The Peace is Shattered
Three days after I had made my speech to the galaxy, my worries about retaliation from the terrorists had mostly been forgotten. Tali and I were discussing how we would break our exciting news to all of our friends.
"Maybe we should try to organise a Normandy reunion and have everyone there at the same time. Then we could announce it," Tali suggested.
"That sounds good, yeah." I agreed, "it would be good to see everyone in person again as well. Seeing people through a vid-screen just doesn't do it. It's always amazing when everyone gets together!"
"No doubt James would challenge one of the Krogan to a wrestling match like he always does," Tali laughed.
"Every time!" I exclaimed, barely able to talk through my laughter, "every time he tries to head-butt one of them. He doesn't learn. But I think that the Citadel would be the easiest option for everyone. Most of them end up there at some point on business anyway."
"Plus, it's easier for your family since the Citadel is right above Britain."
"Exactly," I agreed. I was already imagining everyone gathered in the apartment that we owned on Silversun Strip, and telling them all the news about Tali being pregnant. It proved fun to try and picture how each of our friends would react. Our good old troll Javik, of course, would probably point out the obvious, that we had not achieved it through truly natural means. Some people never changed, no matter what.
While we sat out on the balcony, I felt the fresh air brush my face and I closed my eyes and soaked up the rays from Rannoch's sun, Tikkun. Down below us, the waves washed over the pebble beach and the noise of the water took me back to my old home on Earth when I could hear the sea crash against the rocks and the outer walls of the harbour. Tali lay next to me and I had an arm around her while my other hand rested on her stomach. I tended to do that all the time now when we lay together, my paternal instincts already kicking in. I looked at Tali as she relaxed in my hold and knew that there was nothing that I would not do for her and the child that was now growing inside her. They were everything to me. So far, I had managed to be a good husband. Not that Tali made it difficult.
Our invincible bond had been forged from the fires of battle, fighting the worst enemy this galaxy had ever faced, and we both believed that our relationship truly was special. Both of us just knew how the other worked. That was no different now than it had been when we were charging into battle with our weapons blaring and our armour strapped on tight. That spirit of teamwork had got us through the worst war in all of our history alive, and we would use it to full effect to bring up our child in a safe, nurturing and encouraging environment. Tali had once asked me if I saw our child doing anything in particular once they were grown up. My reply had been "no". Obviously, I wanted the very best for our child, and would stop them from going down destructive paths. I would advise them away from paths with no future as well. However, whatever they chose to do in their life, whatever they were most passionate about, I would inspire them to go forward and seize their dream.
While both of us lay on the sun-lounger on the balcony, the door-bell chimed and I got up to answer it. It was Churchill again and I let him in, expecting him to challenge us to some new form of game-orientated task. However, upon entering he seemed to have a purpose to his visit other than just hanging out with Tali and I.
"Have you heard the latest news?" Churchill asked. Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks and feared the worst.
"The terrorists again?" I asked him, even though I knew the answer.
"Yes," Churchill nodded and turned on our vid-screen. "They have attempted another attack on the Asari colony world of Nevos. The home of the Nevos representative was targeted, but authorities managed to capture them before they carried out their attack."
The news on the vid-screen was saying as much and I felt the initial surge of dread fade away.
"I wondered when they might turn up again," I said.
"What are the facts so far?" Tali asked.
"The Nevos police found information detailing the attack and arrested the suspects in a house raid when they were gathering together," Churchill explained. I had an idea that the information that stopped the attack may have come from our very own Broker. "The raid turned into a fire fight and some of the terrorists were killed for no casualties among the police."
"Good," I said. "Hopefully they can question the survivors and finally get some dirt on their leader. I still don't like how we know nothing about them."
We continued watching the news, which was doing its best to give as much information about the failed attack as it could. I hoped that this was the beginning of the end for this violent group of murderers. Perhaps the attack on Armali really was the most they could manage and from here on it would just fail to repeat anything nearly as bad. As it was, four suspects had been arrested and taken for questioning. Three of them had been killed in the fight and the body of one could not actually be found. However, the Nevos authorities were absolutely sure that this suspect, an Asari, had not gotten away and had been caught by an explosion from a grenade which had ripped the terrorist apart, and that there was enough left of her to get DNA to confirm that it was her.
The story on the Nevos attack came to an end and left us feeling better that security was up to the challenge of stopping these foes before they could do any damage. The story that followed highlighted the fact that a successor to the late Councillor Tevos had been selected and the new Councillor Irissa was stepping into her office. She was there on the Citadel and began to give a short speech to the press crowded below her. She was certainly dressed for the part and matched even Tevos, who was always immaculate and very official looking.
I had personally liked Tevos better than the other Councillors that I had dealt with in my day. As a person, she was someone who you could actually get on with. She had a soothing and calming way about her. She had a keen ability to always find a compromise, so that most people would leave a meeting feeling like they had gained something. This endeared many warm to her. My first impression of Irissa was a woman far more business-like and less likely to try and charm someone to see her way of thinking, more like hammer them with points until they could not see anything else.
"I wish to say that this was never how I wanted to obtain this position," Irissa said in her speech, "but now that I am here, I promise that I will work tirelessly to move our civilisation ever forward for the betterment of the Milky Way. This I promise you!"
Irissa was icier than Tevos had been, and I thought to myself that I would never want to get on that woman's bad side.
Churchill, Tali and I continued watching Councillor Irissa's speech when the comm rang and Tali got up to answer it. The image on the comm flickered into life and once again we saw Liara's face emerge.
"Hey Liara," Tali started, "how are…
"Tali! Scott!" Liara yelled at us, her expression alive with alarm, "you have to get out of there now! You have to…"
The comm went completely dead. We tried to reconnect the call, but there was nothing but static.
A few worried glances were thrown between the three of us when Churchill suddenly leapt into action.
"Movement detected around the house, moving in from the North, West and South-West," he cried to us. I have detected weapons and kinetic barriers being charged up. We will not be able to reach your skycar in time to escape."
"Shit," I immediately bounded my way up the stairs to the weapons cupboard in the bedroom with both Tali and our Geth friend behind me. "Is it the terrorists?"
"Unknown until we can make visual contact," Churchill stated. I threw my Harrier rifle to him while I grabbed the Black Widow and Paladin. Tali obtained her Wraith shotgun and Locust submachinegun and we filled our pockets with extra thermal clips. There was no time to don the armour, but we did have shield generators which we equipped with all haste.
"This is so fucking wrong," I grumbled while I charged my shields. "If this is the terrorists getting revenge for me demonising them, they've got another thing coming."
"How did they get here without us getting any further warning?" Tali asked.
"We'll try and take a prisoner and get some answers. But right now, we shoot to kill," I told her.
"They're putting us in danger in our own home," Tali charged her shotgun, "I was always going to shoot to kill!"
A terrific explosion went off outside the house, the fireball bursting up past the height of our roof and we both knew that was our skycar being demolished. With our house being very open-plan, we could cover all directions and work in tandem to focus fire on whatever enemies were getting closest, or where their numbers were greatest. Snapping back into soldier mode, we opened the windows and saw the first group heading towards us as a squad further to the North, along the tops of the cliffs. They saw us moving inside the house and bullets began whistling past my ears again.
I felt all my training and battle experience flood back into my body after so long and the finely-honed combat skills of Tali and I took over once again. With my Black Widow, I set the crosshairs of the scope right in the centre of the chest of the lead enemy and squeezed the trigger. My gun let off the mother of all bangs, and through my scope I saw the Human's chest explode in a shower of red goop, making his compatriots dive for cover.
"Have we got an estimate on how many there are?" I shouted to the others. We had to get a picture of what kind of force we were up against to see if it was worth trying to hold our ground or find a way to retreat.
"I count thirty-five hostiles," Churchill replied immediately. Bullets tore through the house, shattering the glass of the windows, blasting apart the wooden cupboards and panels.
It filled me with rage to see the home that Tali and I had dreamt of together now being shredded by bullets fired by the scum. Yet I noticed a pattern about the incoming fire. The enemies were firing near us, but not at us. Their fire was either incredibly inaccurate, or they were deliberately trying not to hit us.
"They want us alive!" I shouted to Tali and Churchill, "they're just trying to keep our heads down without actually hitting us."
"Just unlucky for them we aren't doing the same," Tali yelled as she gunned down a Salarian who popped up at the wrong moment.
Just for a moment, I tried to gauge the composition of the enemy force that we were facing. There were definitely Humans, Asari, Turians and Salarians among them, that much was certain. I spotted one Krogan, and I recognised the figures of a couple of Batarians as well. A very multi-racial force which showed the spread of the terrorist group's influence. The enemy squads were well organised, and whenever we had to shift our fire towards one advancing team, the others would take the opportunity to dash forward a few metres. Using this tactic, the enemy were soon going to be all around us at dangerously close range where their numbers would easily overwhelm us.
Using my Harrier, Churchill drilled a few rounds into a Human man before a couple of rounds slammed into the Geth. Churchill's shields took the impact but he ducked down none-the-less.
"If they are here for prisoners, then I believe it is only you and Tali that they want alive, Scott. I do not think I am a priority target."
"Then keep your head down and wait for better chances to fire off a few effective shots," I told him as I shifted cover past him. I got the feeling that Churchill was right. Bullets were slapping into the walls around him much closer than they were to Tali or myself. Using this information, I ordered my Geth friend to move upstairs to an elevated vantage point while Tali and I drew as much attention as possible to allow Churchill to make a quick, accurate shot and take down a couple of our foes.
The three of us were under immense pressure from the enemy and they were starting to get far too close for comfort. We had killed off a few of them, most to the awesome power of my Black Widow rifle, but there were too many for just three of us to take on. I saw a Human woman try to make a run for a rock, which would give her an ideal position to keep up a constant volume of suppressing fire while her friends moved in. I set my crosshairs on her as she ran and felt the butt of the rifle bolt back into my shoulder when I fired. The bullet crashed into her side and sent her spiralling down to the ground in a great bloody mess. That was another one down, but there were still more than twenty to deal with and their fire was becoming more accurate and effective at keeping us pinned down.
Tali made numerous attempts to get our comm unit back online and try to contact someone for help, but had no luck.
"I don't think anything is wrong with the terminal, Scott," she told me when she rejoined me in the fight. "I think the terrorists have a jammer that's keeping us in the dark."
"Right," I took in this new information, "then we need to make a new plan. We can't stay and fight much longer before they overrun us. We can escape from here if we're fast."
"Down the cliffs?" Tali saw where my train of thought was going.
"And then right along the coast as quickly as we can until we're outside of the jammer's range. We contact Admiral Raan and she can have Quarian and Geth soldiers here. It's a long shot, but we don't have any other choice."
Tali nodded along and saw the reason behind my plan, just like she used to when we were on missions together.
"I'm with you," she said. She gave me covering fire while I sprinted up to Churchill to tell him the plan. However, he seemed resistant to it.
"They will follow us and head us off before we make it outside of the jammer's area of effect," he said.
"We can't launch a counter-attack, they have the numbers advantage," I told him.
"I know." Churchill paused as if in thought, and it struck me just how organic a trait that was. "There is a way to increase the chance of the success of your plan to escape."
"I'm all ears," I replied as I took a few shots at the terrorists with my handgun.
Churchill did not say anything, but left his position and headed back downstairs again where we rejoined Tali in the defence of our home. The three of us gathered and Churchill then stated his intentions very clearly to us.
"For you and Tali to escape, I must stay behind. I will buy you time to escape along the bottom of the cliff faces."
I put two slugs into an Asari with my handgun then told Churchill what I told of his plan straight away.
"That's bullshit, Church! No one needs to be sacrificed here. We can all make it out of here."
"We're not leaving without you, Church," Tali told him.
"There is no time to argue," Churchill blazed away with my Harrier, "you must leave now before all chances of leaving un-detected are lost. Go!"
I tried to grab Churchill's arm to bring him with us, but he shook me off and continued firing at the terrorists while yelling at us to run. The worst part was that, every minute we spent trying to convince Churchill to come with us, the less likely it became for us all to escape without someone staying to provide a distraction. A thought struck me,
"Ok, Church. I'll get Tali out of here and set her on her way to contact someone, but when she's safe, I'm coming back to help you! No questions. That's what's happening."
"Then you must go now," the Geth told me as bullets whistled just past our heads. All three of us let of volleys of bullets to keep the enemies pinned while Tali and I retreated to the far side of the house and headed straight for the stone stairs cut into the cliff face. My absolute priority was for Tali to be safe. I had to get her away from harm for the sake of her and the baby, both of them were my future and I was going to do everything I could to ensure they were ok. Above and behind us, we could still here Churchill battling against the terrorists by himself, the chattering of automatic weapons fire and louder, more distinct shots of heavier rifles.
"Should we be leaving him?" Tali said as we rushed down to the beach below, "they're here for us, after all."
"I don't like it either, Tali, but we can't surrender to those guys and Churchill knows it too. As soon as I've seen you safe, I'll go back up to help him."
We reached the bottom of the stairs and began heading South along the cliff face. Both of us kept our Omni tools on so that, the second we could communicate with someone, we would know it. Time was of the essence. The heat of the afternoon sun beat down upon us as we sprinted our way along the uneven ground, our weapons still drawn to deal with anyone who might stand in our way. That was when the silence hit me and I stopped very suddenly. I strained my ears for any kinds of sounds and that was when I realised that there was no noise coming from the house anymore. I looked back along the cliffs as if expecting to see Churchill running after us, having made good his escape. I hoped that that was the case, but the longer I looked the darker my thoughts grew as there was no sign of the Geth.
"Scott…" Tali took my attention away from the house. I looked at her as she wondered what I was planning.
"There's a cave not much further on," I said to her, "get to it and hide. I need to go back for Church."
"Scott, he might be dead. It could be a trap."
"I know but… if he was one of the Normandy team, would we leave him behind?" Tali looked back the way we had come and mulled my words over before nodding in agreement. As for myself, I scolded myself for the hypocrisy of my argument. Kaiden had been one of the Normandy crew and, even if it was his decision, we had left him behind.
"If I'm not back in fifteen minutes," I checked my watch, "you keep running and contact the Admirals as soon as you can. I can't leave Church if he's still alive up there. I will come back for you, Tali. Keep yourself and the baby safe!"
"I will," she said and put a fresh thermal clip into her shotgun. I started to make my way back, but before I had made it three steps, I felt her three-fingered hand take a hold of my arm again and I turned around to see her glittering eyes gazing out at me. With her soft voice she said,
"I love you, Scott."
"I love you too, Tali," I touched my forehead to her mask and reluctantly pulled away from her.
"I have to go. Keep yourself safe and hidden until I'm back."
I left Tali behind with a heavy heart as I started running back to our home, where I feared that the worst may have befallen Churchill. I could feel her watching me as I charged across the loose pebbles of the beach, and took a quick look back to my Quarian wife before I rounded a corner and she disappeared from sight. I knew I was being foolish going back. Tali and I had the perfect chance to get away, but I was terrible at compromising my principles that told me to never leave an ally behind. The last time that I had done that, I had lost Kaidan on Virmire, who died in a nuclear explosion while the rest of us escaped on the Normandy SR1. I had lost other close friends during my battles against the Reapers and their slaves, but Kaidan's death still stung worse than the others. His death still cut the deepest.
Normally, going back up the staircase that was cut into the cliff-face was enough to get the heart pumping a bit harder by the time I had reached the top. However, as my blood was already flowing through my veins and the adrenaline powering me to no end, I barely noticed a difference after making my way back up. I made it to the back door and hugged the wall as an enemy came out onto the balcony with his weapon raised. I activated my Omni blade and rammed it straight into his heart while my other arm supported his weight as his strength evaporated in the blink of an eye. I dragged the Human's corpse out of sight and then lay him down without a sound.
Peeking inside revealed nothing other than the sight of our ruined and bullet-ridden living room and kitchen. A few enemies strayed into view and it was evident that they were searching for us, though I could see no sign of Churchill.
"Anyone have any idea where they went?" I heard a woman's voice say.
"I'm telling you they're not in the house," the Krogan responded, "I sent Dean to check out back."
Dean was the man who I had just killed, and now I had a bad feeling that some more were about to come my way to see of their compatriot had found anything. Moving quickly, I picked the dead man back up and carried him to the edge of the cliff where I unceremoniously dumped him over the side and sneaked away as quickly as I could.
I could hear the woman calling for Dean, and swiftly moved back around to the side of the house they least expected to see me on: The front. They had posted two guards outside our front door and I cursed to myself. I could have silently dispatched one, but if I tried it the second one would realise before I got to them. All I could do was try to listen to the terrorists to see if I could learn anything about who they were, or where Churchill was.
A few minutes went by and the leader of the enemy force was getting very annoyed at our disappearing act.
"Where the fuck are they?" I heard a yell. "Has that idiot Dean reported anything from outside yet?"
"No, there's been no sign of him."
"They can't just vanish! They have to be nearby. Signal to the shuttles to come get us and we'll search by air."
Now a Salarian appeared from the front door and brought out what looked like a really old-fashioned handgun. He raised it into the air and fired, sending a bright green flare into the sky like a rocket until it reached a certain height and seemed to hang still. Moments later, all the enemies seemed to put a finger to either their ear or checked their Omni tools.
"Comms are back up," one of the terrorists said and I realised what this meant. They had turned off their jammer.
"Kira!" the Salarian suddenly shouted and I now saw the woman, an Asari, appear to answer him.
"What?"
"Jake says that he spotted something with the drone."
My gut twisted at that. I had not counted on them having surveillance drones as well and I felt very unpleasant as I waited to hear what they had found. Meanwhile, I was also typing a rapid message to the Quarian Admirals calling for help while also stressing not to call in case they alerted the enemy. However, when I tried to send it, my Omni tool blinked and a red warning sign came up saying that the message had been blocked. The enemy had turned the jammer back on now that the shuttles had their orders.
I saw the shuttles coming in low and fast over the ground. There were four of them, and when they landed the terrorists streamed out of my house and filled them up, though they were several people down as opposed to when they first arrived. I watched as the lead Asari, Kira, went to one of the pilots and my heart stopped when I heard her say,
"The Quarian has been spotted hiding in a cave along the bottom of the cliffs. Let's go!"
Instinct took over as I feared for Tali. I had sworn not to let them touch her and I was going to live by that promise. Before the shuttles even took off, I revealed myself with my Black Widow raised. My crosshairs landed precisely on Kira's head as she turned to see me appear from the side of the house, just before her body jerked and jumped backwards as the high velocity round ploughed into her.
I fired the other two rounds in the clip and another two terrorists fell before I switched to my Paladin and unloaded everything I had at Kira's shuttle. The terrorists inside that shuttle were decimated, but the other three still took off rather than fight me. I watched helplessly as they jetted their way towards Tali's position. In a panic, I reloaded my Black Widow and fired the three anti-material rounds at one of the shuttles and, although I scored hits, they did not bring the vessel down. I screamed and shouted all the worst words that I knew as I scrambled to follow after them, no matter how futile my efforts were.
Thinking quickly, I ran back to the shuttle that was still grounded, due to everyone aboard it being dead, commandeered the vessel and tried to remember how to fly the damn thing. I had received training on flying shuttles during my N7 training, but had never needed to use it ever since. This shuttle was also a newer model from what I had trained on, so very little looked even remotely familiar. Somehow, I managed to get the thing in the air after pushing a few buttons which looked promising. My mind was racing as I thought of those bastards closing in around Tali at the cave. I had not been so scared in a long time.
I flew the shuttle very clumsily in pursuit of my enemies, and soon I reached the cave where I had left Tali, only to be welcomed with absolutely nothing. I could not see the enemy shuttles, nor any people crowded around the cave entrance at all. Barely caring about anything but Tali's safety, I practically crash-landed the shuttle onto the beach, the back end very much in the water. I was out of the shuttle before the side door had even fully opened, with my Paladin ready to gun down any of the terrorists.
I headed into the cave. On the ground I saw a spray of green blood and knew that either the Salarian or the Krogan had taken a hit from Tali's shotgun. Tali would have put up a fight, no question about it. However, there were no sounds of battle and I knew that the cave did not go very far back and I was seeing no one. The sinking feeling within me was almost debilitating as I felt all the strength, that had been urging me onwards only minutes ago, was now draining from my muscles at an alarming rate as the reality began to sink in: The terrorists had taken Tali.
Moving towards the back of the cave, I saw a couple more sprays of blood on the ground and on the walls where Tali had resisted her captors, but right at the back was the confirmation of what fate had befallen my wife. There, on the ground alone, was Tali's Wraith shotgun. I knelt beside it, picking it up in both of my hands while my blood boiled and the tears began to form. There was no rage like the rage I felt at that moment. The way I felt, I would not think twice about burning the whole galaxy to ash if it brought Tali back to me. My fist slammed into the ground and I screamed at the top of my lungs in anguish. I struck the ground a second time, then a third, fourth, fifth. I just could not believe that this was happening. That morning, everything had been completely normal and I was happy and content. Everything was as it was supposed to be for Tali and I. Now, I was sitting in a dank cave caressing the shotgun of my wife, who had just been stolen from me.
The anger abated minutely and I was able to compose myself enough to think coherently again. Rushing back outside, I checked my comm and saw that it was still blocked, meaning that the jammer was on the shuttle that I had flown. Typical. With complete lack of finesse, I found and disabled the device with a few bullets. The blocking ceased immediately and I got straight on the comm to Admiral Gerrel. He still coordinated the Quarian fleets that had not been cannibalised for reconstruction on Rannoch, and that included the frigate and fighter patrols around the system's Mass Relay.
"Commander Gardner! How can I help you, my friend?" the aging officer answered.
"Han! I've got an emergency here and I need you to keep ships and shuttles from passing through the Mass Relay!"
Han'Gerrel was suddenly full of concern and fired out some orders to his staff. I was thankful that he was a practical sort of man and took me at my word, rather than asking why I was making such an extreme request.
"Han," I started, "some of the terrorists attacked our home and they've taken Tali. I think she's alive, but I don't know. Every ship trying to pass through the Mass Relay has to be searched. They escaped in three shuttles, I have the fourth here and will need some techs to get what data they can from the comm system and go through their navigation data."
"They've got Tali?" Han was shocked, "those bastards! They won't get through the Relay on my watch, Commander, you have my word. And I'll have people on their way to your house in a few minutes. How did this happen?"
"No idea, Admiral," I replied through gritted teeth, "but I am going to find out, and I'm going to make them pay."
