subservient to her and knew her by name. Neira."

The raloi leaned forward. His eyes were just barely visible through his mask, but their gaze was unmistakably sharp and focused.

"Neira," Sai repeated. "It… could not possibly be…"

"Who is she, Sai?" Shansa asked.

The raloi snapped his beak shut as he contemplated for a moment. "Do not know certainly. Could not know for certain."

Tul cleared his throat. "I recorded our conversation." The others looked to him. "If you would like to see."

Sai appeared reluctant, but nodded in agreement. "It would be best."

"Right then…" Tul'Sorrin lifted his omnitool and tapped in a few commands.

The holoprojector at the center of the table blipped to life. Tul quickly adjusted the holocapture software's settings to dissolve away the irrelevant features such as the overturned chairs, bullet-riddled tables, and piles of debris that cluttered the vid. The team watched intently as Tul scrubbed through the capture until the sound of the door sliding apart allowed the mutated raloi to step into the frame. She spoke only a few words before Sai muttered for Tul to stop the video.

"It is her," the raloi said. "Enough for now."

Tul tapped his omnitool to disable the playback. "I'll… attach the vid to the mission summary after the debriefing. If anyone needs to see it in its entirety."

"Thanks, Tul," Will acknowledged before turning back to Sai. "Who is she, Sai?"

The raloi rapped his claws on the floor. "Lady Neira," he answered. "One of the raloi's highest rank Wing Marshals. For a time, at least. She commanded large military forces and held civilian governance during first contact."

Vayren cursed under his breath. "I thought the name was familiar."

"You know her as well?" Kallux asked.

"I know of her," Vayren replied. "As a Spectre you must keep quite an extensive dossier of powerful and influential people."

"Keep it where?" Will asked.

The salarian reached up and tapped the side of his head nonchalantly. "Here. For the more important names, at least." Vayren looked to Sai as he spoke. "The raloi have a very interesting governance. Commander Alaanti, please correct me if I am mistaken, but from my understanding, leaders are chosen based on merit alone through measurable criteria."

Sai nodded. "Yes. Intelligence, physical mastery, tactical cunning, diplomatic prowess, and so on. Leaders are chosen as the best of their prefecture."

"And everyone just accepts them without question?" Shansa asked.

"Of course. And if more suitable leader is found at the end of the term, they pass their power," Sai answered. "This is how our world was. Centuries of such."

"Was?" Will inquired. "Is it not anymore?"

The raloi paused to collect his words. "After first contact, integration with galactic society, some questioned the policies. This is ongoing, you see. Only recent, And one of the most prominent… crusaders for change was her. Lady Neira."

"She had been replaced as her prefecture's marshal shortly after first contact was made," Vayren recalled. "But these high-level changes are the limit of my knowledge when it comes to raloi politics. You are saying she began lobbying to change the governing practices?"

Sai snapped his beak. "Yes. You understand. She is very capable and ambitious. When Turvess was isolated… she would have faded back into society after term as marshal. But seeing the galaxy of aliens all ruled differently, she wanted change."

"She couldn't possibly think the Reapers are the change Turvess needed," Will said quietly. "And no one in their right mind would welcome them to mutilate their body like that."

"Yes, yes," Sai agreed. "You see I am distraught. Lady Niera was proud, ambitious… but not this."

"Whether or not she is serving them voluntarily is not important right now," Vayren declared. "We must report the contents of this geth memory core immediately. And the raloi embassy should know what has become of one of their esteemed leaders."

Shansa nodded. "Agreed. But, Will, I believe you were in the middle of relaying what happened."

"Right, right." He took a deep breath. "If you want to know exactly what Neira said you can watch Tul's vid. Needless to say, she wasn't looking to be swayed away from whatever was possessing her to assault us. After only a couple of minutes things got ugly. She appeared to be able to command the Reaper pawns at will. They obeyed her and initiated an ambush on her command."

"Damn," Fynnis muttered. "The only thing that's given us an edge against these bastards is their uncanny inclination to abandon all tactical reasoning and walk gung-ho into our gunfire."

Will shook his head. "They were on us in seconds. More of them than we could handle, and moving tactically like I haven't seen."

He glanced to Sergeant Lectus. The turian had been standing at ease listening in stern silence since the debriefing started. Will felt a tinge of guilt at his passing glance and found himself turning to look Lectus straight in the eyes as he spoke.

"We wouldn't have stood a damned chance if Qien and Tori hadn't covered our retreat," Will stated earnestly. "They were ready to give their lives for us without a second of hesitation."

The mandibles on Lectus's face tightened. "It… sounds like they did what they had to do… when the time came."

Will gave him a solemn nod. "Qien was killed covering us while we escaped. Thentorios was severely wounded, but managed to get out by the skin of her teeth."

The turian's mandibles relaxed slightly. "And?"

"Well, Prectus had either lied about the network junction or led us away from it intentionally, so we still had to find a way to get the hangar door open. Tori wasn't going to… last… much longer. She volunteered to stay behind and open the hangars manually from the flight control center."

"She saved all of us," Shansa asserted.

Lectus grunted in pain. "I should have… should have stayed with you. Damn it all."

Will looked to the sergeant's eyes where he saw the same pain that Tul had pulled him up from just minutes before.

"There was nothing you could have done, sergeant," Vayren said. "We were betrayed and ambushed. Your name would be just another on the list of KIA if you had stayed with our group."

The turian sighed. "I've been… off the front lines for too long," he admitted weakly . "Forgot what it was like… to lose people. And this many."

Shansa cleared her throat. "If we have nothing else to go cover..."

Vayren took a deep breath. "You all performed exceptionally. We survived and escaped a situation that any normal team would not. But unfortunately, I suspect that days like these will not be rare from here on out." The salarian looked down for a moment to collect his thoughts before turning his eyes up and looking to each person around the table. "I am proud to have you all at my side. We will endure. Captain Fischer, Captain Hume, do you have anything to add?"

Will nodded to Shansa. She bit her lower lip briefly as she searched her thoughts. Will could see that she had plenty to add, the only question was where to start, and how much.

"I think we all know that this war is just getting started," she finally began. "It's hard to get reports on how things are going, which I think speaks to how bad this situation really is. Because of that, each and every one of you are welcome to stay aboard this ship for as long as you want. You also shouldn't hesitate to leave at anytime if there other obligations that you must attend to. We all get that. That said, we should all acknowledge that we're in a special position here. I think we're fortunate enough to be in a place where we can not only survive, but make a difference in this galaxy while we do it." Shansa flicked her eyes to the side. "Will?"

He crossed his arms. "Everything I could say they've already said better. We'll get through this."

After a short pause Shansa stood back from the table. "We'll be at the Citadel in about a day. Let's get some rest."

The group broke away from the table with most people meandering back toward the hallway that would take them anywhere but the bridge. Will waited and watched as Shansa walked back to the cockpit to check on a few data feeds before rejoining him at the table.

"You should get out of that armor," she said.

"Yeah. I probably smell terrible."

Shansa cracked a small smile. "Do you want to use my shower? The one in the captain's quarters?"

"Heh, I appreciate it," he replied. "But I'll be fine in one of the stalls in the crew restrooms."

She reached up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Been a crazy few weeks, yeah?"

"Yeah. And like you said… it's just getting started."

Author's Note

Past few months have left me with little time for writing, but thing should be clear for a while now!