Chapter 12

Illium Entertainment News Update - Salarian director Mal Inoste said said his soon-to-be-released entry in the Path of the Justicar series will revive 6th Dimension Vids' long-running franchise. Inoste told our reporter he remained "true to the series' spirit" while taking it in a "bold new direction" that will make it relevant to contemporary audiences. "I think I've added a lot of innovative ideas to the great foundation that others have created. Everybody makes a big deal out of me being the first non-asari to direct the series, but I think never having seen or heard of the justicars until recently gives me a fresh perspective."

Major Kirrahe, pistol drawn, stepped quickly through the door, then motioned Solik Vass to follow him. The younger salarian put one hand over his mouth to muffle his own heavy breathing as he followed the Special Tasks Group agent. Vass' other hand tightly gripped the pistol Kirrahe had given him. His palm was sweating heavily but the gun nevertheless felt oddly sticky. He realized that was because the weapon's handle was splattered with blood from its previous owner, an Eclipse mercenary Kirrahe had killed just about a minute ago. Vass tried not to let it distract him.

Upon exiting the bare, windowless room that the Eclipse mercs had held him captive in, Vass discovered that he had taken him to the second floor of a two-story warehouse. The top level had just that one room on the top floor and a walkway that ran along two walls and connected to another entranceway that apparently had the stairs to the lower floor. Otherwise the warehouse was one large open area. The building had nevertheless been turned into a maze by the random stacks of containers filling it, some almost reaching the ceiling.

Kirrahe crouched down, moving swiftly and quietly along the walkway and to the entrance to the lower level. As Vass followed him into the stairway he nearly yelped but caught himself before he made any noise. The body of another human Eclipse merc was there, sprawled out on the floor. The angle of merc's head was unnatural, his neck clearly broken.

"It's fine," Kirrahe whispered. "That was the lookout for the mercs who were interrogating you. I got him on the way in. Didn't have time to hide the corpse."

Any number of adjectives could describe the current situation, Vass thought. "Fine" was not among of them.

The Kirrahe's movements became slower and more cautious as they reached the bottom of the stairwell before eventually stopping completely. He motioned to Vass to stay still as well. The major tapped a few buttons on his omni-tool. A few seconds of empty static followed before the major tapped again at his omni-tool and a few voices could be faintly heard emanating from it.

"You left their guns behind too?!" said a salarian voice.

"I didn't have any choice!" barked the voice of the asari that had melded with Vass and then fled the room after Kirrahe arrived. "The STG agent took out all the others in seconds while I was still shaking off the neural shock he hit me with. I'm lucky I got out at all."

"Great!" growled the salarian voice. "So they're both armed."

The major continued to listen and least two other voices were heard but all of them faded in and out and other noises could be heard. "Planted bug by the workers' doorway, one outside, one inside," the STG agent told Vass "This warehouse has only that one doorway leading outside besides the big sliding doors for letting trucks in. Both of those entrances are on the same side. At least four mercs are out there waiting to ambush us as soon as we step out that door."

"What do we do?" Vass asked, his heart pounding. "Wait! We can just call the police, right? The mercs will scatter once law enforcement arrives."

Kirrahe shook his head. "Ordinarily a good idea, except this is Illium. Eclipse and the police here have an arrangement. So we can't rely on the local constabulary. We're on our own."

Vass gulped. "Well, there has got to be some other way out."

Kirrahe, who appeared astoundingly calm to Vass in the face of the present danger, scanned around the warehouse. "Usual plan in a situation like this is to use a mech or some other big, blocky motorized device to provide mobile cover. Unfortunately I don't see one around." The major frowned and rubbed his chin. "Let me think."

After a few seconds, the major turned and lead Vass to the side of the warehouse opposite where the doors were. "You're right, Solik. If we can't exit by the usual method, we find another way out. If we can't find one, we make one. Here, help me move a few of these smaller crates."

Vass quickly spotted the major's objective: a ventilation duct a few meters up the wall. In a few minutes he and Kirrahe had stacked enough boxes to climb up to it. The duct had a large air conditioning unit installed but the major pulled up his omni-tool laser and within a minute he had cut loose all of the unit's fastenings. After a few tugs, the device fell clattering to the floor.

The gap in the wall this created would have been much too tight for anything other than children and the smallest members of a few species to fit through. Salarians were different however. Their bodies had more cartilage and less bone than other races. It would be uncomfortable, Vass thought, but they could just barely squeeze inside.

"I can't make it through with my body armor still on," Kirrahe announced and he began to unfasten it piece by piece. "Solik, while I'm doing this, climb up, squeeze into the duct and see if you can figure out what's on the other side. Carefully."

Vass nodded and climbed up into the duct. He discovered it ran just a few scant meters. At the far end was another air conditioning unit, but far more corroded and old. He pressed his hand against the unit and to his surprise it easily gave way and fell out, followed a second later by a "kerplunk" sound. The fading rays of the days sun shone through the resulting gap. Vass could feel a breeze brush against against face.

A light racket behind Vass indicated that Kirrahe had followed him into the duct. "Solik, what do you see?"

"The warehouse is built on the side of a channel. It's a straight drop of a few meters down to the water. I see a bunch of other buildings on either side of the channel. No sign of any activity," he told the major.

"Nothing at all?" Kirrahe asked, now right behind his assistant. "You don't hear anything either?"

Vass paused and concentrated. There was no sound other than the rippling motion of the water and a light, whistling wind. "Nothing. Very still," he replied.

A few seconds passed before the major spoke again. "You can swim, right?"

"Yes," Vass replied. "In fact, once on the beaches of-"

Vass' favorite family vacation story was cut short by a hard shove from Kirrahe that launched most of his upper body out of the duct. Gravity took care of the rest. The young salarian tumbled into the channel water, which turned out to be deep and quite cold. The temperature had the benefit of putting Vass' mind into sharp focus. He had get to back to the air, figure out where he was and get back on land, all as quickly as possible.

A second after Vass surfaced, Kirrahe's head popped out of the water a few meters away. "Stay on this side of the channel. The current's too strong to try to reach the other side," he warned. "Look around for ladders or something like that."

Vass scanned around, spotted a nearby series of rungs built into a channel wall and began paddling towards them. A few minutes later, both salarians were back on dry land, standing in an outdoor loading area adjacent to the warehouse. They hunkered down behind a large container box near the channel. Kirrahe had brought his armor along with him - the modular pieces could be tightly assembled into a single unit for storage, which allowed the major to drag it through the duct - and he began putting the pieces back on. "Solik, do you still have that pistol?" he asked.

The young salarian, shivering from the cold, checked his pockets. "Yes, although I think I lost one of thermal clips when you pushed me into the channel. You could have warned me first," he replied in between gasps for air.

Kirrahe snapped his body armor's upper torso into place. "Sorry, but I heard through the bugs that some of the Eclipse mercs had entered the warehouse. If they had spotted the duct we opened and fired into it or tossed a grenade, that would have been the end of me."

Vass squeezed some moisture from his shirt and tried to stop his teeth from chattering. "Then they may already know we are outside the warehouse?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so. I was hoping we'd have a few minutes at least before they decided to head back inside. The stack of boxes we left by the duct is a dead giveaway as to where we went. So they know where to start looking for us," Kirrahe replied as he finished reassembling his armor. "I borrowed our 6th Dimension Vids company car to get out here. It's parked discreetly in an alley a few blocks from the warehouse. Hopefully, it escaped notice. If we're lucky, we can reach it before they spot us."

"I don't suppose you have a second cloaking device?" Vass asked.

Kirrahe shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. The one I have is built into my armor, which was custom-fitted for me, so I can't lend it to you either. We'll just have to be alert and ready to fight if necessary." The major checked his carnifex pistol, then gave Vass' pistol a quick look before handing back. "Solik, listen carefully. If they do spot us, do not hesitate. Shoot to kill. Remember: it is you or them."

With that the major beckoned Vass to follow him out from behind the container and into the rest of the loading area. They darted from behind one container to another until they crossed the expanse and reached a street that ran parallel to the channel, whereupon they hid behind another container box. Kirrahe pointed to an innocuous alleyway to their left. "The skycar is in there," he whispered. "We just need to-"

The major froze. Three Eclipse mercs, two salarians and an asari, walked out onto the street a block away to their right. All carried vindicator rifles fitted with the laser pointers. They were slowly scanning the area. They evidently hadn't spotted Kirrahe or Vass but were slowly heading in their direction.

"Solik, I'm going to draw their attention away. While I'm doing that, you get to the car and get it running. Once you do that, ping me on my omni-tool and I'll double back," Kirrahe whispered. He tapped at his omni-tool and brought his cloak up, then darted into the street. The crunch of gravel under his boots alerted the mercs, who began jerkily swinging their rifles' laser pointers around in an effort to pinpoint the source of the sound.

Vass took a deep breath. 'He's counting on me to do this,' he thought as he gathered up his courage. Pistol in hand, Vass bolted from behind the container and towards the alley as fast as his legs could carry him. He was moving at such a pace that he couldn't adjust easily when he reached the entrance to the alleyway and as a consequence nearly tumbled over some trash littering the area. As Vass steadied himself, he looked down the alley and saw the skycar parked about 15 meters away.

In between Vass and the skycar was a human male eclipse merc. He was standing with his back to Vass. His rifle was slung over his shoulder and he was speaking into his omni-tool. "It's gotta be their ride. Why else-" the merc said into the device before spinning around in reaction to Vass stumbling over the debris in the alley.

Vass heard Kirrahe's words echo in his head. 'Do not hesitate.' As the merc reached for his rifle, the young salarian fired. The pistol shot was absorbed by the merc's shields. As the merc got his rifle to his shoulder, Vass continued squeezing the trigger, firing until the pistol overheated. Panicked, he grabbed for a spare thermal clip only to notice a second later that the merc was now lying motionless on the ground. Vass gawked as blood oozed out of a least three holes in the human's chest.

The sound of gunfire outside the alley snapped Vass back to reality. He punched the car's authorization code into his omni-tool, hoped into the driver's seat and started up the engine. The skycar began hovering about a meter off the ground.

"Heading your way! They're hard on my heels!" Kirrahe shouted through Vass' omni-tool.

Vass noted the height of the car from the ground and an idea struck him. "Major, when you get inside the alley, hit the dirt!"

A mere three seconds later, Kirrahe came tearing into the alley. Seeing that the skycar was now hovering, the major instantly grasped Vass' plan and dived forward, leaving himself sprawled out on the ground. A second later two salarian mercs charged into the alley.

Vass pushed the skycar's accelerator to it's maximum. The engine roared and the vehicle rocketed forward. The mercs looked up at the skycar and tried to move to either side of the alley but were too late. The skycar slammed directly into one, flinging him out of the alley and several meters into the street. The other merc was hit on his side and thrown against an alley wall before ricocheting back into the skycar, which then pinned the merc against the wall, the collision having caused Vass to lose control of steering for a moment. He slammed on the brakes and backed up sharply, releasing the merc, who fell to the ground.

Vass opened the skycar door and scanned the alley but saw no one else.

"Major...?" Vass gasped.

"That was some quick thinking, Solik. Well done," said a voice from underneath the skycar. "Now, be a good lad and back the vehicle up just a bit."

Vass drove the skycar back a few meters and Kirrahe popped up. "They called in for reinforcements after they realized I was here. There's at least a half-dozen more in the area. And we've just made a lot noise. So get us back to Nos Astra as fast as you can," the major said as he hopped into the passenger seat.

Before Kirrahe could pull the door down, a hail of gunfire sprayed into the alley and raked across the skycar. Kirrahe fired a few rounds back then yanked the door down. Vass hit the skycar's elevation controls and the vehicle began sharply rising skyward. As soon as it was clear of the alley walls, Vass banked left and pressed the accelerator as hard as he could. He wasn't sure exactly sure where he was heading but he wasn't about to slow down now.