Chapter Twelve: Lost in Paradise
Shepard scanned the area briefly as he walked, his assault rifle leading the way as he went, and Miranda and Legion walked at his flank. Deciding to take a 'shortcut' through a sprawling building that looked to be a casino and hotel, despite its lack of occupants was quite lively. Machines off all shapes and sizes made sounds of many sorts and were covered with flashing lights in every color. Cards, chips, and dice lay sorted on high tables covered in green felt and flashy designs, and surrounding those tables were hand crafted wooden seats, most likely cut from trees that were worth a small fortune. Shepard felt utterly chilled to the bone as he walked through the casino's main floor and all he could hear were the footsteps from the three of them, and Frank Sinatra playing one of his better songs overhead. He wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him now.
"Why the hell is there a fully working casino filled to the brim with absolutely zero people?" He asked, his distress slightly noticeable in his voice.
"What's the matter, Shepard?" Miranda, in her boundless wisdom, picked up on his discomfort as soon as they entered the building.
"A city on a planet owned and maintained by a traitor and a madman, a city that has very little traces of battle, destruction, or even occupation at all… I mean the first things I see and hear in this casino are a whole lot of tidy, empty chairs, and Ole' Blue Eyes singing away in the background. This is a time wholly unlike our own, but this seems unnatural."
"I agree, it does look odd. Maybe everyone left in a hurry, and didn't panic enough to cause enough damage." Miranda concurred.
"Alternative prediction: Perhaps they did not leave, but instead failed to arrive." Legion added. "Structure shows no signs of damage related with panicking civilians or a sudden evacuation. Further information cannot be determined. Final report inconclusive."
"So somebody put an entire city together, down to the tiniest detail…" Shepard stopped and examined a chair, wiping the thin coat of dust off of the top of it, "And then forgot to let people enjoy it. It's a shame, and it's scaring the shit out of me."
"We don't have time to dwell on it, we've wasted enough of it dealing with our welcoming party and taking the time to get my old uniform back. Oh and Legion, I do thank you again for doing such a thing for me." Miranda patted Legion's shoulder twice attempting to physically show her gratitude.
"Geth do not need acknowledgement of our deeds, no matter how necessary or how sentimental they may be." Legion replied, his brow plates twitching and flapping as he spoke.
"Then for the sake of simple clarification, what kind of deed was that back there?" Shepard asked.
"We were containing a continuity error in space-time, which also happened to coincide with Officer Lawson's wishes."
Miranda sighed and squeezed two fingers between her brow, "Since we're stuck here, and you being the lucky one who can leave at any time, we should get to know each other on a simpler basis. For example, you could address me simply as Miranda, or Lawson, and you can address him as Shepard or Commander."
"If one wished to truly do away with formalities then would we not call Shepard by his first name-" Legion was interrupted by Shepard nodding for both of them to continue on. The casino seemed to go on for miles, but the Commander saw it as less time out in the uncomfortable heat and humidity on the streets of the planet. And besides, every step forward was another step toward their goal. If only those 'thirteen miles' Legion calculated would have been a peaceful journey…
Minutes later, they came upon two normal looking glass doors, printed upon both was a two-headed eagle, the casino's odd logo, and its title written in Latin below both. Walking outside they found a spiraling concrete staircase that led down to the ground floor, which was no short distance. Miranda peaked over the edge of the rough stone balcony and saw a crystal clear stream running through the center of the road at the bottom of the staircase, or at least she thought it was the road.
"Looks like they have a babbling brook running through this part of the city." Shepard was looking over the edge as well, albeit on the opposite side of the balcony. He let out a crazed moan in frustration combined with laughter, muffled by his clenched jaw and twisted smile. Miranda hadn't the slightest idea as to what he was attempting to express. "What's next, gondolas?" He asked, scanning the stream for a way to cross.
"There are two oak canoes at a worf below us, Commander. Composition is mainly oak wood and a coating of water-resistant spraypaint." Legion stood ahead of them, directly on the extended platform serving as the top of the staircase, he was staring at the space between his feet, using some sort of technology allowing him to see through solid objects.
"I would make a snide remark about humanity and its problems with money, but we really have no time. Come on, we need to get to that tower." Shepard moved his gaze to an ominous and imposing black tower, surrounded by the knife edged spires atop hundreds of other buildings. Although the edge of the city's defenses were only a few miles away, the city still showed no signs of occupation, but it was so hard to discern a conclusion. Flashing signs, animated billboards, and skyscrapers dotted with light, it could have been true signs of life, but only time would tell.
As all three of them rowed the long canoe up the shallow stream they noticed a ladder leading straight up the flat brick wall to their right, just to the left of what looked like the last remains of a bridge long since demolished. Miranda, being the closest to it, turned to Shepard. Nodding with skeptical approval, Miranda climbed from the boat and up the ladder for but a moment until she reached the gravely path above. She first peered around, waiting for the quick gunshot or plasma bolt to come at her, but there was no welcoming party at all. For the first time in a long while the cliché was broken. Letting out a sigh of relief, she turned down to face the other two and gave them a nod. Shepard tied a rope that had one end wrapped around the tip of the bow and tied it to the ladder. Miranda leapt to the top and then reached out to help Legion up, which presented little issue. But when Shepard put the full weight of the power armor on the rusted ladder it utterly gave way and took him with it. Miranda swiftly reached out her metal arm to Shepard, keeping him from plunging into the odd stream below.
"Let go, I'll fall into the boat!" He yelled to her, and Miranda would have refused if she did not hear creaking and straining in the gears and actuators inside her arm. Letting go, Shepard plunged into the boat and caused it to shatter on impact. Unfazed, he reached out for the dry land which was only a few feet away, but even with his hand firmly gripping dry land, his armor still wanted to drag him into the depths below. His helmet, which was not hard sealed at the moment, flooded with liquid, closing Shepard's eyes and causing his lungs to gasp for air. As he pulled himself to safety Shepard ripped his helmet off and coughed up plenty of liquid. He finally opened his eyes, but then squinted to readjust to the sunlight. "It's a good thing we were cautious." He coughed some more as he emerged from the stream completely, "Because that is definitely not water."
"How are you going to get across? I don't think another ladder will work." Miranda stated.
"I have an idea, just step back." Shepard pulled out his Viper Sniper Rifle and aimed at a random part of the wall, and with four successful shots into one place he had a nice hole large enough for a hand to grab hold of. Repeating the process a few more times, Shepard then had enough to scale the wall on craters alone. After locking the sniper rifle into place on his back, Shepard took and aerodynamic stance and stepped back slowly. Taking a few long breaths to ready himself, he scanned the wall briefly. Moments later, Shepard darted down the gravel strewn ground and leaped over the stream as soon as one boot touched the edge of solid ground. He reached out for the uneven crevice of a crater with one hand and before loosing his grip lodged a foot and his other hand into two others. The excess momentum threw his head into the concrete wall, but not only was his helmet more than sufficient to absorb the impact, but the armor didn't retain a scratch. Looking up, he could see the edge within arm's reach. But as soon as he reached up to it Miranda and Legion were both there to help him up. They had reached what looked like some sort of town square. Roughly four or five buildings surrounding a clearing on all sides but the stream, and in its center a fountain gushing crystal clear water and every surface except the roads and sidewalks were covered in chalky grey gravel.
"That's what you get for wearing a suit that weighs a few hundred pounds." Miranda stated, wiping some dirt out of the corner of his left pauldron. "Now where to?" Shepard was about to answer, only to be interrupted by a group of men and women in long coats run towards then from around the corner of a building. These citizens were much cleaner and well composed than the four raiders from earlier. All of them wore black or grey clothes under long brown trench coats, and those without coats were armored with bullet resistant vests similar to those worn by soldiers and police in Earth's 21st century. Taking positions along the sidewalk, many were readying weapons before the man who looked to be their leader stopped them.
"Put the guns down! They obviously aren't raiders. Look at the one in the center, does the armor ring any bells?" The man walked back and forth forcing the rifles in the citizens' hands to be lowered or holstered. The trio approached them as soon as no guns were pointing at them.
"That's a better welcome than the one we got before." Shepard removed his helmet before stating his gratitude, as to not let the voice filter scare the armed civilians, and looked to the man in charge. He was an average looking man, with an obvious Irish accent, a light brown moustache and pointed beard, and neck length messy brown hair.
"Finally after sixteen months they send some help." The leader shook Shepard's hand with joy in his eyes for the first time in a long while, "Norman Irsenthorn, mister…?"
"Oh, I am no Inquisitor nor am I a true Astartes. You can call me Commander Shepard, and these are my partners Miss Lawson and… you can call him Legion. Nevertheless I am an agent of the Fate Breakers Space Marines, and I'm here on a very important mission."
"The Fate Breakers are in orbit?" A younger man, no older than nineteen, was overcome with both shock and awe, "We're saved! Yeah-hah!" He jumped for joy and twirled his sniper rifle in his hands.
"Shut it Tyler!" A much larger man with tan skin, rugged facial hair, and broad shoulders slapped the back of the boy's head, "The Biker scouts will find us for sure if you keep up with your persistent insouciance."
"Don't get your hopes up yet, he said nothing of the sort, yet." A woman with her blonde hair wrapped into a short ponytail fiddled with her lasgun while she addressed the man and the boy from the other end of the short sidewalk.
"Come, let us take you to our base. Tis not far and I'm sure we have enough food and drink for you." Norman stated with a peaceful smile on his face. Pointing toward the way they came, the civilians started walking down the sidewalk with their weapons still at the ready.
"That is most appreciated, but we ourselves have little time to spare." Shepard replied.
Norman sighed, "You're here to kill the Governor, are you not?"
"And if we were?" Miranda interjected.
"Then you should come to our camp. With the small amount of information you have at this point you will not get far at all. Much has changed in the last year and a third…" Norman lowered his head in grief and shed a tear, remembering all that had transpired over that long span of many months.
Arriving at what looked like a schoolhouse, the group of civilians walked ahead of the trio and up to the front door. The doors were under a tall archway of stone and steel, guarded by men who looked to be Imperial Guardsmen, pointing Heavy Bolters at them from behind small but effective barricades bearing the two headed eagle. One soldier that was obscured by the barricades turned back towards the door and yelled, "Patrol One is clear!" This caused the two heavy and thick steel doors of the schoolhouse to creak open. Upon entry many of the civilians scattered, returning to the arms of loved ones or looking for the first edible object to consume. But when Norman and the trio took one step onto the schoolhouse steps the nearest Guardsmen pointed their lasguns at them. Norman attempted to reason with them but only when the command came from their commanding officer did they stand down.
"At ease soldiers!" A dark skinned woman with a Kevlar vest and a black army cap emerged from the school's interior, and Shepard could tell it came from a woman who didn't make a habit of repeating herself. The Guardsmen swiftly pulled their rifles away and stood at attention upon her entrance. With a snap of her fingers, they either went inside or knelt back behind the barricades, disturbing the trio no further.
"Your men getting trigger happy, Deanna?" Norman asked with an alarmed expression.
"Next time, radio ahead if you come back with extras." The officer scanned Miranda's outfit, "And might I ask who the hell you are, wearing an outfit like that?"
"I'm Commander Shepard, and these are my crew. We are agents of the Fate Breakers Space Marines." He stated as he stepped forward, his Power Armor casting a shadow that engulfed the officer.
"Now this should be interesting." The officer smirked, gesturing for them to walk inside.