Hello comrades~! A delayed Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all! I suck. There is literally no other way to put it.
I know I promised more frequent updates but... life happened. Thing were going splendidly well with my web-serial thingy, which is why it took so goddamn long to write this one down. I actually finished the first arc there, so hurrah for me. Some fucking progress! Soon enough I'll start publishing it so you'll be able to see what the fuck am I spending my time on.
I originally planned to release this around the beginning of the month, just after the new years eve but... fucking work man. I hate holiday season. Got some extra shifts, had to cover a coworker who was sick which pretty much had my first week and a half of this year pretty busy. Granted, my paycheck at the end of this month is going to be fabulous, but it's still time lost on work instead of finishing this...
And it's NOT finished! I was getting so annoyed by the delay and the fact that the chapter was turning out to be so much longer than I initially expected (I blame myself for that) that I decided to split it in two and release this now. It's been too fucking long in my opinion.
So without anymore to say, enjoy the new chapter
"Set us down over there," I pointed at the jungle clearing I could see in the distance as we slowly – for a spaceship at least – flew over the jungle in search for a landing zone.
"Got it," Mar agreed and immediately began to steer us into landing position, "Isn't it a bit too far though? The target is ten klicks away."
"I prefer being on the safe side and have the element of surprise," I said with a shrug, "I'm honestly not sure how good their detection range is. We literally spent a couple of hours flying over from the other side of the planet to avoid detection. It'd be a shame if it was all wasted just because we're too lazy to walk for a bit."
"You'll be the one walking, not me, but I can see your point," the quarian agreed after a moment of thought, one of his hands darting around the various controls as he prepared the ship to land. "Can't guarantee to find anywhere closer anyway and they might've detected us anyway."
I had to roll my eyes at that. As if ten kilometers was an impressive distance. I could run that distance in one go and had no doubts everyone else could do the same. We've taken all the precautions they could but ten klicks was already dangerously close in my opinion.
How I missed the Normandy. When we could get dropped off literally on the enemy's front door and still be unnoticed. "I'd rather not get us any closer than that. I was informed that they have an anti-air battery."
That made Mar pause long enough to give me a confused look, "Keelah, why would a mining facility have one of those?"
I've found myself asking that same question, though I hadn't received what I considered to be an honest reply from them, "Hell if I know. They claim it's for general protection, but it ironically didn't help them all. It's nothing serious but this isn't a war vessel, so I'd rather not risk it," I said with a snort, "I have no idea what why they'd need it anyway since it's a pretty standard mining operation, regular-old metals and all that and in Citadel Space of all places. My bet? They're mining for something not covered in their permits."
That was the most likely explanation. The Citadel Council and Natural Resource Acquisition Committee were pretty hardcore when it came to Citadel space. You could set up mining operations only for what was covered by your permits, which was practically the main reason why so many major mining operations were set up in the Traverse or the Terminus system, where there was no control over what you could or couldn't mine.
On the opposite side of the fence, those who did work under the committee rules anywhere in Citadel Space got to work in frequently patrolled space, lowered tariffs and many other benefits that gave many companies the startup they needed before they moved on to the major leagues. They only needed to go through bureaucracy hell first.
So for a company like Sonax Industries, who had multiple large scale operations all over the galaxy, to have such a defensive set up on what was considered a low-priority resource planet? Add to that the whole black ops-like nature of the mission they gave me, combined with the literal mountain of NDAs we had to sign because they hired us so they wouldn't have to turn to the authorities? That was beyond suspicious in my eyes.
"Either way, it's not our job to worry about whatever the fuck it is they're getting here. We're here to kick out whoever it is that took over the place," I said, shuddering as I remembered all the paperwork I had to sign.
"What if it's something dangerous, or important?" the quarrian pilot asked.
"Again, not really out problem," I admitted and frowned at the look I got from him, "What, we signed the NDAs. I don't want to get sued. We're just going to go in, fix the situation and get out."
"I just hope it won't be something that will screw us over, that's all," Mar grumbled, "Big companies like that are known to screw over anyone they can for profit. We have some stories back home about how the unlucky got involved with them on their pilgrimages. Many don't even get the chance to return."
"I don't think it'll come down to that. As long as we keep our eyes forward, not ask questions and pretend we didn't see anything," I said, not bothering to hide the sourness in my voice. It was too late to have second thoughts now that we were already here, but I couldn't help but dislike the whole situation.
It made sense why they would want to hire us. We were small time and in theory, not too difficult to shut up if the need would arise. I didn't like that, especially that it was correct to an extent.
I remained quiet while I waited for Mar to land the ship, quietly watching his hands moving over the controls as he prepares the ship for the landing. With a final shudder the ship touches the ground and the quarrian begins shutting down the various systems, "Either way, wait for us here. Once we're finished clearing the place, I'll call you in for a pickup," I say once it's apparent that the hard part was over, turning to leave the cock pit, "we'll head out now and hopefully be done with this by the end of the day."
"Keelah Se'lai," Mar offered as a parting word as I walked out and into the proverbial living room of the yacht.
Ella, Honda and Sam were already suited up by that point, fully armed and ready to roll. "Let's head out!" I called out when the three looked up at me from what they were doing.
Within a couple of minutes, we were out of the ship and heading into the jungle.
I wasn't sure whether it was some strange kind of nostalgia or the manifestation of a budding case of Stockholm's syndrome, but I found myself quite… comfortable running through the jungle.
It hadn't even been too long since I was on that jungle planet with Ella, but bizarrely enough it felt as though I almost – just almost – missed the whole thing. Not the overly-violent training, the beatings, the bugs and the nights in spent freezing my ass off, unable to sleep because Ella was waiting just for that so she could wake my up by kicking me in the junk, but rather I somewhat missed the setting itself.
Nature-loving wouldn't really be something I could call myself. Beforehand my experience could be summed up in a couple of camping trips I've had with friends and never too far from the city and frankly I didn't mind that one bit. I was always more of a city kind of guy.
Being stuck in the wilderness, without any signs of civilizations, without any tools or clothes and no hope of rescue was terrifying in more ways than one. My wilderness survival knowledge came from movie and video games and as such was generally useless. I didn't know what to eat, any injury could result in tragedy and the actively hostile wildlife always hammered in the undeniable fact that I was the at the bottom of the food chain.
Until I wasn't.
As I hopped over a fallen tree, I spotted some small creature scurry off into the underbrush and the first thing that crossed my mind was whether it was edible or not.
Man, my mind has gotten weird lately.
We maintained a relatively slow pace – at least for Ella and I – as we jogged through the jungle. Sam and Honda were able to keep up with evident ease, though Sam apparently didn't care for subtlety as she ploughed through the underbrush with so much noise Ella would've smacked me had I been the one doing it. Honda, as expected, was crossing the terrain with no difficulty whatsoever, showing the proficiency of someone who had plenty of experience with crossing such areas.
I took an unhealthy amount of joy from the fact that I was noticeably quieter than he was and no, that was not my imagination at all!
Ella, like always, was completely silent to a supernatural degree. I learned how to cross the jungles silently enough but nowhere near her level, which I quickly began to equate to ancient asari black magic or whatever it was.
Seriously, how is it possible to run through the underbrush without making any noise?!
"We should be arriving soon," I announced as I glanced at the coordinates on my HUD. We were less than a kilometer away from the facility according to the information I had.
Our pace slowed down even more as we unanimously decided to take caution in consideration as we approached the mining facility. We had minimal intel to work with, so I had no idea if they had sentries posted or not, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
Then again, what intel we did have indicated that we weren't dealing with professionals, something that was proven quickly when we didn't encounter a single speck of resistance when the facility came into view.
"Ooh, pretty," Sam remarked, unknowingly echoing my own thoughts. It was definitely a very scenic view.
The facility was situated to the side of a low valley, or what could very well be an ancient crater from eons past judging by the round form of the valley. It appeared that they dug diagonally down into the ground through one of the crater walls, as that was where the main mining facility was. Near to that were other constructions, like what was most likely the barracks, the landing pads, the control tower and a couple of other buildings I could identify the purpose off.
The whole area was cleared of trees but beyond the edges of the facility the jungle was left untouched and from out elevated position we could see the trees stretch off into the horizon.
"That's our place," I muttered as I used the built-in binoculars in my helmet, allowing my HUD to zoom in to get a closer look. I wasn't an expert on mining facilities, but I was certain it should've been more populated than this. That's not to say that it was completely deserted though. "Looks like they've got some LOKI mechs," I reported as I spotted a couple of them patrolling on the elevated walkways that connected all the buildings together.
"I've spotted six of them so far," Sam added in, looking through the scope of her sniper rifle, "a couple of workers too, both armed."
It took me a second to locate them and confirm Sam's observations. Both were men dressed in their work uniforms – even had the safety helmets and all – and were carrying what looked like assault rifles from the Lancer line and they were heading towards the main building entrance, where another two LOKI mechs stood guard.
"Looks like we can rule out an actual third party taking over the place," I mused out loud, "I think it's safe to assume that the workers forcibly took over the operation."
"Low salary wages? They didn't get paid?" Sam suggested jokingly.
"I hope not, since they're paying us too," I replied with a shrug and turned to look at my teammates with an unseen grin, "might as well place your bets now. I say they found something lucrative if it made them rebel like this."
"That's a sucker's bet," Ella replied dismissively.
"No one's going to fall for that," Honda added his own input, his tone just as dismissive as Ella's.
I most definitely did not pout at their attitude. "You could at least come up with some ideas…" I muttered under my breath and turned around to face the facility, shifting my focus to our objective. "Anyway, Sam. This is a good vantage point for you?"
She hummed in thought as she spent a couple of seconds looking around with a critical eye until she finally offered me a nod. "Should be good enough. A few blind spots but you can deal with them."
"Alright. I'm thinking about doing this quietly as much as we can. We don't know how many more mechs they might have but I'd rather not have them all come down on us at once. The place also had a security team but I'm assuming they're all in on it or indisposed, likely the former," I explained as I walked ahead of Ella and Honda as I searched for a place we could start our descent that wasn't too steep, "be mindful of the equipment and everything like that. They specifically asked us to avoid collateral damage."
"What about the workers?" Honda asked.
Now that was a sketchy subject. Sonax had basically given us carte blanche on what we could do with the rebels. "They aren't soldiers or mercenaries, just idiots with guns – unless the security force is with them – and once they realize what they're dealing with, they'll break. If they surrender or look like they'll run, injure or let them live. If they resist… shoot to kill."
As much as I didn't like the idea of killing what basically amounted to armed civilians, I had to be a realist. If they were going to fire on us, I'll be firing right back at them with the same intention to kill whether I liked it or not.
Fucking corporations. As long as we didn't damage the place, they basically allowed us to start a fucking massacre, killing any and every employee in this place that even thought about resisting. The cold, statistical corporate logic was something that I have always hated. The galaxy was a big place after all, and the loss would just be a statistical number. They could always find more employees later and what would happen here would be a good lesson on what would happen to those who thought an armed takeover was a good idea.
As far as Sonax were concerned, the people here were no longer employees anyway.
If Ella and Honda were bothered by my orders, I didn't see it. Then again, I didn't even know why I was looking for it in the first place. Honda was a Yakuza assassin with an impressive body count that likely had more than enough civilians in it. Ella wasn't someone who'd be bothered by it either, considering her past.
I really hated to admit it, but I didn't think I'd lose any sleep over it either. It's something that I've long since come to term with, but shit happens. When it comes down to it, it's kill or be killed and I'd rather be the one who killed. I may hate it, but I'll get over it.
"We'll split up," I said, turning on the comms so Sam could hear me as well, "Ella and I will take the east side, where we can quietly take out the patrolling mechs. I'm not fully familiar with the LOKI line yet, but Honda's stealth tech should still fool their sensors, so he goes in through the south side and clears any opposition he finds. We'll move in and eventually converge on the main facility. Sam will be our overwatch and cover us from above. If we fail to get in quietly and shit hits the fan, fire at will. Any questions?"
Silence was my answer.
Not for the first time I was happy that I had a face-concealing helmet. I was actually kind of worried that they'll have complaints over my plan, and I was more than glad that they had no issues with it.
"Then let's move out," I said and headed towards the east side of the facility with Ella following closely behind.
Our descent into the valley was done in silence as we skulked our way through the jungle, darting between the trees and bushes to minimize our visibility. It took us a couple of minutes to reach the edge of the tree line, where we took cover behind a couple of trees and carefully observed the place in search of the sentries.
I wasn't entirely familiar with the LOKI line just yet, at least as far as their specs were concerned. I didn't know what kind of sensors they might have but considering this was a mining facility I didn't think I'd have to expect anything beyond the basic settings. In other words, they sucked and unlikely to see us unless we stepped out into the open.
"Sam, could you mark down all the targets you can see?" I spoke into the radio and a couple of seconds later the mechs gained a red, glowing outlines on my HUD that made them incredibly easy to spot. There were at least a dozen of mechs walking around the facility as they follow their patrol route.
"You didn't hesitate to take the quiet approach," Ella remarked conversationally as we observed the patrolling robots.
"While we could take them head on, stealth is something I'm really starting to… appreciate," I replied with a thoughtful hum. "Didn't you say it yourself? Minimal actions, maximum results."
"That's only part of it, and not entirely true as you yourself know," Ella said with a chuckle as she unfolded her bow to ready it for use, "My brand of stealth serves a different purpose."
I nodded after a second of hesitation, having already learned and practiced the answer. "Fear."
"Only a few things can be called life's greatest driving forces," she said with a faraway look in her eyes, "greed, anger, jealousy. Fear is one of them too."
"That's a pretty depressing outlook on life if you ask me… but you're not entirely wrong," I reluctantly agreed with a grimace, "but I don't think you're entirely correct either."
"You're young. You have not fully seen the galaxy yet or know what it is capable of. Your little head is still filled with ideals of goodness, justice and high morals. As if there's such a thing as good and evil, or that there's some kind of order that balances it all out."
Despite the face concealing helmet I wore, she was staring directly into my eyes. It wasn't the almost jovial look that she always wore, as if she was constantly bordering on being amused by what was around her. It was the blank, almost glassy look of Ella the teacher, the coldblooded killer.
"In the end, everything that we do is driven by these emotions, directed by them, even if we don't really acknowledge it. Why does the everyday salaryman wake up every morning and goes to a job he absolutely hates and continues to do so for years?"
I almost rolled my eyes at that example. "Because he's afraid he'll lose his job?"
"Why shouldn't he be afraid of that? Such a man would fear to lose his source of income because that will directly affect his way of life. He won't be able to afford his needs. If he has a family, he won't be able to support them. He won't be able to pay his bills, so he might lose his home and so on it goes. Why did you agree to take this mission?"
The unexpected question got me to raise a curious eyebrow, "because I'm afraid of something?" I guessed, trying my best to follow her logic.
"You don't think it's the right answer? You accepted the job because they offered a lot of money and you're afraid you wouldn't have enough of it in the end. You're afraid you won't have enough money to pay for all our needs," she spoke straightforwardly, "If you cannot afford our needs, the company will collapse and whatever it is you're planning will fail, which means you won't be ready for the Reapers."
Despite myself I still flinched at her words. "I admit that the Reaper terrify the shit out of me but everything else is just regular worries. People worry about such things all the time. Saying it's fear seems too broad. It's oversimplifying it."
"The line between worry and fear is so blurry it might as well not be there," Ella rebuked with no hesitation, "We don't need mortal terror to motivate us. A little push, a smidgeon of fear is more than enough. No matter how you look at it, it all comes back to fear."
"Really? Then what about love, friendship, loyalty, duty, justice and whatever else I can come up with?"
"You misinterpret my words," Ella scoffed, "I am not denying their existence, just explaining the motivation behind them. Love and friendship come hand in hand with the fear of losing it. Loyalty and duty come with the fear of failing to keep and uphold it. I can keep going as well because fear is present in everything, even if it's only in tiny quantities."
I remain quiet for nearly a minute while I was processing her words. In the end, I could only sigh. "I don't know if I can look at life in the same way. It sounds miserable."
We didn't really talk philosophy like that before, at least as far as Ella's views were concerned. She had plenty to say about being Huntress, going as far as almost being poetic about but like with everything else that concerned her, she was tight lipped about it.
I was willing to admit that I was fairly cynical person. I couldn't deny the truth in what she was saying after all, but I didn't think she was completely right either. Good and evil were too subjective to truly exist, that much was certain, and I wasn't dumb enough to believe in the inherent goodness in people. I liked to believe in the good things like righteousness and fairness, despite the visible rarity of such concepts I was seeing the longer I lived. The idea that everyone in the galaxy was driven by fear and greed was just too damn depressing for me to accept, regardless of just how true it might be.
Shepard immediately came to mind. Was she driven by fear too? I could certainly see it, and I hated it. The Reapers certainly terrified me, and I was sure that Shepard was not an exception. But that couldn't just be it. Shepard was bigger than that, better than that.
"It is. I wouldn't say it's miserable, but… seeing the good becomes harder," the asari trailed off, finally looking away from me before continuing, "which is why I hope you never look at the world the same way, but nevertheless, knowing fear is an invaluable skill to have. Once you know fear, you can use it and once you can do that, you can turn it into terror."
The emphasize she put into the word made a shiver go down my spine. "Like that decapitation stunt you had me do?"
"Precisely. No one saw anything. Their leader left their sight for a moment and the next time they saw him, he was missing his head. You didn't make them fear. You made them terrified. And when terror comes into play, people make mistakes."
"They also become desperate and that's not always a good thing," I point out, "I'm living proof of it."
My time in the jungle was plagued by desperation and terror, something which Ella had made sure to draw out as much as she could. She was of the adamant belief that only in desperation can someone draw out their true strength and surpass their limits and despite how corny it sounded I couldn't really deny that belief when I lived through it.
She took away all other options, leave only two: survive and surpass, or die. An animal is most dangerous when it is cornered… and in the end, we're animals too.
My words drew out an affectionate smile from her as she met my eyes again. "And I honestly admire you for it but as you will eventually see, you are not the norm. Nine times out of ten they will fail to live up to the challenge. They will falter and then die."
And that was Ella's brand of stealth in a nutshell. Her "challenge". She cornered you and took all your options away. As I was the recipient of her tactics on multiple occasions, I could attest on how unnerving it could be. To know that you are being hunted, cornered like an animal and having no viable way out… all the while not even being able to see her, having absolutely no clue on where she might be?
No other words for it. It was terrifying.
"Well, enough with philosophy," Ella continued, pointedly raising her bow and looking towards the patrolling mechs, "I've taught you enough on the subject. How about you show me how you put it into practice?"
So that's how it's going to play out? Ella and her fucking impromptu test. Here I was hoping we could just sneak into the place, quietly take out the opposition and let it devolve into a shootout when we inevitably need to fight them head on. Now I had to somehow impress my teacher.
I could say no but… goddammit, I actually wanted to impress the damn woman.
"Okay then," I say with a nod, raising my own bow and pressing the trigger, allowing an arrow to extend out into a nocked position, "if that's what you want, then follow after me and watch closely."
Yeah, not very exciting, but this is the build up and I've decided to leave the action for the next part.
So... yes. I suck, I know. But at least my suckiness goes to a good cause! I promise! My web-serial's gonna be awesome, although not for everyone. Urban fantasy is kind of a niche at this point and not everyone's cup of tea but my test audience (a couple of friends) likes it, so I have high hopes for it. By my estimates, I should be able to start publishing it fairly soon, within a few months. Just need a couple more chapters to write, a bunch of stuff to rewrite and I'm done!
I'll definitely let you all know when the time comes. Other than that... new of Mass Effect 5 being in development! Nothing is known yet but dear god , gods and whatever higher force is out there... don't let 'em fuck this up too.
Thank you all for sticking around for so long and most of all, thank you all for reading it! Feel free to leave a review with your thought on the chapter and story in general! Constructive criticism is appreciated, I always try to respond but sometimes this website's wonky notification system doesn't let me know I got a PM, so if I don't respond, I'm apologize in advance. So yeah, feel free to let me know what you thought. You opinions, both good and bad, are like fuel to me and again, thank you all for reading!
Until next time, Delvaro out!