A/N- Thanks for sticking with me everyone! Had some issues with Google docs (which is where this story lives while I'm writing it) and I wasn't able to get to this chapter to edit it for a LOOONNG time. I'm glad I didn't post it in the meantime though because it's much better now.
Shoutout to Lachdannen and Mizdirected for making this chapter awesome!
"Come on, fucker!" I yelled at the tram control. Someone had locked it, and the encryption code on the startup program was a tough one to crack. "Yes!" I exclaimed as the patch I'd created finally worked.
"Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly!" A deep, commanding voice said from behind me. I complied, having a sneaking suspicion I had a gun trained on me.
I slowly turned to find not just one, but three rifles pointed at me by three Human Alliance soldiers. A fourth was holding up an unconscious turian using his biotics to aid him. The turian looked like he had seen better days; his nose and temple caked in dried navy colored blood, and his face plates looked as if he had some major swelling going on behind them.
What the hell did they do to him?
My eyes widened and I chewed my lip as I contemplated the possibilities. Did they cause his injuries? If so, what had they done to him? And why were they taking him with them? No, he had to be part of their team and had gotten injured. That was the only logical explanation.
I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
The male human closest to me stepped forward. "What are you doing here?" He indicated the tram controls with his rifle.
"They were locked, so I've been trying to override them." I said, my hands still raised and my voice much steadier than I felt. "I need to get to the other side, there are bombs set to level this colony. I may have been born here, but I sure as hell don't plan on dying here."
"How do you know there are bombs?" demanded the only woman in the group. "Commander, she could be working with the geth." She had one of those butchy, 'I'm-a-total-Bitch' faces that just screamed hostility towards anything and everything.
My jaw literally dropped. "Why would I be working with the geth?" I snapped, shock turning to anger and outrage that this stranger would assume such a thing. "They're busy destroying my home and killing the people I know and love. Why the fuck would I do that?"
"You could just be saying that to throw us off." The other man behind a rifle spoke up, his tone accusatory.
What's with these people? I'm human for Christ's sake...
"If you aren't working with the geth, how did you know about the bombs?" The commander asked cautiously. He was a man assessing the situation. I felt like he didn't really think I was working with the geth, but he had to be sure before he would trust me.
"I was able to hack the information from one of the geth units." I replied, cringing as all four soldiers' expressions went from distrust to shock.
"You what?" The commander asked, his tone full of disbelief.
"I was able to fry the circuits of one of the geth units and I uploaded an override program that gave me access to it's memory core." I answered rapidly, partly out of fear that I wouldn't reach the bombs in time to disarm them, but mostly because the soldiers didn't seem to believe me. "I've got all the data on my omni-tool, and I would be more than happy to show you everything, but can we please get over to those bombs and disable them?" I begged.
The commander continued to look at me, and it was hard to determine what he was thinking. I knew what I was telling them was a lot to process, but I was frustrated they weren't actually doing anything.
"Look, I can't defend myself against the three of you, and I don't have any weapons, so can you at least stop aiming at me?" I asked, exasperated that I still had three guns trained on me.
The woman and young man looked to the commander, whose gaze never left mine. After a moment he nodded and lowered his rifle; the other two lowered theirs as well. I allowed my hands to fall to my sides slowly.
"What's your name?" the commander asked.
"Nikki Harris. I'm a Cyber Security Specialist for C-Sec, on leave visiting my father." I responded. He had only asked for my name, but I knew what questions followed; Where are you from? What are you doing here?; and so on.
The Commander studied me for a moment before responding. "Alright then, Miss Harris, we're headed to the spaceport, and if there are bombs, you get to be first in line to disarm them." He took a few steps towards me, each step making me want to cringe from the power it exuded. The guy commanded attention just by being there, let alone anything he may have actually done. He got his face very close to mine and in barely more than a whisper said, "We'll be watching you. One wrong move and you'll be getting a bullet through your skull."
Gulp.
"Do I make myself clear?" He finished menacingly.
"Crystal," I replied. I knew I couldn't get anything more than that out. My whole body trembled, knowing full well this man, this soldier, would not hesitate to kill me if I got in his way or jeopardized his mission. I did my best to compose myself, but spectacularly failed.
Funny, I was only ever this scared in the Shadow Broker's presence.
The commander backed away from me before speaking again. "All right, Miss Harris, if you would be so kind as to get us over to the spaceport now," he indicated the controls with his rifle.
I nodded and turned back to the controls, fumbling with them as my hands shook in fear. I took a deep breath to attempt to calm my nerves. After a few tries, I finally got the tram started and we made our way over to the spaceport in record time, thanks to my override of the safety controls. As soon as we got off the tram, bitch-face spotted the first bomb.
She pointed to an alcove next to a flight of stairs. "Looks like she was right about the bombs, Commander!" the woman said, her tone a mix of excitement and fear.
"Well, Harris, time to show off your technical skills." The commander indicated the bomb with his rifle. He turned to the rest of his team. "Lieutenant, hand Nihlus to Jenkins and go scout for other bombs. Williams, go with him," he ordered.
I already had the electronics cover off the bomb and was working through the garbage data as his team dispersed. Before long I was able to get into the core programming and disable it. "Piece of cake." I mumbled.
I pulled up the set of coordinates for the rest of the bombs to see which way we should go next, when a warning flashed on my omni-tool. All four bombs were linked, and suddenly the remaining three went into a countdown.
"Commander! We need to get to the other bombs, and fast." I yelled, running over to him. "I have this one disabled, but I think doing so has inadvertently triggered an auto-countdown on the remaining ones. These things are going to go off in three minutes!"
"Dammit!" The commander exclaimed. "Alright, let's move, people!"
We didn't have far to go, but we ran the whole way. I spotted the lieutenant hunched over the second bomb, working frantically. I looked over his shoulder to see if I could help him, but he seemed to have it under control.
"Take cover!" Williams shouted, pointing her rifle away from our little group and firing. I spared a glance at where she was shooting; at least three geth units had set up along the tramway and seemed determined to not let us defuse the bombs.
"Miss Harris, take this over, I'll provide cover!" The lieutenant exclaimed. He pulled out his rifle and moved over a step to give me room to work.
I took his place and worked quickly, trying to ignore the klaxon of alarms and gunfire all around me. I jumped a few times, yelping as stray shots ricocheted near me on the ground or on the housing of the bomb.
I punched in the final code and grinned as the bomb powered down. Unfortunately, the countdown on the other two continued.
"Two more," I said to myself, looking around for them. As soon as I spotted them I cloaked and stayed low, running along the wall to stay out of the crossfire between the humans and the geth across the tram track. The bombs were lined up perfectly to chain react, with the worst of the destruction at the spaceport, however the colony itself was just below said spaceport. The explosion would destroy everything.
"Where the hell did she go?" The commander yelled. My cloak failed just as I reached the next bomb.
"She's at the next bomb!" The lieutenant shouted.
Good job, biotic-boy wonder. Way to make me an easy target, you asshole.
"How did she get over there so fast?" he added.
"I don't know; just make sure she stays covered." The commander ordered. I thanked the powers that be that he had some sense.
I got it disabled even faster than the one before, and then cloaked once more as I ran to the last bomb. The rest of the team followed, taking cover behind the bomb as they fought the last of the geth units. The commander stood and took aim, but quickly crouched back down with a hiss as he took a hit.
"Commander, are you okay?" Williams asked fearfully as she took out the geth who had shot him.
"I'm fine." He replied, a shimmer of blue going over him as his shields recharged. "The round took out my shields. How's the bomb coming, Harris?" He asked impatiently.
"I'm almost there," I grumbled. "It would be a lot easier to work if I didn't have the Alliance breathing down my back." I was almost through, so it didn't really matter. But still, it was the principal of it all.
"Yeah, and I'm sure it would be just as easy for you to set this last one off, killing us all." Williams replied.
"Which would be a really swell idea if I was suicidal. Since I'm not, I'm opting to disable the fucking thing." The commander took a final shot and the team stood as the last of the geth fell. A second later the bomb powered down.
"Good work, Harris." The commander said, holding out his hand to help me stand from my crouched position.
I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up. "Thanks…." I said dismissively. I studied the commander's face, recognition slowly dawning on me. "You're… Commander Shepard!" I gasped. I was in the presence of a legend, the poster child of the Alliance, the hero of the Skyllian Blitz. "How… why are you… the beacon!" I blurted out, my mind racing too much to form a coherent sentence.
Shepard arched a brow. "Just how do you know about the beacon?"
"It was all over the local news earlier!" I exclaimed. "The Alliance sent you to pick it up? That's just..." My mind continued to race, and I started to pace back and forth. "Why would they send you? Did they know the colony was going to be attacked?" I looked at him impatiently.
He looked at me incredulously, as if he couldn't believe I'd be asking him that. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "What I do know is that it's a damn good thing they did send me. What else do you know about the beacon?"
I shrugged. "Not much, just what the news said. It's prothean, and there were plans to move it off world for more study."
"Commander, we should probably get to the docks," the lieutenant cut in. "I can radio Joker to meet us there."
"No," Shepard said, turning to the other man. "We don't know if the beacon is actually there or if the area is secure. I'll call him when we get there." He turned back to me. "Any other pertinent information you'd like to share with us?"
I contemplated for a moment before blurting out, "We're probably going to find Saren Arcturius around here somewhere, frantically trying to load the beacon onto his ship." The commander's eyes bulged again in surprise. "The geth I hacked said that they were here under Saren's orders."
"Alright then, we have someone to validate the dock-worker's story if Nihlus here doesn't make it." Shepard's expression became drawn, exhaustion evident in his features. "We need to get to the beacon. Harris, stick close to Jenkins and Nihlus in case things gets hairy. Williams, Kaidan, on point with me." The commander looked at me one last time before handing me his pistol. "Since you're C-Sec I assume you've had weapons training?"
"Only the basics with pistols and sub-machine guns." I said as I took the pistol. "But that was ten years ago.I'm not your normal, everyday cop."
"Great…" The commander replied. "Just… only use this in self-defense." He pleaded.
"Don't worry, I'll cloak and run away before having to use this." I assured him.
He led Williams and the lieutenant ahead of us, their rifles held at the ready; constantly surveying the area. I fell into step with Jenkins, who was walking awkwardly under the unconscious turian's weight. The man, if he could be called that - he barely looked older than eighteen - grinned at me greeting.
"So, Miss Har-"
I flinched and held up my hand to cut him off. "Please, just call me Nikki."
"Okay, Nikki. You said you're from here?" Jenkins asked, stumbling a little under Nihlus' weight.
"Yeah, I was born here. At fourteen I was sent off for schooling on the Citadel and stayed. I miss it here though." I replied, looking around the spaceport. It was situated halfway up the mountainside, and the view was spectacular.
"No shit, I was born here too!" Jenkins exclaimed, stumbling again in his excitement. He stopped and shifted Nihlus a little before he continued. "I must not recognize you since you're on the Citadel most of the time."
"Yeah, been gone thirteen years now." I grinned. "I've spent almost as much time in space as I have planetside." That realization made me frown slightly. I wasn't sure how I felt about having spent half my life in space.
"Wow, I hadn't realized you were that much older than me." He blurted out, bringing me back to the present topic.
"Nice." I replied as I rolled my eyes. "You sure have some tact there, Jenkins." I said it sarcastically, but it apparently went over his head.
His face and ears flushed red in embarrassment. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean it that way…."
I laughed. "Don't worry about it. What happened to him?" I asked, nodding toward the red-plated turian he was carrying.
"We're not totally sure." Jenkins replied, looking around. "We found him like this at the dock on the other side of the tram station. A dock-worker said Nihlus was inspecting something, when another turian approached him. Nihlus called him Saren, and they spoke to one another as if they were friends or something." He grunted and shifted Nihlus a bit again. "Nihlus turned his back on Saren, and that's when he shot him. Either Nihlus has some weird reflex or Saren missed because the bullet only grazed his temple. Apparently that pissed Nihlus off enough to attack Saren. They had one hell of a fist fight, and Saren got the upper hand, pinned Nihlus and slammed his face into the deck."
I ran my hand through my short hair. It all seemed to go back to that damn turian. "Saren… why the hell is he doing this?" I stopped short, flailing my hands uselessly in anger. "Why destroy the colony for the beacon? He could have just sent the geth in to get it and not expose himself…." I trailed off, lost in my thoughts.
"So, Saren really is in charge of this whole thing?" Jenkins asked incredulously. "No shit. The council is going to have a field day when they hear this!"
His statement pulled at me - my dad had said pretty much the same thing just a few hours before. I hoped he had made it back to the house at least. I brought up my omni-tool and placed a call to him, just to check in. After two tries with no response, typed a quick message to let him know the bombs were disabled and he should head back to the house; I'd be back soon. I was beginning to worry; dad never ignored my calls, he always picked up. Although I had no idea if the jamming signal I'd discovered earlier had anything to do with it. I resolved to try again later.
The sound of gunfire ahead of us made me look up from my omni-tool and over to Jenkins. His eyes widened for a moment, before his features twisted into determination. He gently set Nihlus down against a crate, then stood up and turned to me.
"Stay here with Nihlus, I'm going to go back up the commander." He said quickly, his demeanor changing from easygoing kid, to trained alliance soldier.
"No, wait," I grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "I'm not very good with guns, what am I supposed to do if we get attacked?" I asked, panic beginning to take over. "Please, don't go." I begged. For the first time since the geth arrived I was truly scared.
Jenkins sighed. "You'll be fine. We cleared out all the geth behind us, and the dock below isn't big, they won't get past us." He replied, trying to sound soothing. The gunfire increased, and we both craned our necks trying to see what was happening, but we were still too far away.
I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. After exhaling, I realized he was right; he needed to help Shepard more than he needed to babysit an unconscious turian and a nerd who barely knew how to use a pistol. If he stayed much longer, the fight may well end up where we were.
"Go," I gestured with my hand towards the dock. "I'll be here, trying to not get shot."
Jenkins chuckled. "I'll be right back, don't worry." He replied before sauntering off, pulling out his assault rifle as he went. I watched him disappear down the stairs leading to the dock with trepidation. Being alone was freaking me out.
To put my mind at ease, I tried calling my dad again. There was still no answer, which didn't help my state of mind. I stood behind the crate next to Nihlus, my hands holding the pistol, pointed at the staircase; my elbows resting on top of the crate for support. I kept my eyes peeled for any geth until the gunfire stopped. I waited for a full minute of silence before relaxing my stance. Moments later, Jenkins came trotting back up the stairs with the lieutenant in tow.
Just as they caught sight of me, their faces fell, Jenkins shouting, "Nikki, behind you!" as both men raised their rifles. I spun around coming face to face with a geth unit. I had no time to react as the geth raised it's rifle and fired.
Time seemed to stand still; I heard the two men shouting behind me, the sound of their gunfire, and I watched wit distant fascination as the geth in front of me was shredded in the hail of fire. I felt like i was slowly falling to the ground, and it wasn't until my knees made contact with the cold metal surface that made up the platform did I register the searing pain in my left shoulder.
I dropped the pistol and groaned, grabbing my left arm with my right hand in an attempt to ease the pain. It didn't work. Tears streamed from my face as finished falling onto my right shoulder.
"Nikki!" I heard Jenkins voice, but couldn't bear to open my eyes; the pain now radiating through every part of my body. My shoulder felt like it was on fire, and all I wanted was for someone to put it out.
"Shit, she's bleeding badly!" I heard the lieutenant shout, closer than Jenkins had been.
I cried out as someone put pressure on the wound, causing that searing hot pain to increase tenfold.
"Here's some medi-gel…" a voice trailed off. The pain created a haze that made it difficult to hear. My head spun, or rather, the world spun beneath me as I strained to figure out what was going on.
"She's lost a lot of blood…." another voice said.
Suddenly, the pain seemed to abate, and everything went black.