Act I : XIV

Asteroid X57

Holy shit…

Slade Jordan was covered in batarian entrails, and was trying as hard as he possibly could to avoid vomiting inside his helmet; however, he was in a safe environment, and disengaged his helmet's airlock seal in the event of catastrophe. The batarian extremist had exploded into small globules of meat and blood, and whether or not he deserved such a gruesome death was an unnecessary debate.

The batarian had vaulted over the crate Slade was hiding behind while he was reloading, and tackled him to the ground. While locked in the struggle, Slade tried to reach for his pistol that had slid a few feet away from him, while the batarian had abandoned his rifle and drew a large knife from his boot. He brought the knife down towards Slade's neck with all his might and Slade only narrowly managed to move his head away in time to feel the blade whiz past his ear. In his panicked state, Slade thrust his arm up into the batarian's stomach, attempting to push him off; instead, the batarian exploded into a bloody mess as Slade's biotics had unintentionally flared up. He continued to lay on the floor in shock, then slowly got to his feet and wiped the blood and bone off his helmet's visor, before retrieving his M-77. A very audible, disgusting squelching sound became louder as Wrex walked towards him, his boots thumping through the gory mulch spread all over the metallic floor.

Oh, fuck me, that horrible sound! Ugh, it's disgusting!

Slade's stomach began to lurch violently as Wrex reached him.

"Well, well, well…" Wrex hummed. "Look at the mess you made…I'll admit, I'm impressed, runt. Keep this up and you might-

Slade stopped listening and began unfastening his helmet seals as fast as his hands were able to. He threw his helmet with all his strength towards the opposite, cleaner side of the huge room and keeled over to vomit onto the ground.

Fuck me.

Wrex broke out in ear shattering, hysterical laughter and bent down to stop himself from falling to the floor. Garrus hurried over to check out the commotion.

"Wow", Garrus marvelled. "Is this what passes for modern art nowadays? I can't say I understand art, but this is a very pretty shade of crimson: really reaches out and grabs your attention…" Slade finally straightened back up and terrifyingly looked down and inspected his blue armour, which was now painted red and soaked in unidentifiable organic matter. He lifted his arm up and it dripped with fresh blood, then continued by lifting up his boot which was suctioned to the floor by more blood and guts. The absolute worst part was the smell, which Slade suppressed with all his might and fought a painful urge to rip his nose clean off his own face.

Oh, god…it smells like-

Slade violently vomited again, causing Wrex's booming laughter to continue on with twice the volume. Shepard walked over, carefully avoiding the larger piles of gore and approached Slade with his helmet tucked underneath her arm. She gently patted Slade's back until he was able to stand upright again.

"There, there", she soothed. "It's alright. You're okay." She extended her arm and offered Slade his helmet, which he carefully grasped and began wiping off the exterior. When Slade was satisfied with it's sanitary state, he lifted it up to his head, but Shepard put a hand on his arm and stopped him from replacing his helmet.

"In hindsight", Shepard began. "You really shouldn't have taken the helmet off. Now the smell is going to be trapped inside your helmet and it'll be even worse. Here, try this." Shepard spread a small amount of omnigel on her finger and gently smeared it over Slade's nostrils, causing his ears and cheeks to burn red. Slade was already quite on edge, and he mentally tensed up after Shepard's touch on his bare skin. He began slightly trembling, but was slowly becoming acclimatized to the sensation of being touched by the Commander, and his mental breakdowns became less severe. The omnigel she spread on his nostrils began sending a cool, metallic scent up his nose: it smelled like damp, cool steel and although it was not exactly a pleasant odour, it was far more appealing than the rusty copper smell of blood in the air. Shepard then took his helmet out of his grasp and carefully placed it back on his head, fastening the vacuum seals and engaging the airlock. She gingerly wiped the remainder of the gore out of the visor as the stench of blood slowly dissipated, and Slade began feeling better inside the safety of his helmet.

"There", she finished. "Better?" Slade slowly nodded, then chuckled.

"In hindsight, Commander", he replied. "If I kept my helmet on and threw up, we'd be dealing with a completely different problem that would be arguably worse…" Shepard quickly laughed at the implication and patted his shoulder before turning around to Garrus and Wrex.

"That's the last fusion torch", she announced. "Now we need-

Shepard saw the door behind them slide open and allow a squad of batarians to enter the room.

"COMPANY!" Shepard shouted. "Take cover!" Slade and the Commander ran behind a wall with Garrus while Wrex ducked behind an overturned cargo crate. Slade primed his Paladin, ignoring the slimy mess that refused to come off the handle.

"Stop!" One of the batarians ordered. "This doesn't need to end in bloodshed!" The batarian stepped forward with his rifle slung over his back and beckoned his entourage to hold their fire.

"Right", Garrus scoffed. "As if that's ever worked before." Shepard however, decided to step out from behind the wall and approach the batarian with her rifle lowered, causing the rest of the team to hurriedly take aim and cover her.

"Commander!" Slade called as he sighted down a batarian holding a shotgun. "What the hell are-

"Hold your fire!" She ordered without turning around. "I think we can talk this out."

"The fuck we are!" Wrex grunted as he walked out towards the commander. "Batarians don't talk."

"Commander", Slade continued as he cautiously left the cover of the wall. "I'm with Wrex on this one. Don't trust them."

Did I really agree with Wrex? Maybe I puked out my brain too…

"I said, hold your fire", Shepard barked while she disengaged her rifle. "We ARE going to talk this out. Stay calm."

Goddamn it, Commander, what are you doing?

Wrex snarled while Shepard walked closer to the batarian and kept his shotgun aimed at the batarian leader. Slade joined him and kept his pistol aimed as well. Garrus was silently waiting with his sniper rifle for an order to open fire.

"Who are you?" Shepard inquired. "You're the first one here to talk first, and shoot second."

"Don't come any closer", the batarian warned. "My name is Charn. I've been sent to dispose of you, but I'm not an idiot. If I try to take you on, I'll probably end up dead, just like everyone else. But I can't just ignore you either, or Balak will skin me alive. I don't suppose you'll just consider leaving?"

"I think you already know my answer", Shepard protested. "And I'm assuming Balak is the one behind this whole incident?"

"Yes, he is", Charn answered. "And if he asks me to do something, I do it. Fortunately, he never directly ordered me to kill you, he just told me to deal with you. I'm going to ask you to leave one more time, but if you refuse again, I'll have no choice. I'd rather try my luck with you, than with Balak." Wrex threateningly charged his shotgun's thermal sink, causing every batarian to aim their weapons towards him.

"Look", Charn continued. "This wasn't my idea, I signed on with Balak's crew for a quick slave grab, but after we found this outpost and Balak found out about the fusion torches, shit hit the fan and he went full terrorist. I'm just following orders, and if they end up getting me killed, well then, at least you won't give me a slow, painful death." Wrex let out a slow, intimidating cackle.

"Well", Wrex laughed. "You'll find out you're wrong about that in the most agonizing way possible." Charn seemed to ignore the comment and continued to stare intently at the Commander.

"Seriously?" Shepard taunted. "You're going to kill millions of people - and possibly destroy a planet - just because someone told you to? Do you usually allow other people to make such huge decisions for you?" Charn ignored the taunt again and remained silent. Shepard also remained silent for a few moments, adding more tension to Slade's trigger finger and he braced himself for another firefight; however, Shepard broke the silence and changed her tone completely.

"Okay, listen", she began in a genuine tone. "From everything you've told me, you obviously think Balak is a crazy extremist - and I agree - so I have a proposal for you. Instead of throwing your life away by attempting to kill us, why don't you just leave with your squad? I'll make sure Balak won't be able to punish you, all you need to do is tell me where to find him. Does that sound fair to you? Like you said, only one of us is leaving this room alive, and we both know it won't be you. Why throw your life away for Balak's sake?" Charn seemed to be completely taken back and finally moved his gaze away from Shepard to look down at the floor.

Shepard, you can't be serious. We CANNOT just let them go! That's stupid!

"That is a very interesting proposal…" Charn said without looking up. "It certainly would be better than dying, and Balak is not worth dying for." He turned around and looked at his men, exchanging a few words in native batarian before turning back to Shepard.

"And you promise to kill Balak?" Charn demanded.

"I promise to deal with Balak", Shepard corrected with a small smirk.

"I suppose that's as much as I can ask." Charn accepted and turned around to his men. "Let's go! We're getting the hell off this rock!" The other batarians holstered their weapons and began leaving the room while Charn slowly stepped closer to Shepard, causing Slade and Wrex to immediately aim their weapons at him. "Here, human. Take this." He handed a small keypad to Shepard. "Balak is bunkered down at the primary control centre, you'll need this keypad to get inside. Don't underestimate him, he's a mean bastard and HATES humans."

"Thanks", Shepard replied. "I'll take care of him, but if I ever see YOU again, I'll take care of you too. Are we clear? Stay away from human territory."

"Don't worry", Charn reassured. "If I didn't have a chance against you now, I don't think I'd get this lucky next time. You'll never see me again." Charn turned around and left with his entourage without looking back at Shepard, and the party disengaged their weapons and gathered around the Commander.

We should have killed them, before they-

"That was a mistake, Shepard", Wrex barked. "We should've cracked their heads and made sure they didn't get another chance to pull shit like this again."

"Maybe it was a mistake", Shepard sassed. "But it was MY mistake to make. I'm not going to mercilessly slaughter people because they happen to be standing in my way. I call the shots, Wrexy, remember that." Wrex took two intimidating steps toward Shepard and glared into her helmet's visor through his.

"Call me 'Wrexy' again, and you'll be making another mistake", Wrex snarled. "Probably your LAST mistake." The Commander was unfazed by Wrex's threat, and held her ground without breaking his gaze.

"Do you see anyone else complaining about my choice?" Shepard demanded as she looked over to Garrus and Slade. "Guys? Any objections? Or is it just Wrex?"

"None from me, Commander", Garrus reported. "They didn't fire at us, so we had no reason to fire at them. Whether you made the right choice or not, it isn't for me to decide." Shepard beamed underneath her helmet and looked directly at Slade, and he squirmed slightly.

"Slade?" She continued. "Anything to add?" Slade just silently stared at the cool, metal floor for a few moments.

Don't say anything. Just keep your damn mouth shut.

"No, ma'am", Slade finally answered. Wrex gave a deep, rumbling chuckle and all eyes were now back on him.

"Looks like your little protege doesn't agree with you, Shepard…" he taunted. "Maybe the runt does have a brain in that hollow skull of his." Wrex inconsiderately began walking towards the entrance of the compound before Shepard had a chance to retort. Garrus shrugged and followed him out of the room.

"Well", Garrus remarked. "Time's wasting! We should get moving, we probably only have maybe an hour left, if we're lucky."

"That's a load of shit!" Wrex called out without turning around. "They SAID we only have a few hours, but we all know that doesn't mean shit! We could leave right now, get a bottle of ryncol from Tuchanka, fight a thresher maw while drunk, and still be able to make it back here with enough time left. Don't listen to time constraints! They never mean anything!" Garrus laughed to himself as he ran up to join Wrex. Slade began to increase his pace to catch up, but the Commander caught his shoulder and held him in place.

/

He needs to learn something, and NOW.

Commander Zoey Shepard opened a private comm link to Slade so no one would be able to eavesdrop on them. He accepted the transfer and turned his attention to her.

"Slade", she began. "Do you think we should have killed them?"

"It doesn't matter what I think", Slade replied. "You're the Commander, and I trust your decisions. Like Garrus said, it's not our place to-

"It DOES matter, because I'm asking", Shepard interrupted, far more rudely than she intended. "So…do you think I made a mistake letting them go like that? Speak freely, this is just between us." Slade put his hands on his hips and paced back and forth for a few moments in silence, while Zoey patiently waited for him to think of an answer.

"Commander", he started. "They were batarian slavers. Slavers. And the mistake they claimed to make was accidentally add terrorism and mass destruction to their resumes. Sure, they didn't want to go along with it, but they were still slavers. You let them go, ma'am, but do you think they're going to become farmers or take up knitting now? No. You let them go so they could continue to be slavers. They're going to kidnap people and make them slaves. I know they didn't want to shoot us or become terrorists, but you allowed a bunch of slavers to go free…how was that the right decision?"

Well…shit, when you put it that way…no, no, no. Keep it together, Zoey. You made the right call, and you know it. Slade just needs to understand why.

"Slade", she cautiously began. "I'm not a judge, jury and executioner. Yes, those batarians were criminals, but it's not my call on how exactly they should be punished. If we had enough time, we would have arrested them and had them tried for terrorism, but we didn't have time for that. I'd rather let them go and let someone else who has the authority to judge them take care of them, than gun them down just because they're in my way. Just for the record, the only reason I even considered letting them go in the first place is because they didn't automatically begin nailing us with bullets. Usually, they shoot first and ask questions later, but Charn was actually willing to talk first, which should get him at least some consideration. Is that a fair explanation for my decision? This is important, Slade, I need you to learn that we can't just kill people for being in the way." Slade silently paced for a few more moments before answering.

"Commander", he began again. "You DO have the authority to be judge, jury and executioner. That's why you're a spectre. The council gave you that authority because they trusted you would make the right decisions and not be impeded by laws and regulations; but, you literally just did that. You allowed laws and regulations to sway your judgement. Sure, maybe Charn isn't a complete asshole, but you let him go just because you think he needed a fair trial, and he might end up hurting more people…" Slade paused for a few moments before continuing. "I'm just a little worried you're so caught up with trying to keep absolutely everyone alive, that you're not considering WHO you're keeping alive. I get it, you want to save as many people as possible, but sometimes removing bad people from the galaxy is the best way to help people. Think about this: you kept Charn alive, but you may not have saved the people he might eventually hurt. If we had killed Charn, we would make sure nobody else would get hurt because of him. I'm really scared about what is going to happen when we find Balak…if he surrenders and you let him go…well…Commander, he's trying to wipe out millions of people along with an entire planet. He WILL try this again if you let him go. The only way we're going to help anyone is by killing Balak, and I don't think there will be a way around that. Do you know what I mean? We can't let Balak leave this asteroid alive."

Slade…

It was Zoey's turn to pace back and forth in silence before she could think of an appropriate answer.

"Just because I have the authority to do as I please…" Zoey explained. "Doesn't mean I can do whatever I want. I can't just go around blasting everyone left and right and leaving a trail of corpses in my wake. I HATE killing people, and I HATE that it's become a necessary evil I have to put up with on a daily basis. Slade, killing someone is a quick and easy solution to a long and complicated problem. You should only kill someone when it's absolutely necessary and there is no other option. Killing Charn wasn't necessary and there's no guarantee he's going to do terrible things right away, maybe he'll turn over a new leaf and do something nice for a change. Even if he doesn't, that DOES NOT matter; but what does matter, is that I gave him the CHANCE to change his ways. Do you understand me, Slade? I will not kill Balak if he surrenders without a fight. Killing him is a last resort, and regardless of his evil intentions, he still deserves a second chance. Am I clear, Specialist Jordan? Killing is never an option until there are no options left." Slade stood silently and stared at the ground, then breathed a long, exaggerated sigh before turning to the exit.

"Yes, ma'am", he said as he walked towards where Wrex and Garrus were waiting, without turning around to look at Zoey.