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Espacole
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Garrus felt his sparring partner's heel slam into his jaw and snarled as it turned him aside and sent him reeling. Before he could recollect himself he felt another heel slam into the back of his thigh, throwing his leg out from under him as a now-familiar force yanked him back and slammed him into the ground. His back hit hard enough to feel the bruises that flared along his back in spite of, and in a few familiar places because of, his armor. He felt eyes on him from around the bay but didn't bother getting up even when a lithe, red-haired form stepped into sight and blotted out the overhead lights.
"Just catching my breath." He sighed the explanation, "I'll be good for another go in like… Three days or so."
"I didn't hit you that hard."
"My jaw disagrees…"
"Yes, well, your Aura should be seeing to that." Pyrrha chuckled, kneeling beside his head and smiling down at him. Tapping her own jaw, she explained, "Just focus your attention on it and want the ache to stop. The rest… Should be automatic, more or less."
"Definitely less…" She only smiled and gave him a look, her head cocked and her brows raised challengingly. Sighing, he closed his eyes and did as she said and… Well, it took a moment, but he felt the ache in his face starting to die like she'd said. And then in his back, too, like his Aura was running on auto-pilot.
Weird…
"The more you get used to using it to mend, or defend, the more automatic it will become." Pyrrha tld him, standing and offering his hand. He took it and let her tug him upright while she went on. "And to the point, if you'd used it for the latter, the healing wouldn't have been needed at all."
"Tried to, just…"
"It takes adjusting." Pyrrha nodded, pacing away from him and turning back to him with a smile. "Another bout, then? I'll try to go slower, you focus on raising your Aura to defend yourself with."
"Sure." He sighed, raising his arms defensively and dropping his hips. "Let's go for it."
"Mhm." Pyrrha nodded, "Just focus on how much you do not want to get punched in the face and you ought to get the hang of it."
"Well, I certainly don't want to get punched, but I'm still getting punched."
"True, true. Maybe what you need is better motivation…" He was about to ask what that meant when the Huntress smirked suddenly and asked oh-so innocently, and sweetly enough to give him a stomach ache besides, "Maybe I should ask Penny to spar with you instead… Or Grunt."
"That, uh, won't be necessary."
"Are you so certain?" Pyrrha asked, raising an eyebrow and lowering her hips just a bit, readying for the fight to come. "I don't seem to be doing so well, after all. So I wonder if maybe they would offer the motivation you need?"
"Nikos, I would die."
"Exactly."
"As in, actual death." He clarified, bringing his fists in and pointing a talon at her. "And I'd, uh, rather not."
"Then try harder, please." She chuckled, "We've only one day before we reach Horizon and I would rather you ready before we get there. On the off chance."
"Oh would you just…" He sighed, but he couldn't help but smile at the same time. "Get over her and hit me already! I'm not leaving until I get this down at least enough to do it while I focus."
"Well, ready or not, then…"
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"Horizon officially went dark four and a half hours ago." Shepard said, leaning against the cold metal of her conference room's long, ovular table and pressing a button.
Like before, a cool lue projection of the colony flared to life, little dots of orange marking out settlement locations speckled around a larger orange circle and linked by angry looking red lines. Roads, she knew without looking at the icon index hovering over the whole globe. Crawling out from the settlement to farms, villages, outposts and, most distantly, military forts meant to contain the colony as it stood, and defend it from any terrestrial threats.
Or at least any that the minute garrison and militia could handle. Who knew how many Marines had actually been deployed to the unfortunate backwater…
"In spite of how long it's been out of communication, there's been absolutely no signal from the colony." Shepard went on, looking around the room at her assembled team, scattered loosely around the room. "If this is the Collectors' doing, which I believe it is, then the outer settlements will have been picked clean already. So we're going to be landing at the primary settlement's edge. We move in and sweep as we go, looking for hard evidence of their involvement."
"Such as?"
"Footage, samples, anything that can concretely prove what we already know." Shepard answered, flicking a look to Pyrrha and then turning back to the holo-map. "TIM has people he knows that evidence like that, we can put some proper pressure on the Alliance to defend the colonies. Secondary objective, drive the Collectors off. Save as many colonists as we possibly can."
"I'd prefer that be the primary…"
"So would I, but sometimes, you can't do anything about it." Garrus sighed, paying Shepard a nod when she looked to him. "The rest of the crew?"
"I've already put the others on stand-by duties." She answered curtly, waving a hand at the map and explaining, "They'll protect the ship in case of attack, and act as rapid-response for rescue duties if we find colonists in need of evacuation. Hopefully, we'll need 'em."
"A rather simplistic plan…"
"Simple is best, Nikos." Less chance things went sideways or someone fucked it up that way. Pushing off the table, she ordered, "Get to the Kodiak, then. We have a colony to hit."
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Horizon was beautiful from on high. And as familiar as it was alien, built of dozens of squat prefabricated buildings stacked high inside of an almost perfectly square perimeter wall dotted by look-out posts. Inside, a handful of small plots of land had been squared out and were thronged by young, budding crops. A handful of other squares were enclosed by large buildings and filled with crates and large vehicles set up on large braces or laid out on their sides.
Maintenance yards, she figured, set into the center of town around a large, sadly silent, gun tower.
"We're setting down at the edge of the perimeter, near the wall and where the concentration of pioneer fields are." Shepard said, dragging Pyrrha's attention away from the view-port and back to her. "It has a straight line to the main warehouse and administrative sector. We should be able to secure the security system there. Pull recordings and the like."
"Why not just land there?"
"Mordin's solution might not be as sure a thing as we'd prefer." Garrus answered for the Commander, "If we freeze up, better out where we can be pulled out by some Lokis than in the center of the Collectors' forces."
"Sensible." Pyrrha nodded, rolling her sword arm and nodding again. "Whenever your word comes, Commander."
The woman turned and slammed a fist into the wall separating the cabin from the cockpit and on cue, the Kodiak turned to the side and angled down to land.
They landed inside a couple minutes, and Pyrrha took the lead as they disembarked, shield raised on pure habit. It only warded off the sun, however, as they stepped out into the silence of the settlement. Engines whining quietly, the Kodiak turned to the side and raced away, low and fast for a mile before it angled up and away sharply. She watched it until it vanished into the clouds and then turned to look around their landing zone.
Thousands of Seekers swarmed around and above them, buzzing around in thick clouds of roaming hunters. She felt something on her arm and turned stiffly to watch one of them crawl from her forearm and onto her shield, and then launch into the sky to join a swarm that drifted past her and around the rest of her team before wandering aimlessly away. She shook her arm as she turned to her allies, as if that would get rid of the phantom itch she felt where the alien thing had been.
"You alright, Nikos?"
"Mhm." She nodded, spinning her sword in her hand. "Bit of an itch, but it's an anxious one. In my head. Mordin's solution works, Commander."
"At least we know that for sure…" Garrus murmured, watching them lazily drift through the sky. "Would have been a shame to come all this way just to end up a statistic."
"It'll stop the Seekers from stunning us, but it won't hide us from being seen by the Collectors themselves." Shepard pointed out dryly, the long form of her new looking rifle extending in her arms. "Don't worry, Vakarian. You can still become a statistic."
"Right." The Turian chuckled, hefting his own new Mattock and shaking his head. "What was I thinking?"
"That you were jealous of my new Viper, mostly." The Commander suggested, patting the rifle gently and then ordering sharply, "Nikos, front line. Let's see how long the peace and quiet lasts."
"Like I'd be jealous of a Viper." Garrus muttered and snorted as Pyrrha took the lead, "Little pea shooter… Who cares if you can shoot three times if it's all shit?"
"Eyes out for Collectors, Vakarian." Shepard chuckled, "I'm sure you'll do fine as long as we only find them one at a time."
That turned out to be a very short-lived hope…
The path they were on curved around a hill and into a depressed construction site of sorts, with a full squad of Collectors milling about it. The closest saw them first, and its head snapped back as Garrus' rifle cracked behind her. One, two, three shots as it fell, its weird, mushroom-like weapon flying from its hands as its fellows turned on them. Another two, louder shots cracked inside an instant and another two heads snapped back as trails of vapor lanced out and carved through the air and the Collector's skulls.
Three lances of energy shot out as Pyrrha leapt down into the depression, shield tucked tight against her side. The yellow-white energy carved across the front of her shield and her exposed thighs, scoring burn marks along both and drawing a hiss from her lips as her kinetics flared and died instantly. Her Aura held, though, even if the heat felt like it was cooking her skin through it and her under-suit.
She slammed down onto her knee and spun, hurling her shield into one of the Collector's heads and cracking whatever barrier it had. As she rose, she raised her hand to call back her shield and flicked her sword into its rifle form. It cracked twice, ripping into its throat as one of its fellows carved yellow-wight fury across her reclaimed shield. Its knee exploded after a moment and it collapsed onto hands and knees, and then screeched as another high caliber shot ripped through its chest. And then a third, though its head and out the back.
The last leapt into the air, weaving as it tried to retreat, before Garrus rose and put half a dozen rounds into its spine where its wings connected. Its arms flailed through the air as it came down and half-crushed one of the crates left scattered around the depression. It pulled itself free and fell to the side, arm and legs hanging limpy.
As it looked up, Shepard closed with it, Omni-Blade sweeping its head off with a careless flick.
"Apparently," Shepard sighed, "flight is normal for the drones. Eyes on the sky, people."
"I tend to use a spear or a sword…"
"Alright, eyes on the sky, people with proper guns." Shepard sighed and chuckled, striding past Garrus and Pyrrha both with a shake of her head. "Let's move it, people."
"Milo and Akouo are proper…" Garrus only snorted as he brushed by Pyrrha, clapping her on the shoulder and waving for her to follow. Shaking her head, she collected herself and rushed forward to get back in front of them both.
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The Dark Brother watched his favored pass her comrades and take the lead again, navigating through the mid-sack settlement until they ran into yet another unit of working insects. These fared no better than the first group, but were accompanied by ten of the blue Human things that swarmed out as the insects fell. But charging his champion was a poor idea, to say the least, and the creatures learned that lesson well as the woman flew into a rage and ripped her way through the lot of them.
The familiar, familiar pressure washing into his grand hall distracted him from the offensive officer's explanation for his follower and made him sigh.
"Brother…" He frowned, tapping the arm of his throne with a shake of his head. "To what do I owe the bother?"
"Can I not check on my beloved brother?" The bright, shining, golden thorn in his rear asked, pacing up his hall and looking out the windows at the grey crag of the world around him.
"Because you ever just come by for a visit?" Darkness answered, shaking his head and snorting his amusement. Finally, candidly, he said, "No. No, you can not. Not when you are unwelcome, at the least-"
"Come now, Brother." Light sighed, turning to face him, "Are you serious? Our fight ended-
"Our fight never ended, so far as I am concerned." He snapped, rising and growling, "You attempted to steal my first true, free follower! When that failed, you sought to take her life! And even now, you will not simply apologize."
"I already told you-"
"-That you will not apologize for that you do not regret." He cut his brother off, sweeping a hand between them as he fell into his seat. "Just tell me what you want, Brother. Tell me and then be gone, and thank Nikos for the mercy. I only show it to you here and now because she would no doubt ask it to be so."
"You cater to these Humans far too much..."
"Thank you." He snapped back. If his brother thought he was catering then he must surely have been doing something right. "Now, what do you want? It is your last chance."
"To warn you, brother mine." Light answered with a weary shake of his great, horned head. Darkness rolled his eyes, but his brother, either for his warnings or some idea of urgency, ignored him and moved on. "Though you meddle in a land of absent, distant gods that care only for the drama and intrigue of the galaxy they govern, they will not simply let you have your way forever. When this game ends, let it lie, or I fear you will not like what comes."
"I see." But something stood out to him, about all of this. Something… Wrong, about the suddenness of the warning. And of course, who carried it. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Who else could-"
"There's been no prompting." Darkness muttered, rising and flicking a look to the rift through space and time he was using to observe his follower. Eyes narrowing warily and worriedly, he said, "She's not in danger… And Penny isn't even deployed. She is at home aboard the ship she came in on."
"Brother-"
"You know something." He finally concluded, turning and meeting his luminescent loved one's eyes. Rising slowly to his full height he asked, voice but a whisper, "What have you done, Brother?"
Silent as the grave, Light only shook his head and turned, slipping through a shimmering portal back to his home. Turning the moment his kin was gone, Darkness watched Pyrrha closely. Warily…
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Pyrrha flipped up the little glass square that enclosed the tracking beacon in her hand to key it on and slid it into a groove on one of the dozen or so Collector harvest pods that lined the path leading into one of the larger, more open areas in the colony's perimeter. It was normal so far as Horizon was concerned, and filled with long foundation setters, fuel tanks and crates of work supplies. The far wall, beyond which she could see the massive Collector warship, hovering in the sky like a cancer for the horizon.
It was even colored properly…
"Nikos." Shepard, standing on the balcony of one of the multi-level buildings that dominated this more central sector, called down. "Scout the building zone. I see some sort of… Bunker, ahead. Sealed. Secure it and then, Vakarian, see if you can get it open."
"Aye, Commander." They both said, Pyrrha following shortly behind Garrus to do it in his example.
Cautiously, eyes flicking to and fro and up and down searchingly, she left the complex of multi-level prefabricated buildings and overhead walkways that cross over the path behind and ventured out into the open. The sky was clear overhead and let the warm sun beat down on her, and she could hear doors and shutters rattle and clang around the clearing. A tool box left precariously balanced caught a breeze and fell, clanging loudly a handful of yards away, but beyond that it was quiet.
And that was the problem.
"I don't hear any Seekers…" She murmured, looking up as she reached one of the two long concrete half-walls that split the open ground. Half-turning, she asked, "Garrus, do you hear anything?"
"Why would I if you don't?"
"I read that Turians have good hearing…"
"Only a little bit." He answered quietly, turning his back to her and looking around them both, Mattock ready. "And… No, I don't."
The silence was oppressive for its strangeness, and the distant, nearly imperceptible, echo of the meandering Seeker swarms elsewhere in the colony. She turned to Garrus and he bobbed his rifle down to tell her he'd hold here. Pyrrha nodded and turned away, tucking her shield against her side and pacing anxiously towards the dull orange glow on the heavy, armored door a small way away from her. She reached out a hand to touch it and it warbled a dull denial chime, flashing red for a moment until she relented.
Then, it flashed green.
Pyrrha blinked, and the door shot open to reveal a couple dozen Husks waiting idly, groaning to themselves. One saw her and seemed to hesitate for a second before howling and leaping onto her. Her shield came up into its guts and it curled around them with a wet cracking sound. Gargling, it fell as she backed away, tucking the blue-stained shield against her side again as Garrus opened fire. Heavy rounds ripped through chests, heads and legs as the monsters swarmed towards her.
The bunker was in-ground, with two large walls that supported the level ground to either side of the path down, and both those walls blocked the Commander's own fire. Leaving her with only Garrus' help as she backpedaled, flicking sword to rifle in an ancient gesture. Milo cracked three times, each shot boring through the head of a Husk before the last six of them leapt into melee.
Back to her sword, she stepped in and up, snapping the hard rim of her shield up and into the neck of a Husk as it came down. Another closed on her right and lost its head, too, as her sword carved up and then down, into the skull of a third. The other three landed on her, though, trying to bare her down by virtue of sheer weight and clubbing limbs. One of them got at her hair, yanking it back while another bit at her neck and its third ripped and tore at her armor.
She sank to a knee for their efforts and grunted, bringing her shield up into the sternum of the one working at her hair. Bones cracked but it kept on her until a second and then a third slam that sent brackish blood running down her arm. It fell and she felt another yanked off of her, freeing her to thrust her sword up and into the last's heart. Turning, she watched Garrus rise from the last Husk, his long claws dripping the same dark blood.
"Are you- Nikos!"
She spun for the urgency of his words and the buzzing of wings, flicking for her rifle and raising it to cut down two Collectors as they came up, over the wall. More came and Garrus joined her, putting paired shots into the Collectors as they came while long, trailing shots from the Commander cut down even more. Garrus emptied his rifle and was halfway through reloading when something altogether new came over the wall with a pair of Collectors in front of it. One of the blocking collectors fell, head ripped into bloody shreds, but the luminescent insectoid didn't seem bothered.
Instead, it snapped a hand out, sending a black ball of wrath arcing up and then down into the ground between her and Garrus.
It went off like a grenade, hurling her Turian friend away and leaving him limp and sprawled on the ground, leaking his dark blue blood into the dirt. Pyrrha stayed standing, but only just, staggering away and sinking to a knee to heave for breath while her Aura flickered around her.
"What in the Gods' name-"
"The fury of a Reaper." The glowing thing echoed as it landed before her and brought its fist down. Her shield snapped up to catch it, but it drove her back as the thing closed in. Its foot snapped out for her face and she ducked to the side, wrapping her shield around its ankle and bringing her sword up to sever its leg at the knee.
She rose and brought her sword back, intent on taking its throat, but…
It faded away as another beyond it, one of a half-dozen waiting Collectors, began to glow and spasm. As she watched, its skin melted and its chitin sheared away, revealing the glowing creature from before as that same strange, echoing voice intoned, "Assuming direct control."
Then it was on her again, as more Collectors swarmed over the wall to pour fire on the markswoman, falling away as Shepard's shots carved home.
The glowing Collector's fist came down on her shield and then the other hand closed around its rim, yanking it around and wrenching it away from her. Sword became a spare she took up in two hands, stepping in to bring the haft around and into its head. It struck with a meaty thwack that staggered the alien, and then she spun her spear and buried it in its guts. It fell away as a third of the glowing creatures formed and leapt on her back, hurling her up and into the side of the building through Biotic fury.
She fell in a heap and forced herself up on all fours as the Collector loomed over her and boomed, "You know not what you play with. We are beyond you and above you, and soon, we will discover the full strength of your power."
"My power…?"
"Aura. Semblance. You are a fascinating specimen..." The creature rumbled, kneeling in front of her and taking her by the throat. As it rose, he lifted her up and rumbled, "You will unlock these mysteries for us, Pyrrha Nikos. "
"When hell freezes over." She choked out, plunging her sword into its chest. Its other hand closed around hers but it didn't seem to mind the weapon lodged in its center of mass.
"Common colloquialism. Understandable, but inaccurate." It brought their faces closer, so that she could feel the heat roiling off of it, and said, "More accurate would be 'when the world burns'. As all will. In time."
"We'll see about that one, asshole." A woman's voice suddenly said as automatic fire ripped into the creature's head.
It sagged and fell as it dissolved, washing away in a flurry of light and ash and a woman in white and furious red armor stalked forward, putting bursts out from her Avenger as she came. Three more collectors fell before Pyrrha lunged forward, caving in ones chest with a fury backed fist. It fell and Pyrrha turned, reaching out with the last of her Aura to call her spear back to her.
"Cover Vakarian, he's out!" The woman ordered, stepping around Pyrrha to shield her. "Fight ain't over yet, and I don't want to lose anyone else."
As more Collectors swarmed over the wall, Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder just how much they could do to prevent that...
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T Poynt :
Pyrrha also isn't aiming to supplant Shepard as the leader. At every turn, she's refused to push Shepard out in that way. So even if TIM approached her with that idea, which he wouldn't do, she'd refuse because she doesn't WANT to take over at all.
Also, yes. Garrus just has to have time to learn how to use it.
G1119 :
Very menacingly indeed! Lol.
Fox comm :
Who Legion did work for is kind of immaterial - it was mostly to remove them and allow their return as shown previously - however, to be clear, Aria sent them out to do a thing. They were then gone for a while, and could have done work for Liara too. Also, yes, Shepard was told about the schism. But half of who told her, she didn't trust, and Garrus' information ALSO came from someone Shepard didn't trust. Who then sources it to a Geth, which Shepard DEFINITELY doesn't trust.
See my point, here?
Also… Yeah, you're right on cue for Shepard, more or less. I'm impressed by your perceptiveness.
