Author's Note:
Creeping through the snow
blowing obstacles out the way,
still a few more miles to go
is it really worth the pay?
Covering behind a rock, Arek glimpsed around its corner. Amalthea was crouching through the snow, closer to the trail leading away from the main road of Aleutsk Valley. He looked around. Mojo had taken cover to his left behind one of the many other rocks, his hands clenched around his rifle. Meyrani was waiting to his right for the signal to move on. Since her accident a few days ago she had recovered quickly, and assured them that she was ready to fight. Yet, she was avoiding to put too much weight on her leg.
The shuttle had dropped them close to Aleutsk Valley, far away enough from the sensors of Port Hanshan, Noveria's capital. Cerberus activities had been high recently, and their captain had assumed that landing too close to their destination would probably not remain undetected. Deep snow hindered their steps, and their armor didn't hinder the cold from creeping into their skin. Temperature regulation worked at its best, and as long as the snowstorm didn't return, they weren't in more serious danger than a few shivers.
Amalthea waved at Arek, and he leapt out from his hideout by her side.
She pointed at the trail. He nodded, threw himself on his stomach, and crawled forward, closer to the parking patrol vehicle. Two guards leaned against it, two more were standing close by. He hadn't seen the uniforms before, and from his position he couldn't read the bright yellow print on their backs, but he suspected they belonged to one of the major research companies stationed on Noveria. He opened the com channel.
"Definitely not Cerberus. What is this car? This isn't a Mako, right?"
"It's a rebuild of a M29 Grizzly IFV," Mojo answered to his surprised. "They were a standard vehicle used by the Alliance until a few decades ago, but proved too heavy for combat or research purposes after humanity expanded. Was replaced by the Mako. This looks like the classic model improved to be manoeuvred through high snow and on hard ice, even when the weather conditions worsen."
"Nerd." Arek grinned behind his mask, more broadly when the turian gave an indigent snort. "Anyway, anything I should know? Explosives on board? Any other than the standard weapons?"
"Not with the original model," Meyrani took over. "As they tempered with the outside, you can never know what they've put inside of it. My scans don't deliver any clear results from this distance."
"Guess I better don't blow that thing up then." His view up and down the trail was obstructed by rocks and overhanging shapes of ice. If he stood up and walked forward they'd spot him. His squad had no business with them, but the order was clear: Don't attract suspicion, avoid being noticed, get in, get what was needed, get out. In other words, another boring stealth mission, at least for the official part.
A rock large enough to cover him stood out several feet in front of him, from there, he should have a better overview of the situation.
No risk, no fun. Keeping his head low he dashed through the snow. They'd only been on Noveria for half an hour, but his muscles were already stiff, but he pushed on.
He was fast enough to not sink into the white masses too deeply, and with one big leap, he dived behind the cover. Holding his breath, he counted to ten – if he had been noticed, he'd know any second. If the guards thought they had noticed anything, he had to keep it quiet for a moment in the hope they'd blame it on their imagination, or an animal. If there were any animals on this godforsaken snowball of a planet.
He counted down another dozen before he shoved himself around the cover. The guards were still talking with each other, their poses relaxed. Looking further down the path, to his left, he discovered the half of another vehicle, a standard shuttle. Its front was lurking around a bend, wearing different colors than the Grizzly. Guards from two different companies, hanging out together out of sight from the main road, having a chat – Arek doubted they were here on business, or investigating anything.
Lazing on the job, eh? How about a little excitement to lift your work ethics? He cursed whoever was responsible for the dark color of his armor, if he blended in with the white and grey around him, he could sneak closer to the shuttle, making things a lot easier.
"I got this, guys! Come closer, but stick to the walls. Run once they're distracted!"
"Confirmed," Amalthea answered, and he set to work. Back on his stomach, he let himself sink deeper into the snow, then he crawled on. If he messed with the shuttle from here there was no chance they didn't notice him, so he had to distract them first from the distraction.
That might work though... Several meters to his right, a group of icicle was hanging from a ledge. If he brought those to fall... He worked his way through the snow, moving closer to the stone wall to his left. From here, the shuttle was in plain view to his left, to his right the group of guards, and only a bit further, the icicles. Using a shockwave was out of option, the way it travelled through the air would catch their attention before it reached its destination.
Too bad for you that I still have another ace up my sleeve. He selected a spot between the smaller icicles behind the largest. He focused, watching the air wavering as he pulled its energy into a tiny, blue sphere. The first icicle moved, pulled towards the centre of the small singularity field. Carefully, he allowed it to grow, not too fast, not too big. Sweat formed on his forehead – using forceful control was much more difficult than simply creating the core of the field and letting it expand into its natural size on its own terms.
The icicles were vibrating, torn between their frozen stasis and the singularity's gravitation. Only a little more...
A white flash of light hit the unstable field.
The following explosion shattered the fragile ice around it, and shaken by the impact, a layer of snow from the ledge above crumbled and crashed downhill.
The heads of the guards jerked around at the sudden noise, only a second before the buzzing remains of the shattered forcefield dissolved into thin air. All for of them pulled their guns and ran towards the commotion.
Their backs were turned towards Arek, who didn't waste any time – he rose from the snow, and sent a shockwave towards the shuttle. He didn't want to destroy it, but the used force was still strong enough to give the vehicle a strong push. Its side lifted from the ground, offering the second shockwave enough surface to push the shuttle up and on its back.
The four guards forgot about the avalanche, spun around and ran back to the shuttle.
"NOW!" Arek shouted shortly before they reached it, and jumped to his feet. Running as fast as the ground allowed him he dashed across the road, his three squad members right behind him.
"That was close, think they saw us?" They had kept running through the rough terrain for solid ten minutes before they slowed down, and Arek gasped for enough air to speak.
"Most likely," Meyrani panted beside him. "But thank to your diversion chances are good they didn't get a closer look at our uniforms."
Arek heard a sharp hiss before she muted her channel. Her shoulders were hunched, and she was limping. Slightly so, and she tried to cover it, but not only Arek had noticed it.
"They didn't look like they were up for a hike, I think we can take it easy from here on." Amalthea fell from the firm jog into a trot, and the others followed suit. "Rani, want me to carry some of your equipment? The turret alone is heavy enough. Give me at least your grenades." The asari pointed at the belt hanging around the turian's waist.
"No, thank you. I'm fine." Meyrani had re-established her com channel, and her voice was free from pain, or any strain at all. "Besides," she chuckled. "I'd rather not have you charge into an enemy or trigger one of your biotic fields with these on your body."
"Tough like nails, like always." Arek gave her shoulder a friendly slap, admiring how she was holding up. His sore muscles had hardly recovered from his climbing adventures on Omega, and now he found himself in the mountains, pulling himself up a rock, and offering Meyrani a hand to pull her up. He rubbed his hands against each other once everyone was up and they walked on. The fabric of his gloves had reached their limit, and his fingers threatened to become stiff if he didn't move them.
He checked the map of this region on his omni-tool, looking up with a sigh. If nothing came up they should reach their destination in twenty more minutes, give or take, not calculating in the high formation of rocks they had to climb. The wall was covered in ice, like the rest of the damn planet, except for the parts that were covered with snow. Hiding more ice underneath. At least the filter of his visor was adjusting without any trouble, shielding his eyes from the brightness around him. Noveria's sun had reached its peak, and while it was not strong enough to melt the everlasting snow, it light reflected from every ice crystal around them. The snow was glittering, and the ice wall shimmered with a soft, bluish glow.
"Wouldn't mind a vacation here over Christmas, but damn, as a job, this place sucks. Let me guess – we go above, not around?"
"You humans and your Christmas!" Amalthea laughed, looking up the obstacle. "There's no way around it, literally. The base is somewhere up this plateau, so we have to climb it sooner or later."
"Don't take me as lazy, but maybe we should search for a more... efficient path." Arek pulled off one of his gloves and let his fingers run over the solid ice. "This here looks pretty smooth. Although I bet our turian chimp would somehow manage to go up there, and if it's by glaring holes into the ice. Which reminds me-" He turned around, looking at Mojo who stood behind them with his arms crossed. "What's up with you now? Ran Out of snark? What?" he asked when the two women chuckled behind their helmets.
"Haven't you wondered why your singularity detonated? Somebody we won't mention by name had the bright idea to do some stuff with his omni-tool, which broke it." Amalthea shrugged, shaking her head. Meyrani walked towards Mojo, tapping at his arm. He stretched it out, and she activated the scanner of her own omni-tool, waving it over his.
"It's not broken, temporarily disabled," she corrected their leader. "He overclocked the processors and discharged the generated heat as an electrical impulse."
"How can he fuck up using an omni-tool?! Uh, he can't hear me, can he?" At least the helmet was giving Arek an excuse for not trying to read the turian's facial expression.
"Probably not, unless you both take off your helmets. And it wasn't an accident, he knew what he was doing." Meyrani deactivated her scanner and nodded, giving the other turian the thumbs-up. "The tool is back to a tolerable temperature. The repair matrix is working, and he should be back online soon."
"Good, barking orders at him in sign language just doesn't cut it." Amalthea laughed, gesturing at the others to follow her further into the mountains.
"Probably not, but I for my part will enjoy the silence while it lasts."
"Arek, I think that goes both ways in this case. Now come!" The asari stomped through the snow, here eyes set on the map of her tool. "Let's see if we can find a better spot to get up there without moving too far away."
The door slid open, and Meyrani signalled them to hurry. Arek and the others shot out of their cover, a Cerberus shuttle that was parking in the middle of the base's landing zone. They pressed against the wall behind the door, and waited for the next signal from their engineer. Meyrani's fingertips were dancing over the display of her omni-tool. She entered a command, waited a moment, and began typing again. At least, she nodded. Walking back to them, she took off her helmet.
"I fed the cams with a loop of the last 20 minutes and disabled the motion sensors. The security is on a medium level, nothing Mojo and I can't deal with. Still, I recommend Arek and you staying behind us, in case we stumble over unexpected measurements."
"Got it. Well done, Rani." Amalthea pulled off her helmet and put it on a ground. She waited until Arek and Mojo's helmets joined hers.
"All right." She lowered her voice to a whisper as she spoke on,"From here, Rani and I will go and retrieve the plans from their so-called 'secret lab', following the official orders. Mojo, is your omni-tool working?"
The turian tapped his wrist, and shook his head.
"Repair scan and data reconstruction at 78%."
"Meyrani, transfer the map of the upper floor to Arek's omni-tool," the asari ordered; Meyrani obliged within seconds, finishing the task while she spoke, "The data is encrypted so it can slip under the official radar. Mojo will decipher it for you."
"Wait, I thought I was going with you two, since when did we agree on me joining him?" Arek bit on his tongue. Since their return from Omega he had kept his mouth shut at Mojo's snide remarks, and in return, Mojo had dropped the mockery, and switched to ignoring Arek. He wouldn't call the atmosphere between them friendly, but he'd rather keep it quiet between them than going back to the open hostility.
"For once, he has a point. I don't need a babysitter," Mojo joined his protest to Arek's relief.
"I agreed on that with me and myself, and therefore, you two are outnumbered! Did any of you really believe I'd let one of you wander off alone, without backup?" Chuckling, she lifted her chin, her hands stemmed on her hips. That was her last word on the matter, and Arek knew better than to argue, or to question her authority, yet, he was still irritated.
"And why telling us that now, and not right away?"
"So you'd get on my nerves about it during the whole trip? I don't think so." With that, the topic was off the table. She pulled her gun, patted Meyrani's shoulder, and nodded at the corridor stretching in front them. "Now, everyone! Helmets back on, and get going! Arek, don't forget to switch to our closed com channel! Mojo, you, too, once you're back online!"
Meyrani's manipulation of the security cameras proved successful. The two groups split once they reached the elevator. Amalthea and Meyrani were remaining on the ground floor, following the way down to the laboratories, while Mojo and Arek searched for the emergency stairway leading to the offices on the first floor. Arek kept close to the grey wall, trying to hide himself in one of the few shadows of the well-lit corridor. He pressed his ear to the door in front of them – nothing. He opened it, and grinned over his success. The stairs lay in front of him unguarded.
"Cerberus feels pretty safe up here," he whispered, and gestured Mojo to follow him.
"No wonder. It takes a group of fools to march through that spirit forsaken hell of ice to get here just for fun. Send me a copy of the map." Mojo's voice grumbled into his ear – so his omni-tool had recovered from its recent misuse.
"So it's true, turians don't deal well with the cold?" Arek moved the small data package across his screen and transferred it to his squad member.
"I appreciate decent and reasonable weather. Don't touch the door!"
Arek's hand jerked back before his fingertips touched the lock. Mojo walked past him, and scanned the door.
"Just waltzing in would have been too easy, eh?" Arek moved a few steps back downstairs to get a better overview. Nobody had followed them, the door leading to the ground floor was still closed as they had left it a moment ago. He shoved his mask up to uncover his ears and listened – silence.
"It's safe now." A low signal from Mojo's omni-tool confirmed the hack, and the door opened. The turian stepped into the next corridor, holding his viper, ready to either fire or smash it into an enemy's face. "All good here." He lowered the weapon, and checked the map. "Come now!"
"I'm sure there's some law against locking an emergency exit." Arek pulled the mask down and jogged after him, his fingers twitching and ready to launch a biotic attack, half-expecting a dozen of troopers jumping into their way.
"Yeah. Because Cerberus is so concerned about adhering to the law," Mojo spat, taking cover behind a door frame leading into a foyer. "Watch your step, things are going too smoothly."
"Pessimist." In absence of another cover, Arek sneaked up behind Mojo; in his armor, the tall turian's back wasn't exactly a secret hiding place, but for the slim human in his light protective suit it worked as a shield well enough, in case they were attacked.
They waited a moment, both listening, and staring on their omni-tools – they were the only detected lifeforms. A generator between the walls pumped air through the vents with a constant, buzzing noise. Arek wondered if the rushing sound came from the thermal heating, or if the weather outside had changed.
Two desks were standing in the foyer, the computers on top of them on stand-by. The windowless room lacked any personal touch. The walls were as grey and barren as those of the corridors. The cold floor reflected the bright, fluorescent light from the ceiling lamps. If it weren't for the lack of dust Arek would have assumed this place had been abandoned for a while.
"Boring." He walked around one of the desks. The top was clean and empty, not one stray piece of paper, no forgotten data pad, not even a picture of a family member, or at least a dog. He reached for one of the drawers, rattling it.
"Locked, but I think I can pick you think we should give these a closer look?" He turned around, but Mojo was already standing in front of the door at the end of the room.
"If something's here I doubt they'd hide it on their secretaries' computers or in their desks." He waved his arm over the door's lock, giving a contemptuous sneer. "Of course."
"Do we need Meyrani?" Arek moved closer, throwing a curious glance past the turian.
"Of course not." Typing away on his screen, Mojo scowled at the door, waiting for the signal to change to green. Arek waiting, fearing every moment they were standing in front of this door was giving Cerberus more time to come up with a nasty surprise for him. He tiptoed through the room, scanning it for hidden bugs. Nothing. And no signs of anyone coming.
"Strange. You'd think somebody was here, in the middle of the day." He returned to Mojo, waiting in vain for an answer. "You know what you're doing, right?" He observed the columns of code on the turian's omni-tool, understanding not one single line. "Never thought a guy like you was into hacking."
He waited a moment, and leaned against the wall when he was ignored again. Time stretched endlessly, even when only one or two minutes passed, and he was getting bored.
He was missing a good fight, one in an area wide enough for him to ran around, and enemies to kick out of their socks with his skills. Of what use where his biotic powers – excellent biotic powers – if there wasn't anything to do for him. He envied Amalthea, at least Meyrani would talk with her, and give her real answers if she asked something.
To make things worse, after Omega, Arek had become curious. Who exactly was this guy whose eyes were banned at the screen? More than a rude, trigger happy sniper, that was for sure, but Arek knew better than trying to start a conversation, neither a 'shut up' nor having his head bitten off would bring more insight.
All he could do was checking this sad excuse of an office once more. Who knew, maybe he'd find something helpful inside one of the desks, or at least something that would entertain his mind for a bit. He walked up to the nearest workstation when a satisfied grunt called him back.
Finally, the lock on the door turned green.