The handgun's short range scope sighted onto a humanoid target that arose from their hiding place. Ryder's fingers briefly locked down the trigger unleashing a string of glowing bullets to flash through the air and suddenly strike upon a humanoid target. The human outcast quickly zipped back after their shields had been broken and quickly ducked out of the Pathfinder's sight.
"AH FUCK! The Pathfinder is here! Alert the others!" One of the male outcasts abruptly shouted.
An unknown woman's voice commanded angrily, "Don't let them through our defenses! We're stopping them here!"
A silent bullet narrowly seared over the top of Scott's shoulder armor which quickly brought the Pathfinder's attention to the sniper's scope positioned upon one of the building's rooftops from across the city.
"Snipers!" Scott called over his shoulder giving warning to the Pathfinder squad.
Sara Ryder stepped out from her hiding place and charged forward, "I'll give them a distraction! Move in!" The human woman ran around her sibling and started for another point of cover, taking random aim to unleash a burst of bullets providing as a diversion for the snipers to divert their aim onto Sara.
"Hey! I'm the one running this squad, Sara!" Pathfinder Ryder called over the comms system and dashed out from behind the wall. He zipped passed his sister to the next structure that gave cover from the random barrage of gunfire. Scott peered over his shoulder toward Liam and Sky as they came down next to him. He turned his sight on his sibling whom remained in the open, "SARA! Get into cover!"
"Shit! Shit!" Sara ranted, "Damn it! Fuck! I can't get in! They're keeping me back! My shields- Scott!"
"Ah, shit-" Scott stood up and took quick aim onto one of the outcast members that directly gunned for Sara Ryder's direction. From the corner of his eye the Pathfinder spotted Sky darting away. The Initiative Pathfinder turned his head adverting his gaze to follow the dark silver armor charging toward Sara Ryder and stood directly in front of the human woman. Sky raised his right arm over his head, outstretching his fingers to full extent, and immediately generated a silver glowing barrier over the two of them.
Sara peeled her eyelids open, rapidly shifting her eyes back and forth. Her sight lifted with a loud gasp escaping as she watched the red glow of bullets suddenly disperse on contact upon the silver glowing spherical shield. She reveled in expressed relief at the sight of the humanoid clad in dark silver standing over her.
"Sky? Whoa... that's... really cool. Thanks."
"You are welcome, Sara Ryder. Let us return to our group." Sky spoke evenly as he slowly turned to direct his approach toward the two human men. Sara following closely behind.
The unknown woman's voice shouted in rage, "WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF BIOTIC SHIELD IS THAT?! We need to get that Biotic down!"
Scott had given a sigh of relief at the sight of his sibling under the protection of Sky's powerful barrier. The human Pathfinder returned his attention forward onto the distracted outcast group as they continued to exchange fire between the members of the Collective and popping off aggressive shots at the faintly silver glowing shield. The short range scope pinpointed onto a widened-shape head clad in Angaran scout armor, Scott refrained from pulling the trigger as he asked aloud in surprise, "An... Angara? What are they doing here?"
Liam's weapon fire momentarily ceased as the human operative ran forward and bunkered behind the next placement of cover. He called over the communication transponder, "The Angara are here? But I thought.. wait! Are they shooting at us? What is going on here?! They're supposed to be on our team!"
Ryder snapped a shot at the Angaran's head causing a gush of deep blue-colored blood to burst out from the other side of the wide helmet. The humanoid's body swiftly slumped and toppled over onto the ground becoming a lifeless heap. The point of the gun whipped its scope's sight onto the next target. The Pathfinder's expression contorted into a state of shock. He recognized the insignia of the Roekaar placed on the right shoulder of the Angaran figure that came into the view of the handgun's scope. The human man studied over the symbol discovering that the faded Roekaar banner was slightly altered with an outlined pattern that matched the outcast group.
"Outcast and Roekaar? This doesn't make sense..." Scott murmured under his breath.
"I hypothesize that the two different groups adjoined into one for the common interest; to regain Kadara port under their banner." Sam's robotic voice answered in offering to clarify the human Pathfinder's confusion.
Sara's voice was received in bewildered manner over the communication transponders, "That's not likely! The Roekaar hate all other aliens and would never reduce themselves down to joining with one of our... used to be... groups." She remained standing within the silver glowing barrier and popped shots off through the shield's surface.
Scott Ryder quickly stood up, propelling himself over the mound of cover, and made a hasty sprint across the sloshed path of water trailing between the buildings. The jetpack softly hissed as he zipped into one of the opened doorways. Ryder came upon a gathered group of outcast members who immediately aimed their gun points into the Initiative Pathfinder's direction. Scott's reaction time gave no hesitance to swing his right arm overhead and suddenly dropped his clenched fist down onto the ground causing a wide circumference of a blue glowing wave of Biotic energy to explode. The powerful Nova lunged the humanoids from their places forcibly throwing them back. He gripped the handgun again into both hands and swiftly swayed the weapon's point to each figure that came down into heaps after being thrown against the solid surfaces of the surrounding walls. Ryder stood in cautious wait for any of the fallen figures to rise. Sighing silent relief, Scott charged through the room toward the other side of the compound and found the stairway leading up to the second level.
"We lost sight of the Pathfinder! Where is he?! FIND HIM!" The sound of the mysterious woman abruptly shouted through the slums.
Scott ran up the stairwell and swiftly directed the gun barrel's direction onto an Angaran Roekaar. The armored Angara unloaded a rain of bullets from his assault rifle rapidly breaking through the Pathfinder's shields. Ryder gripped the hilt of his chosen weapon, the Asari sword, and swayed into an elegant motion bringing the blade around into a single spin attack and slashed the weapon across the Angaran's chest plate with an eruption of Biotic force to abruptly push the Angara's body to be flung back.
The Pathfinder cursed in his own thoughts, 'Urk! Shit! I got careless for a second!' He spun around to the sound of following boots racing across metal from the ground level and spied Liam and Sara emerging at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ryder, we need to get control of that elevator!" Liam loudly spoke through his helmet's transponder.
Scott murmured response, "I know, Liam! It's not helping that we also have the Roekaar having a buddy system with the outcasts!" He spun his direction around and suddenly froze as a large group consisting of both outcasts and fully armored Roekaar emerged from the doorway from the other side of the room.
"Stand down, Pathfinder! We have you surrounded!" A female Angaran clad in dark green-colored gear cautiously walked forward with an angled gunpoint targeting Scott's helmet.
The Pathfinder, Liam, and Sara turned to look around and quickly spied another part of the outcast group running toward the stairwell. They took their stances at the bottom of the stairs and raised their weapons up to the squad. Scott gradually raised his arms into the air and returned his focus onto the female Angara.
"Okay, okay. We're surrounded. We got the clue - surrender or else. Now that you have us in your... clutches or whatever you prefer to call it, what is your diabolical plan? Take over Kadara port? Kind of figured that already." Scott murmured with a narrowed look through his helmet's visor.
The female Angara scoffed with a brief laugh, "You are certainly funny, human." She suddenly stomped closer and stopped to jab the gun's point into the underside of Ryder's jaw. "You know what would make me laugh? Seeing your skull mounted as a trophy... but.. that'll have to wait." The Angara stepped back, lowering the gun barrel to her side, and coldly ordered, "Take their weapons and bind their hands."
Scott motioned his head side-to-side watching the outcasts forcibly relinquish the Pathfinder squad's weapons and bound their arms behind their backs. His eyes shifted around to look around for the particular dark silver armor with pulsing green runes, in realization Ryder wondered, 'Where is Sky? Did he ditch us?! Oh, I'm going to have a word with him...'
The Angaran female returned to stand in the human man's way, lifting one of her hands to grip the underside of the Pathfinder's helmet and breaking the seal from its armor to remove the helmet. She threw the helmet to the floor in discard.
"Bring them." The Angara's voice sneered with disdainful passion.
.
.
Both Scott and his sister, included with Liam, were guided the way through the Kadara port city into the distinct direction of the headquarters. The humanoid outcasts and Roekaar were scattered throughout the streets swiftly adverting their attention onto the Pathfinder and the squad. There was a heavy silence as Scott felt the endless amount of eyes focused intently onto him.
The unidentified female Angaran Roekaar leader gradually walked graceful proud stride. The double doors came open upon her approach granting entry into the headquarters allowing her procedure through to the final room. The door loudly hissed open permitting the Pathfinder team to recognize a male Turian figure that stood in the center of room.
Scott demanded in the sound of surprise, "Kaetus?!" His eyes shifted back and forth taking glimpse around the room to find some members of the Collective, including citizens, bound and braced against the wall on the left side of the room. Ryder lowered his gaze to one familiar body splayed upon the floor with arms bound behind his back and a small pool of blood formed on the floor directly under his gaping mouth.
"REYES!" Scott shouted but was suddenly struck in the back of the head by a blunt object causing the human man to fall onto his knees before crumbling face down onto the floor. A sudden dizzying haze clouded Ryder's thoughts while blurring his vision. "Uhnn..." The human Pathfinder softly groaned.
"SCOTT! SCOTT!" Sara's distant voice called out.
The female Angaran commanded in anger, "Restrain her!"
The sound of the human woman's voice was tussled together with armor plating clattering together and grunts expressed from Sara and the figures that fought to confine her.
"Down to her knees!" The Angara demanded. "I'm going to remove this human's ugly face with my knife-"
"Jyarra!" The Turian's voice abruptly broke from his silence. Kaetus slowly approached, the Turian's feet stepped into sight of Scott's blurry vision. "We can use them as collateral. If we want the port to remain ours we must keep them alive. When the Initiative demands the release for their Pathfinder we make terms and exchange one of them instead. Obviously, intending to keep the Pathfinder for logical reasons."
"Your credit system is useless to the Roekaar, Kaetus. We need ships and supplies, including weapons... This girl..." Jyarra's sound of voice adverted toward the human woman, "The Pathfinder means something to her. What if we kill her? I want to see what happens!"
"Jyarra, we have to keep them alive." Kaetus firmly stated.
Scott peered from the corner of his eye, his sight finally becoming clear enough for him to distinguish the outlines of the Turian and Angara standing together out of the Pathfinder's reach.
"I'd rather not, Kaetus. We can just kill them and still use the bodies for an exchange. This way we don't have to waste any of our food supplies to sustain them."
Kaetus began to argue, "Jyarra-"
The female Angara pulled a handgun from its holster and shoved the barrel's point to the underside of the Turian's jaw.
"Pathetic alien. Did you seriously think that I would willingly compel myself to work with the likes of any of you?!"
"Jyarra, but I thought we..." Kaetus stuttered in his state of bewilderment.
"Is this really what you thought it was? Your bitch is dead so you went seeking for another's admiration. The attention that you were seeking will never come from me. I used you, Kaetus.. Take their weapons.. shoot them all! Farewell, Kaetus. Thanks for handing over Kadara's port to the Roekaar." Jyarra's lips curled into a devious grin as she further jabbed the point of her weapon into the Turian's throat and prepared to pull the trigger.
A sudden wave of green light briefly filled the room as the dark silver figure of Sky stepped out from a cloaked form beside Jyarra. The humanoid man's movements were swift as he snatched the handgun from the Angara's grip and crushed the weapon in his left fist.
"It is not your destiny to be enemies." Sky's echoing voice softly spoke. The crushed weapon fell into many pieces upon the floor beside his boots.
Jyarra expressed a gasp, stepping back out of Ryder's sight, "You... where did you come from?!"
The sound of the door hissed open behind the Pathfinder squad with the abrupt charge of heavy boots storming into the room. Both the Roekaar and outcast groups were thrown into aloof by the surprise ambush provided from a large number of Collective members including the outpost forces. The Angaran Roekaar and outcasts dropped their weapons and raised their arms into surrendering gesture.
Jyarra lowly growled, "How dare you!"
"I'm taking back my port." Keema's voice announced from the doorway. "Get their weapons! Make plenty of room in the jail for these worthless skkut." The female Angara passed by the Collective troops and the military personnel that guided the bound Roekaar and outcasts members out of the room.
"Hey, Reyes," Keema approached to kneel down between Scott and the body that remained motionless, "You can stop playing dead."
Reyes softly grunted as he replied, "Ah, good... My arms are getting stiff in this position. Can I have a hand, Keema?"
Scott muttered, "Can I get a hand?"
The binds came undone from around the Pathfinder's wrists allowing Scott to bring his palms forward and down onto the flat surface of the floor to begin slowly pushing himself onto his hands and knees.
(*Disclaimer: Ryder's alternative rescue method provided by Sky in Chapter 10 - Alternative*)
"Ugh.. ow.. my head.. I'm getting so sick of being hit in the head..." Scott grumbled and slowly turned his gaze into the direction of his sibling coming down to one knee offering one of her palms out before him.
"At least it was your head, there could have been worse places." Sara's voice responded in a coy manner.
The Pathfinder gradually accepted his sibling's hand, using her strength to leverage himself into a very slow standing posture and leaned his weight against Sara's braced shoulder.
"That's not remotely funny, Sara..." Scott retort tiredly. He lifted his sight, glimpsing over the room finding the Roekaar and outcast forces being led out of the room. The bound citizens were released and provided with medical supplies.
Reyes Vidal, with Keema, approached and stood before the Pathfinder and Sara Ryder.
"This was... not a very good day." Reyes displayed the sound of discouragement in his tone.
Liam Kosta came around to stand beside Scott and offered a shoulder for the Pathfinder to lean against as a balance for the human Pathfinder's wobbling stature.
"I'd have to say so. There are too many bodies.." Liam distantly murmured. He turned his head from side-to-side momentarily glancing around the room.
"What happened here, Reyes?" Scott curiously asked as he lifted one of his hands to rub the back of his head.
Keema provided answer, "Let's get you two checked out first. I'll explain everything. You need to relax, Reyes."
Vidal lowly responded, "I'm fine, Keema. Just have a bruised-"
"Ego?" Scott finished.
Sara hailed, "Sam? Sam, can you hear me? Are you still there?"
"Yes, Sara Ryder. Sky has reconfigured the AI blocking transmissions which has allowed me to reconnect to Kadara's networking systems. I have relayed to the Nexus that medical assistance will be required at Kadara's port city. Doctor T'Perro will be arriving shortly from the Tempest." The artificial intelligence calmly supplied.
"Let's sit him down, Liam. I think standing Scott up was a bad idea. He's not shooting back with sarcasm." Sara motioned with a nod of her head into the direction of a cleared area.
"Ha.. ha.. funny." Ryder quipped under his breath and slowly rolled his eyes. He carefully walked with Liam and Sara toward the designated spot for the Pathfinder to be let to sit slowly down and rest his backside against the hard surface of the wall. Scott tilted his head back, closing his eyes, and quietly sighed.
Liam regained onto his feet and motioned his thumb point over his shoulder, "I'm going to check on the others if you've got this, Sara." He slowly turned away.
Sara made a nod up to Liam Kosta before returning her focus onto her brother.
"Take it easy, okay, Scott?" Sara Ryder urged.
Scott quietly replied in military form, "Yes, ma'am."
"Are you griping about my time in the spotlight? As short lived as it was... I also didn't mean to... ya know.." Sara came down to sit beside her twin and lowered her voice to a whisper, "That moment... I got caught under fire.. That was..."
"Don't worry about it." Scott softly sighed and continued, "I'll just make sure to cross off your name from the next mission."
"Gee, thanks. I miss one shot and I get benched? It's not fair, coach!" Sara's lips formed into a sly grin.
"Scott?! Scott, what happened to you? Are you feeling alright?" Lexi's voice distracted the twins to look into the Asari's direction. The doctor rushed to the back of the room where the Ryder siblings sat together.
Scott grumbled in his reply, "Yeah, just a headache."
"Getting hit in the head kind of does that." Sara teased and slightly shrugged her shoulders.
Doctor T'Perro exclaimed a distraught sigh and turned her head to call out over her shoulder, "Sky? Can I get your help with this?"
"Huh?" Scott reopened his eyes, quickly cocking his eyebrow into a puzzled look.
Lexi turned face forward and took notice of Scott's confused expression, "Oh? Oh! I'm teaching... or maybe training Sky medical triage. He said that he wanted to learn more about all of our physiologies so that he can lend his assistance in the medical bay... he's proven very capable and useful... I need you to come forward a little, Scott."
The human man carefully slid upon the metal floor and brought his back away from the wall. The Asari's hands looped around Scott's head and gingerly pressed her fingertips over the area on the back of the human man's head. Lexi continued, "The crew isn't as apprehensive to get their check up... including Peebee... as long as Sky offers himself as a distraction Peebee doesn't care that I'm stabbing her with needles."
.
.
Reyes Vidal uncomfortably shifted in his sitting posture upon the wide chair, which posed as the Kadaran throne, and grumbled, "I don't know how anyone can sit on this.. it's very unsupportive to my needs. We should replace it with a Jacuzzi and get a bar.. Yes! Make the renovation plans, Keema!"
Keema Dohrgun stood beside the throne and offered a light laugh as she turned her head to look down at Reyes.
"I like the Jacuzzi idea but I don't think we should encourage your drinking habits, Reyes."
Ryder stood with his arms crossed and cocked his eyebrow into a curious expression.
"So.. what's the story? What happened to this place?"
Keema placed her hands down onto her wide hips, returning her attention onto the Pathfinder, and answered, "It was a complete surprise. We were all caught off guard as the communication systems were suddenly cut off and our connection to the outpost was severed. All input and output transmissions were blocked, we couldn't even reach Sam. Reyes and I quickly figured out it was the outcasts staging the coupe.. but honestly, I never expected the outcasts and Roekaar to work together. They might have sought an alliance, with one or the other, that would benefit of gaining control over Kadara's port."
"How were you guys able to reach Sam's communication relay if there was a jammer that blocked AI?" Scott anxiously wondered.
Reyes smirked confidently, "I had initially prepared for something like this... I just didn't know when it was going to happen. There was a hidden standby program installed into one of Kadara's orbiting satellites. Once the communications relay from the planet to the satellites were disconnected the program would be triggered to relay my message to your AI, if something like this would ever happen... The program was meant to send the message directly to your Sam, Ryder."
"Wait a sec, you were already ahead of the game? If you knew that something like this was going to happen then why didn't you just call me down sooner?" Scott demanded and dropped down his arms to his sides with his hands forming into fists.
Reyes explained in defense, "I said that I didn't know when it was going to happen. I knew that the outcasts would inevitably try to take the port back. It was only a matter of time... As for the Roekaar, they were not considered a problem anymore, so, they were not part of the equation."
Scott Ryder slowly nodded and crossed his arms again over his chest as he began to slowly pace back and forth, "It does beg the question; why are the Roekaar still a problem? I don't understand."
Reyes Vidal quickly turned his gaze around the human Pathfinder toward the doorway. A handful of guards approached bringing Kaetus into the center of the room. The Turian's hands visibly handcuffed in front of him.
Scott followed Reyes' look and gradually spun around shifting his gaze onto the Turian outcast.
"He was insisting to speak with the Charlatan." One of the Krogan guards grumbled.
Keema came forward and crossed her arms behind her back.
"Yes? What do you have to say, Kaetus?"
Kaetus sneered at the Angara and motioned toward the direction of the human man sitting on the throne, "The real Charlatan. I'm not an idiot. I had a feeling that it was you, Reyes."
"If you're here to insult then you can go back to your cell." Keema dismissed in annoyance.
"Wait!" Kaetus beckoned in an urgent manner, "I... I wanted to explain."
"What's there to explain? Your way of escape from the prison? Actually, I guess I'm a little curious about that." Keema retort in coldness and narrowed her eyes.
"Throw on some face paint on another Turian and you'll have another that looks exactly the same as the other. You said yourself that all Turians look alike, the only way to distinguish them apart was by the face paint. The day of the meeting between Sloane and the Charlatan, I personally made preparations for the worst case scenario; the outcasts were prepared for a retreat the second word came back about something bad happening. I had another take my place and staged for capture. He was loyal to Sloane's cause just as I was. He provided false information during the interrogations before he was executed... Tivax was a good man." Kaetus' voice trailed off into respects.
Scott expressed renowned interest in his question, "What was the deal with the Roekaar?"
Kaetus sighed, turning his head away, "They were just as frazzled as we were. The Roekaar suffered heavy losses and were starting to turn away from their original cause after finding out that Akksul had turned a new leaf. I met up with Jyarra's group a few months ago after the outcasts were signaled to leave the city. Her band was in shambles and supplies were scarce. I suggested that we share what little our group had. We were able to make the most out it by gaining the Roekaar's trust... or so I thought... Some people, from both sides, were apprehensive but Jyarra's influence was able to win everyone over... even me. Our groups reformed under the same banner and we made plans to take back Kadara port."
Ryder narrowed his eyes, "That plan was blown out of the water once Jyarra had shown her true colors. Achieving control over the port was the Roekaar's plan, even if they hated working with aliens, they would have ultimately made their goal. Jyarra used you and your outcasts to her benefit."
Kaetus drooped his head letting another sigh out, "I had lost all hope when Sloane was killed... Jyarra was able to revive that feeling. She was very charismatic and bold. I never pictured her to be the sort to backstab someone... I... I'm grateful to be alive." The Turian raised his head returning his attention onto the human man, "Pathfinder, whoever that was from your team, if not for him then... tell him thanks. It's not often that someone gets another chance to escape from an untimely death... I'm obviously in no position to ask for a pardon from an actual execution.. but maybe I can offer something in exchange."
"Go on." Scott quietly urged.
Kaetus composed himself, "The outcasts are good men that have endured through a shit storm. At the beginning of our arrival into Andromeda things were already flipping top-side-down. If the Nexus leadership weren't disputing their political bullshit then maybe things would have turned out differently. Hell, Sloane would still be alive and we'd all be living happily on the Nexus. These men have been wronged, Sloane just wanted the same thing; answers... But the situation has turned out against all favor... I'm going to leave the judgement call up to you, Pathfinder. The choice is yours if you want to keep the outcasts and give them a chance to redeem themselves. I'm their advocate, in this I will pledge my services to the Charlatan without qualm... However, execution is just another way to get rid of us."
The Initiative Pathfinder slowly shook his head, stating aloud, "What was that phrase Sky used? It's not your destiny to be enemies.. I think he was trying to get a point across. We have bigger concerns than continuing to fight amongst ourselves. This galaxy is still faced with the possibility that the Kett are still out there and it's very likely chance that they will come back in full force. Everyone from our side and the Angaran need to pitch in together to the full extent if we want to keep Andromeda -our home- safe." Scott turned away from the Turian, diverting to face into the direction of Reyes and Keema. "Reyes, make room for new recruits. The outcasts are no longer going to be the outcasts. Make sure everyone gets along."
Kaetus gratefully implied, "Thank you, Pathfinder."
Reyes brought into question, "What about the Roekaar? They clearly only follow Jyarra's lead and may not be able to be convinced from their ways."
Scott's voice sounded with a curious manner, "We may not be able to convince Jyarra and the Roekaar... but maybe there is one other who can. Sam, can you hail the Tempest?"