Chapter 22: Chapter 22
Alliances
Chapter 22 : Truly
"Delta, you're falling behind. Do you need assistance?" Kal radios to Mora, the teams lead. His HUD shows the direction of Deltas last known position.
They were to his right, on the other side of a crumbling three story building. He has not seen the indicator move, not since the explosion he had heard.
"Kal" came the weak response. "S...switching com..cough..command to Sti" he heard on the channel then nothing more.
"They're in trouble and we're going to help" Kal says knowing that she heard the message as well. Mora was injured, badly by the sound of her voice and now two rookies were on their own against a missile turret. "Bravo, Charlie. Stay put, be there shortly" he calls on the all channel then adds "Stivin, do you copy?"
"It's my fault, all my fault Kal. I thought I could take out that turret like you did. I..I" Stivin replies trying to explain himself.
"Stivin, hold on. We're coming to you just keep your head down. What's the condition of your team soldier" he says sternly trying to get Stivin to focus on the team and not his fears. All the while both he and Lana were moving towards them, passing through an alleyway even as more dust and debris were shaken loose from another explosion. Finally his HUD registered their exact position, still 38 meters to go. Why the hell were they so far out?
"M..Mora. She's dead, it's all my fault" Stivin replies "Jonn is alive but bleeding again and I can't get it to stop Kal, I've tried but it won't stop bleeding!"
Damn, he's losing it. "Stivin we're almost there. Stay down and just wait for us" then to Lana on her private channel he adds "We may have to sedate him."
"I know" she replies. Reaching the corner she adds quietly "Kal, I see them." Mora was laying half under a collapsed column. The missile must have toppled it on her. Jonn was just laying on the ground about a 3 meters from her and Stivin was trying to remove the arm of Jonn's suit.
Kal could hear Stivin just repeating the same phrase "Hold on Jonn, hold on." Locating the turret he said "Lana, after the next missile we move and we move fast. There's 25 meters of fairly open terrain but we have do this. Got it?"
"Yes Kal, Low and quick. Here it comes" she says as a missile is fired at them.
Waiting until the missile exploded they both moved quickly. Running low they moved trying to use any cover they could. They had covered 10 meters before the next missile was fired and both watched in horror as Stivin, having noticed them, stood up to wave his arm in a hurry up fashion while calling to them "Here, we're right here, hurry!"
"Stivin" yelled Kal, "Get DOWN!" as he braced for the explosion. Seeing movement beside him he yelled again but this time to Lana. "NO!"
Lana had been trying to get to the next pile of rubble and had not seen the incoming missile heading towards Stivin. She moved as quickly as she could to get to cover but the missile was too fast. She had just reached the fallen column as the missile struck. There was enough time for her to witness Stivin being blown apart before she was thrown back violently.
"LANA!" he yelled as he watched her being thrown backwards like an unwanted child's toy. Moving as quickly and as carefully as he could he reached her and for the first time in this mission he was truly afraid. Calming himself he looks down at her assessing the damage. Right arm at an impossible angle, her left thigh with a large gash and her visor. Her visor shattered leaving small cuts on her face, the first quarian face he had seen since his mothers. It was also the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and the most frightening.
Almost 5 kilometers to the shuttle and any replacements, he was almost without hope until his eyes fell on Mora. She may be dead but she could still help save Lana. Again, moving quickly he reaches her to find her visor intact. Praying for the ancestors to forgive his desecration he removed her visor without looking at her. It was only proper to allow her the privacy she deserved and moving back to Lana carefully removed what glass shards he could before covering her face. He knew she would be ill from Mora's visor but without it she didn't stand a chance.
Accessing her suits bio-systems he injected the antibiotics she so desperately needed as well as a large dose of pain killers then went to work on her injuries. As the turret continued to pound their little place of safety he cleaned and dressed her thigh then carefully reset her arm. Finding some metal re-bar in the rubble he fashioned a splint to keep the arm immobile. Gently he rolled her on her side so he could examine the back of her suit. Thanking the ancestors he was happy to find nothing torn or damaged there.
Most of her wounds taken care of, at least the ones he could see he just held her for a moment. The turret's dumb tracking systems must have determined they were dead since it finally stopped firing on their location. He looked once more at her bio-readouts, breathing normal, heart rate slightly elevated but still safely within normal levels. Blood pressure was holding so no internal bleeding, at least he hoped there was none. Mora had also been their medic.
"Alpha do you copy" his radio spoke. "Kal? Lana? Anyone there?" asked Patyn, his squad second in command.
"Patyn, I'm here. We lost Delta. Lana's down too but at least she appears to be stable. I am working my way to your position but do not attempt to assist. We've lost too many here today already."
For once the grounds cover of dust and gravel particles made itself useful as he very slowly and gently dragged Lana across the ground back towards the alley they had come from. She may need a whole new suit after this but it was much more preferable to never needing one again. It was a slow process but he didn't want to risk any more injury to her or her suit. At least the painkillers would keep her unconscious, that was one thing he did not want to deal with here.
Reaching the relative safety of the alley Kal allows himself a slight rest. The gravel had made pulling her easier but it had already been a long morning and he just needed a short break. First he rechecked Lana's vitals and finding everything as it was before he looks at the tactical situation. About 60 meters more to reach the communications building. But he had to traverse the 30 meters of alley before he could enter the safer middle pathway to it. He couldn't drag her that far, the chance of hurting her more was something he couldn't do.
Contacting Patyn he asks "The central approach is clear?"
"Affirmative Kal. That turret that took out Delta has no view of the central corridor. All other turrets have been disabled." Patyn replies. "Kal we can come to help you, you're not here alone." he adds concerned for his friend.
"Thanks but I'm alright. Lana remains stable and should be out for awhile yet. I'll be there soon" he says and cuts the line. Looking once more at her back and bottom to ensure no holes had developed due to his dragging he sighs with relief. Asking the ancestors for their help he gently lifts her into his arms and carefully carries her unconscious body towards the building as he softly tells her about his life.
…
"That communications hub must have terminals and screens. Make sure power is getting to them. Anything there that will draw their attention, keep them inside that building" John says.
"The current condition of the equipment inside is unknown but power is being redirected to the buildings power systems. There appear to be some broken connections as intermittent power spikes are occurring" states Legion.
The confused look on John's face caused Tali to speak up saying "Legion means there's equipment shorting out inside. If the sparks are big enough I know any tech with him will want to examine the equipment just out of curiosity."
"Legion, your sure there is no way to kill those turrets? That alone would save the marines" John asks.
"No, the current geth platforms on the planet are primarily comprised of armature classes. Heavy lifters, the geth are currently in the cleanup phase on this world. The platforms assembled with arms are either too large or not designed for precision work" Legion states. "New platforms are being assembled on the nearest station but delivery is an estimated 3.2 hours."
"John, if they try to continue there is no way they will survive. Can't we get some kind of message to them? Get them to at least stop trying to advance?" Tali asks.
"Tali you said sparking. Do quarian's have codes that can be used? Humans developed the Morse code, it's a means to communicate using only two different things. Dots, short spark and Dash, long spark. Please tell me your race came up with something similar" John asks grasping at straws.
Confusion clouds Tali's face, dots..dash? "John, I...umm..wait. You mean something like this?" she asks as she removes a small metal object from a pocket and then against the metal cabinet of EDI she quickly taps it a few times then scrapes it. Repeating the process again but with a different sequence she looks at John asking "Like that?"
"Yes!" John exclaims. "What did you just say with that tapping?"
Legion watched, his head tilted to one side and his upper flaps moving as Tali did it again. "We geth have no knowledge of this form of communication."
"It was just my name, Tali. Birzyt, It's just a child's game John. We would get a group of children together, designate who the hunter was and everyone else would be the geth. We would then hide on the ship and tap out our names. The hunter would then track a geth using the loudness of the tapping, the sounds of a geth talking, to find them. Um, sorry Legion" she says.
"Tali, do you know how to say Kal or Reegar?" he asks as Legions flaps just fluttered a little as if it was laughing.
Acting like she was a child caught taking candy she shuffled her feet as she looked down the said hesitantly "Well, I do remember the whole alphabet. Not that I practice it anymore. It came in handy when you had to decide if a noise was something to worry about on the ship."
"Tali, you most likely just saved Reegar. Please teach Legion how to spell out Reegar" he says then turning to Legion he says "Make sure it's on a constant loop. Also please verify my message is being displayed on every terminal and played through any sound system. I want them to hear or see it if they get anything working."
…
Reaching the building Kal is thankful that his jarring walk had not awakened Lana. Even waking normally she was going to be in a lot of pain and he hoped to spare her that. Entering he passes Gavn and Illin of Charlie team who have been stationed at the door to guard against attack. Han, Charlies team leader, had come up to him to take Lana but he had refused the offer. He would see her safely inside and resting.
There were very few horizontal surfaces in the main building but someone had cleared off one. Kal carefully lowered Lana onto the cabinet and then immediately accessed her suits systems again checking on her status. Again, all signs read normal or slightly above but all within the safe ranges.
The remaining squad members had remained silent as he checked on her. Secrets in the fleet meant only half the population were privy to the knowledge so they all knew that he and Lana had started the pemla'tiyl and allowed him his private thoughts for the moment.
Turning from her he sees that all eyes on on him and says "She is resting fine. Mora gave what she could to save her." he said to explain her visors different color. "Tia, I would be most grateful if you would stand beside her in case
she needs assistance."
"Of course Kal, I will watch her as I would my lifemate." she replies and move's to Lana's side as she repeats Kal's inspection of her vitals. Though not a doctor or medic her training in emergency nursing can be useful she thought to herself.
"Patyn, status on the communications here please" he asks.
He wanted to ask his friend how he was holding up but Kal had always dealt with the missions before himself so Patyn just answered "Other than some sparks nothing here seems to be doing anything Kal."
"Damn, well I suppose it was too much to pray for a working or even semiworking station." Kal says as he walks around the building looking at the ancient quarian workstations. Walking back to Patyn he says "Hows your team holding up?" At the same time his hand begins tapping a familiar sequence.
"Holding on, what happened to Delta really shook everyone up. Kal, if we can lets rest here until Lana is awake then we better get moving again. Seeing the building from the inside just reminds me of a trap" Patyn says quietly to not worry the others.
"I'm not sure how long Lana will be out. We may need to make a stretcher for her and why am I tapping my name?" he says surprising Patyn. Looking down at his now still hand he remembers hearing that but where. Looking around he realizes it was near a couple of terminals. Moving quickly to the central controls array he listens and locates the sound.
Patyn had followed him to see what was going on and stopped himself as he listened. "Kal, why is this terminal spelling your name?"
"I don't know but I want Gavn on a terminal right now. We need to get one of these working." Kal says. He didn't know why he thought it was important but he felt that someone, somewhere was calling him.
"Kal, this is the work of the geth. Who else knows we're here? We need to get Lana and move quickly." Patyn said.
"No, we get a terminal working. Something here is important to us. Gavn, we need access to the data-net here" he says then glances back towards Lana. He knows if anything changes Tia will call him but still he can't help but look. How the hell did Shepard do it when he took Tali on missions? How can you protect them and still focus on the mission?
…
"Shepard Commander we have confirmed the loss of three more Creators. The call-sign designated Creator Kal'Reegar continues to remain active. He has rejoined the remaining Creators in the communications hub" states Legion.
"John, he won't believe it's you. How could he, he will assume the geth are trying to trick him." Tali says relieved to hear Kal is still alive but worried as well. How can they help him. "Think about it, he's in the middle of geth space! How could he believe a message came from you or remember his name in birzyt?"
"Reegar's not stupid, I've got to have faith that his brain's as sharp as his combat ability Tali. Even if the Normandy was fully operational we wouldn't have the time to do anything. Legion, you're sure that message will be the first thing he sees on any terminal there?" Shepard asks.
"Yes though a verbal communication would be better received, we must wait for contact" said Legion.
"John, if they can't repair a terminal then they may just try to leave that building." Tali says then turns to Legion saying "There is no way to get a working system to them?"
"As stated before, there is nothing with any audio/video output among the geth platforms on the planet. They are not needed for communications, we are sorry." states Legion.
"Tali, have faith in his team. He would not have undergone such a mission without having a good team and that means a good combat engineer." he says smiling at her. "You're the best I have ever seen but surely there are techs there almost as good as you."
"There are, and a lot better than I am but were they assigned to his team? Were they among the ones that have already died? Damn it John, why are they there in the first place?" she asks frustrated with the situation.
"We believe they are there due to a faulty transmitter. Since it has been transmitting nothing but noise the local platforms have not attempted to repair or shut it down. The general direction of travel and their initial landing zone point to this as the reason" responds Legion.
"Legion, how many platforms are currently in the area?" Shepard asks.
"There are 72 platforms within 10 minutes of the communication building." Legion replies.
"Tali, your HUD's. What range would they detect a geth at?" he asks though he still looked at Legion.
"They would show specific platforms at 40 meters, same as yours but out to about 100 meters they would indicate possible electronic chatter. But why do you need that information John?" Tali asks in return.
Answering her question he tells Legion "Move a number of your platforms to the 100 meter mark. Surround the structure if you can. We need to keep them in the building for now."
"John, I pray to the ancestors this works." Tali says.
"So do I Tali, so do I" he responds.
Birzyt: childrens game. Literal translation: Noisy plumbing. Though frowned upon publicly, any adult hearing the tapping would smile, having fond memories of their own childhood.
Pemla'tiyl: Term for courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the mind, the first of the three phases that lead to bonding. The period of time where the couple learns of one another through a deep sharing of thoughts. May lead to bonding or just a very deep friendship.
Hecs'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the heart. Second of three: Signifying the period where the needs of both begin to overrule the needs of self. Almost always leads to bonding though this phase is usually the longest of the three.
Felz'tiyl: Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the soul. Third of three: Signifies the period in which the two slowly realize that without the other they are incomplete. Once this phase is entered only ones death can stop the bonding.