A/N: Thank you for reading the story so far! Also, if you didn't know (as of Nov. 30, 2016) I've updated the last three chapters with new information, so make sure you read those if you haven't already. Sorry for the inconvenience. This chapter has violence (not incredibly detailed, but it's there). Just a heads up.
-Eddy
Chapter 3: Just a Soldier
Hours pass as I stay in the starboard observation deck, waiting for the call to dock at the mission location. Thanks to the meti-gel and careful treatment given to me while I was unconscious—before meeting Dr. T'Soni—I'm now fully healed.
In anticipation for the mission, I put on my armor, loaded my guns, and polished my sword. I'm surprised that the very reluctant Lt. Danials had retrieved my armor from the Goliath when the Normandy rescued me. Heh, this makes me seem like a damsel in distress. "All soldiers to airlock. We're ready to dock." A man's voice says and I immediately stand up to head upstairs. Good. I need this time to blow off steam. I hope there's a hostile krogan to kick the shit out of.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Kiera asks as I pass her in the hall.
"I told the Admiral I was ready, and I am." I say as I continue walking. When I was assigned to this mission, the Admiral insisted that I go through with it. He wants me to get accustomed to the Normandy' crew. He's probably going to station me here, isn't he?
"Look. About yesterday…I'm sorry we cornered you." Kiera says as she walks with me.
"No. I understand. You're curious about me, since I'm new here." I say as we get closer to the CIC. "We need to get to know each other well enough if we're going to be working together."
"Agreed." She replies as we see Lt. Danials. He looks mildly concerned and as if he's examining me with his eyes.
"You look…different." The lieutenant says, probably referring to my armor; a long-sleeve black undercoat woven under the silvery blue plating on top, on my shoulder guards is an etched in Alliance symbol, a tassel lays flat on top of my chest guards and past my shoulders to hold my sword, a holster belt on my waist holds a shotgun and a pistol, then to my lower half with only having minimal plating on my knees going down my legs over soft-leather pants, black leather boots, and a pair of black leather gloves. This armor has served me well in the way I fight in combat. I was surprised how they managed to give it back to me, given that the Goliath is probably under investigation by now. "Not the type of armor you'd see your average biotic in."
"Well, I'm not average." I say as I glare at him. He crosses his arms, not amused.
"I can see that." Danial says as he glares back at me.
He's mocking me, isn't he?
"What's your problem, Danial?" Kiera asks and Danial relaxes his arms. Then, he pats me lightly on my shoulder.
"Look, I'm…sorry about yesterday." The lieutenant says and I walk past him. I don't know if he's making an attempt at reconciling with me or if he's just saying this to 'play nice'. "I…heard that you were having a hard time on the Goliath. Dr. T'Soni told me."
Of course she did.
"Let's just focus on the mission, okay?" I say as I walk to the door, avoiding his attempt to amend what he said about me the day before. He made me relive some haunting memories of my past and accused me of murdering the crew of the Goliath. All in under ten minutes.
"I guess I deserve that." He says.
"Yes. Yes, you did." Kiera says in a playful tone of voice.
I approach a man wearing his Alliance dress blues and holding a data pad.
"Glad to see you up and walking around." A man says and holds out a hand to shake. "I'm Sargent Donald Lay. I'm overseeing this mission over the com today." He says as I can tell that he's doing this as a formality, since I'm on the mission. "It's good to finally meet you, Miss Knight."
"You too, sir." I say as I shake his hand. He pulls back his hand as Lt. Danials and Kiera stand next to me, then salute him briefly as he salutes them back.
"The station we're landing on is a civilian housing facility, so watch your fire." He says as Kiera, Danial, and I stand at attention. "You must get to the bomb located at the center of the market street and disarm it. However, the area is heavily guarded by cloaked spies and mercenaries alike. So, naturally, you'll need to take them out first. But, make it quick. The bomb is set to explode within the hour. Now, move!"
"Yes, sir!" We say as we salute and quickly spin on our heels to start heading out onto the station.
"And, Miss Knight, remember that you're working together as a team." Sargent Lay says and I continue walking out. "You can trust these two."
Without looking back, I say, "Yes, sir," and the door closes behind me.
The station we docked on was colored white. Plain and predictable. The landing zone leads to the station's main floor, then to the small civilian housing district.
When we walk out onto the main floor, I sense someone watching us. Then, I look around us, the front is unguarded, but I can see the feint warping of the top floor looking down. "Be careful. We're being watched." I say as we continue walking.
"You're not leading us, Knight. We can handle ourselves." Lt. Danials says and I hear a gunshot. Immediately, I use my biotics to shield us. A bullet bounces off the barrier—proving I was right. Kiera smiles as the lieutenant rolls his eyes.
"You know, she was the tactician for the Goliath, Danial." Kiera says as I notice other soldiers walking around in front of us. They are armed with assault rifles.
"Get to cover." I say and we quickly hide behind crates.
"Wait. I thought Lay said there were spies and mercenaries…not soldiers." Kiera says as I examine the battlefield. These are mercenaries, wearing red and blue armor. There is a single doorway underneath a walkway that leads to stairs from the ground floor up. Three soldiers stay hidden behind the railing, while five others continue walking towards us from the doorway. To the left, there are two hidden snipers. Behind the upper level, I can see civilians walking calmly behind a sheet of glass. "No one told me we were heading into battle against an army." Kiera says, sarcastically. This is no army, but they could be more dangerous than they look.
"Listen." I say as I look at Kiera and Danial. I see that Kiera has a sniper rifle in hand and Danial has an assault rifle rifle in hand. Just who I need, actually. "Kiera, you take out the guards on the upper level, while Danial and I take out the guards on the lower level."
"Right." Kiera says and I look at Danial, who seems reluctant to trust me.
"Be careful, Kiera, there are civilians past the glass pane up there." I say and she gets into position. "Danial, while I use my biotics to stun the lower guards, you attack. No grenades. We need this to be quick, but no explosives. Got it?" I say and he nods.
"Got it." He says and gets into position.
"Let's get this over with." I say and we start firing. The guards at the lower level are held by my biotics as Danial takes them out one by one. I watch in silence as the bullets rip through each soldier's armor and make sure that they're dead. While we do this, I notice Kiera having little to no trouble taking out the snipers and guards on the upper level. Headshots. Messy, but highly effective. In seconds, the fight was over. "Good." I say and stand up, out of cover.
"That was amazing!" Kiera says happily and I look back to her. "We took them down so fast!"
"I guess you learn a thing or two about combat when you're a tactician." Lt. Danials says with a sly smile.
"Let's keep moving." I say, rolling my eyes as I turn around. He makes no sense. "We still have a bomb to disarm…and likely more guards to fight off."
"Right." Kiera and the lieutenant say together. Then, I start walking towards the building. When we get to the doorway, I notice guards holding a group of children hostage. These children look like homeless, defenseless space rats.
Why would they hold the bomb so close to the front of the station? Something's off.
"Stop." I whisper sharply as I hide behind the doorway. Then, I start examining the room. There are guards on all sides of the room. On the left, there are plenty of hiding spots, while on the right, there are very few. "Danial, take the left. Kiera, when I move, take this position and monitor the children. Listen for my call."
"Right." They whisper and I use my cloaking to rush in unnoticed, while Danial quickly hides behind crates. Quickly, I execute the guards completely on the right side of the room—slicing their throats, cutting into their chests, and dropping their corpses—without being noticed. As my cloaking fades, I hide behind a crate to wait for when I can reuse it. After a moment, I activate my cloak again and immediately rush up behind the last guard to kill him. I use my biotics to intensify the attack and my sword plunges into his chest. After seeing that he's dead, I drop him at my feet. All of this happened in a span of a few seconds. Then, I quickly use my barrier over the children to shield them.
"Now!" I shout and hear Danial and Kiera firing at the other guards.
"Who are you?" One of the children ask.
"My name is Jordan Knight, I'm with the Alliance. We're getting you out of here. I promise." I say as I focus on my barrier. Seconds later, I see the last guard fall. Then, I relax and release my barrier with an exhale of breath.
This reminds me of when I was a space rat. A time when I was rescued from an Alliance officer.
"You saved us. Why?" One of the children, a small drell, asks and I look back at him.
"It's important that I save everyone I can. I won't turn my back on anyone in need." I say as I relax my breath and bend down to his level. "How did you end up here?"
"They told us if we lured you here, they would pay us after they killed you…but then they set the bomb." One of the older kids, a human boy, says. It was as if my world went grey.
Something is definitely wrong here.
"You said…they wanted to get to me?" I ask and I feel a hand on my shoulder. Suddenly, my world is jolted back into color.
"We need to disarm that bomb, Knight!" Danial says and I hear a ticking sound.
"They strapped the bomb to the children!" Kiera shouts and I look at the bomb. It has 20 minutes left on the clock. What's worse, the guards have tied the children to it.
"Who's our bomb expert here?" I ask as Danial and Kiera look at each other. "Then, I guess it's me." I say and look closely at the bomb. The wires are exposed with a tape wire tied to it and the children. The three wires sticking out are red, blue, and green. There's one red, two blues, and three greens. According to my training as a tactician, the only wire I should cut is the red wire. As I decide that the red wire needs to be cut, I feel a gunshot hit me from behind. It takes my breath away, along with my shields.
"Knight!" I hear Kiera shout as I fall forward, catching myself before falling on the children. Then, I stand up and turn around. "Are you all right?" She asks as I check my surroundings. There's a cloaked hostile somewhere in the room.
"I'm fine." I say and put a finger up to my ear to com Sargent Lay. "Sargent Lay, we've found the bomb. I'm about to attempt to disarm it."
"Understood. Is everything all right?" The Sargent asks as I put a hand over my wound.
"Everything's fine. We have everything under control, sir." I say as I notice a warped spot on a crate. "There are children here, and they will be released as soon as we disarm the bomb."
"We'll have backup ready for you if you need it." Sargent Lay says.
"Thank you, sir, but that won't be needed." I say and I take my hand away from my com, ending the call.
"Cut the single red wire. I'll take care of this one." I say and use my biotics to charge at the cloaked enemy. When I grab onto them, I push them forward against the wall behind them—leaving them breathless from shock. Then, I swing my sword up against their throat. Stopping briefly before slicing them. I need answers. "Who are you and why would you arm this place with a bomb?" I ask as I feel enraged. Not only did they try to bomb this place, they hit me, and nearly killed the children.
"We wanted to…purge the weak." The hostile, I recognize as a vorcha, hisses as I grip tightly onto his neck with my sword, slowly inching the blade into his neck. "Space rats are weak. We purge the weak. You are space rat. You must be purged. Janok Knight." He hisses.
"What did you call me?" I ask in an angry whisper. I was the target all along. I need answers.
"Doesn't matter! You die!" He growls and spits in my face.
"We got it. The children are safe." Danial says and I use my biotics to slam the vorcha to the distant wall to my right as my blade slices his throat. If the vorcha hadn't died from my sword, he died on impact with the wall.
"Good. Let's go." I say as I slowly calm down while I swing my sword and return it to its original place—in its holster on my back. Then, I wipe my face before raising a finger back up to my ear. "We're clear. The bomb has been disarmed and the children are safe."
"Good work." Sargent Lay says and I bend down to the little boy as I drop my hand away from my ear. I take out a small bag of credit chits and hand it to the young drell. He reminds me of someone I used to know.
"Get to someplace safe. Be careful out there." I say and the child hugs me.
"Thank you." He says and pulls away from me, then him and the other children happily run away from us. Slowly, I stand up and start walking out.
"That was awfully nice of you." Kiera says as I ignore her. I just want to get away from this place.
"Yes, that was…unexpected." Danial says as I ignore him too. "You know, you could say something about what just happened."
"The mission is complete. What else is there to talk about?" I ask sharply as we exit the building.
"Are you all right? We saw you get shot at back there." Kira says.
"I'm fine. My shields were down for a time, but that's it. Minor scrapes is all. Nothing meti-gel won't fix." I say as I use my omni-tool to use some of my meti-gel on myself. "See? I'm a soldier. I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, but you're just a soldier. You should have the Dr. T'Soni take a look at you when we get back." Kiera says as we reach the loading area.
When we reach the Normandy, a sudden surge of pain in my head hits me and causes me to stumble forward. "Knight? What's wrong?" Kiera asks as I feel her put a hand to my back.
"You don't look too good." Danial says and I feel my body become heavy. Flashes of memory, seeing the Normandy SR-1 up close. Seeing the crew: a turian, a krogan, a quarrian, three humans, and an asari. But, they're all blurred, and I can't see their faces. Suddenly, I feel myself drop to the ground.
"Knight!" I hear Kiera shout as I start to lose consciousness.
What's wrong with me?