A/N: Chapter suffered some formatting failure from switching to word. Should be fixed now.

Chapter 31

Date: January 4th, 2100, 6:07 P.M. A few moments after the incident with my ISYLR and the tank.

I felt a hand press up against my chest while walking forwards. Samara had stopped me in my tracks. To say that it scared me was an understatement. The entire area was still dusty, smoky… I couldn't see a foot past me, and I was choking like crazy. "We still have much to deal with. Check your kinetic barrier-"

"Samara. I'm fine. They're at 65% and recharging. Let's just… Let's get this over with," I cut her off, shrugging away her hand. I didn't want to be in the area any longer, seeing all the destruction that I caused. It was all incredibly unnerving. To top it all off, I was experiencing some mild confusion, and light tremors paved their way through my spine occasionally. My ears were ringing and I was pretty sure that I had a minor case of tinnitus now, maybe even more than that.

'Adjusting your auditory implants to compensate for hearing loss. You may experience a slight discomfort for thirty seconds, as well as muffled sound.'

Thanks, Sirius.

"If that is truly what you wish," Samara paused, waving her biotically glowing hand in the air to rally Vodnik, Jovian, and Lyna over to us.

Once they joined up with us, Vodnik was the first to speak. "What are our plans, Samara?"

"Enter the warehouse, take out any resistance. Search for our contact. If he is truly innocent, then he will not have left," the justicar responded, turning to Lyna and I moments later. "You two shall scout out the inside, as you are the only ones with tactical cloaks. If you encounter any resistance, start shooting. We'll be right behind you if that is the case."

I nodded my head, and Lyna did as well. We immediately carried out our orders. I took the left side of the warehouse, and Lyna took the right. Simultaneously, we activated our tactical cloaks, and then rushed in. On my end, Sirius was actively scanning the area while maintaining the power levels on my cloak.

'Three heat signatures above. A propane burner, a Salarian, and an Asari. Take cover while I recharge your cloak.'

Per Sirius' order, I found myself up against another shipping crate. I knew that both of my enemies would be on high-alert, based on how a tank just exploded as soon as it came out of the warehouse. Leading up was a ladder, so once Sirius gave me the go-ahead, I reactivated my cloak, slung my ISYLR over my shoulder, and proceeded to climb up the ladder. The noise of my climbing was masked by the commotion inside of the warehouse, so for now I was safe. As soon as I reached the second level, I saw my two enemies. Oddly enough they weren't wearing standard armor. It looked more like armor used for dealing with hazardous materials than for battle. No one else was in my direct vicinity, so I pressed a small button on the butt of my ISYLR, two sharpened blades emerging from both sides of the grip.

'Cloak has 5% power remaining before recharge. Act fast.'

Yeah, I got it, Sirius. Does this thing have a stun-mode?

'No? Not without revealing your position and emitting 100 decibels.'

Deci-whats?

'It'll be loud.'

I shrugged my shoulders, weighing my options for a bit. I could kill both of them with a shot from my ISYLR, but at the cost of raising the alarms. Of course, I didn't go for that option. Instead, I went for something a bit more complicated. I stepped up onto the walkway, got behind the Salarian, and pressed the barrel of my rifle into his back. "I understand you're both mercs, probably getting paid real good money for this job, but if you walk away now, I guarantee that you'll live the rest of your lives in peace," I whispered.

The Asari stared at me for a good few seconds, and the Salarian sort of shifted back to look at me. "We're just dock workers, don't shoot. We were going to leave as soon as we finished our lunch. These 'mercs' have just been working with us, and providing protections for small fees."

"Well, shit. Look, just get the hell out of here. I don't want to kill anyone but conflict's looking unavoidable. Things will get loud and violent; no way around that," I said, lowering my guard a fair bit.

The Asari shrugged. "I dunno. I really want to eat hot kuskas, but if you're willing to pay for a new meal…"

"You're arguing for food right before this place turns into a battleground. If you stay here, I can't guarantee your safety," I replied.

"Alkesi, we should go," the Salarian suggested, the blades of my ISYLR still pressed to his back.

"Egh, fine. You're buying our next dish though. Thanks for ruining our meal, fur-head." The party of two vacated the building shortly afterwards. I might be shot in the back one day for being merciful, but I was lucky that today wouldn't be one of those.

On the other side, Lyna was faring much better. She didn't have to worry about anyone in her path, but I did. Of course I did. With limited training, I did the best that I could. Thankfully, there was a guard-rail that I could hop up on and mantle onto my shipping crate that covered me. The only thing above was the roof, and I doubted that anyone would be looking at me from there, seeing as there wasn't a hatch. I slung my ISYLR onto my shoulder, grabbed onto the edges of the crate, and pulled myself up on top of it. There I laid on my stomach, getting a good eye on the internals of the base. "Lyna. I'm on a shipping crate, left side. Uh-" I cut myself off as I poked my head over the edge of the crate, seeing what we had to deal with. Two Krogan, four Salarians, and three Turians. This was a terrifying sight, made even more frightening by the raspy voice of the Turian leader giving a speech. At least, I assumed he was the leader.

"Alright! These fuckers just blew up our Cistermeni Tank. I'm pissed off. You're pissed off. We're all pissed off. That thing was fucking expensive, but we're gonna get paid. Disable the justicar and the two unknowns… Bring the commando to me. I think she'd make a perfect slave. Kill the Turian, he'll be as useless as varrenshit," he ordered, just yelling at his troops. "Once we're done with this job, we won't have to work another day in our lives, Krogan and Asari included. Ah, and if my future slave is unharmed, all your pays will be doubled!"

"Goddess, this guy just goes on and on. Very imaginative as well. Me, as a slave? Yeah, kiss your ass goodbye," Lyna venomously muttered over the radio.

I rolled my eyes and kept scanning over the area. I still had my ISYLR on my back because if I took it off, then it'd be noticeable if anyone looked up. I had to be at least thirty feet (ten meters) off of the ground, so that was covered. "Don't… don't fire yet. I'm looking at nine souls. Count from your position. How many do you see?"

"I count two more. That makes eleven."

"Not too many. The Krogan are what have me worried." I whispered into my radio, still being extremely quiet.

"We can take them," Lyna replied. I heard her taking her rifle off of her back, and then the soft clank of metal hitting metal.

I sighed and shimmied backwards, taking my ISYLR off of my back, and then giving off one final bit to Lyna. "Good to have some optimism. Requesting radio silence."

"Understoo-" Just like that, I cut Lyna off, and switched to Samara's frequency.

Before I could even get a word off, Samara hit me with a question. "What are the numbers?"

I shrugged my shoulders casually, as if she could see me. "Eleven."

"Eleven? Understood. Are you and Lyna away from the main door?" Samara asked.

"Yeah, I'm on some crates, Lyna's… on one of the catwalks. Two dock workers just vacated the building. Tried to get me to buy them food."

I didn't get a verbal reply from Samara, instead I saw a Salarian's body fly through the center of the room, hitting a Krogan in the head with a sickening snap, then gunfire. A whole lot of gunfire. The ear-splitting shots made me want to cover my ears, but my survival instincts had already kicked in. It was a war zone below me, with the eleven remaining enemies already taking casualties.

From what I could guess, Vodnik was behind cover. Samara was pushing forwards. Jovian was flanking with his shotgun, and Lyna? Lyna was shooting softer targets from above. That left me, where I hadn't even fired a shot off. My ISYLR was a bit too powerful for work indoors, but I went against my better judgement.

I drifted my aim into two mercenaries, and pulled the trigger. It had punched through a tank several minutes ago, so I assumed that it would vaporize the two with no issue. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see what damage I had caused after the nearly blinding flash of magnetohydrodynamic light, as I felt a larger hand grab me by the back of my neck. It swatted my ISYLR away, causing the rifle to skid back towards the catwalk, away from my grasp. It turned me around, and I instantly noticed that it was a Krogan that had flanked my oblivious ass. He head-butted me, throwing me into a daze.

'Congratulations. Thanks to your thick skull, he only gave you a mild concussion. No brain damage or loss of consciousness detected. Your symptoms will last less than fifteen minutes.'

No shit? Can you charge up an overload? I ne-

My thoughts were cut off, as a crack echoed through the warehouse. I was sprayed with blood, the hand around my throat loosened for just a moment, and I fell to the floor. The Krogan stumbled back and was beginning to draw his shotgun. I'd be obliterated if I stayed still, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get away.

The pit-pat of footsteps were rushing towards me and my ISYLR was yanked out of my unsteady grip. I heard yelling and then the catwalk shook as something heavy fell onto its metal scaffolding. My vision, as blurred as it was, could make out a darkened bowl-shape object. The all-too familiar sound of my rifle echoed through my damaged ears while a flash of bright light consumed my vision. For a moment, I thought I was dead, but I wouldn't feel the pounding pain of my concussed head if I was.

Lyna's familiar blue hand grabbed me by my bicep, handed me my ISYLR back, and pulled me up off of the crate. "Remain in cover, Kyle. I can't fight and watch over you at the same time. Cloak. Stay out of sight."

And so I did. I followed her instructions to a T. I stepped back from the fight, clutched my ISYLR, and cloaked behind a shipping container. I didn't want to get in the way. After all, for now I was more of a diplomat than a fighter. Something that I absolutely loathed. I wanted to be fighting with them, but I also didn't want to die, so I would wait. I would train. I wouldn't burst into fights if it meant my head being blown off in nine seconds of me being out there. Granted, I did well against the first wave, but CQC? With a rifle that shoots out a beam of energy that is comparable to that of a star? It wouldn't be safe. My phaeston would help, yes, but I couldn't reasonably carry more than two rifles without armor.

Ten minutes passed before the gunfire ceased. I heard the deactivation of Samara's biotics, and nothing from Vodnik's AK-74, which had previously been ear-splittingly loud, so I disengaged my cloak and came back out into the previously ear-splitting loud warzone, now so quiet that only the settling embers from the tank outside were audible. Lyna looked over to me, simply giving me a nod. "Vodnik and I will search the containers for any useful supplies, be it food or weaponry. Jovian, stand guard at the door, call if there's any reinforcements. Kyle and Lyna, I saw a console in the back of this facility. Head there. Have Sirius examine anything that was left behind," Samara ordered. Her calm tone barely even registering within my ears.

While everyone else went to their assigned tasks, Lyna and I went after the console, which, true to what Samara had said, laid in the very back of the compound. There was a Turian, tied up right next to the console, his eyes wide with fear as Lyna aimed her rifle right at him. I did the same, only following my Asari 'mentor.'

"Wait!" he screamed, "don't shoot! I'm not one of them!"

Lyna gripped her rifle a fair bit tighter, frowning at the Turian. "Are you the justicar's contact?" she asked, turning her head over to Samara and Vodnik just arrived by our side. They ran fast, apparently.

Samara held her hand up, beckoning Lyna to quiet down with a simple gesture. "What is your name, and why are you here? Why did these mercenaries have you tied up?"

"I-I'm Caesivus. We scheduled for a meeting, right? Right here. In this warehouse. I thought… I thought it'd be discreet enough, for them not to find me, but they did. They took my datapad, threatened to kill me if I talked. Well, they can't kill me now! You killed them, right? They're all dead? Right? Right?"

Lyna started walking forwards, crouching down next to him, and examining his rope. "There are no knots. Looks to be a one-man job." She inhaled, pulling the rope out from behind him with relative ease. "Either they did a shit job of tying you up, or you're lying, and I don't think these mercenaries, as incompetent as they may be in combat, would tie you in a rope so loose that a thresher maw could slip out of it."

"Okay. Okay. Okay. I got the rope untied while you were fighting-" he was cut off by Samara summoning her biotics once again. "What are you doing?! I'm innocent. You can't do this to an innocent person! Your code prevents you from harming innocents!"

"You're not an honest man, Caesivus Arkan. If you didn't have valuable information pertaining to a much more dangerous target, I'd be obligated to destroy you," Samara replied, getting ready to cast a dark channel onto Caesivus.

"Spirits! Fine! I'll talk. The Ardat-Yakshi is heading to Rannoch! That's all I know! I swear on my life."

I looked at the Turian, then back to Lyna, and the rest of the group. "Rannoch? That's bloody dangerous. With the URA and ISF occupying that space... Morinth isn't dumb, it'd be a greater risk than taking refuge on the Citadel."

"No shit, but we have our-" Jovian stopped himself, watching as Samara stepped up to the other Turian, and melded with him.

It was silent for about sixty seconds, before Samara pulled away and frowned. "Vodnik, please allow Caesivus to find his spirits. Unfortunately, he will not be returning to a wealthy family on Palaven today."

"No, no no no no no, wait! I have more, I promise! Please, don't kill me! She's paying the Blood Pack, and a new group, full of the new aliens! I swear on my life!" he yelled.

Vodnik pulled his M1911 out of its holster and pulled the trigger. No second thought, no hesitation. A single shot rang through the warehouse and a .45 ACP round drilled itself right through Caesvius's head. Blood splattered the wall behind him. His eyes wide open as his lifeless body fell to the floor, a small pool of blood and grey matter forming below the wound. Vodnik hadn't even shown a lick of emotion from shooting the Turian, instead sliding his sidearm back into its holster without even saying a word for the dead man.

The reactions were mixed. Samara and Vodnik obviously didn't care, but Jovian looked a bit uncomfortable, seeing one of his own being executed so brutally.

Samara didn't seem to be very phased by the lack of emotion from Vodnik. I certainly was. "What the fuck was that? He should've been sent to rot in a prison, not have a bullet shot into his head!"

"Kyle—Kyle's right. We should've made him live out the rest of his life in a prison ship. He didn't deserve… That…" Lyna muttered, her fists clutching onto her rifle so tightly that her knuckles were turning purple.

Samara gave me a sideways glare. "Morinth is currently on Garvug. Caesivus didn't have a clean pallet as he stood. Whether he was honest or not, the Code still demanded for him to be sent to his respective deities."

"I get that your 'Code' is strict and all, but holy shit, you can't just execute someone like that. We should've sent him to a trial!" I shouted.

"Terrah, Rilac. The Code ordered his death. I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't follow those orders. He was a criminal indeed, and prison would've been better suited for someone like him, if he didn't withhold information vital to finding Morinth," the justicar explained, turning around and beckoning all of us to follow her.

"We're just supposed to head to Garvug, without talking about what just happened? Alright then," Lyna rolled her eyes, turning away from the dead body of the Turian.

Vodnik tilted his head at Lyna for a moment. "He's dead, and he deserved it. There's nothing to talk about."

We left the warehouse shortly after that, chasing another trail. Though through seeing what I had throughout the day, I was worse for wear afterwards. We looted a fair amount of rations from the warehouse, but other than the weapons on the mercs, we didn't find anything that'd be of major use to us.

Samara's Justicar Code demanded that the remaining mercenaries be killed, much to mine, and Lyna's protest. Those near death were outright executed by Vodnik, but the ones that still had a bit of life in them were each begging for their life as he mercilessly took it. He'd try to extract information from the less-injured ones first, but he didn't get much else than, "She's heading to Garvug! Please! I have kids!" or "Have some mercy! We just needed the money!"

Vodnik, Samara, and Jovian were apathetic. Maybe Lyna and I would get used to it, all the killing, but I was damn sure that every blood splatter, every merc killed would keep me up at night, much more than my prophetic dreams could ever hope to achieve.

Samara called the authorities of Cyone to deal with the bodies. Our team wasn't a clean-up crew, so we got out of there as quickly as possible.

As for sustained injuries, I got a mild concussion, and Lyna was bleeding from where she took a few rounds rescuing me from the Krogan. Everyone else, who actually had armor, weren't wounded.

[-]

Date: February 20th, 2100.

We got to Garvug eventually, and by the time that we did, our target had eventually moved. Morinth was gone, and we were left with a cold trail. I tried to contact Svesa, to have another pair of eyes on the situation, but she didn't return any of my calls. Whatever she was doing was much more important than me, or the Inusannon Federation hadn't set up a comms buoy near Trivon yet.

It seemed as if all we did was burn fuel, heading from one planet to the next.

A/N: You may have noticed a lack of updates on this fiction. I've started a new project that might have taken up a bit more time than I initially expected.