Author's Note: With this chapter, I have completed two personal records: 1) to reach 100,000 words, and 2) the longest chapter I have written so far. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy this somber note to his story. And Happy New Year!
The new equipment had finally fucking arrived! Shepard's eyes gleamed as he saw the forklift slowly depositing the cases. Shepard was back at Terra Nova; it hadn't changed much since the time he was stationed here. Joker had landed the ship at Terra Nova's spaceport. It was rather small if he had anything to say about it. He was sure they'd need to build a new one if they wanted the colony to grow further, but that had nothing to do with him.
The Normandy had been given a budget increase, and he'd indulged his destructive side. New weapons, armor, explosives, mod kits, you name it; it was a soldier's Christmas. He'd taken requests from each member of the team to see what they needed; mostly, more weapons, which was fine by him. He'd have the supply officer sort through these and distribute them later.
But for now, he wanted his new armor. He'd been using a spare set after the events of Eden Prime and his fight on the citadel had wrecked his N7 armor. He scanned the boxes until he found what he was looking for; unlike the rest of the merchandise, which had arrived in wooden crates from the alliance, his special package had come in a large metallic case. Premium armor from less than scrupulous sources. It was 1900, and most of the day crew was getting ready for bed. But not him; he barely slept anyway. He'd rather get his hands on his equipment and ensure it was ready for his next deployment; if things went well, he'd probably be done in an hour; however, if things did not go well, he would probably be up until tomorrow morning.
He tried lifting the armor case up, but it was way too heavy, even for him. He resorted to his biotics, lifting the case up into the air. He couldn't wait to try it on, but he needed to get to his cabin first. When he got there, he deposited the case gently on the floor; it was rather uncharacteristic of him, given that he usually used his biotics to thrown things or people, but he wouldn't dare do so with the box in front of him; that would be a waste of 40,000 credits. Black market armor wasn't cheap. Sure, you could get armor for cheap, but that was most likely a ripoff. The real stuff was moderately priced, but he still wasn't looking for that. He was looking for top of the line stuff, decked out with cutting edge technology, some of it illegal. It's what all the mercenary captains wore when they killed alliance soldiers, just standing there as you fired your rifle until it overheated. Now that he was a spectre, he'd indulge in his privileges and use their own weapons against them: a heavily modified version of Terminus power armor.
He tried opening the metal crate, prying at the cover with his fingernails, to no avail. Deciding he should have picked up the crowbar from the cargo bay, he returned back downstairs, bouncing on his toes in the elevator. When the doors opened, he burst out from the elevator, colliding with Tali and sending her to the floor. He stopped in his tracks. Oops. "Sorry," apologized Shepard as he extended out his hand. She accepted, and he hauled her back to her feet rather violently; she felt as if her shoulder was being torn out of its socket. Shepard continued on without a care in the world, searching for the crowbar in Garrus' tool bench. Finding what he needed, he returned back to the elevator just before the doors closed. It was an odd ten seconds as him and Tali stood there in silence, waiting for the elevator to arrive at its destination so they could go their separate ways. They hadn't really spoken since that night in the mess, and he was inclined to keep it that way. The doors opened and he returned to his cabin.
He got on one knee and gently pried the cover off the box with the crowbar. He deposited the crowbar on the floor carefully. He then turned his attention to the box and the prize that lay inside: the armor. He took it out, piece by piece, laying it out across his room until all the pieces were out of the box. He picked up the helmet and put it on. He grinned, feeling like a kid at Christmas; well actually, is this what Christmas felt like? No, it couldn't be. People celebrate with their family and friends, and exchange gifts. Shepard was all alone, and this was no gift, he'd bought it himself; or with alliance credits, but still, it was no gift. Now his cheery mood was gone, but he still had the armor to take care of.
He took off the helmet and placed it on his bed. Assembling the suit would probably be a pain in the ass, but he was looking forward to the challenge. The end result was supposed to fully encase him in metal and armor; while he found it hard to believe he would be able to move in it, servos built into the joints were supposed to aid with movement. The weight of the upper armor was also supposed to be transferred to the legs of the suit via an internal exoskeleton. Most of the jargon he never exactly understood, but he was assured the end result would make him an agile tank, perfect for a vanguard.
He opened the instruction manual. It was annoying they didn't send these from the shop already assembled; they threatened an additional 5,000 credits, which was outright theft, and Shepard would just not have it; he'd rather assemble it himself. He read the instructional manual for once, specifically because he did not want to break anything. He picked up the screwdriver included in the kit and got to work.
It was four in the morning. He hadn't expected to stay up this late working on the armor, but he wanted to finish it. He'd already taken four trips down to the cargo deck, stolen the blowtorch, and started welding pieces together; he'd have to remember to wear the protective gear next time but honestly, if they were going to send it to him, they could have at least included all of the tools in the box!
The armor was completely open from the back, but according to the instructions, once he put his arms and legs into the suit, it would close around him; hopefully. Time to put that theory to the test. He connected his omnitool to the armor and opened the application. It was a new experience for him, as he'd never really purchased a new piece of technology. He turned the suit on and walked into it. It closed around him. And then it was done.
It felt strange, even a little bit uncomfortable. The cold, hard metal rubbing against his flesh. The suit continued to power up and its joints unlocked, allowing Shepard free movement. He turned around, each step causing a loud thud against the metal floor, and picked up the instructions. The suit didn't feel right, so he must have done something wrong. Oh… Shepard realized; he'd forgotten the suit he was supposed to wear underneath. He disengaged the armor from his omnitool, got out, stripped down to his underwear, and put on the undersuit. It fit him like a glove; a thin layer of gel cushioning in between layers of Kevlar KM-2. It made him feel colder than usual; that was probably the gel. While he may have found himself shivering now, he was confident that in the middle of combat he would welcome the temperature control. He stepped back into the armor and it sealed around him. He found it rather difficult to move, each step taking immense effort.
He decided to take a seat in his chair, and rather than gracefully sitting down as he had anticipated, the weight of the armor broke the chair, sending him to the floor. The landing hurt less than expected, so he assumed the armor was working, at least. He activated his omnitool, and the suit projected it around his gauntleted hand. He opened the application for the suit, scrolling through the settings. He wasn't sure exactly what he needed to fix, so he just started playing around with it. This was probably why the alliance never gave their soldiers these powered suits: they were too much of a hassle to set up. The price was probably another factor, but Shepard hadn't bothered with that in this case. After making some changes, he tentatively got up. He looked down at the chair; it had been utterly crushed by his weight, but that was a sign that bode well for hand to hand combat. He paced the length of the room, testing if he felt any resistance in the armor. In fact, Shepard felt as if he wasn't wearing a suit of armor at all. He couldn't believe it.
Picking up the helmet that he had deposited earlier on the bed, he put it on. Initially, he couldn't see very well. His vision was restricted to the two, narrow eye slits that had been cut into the helmet. But then, like magic, the entire interior of the helmet lit up with a display. He could see everything around him as if he wasn't wearing a helmet at all. He returned to the mirror to look at the full configuration. The armor was…impressive. His entire body was covered in thick armor plates; if anything got passed the shields on this thing, they'd never get passed this armor. Gone were the days of being taken out by snipers, or so he thought. Those areas were movement was necessary, such as around joints, did not have the luxury of having thick armor plates; but they remained protected by advanced synthetic composite fibers that he could not even begin to recite.
He had the armor painted a matte black; it wouldn't do well to walk into battle shining, after all. On his faceplate, a crimson skull had been painted; human, of course. It was the last thing he wanted his enemies to see: what they would become after they'd been left to rot away.
Wanting to take his armor on a test drive, he walked out of his room and jogged the few meters to the elevator. He was already loving it. Weight would no longer impede his speed or movement in battle. He pressed the button to summon the elevator. While he waited, he began to fidget with the options for the heads-up display. Zoom in without a scope, night vision, thermal, target tracker… Where was this thing when he was an ordinary soldier? No wonder some of those mercenaries would never fucking die. The doors to the elevator opened and Shepard walked out onto a dead quiet observation deck. The galaxy map floated in the center, its millions of stars rotating around the galactic core. I wonder what's there? Shepard thought.
He walked towards the front of the ship. He wanted to look out into space. Joker still sat in his pilot's chair, sleeping. Only one of the comm operators was awake, and she looked bored out of her mind. He couldn't blame her; he didn't want to imagine how it must be to sit at a quiet terminal for the entire night with nobody to talk to. He took a seat in the copilot's chair, staring out into space. He could see stars covering the entire sky. With the advanced sights in his helmet, even the dimmest star was a bright spot.
Shepard found the stars oddly beautiful; so many of every color and variety. For a moment, he almost believed that there would be some quiet corner of the galaxy, a corner where he could live alone, in solitude, without the company of others. There must be peace somewhere, or was destruction destined to follow him? Shining, pulsing specks of red, green, blue, and yellow light…its sights like these that he never really got to see: beauty. Those quiet moments when nothing happens, and all is at peace. He wished his life was always like that.
His eyes scanned the sky as he just sat back and relaxed, something he hadn't done for a while. The worries and stresses of the world faded away from him; there was no Saren, or council, or spectre responsibilities to worry about. Just him and the stars. His eyes grew heavy, and they eventually closed, robbing him of the beauty of the stars. The darkness had enveloped him.
Shepard awoke abruptly to someone shaking his shoulder. His eyes were still heavy, and he found it difficult to lift them open. He knew he couldn't have been asleep for long; why would the world allow him to sleep?
"Commander," cried a voice next to his shoulder, "Wake up. We have an urgent communication." It was the comm operator.
Shepard stumbled out of the chair, still in his armor. "Who?" he asked as he rolled his neck, trying to relieve the tension he felt there.
She tossed him the comms headset rather abruptly instead of answering his question. He caught it in his outstretched hand, took off his helmet, and put the headset on. "Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy," he stated into the mic, "who am I speaking with?"
"Please, I don't have much time," whispered a woman. She was clearly scared for her life; Shepard had heard that voice before many times over. "They've taken over the asteroid. They're going to crash it into the planet."
"Ma'am, who's taken what asteroid?" Shepard demanded. Asteroid warfare? He wasn't cut out for this. He was a soldier; how on Earth would he stop a fucking asteroid?
"Pirates. They came out of nowhere and took control," she explained quickly. "You have to shut down the fusion torches."
Shepard slammed his fist into his thigh. Why couldn't he just relax for a night? It would seem the galaxy had bigger plans for him. "Can you give me the location of the asteroid?"
"X57, X57!" she repeated before the comm went dead.
"Ma'am, I'm going to need more than that. Ma'am!" he screamed into the comm, but it was no use. She was already gone. Shepard handed the headset back to the operator.
"Get everyone to battle stations. And I want my team on standby, now!" Shepard ordered.
"Yes sir," the operator meekly replied as she put the ship on full alert.
Shepard returned to the cockpit. "Joker, rise and shine!"
Joker groaned. It was too early. "What do you want, commander? Can't you see it's still night outside? Look, you can still see the stars in the sky," he argued. Of course you could see the stars outside, the ship was floating in space. However, Shepard couldn't tell if the pilot was trying to be funny or if he was still sleepy.
Either way, Shepard was not having any of it. "Get your ass up now, or I am going to break every bone in your body. Find asteroid X57 on your fucking maps and get me there. On the double, mister!"
Shepard stood in the cargo bay with his team. They looked pretty shit, he wasn't going to lie. Woken up at five in the morning and given no time to get ready. If the situation weren't so serious, he would have laughed at Williams' mess of hair. But he found it admirable that they were already in their combat armor, waiting for him to give orders that might send them to their deaths. It's not that he was planning to get them killed, but it was an inevitable reality of battle. It was a shame they hadn't had time to unpackage the new toys they'd gotten. Except for Shepard; he wore his new armor, and he felt invincible.
"Alright, here's the situation," Shepard began to explain. "Pirates have taken control of an asteroid and are planning to ram it into Terra Nova."
"How did they move an asteroid?" Williams asked in shock, a question Shepard had anticipated.
"The asteroid was already being moved by construction teams. Three fusion torches are propelling this thing, and we need to turn them off."
Wrex huffed, a little confused. Sure, he wasn't one for strategy, but there was always an easier way to do things. "Wait, there's a solution we aren't seeing here: can't we just have your ship airstrike the fusion torches?"
At least someone on this ship shared some of his brutality. Alas, it was not an option, and he let that be known by shaking his head. "Unfortunately, not. The facilities are heavily shielded, and the Normandy's guns won't be able to punch through."
Tali raised her hand tentatively, a little confused. Shepard granted her question with the nod of his head. "Why did they shield the torches?"
Shepard started laughing, and Tali just looked at the floor, embarrassed at being belittled in front of the entire squad. "I asked the colony that too. Get this: it was 'meant to protect the torches from terrorists blowing them up'," he mocked in air quotes. It was so ironic, and there was nothing he could do about it. The safety measure reminded him of the inefficiencies of government bureaucrats; where they wanted to help people, they just made things more difficult; and everyday people paid the price. "They'd also taken the amazing foresight to install artillery guns to protect the torches from armored vehicles, so the Mako is not going to be an option either. We're going to have to approach on foot."
His team just stared at him in silence. It would seem that they too did not like the security measures that had been installed to protect the torches, mainly because they would be working against them. Their displeasure was obvious: it was in the anger conveyed in the furrowed brows of the humans, and the barring of teeth from the krogan, and the mandibles tucked close to the face of the turian. The quarian, well, he couldn't really tell given her mask, but he assumed she wasn't happy either. "We have three hours to shut off the torches before the asteroid's orbit conflicts with the colony, so we're going to have to split up to get this job done."
There were six of them in total: Shepard, Alenko, Williams, Vakarian, Zorah, and Urdnot. "There are going to be three teams, one for each fusion torch," he began to explain. The main obstacle was making sure there was a tech specialist on each team to shut down the torch. "Williams and Alenko, you're going to be headed for the first torch, due West of our drop position." He thought he'd pair the alliance soldiers up rather than splitting them to work with the aliens; two alliance soldiers, working under the same protocols and tactics, would face the best odds. "Wrex and Garrus, you'll be headed to the eastern torch." In all honesty, he thought they had the best survival odds. A krogan mercenary with several hundred years of combat experience; plus a turian ex-soldier, and everyone knew the rigors of the turian navy; they would be a formidable pair. Shepard's only worry was that he didn't know if the turian was going to be able to get through the encryption on the torch's controls; Garrus was a good combat technician, he knew that much, but jamming a rifle and hacking a computer system were two very different things. "Tali, you're gonna be with me, headed to the southern torch." Shepard would have rated his chances pretty high at surviving if he were alone; he enjoyed it, even excelled at it. But he would have to protect the quarian all the way to the control panel; she would slow him down, but it was a risk he would have to take. And he didn't want anyone else being responsible for losing the quarian if that's what happened; only he would carry that burden because it wouldn't affect him; loss hadn't bothered him for a while now.
"We're out in ten, so get ready!"
Shepard floated down to the surface of the asteroid, landing with a thud on its cold, rocky surface. The same stars that entranced him hours ago were still there, but now was not the time for gazing. He turned his head to his left, and he could see the planet of Terra Nova looming large in the distance. A ball of green and blue, it looked so much like Earth from up here; he hated that planet: the home of the human race and his childhood caretaker; well, only if you considered poverty a caretaker.
The rest of his team followed him down, landing behind him. "Joker, if the pirates show up with any ships, I'm trusting your discretion with handling them. However, if you don't think you can take them, retreat. I am not losing the Normandy."
"Loud and clear, commander," Joker replied. "And you know I won't lose my baby." Shepard grimaced. He hated the pilot. He was too happy and jolly for a cripple who could barely walk. But the real reason he hated Joker was that he could still smile and live, despite his pain; an accomplishment Shepard could not achieve, nor believe he ever would. So, in that way, Shepard was less than a cripple.
"Alright, we all have our assignments. The coordinates have been uploaded to your omnitools," Shepard said. He took a moment to just stand there; he knew the stakes. "I don't know if we're all going to succeed and come back alive. And if we don't, take solace in the fact that we'll die with another twenty million on the colony!" he yelled, trying to be funny in a morbid kind of way.
Nobody really knew how to react to Shepard's comment. To joke about genocide, even their own deaths (if they wanted to be self-centered), was disconcerting. And the skull plastered all over the faceplate of his armor was not helping. However, this was the commander they had chosen to serve. To most, even the Krogan, despite Shepard's morbidity, these were still questions they'd all faced at one time or another. But Tali, she hadn't had to face these questions until recently. And what was worse was that she was the one going with him to the fusion torch.
Shepard decided he would change one last aspect of the plan before they dispersed. "Listen, I'm thinking we all wait until all teams are in position before attacking. That way, if one of us arrives early, the other pirate groups won't be alerted."
"Hit them at the same time. They'll be disorganized and confused. I like it," Garrus stated. Alenko just nodded his head, not needing to add commentary. Shepard would understand that he got the message.
The team broke apart. Shepard and Tali faced southward from their position. Joker had deposited the team on a plateau, and Shepard's fusion torch was at the base of it, four clicks away. It would be a steep descent, but he thought it was the perfect opportunity to put his armor through its paces. Tali, however, was not so enthusiastic. "Commander, how exactly are we getting down there?" she asked, trepidation in her voice. It was a large drop down a very steep cliff.
Shepard started to laugh a little. "Well, we're going to jump," he said as he approached the edge.
"What? Are you crazy?" she asked. But she didn't want him to reply. She already knew the answer, and she didn't like it.
"Yes," he replied sadistically, laughing again. He jumped into the air, somersaulting over the edge. He floated down gently, thanks to the almost non-existent gravity, and landed on his feet. He looked behind him, only to see that the quarian was still at the edge of the cliff, standing just before the edge. He didn't have the time to deal with the fear of heights. Using his biotics, he pulled her over; he could hear her scream even from down here. "Land on your feet," he recommended to her via the comms.
She landed on her freakishly long toes, which kind of reminded Shepard of a cat. "Don't. You. Dare. Do that again," reprimanded Tali.
"What's the worst that could happen in almost zero-g," he replied, chuckling at his own joke.
Tali could never understand what he found so funny about other people's displeasure. She really did serve a broken man, but at least he'd been generous with the paycheck.
Shepard scanned the valley with his optics. Nobody. They were probably all inside the facility and hadn't realized that Shepard had arrived. That was the benefit of having a stealth ship; if only it had a bigger gun, though. He and Tali would have to run the remaining four clicks. The outpost was in the middle of a flat field, and they could be easily noticed. They'd have to cross the distance as quickly as possible. Shepard was not interested in having a protracted sniper battle without adequate cover. Besides, he wanted to get up close and personal with these pirates.
Unfortunately, his plans of sprinting were somewhat misguided. The reduced gravity made it difficult for him to keep his footing. He'd quickly realized he'd have to bounce his way there. Great, he thought, now they'll see us for sure. He'd have to resort to the spacewalk training he'd been given during the N7 program. Yes, he had been trained, but that was almost a decade ago. He'd never used it since. Even then, most of it took place inside ships and buildings, not in open environments. He tried his best, but he was much too slow, most of his energy being spent propelling him into the air as opposed to covering horizontal distance. However, Tali had grown up in space. Ships didn't always have anti-gravity, or they repaired equipment out in the vacuum. Her favorite thing when she was a child was when the antigrav was turned off during repairs, and all the children would float around, bumping into one another. Moving on the asteroid was almost second nature to her. She quickly realized that if she angled her landing just right, she could propel herself forward instead of into the sky. Shepard saw this as she got farther and farther out in front of him; he tried to emulate her technique but to no avail. He ended up crashing into the ground or twirling in midair when he didn't mean to. It would seem that he wasn't as nimble as her, especially in his armor.
"Tali, try not to get too far ahead. Don't want you getting ambushed all alone," Shepard warned her.
Tali stopped to look behind her. She could only shake her head in disbelief as she watched Shepard tumbling through the air, waving his arms as if it would help him. She jumped back to him in one clean arc and stopped right in front of him. "You're doing it wrong. I thought zero-g was no problem for you," she said judgmentally. Now it was her turn to be mean.
"Ya, I know," he spat. "It's been a while," he added, trying to defend himself.
"Try using your toes, they'll give you more control," she said.
Shepard looked down at his boots and then back at her. "Have you seen these things? That's not going to work," Shepard said as he pointed to his thick boots, trying to make an excuse.
"Then stop putting so much power into the jumps. Strength is just going to send you spinning," she advised.
Shepard didn't like being helped. It made him feel weak and inferior. It had been ingrained in him that if he needed help, he wasn't good enough, that he needed to try harder. He always told himself he didn't need assistance. He'd done everything himself and look how far he had gotten! Help was for the weak, those who couldn't survive on their own and needed saving, like her. "Listen, I'm fine. Just… keep going, I won't be far behind."
"Fine." Even when she tried to help him, he'd been a dick. It was his problem if he wanted to scuff up his armor anyway. So, she continued along the path towards the outpost, moving quickly and silently. Shepard, instead of listening to Tali, redoubled his efforts. He put even more of his strength into each jump and continued to land on his heels. Shepard was so single-minded; he believed every problem had the same solution: just brute force it. Enemy just won't die? Brute force it. Door won't open? Brute force it. Piece of fruit keep sliding away from your fork? Just brute force it. If something was wrong, it was with the world around him, not himself. Not going fast enough on the asteroid? Just brute force it. Yes, because trying even more of the same failure would somehow make it work, at least in his mind.
His legs quickly burnt out, and he became increasingly disoriented and dizzy. So dizzy, in fact, that he couldn't avoid the boulder that was in his way, crashing into it rather loudly and sliding down its face. He landed on his back, feeling a little defeated. Then, he started laughing. An asteroid was hurtling through space about to kill millions of people, including himself, and he was about to fail because he couldn't get to the fusion torch. He stood up, only to find Tali standing about 20 meters away, having gone backward a little. She looked at him, almost expectant, tapping her foot on the ground. "Can you just put your ego aside for one second and listen when somebody is trying to help you?" she asked over the comm. Even with her mask, he could tell she was just glaring at him.
"I didn't ask for help," he replied grumpily.
"But you clearly need it," she argued back.
Shepard started to tentatively walk towards her, the only movement he could do it would seem. When he reached her, she just stood there, arms crossed over her chest. "You didn't ask my permission when you tossed me over that cliff back there. So don't expect me to be any nicer."
Shepard shook his head. "That was different. I…" he tried to say before being cut off by Tali.
"tried to make fun of me?" she offered.
Shepard was speechless, mostly because that was a part of it. But more than that: was he really being one-upped by her? "Listen, can we get back on task? We need to stop this asteroid," he replied, trying to change the subject.
"Exactly," she spat, enunciating each syllable of the word, which only intensified her exotic accent. "So why don't you listen to your teammate for a change the way we can actually get there!" She knew she was taking a risk by being so aggressive. But they still had three clicks to go and they were making very bad time. Besides, her life was at stake here too, and unlike her commander, she was not suicidal. She still had a family and friends she wanted to see again, back at the flotilla.
Shepard stood in stunned silence. He'd never expected her to snap at him like that. He couldn't really get angry, either, because he knew he was wrong. But he didn't want help, even though he so clearly needed it. Suddenly, he heard a voice over his comms. "Alenko here. We've reached the torch and are waiting on your signal."
They were already at their torch? "Copy that, Alenko."
His face was red with embarrassment, and he was suddenly thankful he had the helmet on. He had to get to that other torch now. If not, he'd be putting everyone at risk. "Fine," he finally said.
"As I said before, if you're losing your balance, you need to land on your toes. Try shorter hops too. Also, I'm noticing you're keeping your feet together. You need to keep one in front of you and one behind you," she recommended.
Shepard moved his legs into the stance she suggested. "Ah. Almost like boxing," Shepard commented as he recognized his footing.
Tali tilted her head to the side, confused, a que Shepard was picking up on. "Oh, come on, you do not know what boxing is?" Shepard said as he raised his fists.
She hissed back at him, a sound Shepard was clearly not expecting. Wow, she really is more like a cat, he told himself. Either way, he got the general sense she wasn't pleased with him messing around. "Okay, okay. Ready when you are," Shepard offered, trying to keep the peace.
She pointed her head in the direction they needed to go, signaling Shepard to get moving. Feet apart, use toes, light hops. He jumped once and landed without a hitch before stopping. He jumped again, then stopped. "Okay, I think I got the hang of this. Can we please go now?"
He could have at least said thank you. Without her, the only place she thought he was going was off the asteroid, floating away to oblivion. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. But still, they would be making much better time now, even if Shepard still wasn't as fast as her.
They hid in a shallow ditch, a little over 100 meters out from the torch. Shepard scanned it with is optics, trying to peer inside the tinted windows. While they were originally darkened to prevent UV light from harming the staff, it was now an impediment. "Garrus, are you guys in position?"
"Affirmative, waiting on your signal," Garrus replied, his raspy voice sounding even more robotic over the comms unit. Shepard switched over to the general channel before speaking. "Alright, we're all in position. Remember, your main objective is to disable the fusion torches."
"Got it, Shepard."
"Copy that."
They were waiting on him. Shepard looked up to the fusion torch. It was a towering column of metal which terminated in a bright orange ball of fire. "Commence the attack. I repeat, commence the attack."
Shepard equipped his shotgun, readying himself. He looked over at Tali, her hands shaking. She was scared. Too bad, Shepard thought. He had a mission to complete, and whether she liked it or not, she had to come along as well. "Alright, let's finish this," Shepard said as he stood up from the ditch and made the final trek to the outpost. The second floor hung out over the first, and Shepard hid in its large Shadow. The door was a few feet to his left. It was now or never. "Tali, get this door open."
She got about her work, disabling the doors lock, while Shepard got in position, pointing his shotgun at the entrance in case any attackers were inside the room. His anticipation built, eagerly awaiting combat. He ground his boots into the asteroid's surface, almost like a bull kicking up dirt before it charged. The door's lock turned green, and Tali looked back at him. "The doors unlocked. Just waiting on you."
Shepard nodded his head. "Get behind me," he offered. "If anyone's in there, I'll take care of them." Her job was finished, at least for now. It was Shepard's turn to do his part: kill anyone between them and the controls. "Fucking pirates," he said quietly, trying to work up his anger and rage. He slammed the button on the door. Unfortunately for him, it only opened to an airlock. He lowered his shotgun, confused.
"You didn't think whoever built this would let the door open right into this atmosphere, did you?" Tali asked rhetorically. Shepard fumed quietly to himself; there was always something blocking his path. He reluctantly walked into the room first, and Tali followed behind him, her pistol raised. The door closed, trapping them inside. "Pressurizing, please wait," spoke the feminine robotic voice. He wasn't waiting for anything though. He approached the next door and waited at its side. He motioned for Tali to do the same on the other side. "We need to clear the facility first, then we'll find the control panel," Shepard said.
Tali nodded her head, indicating that she understood. Shepard found it ironic how she was so feisty out in the valley, but now she was quiet, almost scared. This was now Shepard's realm, and she had nothing to add to it. He didn't think she would be much help in the fight unless she was hacking shields or weaponry. He'd have to do most of the killing. The door hissed as it slid open.
Shepard peered into the poorly lit room, finding it difficult to see in the darkness. He burst through the door, Shotgun raised. A wall of crates blocked off his left, creating an artificial hallway. At its end, half a dozen Batarians were already waiting for him. Some held creatures on leashes, which Shepard assumed was their equivalent of attack dogs. Shepard scanned the crates, seeing if anything would be of use to him. His eyes focused on a barrel with a triangle on it, enclosing a flame; warning, it read, highly explosive. Hydrazine read another label.
One of the pirates raised his hand, palm outstretched. "You do know you're going to die now, human. Surrender now and your death will be…"
He never had time to complete his sentence as Shepard picked up the barrel with is biotics and chucked it at them, shooting it as it reached its target. He jumped backward, knocking Tali to the ground as the barrel blew up, sending shrapnel and guts everywhere. The facility's alarms begin to blare, and yellow warning lights flashed in the ceiling above. Shepard was already on his feet, trying to peer through the smoke, but Tali was still trying to get off the floor. An arm landed on her. "Get off of me!" she screamed as she tried to elbow her invisible attacker. The arm fell to the floor, next to her. She jumped up and away from it. Ancestors forgive me, she thought as she looked at the arm; it had been crudely dismembered from the explosion, having come apart at the elbow joint. The skin on the hand had been charred and was still smoking. She felt herself about to vomit and focused on her breathing. That was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She looked forward, only to see Shepard rounding the corner.
Shepard walked through the area where the pirates had once stood. Nothing more remained than blackened parts of bodies. One of the pirates had been blown into the wall before being killed by the heat of the explosion; the imprint where his body hid the wall from the blast remained, clean blue metal in the shape of a person surrounded by ashen streaks. Tali saw this, feeling even sicker. How could anyone do this, justify this? By the time she had reached the corner, Shepard was already engaged in combat with several more pirates. The surprise attack, flashing lights, and ringing ears from the explosion all served to disorient the pirates, some of whom weren't wearing helmets. One by one, they dropped to the ground as Shepard worked with brutal efficiency. Deciding she should help, she aimed her pistol and fired twice. Unfortunately, one of the shots ended up hitting Shepard instead of the mercenary she had meant to fire at. "Sorry," she called out, but she couldn't even be heard over the violence. Shepard himself had barely noticed, his new shields having absorbed the shot. Feeling guilty, she decided she should help in the only way she knew how. She prepared her omnitool, readying the overheat program. Her omnitool pulsed with orange light as her program went to work on the pirates' weapons, rendering them useless. Shepard, although he hadn't seen Tali use her overheat, quickly realized that even though the pirates were pulling the triggers on their weapons, they weren't firing.
Shepard started to laugh out loud, like a maniac. He was enjoying the carnage, especially against the Batarians. The pirates tried to run to the door of the staircase, but Shepard brought down a stack of crates, blocking their escape route. No one would be escaping. Shepard mowed them done with his shotgun until all that remained was a pile of corpses on the floor. With another wave of his hand, he tossed the crates away from the entrance of the staircase. He looked behind him and realized that Tali was still taking cover behind the crates at the other corner of the room. "Come on," he told her over the comms, "we're almost done here."
She heard his voice, and her stomach turned. Yes, she was scared about the entire situation in general. But the eerie sense of glee his tone carried is what scared her the most. She remembered their conversation from a couple of nights ago. What a good soldier was. Now, she could clearly see his interpretation in action. He was unquestioning and killed with a robotic sort of precision and tenacity, almost like the geth. The way he threw himself into combat, reveled in it, embraced it, certainly showed that he indeed was ready to die.
She carefully stepped over the bodies, not wanting to coat her boots in blood. Shepard entered the staircase, quickly turning 90 degrees to cover the stairway. She heard a shotgun fire and saw the flash of light reflect out of the room. A body tumble down the stairs, and it eventually crashed into the back wall of the staircase. He continued up the stairs, two at a time. Tali entered the stairway, following him.
When Shepard arrived on the second floor, he turned to his left and right, quickly spotting three Batarians. He turned his shotgun, ready to fire.
"Wait, wait!" one cried. In a split second, Shepard would have to decide if he was going to kill the pirates in front of him or first hear what they had to say. What could be crueler than giving hope and then taking it away? Shepard knew three mercenaries weren't going to harm a hair on his head. He lowered his shotgun.
"What?" he spat.
The one who had stopped him stepped forward, clearly the leader of the bunch. "This wasn't our idea and I'm not getting paid enough for this?"
"Do you really believe that is going to stop me from killing you?" Shepard asked, taking a step towards them and raising his gun again.
The Batarians retreated backward, trying to stay away from him. "I… I can give you information?" he cried. "I'll give you the name of the person who's running this operation. Balak. He's hiding out in the main complex." The Batarian reached to his belt to retrieve something, and Shepard raised his shotgun.
Seeing Shepard preparing to fire, the Batarian decided to move his hand very slowly, showing he wasn't trying to grab a weapon. Eventually, he produced an OSD. "Here. Those are the coordinates of the main facility and its access codes so you can get inside."
The pirate tossed it at Shepard, who caught it in his left hand. He looked at it, turning it over in his hand as he did so. Determining that it was probably legit, he then tossed it at Tali suddenly, who barely caught it. She hooked it up to her omnitool, scanning through its contents. "He's telling the truth, commander. The access codes for the facility are right here," she said as she scrolled through the files. Tali felt a sense of relief. No one else would die, at least for now. Yes, she knew these were pirates. But she didn't believe every conflict needed to end in death and destruction. Shepard got what he wanted, and the Batarians got what they wanted. She allowed herself to take a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "The facility is a click further south."
Wrex sat on a crate, waiting for Garrus to finish hacking the computer. "What's taking so long, turian," he spat. He'd begrudgingly have to work with this pyjack; his people deployed the genophage, a crime he would never forgive.
"You know, not everything is as easy as it looks, Wrex. Why, do you want to give it a try?" Garrus grumbled.
Wrex roared back, baring his teeth. "No! I'm fine. Now finish your work so we can get out of here."
Garrus was getting frustrated. Between the complex computer system and the krogan nagging him, he'd made very little progress. Garrus got up and unhooked a grenade from his belt. "What are you going to do, throw it at me?" Wrex mocked him.
Garrus juggled it in his hand. "I wish, but sadly no. In either case, if we don't leave this room, I am afraid you will end up dead."
Wrex got up from his crate, a little annoyed. It wasn't the most comfortable seat in the world, but it sure beats standing while being bored out of your mind. "What do you think you're doing?"
Garrus shook his head. "Well I can't exactly crack this thing," he admitted. "So, I thought I'd try the explosive option."
Wrex waved Garrus off. "Step aside, turian. Let me show you how it's done. The krogan way!" he bellowed. He took his assault rifle and began to fire at the control panel. Sparks began to fly, and the system shorted out, but Wrex didn't stop until his rifle overheated and its muzzle was bright red. "There!" he said with pride.
The quiet roar of the fusion torch that was in the background began to intensify, and the ground began to shake. "What did you just do?" Garrus demanded.
"Your job," Wrex replied.
Garrus put his head in his hands. "That thing is going to blow up now!"
"It was your plan!" Wrex argued.
"But not like this!" Garrus cried as he pointed his hand to the mess of circuitry. An explosion rocked the floor. "Fuck this!" He jumped over the railing, landing on the first level. He'd have to run as fast as possible if he was going to escape the explosion.
"Hey, where are you going?" Wrex asked, hopping after the turian.
He didn't stop to answer as he smashed the emergency override button on the airlock. All the air rushed behind him, trying to escape out into the vacuum. Garrus, Wrex, and a bunch of crates were pushed against one wall and gradually dragged outside. Garrus scrambled to his feet and tried running as fast as possible, forgetting they were in zero-g. He hopped away from the facility, desperate to escape the blast. Wrex followed, although not as nimbly.
Garrus felt the force of another explosion. "I hate you," Garrus roared as he looked back to see the fusion torch. It was still burning, even as balls of fire ejected out from its sides and huge metal chunks began to fall off.
"The feeling is mutual, tur…" Wrex tried to say, but the fusion torch imploded, sending out a shockwave of energy. The two soldiers were sent flying high into the sky by the force of the blast. Garrus looked down below him. This would be a rough landing.
The roar of the torch gradually subsided and then went away altogether. Alenko dusted off his hands, signaling that his work was complete.
"Well, that was fast," Ashley commented.
"I'm good at what I do," Alenko replied. Yes, maybe he was showing off just a little, but sentinels never got much respect in the army. Soldiers always looked down on them for having the lowest kill counts. But now was his time to shine. He didn't need a big gun to get the job done.
Ashley approached the control panel. "Why is that light blinking?" Ashley asked. Kaiden turned around, unsure of what she was talking about.
"Huh. That wasn't there before. Looks like one of the fusion torches has suffered a critical failure."
Williams shook her head, although she was smiling. "Shepard?" she asked.
Alenko looked back at the readout. "Surprisingly, no. It looks like it was Garrus and Wrex's fusion torch." Well, that's a little surprising, he thought.
Williams hailed Garrus over the comms. "Team two, you still with us? What the hell happened?" she asked.
Garrus was still lying on the ground, a little too tired to move. "We're fine. Except, Wrex here had other ways of destroying the fusion torched."
Wrex overheard Garrus' conversation and chimed in. "Well, if this turian knew how to do his…" he began to scream into the comm. The next thing Williams heard was a loud metallic clang. Wrex roared, and Ashley was sure she'd have ear damage.
"Fuck you…" one of the two began to say before she turned off the conversation.
Alenko looked at her, waiting for the news. "They're fine," she sighed. Well, not really, but at least they weren't dead, and the fusion torch was destroyed. Now, all that remained was Shepard's fusion torch.
"Thanks for that," Shepard said through gritted teeth.
Tali heard his tone, and her blood ran cold. He wasn't going to let them live, was he. She watched Shepard throw a wall of biotic energy at the pirates, knocking them off their feet. He quickly closed the distance and fired his shotgun at point-blank range into the faces of two of the mercenaries. He grabbed the last Batarian, the apparent leader, and picked him up off of the floor in a feat of superhuman strength.
"You lied, human! You're just as bad as every other member of your race!" the Batarian yelled as he tried to kick Shepard in the chest to no avail. Shepard slammed him back into the ground, knocking the wind out of him.
The Batarian struggled to breathe as he crawled away from Shepard. "Your exactly like the Butcher," the Batarian sputtered. "Are all humans… like that?" he asked, defeat in his voice. Shepard took off his helmet, placing it on one of the crates.
"No. Just the one," Shepard stated cynically. The Batarian looked at Shepard's face, recognizing him. Every Batarian knew that face. It was the face of death. He renewed his attempts to crawl away, but Shepard stepped on his leg, stopping him.
"One day, the sons and daughters of Torfan will be avenged," he gasped.
Shepard paused when he heard the name. Hearing it brought out all the worst feelings and emotions inside of him: anger, hatred, regret. But above them all, one dominated: a deep sadness. For his own life, the ones he had taken, and the one he was about to take.
"They will be," Shepard agreed as his arms wrapped around the batarian's neck and head. "But that day hasn't come yet," Shepard whispered into his ear. In one swift motion, he twisted the batarian's neck, breaking it. He let the body fall to the floor.
The room was quiet for a couple of seconds. Shepard sat there, on his knees, surveying his work. "Is…is it done?" Tali asked, looking away from Shepard. She didn't want to see him execute three people in cold blood; no one wanted to see that. Sure, someone might tell her that she should have had her gun raised in case Shepard needed help. But they would be mistaken because they simply didn't know who they were talking about.
"Yes," Shepard replied quietly. He stood up, hauling the bodies to the side to clear a path to the control room. "Come on, let's finish this," he said as he grabbed his helmet and placed it back on his head. The red skull painted on its face stared at her.
She followed him, her eyes on the rafters instead of the floor. It was her habit to look at the floor when she was nervous or scared. But she knew what she would see if she did: blood and dead bodies; neither would make her feel any more comfortable. She'd seen dead bodies before, either from Saren's men that had hunted her down, or the bodies down below. She thought she'd gotten used to it, but it was so much different when it was cold-blooded murder.
She opened the door to the room and approached the control panel. Shepard just leaned against a wall, his arms wrapped around his chest; almost as if he was hugging and trying to comfort himself. She easily bypassed the lock the pirates had put on the controls. As she worked, she gained the courage to ask a question: "Why did he call you Butcher?" she asked in a quiet voice, almost whispering.
Shepard's head moved to look at her. Even though he had his helmet on, she felt his eyes burrowing into her. She quickly returned to her work; she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer anymore. Besides, he never liked talking about his past. She didn't know why she bothered. The room stayed quiet.
Eventually, she completed her job, and the hum of the engines gradually subsided. They had completed their mission. "It's done," she said.
Shepard uncrossed his arms and turned to leave. "Good work. But we aren't finished yet," he told her.
The orbs of light behind her helmet, the only thing Shepard could see about her face, enlarged. He assumed the unasked question, and he would answer it. "I'm going to find Balak. And kill him. You can regroup with the others if you want. I won't hold it against you," he said somberly.
Tali took a second to answer. Waiting here, all alone? Fat chance. Even then, she wouldn't leave someone behind like that. It was just wrong, and her father would never approve. "No commander, I'll stay."
He activated his comm unit; "Status report! Are the torches disabled?" he demanded.
"Affirmative. Torches one and two are down without casualty's," Alenko replied. "Should I radio the Normandy for pickup?" he asked.
"Belay that, Lieutenant. There's still a pirate stronghold at the main facility. Tali will send the coordinates."
Alenko sighed before turning back to the conversation. "Should we meet up at your location before assaulting the compound?" he asked.
"Negative," Shepard replied. "I can't let them get away." He was walking down the staircase. One of the pirate's bodies still lay at its base.
"Commander…Shepard, that's a suicide mission. You and Tali could die," Alenko argued. "You should wait for the rest of the team."
Shepard sighed. He wouldn't let the pirates get away while they were so close. They would pay. "I know that, Lieutenant," Shepard replied. "I gave her the option to rendezvous with you guys, but she declined."
"Inform the others of our situation. I'll see you later," Shepard added. Alenko hated his job.
Shepard climbed the last step up the hill. He could see the main complex down below. He dropped to his stomach and equipped his sniper rifle. He scanned the valley, spotting several of Balak's men. He looked behind him and saw that Tali was still climbing the slope. Perfect, she was out of the firing line. He returned back to his sniper and homed in on a trio of pirates. Their beige armor easily contrasted against the blue metallic rock of the surface.
He lined up the shot and began to breathe deeply. Then, he stopped breathing and felt his heartbeat. Lub. Dub. Lub. Dub. Lub. Shepard took the shot, hitting the pirate right in the chest. His friends ran for cover, but Shepard stopped them both, placing the two shots in quick succession.
A sniper round hit a few feet to his left, but Shepard caught the muzzle flash. He found the opposing sniper and easily dispatched him. By now, the remaining pirates jumped for the door. Shepard shot one in the thigh, but he managed to crawl through the doors before they closed. Damn it. He put away his sniper and turned over.
Still on his back, he said "Here's the plan. We need to get to that door. We're going to have to get down this slope quickly and run for it. I don't think there're are any more snipers out here."
How reassuring. Tali simply nodded her head. That wasn't a plan, but she didn't have a better one. Shepard got up slide down the slope, creating a trail of dust in the air. Tali followed close behind, and they made their way towards the entrance. Even in this situation, where she felt so out of her comfort zone, Tali felt a small amount of pride in herself: Shepard was following her advice about moving in this environment. Still, it provided little comfort to her. Soon, they would enter the complex and face Ancestors' know how many pirates.
Shepard got to the door and tried to open it, only to find it locked. "Damn it," he told himself. He turned to Tali, desperate. He needed to get inside and put Balak to justice. "Do you think you can open it?" he asked.
Without a word, Tali approached the lock. Shepard took to fighting the wall of the facility, punching it mercilessly with his fists, trying to ease his anticipation. She cracked the lock's software, and with a wave of her hand, the door opened. Shepard disengaged from the wall of the facility and walked through the door, shotgun in hand. Tali took a step back to see the marks Shepard had left. Big dents and scrapes of black paint marred the wall. She turned away and followed Shepard inside the facility.
After clearing the airlock, they walked into a hallway. It was dark and silent. Either way, Shepard knew somebody was in this room. He took another two steps forward and was jumped by a pirate, knocking his shotgun away. He grabbed the pirate's arm, twisted it over his back, and threw him to the ground over his shoulder. He lifted his leg and then brought it down on the pirates head several times, leaving a bloody, oozing mess of shattered skull bones and chunks of brain. He picked up his shotgun and continued through the facility. Tali stepped over the broken body, not giving it a second glance.
The dark room ended in the opening to a vast cavern. Immediately, his position was pelted with gunfire, and he jumped behind a column. Tali followed suit, crawling on the floor to stay out of the line of fire. Shepard peaked around the column, analyzing the situation. Three drones were flying in the center of the room, their machine guns rotating menacingly although they were no longer firing. Two groups of pirates were approaching from either side of the elevated walkway, and a third was approaching down the center of the room.
"Tali, take those drones out of the sky. I'll deal with the pirates. Stay here," ordered Shepard.
"Ok," Tali replied. Shepard stayed low to the ground, using the railing for cover against the drones, and began to charge the pirates coming from their left. Most of the shots were stopped by his shields, but a warning blared in his helmet: the shields were being depleted rapidly. He fired three shots into the group, spraying them with led, before he rammed them like a wrecking ball, sending them sprawling to the floor. The drone stopped firing, not wanting to hit allied units. Perfect. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, tossed it into the middle of the group, and jumped over the side of the railing, landing on the main floor below. An explosion went off, killing or mortally wounding the pirates.
The drone focused on his position again and fired at him. He sprinted for cover behind a support column, but not before his shields broke. "Tali," he yelled into the comm, "I'm pinned down. Take down those drones!"
"Almost finished here," commander. 79% root control on one of the drones, and that number continued to climb. Come on, come on you stupid Bluewire, 98, 99, 100. She now had full control. The commander had said to crash it, but she had another idea. The pirates on the right were steadily approaching her position, and she trained the drone to fire on them. "Take that, you boshtets" she cheered as their bodies hit the floor. She suddenly felt guilty, but the adrenaline of combat would make anyone cheer at killing a rival.
She trained the drone on its fellow autonomous friends and blew them out of the sky. All that was left were the band of pirates facing off against Shepard. She could see him on the platform below. The pirates continued to advance on his position, closer and closer. Shepard barely had time to peak over, fire a shot, and duck back down. Tali turned the drone to face the pirates and activated its cannon again. The pirates were mowed down.
Shepard lay on the floor with his back against the wall. "You cut that too close," Shepard told her over the comm.
"You're alive, aren't you," she replied back as she ran down the staircase to his position. "You alright?" she asked.
Shepard grabbed his shotgun and got up from the floor. He had a job to finish. "Come on," he told her as he ran to the end of the room. He didn't think Balak would stay long after his forces had been defeated.
Shepard saw one office in particular with the lights on. There. As he got closer, he could see a human sitting in the chair. Shepard kicked down the door, only to see a Batarian grab the man by the neck and hold a gun to his head. "Oh, I don't think so, commander."
Shepard roared: "You think a fucking hostage is going to stop me! Do you know who I am?" he demanded.
Balak offered a venomous smile before replying. "Of course I know who you are: Butcher. You know, when I attacked this asteroid, I never expected you of all people to arrive," he chided.
"Put him down, and who knows, maybe I'll kill you quickly," Shepard replied through gritted teeth.
Balak laughed again. "That's not going to happen, human. Not unless you want to kill dozens of innocent people."
Shepard looked around, searching for the others Balak was talking about. "What?"
"There are several rooms, all with several hostages. Each has a bomb. A bomb that will detonate unless I leave here alive," Balak explained.
"You think I'm dumb. You don't even have a trigger in your hand," Shepard taunted.
"I AM THE TRIGGER, BOY!" Balak bellowed. "If my heart stops beating, this place is going to explode. Now back away from the exit."
He wasn't sure if the deaths were worth one pirate. At any rate, he needed more time to think. Shepard backed away from the door, giving Balak room to leave. As soon as Balak was out, he tossed the hostage to the floor. "You won't leave alive," Shepard yelled. "I will find you!"
"Don't you understand, human," Balak replied as he slowly backed away. "You've lost."
Tali tried to help Balak's former hostage, but Shepard kept his gun fixed on the terrorist.
"Why do this?" Shepard asked. "What do you gain?"
Balak spread his arms. "You humans, always encroaching on Batarian space. Taking our land and our resources as our people starve. And all the council does is sit there, doing nothing!"
Shepard scoffed back at him. "It's not our fault that you assholes are always raiding planets!"
Balak, in his hubris, decided to taunt Shepard. He controlled this situation, after all. No human would sacrifice so many just for one pirate, even the Butcher. Lucky he took human hostages because he was sure that if they were any other species, he would have been dead already. "You take our planets and expect us just to sit there?" Balak demanded. "It's because of inconsiderate humans like you that I burned and enslaved world after world under my command."
Behind the helmet, Shepard's eyes burned with intense hatred. The embodiment of his enemy stood before him, and Shepard couldn't kill him because of a few hostages? Shepard would play Balak's little game and hope he'd slip up, to give an excuse to kill him. "Were you responsible for Mindoir, too?" Shepard asked in a mocking voice. In reality, he wanted to scream that question at the top of his lungs until his voice went hoarse, but he needed to find answers.
Balak smiled; he enjoyed inflicting just as much pain on the commander as his people had been dealt. However, he had made one critical error: know your enemy. But he didn't. "Oh I was there alright. My men rounded up so many slaves. One of the best days of my life, at least I would say," Balak taunted. "And you will do nothing about it because you can do nothing."
Shepard started to laugh, and his arms dropped to his side. Misguidedly, Balak was relieved to have the shotgun pointed away from him. "It…it was you… it was you this entire… time," Shepard stated in between sporadic, wholehearted laughs.
"I knew you were fucked up in the head. What's so funny, Butcher?" Balak responded. He was unsure of how to deal with the situation, other than to continue walking backward.
Shepard renewed his question while a single tear streamed down his face; because even under the mask of horrors that he wore, he was just an afraid little kid. "It was you who I was searching for," Shepard cried. He began to walk forward, stumbling like a zombie, too angry to even move his limbs properly. "IT WAS YOU WHO TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"
The man behind him screamed. "No, please! You can't. The hostages will die!" But his pleas fell on death ears.
"What does it mean to you, butcher?" Balak said. He quickly realized he had overplayed his hand. He turned his back and decided to start running.
"I. HATE. YOUUUUUU!" Shepard roared. A biotic bubble formed, energy crackling in the air around him.
The hostage pleaded one last time. "Please, you can't, there are so many people…" he begged. Again, Shepard did not hear him, rage overriding his senses. He was about to live the moment he had been waiting for, even fantasized for, since joining the alliance. Tali just stood there, in shock. "Shepard, you're going to kill…" she tried to say but it was too late.
Shepard, propelled by his biotics, charged Balak, knocking him to the ground. He tossed his shotgun to the side and smashed his fists together. "I'LL KILL YOU," he roared; a deep, guttural howl of agony. Shepard jumped into the air and brought his fist down on Balak's chest, cracking the armor. Balak tried to fight back, but Shepard just picked his entire body up, held it over his head for a brief second, and slammed him down on his knee, breaking Balak's back.
Shepard let him drop to the floor. Balak tried to crawl away, but each time he moved, he was plunged into immeasurable pain. He had gravely overstepped, and now he was going to die here, bombs or not. He realized his mistake too late: "You're a survivor, aren't you?" he asked in a broken voice.
Shepard's reply was another scream of pure rage. He was an animal, any semblance of control having left his body. He brought both of his arms above his head and slammed then down on Balak again. The crack of his ribs was audible. Shepard punched his face into a bloody pulp. Balak was dying, but he wasn't dead yet. Shepard grabbed Balak's neck and tore out his vocal cords; as if that wasn't enough, he went back and started ripping soft flesh out until the only thing really connecting Balak's neck to his body was his already broken spinal cord. Shepard was covered in gore, his hand most of all.
Explosions started to rock the facility. Tali tried to get the hostage to safety, (to be fair, where was safety?), but he shoved her off. "You've killed us all, you fool," he said. Kate, who he'd promised to protect, along with all the other engineers, was dead. He just stood there, a shell of the man he once was.
Shepard stood over Balak's body, silent; his shoulders rising and falling in obvious anger. "Shepard," she yelled, trying to be heard over the noise. "We need to get out of here." But it was like he hadn't even heard her. He just stood there, tears streaming down his face, invisible to the world. The meaning that had animated his life for so long was gone, and his world, like the building around him, was slowly starting to crash down.
A chunk of concrete and steel fell from the ceiling, landing with a loud crash. She wanted to run out of here and leave Shepard behind to die in this place. But she wasn't as heartless and cold as he was; and that was the difference between them. She grabbed his arm and started tugging him towards the exit, all the while screaming his name in a vain attempt to bring him back to reality. His mind was still wrapped up in all that had happened, but a small portion of the soldier within him realized the danger he was in and followed Tali. He ran towards the way they'd come in, running up the staircase and through the dark hallway. Tali stopped at the top of the stairs, trying one last time to beckon the last survivor of this place to escape, even as dust and bits of concrete continued to rain down on top of them. He simply held up his hand to her, almost as if telling her to stop. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then he turned away from her. He wanted to die here, and there was nothing she could do about it. And with that, she followed Shepard out of the complex.
The rest of the Normandy crew arrived at the top of the hill overlooking the outpost. "Yep, that's the place," Kaiden said as he looked at the map on his omnitool and the coordinates they had been given.
The ground suddenly shook from a loud explosion; they could all feel the trembling in their feet. "Are they still in there?" Ashley asked, concerned more for the poor quarian than for Shepard. She was sure whatever danger they were in was mostly Shepard's fault anyway.
"No idea," Kaiden replied. He tried hailing them on the comms to no avail. His face turned into a grimace. He sighed before replying: "The explosions might be interfering with the signal. I can't reach them."
Not wanting to approach an explosion, they remained on the hill, waiting for any sign of good, or bad, news. Eventually, the building imploded under its own weight, the destroyed support columns not being able to hold up the structure; but not before two tiny figures appeared in the distance. Garrus pointed his sniper rifle at them, using the scope to see who it was. "They got out," Garrus said as he watched Shepard sink to his knees, and eventually, collapse outright on the ground. "But I think Shepard needs help."
The team breathed a sigh of relief that Shepard and Tali had gotten out. "Kaiden here," he said as he contacted the Normandy, "we're going to need pickup at our location. And inform Dr. Chakwas of a possible injury."
"Copy that, coming to pick you up," Joker replied. "Did you stop the asteroid, though?" He just had to ask.
Kaiden laughed a little. "Yes, Joker, yes we did." But at what cost? he had to ask himself. Only the commander could tell them the answer, or maybe Tali. But he wanted to know what had gone down inside that building.