Chapter 6

I jumped, but obviously not straight down towards the nonexistent 'spice runner ship' that Kroll had described. Instead, I aimed for a large flying truck that had just rounded the corner of the building. Despite the fact it was still in motion it was the only thing in the area large enough that landing on it wouldn't be an issue.

The only issue was the distance between the truck and the window I had just leapt from. My biotics could help extend my fall into a glide but even so it was going to be close. The one advantage I did have was the ruthless upbringing I had endured. As a child, I had always struggled to master this particular biotic technique until one day my father devised a radical new teaching method. Namely: having me thrown off a cliff as an incentive to learn. In the early stages, they were careful to ensure the fall wouldn't actually be able to kill me. Over time the height of the drops was increased incrementally until I became an expert at gliding as the only alternative to a broken neck.

I threw everything I had and was into that dive. The truck was about 400m away but only a hundred or so below meaning I had to make at least four times the distance horizontally for every meter I fell vertically. My vision started to blur and darken but I ignored it and pushed forward. Time slowed down and my world shrank until the truck was the only thing that existed within it.

Unfortunately, luck was not on my side today, and even as I watched it turned away from me in slow motion to head further into the pit where the undercity waited. I screamed impotent curses (either out loud or in my head, I don't remember) as the distance between us started growing again and pushed myself even harder in an effort to close the gap. Now I was in my very own self imposed hell. Seeing nothing except my target, feeling nothing other than the pain, unable to keep going and unable to stop.

It was at the last possible moment that I was saved. I was reaching the limits of my endurance when I became dimly aware of a large object hovering just below me, invading my personal space. I had no idea what it was but it surprised me enough that I instinctively threw on the breaks. Using my biotics successfully brought my descent to a brief halt but the additional exertion was equally successful in causing me to blackout.

I'm not sure how long it was before I woke up again, although after the way things had been going it was a miracle that I ever woke up again.

"Where am I?" I wondered before realizing I'd spoken aloud.

"You're safe enough, given the circumstances," I heard Kroll saying.

"Don't try to move around or speak too much. Just sit there and give your body time to heal."

He was speaking to me like I was a child. Normally I would have cut him dead with a look for that but I was still too tired (besides my vision was still too blurry to be sure I was even glaring in the right direction!)

I lay back in the seat, enjoying the opportunity to rest and recover my strength. My body still ached from head to toe, as if I had run a marathon the day before and every muscle was cramping up. On top of that, I had the mother of all headaches, so bad that it felt oppressive in its ability to keep me from wanting to move. As time passed the pain started to fade and my curiosity grew.

Opening my eyes again it was only now that I was able to take in my surroundings properly. We were sitting in an old skycar, a tiny two seater. The controls seemed slightly old fashioned, with clear signs of wear and tear in places. Kroll was sat in the driver's seat next to me, main eyes focused forward on the way ahead, secondary eyes scanning the controls and occasionally glancing my way. Below us, I could still see the undercity but our view of it was becoming increasingly obscured. Evidently, we'd crossed over most of the pit while I'd been unconscious.

"What happened?" I asked.

Kroll glanced across at me.

"You don't remember?"

"Not exactly. At least not all of it," I confessed.

"You almost got yourself killed, human. What the hell were you thinking?"

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply for a moment collecting my thoughts.

"You claimed to be traveling in a cargo ship. When I couldn't see it I was forced to improvise."

Nalar cursed softly.

"I'm sorry, it didn't even occur to me you'd be looking out for the spice runner 'till after you jumped. I was waiting right below you in this thing, if you'd trusted me everything should've worked out fine."

"I'm still not sure how you could even expect me to trust you after what you pulled back at the compound," I snorted before adding.

"How come you're not in the cargo ship you talked about anyway?"

He looked like he wanted to argue with me for a moment but then seemed to think better of it.

"I didn't like the look of the guy selling it so I decided not to hand over the money until our crew was safely on board. Asked him to fly the ship to a hanger where our lot could meet him and grabbed a cab so I could fly over with the creds separately. On the way, I picked your signal and you know the rest."

"That was smart. What about the gunships that were after me?"

He shrugged and shook his head.

"You're lucky your dive took you far enough into that truck's wake that they never even saw me picking you up. If they had we'd have been finished but it looks like they think you got yourself killed with that crazy stunt of yours."

There was a long pause before I finally spoke up again.

"Thank you. I appreciate the assist."

Nalar didn't reply. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get a read on him or predict what his next move will be. Letting me fall would have been the smarter move but instead, he risked detection just to save me. I was grateful but I couldn't say that I understood why.

As we came in to land in the hanger bay I could see most of the group gathered nearby. The crowd was smaller than I recalled and with a gut wrenching blow I realized that those not present were almost certainly dead. Killed by Cerberus because I had chosen to come to this world in particular on a whim.

I was grudgingly glad to see the Colonel was still amongst the living and in fact, seemed to be the least affected of all of them, there wasn't so much as a scratch on him. The others all seemed to be somewhat worse for wear but I couldn't see many major injuries. Most of the Krogan were still alive including John, Jacob, Garrus, and Thane but I couldn't see any sign of Zaeed. Of all of them, Thane was worst off, he had a nasty wound running along the full length of his head plate, in addition to his earlier injuries. Worst of all and somewhat inevitably Vorlak was standing front and center, somewhat injured but still going strong.

'Oh fantastic,' I thought to myself. 'The one person I would have been happy to see my former employees kill walks through the fight with barely a scratch to show for it.'

As ever it was impossible to know what he was thinking behind that stoic gray face. Was he surprised, maybe even shocked that we were both still alive despite his orders to the contrary? Was he frothing with anger and about to lash out at us? I had no way of know so I chose to ignore him for the time being. There would be consequences later I was sure but hopefully Vorlak wouldn't do anything in public.

Once we landed and disembarked I caught my first glimpse of the guy we'd bought the ship from. At first, I couldn't see what had made Nalar so nervous about dealing with him. He was a Salarian, late teens or early twenties at a guess. His skin was a fairly distinctive pale green color which was unusual but not particularly rare in his species. He had a slight frame even for a Salarian which is really saying something and apart from a small group of security mechs he seemed to be completely alone.

Then I saw his eyes and took a second closer look at him. He was very alert, very aware of his surroundings, completely still, calm, and focused. From the way he carried himself it was clear he knew how to handle himself in a fight and had done so many times before.

I followed Nalar as he strolled up to greet the captain, mainly to maintain appearances. After all, as far as the rest of the gang were aware we had both gone to see him earlier to arrange the sale.

"His name is Melnar Sol," Nalar whispered as we got closer.

If the Salarian was surprised that I greeted him as if we had already met he certainly didn't show it.

"Ah glad to see you are all still in one piece. Have heard there's been considerable conflict in the lower city. Do you have my money?"

"We've got it Melnar," Nalar replied. "Twelve thousand credits ready for delivery."

"That's good to hear, but given the circumstances, I'd like to arrange a little something 'extra' for all my trouble."

"You can't be serious. Cerberus isn't far behind us. Wasting time now only puts our lives at risk and yours or hadn't you worked out yet what they do to aliens that try and help their targets escape?" I pointed out.

"Oh I'm perfectly serious and as you quite rightly point out, we don't have time to haggle, so I suggest you hear me out before your friends catch up to us."

"Fine," snarled Nalar, displaying an anger I could entirely sympathize with.

"How much more do you want?"

"It's not about more credits. It's- There's something going on down in the pit. One of my contacts gave reports of several disappearances in the last few days. There have been sightings of some kind of machine monsters abducting people."

'Reaper Husks' I thought to myself but my companion only laughed.

"Why are you wasting our time with these ghost stories?"

"They're not just stories! I- I saw something attack Sarah just before the vidcom was cut off. It..."

For the first time in our conversation, he lost his composure before continuing.

"Point is I want passage off this rock too. Take me with you or the deal's off."

"You realize it would be easier just to take your ship by force?" I said, giving him a meaningful stare just to make sure I was getting my point across.

But he only smiled at me, confidently back in control now that we weren't discussing ancient machine devils.

"Oh, I'm well prepared for that. My ship has a hardwired failsafe that will disable it completely unless I enter my security code into the main computer every three hours. If you decide to leave me behind then I hope you enjoy your time drifting helplessly in the void."

Nalar swore.

"Just stay out of our way, Salarian."

Deal agreed we turned and headed back towards the group to let them know they could start loading up the ship.

"What did you make of him?" Kroll asked me quietly as we walked over, side by side.

"Not sure. Could be Eclipse?" I suggested, referencing one of the larger merc bands known to operate in the Terminus. One known for hiring Salarians and for using mechs.

"Maybe."

I could tell Kroll wasn't convinced. I couldn't say I was either really, it was just a bit too obvious. Besides Korlus was carved up between the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack, with the Suns possessing absolute control here in the capitol. An Eclipse merc found here would wind up being publicly executed as a warning.

Vorlak didn't say a word as we explained the situation. Just stood there like a statue waiting patiently for us to stop speaking and then strode right past us and into the ship. Which of course left the rest of us to load up what little we had left. Not that, that was a particularly difficult task anymore. After fleeing the compound and then the warehouse no one had very much stuff left but even so I couldn't help but notice my pile was now completely empty. My list of possessions now only ran as far as the clothes on my back and the things in my pockets.

Sighing I grabbed a couple of bits and pieces from the Krogan's piles (evidently they had managed to bring along some of their own stuff) and headed into our latest getaway vehicle. My first impression was that the ship was just as cramped and dirty as I'd expected. We had to enter through the cargo hold where we found the remnants of the final shipment this vessel had hauled. A few crates of Red Sand that were now scattered across the room and in a few cases leaking onto the floor. I did my best to steer clear of those areas. Despite its use as a recreational drug the substance could be deadly to biotics in high enough doses.

When we got to the bridge we found Vorlak arguing with our pilot. The Salarian was clearly keen to get away as soon as possible but apparently Vorlak hadn't liked our deal and decided he needed to lay down the law with our guest.

"With considerable force: You don't get to join my company without my permission Salarian."

"Kroll, can you get us out of here?" I asked, concerned that wasting any more time would only jeopardize our escape.

Nalar nodded and took the controls, leaving me to try and placate the bickering.

"I'm not actually sure I said anything about joining you. Now all I'm looking for a free ride off this godforsaken rock."

"With clear skepticism: This was your ship before it was ours. If you wanted to leave you could have done so at any time."

"Yeah, I uh, I actually need the money, to be honest with you."

"With doubt."

We waited to see if Vorlak would say any more but he didn't go on. It shouldn't have been too surprising, most Elcor have to verbally announce every 'facial expression' they want to express to the world. But most Elcor aren't brutish gangsters with no interest in telling the rest of the world how they feel. I couldn't help but wonder why Vorlak was bothering but whatever the reason the slow pedantic speech seemed to be agitating our Salarian friend who was used to conversing much more rapidly especially in an emergency (though come to think of it distressing the Salarian might have been Vorlak's plan all along).

"Look, I ran up some bad debts on Illium. And the people that I owe them to? Well, let's just say I've heard they can get very creative when it comes to convincing people to pay up."

"Really?"

I think he could see we were all skeptical. It wasn't like this sort of thing didn't happen all the time in the Terminus but all the same, it just didn't feel right. It was too generic, leaving us to fill in the details with tales from every sob story we'd ever heard from the Terminus (which was plenty).

There was a lurch in the ship as Nalar brought us through the upper atmosphere. I felt relieved that at least we were getting away from the planet. I was just thinking to myself that I'd go look for the crew quarters after we passed the Relay (leaving the others to bicker) when I noticed Nalar was looking worried.

"Er, I think we've got a problem over here."

"What is it?"

"That."

That, as I soon saw turned out to be a large cruiser waiting for us in orbit, sporting Cerberus colors.

Oh hell.

Suddenly the argument was forgotten as we scrambled towards the nearest workstations (well three of us did, predictably Vorlak just stood around looking important).

"Analysis coming in," I reported. "We're not within its targeting range yet but it won't be long."

"We don't need to panic," muttered the Salarian. "Ships come and go from this system all the time. There's no reason to think they're aware of which one we're traveling on."

Nalar nodded and began turning the ship away from the cruiser, taking a standard route towards the Mass Relay. We waited with baited breath but before long he was shaking his head.

"Cruiser's just changed course. They're heading to intercept us now."

"Hold your nerve," urged the Salarian. "It might just be-"

He fell silent for several seconds before speaking again.

"We're receiving a transmission from them, audio only."

"Let's hear it."

The Salarian tapped a few keys and moments later Kolvar's voice came through.

"Unidentified vessel, it is my duty to inform you that you are carrying several fugitives. Anything they may have told you in order to gain passage is a lie. They are dangerous criminals that must be apprehended. Surrender them and you will not be harmed but be warned failure to comply with this order will result in the destruction of your ship."

There didn't seem to be much point in replying.

"Can you get us out of here?" I asked.

"I can try," Nalar replied but he didn't sound confident.

"Assertively: We should not be running away," stated Vorlak turning to face me.

"You are the Cerberus expert. What weakness of this ship can you tell us?"

I looked towards the hulking Elcor in frank astonishment. Had he taken complete leave of his senses?

"Nothing that would even the odds between a rusting cargo ship and a piece of state of the art military hardware," I snapped at him.

"Nalar get us out of here now."

I realized my mistake immediately and glanced back at Vorlak to see if the fact I had used Kroll's real name had registered with him. As usual, his impassive face gave nothing away so I could only wait to see what his reaction would be.

"Gah," Nalar called out in frustration surprising me.

"I've got a warning here saying the system's about to lock me out."

"Crap," the Salarian swore. "I need to re-enter my access code. Don't worry I've got this, let me just-"

He made to head off the bridge and back down the corridor (evidently the code couldn't be entered from the bridge) but Vorlak stepped forward to block his path.

"I did not give you permission to leave Salarian."

"Uh we really don't have time for that right now big guy," he chuckled as he tried to push past him. "Like do I also need your 'permission' if I want to take a-"

He didn't get any further than that because Vorlak suddenly lashed out. Caught off guard the Salarian never stood a chance. He flew right across the room until his back collided with the far wall.

I rushed over to him but it was no good. By pure miracle, his armor had kept him alive and I couldn't even see anything broken but he was still out cold and likely to stay that way for some time. I turned on Vorlak furiously, my biotics flaring as I prepared to strike.

"You idiot, you could have killed him."

Focused on the Elcor I barely even remember the blow to the head I took from behind.