A/N - There are terms and acronyms in here that may be unfamiliar; each chapter has a glossary at the end so you can flip down to the bottom, find out what it is, and then go back. (I tried it with the full name in parentheses, but found it too distracting to the scene and dialogue flow.)
This chapter is rated MA for death, a firefight, and language.
*** CityKillers ***
The stubble-faced man stumbled backwards, hands up defensively, "Wait! Don't—don't shoot! I'm one of you, I'm human!"
Shepard was relieved to see another breathing civilian. "Hey, it's all right. You're alive, and we're glad to see you. What were you doing?"
"I'm sorry, I was hiding…from those creatures. My name's Powell…Powell Carpenter. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him!"
"What do you mean? Can you tell me what happened?"
The man was frantic; he was nearly babbling. "The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He…he called him Sairen. I think he knew him...Nylons or something? Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down…and Sairen killed him. Shot him right in the back. A…I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates."
"We were told a Prothean beacon was sent to the spaceport. What happened to it?"
Powell stuck a thumb over his shoulder. "Already left...it's on the other platform by now. That Sairen guy hopped on the transport as soon as he shot your friend. I knew that beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found that thing. They killed everyone…everyone! If I hadn't been back there, I'd be dead, too."
"How come you're the only one who survived?"
"They never had a chance. I…I was already behind the crates when the attack started."
Kaidan squinted, "Wait a minute. You were hiding behind the crates before the attack started?"
Powell recoiled as if he'd just been caught. He seemed to think for a few seconds, then shrug resignedly. "We're a new colony. Stuff's coming in all the time; sometimes I need a little nap to get through my shift. I sneak off behind the crates to catch a few Zs where Paolo can't see me from the tower."
Ash sounded disgusted, "You survived because you're lazy?"
Kaidan didn't quite look over his shoulder at the spikes. "If you hadn't snuck off for that nap, you'd probably be dead just like all the others."
The man seemed to deflate. "Yeah…yeah, I guess. I don't really want to think about it."
Shepard nodded once. "Okay, then what else can you tell us about the geth attack?"
He looked up, quickly checking the horizon for enemies. "It was quick. One minute that ship was descending, the next, those things were swarming over the platform. Thousands of them. They must have been inside that mother ship. They shot everything that moved. It was a massacre!"
"Where are the bodies?" Richard asked, "Can we offer any first aid?"
Powell raised a shaking arm toward the spikes, then turned away quickly.
Ash looked around where they were standing, "But not all of them?"
"I don't know…I don't know!" Powell put his hands to his head, took a step back.
Shepard raised his hands assuringly, "Hey, it's okay. Is there anything else you can tell us about the beacon?"
"They brought it here this morning. We loaded it up on the train and sent it to the spaceport. Hard to believe that was only a few hours ago. Feels like a whole other life."
Shepard paused thoughtfully. "I wonder what prompted that Manuel guy to send it to the spaceport…?"
"What?" Powell seemed confused.
"Sorry…thinking out loud. Tell me about this mothership you saw."
Powell looked up where he had apparently see the ship go by, almost reliving it. "I've never seen anything like it before. It…it was huge, it landed over near the spaceport." He started poking at his own forehead, "The whole place got dark as it came down. It was making this noise, this…this sound that bored right into your brain. That's what woke me up. The attack came a few minutes later."
Kaidan waved a finger thoughtfully at Powell. "You're Cole's contact here on the docks. For the smuggling ring."
"What? No! Ah…I mean…what does it matter now? So I'm a smuggler, who cares? Paolo's dead, everyone else is dead…it doesn't matter now, does it?"
"Anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?"
"A shipment of grenades came through last week…and nobody seems to notice a few pieces missing...if you cut them off at the dividers."
"That's hard to believe," Kaidan muttered.
Ash took a step toward the man, "You greedy son of a bitch, we're out here risking our lives and you—"
Shepard turned his head quickly, "Chief!" He looked at Powell again, realized he had become the Good Cop. "No, I mean something big, like a Grizzly or an APC of some kind. We have to get to the spaceport. Quickly."
The colonist looked at Shepard as if he'd asked for a winning lottery ticket. "We don't get that stuff way out here. That all drops in at the Alliance camp. The piddly stuff they send out here…I never thought you'd actually need grenades. Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers; how was I supposed to know?"
Shepard noted the time on his ARO mission clock. "We still need to get to that beacon before it's too late."
Powell waved vaguely to his right. "Take the cargo train, it goes straight there, and that's where the other turian went anyway." He turned away, "I can't stay here. I have to go home. I…need to get away from all this."
Ash held up a hand, "Wait…Commander, do we want to have him take this turian back to Endo Memorial? It's the nearest major hospital short of going all the way to Constant. Even if they can't fix him there, they'll be able to hold him until the turians can pick him up."
Shepard turned, "Can you do that, Powell? Can you take our friend to Endo Memorial?" Shepard's ARO read the man's face, indicated the subtle cues he was giving; he might be swayed with some encouragement. "It'll be a problem if we have to take him with us, but I don't want to lose a team member to do it."
"I…I can't do that. It's far. And dangerous!"
"It's sure to be safe at the hospital. How far out of your way is it?"
Shepard's VI added a map overlay of the colony with their position and the hospital, and added the location of Powell's home based on a 411 query. It was on the same transit line, about two kilometers beyond where he would have changed over to another route.
"No…no, I can't. I just can't!"
Ash pulled her pistol off its holster by its body. "Maybe I can convince…"
"Let me do it, sir," Richard interrupted, "I know this colony. I know where Endo Memorial is, and I know alternate routes to get there. I'll drop Mister Nihlus off and meet you at the spaceport to pick up the beacon."
As Shepard's ARO map had been updated by Normandy with locations of firefights, he saw there were no known hazards on the path Richard would need to take. He frowned. "I don't like sending you off alone. But it looks like, with the capital ship gone, the rest of the invasion force is withdrawing to the spaceport again. I hope they didn't get the beacon on that ship and leave."
"They couldn't have," Ash waved an elbow towards Powell as she holstered her pistol, "He says they just left for the spaceport. They must have another ship. The big black one landed the invasion force and then bugged out."
"Too much time pressure here," Shepard pointed at Richard. "All right Jenkins, this is your home, and you know it better than I do. I want you to medevac Nihlus to Endo and meet us at the spaceport. Stay in touch. Text me updates at mode changes and remember: the best defense is to not be where your enemy is shooting. Get going, and good luck."
The young Corporal's confident smile ratcheted up another notch. "You bet, sir." He turned back to where Nihlus lay. "The hospital has its own station right on the line, so I'll meet you at the spaceport as soon as I can." He lifted the turian in a fireman's carry.
Shepard turned back to Powell, but the man had run off. No battle plan has ever survived contact with the enemy, Shepard thought. "All right, then. Williams, is the train going to be a problem?"
"Don't expect so, sir. It's a VI network with six nodes, thirty carts." She focused on the station depot. "Looks like they're a little heavy today with all the stuff they sent out to extract the beacon safely. The system might attach a few rider carts to—"
"Hostiles at the station!" Kaidan bolted to the left, "Get to cover!"
"Drones and troops!" Ash's pistol was instantly in hand; she snapped off three rounds before she got to cover. "Switch to charged rounds if you can!"
Richard jumped right, throwing Nihlus behind a crate before pulling his assault rifle off his SmartPak.
The geth android had swept a line of fire across the team and managed to hit only Shepard as he dove and rolled left.
While his shields began to recharge, Shepard gestured for full 6x acceleration, displayed an overhead view of the area, coordinating data from the other members of the fire team.
Enemy drone down showed on Shepard's ARO; Kaidan had shorted out the drone nearest him as Richard fired over the crate at the other.
"That geth mech is controlling the drones," Ash said, "Anybody got a clear shot?"
The remaining geth drone climbed high, firing a heavy incendiary down at Nihlus and Richard as it headed behind them.
"Rich!" Kaidan shouted.
"Uhh-!" was the only noise that came from the Corporal as the crates erupted in splinters and flames. A figure moved behind them, "Nihlus!"
Shepard's ARO showed biometrics: Jenkins was still alive and moving. "Williams, keep that geth pinned down!" He gestured for a tech relay, grabbed a finished one off his belt with his left hand, brought up his pistol in his right.
Apparently Kaidan exploiting the shields of the first to short it out had given the second one a chance to reconfigure; its shields powered down as armor was extruded over critical systems. With his VI-assisted targeting showing him where the fabber heads were, he fired three precise shots, shooting the fabber off one side, and flung the relay toward it.
The now-unbalanced drone dropped and scooted left, fired off another incendiary at him as he rolled out of cover to a half wall, and activated the tech relay. The drone exploded in sparks and started to fall from the sky, aiming itself at Shepard.
"They're on the train!" Kaidan continued, "At least four more, and one of 'em is huge!"
Shepard leapt away from the wall as the orange-flaming wreckage crashed into it. Shrapnel pelted him, chipping and burning where it hit; as he was swatting the flames out on his right leg, gunfire erupted behind him.
An ARO window showed him what his team was seeing: Kaidan had lifted the geth from cover on the left and Ash had shotgunned it from the right. That left the ones that had commandeered the train.
"Jenkins, get me another recon drone. I need to see that train."
Kaidan switched his pistol to Scope View and aimed it over the balcony edge at the train. "They're just flattops, not covered cars," he said, "Can you see my scope view?"
Richard's omnitool whirred softly as it pushed out parts; he laid each aside as it was finished and started snapping them together with his right hand. "Chief, do you have some cells I can put in this thing?"
A digital whistle sounded from the platform. "Attention. Train is now departing for EDPR/Douglas Spaceport," announced a VI, "Please stand clear of the gap."
"They're taking the whole train," Ash yelled, "We'll never get another one back here. Get to the train as fast as you can!" She ran to the edge of the balcony, vaulted over it and out of sight.
"Williams, wait!" Shepard's call was too late; he ran back to where Richard was bent over the half-assembled drone. "Jenkins, forget the drone; get Nihlus down the ramp, footdrag, on the double!" He ran back to the balcony as the station VI started to complain about an obstruction preventing the train from leaving. "Alenko, can you see Williams?"
"She's holding the train by bridging the gap with her foot," Kaidan answered, "I can see the geth, and they're gonna be all over her!"
Shepard pulled his sniper rifle off his back. "Stop them! Protect her!" As Shepard's rifle was configuring itself, Kaidan popped up out of cover long enough to hurl a biotic bolt at the lead geth; it was thrown backwards into another; both crashed to the floor. Ash had her Banshee perched on the top of a half wall, and was looking through the sight with her HUD. She saw the sniper pop up and fire once; she squeezed the trigger, but the geth was already gone.
Blood spattered messily across one side of Ash's faceplate from the right as Kaidan rolled into cover next to her. "Ah! Ow, damn."
She glanced at him; Kaidan was clutching his right shoulder. She fired again, but couldn't move to help him, "How bad?"
"I'm okay, I'm okay," he said, "Suit's got it under control." He stayed in cover, focused on his ARO. "Just give me a minute."
"Get down here, this train's really wanting to leave," Ash barked at the other two, "And the robots have probably figured out why it isn't!"
Shepard was at the bottom of the ramp, rifle up and watching the geth closest to Ash. "Jenkins, get...stay in cover!" The two geth had already moved to opposite sides of the cart; the one nearest him leaned out, sighting down the side of the train at Ash. At 6x, it was easy to see the move before it was complete, so he stopped with both feet planted, sighted and fired.
In slow motion, he watched the shot appear to ricochet off the side wall in front of the geth, spraying shrapnel and acquiring a more lethal angle of attack. Apparently the geth were not armored underneath their curved heads; the camera appendage shattered, the geth thrashed briefly. The other geth stayed in cover as two more approached from the far end of the train.
"The train's moving!"
"They must be overriding it," Jenkins was struggling his way down the ramp with Nihlus in tow, "I'm comin' across as soon as I'm down there, cover me!"
The one oversized geth with black-and-yellow coloring was enormous; two pillar-like antennae were extended up from its back, an oversized rifle in its arms. It lumbered down the length of the train as if it didn't even care whether it was shot.
Shepard checked the battlefield with his left eye before scoping the camera of the big geth with his right; as the Destroyer geth brought its weapon to bear, Shepard quickly snapped off the shot without aiming carefully, and leapt towards the train for cover. His rifle protested an overheat warning.
Richard was adrenaline-pumped. "I'm at the base of the ramp! I need cover!"
The two smaller geth that had been behind the half-walls took up flanking positions, using the larger Destroyer unit as cover.
"Williams, you got a grenade launcher?" Kaidan spoke through clenched teeth.
She traded her rifle to her left hand and set it down as she drew the shotgun off her rear belt. "Grenade launcher ready," she pumped a grenade into firing position.
"Coordinate fire on the big one!" Kaidan rose, left hand extended, palm up, right hand in a fist; the geth seemed to tumble forward but did not fall to the ground. Engulfed in a purplish glow, the thing somersaulted through the air towards them in slow-motion.
Ash rose from cover, shotgun to shoulder. There was a choonk as a line of smoke followed the thumb-sized explosive from weapon to target; she had fired it into an unarmored space where the geth's neck met its shoulder.
Orange light burst from the gaps in its armor as the μRPG detonated. Ash quickly pumped and fired another as Kaidan's other hand came up and he took a step forward, opening and extending his right hand toward the geth. The burning form exploded again and seemed to reverse direction, crushing the other two geth as it fell to the train floor.
Kaidan's move had required both hands, but his pistol was out immediately, "Cover fire!"
"Here I go!" Richard started across the platform backwards, dragging Nihlus.
Shepard's rifle had cooled; he sighted over the top of a service box at the back of the train, looking for the geth at the front.
Four geth sprang up, coordinating fire on Richard. Shepard fired on the one to the right, hoping to obscure the view of the others with resulting smoke, but the android simply fell backwards. Kaidan, carefully aiming his shots, fired twice, but put one round each straight into the camera eyes of two more before another grenade from Ash arced to the front of the train and exploded violently, hurling geth and debris into the air. The train crunched to a halt, and suddenly everything was silent.
Tiny dinks and plinks announced fragments landing. Smoke billowed from geth, train, and station, drifting east.
"I think we're good, Commander," Kaidan noted.
"'Good?'" Ash rose from cover, "Hah! We rock! Good work, team!" As she turned, she made eye contact with Shepard. "Sorry, sir. Hope I'm not stealing your thunder."
"No, it's all right, Chief. The mission comes before ego. Anybody else hurt?" Shepard turned, jogged toward the back of the train. "Jenkins, you okay?"
"Shields were almost useless," came the radioed reply. He sounded hurt.
"Are you okay?"
"I think so. Am I bleeding?"
"Let me have a look." Shepard started toward the younger man. "Alenko, Williams, get this train underway; get us to that spaceport."
Alenko turned and started off, "Gettin' us to the spaceport, sir."
Williams saluted Shepard's back, "Yessir."
Shepard started toward the back again, "All right, Jenkins…" As Richard came into view, his armor was smoking, but appeared to have done its job. Shepard crouched alongside the younger man, waved his omnitool along his lower back, studied the results. "No blood, but you're gonna be sore and bruised tomorrow."
Richard emitted a whimper of a sigh and shook his head. "Great."
Shepard suppressed a laugh, made a fist and bopped the Corporal on the shoulder. "Hey, be proud. It's your first battle damage. Means I owe you a drink when we get back. And it beats the daylights out of being dead. Now you know why you have a PMA. Fire that thing up...use it. You can even configure it to start automatically."
"At least you're not having to drag me around." Richard turned and looked at Nihlus. "So what do we have to do with this guy?"
"You're going to drag him up to the front of the train while I find out why we're not moving yet." As if in response, the train lurched backward.
"Drag the Spectre to the front of the train, yes sir," Richard said, struggling to his feet. "So we're doing the work and he's sleeping through it." He shook his head. "If that's what it takes, I wanna be a Spectre, too."
Well, the spirit is willing, even if the flesh is well-pummelled, Shepard thought. "Attaboy. Sing out if you need a hand." He turned to the front of the train, but continued to speak to the Corporal. "Also, save any reasonably intact geth tech that you can." Shepard touched his own back with his left hand, "And fab a new set of left back panels; you took some damage here." He indicated the location on his own armor. "Keep an eye out for more geth."
"Yes, sir." Shepard could see the younger man speak to his suit VI, ordering it into sentry mode. He turned and walked to the front of the train, trading his sniper rifle for his pistol, and also setting his own suit to monitor for motion.
"Oh, that's just great," Ash spoke over the 'comm. "Sir, this might take a few minutes."
"What's the matter?" He began to jog to the front of the train, noting the articulated cars were segmented into ten-meter lengths that looked like they could be separated.
"The grenade…uh…broke the train. The Lieutenant and I are…working on it."
"Need any help?"
"Rrgghh…not yet, sir."
As he approached, he could see Kaidan using his biotics to lift the broken maglev cart off the track, but Ash was pushing it from the tracks with good old-fashioned muscle power. Once it was beyond her ability to push against anything, she backed away and Kaidan let it crash to the ground. Both were breathing heavily.
Shepard nodded, patted the man's shoulder. "Sierra Hotel, Lieutenant. Fast work, too. Get on the train and you can take five. Williams, how do we make this thing go?"
"Controls are on the lead cart…which can be any of them. If we're all aboard, just tell the VI to take us to the spaceport."
"If the cars can be driven independently, should we send a spare with Jenkins?"
"Good idea, sir." She looked quickly over her shoulder along the tracks as Shepard climbed a short service ladder to the deck level. "We should get going, though."
"Don't I know it." He waved his hand over the control board, illuminating the hologram. As Ash clambered up the ladder, Shepard nodded at the controls. "Well, at least it's self-explanatory. Jenkins?"
"Sir?"
"How you doing? Williams recommended we split the train and send you to the hospital. You know how to drive these things?"
"Sure…everybody does." Shepard's ARO showed and labelled a Rear-view Mirror overlay of the Corporal approaching from behind, dragging Nihlus. "But we should probably take a few cars each."
"All right then; get going." Shepard turned and started aft. "Alenko, Williams, with me. Jenkins, take Nihlus and the lead three cars for backup, and stay in touch. Let me know when you're on your way back to the spaceport."
"Yes, sir." Jenkins touched his PA control, and then the VI key on the panel. "Three cars to Endo Memorial."
"Three cars to Endo Memorial," said the train VI. There was a series of noisy, relay-like clicks and clanks from behind them. Lights on the walkway that ran continuously along the carts turned green on the three front carts, red flashed at the gap further back. "Ready for departure."
Shepard was already running back to the unlit car.
The digital whistle sounded again. "Attention. 3-cart train north is now departing for Endo Memorial Hospital," announced a VI, "Please stand clear of the gap and the break."
Richard tapped a key marked Emergency Departure.
An understated alarm sounded from the platform, and the Platform VI added, "Warning: Departure expedited. Please stand clear immediately. Please stand clear immediately." As a new set of controls rose into place from under a panel at his feet, Shepard turned to see Kaidan and Ash standing behind him. The three lead carts slid forward about half a meter and then accelerated quickly away from the station.
Shepard put his hand through the control space, activating the holographic interface, spun the Destination selector to Douglas Interplanetary Spaceport, and hit Emergency Departure.
# # #
Even with Sovereign gone, Saren could feel himself becoming anxious to leave. He bared his teeth, but with only cybernetics to move his jaw, there was no way for anyone else – not even the geth – to see that he had. He noticed in passing that this was a primitive response. I should be above such things.
Sovereign left without picking up the rest of the geth. I will not have room for them.
He shook his head. I can get more geth, he thought. I must leave before I'm discovered.
He turned to the nearest geth, though his command would be seen by all of them. "There are four warheads aboard the Invicta," he pointed to his ship, "Disperse them, ten minute delay, and set the charges," he growled, "Destroy the entire colony. Leave no evidence that we were here."
The geth answered with electronic affirmatives, turned and walked off the loading platform toward the waiting pocket starship.
Saren walked east, looking across what was left of the spaceport. A lone human appeared at the top of the station access; the geth relayed the image to his ARA.
In one fluid motion, Saren turned, drew his sidearm, and fired one bullet into the forehead of the bewildered alien. Quivering, it stumbled back two steps, and collapsed.
As pairs of geth stepped out of his tiny ship, carrying the two-stage fusion weapons, Saren realized the geth would be useful for the last minutes of their existence, and nodded to himself, understanding why Sovereign had left them. He contracted what was left of his scarred fringe, and issued another order, "Defend the charges against the humans."
No time left, he thought. If I am to get anything from this beacon, I must do it now and let it be destroyed. Sovereign cannot know, but neither will anyone else.
Sovereign had shown him much of what was known about the Protheans' technologies; their ability – even propensity – to detect chemistry in parts-per-trillion and extrapolate biology. Had things gone differently, they might have developed a highly compassionate culture. Neither outcome could have saved them.
But I know how to use this device.
# # #
Buried after only a few centuries of use by the very people who had fashioned it, the beacon had lain inert for millennia; planetary civilisations arose and declined.
For the days following its excavation, it had been gathering power through its photocollector. Automation inspected the various systems, repairing what it could, restoring basic functions. It ran self-checks, polled its long-dead network, found no other nodes. Many messages remained in its memory, but only one invoked all protocols of urgency.
When it detected a being stepping into its messaging zone, it emitted its protecting field, levitated the recipient, replayed its message.
It was the last time it would do so without failing.
*** Glossary ***
ACI: Alliance Colonial Installation
ARO: Augmented Reality Overlay; an implanted Augmented Reality system
PMA: Pain Management Application (app)
Sierra Hotel: A compliment issued for exceptionally good work; stands for Shit Hot
μRPG (or uRPG): micro Rocket-Propelled Grenade
