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The gunships flew quickly in formation, high above the battles in the city below. The sounds on Fawkes' comm weren't as desperate as they had been earlier in the night, but things still felt pretty grim. It was mostly pride though; no one appreciated being told they had to retreat, withdraw, whatever the commander had called it.
The squadron was silent as they cruised over the flashes of gunfire, evading dogfights between other air forces. Two frigates and some fighters had come down from on high to sanitize the airspace, giving Raven Squadron a chance to move unnoticed across the skies. Fawkes' mind turned their mission over in his mind, before he finally decided to tell everyone what was about to happen.
"Guys, we've been sent to do a bit of diplomacy. Some of Abel's local contacts have expressed interest in… supporting the corporate takeover." He waited a moment before continuing. "The vorcha will be meeting us-"
"Vorcha? We're going to find some vorcha?" Shawna's voice blared over the comm, her tone thick with contempt. "Why the hell do we need those goblins? We-!"
"We're losing, Shawna." Mac's gravelly tone silenced the tirade before it could get out of hand. Mac didn't continue on, however, and the squadron was silent as it continued to fly across Dhazil.
"Ealos wishes to ask how the mission will progress," Seranni stated, breaking the silence.
"We're going to meet with some vorcha pack leaders who want to talk terms. "
"Can they not simply contact our commanders from their location?" Seranni pressed. "Why must we meet them in person?"
"Because it's a trap, obviously," Shawna drawled, sounding utterly bored with the conversation.
"Shawna, please stop tainting good air with your statements," Fawkes requested before pressing on. "Anyways, vorcha diplomacy doesn't really work over a hologram or extranet link. Besides, they asked us to come in person, and we're not about to turn away allies by insisting on expediency."
"Are we going to have to carry some vorcha back with us?" Colin asked, sounding worried.
"No idea," Fawkes admitted. "We very well could be."
"Or we could end up running from an army of crazed super-goblins who want to kill us," Shawna delightfully pointed out.
"What did I just tell you?" Fawkes demanded. "If you're not going to use this planet's air for useful things then stop breathing it!"
The squadron continued on its way, soon passing the limits of Dhazil and flying over mountainous countryside. Outside, the cold night air frosted over the canopy of the gunships. Fawkes told everyone to let the VI take over while they couldn't see: he trusted it enough to avoid a collision with a cliff.
They were headed south, to where the Raask vorcha pack had carved out their place on this rock. Before Clan Haliot had taken over, they had been a force to be reckoned with inside Dhazil. When Wrund had taken power though, they had pushed out of the city, probably for not immediately supporting him. The Raask had since been reduced to raiding State caravans for weapons and vital supplies. What set them apart from other bandit packs was their calling card: the bodies of the caravans they hit were always piled up and burnt. Short lived though they were, vorcha never forgive grudges.
The Vi beeped with a message, letting the pilots know that a landing node, basically an IFF transmitter that broadcasted "Land Here!" to everyone, was coming up. "This is the place guys," Fawkes told them. "Seranni, you and Ealos are setting down with me and Tracy. Mac, you're in charge of things up here while I'm on the ground. Tell John that if he so much as sneezes without your say, I will personally tell Tracy to stomp him into a bloody pulp."
"He heard you," Mac responded, his voice filled with humor.
"Colin, you and Shawna take orders from Mac. If things are going badly, you guys will probably know when we do."
"Good luck," Colin said as the Warrior Queen and Ardat-Lili dropped to the ground.
"We're going to run silent," Mac ordered the remaining gunships, who formed up behind him. "I don't want an ambush to shoot us down."
"Seranni, Ealos will be fine, but the rest of us need to put on some winter gear so we don't freeze." Fawkes knew most combat troops had armor designed to keep them warm, but gunship pilots weren't so lucky. And the VI told him it was minus 40F outside.
"Understood sir," the asari said as her ship touched down. Fawkes' followed soon after, and the gunships powered down. Fawkes opened the cockpit and jumped down the side of the ship. On the underside, behind the cargo bay, was an emergency kit that included extreme condition body suits. The premise was simple: Fawkes pulled a mound of synthetic fabric over him big enough for a village of krogan. Then he tapped a button, sending an electrical current throughout the material. The fabric tightened considerably, encasing him in a full-body suit. The only thing not covered was his face, but a special mask was included in the emergency kit as well.
"I'll never get used to these," Tracy complained, flexing his fingers inside of the suit.
Fawkes pulled on his facemask. "It's better than freezing to death," he said. Already he felt better as the synthetic fibers heating his body back to optimal temperature. Technology was great.
Ealos and Seranni moved to join their companions. Seranni was sporting her own cold suit, while Ealos was just wearing his airtight entry uniform. Turians were much more at home in cold temperatures than asari or humans. Fawkes took the lead and strode toward the landing node, wanting to get this over with more than anything else. They had landed a distance away, not wanting to put their ships too close to the light the node cast in case they had to make a harrowing escape.
"Stop! We coming forward," a harsh voice commanded as the group drew close to the landing node. Thanks to its bright glow, Fawkes could make out several figures in the shadows across from them. One strode forward, revealing itself to be a vorcha. "We want see you humans. No tricks!"
"No tricks," Fawkes agreed, holding up his hands. He turned and murmured to his team; "Seranni, come forward with me. Ealos, Tracy, stay shadowed and look mysteriously intimidating." Together, the human and asari stepped into the light.
The vorcha before them was typical of the species: squat, with red eyes and lanky, seemingly awkward limbs ending in sharp claws. This one wasn't wearing any protection against the cold: the vorcha on this planet had long ago adapted to its temperature changes. Its skin was a darker version of the usual yellow, and it took Fawkes a moment to realize why: a short fur covered the vorcha's entire body.
"We thought only humans come. Why asari here?" the vorcha demanded, raising an assault rifle.
Fawkes stepped in front of Seranni and held up his hands higher. "She was hired by the corporation you're negotiating with. She's as loyal as any human employee."
The vorcha hissed, then lowered his weapon. "Tell leaders next time tell us who comes before they get here. Easier to prepare that way."
"I'll do that," Fawkes promised, dipping his head in an exaggerated gesture of acceptance. Sucking up never hurt, he reasoned.
The vorcha sniffed, then turned and waved to the other figures still in the darkness. "Come now! We make deal!" he called to them. Other vorcha stepped into the light, but stayed behind the one who had come first. He was obviously the leader. In all, there were about seven of the creatures, all various colors, some furred, some not, all carrying weapons.
Derek motioned for Tracy and Ealos to stay back for now. "My names is Fawkes Starkweather," he introduced himself. "I work for Guanghui Solutions as a commissioned marine officer. This is my subordinate, Seranni M'ælo."
The vorcha looked from one to the other as Fawkes spoke. "Jask. Raask pack," he said, thumping his chest. He swept an arm behind him, indicating the other vorcha. "Other packs. Also want make deals with corporations. Coporations bring food and guns. We need."
"You want us to supply you?" Fawkes asked.
The vorcha nodded excitedly. "We need guns and food. Pack must grow strong again if we take Dhazil back."
"How will you help us?" Fawkes asked. "What makes it worth our while?"
Jask made a frustrated noise, seeming impatient with the negotiations. "We talk to other packs. Tell them corporations do more for us than krogan can. Some listen, stop fighting, maybe switch sides."
"We'll need proof that you're working with us," Fawkes said. "No offense toward you, but it's prudent to be on the safe side when dealing with vorcha."
Jask tilted his head as he considered this, then made an odd barking sound over and over. Confused, Fawkes looked to Seranni for support. "Laughing," she told him softly.
"This human is smart. I like," the vorcha declared. "We send vorcha to new base, tell them where local packs are, who they prefer. Will be interesting to watch humans fighting krogan."
"Glad you think so," Fawkes responded.
Jask made the barking laugh again, then stepped forward. "We meet and shake hands. Make agreement, how you humans say, final." At this, Fawkes also stepped forward. He was tensed, ready to throw the vorcha if he tried something. Though he supposed that Jask was more used to fighting than he was, and probably would disembowel him before he knew what was happening.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Fawkes said, taking the vorcha's hand and shaking it. The fur was coarse, and the skin beneath rippled with powerful muscle. Jask's claws scraped against the suit's material. Fawkes smiled at the vorcha before he released his hand and stepped back.
"We leave now, go make packs ready for war," Jask said, turning and motioning for the vorcha behind him to get moving.
"Not so fast, goblin," a deep voice ordered. Fawkes and Jask spun to face the newcomer. A dozen krogan marched into the light of the node, to stand equally close to both Fawkes and Jask. Many more stood in the shadows. Fawkes motioned urgently to Tracy and Ealos, who slipped further into the darkness, back towards the gunships. The krogan didn't appear to notice.
Jask hissed at the krogan leader, a massive specimen with a brown crest. "You should not be here Krul! You not welcome!"
The krogan, armed to the teeth, laughed. It was a cold, throaty, intimidating sound. "You seem to have forgotten your place, Jask. You can't go switching sides when you're indebted to us for your protection."
Fawkes reached out and pulled Seranni slightly closer, then leaned back to whisper to her. "If it comes to a fight, throw them." Her mask and suit hid her identity as an asari, so the krogan weren't on guard for a biotic attack.
Jask was angrily shouting at the krogan, his words half garbled by his spitting rage. "We not owe you anything! Raask made to leave Dhazil! We make our new home here, take what we can from fat krogan in city! You come to our home, say we trespass! Kill our packs! We find new allies, better than krogan! Take Dhazil, make you pay for intruding!"
The krogan laughed and pulled the shotgun from his back. "Stupid goblin. You think you're getting away from here? We'll kill you, and then your pack for letting you come here." Jask hissed again, and the vorcha behind him leveled their own weapons at the krogan. Some of the other krogan came forward to stand with their leader, their weapons pointed at the vorcha. Fawkes drew his pistol, wishing he had a bigger gun. He looked to Seranni, and noticed the subtle ripples in the space around her.
Everything happened at once. One moment the krogan were in a standoff with the vorcha, the next a ripple tore through the air, knocking them back and creating confusion. Jask growled and started shooting. From the direction of the landed gunships, a mass accelerator gun started firing, ripping through krogan shields, armor, and skin.
Fawkes acted quickly. He ran up to Jask, who was still shooting wildly, and pulled hard on the vorcha's arm. "Jask, we can't fight them all! We need to run!"
The vorcha turned and hissed at him, throwing Fawkes to the ground. "We no run human! Stand and fight! Kill Krul and take land back!"
"Get to cover and surround them! Don't let anyone escape!" Krul's voice sounded over the gunfire, and the struggling krogan quickly recovered and retreated into the darkness. Jask tried to give chase, but Fawkes grabbed his arm and held him back.
"Jask! There are two dozen at least! We're all dead if we can't get away. Think of your pack! Will you really help them by dying here?"
Jask finally stopped for a second, still looking balefully at the retreating krogan. He made a low moaning sound of hatred, before turning to Fawkes. "Human is right. We run now, come back stronger and take land back."
Fawkes nodded. "Call the others, tell them to follow us. We're going to take the gunships and fly out of here."
Jask nodded. "Follow the humans! We get away, then return to packs and prepare for battle!" The other vorcha were startled, but obviously feared Jask's wrath more than they wanted to fight. They turned tail and started running in the direction Fawkes had come from.
"Seranni, we're leaving!" Fawkes ordered. The asari didn't speak, but nodded and turned to follow the retreating vorcha. Before going after them, Fawkes shot the landing node. The device buzzed, then died. The light flickered off, draping the surroundings in darkness and hiding the fleeing vorcha and asari. He then turned and took off after the rest of the group, eager to be as far away from the vengeful krogan as possible.
Gunfire zipped past them both directions as they fled. Fawkes felt rather than saw the projectiles, the air rippling as the sand sized rounds flew past him at impossible speeds. After what felt like an eternity, but really couldn't have been more than thirty seconds, he was at his ship. The vorcha were already piled into the cargo bay and strapped down. Seranni and Fawkes heaved themselves into the cockpits while their gunners kept their fingers on the mass accelerator trigger.
Fawkes slammed the canopy shut and primed the eezo core. The VI warned of multiple unidentified signatures approaching, but Fawkes ignored it and focused on lifting off. The engines roared to life, and the gunship lifted from the ground. Fawkes switched on the searchlights, and the VI guided them to the nearest krogan, only a few feet away from the ship.
He spotted one leveling a SAM directly at the Mantis, and knew his shields wouldn't come on soon enough to absorb the blow. Before he could tell Tracy they were about to die, a hail of gunfire from the vorcha in the cargo bay brought the krogan down. "Take us up human!" Jask shouted from somewhere behind him. "We die if you asleep in there!" Fawkes laughed, in spite of the situation, and opened the throttle wide. The Warrior Queen shot forward before any other krogan could get a shot off.
The VI beeped, and Fawkes had to pull hard on the controls to gain altitude before he slammed into a cliff face. The Warrior Queen went vertical, the tail thrusters close enough to the rock face to turn it orange from the heat. Fawkes guided the gunship away from outcroppings not daring to slow down for fear of attack while his shields were down. He breathed a sigh of relief when he shot into the open air. "Seranni, do you copy?" he half-shouted, hoping she was all right.
"We're right behind you captain, and we brought some friends." Sure enough, Fawkes banked and saw Seranni, who had stripped off her face mask and was grinning as she waved to him from her cockpit.
"Mac, where are you?" he asked next, belatedly remembering the rest of his squadron.
"Chasing your krogan friends through a valley," was the predictably curt response. The gunship's VI displayed their position to Fawkes.
"This whole place is an ambush waiting to happen. They knew the vorcha were planning on being here, we can't take the risk of running into their friends just to chase them down. Break off."
"But they're right here!" Shawna protested, keeping her ship level while Mac and Colin peeled away. "We can kill every single one in the next ten minutes!"
Light was coming into the horizon as Fawkes fumed over the pilot of Raven Four. "Shawna, please don't drag Vivian with you to an inglorious death. Please." Grumbling Heartbreaker continued as the ship pulled up from the valley below and fell in with the rest of the squadron. Together, they flew northwest, back to Dhazil.
As they passed the city limits, Fawkes made an executive decision. "We're not going to go through," he told everyone.
"Why the hell not?" Shawna demanded. "It will take us twice as long to get back!"
"Because I'd rather not get shot down," Fawkes retorted. "If we make a hard burn, we can get back before it's completely light, and get some sleep."
"Julia likes the idea of sleep," Colin put in. "But she also wants to keep everyone safe."
"You're all hopeless!" Shawna declared, though her course didn't change. The squadron put on more speed, and the buildings whizzed by on the right side as the Ravens made their way to a deserved rest. In the distance, they could see dogfights as frigates and fighters battled for air supremacy. Fawkes assumed the space warfare was more one-sided, since he didn't believe the krogan had access to cruiser-class ships.
"Guns," Mac mused, meaning the artillery fire that was getting louder the further west they went. Sure enough, Fawkes could Sonax artillery was shelling the city's industrial sector from the mountains outside of town. More reinforcements most likely. The squadron passed over several divisions of infantry and armor as they pushed into the city, clearing resistance left after the artillery barrage.
The corporate ground command came into view after a few more minutes of flying, just as the last of the darkness left the sky. "We've officially survived our first night on Garvug guys!" Fawkes said cheerfully. "Congratulations!"
The VI beeped, indicating a call was coming in over the comm. "Raven One this is flight control, continue west to the landing zone. We also have a request for your mission's status report."
"We succeeded in making contact with the vorcha sympathizers, but were ambushed by a band of krogan who knew what was going on. We had to extract the vorcha for their own safety, and they're currently with us." Fawkes held his breath, hoping he wasn't about to be court-martialed for bringing the vorcha into the heart of corporate territory.
A moment's pause, then; "we understand Raven One. Land, get some rest, then report to the command vehicle for debriefing. The vorcha are to head with security to Abel's location."
"Thank you. Make sure the people escorting them know not to be rough: they'll just get worse back." There was no response, and Fawkes put his gunship down. He hit the button on his heating suit, and the whole thing pulled apart and retracted into the control device. It could now be recharged and reused. Fawkes leaned back in his chair, taking a deep, steadying breath, before opening the canopy. He and Tracy slid from the cockpit, meeting their vorcha passengers on the ground.
Jask grasped Fawkes' shoulder. "You good fighter. Smart leader also. Not wise to disobey you."
Fawkes smiled and shook his head, embarrassed at the praise. "People do anyways."
The vorcha looked past him, and from the corner of his eye Fawkes spotted Shawna glaring at them. "She trouble," Jask warned in a low voice. "Wants to run pack also. Willing to fight for it."
Fawkes nodded. "I know." He looked up and spotted approaching uniformed guards. "Jask, these men will take you to Abel," he told the vorcha, spinning him around and indicating the armed enforcers with a pointing finger. "They won't hurt you, but keep civil."
Jask made the barking laugh. "We see the green one? He interesting too. We have fun fighting with humans!" The vorcha trudged off, with the guards in tow and the other vorcha following behind.
Fawkes turned to the rest of his squadron, grouped behind him, weariness set in the lines of their faces. "We can eat and rest," he said. "I'll let you know when it's time for our next sortie."
At that, ten bodies trudged off to the barracks, each determined to hit the sack like a ton of bricks.