Chapter 34
Shepard kicked in the vent with a metal pop. She set her helmet against the wall and shined her Omni-Tool light inside. It was a vertical duct. Her hair caught in the rough plaster as she ducked her head through the hole and shinned her light up at the hollow metal shaft. She wasn't getting up that way. She pulled back.
The vertical vent probably connected to something horizontal overhead. A vented panel among the ceiling tiles drew her eye. She grabbed a metal folding chair splattered with dried paint that leaned against the wall. The vent popped right up, and she lifted herself up. The metal popped under the weight of her armor as she squeezed into the duct. Navigating narrow ductwork while wearing armor was going to be … interesting.
Voices. Shepard froze. They were coming from the room below, probably projected in from the hallway. Kaidan had company then. The voices weren't raised, and there weren't any loud sounds to indicate a scuffle. He was okay.
Passing the gap where the vertical shaft connected up the wall, the duct split two directions – ahead and to her right. Shepard shined her flashlight in both directions. Either direction stood the same chance of being right, or being wrong. It wouldn't be easy turning in a tight space with armor on, so forward it was. The metal dented under her armored knees with a snap and pop as she scooted forward. She cringed. It felt like fireworks announcing her overhead.
She'd chosen the right direction, apparently. Voice echoed down the duct as she neared the light from an open vent. Through the slivers in the vent, she could see what looked like a boardroom. Despite train crashes, gunfire, and bomb theft the meeting was still going on. It must be one hell of a meeting. The room's door slid open and footsteps came in. It was probably whoever was in the hallway talking to Kaidan.
"What's going on?" A balding head stood up from the table. "Anything new?"
"Attacks have stopped," the voice as the door slid shut.
"Any idea who?" another man at the table said. He was out of sight.
"Not sure. Could be Alliance."
"No," a new voice said. "We would have heard. There's been nothing on that front."
Shepard angled to see the speaker through the vent. The voice was familiar. He was too far to the side.
"Since our Alliance constituent isn't here, how do we know?" the balding man said.
"I'm representing them," the familiar voice said. "If they know, I know. This attack isn't Alliance."
"Council then?" a woman's voice suggested.
"Unlikely," the balding man said. "Haven't heard anything from contacts there. They know something, of course. Not this though and not about the warheads."
"What the hell are we going to do without them now?" the woman said.
"Gun and grenades. We have the people. It'll be a little more bloody and 'boots on the ground' is all," some new voice at the table said. "If the Shields did take them, they'll pay. But after. Our focus should be here."
"Anyway …" the familiar voice said as a chair skidded back on the vinyl flooring. "If the attacks are over, then I'm taking my ride out of here."
"Discuss this with your people. The information on that chip …" the bald man said.
"I know. Only to him. Don't worry."
A shadow passed the row of heads around the table. Shepard still couldn't get an angle on him. Whatever that chip was, she needed it. She'd missed the whole meeting, apparently.
"Scorpion's still leaving tomorrow after the attacks?" the female voice asked.
"Delivering like promised," the familiar voice said. "Leaving it to us. We're ready for the uprising."
"Ready for the uprising," the bald man repeated.
The door to the room slid open again. She'd better go. She scooted back. The duct popped.
"What was that?" the familiar voice said.
Shepard froze.
"Shuttle's waiting, sir." It was Kaidan's voice.
Shepard scuttled backward. Damn the popping, she needed to get out. Voices talked over each other as chairs pushed back. She shuffled backward down the duct and carefully went over the opening for the horizontal vent shaft. The metal folding chair as still below the ceiling vent. She dropped down with a clack. It wobbled underneath, and she leaped off stumbling into a run. She'd already taken too much time getting back.
Shadows moved in the hallway as she approached the doorway. She pulled a strand of hair from her mouth and stopped short. Feeling her face, she whipped her head back to the room. Her helmet sat on the floor against the wall. She rushed over and grabbed it.
Two figures moved past the open doorway. One of them was Kaidan. Shepard popped into the hallway behind them still clicking her helmet into place. Kaidan spun around.
"Here's the pilot," he said.
A man stopped in the hall a step ahead of Kaidan. Wisps of teased hair fluttered as he snapped around with pressed lips and sized her up. Shepard's eyes widened.
"Where the damn hell you been?" he said.
"Uh …"
The voice was familiar. The man put a hand on his hip and stared at her flatly. The narrow purple tie, the manicured eyebrows, the crisp white collar turned up only slightly as if on accident instead of pretention - it was Wilson's secretary, Anthony or something. Shepard caught Kaidan's eye through the helmet's plexiglass.
"You're supposed to waiting here to take me back," Anthony said and gave Shepard a head bobbing stare. "We couldn't find you."
"Uh, sorry, sir. Bathroom."
Anthony frowned. "Tell him where you're going next time." He pointed a thumb at Kaidan. "We've been very put out over this."
Kaidan's helmet nodded, and Anthony sighed.
"The plumbing up here isn't even restored," Anthony added.
"Found that out, sir," Shepard said.
"Then, we still have to wait for you to go downstairs?" Anthony huffed.
"Nope."
Anthony's face pinched. "Then …"
"Can't fight nature, sir. You answer."
Anthony's lips retracted, and he shot a sideways look at Kaidan. Kaidan shrugged.
"That's … Regardless. Let's just go," Anthony said.
People Shepard didn't recognize looped around them to the elevator. They all loaded inside. A few shadows stood back in the boardroom with whispering voices. Shepard craned her neck and squinted but couldn't make any of them out.
"Come on!" Anthony called from down the hall. He was already on his way to the elevator with Kaidan on his heels.
Shepard sprinted up behind them. Anthony slowed and fell in beside Kaidan as they walked.
"You have to work with her much?" Anthony whispered.
"All the time."
Anthony clicked his tongue and glanced back at her.
"Damn." He leaned into Kaidan as they came to a stop facing the elevator. "Maybe they can move some people around. Mention my name. Anthony Mirrez. Should do it for you."
"I can hear you." Shepard leaned forward.
Anthony turned a scrunched face and gave her a pointed glare. He turned back.
"Damn obnoxious," he muttered to Kaidan.
"You're telling me," Kaidan said.
The elevator chimed and slid open. Anthony watched her coolly as she stepped in behind them. She shuffled around behind them and folded her arms. Kaidan pressed the button for the roof.
"She's not a very good pilot," Kaidan whispered.
Anthony glanced back at her with a critical sneer.
"I could pilot," Kaidan said quietly. "I'm certified. Not my official role, but … you know."
Anthony leaned into him and thumbed back at her. "Let's dump her then. Send her back."
"I don't think we can do that. They wanted you to have two - one guard, one pilot, sir."
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open onto a cement roof. The breeze brushed over them, clean and cool with the sundown. A shuttle with front doors and back hatch stood in the center of the roof.
"You." Anthony turned to Shepard. "You're on guard duty. And you, uh …" He turned to Kaidan.
"Jacobs, sir."
"Jacobs is piloting. You've been demoted. Your dereliction and all."
"Fine." Shepard plodded over to the shuttle and threw open the side door. "After you."
"Attitude," Anthony tsked and stepped up into the shuttle.
He settled into the back seat. Shepard slammed the door shut and spun to Kaidan.
"What the hell, Jacobs?"
"Do you know how to fly a …" Kaidan looked past her, "Odik 750 series shuttle?"
Shepard narrowed her eyes and turned on her heels.
"Fine." She crossed around the front of the shuttle. "But I hate you, Jacobs. You're an ass."
"Hey, Anthony and I feel the same about you. And you're nameless."
Kaidan opened the driver's hatch and clicked it closed behind him. Shepard wrenched open the passenger side door. Kaidan was turned in his seat talking to Anthony.
"Just some lip," Kaidan finished saying before turning forward again.
Shepard looked behind her seat at Anthony. His eyes met hers and narrowed into thin slits. Next time she was in Wilson's office, she was going to give the most outrageous coffee order anyone's ever heard. Something smacked into her chest. Her hands grabbed it reflexively. It was a rifle. Kaidan pulled his hand back.
"You're on guard duty," he said.
Anthony's head nodded in the windshield's reflection. Shepard's hands tightened on the rifle, and she glanced over at Kaidan. He moved screens into position, but paused with a frown. He flashed her a look. Shepard twisted in her seat to face Anthony.
"Where to again?" she asked.
Anthony released a puff of air. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I wasn't told," Shepard said.
"Told! You damn well were told. I heard them arranging it when I first got here. Now Jacobs might not have heard. But then, he wasn't the bloody damn pilot."
Shepard's teeth clenched. "I'm—"
"Just go," Anthony said. "It's Alliance Head—"
"Headquarters," Kaidan finished and adjusted a button on the side panel.
The shuttle lifted.
"See," Anthony said. "He wasn't even the pilot. He knew."
Shepard rested back in her seat with a heavy thunk. A news vid flicked in the windshield's reflection as Anthony bent over his Omni-Tool. The low murmur of voices mixed with the hum of the engine. Anthony smiled and touched his ear as he stared at the screen. Shepard laid the rifle across her knees.
"Fair warning, Jacobs – I'm probably too stupid to know how to use the safety."
"I took the clip out."
Shepard flipped the rifle over. She ran a finger along the bottom of the stock then froze. She tapped a fingernail on the clip.
"Oh, ha, ha." Shepard flipped it back around in her hands.
"Be careful with that!" Anthony hollered from the backseat. "That's not a toy, Guard."
"Guard?" She twisted in her seat. "It's Alice Wester. I'm not nameless."
She shot Kaidan a pointed look. Anthony stared dully at her for a moment then turned back to his vid.
"Someone's going to need to guard him from me," Shepard muttered as she turned forward.
"What's she saying up there, Jacobs?"
"She doesn't know how to use the safety, sir."
"What?" Anthony bolted upright in his seat.