MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA HOLLOW WORLDS: CHAPTER 27
Sea of Ataraxia, Elaaden
The two scout rovers slowed as they ascended upon the towering derelict Remnant ship that protruded up from the sand. An obelisk in the night. A group of three exited the first rover all donning body armor: a male human engineer class, asari adept, and female salarian infiltrator. "Shit." The male's voice came through his helmet speaker. "This fucking place is still sweltering at night."
The salarian checked her omni. "Forty degrees Celsius. I choose that over ninety." She pointedly reminded him.
The asari giggled. "She has you there, Brad." Teasing the human for his complaint.
"Snap it up." A gruff voice from the second emerging team disciplined them. A male batarian stopped as his helmet looked up at the structure that outlined the night sky. The only light they had in the abyss of darkness was from their rovers. Still, their obvious presence that far near the ship could alert unwanted attention such as scavengers, fiends, erochs or even the giant worm that plagued the sands. They had to move fast. "Our client is not paying us to fuck this up." He turned his head to look over at the salarian, Separ Lozzi. Ex STG and allegedly served with the famous Captain Kirrahe on Virmire. She was deployed for security purposes during the uprising and positioned under Kandros' team. "You ready?"
"Will scan as I go." Separ nodded her head. She scouted the ship a few days before their current run. The main entrance was heavily guarded by Remnant forces. She lucked out by finding a makeshift entrance on the opposite side. A sector of the ship that was damaged upon the impact with the surface. Its position near the obvious location where the drive core would be located.
"You think those robots will be waiting for us?" Brad tossed out as he checked his clip in his M-8 assault rifle. He was a former C-Sec Officer and also part of Separ's deployment for security detail.
"You scared, Brad?" A female human joining the batarian's side teased. Her tone belittling him. Her accent was of an Asian descent. Her name was Aiko Leng. Alliance soldier that was stationed on Horizon prior to joining the Initiative. She wasn't around when the colony was hit by the Collectors. Her brother was Kai Leng. A disgrace to the Alliance. She had the burden of sharing his family name. Often faulted just by that. She lost touch with him when he was dishonorably discharged from the Alliance after he fatally attacked an alien. Rumors placed him with the terrorist organization known as Cerberus. She declined these statements to be facts, but deep down, she knew it was most likely true. Kai opposed alliances with the other races. She clashed with him often. She was second-in-command to Ararn Balak in their organization known as the Pirates of Paradise. An elite group that stemmed after Ararn's arrival on the moon of Zaubray. With his former training in the Batarian Special Forces, Ararn managed to form the well-chosen members of his group, quashing the other pockets of scavengers in Elaaden. They managed to rule over the flophouse and used the other scavengers as splinter cells. With their forces united, they were becoming a threat and potential ally to the krogan on New Tuchanka. Some who were against Overlord Morda's reign, eagerly joined up and used the knowledge of the colony to steal supplies and broker deals right under Morda's nose. Krulot Baska who also joined them that evening on the mission was a vanguard from New Tuchanka. He was part of the original krogan deployed during the uprising and quashed the resistance on the Nexus before Tann tried to force the krogan back into cryo.
"Piss off, Aiko." The man disregarded her comment with a wave of his hand. "I got this."
"Don't leave us out here." Ceelna Munas, the asari adept cooed at Ararn playfully as she turned to follow Separ and Brad in the hole. Like most asari, she changed the pigmentation of her skin from the normal blue to a deep shade of purple. Instead of a helmet, she wore a brighter purple respirator mask. Her former life placed her as an asari huntress on Ilium and was also part of the security lineup to help with the mutiny.
"Team One going in," Separ announced as she began to sprint ahead into the darkened tunnel that led within the bowels of the ship, followed by Brad and Ceelna.
The batarian glanced over at the towering krogan in full body armor. "You really think your contact will give us more for this core than Morda?" His words skeptical.
Krulot nodded his head without hesitation. "Jorgal Strux is gaining influence within the colony. If he can overthrow Morda, then we will have the krogan backing us."
Ararn nodded his head in agreement as he listened. Not letting on that the possibility of Jorgal failing most likely be deadly to them. The drive core was a huge bargaining chip on both ends. Both spectrums of New Tuchanka wanted it and the price for the sought item would skyrocket once they had possession of it. Ararn had no intentions to simply turn over the object right away. He was going to house it, discover exactly what it could do for his own benefit. A risky plan. Morda would be hellbent on finding it. That's why they needed to extract the item before the krogan went in. A few scouts from the colony hit the front side and fell victim to the remnant defense. Again, his team lucked out finding the other way inside. Thanks to Separ. The benefit of having a keen-minded salarian. An advantage that the colony would never have. Hatred towards the amphibian like species was never displaced. Even in a new galaxy. Fueled by Director Tann and Morda. Tann, a salarian himself, was the one that was portrayed of using the krogan and then tossing them aside. A grim reminder of the events following the krogan rebellion.
Brad tossed flares to mark their path as the group twisted around the labyrinth of rooms that honeycombed the ship's interior. All rooms looked the same and Ararn's idea of using flares was ingenious. With the prior history between humans and batarians, Brad didn't like the idea of his current boss being a four-eyed alien. Just the idea of a batarian being out there was shocking. Though, Ararn proved how talented he could be and they seemed unstoppable when it came to overtaking supply runs and stealing what they could from the Initiative. They were actually intercepting key supplies to New Tuchanka. Just scraping a few here and there to not impose too much of a nuisance. "You have any idea where we are going, Separ? Or are you just winging it?"
She scowled at his comment. "What do you think?"
"Winging it." He answered matter-of-factly.
"Are you an expert on Remnant technology?" Separ questioned in annoyance. She had no idea what the robotic aliens really identified themselves as. The current terminology was captured by various contacts on Eos and traveled to Elaaden among trade runs. Verbiage coined by an asari on Eos that seemed to be studying them.
"Just quit your griping, Brad." Ceelna muttered. "You going to let them onto us."
"Yeah, like they have no clue that we are here now." He countered.
A soft glow came from within a chamber ahead. Separ paused in her steps. "I think we got something!" She quickened her pace with the others following. Her footsteps echoing in the halls. A mechanical whirring caused her to abruptly stop as several breechers came out idle state; alert to the group. The flying remnant moved towards Separ first, catching the salarian off-guard. One reached out with its sharp pinchers, the left taking hold of her shoulder, squeezing down hard. The salarian dropped her pistol as she screamed out in pain. The breecher moved to grab her other shoulder, but she swatted at it with her free hand.
"Get off her!" Ceelna released a sphere of dark energy, striking the robot, sending it careening against the room's wall, shattering it to bits. Separ was dropped instantly to the cold floor, her body armor damaged exposing her skin and blood.
Brad lifted his assault rifle and squeezed the trigger, taking aim at the other two. "Keep your head down, Separ!" The bullets pounding the breechers, inflicting severe damage until they exploded. Separ covered her head to avoid any debris striking her and then slowly uncovered them once the attack stopped. Her body surrounded by the remains of the remnant.
"I hate those things," She took several breaths to compose herself as the others came up to her.
Ceelna kicked one piece hard with her boot, sending it bouncing across the metal floor. "You're telling me."
"Need medigel?" Brad took notice of Separ's wound.
"Nothing that I can't patch up when we get back," The salarian disregarded his concern and trudged ahead among the pieces. Clearing the hall, the room opened up into a vast chamber and inside still in tact was the ship's drive core. The object itself was about twenty feet high and thirty feet long. Large enough to prompt the use of the hover platforms they stashed into their rovers for transport, but not too tall to prevent clearance back out. Separ did a brief scan with her omni tool. "It's stable, but we better not risk any damage to it. That kind of energy harnessed may cause quite an eruption if unleashed."
"Can't believe that the krogan want this thing." Ceelna studied the artifact with her disbelieving eyes. "Some sort of energy fuel capacitor?" Do they even have the technology?"
Brad shrugged. "That's why Ararn's in charge. I agree with him. We need to study this thing ourselves before we just hand it over." He chuckled lightly under his helmet.
Separ picked up on the private joke. "What's funny?"
"Think we can use it against the Initiative? You know ram it up their ass?" The man casually tossed out.
The asari nodded her head in approval. "That I would love. Especially Tann. He's such an asshole."
Separ tapped her ear comm. "Package ready to be picked up." There was static feedback. "Interference is preventing comms."
"Well, shit." Brad Cooper seemed not too startled by this. "I'll go get them." He managed to get a few steps out of the chamber and then the hallway was engulfed in return gunfire. "Shit!" The man screamed as he dashed back to where the others were.
Following him were a group of assembler bots and observers. Joining the back was a Destroyer. Its height dwarfed the rest and its girth barely allowed it room to move inside the chamber doorway. The team dove to take cover as the turrets on each side of the Destroyer shredded the flooring where they were previously standing. "This is bad!" Ceelna yelled to the group over the hail of gunfire.
"I guessed that!" Brad retorted as he managed to inch over the remnant light torch he squeezed behind for salvation. He returned fire at the largest bot, but the Destroyer kept creeping closer.
Ceelna's body dampened in a purple aurora before she used a biotic throw attack to tousle an observer up against an assembler. Both mechs toppled over, offline. "Focus on the Destroyer's turrets!"
"Already on it!" Separ engaged her tactical cloak to try to keep the heat off as she used energy drain to drop the Destroyer's shields.
Cooper saw his chance and switched to a cryo beam. The steady force of cold air created an instant snap freeze on the right turret. Then he shot with his rifle, shattering the icy form. "Yeah! Take that, you bastard!" His celebration was cut short as the other turret impacted his front shields completely. He groaned in pain as several rounds pinged his chest plate and legs and his body plummeted to the ground.
"Cooper!" Ceelna dashed over to check on her fallen comrade. The man groaned. Most of the fatal shots missed and only scratched the surface of his heavy armor thanks to the remainder of his shields that held on. He took a nasty hit to his right upper leg. The armor was completely gone along with his skin. Muscle tendons well exposed. He cried out in agony as the cool chamber's air hit the sensitive nerve endings. Feeling several pings on her shields, Ceelna whimpered out as the relentless attacks pummeled her back and pressed her nearly on top of Cooper. Rearing around, she aimed her shotgun at the hovering observer, getting several hits in before the remnant crashed to the floor. Using the time allotted, she dragged Cooper over behind a console for sanctuary.
Separ darted over to them. "How is he?"
"I'm not going to die here," The man gritted his teeth.
The Destroyer's thunderous steps inched closer as the mech was fully in the chamber now with them along with two remaining assembler bots. The large mech appeared even more massive now. "Goddess…" Ceelna's words left her.
"They have been gone too long." Ararn noted in alarm as he paced near the entrance.
"Trouble?" Aiko picked up on the obvious.
Ararn's scowl was hidden. The operation was taking longer than they planned, which made them more exposed than ideal. He had no idea what the first team was facing. He had two choices: one was to just leave the site and the group to die or go in to assess the situation. The latter choice made sense, but he wasn't about to leave their rovers out unguarded. Separated scavengers still lurked the desert sands and he didn't want to come out with lack of transportation. Especially if the giant worm decided to get in on the action. "Stay here with Krulot." He ordered his second-in-command. "If I'm not back in twenty minutes, leave."
The woman was a bit surprised by his complete command. "Send Krulot in with you."
The batarian shook his head. "He'll slow me down. Fallout point is where we will meet. Twenty minutes." He didn't give them a chance to debate it further and jogged ahead into the dark tunnel. He noted the red glow off the flares that Cooper dropped to light his path and gripped his rifle tighter in his hands. His heart was racing. What would he expect to find? He hoped not his team slain. Darkness continued to surround him and all he could hear within many rooms was just the echo of his boots on the floor. The red flares seem to go on for an eternity and he wondered just how deep his team went. Suddenly, the distant sound of weapon discharge gave him hope that his team was very much alive. He pumped his legs faster and increased his pace. Open ahead was a large chamber and he could see an assembler bot and a destroyer firing at something or someone in front of it. Luckily for Balak, the remnant did not detect his presence yet. Aiming his rifle at the only turret left, he squeezed the trigger and a barrage of rounds impacted the target. Within seconds, the object exploded and the bot pivoted around on its legs to face him. The assembler began to scan him with its red light. Ararn squinted his eyes from the light before reopening them. Using a concussive shot, he knocked the assembler up into the air and onto its back then switched to his flack cannon to nail the destroyer in the center. The bot continued despite being weaponless. Its mere size could squash him if it got too close. He wasn't about to let that happen. Firing again, he drained its shields till finally the bot exploded into several pieces, hitting the assembler in the same blast. He didn't let his guard up until he was sure there were no more in sight. The others peeped over the console that they were taking refuge in and jumped up when they saw him.
"Welcome to the party," Ceelna lowered her weapon.
"Brad is injured," Separ reported dutifully.
Ararn silently noted the salarian's own injuries. "The drive core?" He didn't have time to nurse any wounds. They needed to get their cargo out of there.
"Located," The salarian infiltrator stated. "Hover platforms would be ideal for extraction."
"I'll notify the team up top and send Krulot down should any more trouble arise." Ararn eyed Brad's wound. "Get your ass to the rover."
"It doesn't hurt," Cooper lied as he favored his leg.
"Don't martyr yourself for this." Balak left the chamber and stopped to take in the sight of the drive core. Their main focus point. How could something of this size hold such magnitude? The one thing that would unravel the krogan colony and hold Elaaden on its knees. He could imagine the creds rolling in, the power he would wield. He would unlock whatever secrets it held within. He hadn't forgotten the other two of his kind still in stasis aboard the Nexus. He would still find a way to break them free and continue his brother's work. A pledge that he gave the Hegemony before joining the Initiative as an ambassador for batarian interests to preserve their culture and heritage. A peaceful gesture. An olive branch among the bad blood that ran between them and the other species; particularly the humans. If he could gain the support of the krogan, he could very much use their numbers to outflank whatever the Initiative could throw at them if he was cautious. He would take his time. First, it would be Elaaden, then he would expand to perhaps Kadara first. The other option that Kandros gave him before leaving the Nexus. Word was that the supposed pathfinder established an outpost there with an alliance brokered with Sloane Kelly. He didn't really know much about the two women, but with all he heard about Kelly, he knew that creds would talk. She had no love for the Initiative following the uprising and the fact that she actually made a pact with them seemed out of character for her. The pathfinder did not show her face yet on Elaaden and with the other worlds becoming stabilized, it would be only a matter of time before she would set her sights on the moon. He would be ready for her.
Another rover team arrived at their location minutes before the shuttle to help with transport of the core. It was a delicate process to load the drive core onto the shuttle. He would house it in an undisclosed location. Its whereabouts only known to him and Aiko Leng. She would pilot the shuttle and her own team would take over handling the core. That team was permanently placed and could not leave to go to Paradise Sands for supplies. No transmissions were permitted except to him. Getting sloppy is how things fell apart and he wasn't about to let that happened. It took another good hour to load up the drive core and get the shuttle in the air. Now, the rovers were heading back to the flophouse with sunlight slowly peaking on the horizon. A glimmer of a new day. Exhaustion crept into Ararn's four eyes. He yawned and wiped the sleep from them as he piloted the middle rover. Inside were Krulot and Separ while Brad and Ceelna were manning the rear rover and the last team was now the first. They were about twenty meters away from the lead that just crest over a dune; their location hidden for a few seconds. Just as Ararn's rover hit the crest, a violent quake jarred them. Ararn jostled about in his restraint while Krulot and Separ stumbled out of their seats. He recognized the magnitude of the shake. He felt one on his travels right before… "Worm!" He screamed through the comm.
His words barely left his lips as the humongous mechanical worm like creature broke out of the sand right below the first rover. The armored plated vehicle was disintegrated into shrapnel. Missiles of metal and body parts flew everywhere, hitting his own vehicle. "Fuck!" Ararn fought the steering and pulled the rover hard to the right, nearly tipping it over as he took evasive action. He slammed on the brakes causing his head to lurch back then forward, striking his forehead on the console. If the vehicle continued on its prior course, it would have run right into the worm's body and sharing the same fate as its counterpart. The third rover veered just behind theirs and came to a grinding halt as well.
"That thing is the mother of Kalros!" Krulot exclaimed with an amused chuckle from the experience they just shared.
"Who?" Separ picked herself off the floor.
Ararn groaned as he sat back in his chair. A warm trickling sensation made him touch his forehead with his fingertips to find blood where his forehead impacted with the console. A few splotches of blood were left on the display. His head throbbed from the obvious concussion he endured.
"What the hell was that?" Ceelna's voice shook to her very core from fear over the radio. This was her first encounter with the beast.
"I think I just pissed myself!" Brad exclaimed in the background on the comm.
Separ noticed the wound on Ararn's head. "You took a nasty hit. Want me to look it?"
Balak swatted her away. "Save it." He regained his composure, ignoring the headache and punched the accelerator again as the rover's wheels dug into the sand, then sped off into the dawn. He was eager to learn what Aiko discovers about the drive's capabilities. In the meantime, his mediocre cot at the flophouse called to him. Negotiating new terms with the Krogan would have to wait. He wouldn't disclose he had the core yet. He needed time. He would play them off for now. No sense in showing all his cards just yet.