Backroom Deal

Part 4

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Drokira grunted as he lowered the last filled packed crate of parts in their makeshift storage room. It had been two days since they were dropped off to Site 1 on Eos by the Initiative. The unused outpost was in shambles. The buildings were worn by sand corrosion and the place still smelled of dead bodies despite none being around. With their arrival were rations of food enough to allow them a week, probably three if they cut them.

Ralea walked in with a dead bloodied insect that was about the size of a varren pup. "Found food."

Drokira twitched his nose. "What the hell is that?"

The other gave a shrug. "It tried to attack me out there on the plains while I was surveying the area."

"I'm not eating that. Not until the rations run out. Probably tastes like krogan spit."

"Will be soon. You know they left us here to die, right?" Ralea threw the corpse out of the building back into the sweltering heat.

"They said there was a new site in the area. We can take this salvage and see what else we can get. Found a rover with a signs of battle, but still can run." Drokira patted the crate with his four fingered hand.

Ralea eagerly strained his head to look out the door to see their latest discovery. "We have a few hours before sun down. Let's see if we can find their outpost. I'm done with this shit."

The engine clunked along as the medium size vehicle ran over the gritty ground. The slight breeze brought some relief from the heat. Ralea noticed a blip coming up on their screen. "We got something up ahead."

Drokira looked up in the same direction as the blip and saw an unknown dark green colored transport vehicle and several unidentifiable beings scrambling. "Could be trouble…" He narrowed all four of his eyes and reached out to take hold of his Carnifex pistol. Ralea followed suit.

Ralea proceeded to slow their vehicle down. He nervously glanced over at his friend. "Hostile?" He couldn't make out who they were.

"Not humans, that's for sure…" Drokira checked his clip to make sure it was full. Luckily, the Initiative did supply with them weapons. Pistols with six clips each. Another issue he would have to rectify down the road.

"Fuck!" Ralea heard the sound of artillery fire and slammed on the brakes. Pings were coming off the vehicle's armor. He pushed himself down further in the seat to avoid being struck. His body cramming down between the console and the seat. "Definitely not friendly!"

Drokira reacted quickly and jumped down to the side of the rover and hurried to the back for cover. He leaned up and began firing back, but the range on the pistol was not much compared to the assault rifles these guys definitely were using. "Get your ass back here!"

Ralea wiggled back out from his spot and jumped to join him. A round just buzzing past his head. He winced. "Shit that was close. What the fuck are they?"

The hostiles were running towards them. Their forms were bipedal and their bodies were solid and rigid. Whatever language they spoke was definitely not from the Milky Way. Drokira aimed his pistol and picked off one to the right by hitting him square in the head. Green brain matter splattered out before the body collapsed. The batarian's jaw dropped as he witnessed it. "Just kill them!"

Ralea raised his carnifex and opened fire. The rounds struck their target square in the chest. The other three were in on them within seconds. Their opponents snarled and yelled at them in their alien tongue. Their weapons poised at the two batarians. The alien in the front motioned ahead towards their own transport with the tip of his rifle. Ralea glanced over at Drokira. "They want to take us prisoner."

"I know that!" Drokira snapped viciously in frustration. They had to get out of this! He noticed the aliens bewildered expressions. Obviously, they couldn't understand them either! This could be advantageous. He looked over at Ralea. "The one on the right is yours. I'll grab this ugly bastard's gun and use it to take out it and the other one. Just wait for my signal."

The commanding alien was becoming impatient at the delay. It slapped Drokira violently to the side of the head with a loud thwap! The strike dazed him. He was not prepared for it. The alien shouted heatedly at him again to follow the command. Feeling his head now throbbing, Drokira gritted his teeth. Plans had to be changed. He wouldn't rid himself of his weapon. These guys definitely meant business. He just hoped that Ralea followed his lead. Motioning that he was going to surrender, he extended his hand slowly to the enemy with weapon in hand. This made the commander loosen his guard. The other two kept their focus on Ralea who was still very well armed. When it went to take the pistol, Drokira recoiled fast and shot. There was no time to really aim. It had to be quick. He then moved his hand to the left and shot the other. Ralea followed his lead and opened fire on the second. The one in the front was killed instantly as the ammo struck him in the center of the head. Some of his blood and brain matter actually splattered onto Drokira 's clothes. The one on the left was still alive. It groaned as blood oozed from its mouth. A gaping hole was to the left side of its torso. Damnit! The shot was not fatal! Ralea noticed this and fired again, this time hitting it in the right torso. A lethal kill. Now before them were three dead aliens. Their putrid smell was filling the air.

Allowing himself to breath, Drokira smile wryly at his friend. "Like walking in Omega."

Ralea grunted and bent down to collect their prized new weapons. "Smell like Vorcha shit."

Drokira started to walk towards the alien's transport. "Must be those damn 'kett' they were telling us about. Not so tough."

"What are we going to do with that?" Ralea referring to the transport as he carried the weapons back to their own rover.

The kett transport had a thicker armor to it than their rover and had couple of ammo packs. The technology was alien to Drokira so there was no way he would be able to figure out how to drive it right away. The kett they took out could have been scouts and now with them killed, it would alert the others to their location. Site 1 could be compromised. After talking with the Pathfinder, Site 1 was attacked before by the kett. The enemy believed it was deserted. Now they will know it wasn't. They had to get to the new outpost, Prodromus. "Strip what we can for salvage and get the hell out of here."

Ralea made a face and walked back over to the kett. "Left our food supply back at the outpost."

Drokira started to pull off a panel. He felt the muscles in his arm tighten from the strain. Seconds later, the sheet cover came off and he eyed the wiring components inside. "They have any meat on 'em?"

The batarian's face twisted with disgust. "You have to be joking." Now he felt sick.

Eos' sun was falling towards the horizon. It felt like two hours since they left their outpost. Drokira's stomach rumbled loudly, aching for food. Kett definitely was not going to be on menu. Without having a map, driving around in the dark would be complete suicidal and they could accidentally backtrack. Falling asleep outside was not an option. They didn't know what wildlife was out there that would be fond of dragging them off to their nest. Eyeing a structure up ahead, he redirected the rover to that direction. Friend or foe, they had to stop there and get their bearings. But who the hell would be out here other than more blasted kett?

Their rover's radio crackled to life. "Before you come any fucking closer. Say who the hell you are."

The sound of the man's voice was too low to be a salarian and not deep enough to be a krogan. Had to be a human. At least, they hoped it was. "Drokira Krec'donrek and Ralea Drackarok," Drokira identified themselves.

There was a pause. Then the man laughed loudly on the other end. "Well, shit. I have to hear this story. I haven't seen you fuckers since I left the Milky Way. I'll let you inside. Warning though, I'm armed so don't try anything."

Ralea rolled all four eyes. "Humans. Pathetic."

"Place to stay the night," Drokira reminded his friend. "Stay alert. This guy doesn't sound like he was from the other group." As the rover got closer to the Presson Dunes, the landscape revealed multiple towering structures that resembled some type of power generators. They were placed strategically in a row. The building that the voice came from was similar in architecture as the transport vehicle they raided. "This should be interesting."

A slim, athletically built bald man with a medium trimmed beard greeted them at the doorway. He was openingly armed to the teeth with a rifle and several pistols that were bolstered on his clothes. Peering inside, Drokira noted that stores of ammo were piled up and rations. This guy meant business. The human caught him looking. "No ideas, four-eyes. Think I can't handle the both of you? Hah!" He wasn't moving. "Just state your business and I'll decide if I should shoot you on the spot or not."

"Look, pal," Ralea's exhaustion from the long ride and lack of food was starting to hit him. "We found these damn aliens and now we don't have a place to stay the night. Just let us stay here."

A surprised grin crossed the man's face. "You fought the kett? So what? You some now goddamn big game hunters?"

"Look," Drokira refrained from snarling at the man. "We gave you our names. So who the hell are you?"

The bald head man's smile disappeared fast. He sized the batarian up in front of him. "The name is Bane Massani. Exile from the Nexus. Didn't see your type there." His brown eyes scanned the darkening horizon of Eos. "Get your asses inside. Don't want attention."

Ralea picked up on the name first as they entered and nudged Drokira hard in the ribs to get his attention. "Shit. Did you hear that?" They ran into a merc named Zaeed Massani years ago on Omega. He hit one of the smaller drink holes since Afterlife was not into their type. The one-eyed man was there to pick up on a bounty of some salarian that was wanted by a Volus for extortion. The salarian picked up protection from the Talons and they with a few others were there to get the merc to back off. In the end, the merc got what he wanted. The salarian was free game once word got back to the volus and he doubled the price for the Talons to set him up with Zaeed. Creds is what mattered on Omega. Whoever paid you the most was who you worked for. Didn't matter if someone got in on it first. If you couldn't match their offer, then you were dead meat.

"You related to Zaeed?" Drokira threw out the question.

"My father. Don't give two shits about him. He gave me his name and left. Some merc back in the Milky Way. Never really met the guy and glad I didn't." The inquiry seem to off balance Bane as he went over to the console to engage the security system. "Still haven't told me where you came from."

"The salarian ark. Stowed us away. Some deal that doesn't really seem to matter now." Drokira kept the reply short and sweet. They weren't here to make friends. Just find a place to get some rest before the rest of their journey to Prodromus.

This aroused a chuckle from the man. "I should have known it was the salarians. They are always bloody up to something." He tossed them a few ration packs from his crate. "Here you go. That should hold you. I'll let you stay here for a few hours but then you will have to leave. Don't want the company. Draws too much attention."

Ralea didn't hesitate tearing into one of the packs. His mouth dripped with saliva. The dry food was nothing compared to a fresh stick of meat on Omega, but there was always his imagination.

Celeste stood at the helm at the control. Her Sam implant enabled her to select their course and the ship's navigational system was to do the rest. Far advanced than any ship in the Milky Way. The Initiative spared no expense when it came to this project. Kallo waited at his station eagerly. The idea of voyaging to another cluster fascinated him. The galaxy map displayed different courses they could take. She knew that she received a message from Sloane that was urgent on Kadara, but her blue eyes came to rest on Eos. A part of her nagged to head back to Prodromus. She really hoped she didn't sentence the batarians to their deaths. "Something matter with the implant?" Suvi picked up on the hesitation. It was out of character for Celeste to be acting this way.

Celeste glanced back over with an embarrassed toothless smile. "So many places I can't choose."

"Oh!" Kallo's alert drew her attention. "You just received a vidcom alert from Foster Addison."

The call became alarming. Did something already happen to the colony? "I'll go check it out first." This was the breather she needed. A part of her wanted to remain in orbit around the Nexus until there was an update from Kandros.

Making a beeline straight to the conferencing room, she took the call. Seconds later the angry holo image of Addison's upper half was displayed. "Ryder. We need to talk." Her voice in flames. The same hostility was depicted from her first impression of the new human Pathfinder.

"What's the matter?"

"Tann told me about your little stunt on Eos. What in the hell are you doing out there? You are going to destroy everything we have accomplished so far."

Celeste felt her chest becoming tight with pressure. Just when she just thought Addison was starting to like her….she should have known that the tight lipped woman was all business. "Director," She took a breath.

"Batarians!" Her words cut her off sharply like a razor blade.

The pressure was becoming harder against her chest. "Director, the strike teams are losing against the kett on Eos. If we don't act now then Prodromus will be lost in the sand just like Promise and Resilience."

"They were not lost!" The short haired woman shot back defensively. "To save what resources and people we had left, we had to call everyone back."

"I was down there, remember? The facilities were lacking power and were pretty damaged." Ryder countered. "The batarians have been located to Promise. We need to give them time. We can't force their help. Look what happened with the krogan."

Foster shook her head. "That is not the same thing. You weren't here when the mutiny happened. You don't know-"

"You are right," Now was her time to interrupt. "I wasn't there when the mutiny happened. I have spoken with others who were."

"The exiles…" The tone in the other woman's voice indicated that the terminology was almost poisonous. "We couldn't let them just take over the ship. We had to get things under control."

"Look my job is to make sure to get the planets habitable. Right now, Eos is not as long as the kett threat continues. You don't know what's going on other than reports. I can't simply go by numbers and put the task back on someone else. Kandros has my support and he is monitoring the situation on Eos. If the batarians get out of hand-"

"Then we will have a damn nightmare." A beat. She sighed intentionally out loud. "Goddamn poetry. I can't simply look the other way on this one, on the other hand, you have proven yourself so far."

"Then trust me," Ryder emphasized the word. There was silence on the other end. She was expecting for Addison to simply hang up and then demand for her resignation. Maybe, Celeste did push the limit too far this time? No. They lost support of the krogan and she was still coaxing them to come back. That was to blame Tann and the others in charge. This was the right decision. She knew it in her heart.

"Three days, Ryder and then I want a full report." The call ended.

Celeste threw herself back down on the couch behind her. Her body and mind felt so exhausted. She rolled her shoulders back and looked up at the ceiling of the ship. "Dad, what am I doing wrong? Is this the right call? I wish you were here…"