MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA: HOLLOW WORLDS

CHAPTER 22

"Three monoliths down and now the vault," Cora's body became rocked as the Nomad careened down the steep hill, crushing rocks beneath its wheels. Torvi kept the throttle open as the vehicle ramped up speed. Cora saw the look in Torvi's eyes. "Don't…" Before she could get another word out, Torvi engaged the Nomad's boosters and all three occupants were pressed tightly in their seats from the inertia.

"Never a dull moment with you, Ryder!" Liam clutched the sides of his seat as the vehicle hit more rocks with even more speed, causing some lift.

"You have to live!" Torvi shouted happily as she steered towards the nav point. Their destination: The vault and the cure for Kadara's heart. With the start of atmoprocessor, it would fix the water supply and make the planet habitable.

"Hold up, hold up!" Cora's voice was filled with alarm as she navigated their radar screen on the front passenger side. "We have company."

Torvi glanced over at what she was looking at, frowning. She eased up on the throttle and killed the boosters. "Outlaws."

"Initiating exterior front camera," Cora pressed a button on the console. Within seconds, a clear high-definition video stream came in on the center built-in monitor screen. "Zooming." The camera adjusted and they could see a group of Outlaws jumping out of a shuttle near the designated vault site. Part of the structure was above ground, but the actual entrance was buried beneath the barren wasteland.

"Think they are after the remtech?" Liam asked from the middle passenger seat as he leaned up to them as far as he could against the restraint.

"Well, they are not getting it," Torvi growled as she increased the accelerator one more time and the vehicle roared as it began to kick up speed. The motion totally caught her team off-guard and they fumbled around in their seats.

"Whoa! Easy, Ryder!" Cora cautioned over to her. "Where's the element of surprise? Ambush?"

Torvi flashed a devious smirk. "Why that? We could just run over them."

Liam nodded his head slightly as if he seriously considered her idea. "Not bad."

Cora glared at them both in disbelief. "You're both kidding, right?" Torvi didn't flinch and the Nomad approached more. The Outlaws were onto their location and began to open fire. The rounds pinged off the vehicle's upgraded shields and armor. "Right?!"

"Hang on!" Liam moved back into his seat as he noticed that their leader was not slowing down. Cora clenched her eyes tightly shut.

Just as she was twenty feet away, Torvi slammed the brakes while killing the throttle in one swift motion. She turned the steering sharply to the right and the vehicle began to slide with its tail end first. In a half circle motion, the Nomad glided around. The bulky weighted land craft coming into contact with a few of the Outlaws that were not lucky enough to take evasive action. Their bones shattered as their bodies bounced off the Nomad and onto the ground. Four of the Outlaws were able to jump out of the way. Once the rover stopped, Torvi slipped on her helmet and grabbed her rifle. She leaped out and fired upon the remaining exiles. Her incendiary rounds ripped through one's armor as the man crawled to get his dropped weapon from the ground. He groaned and then screamed in pain as his body caught on fire. Liam and Cora followed suit from the Nomad, taking on two more while Torvi spun to put the last remaining exile down. "Simple enough," Liam gave a thumbs up as he surveyed the area.

"Who was it? Collective? Sloane's?" Cora asked as she knelt down to examine one of the corpses.

"Dead," Torvi plainly replied as she moved towards the vault. With the monoliths activated, the structure began to rise up from the ground as the flooring below them shook violently. Ryder struggled to keep her balance. An eerie hiss came from the vault's ramp that lowered down to its entrance. Ryder could almost feel a cool breeze blowing through her armor. Impossible, but she could feel the tingles down her spine.

"First time going into one of these," Kosta admitted as he slowly walked towards the beginning of the ramp. "You sure we don't need Peebee for this? She's like the expert."

"I got this," Torvi confidently holstered her weapon. "Just remember to run like hell when I give the signal."

The dark-skinned man gaped at her response and he glanced wearily over to Harper who giggled. "It's not that bad."

"The purification field can dissemble all your molecules," Ryder continued.

"Shhh. Don't scare him," Cora teased.

Suddenly, the sound of an approaching rover made the trio heightened their guard, and their weapons redrawn. "Quick! Behind the Nomad!" Torvi ordered as she led them to take cover. It would be foolish to be standing there out in the open. They had no idea if the newcomer was friend or foe. The vault was open, but not just anyone could activate it. Or at least she assumed. Switching to her Viper sniper rifle, Torvi pressed her back against the Nomad's side and held her head straight, looking in front of her as she listened to the approaching vehicle's engine whirring decreasing. Taking a breath inside her helmet, she counted to make the precise attack.

"Pathfinder!" A familiar turian voice called to her.

Recognizing it immediately, Torvi leaned around the vehicle to see Kaetus exiting the vehicle. Armed, but alone. Cora kept her rifle drawn on him. "Don't come any closer."

Kaetus lowered his weapon, then his mandible dropped in awe as his bird-like eyes shifted to the towering vault structure that was unearthed. "Spirits..."

"It's the vault. The one thing will fix Kadara's water supply," Torvi explained. She then pointed to the dead bodies on the ground surrounding them. "Your men I presume?"

Kaetus shook his head. "Not mine. Part of the Collective. I was actually tracking them. I wondered why they packed and moved out suddenly. They were camped over at Varren's Scalp for days. Was hoping to trace them to the Collective's main hide-out. Heh, guess you took 'em out for me."

"I'm not on anyone's side," She reminded him coldly. "I need to get to the vault and they were in the way."

"Still, not bad." He observed their corpses and began to rummage through some of the bodies to loot what he could find.

"No respect for the dead," Cora sighed as she looked on.

"Hey, it's everyone for their self out here in the badlands," The turian didn't bother to stop searching to address her remark.

"It doesn't have to be," Liam suggested hopefully. "Fresh start for everyone."

"Liam's right, Kaetus. We get this vault restarted and lots of things will change around here."

This peaked the turian's interest and he stood up. His mandible twitched. "What's that supposed to mean, Ryder?"

"Sloane's gratitude for a start," Torvi spat. His loyalty to the ruler of the port sickened her. Nausea resonated inside her stomach's pit. He didn't seem very moved to see her there. His stance was guarded. As if he wanted to avoid what transpired between the two altogether. "She needs to change how she runs this place. I'm going to give her and everyone fresh, clean water. I'll make sure that they know that the Initiative provided it. Not her."

The teal and purple painted face turian stared hard at her. "So what?" He spat. "Water is not going to make the kett nor the angaran who want to take over go away. What will the Initiative do about that?"

"The angaran were here first!" Cora argued. "I don't blame them. The kett were their enemy long before Sloane arrived. We need to work together."

"Pfft," Kaetus scoffed at the notion. "I have had friends taken out by their night raids. Some peace."

"The outpost will provide supplies, food and protection," Liam suggested. "We can deploy more security to work with the port."

Torvi moved her head in agreement. "With all that, do you really think the residents of the port will stand with Sloane, then? She needs to be our ally or it may just be the Collective."

The turian tilted his head slightly as he seemed to seriously consider all their points. "Get it done, Ryder. I'll talk to Sloane. No guarantee."

"That's…. comforting," Harper shrugged.

"Liam and Cora examine the entrance. I'll catch up. No going down the gravity well." Ryder commanded her team.

"The what?" Liam looked over at Cora for an explanation as the pair jogged down the ramp to the vault's entrance.

"I'll…explain when we get there."

Kaetus looked at Torvi through her helmet as he stood there. "You really think you can do this?"

"Yes." She said confidently as she removed her helmet.

"I meant what I said about Sloane. I'll talk to her."

"That's all I can ask, I guess."

"Stay safe."

Torvi frowned, "That's it?"

A devious smirk went across his thin lips. He cupped the back of her head with his talons, drawing her closer. His mouth found hers and he kissed her longingly. Tasting him exhilarated her and she held onto the back of his armor. After a few seconds, he broke the kiss and panted to catch his breath, nuzzling her forehead with his own. "I haven't forgotten our time together." He churred into her ear, "We need to do it again after this." The gravel in his voice sent a warming chill down her body.

"Yes…I've been wanting you." She breathed back to him as she kissed the nape of his neck gently.

Kaetus chuckled as he slipped away. "You better go."

"I'll see you soon," Torvi jogged down to catch up with her team, slipping on her helmet in stride.

A watchful eye through a scope stayed on Kaetus as the turian remained outside the vault entrance. Seeing Sloane's henchmen finally retreat to his rover and leave the area, Reyes Vidal lowered the sniper rifle with a sour look on his face. His jaw tight as rage was on the crest of the waves that were coming in like high tide. There was communication from his team that the remnant structures were becoming activated and the monoliths' beams were going to a new location. Curious, Reyes, took it upon himself to scout ahead since he was closer than the team. He saw Ryder and her squad massacre them. That slightly bothered him, but he could not blame her. He had no idea that she was involved until it was too late so he could not give the order to move away from her. The one thing that caused disturbance was the interaction between Sloane Kelly's second-in-command and Torvi. He had strong suspicions that the two were involved, though a great part of him resisted the fact. Assumptions. Lies. Rumors. Different terms used to play it off when one of his men found Ryder's jacket in the trash chute. The same jacket she was noted to be wearing around the port. The attempt to not stand out was amusing to him. Almost cute, but the sad matter was that she did stand out.

He told himself before going into cryo that what they shared the night before was singular. With their positions, he doubted he would ever run across her again anytime soon even after the arrival in the Andromeda galaxy. She would serve alongside the Pathfinder to discover the designated planets deemed as "golden worlds." Yet, the day he met her at Kralla's Song was a complete shock to him. She seemed more mature than at the club on Earth and very alluring. He couldn't get the damn woman off his mind. Her body language beckoned him and yet she evaded at the same time. An enticing game. A woman of his style. Hidden.

Now it seemed that his suspicions were very much true. She saw her in the arms of Kaetus and it pained him to see their embrace. He wanted to squeeze the trigger then and there. He could have easily killed the turian with a precise headshot. However, he was a gambling man and another opportunity exposed itself. Ryder more than likely would heal Kadara's heart. Things were going to change rapidly after that. He had to seize the opportunity. He would deal with Kaetus at the same time. Keeping himself crouched to avoid any exposure on the rocky terrain, he slowly eased himself down between the boulders towards where his personal shuttle was hidden. Ryder had to trust him. After all, how could she befriend a woman like Sloane Kelly? Kaetus was using Ryder. He had to believe that. Tapping his ear comm, he reached out to one of his men stationed at another post near Spirit's Ledge. "Jafros?"

"I'm here," An angaran male responded seconds later on the other end.

"We need to get a message to Sloane. I think it's time we remove her."

"Just tell me what I need to do."

"Wait for my next order."