Chapter 6: The Skyllian Blitz

AN: I kinda make the chapter titles on the fly, and I wasn't really happy with the last chapter title, so I fixed it.

SSV Kilimanjaro, 2176 A.D

A Few Days After The Skyllian Blitz

Despite having only arrived at his mother's ship a few minutes ago, Whitley found himself being escorted by an Alliance Marine.

That was rather quick. Perhaps they were told to expect me.

The Marine, a Lieutenant, by the brief scan Whitley did with his cybernetic eye, brought Whitley down to an area where a few men and women lay wounded.

Whitley quickly scanned them, before comparing their identities to the Alliance Database. Almost all of the people in this area seemed to be survivors of the attack on Elysium. News outlets had taken to calling it "The Skyllian Blitz."

Whitley didn't care what they called it, he just wanted to see his sister.

"Captain Shepard? Your son's here to see you." the Lieutenant called out.

"Send him in." a morose voice replied back.

The light on the door turned from red to green, before opening. The Lieutenant stood against the wall, while Whitley walked into the room.

Whitley didn't know what to expect when the news said that his sister had almost single-handedly held off the batarian slavers that had attacked Elysium. Would she try to put on a brave face? Would she mourn the civilians who had lost their lives trying to save their colony? At the very worst, Whitley had expected a scar or two.

Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been this.

Jane Shepard laid on the bed, covered in bruises and scars. Many of them decorated her back and arms. What little Whitley could see that wasn't covered by Jane's medical gown showed signs of torture and savagery.

Hannah turned around, noticing her son. She quickly ran up and embraced him.

"Oh, Whitley. I'm so sorry I had to leave like that."

Whitley shook his head. "It's okay. You did what you had to do."

The two looked at Jane for a few moments. Whitley turned to his mother. "What happened?" he asked, slightly breathless.

Hannah shook her head. "Those...bastards. Jane tried to divert their attention away from the civilians and to hold them off until the Alliance arrived. She hid the civilians somewhere safe, before giving the slavers a runaround for a few hours, but they eventually caught up to her. They held her down and tortured her."

Whitley found himself trembling. "Did...did they-"

Hannah shook her head, seemingly knowing what her son was going to ask. "No, Whitley. By the time she'd been captured, we were only a few minutes away from the action. All they were able to do was carve her up, like she was just some kind of fucking turkey they caught."

Hannah found herself crying again. Whitley hugged her again, trying to both console his mother as well as to calm down the suddenly limitless hatred he had for the Batarians.

Suddenly, a dark thought wormed its way into his head.

I can't destroy the Hegemony, but I can annihilate the slavers and those that financed them.

Whitley mentally shook his head. What was he thinking? He was only one man, a teenager, to boot! He'd never even fired a gun!

So what? You always talk big about how you're a genius. So use that brain of yours and think of a way to make those bastards pay!

Whitley, unwilling to voice his inner turmoil to his mother, kept hugging her.

A Few Hours Later

Whitley paced around his room, debating the pros and cons about the action he was about to take. If he did this, he would at least know the identity of the Batarians that had tortured his sister.

On the other hand, if he did that, he'd not only violate the trust of his mother and the various survivors of the Skyllian Blitz, but he'd also start to venture down a dark path.

Whitley kept pacing around the room, trying to calm his thoughts, trying to figure out the right course of action to take. Did he continue on this mad plan of his, or did he just let go and let the Alliance handle things?

Whitley sighed, sitting down on the bed. So many choices, so many voices, each one shouting at him to do something different. He laid on the bed, still trying to think, when his attention got caught by something glimmering on his desk.

Whitley stood up, walking to the desk. He clasped the object, holding it tightly. Jane's custom drawn postcard gleamed back at him, almost mocking his indecision.

Whitley gently set down the postcard, his fists clenched tightly. He opened his Silverhand omni-tool.

One thing he'd never really felt the need to mention to his investors were the small black boxes he'd inserted into every Silverhand model, accessible only to those with a passcode provided by a cipher he had created. He'd made the measure as a means to help C-Sec investigations, but unfortunately, his meeting with the Executor to explain this function had been scheduled after his birthday. A meeting that was most likely cancelled, with everything that had happened.

Mentally doing the calculations in his head with the cipher, Whitley entered the current code."DWGDX6C7" he said to the tool. The crimson omni-tool blinked, before it started downloading data.

As the various bits of data from the attack was gathered from the survivors of the Skyllian Blitz, one file in particular concerned Whitley.

Jane's audio from her personal omni-tool, taken from the day the Batarians attacked.

Whitley pressed a button on the omni-tool, playing the audio file. He sat down, prepared to listen to what was most likely a long tale.

P.O.V Switch - Jane Shepard, A Few Hours Before the Skyllian Blitz

Jane turned off the video call with a smile. She wished that Hannah and Whitley were with her on Elysium, but what's done is done, no point in crying about it. Jane sighed, before leaning back on the resort's sofa. Anderson certainly wasn't kidding when he said Elysium was one of the best places one could get their shore leave. All these days later, and she was still shocked by the luxury offered by the suite Anderson set up for her. She had access to a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room, all things she'd expected to find in her family's Citadel Apartment, not in the place she'd decided to take shore leave.

A buzzing tone reached Jane's ears. Her omni-tool was going off.

Jane smirked. Did Whitley miss her already? She was going to mercilessly tease him if that was the case. She flicked on the receptor.

Lieutenant Karl's face appeared on the screen.

"Shepard! Thank God I've got you! I'm on assignment, can't talk….have to warn you… pirate attack...jamming ship...Elysium under att-"

Jane found herself in her closet, donning her best gear.

No armor or weapons, because of course I'd be unlucky enough to follow orders for once and leave my gear on my ship!

Jane jogged down the hall to the stairs, realizing that the elevators would be too slow to warn the officials of the incoming attack.

Many Hours Later

Jane sighed. Whatever defenses she and the colony officials were able to put up had been quickly destroyed by the slavers. The only thing that stood between them now and the millions of innocent people trapped in the colony with them was her and a small volunteer force composed of veterans from the First Contact War.

Jane started the lockdown to the bunker behind her. "Don't worry! The Alliance will be coming! Just stay put!"

As the doors closed, Jane turned to the rest of the volunteer force she'd been put in charge of.

"What are your orders, Commander?!"

Jane peeked out of her cover, seeing the flood of slavers about to land.

"We need to split up! Hit and run tactics! Do whatever you can to keep those bastards away from the civilians! Remember, we just gotta hold out until the Alliance comes for us, so don't do anything stupid! Keep in radio contact!"

Everyone nodded, before splitting up in different directions. Jane herself sprinted into the main city, hoping to prove enough of a distraction for the civilians to remain unharmed. For the next few hours, Jane found herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse, doing whatever she could to keep the slaver's attention on her.

Rigby Times was the first to go. Jane's heart clenched as the sounds of his violent death echoed through the frequency, but she didn't find herself surprised. The old sergeant had been retired for a long time, spending the eve of his life retired on what was supposed to be a peaceful colony.

Therese was next, unable to continue with the Batarians pursuing her. The explosive expert was able to bring a few dozen slavers with her in a gigantic explosion that Jane could see from miles away.

The volunteer force fought ferociously, but they still fell to the slavers, one by one. Sydney, Ancil, Wilson, Alyssa, Nyomi, and finally, Curtis. Jane remained the last member of the volunteer force, fighting desperately against a seemingly endless wave of slavers.

Unfortunately, Jane had been fighting for hours and hours on end. Even with her genetic modifications, there was only so much a human could take.

Jane felt a slug tear through her hind leg, forcing her into the ground. She quickly tried to bring her pistol up, but another slug found it's way into her hand. The Batarian who'd fired it snarled, before communicating on an omni-tool.

"Got her, Captain Balak!"

A voice chuckled on the radio. "Excellent work, Romak. I'll be down there in a minute. I'm interested in this one."

Jane hissed in pain, refusing to give the satisfaction to the slavers that had attacked the colony. She tried to get up, only for Romak to bring his foot down on her throat.

"Don't even try it, human."

Jane spat in Romak's face. "Go to hell!" Romak chuckled, before bringing his foot down harder on Jane's throat. Jane struggled, trying to fight for air. As her vision was blacking out, a man in red armor walked into the room. Romak bought his foot up, and Jane desperately gasped for air.

"Hmm, so, this is Hannah Shepard's girl. I should've expected someone descended from her to put up a fight as ferocious as you have today." the man in red armor stated.

"Fuck you!" Jane hissed.

The Batarian laughed. "Oh, you'll be worth quite the price, I know that much. Your mother hasn't exactly made a lot of friends within the Hegemony."

Suddenly, the Batarian's omni-tool beeped.

"Captain Balak, we've got trouble incoming. Alliance ships have been spotted on our scanners, hundreds of em!"

Balak growled. "ETA?"

"A few minutes, maybe seven at most!"

Balak growled. "Damn!" He took a few moments to calm himself down. "Grab everyone, tell them that we move in five."

"Yes, Captain. What about the mission?"

Balak smirked, before digging out a knife from his pocket.

"It hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped, but I think we can still send that Alliance bitch a message."

The next few minutes became a haze of pain for Jane, as Balak took a sadistic glee in torturing her as well as he could in the small time he had left.

P.O.V Switch - Whitley Shepard, Present

Whitley shut off the recording, unable to hear any more. His sister's screams echoed in his mind, refusing to get out of his head.

Whitley sat in that chair, stewing in a mixture of horror and hate, his fervent rage growing more. A CRUNCH could be heard. Whitley looked at his cybernetic hand, realizing that it had broken the metallic armrest. He glowered at the wall in front of him, one thought echoing through his mind, replacing his sister's screams.

I'll kill them. I'll kill them all.

AN: Here we go