I wasted no time grabbing our Traveler; ignoring her yelp of protest as I sprinted towards the elevator.
"Inside! Quick!" I shouted, practically throwing her inside; rushing inside as Hiram closed the door behind us. "Rookie take point! Go up the ladder to the top and jump across to the fourth floor!" I ordered, already pulling myself up through the fire escape behind the other two; who had reached the ladder.
"Sir can we make that?!" Hiram exclaimed even as he climbed.
"Either that or we gun down every single person in this station!" I replied, climbing as fast as I could move my arms and legs.
"Oh Jesus, I don't want to die!" Ziva whimpered as she climbed ahead of me; her navy blue and white colored suit doing little to help blend in with our current environment.
We got about three quarters of the way up before shit really started to hit the fan. The elevator doors to the third floor opened as two officers looked into the elevator shaft; setting their gazes right on me since I was level with them by that point.
I drew my Pistol and shot them both before they could even open their mouths or draw their weapons; but it was already too late.
"They're in the elevator shaft!" a third Asari shouted, moving away from the open hole.
I ignored her and kept climbing; "Faster Rookie!" I bellowed.
"This is gonna suuuuuuu-" Hiram shouted as he reached the tippy-top of the elevator shaft; and pushed off the wall as he jumped towards the fourth floor. He slammed up against the edge of the door and caught himself before he could fall.
Quickly pulling himself up, he turned and shouted, "Hurry! I can hear them coming!"
Ziva was next, shaking as she reached the top; she took a gasping breath, and jumped.
Her Quarian legs were more powerful than human legs; giving her more of a push as she pushed off the wall. She actually managed to thread the needle and landed rather ungracefully on the floor in front of the doorway.
I was last, and I reached the top just as two more Asari poked their heads into the shaft and looked up.
I drew my HDM and emptied my magazine into the one on the left. It didn't break her barriers, but both of them ducked back into cover; buying me enough time to jump across. It was fortunate that the ladder went higher than the fourth floor, otherwise we would not have made it.
As it stood, I just barely made it, slamming my ribs into the metal panels of the elevators doorway.
Ziva quickly pulled me up while Hiram began firing his MP5 into the stairway; keeping the approaching officers from advancing towards us. Getting to my feet, I drew my MP5; the close quarters combat making my Beowulf really unwieldy.
"Rookie! Take the rope and clear the Alley, Ziva you follow, I'll join you when you're clear!" I ordered, rushing up to the door while tossing a smoke grenade down the stairs; knowing my CrossCOMM would allow me to see through it.
Hiram was quick to follow my orders, running to the broken window with Ziva close behind; Hiram practically jumped out the window, using the rope more to slow down his fall as opposed to actually repelling down.
As Ziva struggled out of the window; I switched to the second stairway, and upon seeing two officers trying to sneak up the stairs I smashed the window of the door and shot both of them in the head with a three round burst each.
Even as they fell dead, I switched back to the other door; and saw that the officers were gaining confidence. At least five officers were hiding in the smoke, even as they began spamming the door with weapons fire.
In a split second decision, and one that I didn't really like, I pulled my lone incendiary grenade off my chest rig; pulling the pin I tossed it down the stairs.
It was shaped exactly like a smoke grenade, so the officers probably didn't think much of it as the metal cylinder hit the ground next to them.
FWOOSH!
The officers screamed as the phosphorus and benzene filling caught fire; sticking to their uniforms and armor as it burned through their kinetic and biotic barriers. "Rookie are we clear?" I shouted.
"Ziva and I are clear sir! Hurry up though, reinforcements are on the way!" He replied.
I didn't wait; I sprinted across the room to the window as I heard the second stairway's door get smashed down with a biotic fist. The Asari saw the shimmer of my cloak as I jumped through the window and caught myself on the rope outside.
She drew her weapon and sprayed as much fire as she could at me.
I didn't even bother rappelling; I just let the rope slide against my gloves as I slid down to the ground, the heat of the friction already beginning to burn slightly in spite of the heat protection in my gloves and armor.
My boots hit the ground, just as a police cruiser landed at the entrance to the alley.
Not even wasting a breath, I drew my MP5 and fired at them; making sure to aim for center of mass now that we were in a more open environment. Hiram shot the one in the passenger side, while I shot the driver.
Both officers dropped dead.
I turned to Ziva, who was practically shaking with fear now. "You know how to shoot a gun?" I asked as sirens and shouting edged closer to use.
"I-I shot my dad's rifle a few times, bu-" I shoved my MP5 into her hands, giving her my four spare mags.
"Aim for center of mass, and don't point it at us. Rookie, break out the big guns! You're on point!" I shouted as I drew my Beowulf, I felt a grin come across my face as I brought the butt of my old familiar stock to my shoulder. Ahhh… good to have you back. I thought happily.
"Boss, which way do we go?! We can't take off from our shuttle now!" He shouted as we started to run, just in a general direction towards the docks.
"Where's your Asari friend live? We'll hide out there until the heat dies down." I shouted back; just as a police skycar arrived on the scene.
Then I heard the last sound that I ever wanted to hear; the sound of a cannon charging up. "COVER NOW!" I screamed, ducking into a doorway while Ziva and Hiram ducked into a side alley.
BZZZZTTTT!
The sand grain sized pellets spat out of the police cruisers cannon and smacked into the ground at the speed of light; destroying everything in the alleyway. The homeless people scrambling out of the way as the beam of light worked its way up the alley.
"The fuck!? Why the fuck do the police have a gunship!?" Hiram screamed as the three of us started running as fast as we could.
"Who the fuck cares! Head to the sewers! We'll make our way to your girlfriends from there!"
The funny thing about gunships is they aren't really impressed when you run. They also generally have radios, so wherever you go, their friends are inevitably already there. We ended up being chased into another alley.
We hunkered down behind a dumpster when Ziva squawked in distress. There on the ground were two Batarian corpses, long since desiccated and ravaged by Illium's desertification and carrion. I stared blankly for a second at one of the two, wearing a tattered flannel shirt.
It was the same alley; the same god-forsaken gouge in the cityscape I'd originally arrived in.
The rushing wind and roar of the gunship's lifting fans broke me out of my thoughts. I hadn't died in this shitty alley when I first arrived, and I'd be damned if I was going to this time around. I activated the jury-rigged riot shield on my arm, switched the cooling unit to maximum and the rifle to 'Full', and stepped out from around the dumpster and squeezed the trigger.
A lot of things can happen in thirteen seconds. You can say something that will ruin someone's day or save their life. You can solve a puzzle or botch a test. And if you are a machine gunner with a weapon with a 480 RPM rate of fire, you can empty a 100 round drum-magazine into a target.
The crew of the gunship clearly hadn't expected us to do more than spray ineffectual fire since they took time to try and line up shots. The gunship's shields held for a good eight to nine seconds. The last three to four resulted in at least thirty rounds of Saboted Light Armor Piercing and Explosive Incendiary ammunition tearing through them and their vehicle.
The stricken ship careened into the alley corner, then crashed onto an arriving cruiser. There were no fireballs, but there was a pulse as the power-packs on the two ruptured.
That started a fire.
"The Fuck, Rookie?!" Nomad was tracking his own weapon into the inferno. "You just boxed us in; now what?"
I remembered those first few hours on Nos Astra: the fear, the confusion, but also the layout. The buildings on either side were business on the ground floor and residential up above. More to the point, there was alley access to both buildings.
"There!" I pointed to a fire door on the left side of the alley. We stacked up and I broke out my Utili-Omni. I typed a quick set of commands, and then injected omni-gel into the lock on the side of the door.
"That only works in the fucking game!" Nomad looked about ready to shoot me.
"What? I never played the game." I dragged them both back and to the side of the dumpster. There was a beep from my Omni letting me know the gel was ready. I pulled out that terrible little pocket pistol, and shot the lock. The wall beside the door exploded. "I just filled it with PLX. Come on, this building has a basement. We should be able to get into the sewers that way."
There was another tearing sound as the police finally maneuvered around the wreckage and opened fire. "Shit! Rookie, covering fire!" We switched places as I reloaded and he ushered Ziva through the breach. Where the Gunship's shields had held for eight seconds, the various cops in personal armor lasted one; two in the case of a pair who tried to reinforce their barriers with their biotics.
"Rook!" Nomad barked over the radio, and I broke for the breach. Once inside we made for a marked stairwell and headed down, there was another door with an alarm bar; but the building's alarms were already blaring so we pushed through and slammed the door shut behind us.
"Oh Keelah..." Ziva squeaked and slumped against the wall. There was a streak of blood when she sat down.
"Nomad!"
He turned and swore. "Get the door secure while I patch her up."
I turned and left the man with a Quarian child attend to the wounded Quarian. I was about to weld the door shut when I noticed it was very similar to the fire doors back on untraveled Earth. I rummaged my pockets for a moment and came up with a penny. Just like then, the penny fit snugly between the door and the jam. When I tried the door, it wouldn't budge.
I turned around to see August helping Ziva to her feet. "How far to your girlfriend's place?"
I brought up a map. "About sixteen blocks." I slung my rifle and picked Ziva up in a fireman's carry. "I'm the retrieval specialist, you're the Ghost; I'll carry the load, you just get us there alive."
I could see the annoyance in his eyes, but also the recognition that this was really the better play. He nodded, and then swapped out for his MP5 while collecting every spare magazine we had left.
We lucked out that the police didn't immediately follow us down to the basement, as we managed to pass several junctures before the first indication of pursuit was seen. By then, we were near enough to a storm drain to make it to the street, just before a drone passed by where we had been.
We went cloaked for the remaining two blocks, and then still up to Kala's apartment. I knocked on the door and de-cloaked. Kala opened with a smile that morphed into a look of shock at my state of affairs, and at the bleeding Quarian.
"Hey, honey! It's crazy outside right now. Can we crash on your couch for a bit?"
I let Hiram and Kara argue it out while I cared for Ziva.
She had been hit by a stray round; tearing into her side just below the ribcage. I quickly pumped the wound full of medi-gel while Ziva whimpered in pain. She was already coughing and hacking up a storm due to allergic reactions; and I could see that she was in a great amount of pain.
I had been the first aid instructor during my time in the Boy Scouts in my past life; and my mother had been a volunteer EMT, so it was inevitable that I retained the skill necessary to patch people up after a gunfight.
I was no surgeon, not by a long shot; but I could keep a person alive until actual medical professionals could help.
"Urg… it hurts…" Ziva whimpered while I worked.
"Yeah, but the medigel has painkillers; you should stop feeling the pain in a few minutes." I replied calmly, "Never a pleasant experience getting shot."
"You've been shot before?" She rasped, turning her gaze towards me as I applied the patch kit to the tear in her suit.
"Oh yeah, there was this one mission that went horribly wrong; I got stabbed in the shoulder, got my arm dislocated, nearly blown up with an RPG, and got shot twice. Oh! And I broke my ankle jumping down a cliff. And I've got acrophobia you see, so that wasn't a pleasant experience." I said, keeping her attention to talking and listening so she wasn't thinking about possibly dying.
"Kheelah… and you survived?" She asked.
I just chuckled in reply; "I'm sitting here treating you, aren't I?" I asked sarcastically.
I could see Ziva blush from behind her indigo blue visor; but she didn't reply.
I just gave a light shake of my head, and injected both a sedative and antibiotics through one of the injection ports on her body. "Just get some rest, you'll need it." I watched as Ziva's glowing eyes slowly closed, and she lay her head down on the armrest of the couch, falling asleep.
I sighed and packed up the medical equipment, glancing at the time in the upper left corner of my CrossCOMM.
I looked out the nearby window, the shades having been closed, and I could see that night was already falling. Pickup wouldn't be here until just before sunrise; which meant we had a lot of time to kill.
"Rookie."
It took a few minutes, but Hirams thudding footsteps soon approached me; "Sir?"
"You done arguing with your girlfriend?" I asked.
"We're all good sir, we can stay the night" He replied, then he looked at the sleeping Ziva; "how is she?"
I just shook my head and sighed; standing up and grabbing my .50 cal. "I've stopped the external bleeding, and the antibiotics are keeping her allergic reactions at bay; but several pellets tore through her liver, and she has internal bleeding. She'll need surgery, or else she'll die." I explained.
Hiram looked stunned; "Well… let's get a doctor then."
I gave him a sad look, "It's not that simple; we don't dare leave now, and pickup won't arrive until just before dawn."
"That means…"
"She won't die if I can help it; but it's not good. All we can do now is keep her comfortable, and try to get some rest while we still can. We got a combat surgeon on our pickup, but it's all up to her at this point." I yanked the charging handle and sat down on a nearby chair. "I'll take first watch Rook, I'll wake you when it's your turn." I said, looking out at the setting sun.
Hiram opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and turned and walked back to the bedroom where Kara was presumably staying. "Rookie…"
He turned and looked at me.
"Just so you know, if they find us; I will try and get Kara and Ziva out of here. But when the chips are down; and I have to choose between saving this data, or saving their lives or even yours, I will choose this data. I don't like it, and it might make me a cold hearted son of a bitch for doing it; but I will do it. I hope you understand."
Hiram just stared at me, then turned and stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him. I just sighed again and shook my head, maybe we can set Kara up in witness protection when it comes down to it, our extraction isn't going to be pretty. I mused, looking outside for any potential hostiles.
It was going to be a long night.
It was entirely logical.
The data we had come here for was potentially worth more than any of our lives; repairing the Quarian immune system, possibly undoing the Genophage or at least making it so it wasn't a 99.9% infant mortality rate, perhaps life-extension procedures for the Salarians, at least for ours if nobody else.
It was totally logical but I didn't give a damn at that moment because it was Illium, and everything about the planet seemed bound and determined to kill me, even Nomad.
Kala looked up sullenly from the bed.
I felt like a heel; I'd dragged her into this nightmare scenario twice now, this time by convincing her to let us use her apartment. I had very low hopes that Illium's "Surveillance State" wouldn't track us down here, at which point she'd be harboring fugitives.
"Kala, look when-"
"Shut up and get over here." There was steel in her voice even as it wavered, but I was surprised at the lack of venom. She looked up and pointed to a spot next to her. "Just sit here with me okay? I have a killer and a dying Quarian in my living room, my sister was likely killed by one of the many gangs the city can't see through the bribes in their face, so right now you and my crappy apartment are the two most stable things in my life. So you're going to come over here, sit down and let me freak-out without being alone."
What was there for it but to sit?
She leaned against me and shivered. I decided to do something I hadn't done in some months. One issue I had with Omni translation software was it mangled your voice. For this, I switched the translator off. Kala looked at the device, then at me just before I started to sing.
"Smile, though your heart is aching,
"Smile, even though it's breaking
"When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by."
Her shivering slowed as I sang until finally, I heard the most ridiculous snore. I put her to bed, and then got up to confront a Ghost.
I flipped through Ziva's sketches and notes that she had made in her journal; and made sure all of her files had been copied to my omnitool with no corruptions. The data was the priority; so I made sure that I had multiple copies of the damned thing just in case something went wrong.
Ziva shifted uncomfortably in her sleep, coughing and hacking with every breath she took.
I grimaced in sympathy; and saw that she was beginning to regain conscious, so I began to sing softly in the hopes to reassure her and lull the poor girl back to sleep.
"Чёрный ворон,
Что ты вьешься надо моею головой?
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон Я не твой!
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон, Я не твой!
Чёрный ворон,
Что ты вьешься надо моею головой?
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон Я не твой!
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон, Я не твой!"
I was grateful for Phil's lessons in Russian; a requirement for Ghost training was fluency in multiple languages, including one alien language. I could speak and understand English, Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Pashtun, a smattering of Kurdish, a little bit of German, and somewhat able to understand and speak Kheelish.
Not bad for a guy who had failed high school Spanish with flying colors.
I smiled as watched Ziva sigh softly, and fall back asleep; hopefully she didn't speak Russian, because "Black Raven" was not exactly an uplifting children's song, considering the fact it was about a mortally wounded soldier fending off a Raven to stop it from eating him with the implication that the Raven was death itself.
Shaking my head I turned my attention away from the wounded traveler.
I looked out the window for what felt like the hundredth time to make sure no officers or mercenaries were approaching the building; and like all the other times, nothing. I took in the alien night sky, something that always fascinated me no matter how many different worlds I had gone to.
Still… nothing beat the northern lights of Alaska and Siberia.
Another part of Ghost training was to drop trainees into Alaska and Siberia with minimal supplies; and last a month with their squad. They were hooked up to bio-monitors and stuff, and had a communicator to call us if they felt they couldn't do it.
But beyond that, they were on their own. Nothing ever compared to the lights beauty.
I chuckled quietly; if we managed to cure the Quarian immune system with this data, I was going to die an early death of stress from fighting off Junes boyfriends when she reached that age. And I knew she was going to be a beautiful woman, because I had seen what her mother looked like; it was instinctual I guess, but you knew how your children would look from the moment you laid eyes on them.
Creak…
I whipped my Hi-Standard towards the noise, but then checked the motion, seeing that it was just Hiram walking towards me. His shift wasn't for another few minutes, but I guess he was having trouble sleeping.
"Rook…"
"Nomad, sir…"
Even behind his oxygen mask; I could see that he was still troubled and angry at me, either from the combat we had just gone through or the whole morality of potentially leaving the Traveler we had come to retrieve behind.
I had made it very clear to him that if shit went south; he, Kara, Ziva, and even I myself was expendable to this data. I didn't like it, but I had done dirty shit in the past; and this would just be another incident on my conscience.
Deciding to explain myself somewhat, and out of a desire to pass the time; I opened my mouth and started to talk.
"It's funny you know…" I started, turning my attention back outside. The retrieval specialist turned to me, looking startled; "When you're out there fighting for your life, all you can think about is what's ahead of you; and falling back to your instincts. But in the down time, all I can think about is my daughter; about how even if I die getting this data back home, I'll still be able to do her good through the rest of her life."
Hiram shifted and looked back at Ziva; "I know sir… this mission isn't just about asset retrieval for you; it's about giving your daughter a chance at a regular life." He finally said, his anger seemingly leaving him somewhat.
"Yeah…" I said, nodding and looking back at the man; "I don't know if you had kids in your past life; I sure as hell didn't, but I'll be damned if there isn't a thing I won't do for her."
"If it helps clear your conscience sir… I understand why you said you'll leave all three of us to save this data. But it doesn't make it any easier or nicer to think about." He replied.
"It never gets easier Rookie; and pray that it never does. In this business, the only line in the sand is the one you draw; and if you cross it, you'll lose yourself faster than you can ever believe." I informed him, before standing up and handing him my Beowulf. "Wake me up in four hours if nothing is happening; wake me up earlier if Ziva starts getting worse or if she reopens her wounds. Make sure you kick my leg to get me up so I don't try and slash your throat; old habits die hard." I ordered, only half joking about having him kick my leg to wake me up.
"Got it sir…"
"Good man." I walked over to the corner of the room so that I was facing both the door and the window at the same time; and drew my Hi-Standard. I leaned up against the wall and closed my eyes, and let myself fall into the land of dreams; the lyrics to "Black Raven" still circling in my mind.
I mumbled the lyrics as I fell asleep,
"Чёрный ворон,
Что ты вьешься надо моею головой?
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон Я не твой!
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон, Я не твой!
Чёрный ворон,
Что ты вьешься надо моею головой?
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон Я не твой!
Ты добыча не дождешься!
Чёрный ворон, Я не твой!"
"One o'clock, and all's well." I mumbled quietly from my post by the window. I couldn't say Illium was an ugly world; it just brought out the ugly in everything. It reminded me of Vegas that way.
That and the heat.
Kala's door opened and I saw her stumble a little bit while rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "Couldn't sleep?" She blinked owlishly and said something completely unintelligible. At that point I remembered I had disabled the translator. I grumbled a little and switched it back on while Kala smirked. "I asked if you couldn't sleep."
She hugged herself and frowned. "No. You?"
I huffed and looked back out the window. "I'm on watch, so I can't. Murphy'll be along any minute now to liven things up."
"What, more of you?" She looked genuinely angry at that, especially when I chuckled.
"There's an old superstition from my homeworld called 'Murphy's Law'. 'If anything can go wrong, it will and at the worst possible moment'."
Her jaw clicked shut as she looked at me. "That's a bit pessimistic isn't it?"
"Maybe," I looked over to where Ziva was rolling on the couch moaning slightly, "but it's damn accurate at times."
She looked over in concern. "Can you tell me about her?"
I couldn't well say she was a time traveling soul from a world where Kala's people were videogame characters. "She's a kid who wants to be a doctor. She wants to help make people healthy and whole. She somehow ended up here with some very precious information." I looked back out the window. "Now she has a bunch of bullet wounds and may never see dawn, much less her home again."
Kala walked over and knelt beside Ziva. "My sister was the go-getter of the two of us. She had plans to become a xenobiologist. Studied her tendrils off while I partied." She rested a hand on Ziva's side. "She used to torture me when I'd wake up hung over by making me help her study."
I noticed her hand started to glow.
"Resonant diagnostics, celular stimulation, micro cauterization. She'd find wild avians, or pyjacks that had been hit by a ground car then drag them back here and have me help her perform biotic triage." She took her hand away from the wound and I was amazed at the difference, even through the gel suit-sealant.
"I miss her." She began re-wrapping Zivia's side.
"'There are more things under heaven and Earth than even your philosophy has imagined'." She looked at me curiously. "I wish I could explain it any better than this; you'll see her again, and I guarantee she'll be proud of the person you always were." She smiled weakly as I turned back to my watch.
I shook myself awake.
Hiram stood nearby at the window; holding my Beowulf tightly, and staring out the window. Ziva was sitting up from the couch, while Kara sat next to her fussing over the Quarian Travelers bandages.
I grunted and stood up from where I had propped myself up.
"Morning sir." Hiram called, walking over and handing me back my Beowulf while he drew his MP5.
"Morning Rook; you get any calls from our extraction team?" I asked, stifling the urge to yawn.
"No sir, but Kara did manage to help with Ziva's internal bleeding a little bit; so she bought us some time." Hiram replied, sounding excited.
I gave the Asari a look of suspicion; and she shrunk away slightly, my skull bandanna intimidating her and probably reminding her of her past run-ins with gangs. Turning my attention back to Hiram, I put a finger to my CrossCOMM; "Helios-Actual, this is Nomad, do you read me over?"
After a moment, a voice came back over the teamspeak; "Nomad, this is Helios-Actual, we read you; your extraction team is currently five mikes from your location. They will pick you up from the roof; be advised, you may have hostiles heading for your building."
Both Hiram and I stared at each other for a moment; then we both dashed over to the two women sitting on the couch. "Alright ladies, finger-painting and tea session is over we gotta go." I snapped as I helped Ziva to her feet over Kara's protests.
"But she is in no condition to move-" Kara started before Hiram pulled her to her feet.
"Sorry Kara but he's right, we need to move now; we have hostiles on their way, and we gotta make our way to the roof." He explained.
Then what few lights in the apartment that were on, turned off.
"Shit! They're cutting power, Ms. Kara grab whatever you can carry and then we leave." I ordered, moving to the door.
Kara gaped at me, looking down at her nightgown; which she had not changed out of since last night, before rushing off to grab her familial items. Which probably wouldn't be much, but I wanted to at least give her the chance of grabbing something.
WHOOP! "Attention residents; three criminals are suspected of hiding in this complex. Failure to comply with local Civil Protection teams will result in permanent offworld removal!" WHOOP!
Kara reemerged from her room; what belongings she could grab stuffed into a small duffle bag. She had thrown on a jacket over her thin nightgown; which revealed a little too much in my opinion, but I could see that she was pale from fear.
"Did they say Civil Protection units?" She demanded, her voice trembling in pitch.
I wasn't familiar with Illium, so I looked at Hiram, who seemed to be just as afraid; "Think the NKVD from Soviet Russia, only they answer to the corporatists along with the government." He explained.
"So the Secret Police then, great…" I grumbled, "Helios-Actual this is Nomad; our time table just got a lot tighter, Secret Police units are closing on our location."
"Understood Nomad; Make your way to the roof, our shuttle has guns to cover your escape."
Hearing this, I practically shoved Ziva into Hirams arms and took off running to the stairway; "Get to the roof! I'll hold them off!" I snapped.
Already, I could hear the Civil Protection units breaking down doors and people screaming in terror as the Secret Police invaded their homes searching for us. I held the angle while the others scrambled up the stairs, their footsteps alerting the Civil Protection units that their Quarry was upstairs.
For a unit that was named after a character from Half Life; they certainly looked the part of Secret Police.
They wore thick armor, with masks and helmets covering their faces; leather trench coats blending in with their armor like it had been built with it, a style they had almost certainly picked up by looking at human Secret Police units from history.
I shot the first one right in the head.
I smirked as the Civil Protection units scrambled away from the stairway, even as I killed another three, and wounded a fourth; that was the thing about the Secret Police, against unarmed civilians, they were power and terror incarnate.
But against a well-trained, well-armed, and well equipped soldier like me; they couldn't hope to compare.
"Nomad, we're at the roof; we can see the shuttle making its way here now." Hiram informed me over the radio.
"I'm on my way!" I shouted, tossing a smoke grenade down the stairwell; followed by a frag grenade, since I had already burned my incendiary earlier. Not that I wanted to burn down the apartment, it would have been contained to the stairwell…
Hopefully.
I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me; thanking the gene-mods for my increased strength and endurance. A naked Asari peeked her head out of her room as I ran by; which didn't surprise me since there wasn't a nudity taboo for Asari.
What did surprise me was that she began screaming, "Officer! Officer! Up here!"
I cursed as I ran up the stairs, knowing that they would be on me in seconds. I had to give Secret Police units, and police units in general, credit where it was due; they knew how to move fast when it came to catching their targets.
BlamBlam!
I hissed as rounds pinged off my kinetic barriers; dropping my shield energy as I went around the corner and out of their line of site. They were accurate too, I had to give them that as well; they probably had gotten a lot of practice by shooting people in the back of the head.
So imagine my surprise when they just started shooting at me from the floor below; Mass Effected pellets zipping upwards like beams of lightning going the opposite direction.
I yelped as one clipped my left forearm, and another grazed my right thigh.
I stumbled but didn't dare stop moving; quickly tossing my only other frag grenade backwards at the stairway that led downstairs to try and slow them down.
BOOM!
The gunfire ceased as I made my way up the last set of stairs before the outside; I only had one more to go before I reached the roof.
"Nomad! Our rides here, we're telling them to wait!" Hiram shouted.
That naive little "If they start shooting at you, fucking take off! I'll be fine!" I shouted.
"All due respect sir, we're waiting for you; now hurry up!" It was stupid, but I still felt a little heartened by the show of loyalty.
"Fuckfuckfuck!" I cursed as they started shoot up at me from below again; clearly desperate to stop me from leaving.
WHAP! "AH!"
I staggered to a stop, blood pouring from my shoulder as I spied an Asari Civil Protection Officer with her mask and helmet off smirking at me; her rifle smoking as she blocked the stairway.
I didn't have time for this; I whipped my Beowulf up and flipped it to full auto.
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!
I emptied all remaining ten rounds into the Asari; the first five, she stopped with her biotics while keeping that smirk. The next three broke her barrier; which dropped that smirk from her face. The last two drilled into her stomach, causing her face to contort in agony.
The Secret Policewoman shrieked in pain, blasting her own assault rifle on full auto; far less accurately and only landing two hits. One sliced through my right thigh while missing the bone and artery; while the other tore through my side just below the left side of my ribcage.
Again, missing the bone and organs.
And unlike bullets, which crippled you even if it wasn't a direct hit since they would displace your organs, bones, and blood vessels; Mass Effect pellets just went straight through you, and while damaging, it wasn't disabling.
I slung my now spent rifle and drew my Hi-Standard; triple tapping the Officer in the chest and the head even as I limped/ran down the hall to the last set of stairs. Since she had no helmet, and no shield or biotics to stop it; the .22 caliber bullets dropped her dead.
But as I reached the stairs just as her body hit the ground; I got hit again from behind.
WHAP!
I fell face first onto the stairs and spat out blood into the inside of my oxygen mask, which wasn't exactly pleasant; that one had hit my right lung, missing my sternum thankfully. I turned around to look, and saw a Batarian; this one also not wearing a helmet and mask, a smirk on his face.
I had no ammo in my Beowulf, and no time to reload; so I whipped up my Hi-Standard, and emptied the last four rounds at his head. Despite me knowing full well it would do nothing if he had Barriers.
So imagine to my surprise when his head popped, which shouldn't have happened with a dinky little .22; and then I felt someone start dragging me up the stairs. I looked up and saw Hiram dragging me, his MP5 pointed at the stairs.
Pushing down my surprise, I quickly holstered my pistol while drawing my revolver; just in time for five more officers to come running up the stairs.
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!
Their heads exploded like watermelons as the .50 caliber action express tore through their barriers and their armor.
Upon seeing no other officers; Hiram picked me up in a fireman's carry, and ran towards the shuttle where Kara stood with Hiram's Batarian Pistol in hand, a dead Secret Policeman nearby while Ziva lay on the floor of the shuttle, the corpsman and the doctor already tending to her.
Hiram jumped on board as more Civil Protection officers came pouring out of the stairway.
He practically slammed me down on the floor of the shuttle, and spun around; spraying his entire mag at the officers to keep them pinned. The bay door started to close, the transport starting to leave; and just as the Corpsman leaned over to take a look at me, and just as Hirams MP5 ran dry, an Officer pulled out an Anti-Aircraft Missile launcher.
Shoving the Corpsman out of the way, I fired my last .50 cal. Revolver round.
It wasn't a headshot, but it was enough; the Secret Policeman fell backward, clutching their chest just as the shuttle closed the door and took off at top speed.
I started laughing, even as I coughed up blood I yanked off my bandanna and oxygen mask; "Rookie!" I shouted with a bloodstained grin while the Corpsman pushed me down, "You just drew your line!" I said pointing at the startled retrieval specialist, "Just don't break it!" I managed to get out as the corpsman pumped me full of sedatives.
I slumped over, and fell asleep with a manic grin on my face.
The shuttle ride to Beta Site was crowded. Two wounded stretched out on the floor with a medic shuffling between them didn't leave much room for laying down, and the Kodiak's jump seats were as uncomfortable as a C-130's. There was a bit of a show when Kala dressed in what little she had grabbed, though everyone had the decency not to stare.
Schultz's team were waiting for us, and everyone piled out to be debriefed and receive proper medical attention. I was relieved of my kit and spent the next day in and out of various security offices. Most everyone was surprised that the mission went off as well as it did. I was just amazed that I managed to survive Illium with little more than sore ribs from the elevator jump and some rope burn on my hands.
I finally was released and scheduled to head back to the Spirit of Fire, when I bumped into Kala again. "Hey." I didn't think there was anything I could have said to put what had happened to her in anything resembling perspective.
She gave me an unreadable look, and then punched me in the arm. "You still owe me a date. And an apartment now. Not some crappy little efficiency either."
I chuckled. "I promised you a date, and I am a man of my word. As for the apartment, I'm on a government salary, so don't expect miracles."
She harrumphed. "I expect you."
I smiled for a moment, and then had a thought. I brought her into a kiss, and thought one very specific thought.
She broke off the kiss and looked at me in surprise. "What…" She acted out what I had thought in confusion.
I locked eyes on her. "If you're ever in trouble, real trouble, send me a message with that included. I find some way to get to you." She nodded, and continued to her shuttle while I headed to mine.
I arrived back on the Spirit in record time; well, for someone used to traveling by Starbug. I made a beeline for my assigned cabin and just flopped into my bunk.
"Retrieval Team Jawa, please report to Personnel for immediate tasking. Retrieval Team Jawa, please report to Personnel for immediate tasking."
"Fuck you Illium!"
A/N: I hope all y'all enjoyed this little collaboration between myself and Ian the Mechanic; the next chapter for the main story will be coming soon. I've managed to work through the writer's block for that particular section; quite frankly I'm done with the citadel and I want to get on moving to other areas.
There won't be "Stations of the Canon" or that sort of thing; or at least, not a lot.
I hope you guys will enjoy it.
The link to my discord is /U9vgbyx
Leave a review, tell us what y'all think.
I would love a TV tropes page guys; GIVE ME ONE!
And I will see ya when I see ya.