…
"'I am educated and well-read, I am not a mechanic! I have my pride! Agh!"
(Stith)
…
UCV Saint Luke, October 13th, 1:32 PM, 2186
...
I began handing out Pulse Rifles to the entire CIC as we anticipated the "arrival" of Balak's forces. I remembered hearing about Balak and what he had tried to do to Terra Nova years ago, so I knew he wasn't the type to underestimate. How he had gained a leadership position in the Hegemony was beyond me given the Batarians had disavowed him after the terrorist attack, but I figured such an announcement was more smokescreen than anything else. Batarians had been notorious for funding terrorist and pirate operations against the Alliance before the Reapers had arrived, and denying their involvement later.
Right now none of that mattered. Reapers or Batarians, we'd defend this ship.
"Sir, look." Dixon pointed out, the external cameras showing several dozen shuttle-sized ships converging on the port side of the Saint Luke.
Much to my surprise, none appeared to be making direct contact with torches or cutters, but were instead maneuvering into the side of the ship and accelerating, causing us to drift sideways deeper into the ice field. Thumps could be heard against the starboard side as large chunks of ice smashed into the ship's titanium plating.
"They must be moving us further in to mask us from the Reapers… they want to take their time with us." I speculated, putting two more mags of Pulse Rifle ammo into my coat pockets. "Have teams cover the airlocks and flight decks, but tell them to keep their eyes open for any other entry points."
"Yes'sir." Dixon nodded, getting on the intercom as I turned to Largos
"I need you to get down to the Crew Quarters and find my wife and daughter." I ordered, getting him to tilt his head. "Bring them here, they'll be safer at the center of the ship."
"But… yes'sir." He began to object before fully interpreting the look on my face, saluting and running off without a second thought.
"Admiral, we're receiving reports of intruders on the lower decks." Morgan announced from her station, a worried look turning even more grim. "They're entering through the cargo holds."
"Have three squads move to intercept, and move all non-combatants to their safety zones." I quickly replied as another thought entered my head, getting me to turn back to Dixon. "Stay here and coordinate our teams."
"Where the hell are you going?" He questioned, obviously confused as I grabbed two additional Pulse Rifles out of the locker along with a dozen mags of ammo.
"There are some men in the brig who I'm sure'll want to join the fight." I smiled, running out of the CIC as fast as I could.
The alarms were still going off even with the lights down, and several pressure doors had slammed down in the hallways due to the hull breaches. We had no way of knowing how many were dead, missing, or trapped with main power down, so I could only guess with my morbid brain it was at least two dozen, possibly more. Either way, with the main route to the brig cut off, I'd have to take a detour through the deck below. I was well aware of the risk I'd be taking by doing this, but it would take too long going through the upper decks.
Climbing down the emergency ladder in the elevator shaft, I was greeted with a lot of smoke three decks down. The damage control teams hadn't reached this part of the deck yet, and the hallway was on fire. Knowing there was no other way around, I pulled a fire extinguisher and rebreather out of the nearby emergency case, discharging the extinguisher into the fire as I pulled the rebreather over my head. It took twenty or so seconds to put the fire out, leaving me worried that I might run into more, so I carried the extinguisher under my arm, adding to the considerable weight the three rifles and ammunition already had.
Before I could move any further though, I spotted several flashlights moving through the hallway ahead, getting me to dash behind one of the structural cross-braces for cover. I took aim with my Pulse Rifle, tracking the narrowing cones of light as their origins came into view. Peering through the smoke, I spotted the tell-tale helmets the Batarians used, and fired without a second thought. The Batarian in the lead went down immediately as the second immediately leaped back behind cover, blind-firing his rifle around the corner and forcing me to duck back down.
"You wanna play it hard, then we'll play it hard." I muttered to myself, waiting for the telltale sound of a heatsink dumping its stored heat with a loud *psh* noise.
Hearing the sound and cracking a smile, I immediately popped back out of cover and looked for him, but he was still behind the corner. Spotting another fire extinguisher on the wall across from him, I instead aimed for it and fired, causing it to explode and briefly fill the hallway with a cloud of CO2. I could hear the Batarian yell out in pain, giving me the opening I needed. I rushed down the hallway towards his position as quickly as I could, turning the corner and gunning him down with a burst shot from my Pulse Rifle.
Panting, I have myself a moment to check the bodies for anything important, only finding a standard Batarian kit that included grenades, basic medical supplies, and a "slaver kit". The kit consisted of three electroshock collars, a stun baton, and a "motivator" remote for the collars. Feeling a sense of disgust, I took the baton and discarded the rest of the kit and moved on, knowing the brig wasn't much farther down the hall. I hoped I had reached them before these bastards. I opened the door, being stopped by a Quarian private armed with an old Kessler handgun.
"Admiral! Keelah, you scared me." He quickly exhaled, lowering the gun and immediately shooting to attention. "Private Jeeh'Sodor, at your command, sir!"
"It's quite alright, private. Calm down." I nodded, looking around for anyone else who might have been in the room. "Are you the only one here?"
"Yes'sir, my sergeant ordered me to stay here and guard the area while he and the rest of the squad went to aid in the defense." He explained as I took the two extra Pulse Rifles off my back, walking over to the cell door controls. "Uh, what are you doing?"
"Giving us an edge." I replied with a smirk, opening both cells to reveal Klesk and Yardes. Both looked confused, given the fact that their cells were sound-proofed. Half of Yardes' face was covered in bandages and he had clearly been treated for cuts. Klesk had only one bandage from where I had pistol-whipped him, though several large, purple bruises could be clearly seen between a few of his plates.
"Listen up. gentlemen. We don't have a lot of time, so I'll make this quick. We've got some Batarian slaver bastards out there that need to be killed." I explain out loud, the private standing nervously behind me. "Can I expect you two to get along and put your talents to good use?"
"Yes'sir." Yardes immediately agreed, getting me to smile as I threw him one of the rifles, turning to the bruised Krogan.
"Well? How bout' it, Klesk? Wanna take another shot at me, or take your frustrations out on some Batarians instead?" I asked with genuine curiosity, knowing a Korgan's favorite activity already.
"Anything's better than staying here. Let's go." He agreed without a single hint of malice, taking the other rifle out of my hand as I gave out ammo and prepared myself for what was to come.
I knew staying in one spot and waiting for the Batarians to come to us was a bad idea, given the chance for further damage in the form of sabotage to occur. If the Batarians couldn't have us, then they'd surely try to scuttle the Saint Luke out of spite. I could have been wrong, of course, but I didn't want to take a chance with them, not with the Reapers scanning for us out there.
We had to find a way to fight back against these guys. With our ship disabled, we could do very little against them, not without putting ourselves firmly in harm's way. That only left a handful of increasingly risky, high-risk options, one of which was starting to sound rather appealing to my weird brain.
"Alright people, time to kick these slaver assholes off of the ship." I proclaimed, holding my rifle up to my shoulder. "They're coming in from these lower decks, so we need to-"
Before I could finish, the doors where I had entered opened up, revealing three more Batarians at the ready with their weapons. As I jumped out of the way behind one of the consoles, Klesk charged forward at them, knocking them all down with his sheer weight. None of us managed to get a shot off before Klesk crushed one of their heads beneath his feet, plugging three rounds into another while holding the last against the wall with his free hand. He struggled to get loose to no avail.
"Where are you scum coming from? What's your entry point?" Klesk demanded before his the other Batarian had even hit the deck, turning the rifle on him instead and pressing the barrel into his abdomen.
"I won't- I won't tell you anything!" The Batarian yelled out in pain as we all walked over, still reeling from the shock of what had happened. "You'll have to kill me!"
"I was hoping you'd say that." Klesk sneered, dropping the rifle and grabbing the Batarian's helmet with both hands, squeezing it like a soda can.
"You better tell him what he wants to know, he isn't the patient type." I remarked as his visor cracked, making a really awful noise as Klesk continued to squeeze. "He'll crush your head like a tomato if you don't answer him quickly."
"No, no! I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" He screamed out in anguish as Klesk let go of his head, pushing him back against the wall. "Bottom deck, between the ventral armor plating! Please, just let me live!"
Klesk looked back at me with those bloodthirsty eyes, giving me a moment of pause. Letting him live would have been the right thing, of course, but part of me considered letting Klesk kill him considering our lack of time in this matter. I only had a second to decide.
"Fine… we'll let you live. But you'll receive no better treatment than those that you've enslaved." I remarked, pulling the "slaver kit" off one of the dead bodies and grabbing a collar out of it. "Take that helmet off."
"No, I haven't enslaved anyone!" He pleaded as Yardes yanked his damaged helmet off, throwing it to the floor. "You have to believe me!"
"Don't know, and right now, don't care." I rejected, snapping the collar on around his neck and pressing the tiny remote, causing him to convulse from an electric shock. "Take his weapons and equipment, and throw his ass into one of the cells. We'll deal with him later."
"Yes sir." Klesk agreed with a hint of annoyance, yanking off his equipment belt and throwing the Batarian into one of the cells. "You're lucky, slaver. I would have squeezed your head like a melon."
"Come on, let's go." I urged, throwing Private Jeeh one of the rifles from the dead Batarians, knowing one of their Terminator rifles was a better option than his Kessler.
I knew if the Batarians were coming in through the ventral armor, that meant they were likely somewhere near the flak ammo storage. Luckily, the ammo was inert until it was properly armed, meaning there was no chance they'd be able to accidentally detonate it. Now I had a team and a clear objective.
Moving through the corridors to the now unobstructed stairwell, we moved down two more decks before he heard the sounds of a firefight in-progress. We quickly checked our corners, moving onto the deck as the sounds grew louder and louder. Soon enough, we spotted one half of what was creating all the commotion.
A Geth marine ran down the hallway, firing an older Geth plasma shotgun with one hand as he dove for cover behind one of the structural columns. We returned fire on the Batarians as soon as he was out of the way, taking them down and securing the corridor. It was only after the Geth had stopped moving that I realized the reason why he had been firing his shotgun one-handed. His left arm had been blown off, the "stump" covered in conductive fluid and scorch marks.
"Admiral-Michaels. Corporal G-085-Beta, at your service." He greeted in the "universal" Geth monotone, holstering his shotgun and offering a handshake. While it weirded me out slightly given the fact that he was clearly badly damaged, I knew there was no reason not to accept the gesture.
"Good to meet you, Beta." I replied as I shook his singular hand, glancing down both ends of the hallway as I noticed the sounds of gunfire were diminishing. "Are you OK with that damage?"
"We still remain eighty-seven percent effective without our appendage." He reassured, glancing at their "stump" with the Geth equivalent of disinterest. "Sir, Batarians have established a foothold on the deck below, and are attempting unsuccessfully to remotely access the ship's computer mainframe."
"That shouldn't be an issue. Our priority is neutralizing them at their point of origin." I refocused, looking down the hallway as more gunfire could be heard.
"Shall we accompany you, sir?" Beta offered, the flaps on his head tilting forward in interest.
"If you think you can keep going, then the more the merrier." I agreed, waving him towards us as we continued down to the bottom deck.
Peeking through the main door's window at the bottom of the stairwell, I could see the Batarians had secured this part of the deck, leaving me with another pit in my stomach. They ran back and forth trying to keep men pouring in, leaving us at a serious disadvantage.
"Well, this presents a problem." I muttered in a lowered voice, ducking back down and making sure the door was still magnetically sealed. "It's a convention out there… how are we supposed to take that many on?"
"I could run in and draw some of them away. Leaves more for me to kill." Klesk offered, smirking in that worrying, Krogan way.
"Not even you are tough enough to take on that many Batarians by yourself, Krogan." Yardes chastised, getting Klesk to growl and narrow his eyes.
"Sir, if I may?" Jeeh spoke up, getting me to focus on him exclusively. "They must be entering through an umbilical tube or external craft of some kind. Why don't we use one of the ventral cannons to blow it off of the ship?"
"The weapon systems were disabled when the reactor went offline. We can't." I denied as the aperture went wide on Beta's head.
"Sir, if we can be given direct access to the mass accelerator turrets, we may be able to divert enough power from non-essential systems to fire a few low-power shots from one of them." He suggested, getting me to cock one of my eyebrows.
"You're sure?" I questioned, getting an exaggerated nod from him which made me smile. "OK then. Let's wait for a gap in their movements, then run down the hall to one of the ammo storage rooms. We'll be able to access the weapon systems there."
"I might have a better idea, sir." Yardes said, pulling the cover off the nearby fire panel. "The emergency fire suppression system might distract them long enough for us to slip in undetected."
"If it works." I mused, pushing up against the edge of the doorway as I slipped my respirator on. "Everyone get ready."
As soon as a sizable opening appeared outside the door, Yardes triggered the emergency suppression system, setting off another alarm as yellow lights began flashing, the hallway suddenly flooding with concentrated CO2.
"Go!" I yelled, unsealing the door as we all rushed down the hallway towards ammo storage. We barged in as quickly as possible while the CO2 still flooded the area, closing the door behind us with a sharp hiss.
"It won't take them long to figure out what happened." Klesk remarked as I triggered a magnetic seal on the door. "We should do this quickly."
"Already on it." Jeeh remarked, running over to the nearby control console with Beta and quickly accessing the system.
I watched the viewscreen as the lights dimmed around us, one of the turrets coming back online as Beta manually reoriented it.
"Admiral, there is a large shuttle of some kind attached to the underside of the ship. Shall I destroy it?" He asked as the ammo feeder system did its job, putting live rounds into the cannons.
"Do it. Everyone hold onto something, this might get a little rough!" I warned as the cannon fired, blowing the vessel to pieces in a single shot. I could hear the bulkheads creak as the shockwave from the explosion hit the ship in full force, rattling my teeth as several explosive decompression alarms sounded.
"Rerouting power to internal sensors… several hull breaches detected on this deck, primarily around the entry point the Batarians had been using previously." Beta assessed, looking over at me with raised flaps. "It appears that all Batarians on this portion of the deck have perished, sir."
"Those flak rounds pack more of a punch than I thought." I shook my head, bumping one of them with the back of my fist. "Have the emergency blast doors finished closing yet?"
"Yes, the compartment is repressurising in the uncompromised areas." Jeeh announced, sounding quite thrilled. "We should be able to leave soon."
"Good. Time to make a call." I nodded, picking up the nearby phone. I was happy to get a quick connection back to Dixon.
"Sir, I assume all is well down there?" He guessed correctly, forcing me to chuckle out of pure nerves. "We detected the reroute to the cannon, but I decided to let it happen given where you said you were going."
"Yeah, for now we're good. We took out a bunch of boarders down along with their ship, but other than that it's surprisingly quiet now." I answered, leaning against the wall as I used my free hand to rub my brow. "Are Mara and Elle safe?"
"They're safe and sound, sir. Mara is helping us reroute the ship's systems to get things running again." He reassured, getting a big sigh of relief out of me. "We've got our hands full with everything under the sun here, and frankly things aren't going well. We've got at least two dozen confirmed dead and many more missing. Things are patchy at best, but we do know Balak's ship is very close."
"Do we know the make and position of his ship at this very moment?" I asked, my idea from earlier popping back into my head.
"It's taken up position next to our portside, and it looks like a dreadnought, sir. A Eeluram-class, if the computer is reading this right." He answered, getting my eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. "It's about five-hundred and twenty meters away from the ship, and it looks like they're trying to manually reposition several boarding tubes and heavy welders across the gap."
"Perfect." I grinned, knowing my plan would likely work given the distance between our two ships wasn't too big. "I want you to devote the majority of our forces to sweep and hold that side of the ship while the remainder clear what's left on the lower decks. We need to secure the port hangar deck. I've got an idea that might just be crazy enough to work if we do this right."
…
UCV Saint Luke, October 13th, 2:14 PM, 2186
…
Running into the portside hangar bay, I watched the flurry of activity as my deck crews prepared for our retaliatory strike against Balak. They all worked with vigor I'd never seen before, and their teamwork honestly astonished me. They were good before, but in a situation like this they had all become family.
The plan was simple. Since most of the defensive systems were still down, we were going to do something a little more unconventional. We'd be launching the Dragoon mechs towards Balak's ship in zero-g, simultaneously launching all of our Python wings to cover their approach. Once the Dragoons had made contact, they'd begin systematically destroying all their surface guns and GARDIAN arrays. They didn't have the coverage needed to shoot back, so they only had to worry about shuttles or gunships coming after them. The Pythons would be taking care of those. The guns on the other ships wouldn't be able to fire on our mechs without damaging their dreadnought, leaving us with the advantage.
Once their ship was defenseless, we'd shift all available power back to our guns and begin pounding away at all the ships around us. Hopefully by then we'd be able to get the main reactor operational again, but there was no way to know for sure if that could be done in time. Chief Tirus and his team were working as best they could considering there was a large hole going through the main reactor room.
"I admit, I did think you had taken a blow to the head when you first explained this to me." Dixon smirked as the Dragoons all lined up on the deck in rows, the last few arriving from the other side of the ship. "I'm starting to think this might actually work."
"You and me both." I smirked, flexing my arms to test my EVA suit's range of movement. "I'm surprised you aren't angry about me joining them."
"At this point, I know better than to argue with you over something like this." He sighed, holding both hands behind his back and pushing himself up slightly with his heels. "Just keeping morale in check, right?"
"Maybe a little revenge too." I shrugged, letting my sarcastic side seep through as I walked up to one of the mech lifts and grabbed its railing. "I'll have this Balak bastard crawling on his knees by the end of this, just you wait."
"I've seen your bad side. I already know what he's gotten himself into." Dixon shook his head, standing at the edge of the lift as I hopped on. "I'll make sure no one stands in your spot while you're gone."
"Mara and Elle are allowed, no one else." I joked, allowing the corner of my mouth to curl into a smile as I hit the lift button, ascending to the top of the mech as the nerves began hitting me again. "Boy, I'm really getting into the thick of it now. First the stunt below, now this..."
I climbed inside the familiar cockpit, slipping on the integrated helmet/mask and strapping myself in. I made sure that the seal around my neck with the EVA suit was secure. The hatch above me closed with a sharp hiss as my instruments lit up, giving me full control of the Dragoon mech. I was acutely aware that I hadn't piloted one of these since my stint on Reach with the original prototype, so I made mental notes of everything before I even touched the sticks. I was happy to have much better visibility this time around with the newer model, among other numerous improvements.
"All units, this is Blue Fox, checking to make sure this channel is secure." I spoke into my microphone, adjusting the levels to my liking.
"We confirm, Blue Fox. Channel is secure. Welcome to the Roktati club." Lance Leader Gar'Relan replied, a smirk creeping onto my face. The Roktati were the largest carnivores on Rannoch, and the ship's Lances were named after them. "We're ready to go, sir."
"OK then, let's start the countdown." I confirmed as the warning alarm rang out through the hangar as the yellow warning lights switched on.
"Warning all personnel, vacate the hangar deck immediately! Decompression in sixty seconds, get your asses moving!" Dixon yelled over the intercom, waving people towards the doors as those without pressure suits ran as fast as they could.
"Alright everyone, remember to keep your eyes on the hull and make sure one of your feet are on the hull at all times. This hasn't been done before, so let's make it a good chapter in the history books." I laid out, pumping myself up. "Stay in standard formation and watch your crossfire, there's no telling what they'll do once we're over there."
"We're right behind you, Blue Fox." Gar confirmed as I took a deep breath, the entire hangar depressurizing as several loose pieces of debris were shot through the air.
I took my place at the front of the sixteen mechs, watching the Pythons lower down on their overhead mounts. I was still worried about how this could go, but we were basically past the point of no return. I had to turn this situation around and save my ship.
As the seconds counted down, I held my breath. I couldn't shake the sudden feeling of dread, so I decided to do something I hadn't done in a long time. I decided to put on a random track of music from my omni-tool, both as a motivator and a distraction. Having no particular tracks in mind, I hit random, leaving the selection up to Lady Luck. Much to my immense surprise, the song I landed on was "Raise Your Hands" by Bon Jovi. I couldn't help but smile.
"I'll take it!" I yelled as I grinned, turning up the volume as the hangar doors finally opened, revealing Balak's ship. "Let's do this!"
Just as the song started ramping up to the ten second mark, I ran towards the edge and jumped towards the ship, firing my jets to give myself a stronger boost. The lances behind me followed suit as the Pythons launched at maximum speed out of the hangar. The fighters launched decoy drones to confuse their targeting computers, giving us as much cover as they possibly could as their GARDIAN arrays began firing. Luckily for us, the drones were fantastic at their jobs, and none of us had been targeted so far.
I had to admit, as we floated near-helplessly through space, the situation reminded me of what we had done years ago on that Geth ship. I blocked out the sudden memory of broken toes from my mind as their hull grew closer and closer.
"Steady… steady… shift!" I yelled into the comm, reorienting my mech to hand feet-first onto the deck of the Batarian dreadnought. I slammed into the armor plating, leaving a sizable dent as many more impacts could be felt as everyone else made contact. We all managed to land without damage, leaving me relieved.
The view of our ships in the ice field was astonishing. Large chunks of ice floated around us, occasionally smashing into each other, creating a kaleidoscope of colors from the resulting ice cloud. I quickly focused my eyes back on the hull, checking the servos in my leg for damage before thinking back to our goals.
"Alpha, Beta, focus your fire on the tubes and boarding craft, keep them off of our ship. Charlie, Delta, you're with me. We're taking out those cannons." I ordered, beginning our trek along their relatively flat hull.
The Batarian ships, this Eeluram-class in particular, had an odd black/gray pseudo camouflage pattern painted on them. It was hard to see here on the hull, but I did briefly notice it when jumping across the gap. It seemed like an odd extravagance, considering this ship's call-to-fame was supposed to be its overwhelming firepower… and little else. While they had proved that point when attacking the Saint Luke, it was clear looking at it now that this ship had been badly damaged previously, and had very clear and noticeable battle damage. I could only assume it was a combination of Reaper attacks and prolonged time spent in this ice belt.
"I've got eyes on several dorsal guns." One of the Dragoons announced as we all came to a stop.
"Lock on with HEX missiles and take them out." I ordered as I watched the hatches open on several of their missile launchers, a volley of them soundlessly shooting out seconds later. The guns went boom, the vibration readily felt through the mech's feet several more explosions began rocking the hull.
"Secondaries! Get out of the way!" Gar ordered over the comm as we did our best to outrun the explosions. We must have unintentionally hit something very vital, because they got closer and closer.
Before I could get far enough, one of the explosions rocked my mech, disconnecting me from the hull and sending my flying up away from the ship. All my instruments blinked on and off and my music shut off as the vibrations rocked the mech, leaving me briefly in the dark.
"Oh shit!" I yelled, watching my view quickly churn as I began spinning. "Where are the jets, where are the jets…"
I found them and attempted to fire them, only to be met with nothing. I paused for a moment, hitting the button more several times only to be met with the same result.
"Fuck...fuck!" I shouted out of frustration, concluding that the explosion must have damaged them. "Lance Leader, this Blue Fox. I am detached from the hull and have no control, please advise! Lance Leader? Gar?!"
I was met with the sound of nothing, not even the drone of static. My comms were down too.
"Great… perfect." I stammered, trying to get an idea of what did work as I quickly ran diagnostics. Weapons were fine for the most part, but the diagnostic revealed that one of my legs had been badly damaged in the explosion, along with several other baseline systems.
Using the guns on my arms, I fired several times in an attempt to correct my spin. While mostly a success, I then noticed I was flying very fast towards one of the ice chunks I had been admiring before.
"Alright then… let's see if this'll work." I remarked, flicking the switches to arm the plasma cannon. I knew that it wouldn't work in a vacuum, but it could potentially generate enough thrust to keep me from slamming into the ice.
Crossing my fingers, I fired the plasma cannon with an audible *fwoosh*. A blue cloud shot out of the cannon and quickly dissipated, though it seemed to do the trick for the most part. I managed to arrest enough of my momentum that I was almost completely stationary. I took the moment to shake the sweat out of my eyes as I began turning gently back towards the battle.
I watched as several more explosions tore apart pieces of Balak's ship, the debris flying in all directions at high velocity. Several of the Saint Luke's running lights turned back on as several PLS and GARDIANs opened fire on the other ships surrounding them, the lights appearing rather serene despite the serious nature of my situation. One of the Batarian frigates flew real close to me, attempting to maneuver around the ice as the guns on the Saint Luke tore through its kinetic barriers, nailing their drive core and blowing the ship to pieces. Unfortunately for me, one of those pieces began flying very fast towards me.
"Jesus Christ!" I panicked, firing my guns in a vain attempt to avoid it, only to be hit by the bulk of one of their engine moorings.
The force of the debris hitting me was enough to crack the canopy in dozens of places, and it threw me back so hard that I smashed my head against the wall, causing my vision to go black. I fought against it for a few moments, but it was no use. The last thing I could remember before losing consciousness was the sound of the alarm, and brief flashes of red. I eventually succumbed to the darkness, passing out as I drifted off deeper into the field.
…
A/N: Cliffhanger time! I know you guys hate them, but it's always an interesting challenge trying to do them right. This was an interesting chapter to write, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Been plenty of time to put into writing for a while, and it seems to be paying off with dividends. As long as you guys keep leaving positive feedback and continue to fav the story, I'll keep going till its finished. That's a promise you won't get anywhere else, at least not with my level of sincere sarcasm.