Chapter 36:
November 1st, 2180
Jorra Niatsu was edgy, to say the least. She'd spent the last two months with the others [Price, Tyran, Kasumi, and Thane] hunting for any possible shred of evidence as to Chris' location as they could. She'd contacted the Shadow Broker many days ago, all he said was that Chris was alive, but a 'Mutual Friend' was disallowing him from giving any information. She'd contacted many of her old informants, but they all assured her there was nothing to find. She'd tried everything, but 'Cerberus' was too good, and they hid their tracks too well.
Currently, Jorra sat in the living room of her apartment, she saw Kasumi and Thane having a polite conversation at the dining room table, and Price and Tyran were talking about close range versus long range. Jorra was content with slipping into her memories, remembering everything she could about her beloved.
Suddenly, her Omni-tool went off, tearing Jorra from a particularly pleasant memory.
She opened up the messenger, there were two messages, one from 'MALawson', and another from 'FOXHOUND1998', the subjects confused Jorra. MALawson's subject line was '935 Cell Location', and FOXHOUND1998's subject was 'Read the email above before this one'. Her interest piqued, Jorra opened Miranda's E-Mail.
Miss Niatsu.
Attached you will find Ghost's coordinates.
I cannot afford to appropriate a space-worthy vessel for you, nor can I give you the funds to do so.
I will stress, I am not participating in a ground-invasion of this location. You will have to do so on your own.
"Gods, she found him!" Jorra declared, silencing the room.
"What? Lawson found Ghost?" Asked Kasumi's light voice.
"Finally!" Shouted Tyran, "My damned Plates have been itching, sitting in this damned apartment for two months..." He growled.
"Well go on then, where is he?" Asked Price.
"Yes! He's on an uncharted world, she sent me relay-relative location!" Jorra declared.
"Great!" Declared Price, "How do we get there?" He deadpanned.
"We can just…" Jorra suddenly remembered that she didn't have access to Chris' steep funds. With an even greater chill in her heart, she realized that she'd given no thought as to how she would leave the station to retrieve him, at all, in the last two months.
She looked to Thane, who shook his head, "I donate every credit that I do not need to various charities around the galaxy." He said.
Jorra looks to Kasumi, "I steal for the fun, I don't sell anything. I tend to stow-away on cargo freighters." She supplied.
Desperately, Jorra looked to Price and Tyran.
"No money." Said Price.
"Haven't left the Citadel in a hundred seventy nine years, sold my piece of shit freighter ninety eight ago." He said, "And I've no money that'll get us more than food and Ryncol." He added, after a moment's deliberation.
Jorra felt her world crashing down around her, as she realized that she was stuck here on the Citadel. She was right there, she had Chris' location in her hand, and she couldn't get to him!
Her Omni-tool went off again, angrily, she opened it and looked at the messenger, it was reminding her she had an unread message. Frustrated, Jorra opened the email, before she could do anything, the video contained within played.
"Jorra Niatsu. You can call me Solid Snake, but my name doesn't matter right now." Jorra saw Thane's eyes widen, "I happen to know you are in need of a ship and crew to get you to the planet where you can locate Ghost. If you are interested, my associate and I are waiting at Citadel Docking bay D-24. We are waiting." Said the video, which depicted a human with tan skin, a dark brown mullet, and a blue-grey bandana tied around his hair, as well as some sort of mechanical eye patch covering one of his eyes.
"Who was that?" Asked Price.
"It doesn't matter, he knows we need a ship, let's go." Jorra grabbed a collapsed rifle and makes for the door, but Thane stops her.
"Miss Niatsu, I was hired to kill this man, I was told he was a cruel warlord who slaughtered hundreds on an Asari colony." Thane warned her.
"Chris told me of this man, he and another saved him during the Citadel Invasion, and ferried him to the Refuge Center, where Chris managed to save all of those civilians, Thane." Said Jorra, "Chris spoke highly of the man and his companion, it seems that Chris trusts the two, so I do as well. You said you would help me, will you?" She asked.
Thane was silent for a moment, before he let go of Jorra's arm, "Lead the way."
A quarter of an hour passed, in which Jorra and her entourage of killers traveled to the Docking Bays on the Citadel. When she arrived at bay D-24, she found two men leaning against one of the mechanical door. One man was tall, most likely seven feet, he wore some type of heavy armor, and an odd, circular helmet with a golden visor. The man's armor was varying shades of gray. The shorter man wore a blue-grey body suit, and a tan tactical vest not unlike Chris'. The body-suit looked like it was made out of some sort of muscle material, and it enveloped his entire body, from the neck down, Jorra saw some kind of face-mask dangling from the shorter man's hip.
"Miss Niatsu?" The shorter man asked, shoving away from the door, his voice was deep, but not threateningly so.
He extended his hand, "Solid Snake."
Jorra shook the hand once, "How do you know I'm looking for Ghost, and how do you know I need transport?" She demanded.
"A Mutual Friend supplied us with the information…" Snake indicated the armored man with a shrug of his head, "He knew who to call to get the guns and the ship." He said.
Jorra took another moment to look at the armored man, who steadfastly stared at the ceiling above him. She had no idea why, but he seemed incredibly familiar to her. "Who is he?" She asked, indicated the armored one.
"He's…" Snake looked to the man, who's helmeted head snapped downwards to stare menacingly at Snake. The two had a stare down for a few moments, "Call him Noble Six." Snake said, with resignation.
"Do you have a name, Noble Six?" Asked Price, "Sounds more like a call-sign." He noted.
In response, Six just went back to staring at the ceiling, Jorra thought she could detect the slightest hint of sorrow in the man's body language.
"Where is your ship?" Asked Jorra.
"Not here, we're taking a shuttle." Snake said, motioning for them to follow him. The group - including Six - followed him, and they board a vehicle Snake called 'The Pelican'.
Once the group entered The Pelican, and traveled through the Relay, Snake donned a headset and begans pulling up.
"This is Sierra, Bravo, 312, to UNSC Beautiful Annihilation. Come in, Beautiful Annihilation."
Jorra noticed that at the mention of the name of the ship Snake is calling, Noble Six chuckled, marking the first and only time he'd spoken since they've met.
"Excuse me…" Jorra tapped on Six's armored shoulder, Six jumped as a result; Jorra didn't know why though. Six looked to Jorra, his face hidden by the frosted, golden visor. "Who are you? How do you know Chris?" She asked.
Six was silent, as he contemplated an answer. For a while, Jorra thought he wasn't going to answer, but after a few moments, he extended one finger and touched Jorra's chest, above the area her heart would be located, Jorra was surprised he'd indicated the right area, unlike Humans, Drell hearts were located in the center of their chests. A moment later, he removed his finger and placed it vertically in front of the area of his helmet where his mouth would be. Jorra remembered the gesture, Chris had used it as a 'be quiet' gesture. She placed her hand above her heart and looked down at it, before looking back at Six. She could almost detect a hint of sorrow in his posture, but didn't have enough time to look before he - still silently - looked forward again.
"Alright folks, hang on tight, we're heading in to dock." Said Snake over the ship's intercom. Jorra saw a window next to Six, she un-strapped herself to step forward and look through it. Outside she saw an enormous ship, that - if she had to guess - had to be as large as a Turian Dreadnought, floating in the dark void.
"It's… Enourmous!" Said Jorra, as she was accompanied by the others, apart from Tyran.
"It's a Frigate." Said Snake, over the intercom.
"There's no way someone can make a frigate that big, it's got to be a cruiser… Or a dreadnought." Kasumi declared, as she shook her head.
"I'd recommend sitting down, we're docking soon."
Jorra and her group responded by sitting back down in their seats. Several minutes passed before the ship stopped moving, and Snake gave them the 'OK' to get up and leave. When they exited the ship, they found themselves in a massive hanger-bay, which held several other 'Pelicans', as well as a dozen ground vehicles, that looked like nothing Jorra had ever seen.
"Noble Six, Snake, I assume this is the ground-team we're transporting?" Came a deep voice from Jorra's left.
"Yes sir, we've got star-coordinates as well, we need to move out as soon as possible." Said Snake, as Jorra got a good look at the human.
He stood tall, around Jorra's height, at five feet eight inches, and he wore a grey naval uniform. His skin was pale white and his graying hair was shaved, much like Chris'.
"I'll send the data to the navigators, we'll start the relay transitions immediately." Said the man, before he looked to Jorra, "Greetings, Captain Jiin Frost, of the UNSC Beautiful Annihilation." He said, nodding, "If all goes well we should be at the planet your friend is held at within the week."
"How soon? Exactly" Asked Jorra.
"Hard to tell, the coordinates are located between relays, so we'll have to make a few jumps than head into slip-space in order to finish the trip, if I had to guess… Four days."
"Four days!?" Demanded the Drell, "He could be dead by then!"
"He won't die, not there." Came a deep, distorted voice from behind Jorra, who whipped around to see that the words had come from Six.
His solemn, masked expression sent chills down Jorra's spine, as she found herself wondering why he masked his voice with the distorter. The golden visor, in addition to his crossed arms, and the fact that he was leaning against the Pelican unsettled Jorra.
"How do you know?" She demanded of him.
"I just do." Was all he replied with, not shrugging like many humans would, not nodding, nor shaking his head, he just kept his cross-armed vigil against the ship, and stared at her with the unblinking, unsettling golden visor.
When Jorra pressed him further, he simply leaned his head back against the hull of the Pelican, and looked to the ceiling of the shuttle-bay.
She became frustrated very quickly afterwards, and the only thing that kept her from raising her voice was Thane's calming words, "Calm yourself, Miss Niatsu, he is not worth your wrath."
"No! He and his friend know where Chris is! I haven't even given them the navigation data yet!" Declared the Drell woman, "That one -" She pointed at Six, who seemed nonplussed, "- Claims to know that Chris is going to live, and refuses to speak in his true voice, and refuses to answer my questions!" She rounded on Six, "Who are you?! How do you know about Chris!? Why did you help him at the Citadel!?"
Six didn't look to her, "I'm just… A soldier by trade… Long past his expiration date."
Jorra heard Kasumi gasp, but she ignored it, and continued yelling at the human, "What does that mean?!" She demanded, she felt tears threaten to leak from her eyes, "Why do you talk in such ways? Why can't you just tell me!?"
"Your Sinat would ask the same question, of a Mutual Friend."
"How do you know of Him?! How do you know our terms!? No one outside the Drell species knows these things! How do you know what you know!? Who ARE you?!" She demanded, the tears finally springing from her eyes, "Why couldn't you have saved him?!"
Jorra knew it must have been awkward for everyone in the shuttle bay, Six included, but her unquenchable thirst for answers made her ignore the fact, "I tried.", was all Six would say, before he shoved off from the Pelican and walked off; his footfalls made loud banging noises as they hit the ground. Jorra thought she heard him mutter something else, but couldn't recognize it.
Jorra fell to her knees, and was almost immediately brought into a hug by Thane, "I just… miss him so much…" She sobbed, accepting the hug.
"I know, Jorra, I know." Said Thane, as he tried to calm her, "Is there a place she can rest?" He looks to the captain of the ship.
"Uh… Yeah, Snake will show you." Responded the captain, to which, Snake nodded.
"Come, you need rest." Said Thane, as he helped Jorra to her feet.
Pain, and then a jarring numbness. That is all I feel. For an eternity I've been in this cell, and every day I am subjected to endless pain. Every day the image of a woman pulls me through, but I cannot remember this woman. The image became distant, blurry, foggy, after the Doctor carved... Something... Into my chest. If I could have summoned the strength to look at it, I would have, but I can't, so I did not. I cough violently, blood and mucus flies out of my uncovered mouth. I've been getting sicker and sicker as each day goes by, I'm constantly coughing up blood, and I'm always boiling hot, but the doctors refuse to do anything about it, other than ensure me that if I would just tell them what I know, they'd cure and release me. They keep asking me about 'What I know', and I think I told them after a while that I'd forgotten. I shouldn't have toyed with Maxis, because now he and the Doctor will not let up. The know, I know, more than I have let on. But I can remember little, the pain is too much, I wish I could just rest.
The Doctor enters the room, not the bald one, the insane one. I remember at one point, yelling at the bald one, telling him things that enraged him, The Doctor would then make my sessions more frequent, and more tortuous. I've come to fear the tune He'd whistle whenever he would enter the room, just as I've come to fear those few instants before the machine would activate.
The doctor steps in front of me, and moves to the table, where the device was held; that device was currently the second scariest thing in the universe, for me. The first was the person that would hold the device, and had - many times - left it on for days on end; the only breaks during those times came when they had to forcibly inject some grey paste into my stomach. But this time, his hand went not for the device, it went to some large knife. My eyes widened when he did this, the last time he'd gone for the knife, he'd spent countless hours carving something into my chest, deep and slow enough so that it would scar. Thankfully, when he'd done that, I didn't feel it, I'd stopped feeling physical pain long before then, now I only feel pain when they turn the machine on.
"I don't know if you can hear me…" He mumbles, in that high-pitched, accented voice of his, that sent shivers tearing down my spine, "But if you can, Doctor Maxis has finally decided that enough is enough, that the information you have is far too valuable to lose to some infection..." He said the word with an obvious tone of disgust, "So... I'm going to give you a present!" He said, with barely contained glee, as he picked up the knife, "Or... I guess it would be taking away a present..." He muttered, before he whirled around, brought the blade high into the air, and slammed it down onto the table.
For a moment, it didn't register what he did, but when I feel the warm red heat begin trailing down my side, I manage to drag my heavy head around to look at my sick arm. The knife is jutting out of it, the Doctor is working it like a saw, cutting into it, attempting to sever it. Something clicks, as I realize what he's trying to do. I try to scream, I try to do something to vocalize the sudden fear I've been presented with, but my throat is too dry, and my voice, too hoarse.
"Oh… I'm just getting started, mein freund." Said The Doctor, before he dragged the knife out of the skin, and slammed it home again.
I tried desperately to look away, to stop seeing what he was doing to me, but I couldn't. For who knows how long, he saws into the bone, I can feel the blade on my bone, scraping, sawing and cutting away at it. But I don't feel the pain; the machine burned that out of me. In a way, feeling the knife cut into my bone is more painful, than the pain itself. The feeling of having my bone touched is so completely foreign to me, that the shock is causing a pain-like sensation to reach its way into my brain. For countless hours, or minutes, or seconds, I don't know, the Doctor whistles as he slices into my arm. Finally, it comes free, and me left arm is left dangling, limply, disconnected from me and my brain. Before anything else, the doctor slams some sort of circular, glowing red object onto my shoulder, and the bleeding stops after a few minutes.
"Sleep... mein freund... You've been given the... Day off." Said the Doctor, before he smacked me with the glowing red object, and I fell unconscious.