…
"We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."
(John Hughes)
…
UCV Saint Luke, October 14th, 9:52 AM, 2186
...
Walking slowly through the portside hangar, I finally felt the true weight of our losses as I walked between several rows of body bags, the members of my crew who had been recovered after damage control finished patching up the hull breaches. It was far more grim than before, especially considering a quarter of them were still unaccounted for, having either been completely destroyed by enemy fire or sucked out into space. It was incredibly sobering.
Largos had decided to accompany me, and was currently praying at the bodies of each Raloi who had died in the attack. It was the first step in their traditional funeral rites, and the rest would be performed once the bodies were returned to their families on Turviss. How the families of those who were unrecoverable would grieve, I had no idea. It was even harder watching some of my off-duty quarian crewmembers visit. One in particular, Crewman Heis'Nea, broke down emotionally when visiting the body of one of his friends who had died on the lower decks of the ship. It was an awful feeling you got, seeing people in this much pain. I would never wish it on anyone.
All of this didn't feel any better, considering there were Batarians in the guts of our ship helping repair the damage they had caused. I had to fight every single impulse in my body to keep this cooperation going, and if we didn't get out of here soon I was afraid things would boil over and we'd kill each other. Enough had already happened, we didn't need more pain and suffering on top of it all.
Lieutenant Teves, Drack, and their men were due to return from Erszbat soon, but considering our new position inside of the ice field, I had to risk exposing ourselves and post a Cobra at the edge of the field to relay our new position to them… as well as give them the news as to our new situation. Knowing what happened to the Batarians cleared some of our bigger questions, but we were still left with others they could hopefully answer.
I knew if we didn't get out of here soon, they would be the least of our problems.
"Admiral!" Dixon called out, knocking me out of my trance. "We're ready!"
Giving him a quick nod, I walked between the rows to the back of the hangar, Dixon waiting eagerly with his omni-tool open.
"The program is finished?" I questioned in a softer tone, not wanting to be too loud.
"Tony and Farow just finished it. All it needs now is a command override code." He nodded, holding his screen up for me to get a better look.
It was a twelve digit line, separated into three sections. It was completely blank, waiting for me to fill it in.
"Twelve digits… a bit overkill, don't you think?" I wondered out loud, cocking one of my eyebrows.
"Better safe than sorry." He shrugged in response, further straightening his arm. "You ready?"
"Yeah… let me think for a moment." I agreed, trying to remember a good code to use that I wouldn't forget. After a few seconds had passed, the perfect one came to me from the recesses of my memory. "1123… 6536… 5321. There we go."
"Any particular meaning behind it?" He asked as the code was confirmed, curiosity clearly seen in his eyes.
"It's the way home." I smirked, fully aware of what I had just entered as I began walking back towards the CIC.
The "Program" we had just finalized was an insurance policy of sorts. It had been in the works for a few months now, but I fast-tracked it after what had happened yesterday. If activated, it would purge the Saint Luke's computer core in an instant, and five minutes later the reactor would overload, destroying the ship. It was a last resort to prevent an enemy force from capturing the vessel and stealing the data stored in our system, but I certainly didn't intend on using it unless we were absolutely screwed.
"Attention, Admiral Michaels, contact the CIC ASAP." One of the men in the CIC announced as Dixon and I looked at each other. I quickly walked to the nearest phone and entered my ID.
"Michaels here." I replied, leaning against the wall.
"Sir, deck crews report that the recon team have returned, and are requesting an immediate debrief with you immediately." The voice on the other end said, getting my eyebrows to shoot up.
"Understood. Have them report to the CIC's war room once they're done in decon." I finished, hanging up the phone as I turned back to Dixon. "Looks like things are going to get more interesting in a few minutes."
"Great, more excitement. That's what we need right now." He spoke with a dry tone as he shook his head. "I hope I'll have plenty of vacation days after this is all over."
"I heard there are some nice beaches on Reach around the equator. Maybe you can build a resort or something once the war is over." I smirked, hopping into the elevator with him following closely.
"Now that's an idea." He smiled, crossing his arms as slight g-forces could be felt. "At least that would give me a good excuse to get Morgan into a bikini."
"Bikinis are nice, but lingerie is my one true weakness." I chuckled, thinking back to that first intimate night spent with Mara on my birthday. "Once you've experienced it, you never go back."
"I'm surprised Morgan even tolerates my presence. There was a point in grade school where we practically hated each other." He remarked, getting a loud snort out of me. "What?"
"Mara and I used to hate each other too." I laughed, unable to handle the irony of our situations. "It seems the age old law of opposites attracting holds up well."
"I guess so." He huffed, cracking a smile as the elevator came to a stop.
Going into the CIC's war room, I immediately saw Teves and Drack standing on the other side of the holographic display, uploading the data and readings they had acquired during their trip. Neither one of them looked too pleased.
"Welcome back, gentlemen." I greeted, sitting down across from them as everyone else followed suit. "I assume you've been properly briefed on our current situation?"
"Yeah, and I'm looking hard for a reason not to crush the next Batarian I see wearing that stupid camoflauged armor." Drack immediately remarked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"For now, we're on pretty even terms, but I do recommend keeping your men away from our "guests" until further notice. If this temporary alliance is broken, you'll know." I nodded, looking at both of them with narrowed eyes. "Right now, as far as we know based on their story, they're the only surviving members of the Hegemony, or at least their military. Unless you guys have a better alternative sitting down on that planet, they're what we've got.
Turning to Teves, I sat up straighter in my chair, wanting to hear what exactly was happening down there one that planet.
"Alright, so what do you have for me?" I asked, placing both hands flat on the edge of the holotank.
"Nothing good, unfortunately." He spoke honestly, flicking one of the switches on the side of the tank to display Erszbat, specifically the region they had landed in near the planet's largest remaining city.
Pictures came up on the display, showing a smoke-choked sky that seemingly stretched on forever in all directions. Several more appeared, displaying a heavily burned-out section of the city crawling with husks, mainly Batarian ones.
"We hiked roughly 14 miles to the city limits before detecting Reaper signals. We remained on station for several hours, attempting to locate anything of interest. In that time we encountered no Batarians, either living or dead, and were unable to reconnoiter any deeper due to the signals generated by the Reaper in the center of the city." He explained in full detail, ending with a picture of the Sovereign-class reaper sitting on top of the city center, surrounded by several of their mobile processors. "We've come to the conclusion that there's nothing really left of the planet's population, at least in the cities."
"There's… really nothing left?" Dixon asked in shock, squeezing his armrests. "There were at least 2.5 million people living in that city alone."
"If there's anyone left, they're either in small pockets far from the cities, or they're fully indoctrinated and living farther in." Drack chimed in, shaking his head. "That place is just a big factory now. I say we make good use of those nukes and flatten the region."
Drack's recommendation wasn't just some Krogan posturing, I could tell he was being genuine in his assessment. If things were as bad here as it was in Alliance space, there wasn't likely to be anything left at all, especially this far into the invasion.
"Teves, do you second his recommendation?" I asked, wanting to make sure they both felt the same on the matter.
"I think destroying those processors will help the war effort." He shrugged, giving me a half-answer. "At this point, I don't see any point in leaving that place as it is."
I nodded, tenting my fingers as I leaned forwards and stared at the holotank.
Nuking the Reapers on the ground was the obvious choice, given how much more devastating nuclear weapons are in the atmosphere, but there was always the chance that there were still unindoctrinated people down there somewhere, either in hiding or fighting from the shadows. If we waited for the Reapers to find us though, we could use the nukes in a more direct fashion, but they wouldn't be guaranteed kills in the vacuum of space. Either way, I knew I had to make a choice and stick with it, no matter the consequences.
"Alright… we'll nuke the cities once the repairs to our Gravity Drive are finished." I finally decided, letting out a deep sigh. "If we can stem the flow of Reaper ground forces by destroying a key site like this, it should help out our forces in the long run."
Standing up, I pushed the wrinkles out of my jumpsuit, preparing myself mentally for whatever fallout might result from this decision.
"You are dismissed, gentlemen. Remain on standby in case our allies outside decide to become any less friendly." I finished, flicking off the holotank and walking back into the CIC with Dixon.
"You're sure about this?" Dixon questioned quietly, just so I could hear him. "You know that if the Council discovers you nuked a Batarian world, they'll label you a war criminal. Survivors or not."
"I'm not beholden to the Council's laws. I am a flag officer of the United Confederation, deep inside hostile Reaper territory." I put my foot down, unwilling to back down from my decision as I stared out at the exterior cameras. "You know as well as I do that those factories need to be destroyed. The planet has been under Reaper control for months, and this is easily the largest processing facility we've ever seen."
"I know, it's just…" Dixon began to speak up before stopping himself, sighing deeply. "You're right. I got so caught up in the idea that… so many people are gone. I can't even comprehend losing millions of lives."
"All we can do now is avenge them. Wipe these bastards from existence." I stated, understanding the weight that he felt as I too felt a small sense of apprehension. "Get Balak on the horn. We need to have a chat."
I could only imagine what was happening back on Earth if things were so bad down there. It was almost unimaginable, the true bottomless extents the Reapers were willing to go to to wipe out life in our galaxy. The concepts of morality and ethics didn't even exist to godless machines such as them, seeing the miracle of life and sentience as nothing more than a resource to be used and exploited. It would be something that'll forever haunt my dreams.
"Sir. Balak." Dixon chimed in, getting me to pick up the phone.
"Hello Captain." I greeted with a puffed up chest, ready for however this conversation was going to pan out.
"Hello Admiral. I trust your repairs are going as planned?" He replied in a surprisingly cordial tone, putting me off slightly.
"Yes, the parts and technicians you've sent over are being put to very good use. I trust I can say the same for what I've sent you?" I nodded, allowing myself to relax slightly before moving on to the main subject.
"Indeed." He confirmed, clearly heard taking a deep breath. "So what is it you wish to speak to me about?"
"My recon team has just returned from the planet, and we've determined direct intervention is called for." I cut to the chase, not wanting to waste our time. "Once the repairs to the Saint Luke are finished, we plan on nuking the major cities to eliminate their production facilities. I just wanted to clear this with you first."
There was a long pause on his end, leaving me worried for what felt like several minutes.
"I assume there were no signs of Batarians left in those cities?" He questioned, obviously just as worried about needless casualties as I was.
"Even if there were, the major urban centers are saturated with indoctrination signals. Anyone who might be left is one of their thralls now." I stated, knowing there was no other way to put it. "They were your people, so I wanted your input on this before I moved forward with our preparations."
There was another, shorter pause as Dixon looked at me with crossed arms.
"Very well. Once the repairs to your ship are finished, you may destroy those cities." He agreed in a terse voice, leaving me with the strangest sense of relief I had ever experienced. "Anything left down there is an abomination that needs to be destroyed. Keep me informed as to the status of your repairs, they'll come searching for us sooner than later."
"Sounds good. I'll message you the updated estimates in about an hour." I finished, hanging up as I allowed myself to breathe deeply. "That went better than I expected."
"It's about time something went right for us." Dixon jokingly jeered, keeping his arms crossed. "What are those new estimates, anyways?"
"Still a few hours. May or may not reach the projected deadline." I said, handing him the updated datapad. "I'm optimistic about how things are progressing on that front, at least."
"What about this message from the Chief?" Dixon asked, walking over and pointing to the comment Chief Tirus left in his notes. "He thinks if we calibrated the Gravity Drive to generate a smaller magnetic field, we could jump without the reactor running at full capacity."
"That would mean leaving the Batarians behind, and I'm not ready to rule them out... at least not yet." I denied, having already read and dismissed the recommendation.
"But it's still an option we can resort to, right?" Dixon reiterated as I narrowed my eyes, immediately getting across the fact that I no longer wished to entertain the conversation. "Right, nevermind."
As he walked off to check the CIC's stations, I stared at the video feed of Balak's ship, watching the little flashes of light as pieces of the hull were welded shut and repaired over time. I knew there was nothing left I could do to seriously affect the situation at this point, and I hated that fact. With the exception of a few choices I could make, we were still somewhat helpless here in this ice field, unable to do more than lick our wounds and hope our new "allies" didn't try to stab us in the back. There was nothing worse I could think of save for being locked up on the Barn, and even then we didn't have the Reapers to worry about back then. Cerberus felt more like a nuisance these days than the true threat they once were, and the strangely hypocritical part of my brain almost yearned to be dealing with them instead at this point.
We needed to get the hell out of here before we lost any more people.
…
UCV Saint Luke, October 15th, 7:49 PM, 2186
...
"Come on, Chief. You have to give me something good." I urged, walking in pace with him through the busy reactor hall as techs worked tirelessly to repair the major damage. "I know what this reactor is capable of. You can give me more output than this."
"If we increase the output now, we'll blow all the breakers in the portside of the ship, putting our progress back two hours." He corrected in a stressed tone, stopping to look down at me. "We can't increase output until we've finished running the new junction bypasses to propulsion."
"You really can't give me more?" I questioned with disappointment, crossing my arms as he turned his head slightly to look away from me.
"I can give you 12, maybe 13 percent, but nothing more. My hands are tied, sir." He reluctantly agreed with a lowered voice. "If I could safely give you more, I would. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check the relays further down the portside."
"Thank you, Chief." I nodded, turning around and opening my omni-tool to check the very latest reports.
After hours of tireless work by both my maintenance crew and those loaned to me by Balak, we were very close to actually getting the Saint Luke in good enough shape to move. I knew getting power back to 100% would be nearly impossible without a spacedock, but we'd be able to scrape enough power out of the reactor for a few good jumps. Enough to get us out of Reaper space and back in friendly territory. From that point on we could limp back to Reach and get the repairs we needed.
The real question at this point was whether we'd be ready to leave before the Reapers found us drifting out here.
"Sir! Sir, here's those readings you asked for!" Farow yelled, running up to me with a printout. "It's not much, but according to the sensors there is a marked increase in Reaper signal proximity. It's not much to go off of."
"Looks like a search pattern to me. At least they haven't pinned down our location yet." I remarked out loud, nodding my head. "Good work. I'll take that up to the CIC, make sure Dixon gets a good look at it."
"Understood, sir." He finished with a salute, breaking into another run back to his station up above. I had to admire his eager nature.
I'd have to remind Dan to include more redundancies for the power transfer systems on later ships. This awkward workaround Tirus and his men were struggling to construct was an immense pain in the ass, and wasn't helping our time constraint issues. A large number of power systems failed when we diverted electricity to the weapons the other day, and had to be repaired by hand. Balak's crew had succeeded in restoring his engine power, but most of their systems were still offline. That included weapons and barriers.
I did have to admit, the Eye Of Harsa was an mildly impressive feat of engineering on the Batarian's part, even in its current state. It took a lot of power and eezo to make a ship nearly fifteen-hundred meters long mobile without one of our reactor systems, and even then it had more than enough weapons to glass the surface of a small planet. It was built well enough to survive a direct bombardment from our mass accelerator turrets, even if it was just hanging on by a thread. As a symbol of the Hegemony's power, it was awe inspiring. As an actual dreadnought-class vessel however, it was cheaply-built with far too much focus on form over function.
The Everest-class dreadnoughts, Destiny Ascension, the Geth dreadnought Centurion, and the Caprica were not only constructed of higher-grade materials, but purpose-built for straight fights against other dreadnoughts or carriers. If the Saint Luke was capable of knocking out the Eye of Harsa at half the tonnage… well, I hoped that if Balak returned to Reach with us, he'd be willing to let us fix its problems. Any ship with dreadnought-grade weaponry would be a great war asset.
Walking back through Engineering to the CIC yet again, I finally stopped for a moment to lean against the wall and breathe deeply, the stress of the whole situation rolling over me yet again. I had been interacting with my crew so frequently that I hadn't had more than a few moments to myself.
As I stood there, I suddenly felt an odd tingle in my skull, as if someone had popped Alka-Seltzer in my cranial cavity. I heard what sounded like faint whispers for a moment before an indescribable image flashed through my skull, sending a stinging, icy jolt through my eyes. Yelling out in pain for that moment, I fell to my knees with one hand on the bulkhead.
"Are you ok? Sir? Sir!?" A crewman who had been around the corner called out, grabbing me by the shoulders. The feeling in my skull had suddenly vanished, leaving me weakened and quite disturbed. "Do I need to call the Medbay?"
As the reality of what had just happened dawned on me, my eyes widened and I quickly pushed myself back up.
"No." I quickly denied, running to the nearest phone and dialing the CIC. "Come on, come on…"
"Yes'sir?" Dixon answered, sounding rather dull from hours without sleep.
"I need you to do a deep scan outside the ice field immediately. I don't care where you need to pull power from, just do it now." I ordered quickly, feeling a familiar sense of mild panic wash over me.
"Uh, ok!" His tone quickly changed as he delegated to whoever was currently running the sensor stations. I stood there in dire anticipation for what felt like ages before Dixon finally came back. "Sir, it looks like a Sovereign-class has come within sensor range. I don't know if it's seen us or not, but-"
"It's seen us." I cut in, immediately correcting him. "What's its current range?"
"About 61,000 kilometers away... closing fast." He answered, now sounding just as worried as me. "At its current velocity, it'll be here in about forty-five minutes."
Forty-five minutes. That was almost no time at all.
"Go to red alert, get everyone to their stations now. I'll be up there in a minute." I finished, hanging up the phone without a second thought.
I quickly ran back into the Engineering hall as the alarms began going off, general quarters being called over the intercom as I finally ran back into the Chief, who was just as confused as the men in the hall.
"Chief, we've got a Reaper inbound now. We need the FTL and Engines back in forty minutes!" I yelled much to his surprise, forcing him to stop for a moment out of sheer shock.
He looked to his men, puffing up his chest and closing his eyes.
"Alright men, get moving now! Go go go!" He barked to his team, kicking them into gear as he turned back around to face me again. "I'll do my best, sir."
"That's all i've ever asked for." I nodded, giving him a quick pat on the arm. "Good luck."
"You too, sir." He finished as we both ran off to where we needed to be.
I knew that we needed to come up with a plan in case repairing the damage in this new timeframe wasn't possible. We would need Balak's help, no matter how regrettable such an action could be.
Dashing into the CIC, everything was awash in activity as people scrambled to get enough of the ship's available power distributed to vital areas.
"Sir, Balak is already on the line." Dixon said, holding the phone out to me. I accepted it without a moment's hesitation, ready for anything.
"Captain. I assume you've spotted what's currently barreling towards us?" I guessed, wanting to waste as little time as possible.
"I have, unfortunately." He confirmed, sounding more terse than anything else. "Listen… I want to evacuate all the civilians aboard my ship to yours before they get here. My vessel isn't in fighting condition, but we might be able to draw them away to give you more time."
His suggestion genuinely surprised me, stopping me in my tracks.
"You're willing to sacrifice your ship?" I thought out loud, unable to think of a man like Balak doing something like that.
"I'm willing to put my life on the line to save what's left of my people. I still don't trust you, but at this point you may be their only chance to escape this place." He elaborated, continuing to surprise me.
"Very well. Send them through the umbilicals. Once they're onboard, maneuver your remaining ships within range of mine while we finish getting the FTL repaired." I agreed, hanging up the phone and turning back to Dixon. "Inform our men we'll be taking on some guests."
"Yes'sir." He nodded, picking up the phone as another shipwide intercom tone rang out. "Attention Saint Luke, prepare for incoming refugees. Prepare your stations, clear the starboard hangar and auxiliary areas. Combat personnel, provide security until further notice."
"I hope we're not making a mistake here." I muttered to myself, knowing the risks we were taking at this moment.
I continued to stare at the incoming Reaper on the sensor screen, clearly projected in front of Dixon and I as the crew continued to run back and forth. I was still quite shaken from that "vision" I had experienced in the hallway down by Engineering, but despite its disturbing implications it did indeed benefit us. If we made it out of here in one piece, I'd be hounding Richard for a brain scan back on Reach.
Twenty-six bullet-sweating minutes later, the umbilicals connecting the Saint Luke to the Eye Of Harsa disconnected. Balak wasted no time accelerating his ship away from mine, quickly moving to get within range of the Sovereign-class.
"That thing's closing in fast… I hope that sack of shit knows what he's doing." Dixon commented as we watched the Harsa move out of camera range, surprisingly nimble for its size. Something didn't seem quite right, though. Instead of moving perpendicular to the Reaper to lure it in a different direction, Balak was heading directly towards it.
"What the hell is going through his head? That's a direct intercept course." I wondered out loud, still not grasping his strategy. "Without weapons, how does he-"
I stopped talking as I suddenly realized what he was doing. Dixon realized it too as his eyes widened.
"He's going to ram it. Son of a bitch." He said before I could, watching the two signals move closer and closer.
I picked up the phone and quickly patched it back to the Harsa, getting a connection surprisingly quick.
"Balak, you don't have to do this." I pleaded, not wanting to see him and his remaining men throw their lives away.
"It's too late to back out now, we've already locked in our trajectory." He denied, his signal growing weaker as he flew farther away. "Michaels, I'm well aware our people have never gotten along, but... just get out of here. Give them a chance to live. Can I trust a Human to do that for me?"
"I'll get your people out of here, Balak." I agreed, the signal beginning to fragment as we struggled to maintain it.
"Tha-k you, Admi-al." He finished as the line cut out, the maximum range being surpassed.
All we could do now was watch as the two signals got closer and closer to one another. Both made contact with each other, the pings disappearing from the screen as the weight of what they had done truly dawned on me.
"Jesus Christ." I shook my head, leaning against the center console with both arms as I let the moment process in my mind.
Before any of us could do anything else, I heard a familiar radar "ping" as the Reaper signal reappeared on the screen.
"I can't believe it… how much force does it take to stop one of those things?!" Dixon exclaimed as the faces of everyone in the CIC turned dire. While the Harsa had successfully stopped the Reaper in its tracks for a few minutes, I knew it wouldn't take long to get back up to speed.
"If we're going to destroy those factories, now's the time to do it." I refocused, getting him back on track as I dug around in my coat pocket.
I pulled out my encoded launch key as Dixon did the same, both of us plugging them into the center console as the cover for the "LAUNCH" button flipped up. A dull alarm repeated as I held my finger over it.
"Well… no matter what happens after this point, we can all take pride in knowing we took a lot of these bastards with us." I sighed, pressing the button as several vibrations could be felt through the hull as the missiles launched, their guidance packages doing the rest of the work.
Without another moment to spare, I picked the phone back up and dialed Engineering, knowing I had to honor Balak's final request.
"Chief, I need those engines and FTL now. We're out of time." I urged as soon as I heard the click on his end, our minutes ticking down as the Reaper neared visual range.
"I'm trying. sir." I said, a clear strain heard in his voice. "We've got full power back, but the primary bus bars connected to the reactor need to be realigned before I can send it where it needs to go."
"Do what you have to do, Chief. Thousands of souls depend on you." I finished, hanging back up on him as I stood at full attention and looked to our helmsman. "Plot our jump coordinates and be ready to go the moment we have power."
"Yes'sir." He nodded, entering the spatial coordinates as I breathed deeply, watching the Sovereign-class move into visual range.
I stared at it's image on the viewscreens the same as you would with a wild lion, never once breaking eye contact. Though Balak's sacrifice had failed to stop the Reaper, it was clearly very badly damaged. Pinpricks of light could be seen as fire spewed from several cracks in its armor, giving it a hellish appearance. I could hear static in my skull once more as it neared, the signal getting stronger.
"Should we open fire, sir?" One of my fire control officers asked, nearly breaking my lock on the screen.
"Negative. We need the power, and without the spinal gun, there's no point." I denied, feeling that oily, dreadful presence in my head grow in strength.
"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil… Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil…" I began repeating to myself over and over again in my head, unable to find any comfort or strength with my other thoughts. All I had left were my pitiful prayers.
Just as the Reaper came in close enough to obscure the edges of our external cameras, pulling its large "claws" back to tear into our ship, the space outside warped and shifted, jumping us out of the field and away from the system.
For a moment, I couldn't tell if that had actually happened, if I had somehow hallucinated a split-second before death. I finally let myself breathe as most of the CIC stood up and cheered in celebration, having finally escaped. I couldn't believe it, we survived.
"Thank you, Saint Michael." I said quietly to myself, allowing a smile to slip onto my face as I picked up the phone. "Chief, your timing couldn't be any better. Fantastic work!"
Unfortunately, I heard nothing on the other end of the line. My sudden sense of relief was quickly replaced with an all-too familiar sense of worry.
"Sir, its Ensign Farow." I finally heard on the other side of the line. "The Chief… you better get down here."
Without a moment's hesitation, I dropped the phone and ran out of the CIC back towards Engineering. I didn't even bother taking the elevator, instead using the stairs. I ran through Engineering Control and down to the Reactor Hall where Farow and several other engineers were waiting at the main access junction.
"What happened? Where's Tirus?" I immediately questioned, walking past them towards the main busbar cage.
Taking a few more steps, I saw what remained of Chief Tirus on the inside of the cage, burnt beyond recognition. Only a few fallen feathers remained of his original form as a foul carbon smell lingered in the air. All I could do was crouch down and stare inside the cage as Dixon and Largos caught up, stopping behind the crowd.
"He didn't have time to ground his suit. He took a direct electrical discharge as the main power transfer bar snapped back into place." Farow explained, barely able to keep his voice steady. "We didn't even have a chance to call out to him…"
I was at a complete loss for words as I stared at the blackened husk on the deck, unable to believe this brave man was gone. The Chief had saved thousands of lives today, dragging us all back from the brink of annihilation.
He saved us, but at the cost of his own life.
…
A/N: I'd like to immediately start with an apology for how long it took for this chapter to come out. I went through a bit of a writer's block for awhile and ended up addicted to this game called Factorio for awhile as well. That, along with several other factors, slowed me down to the point where I didn't even touch this chapter for nearly a month.
Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it does end on a sad and depressing note. Please let me know how you feel with a nice long review, I always enjoy reading them, either good or bad.