Rollercoaster ride – part I
I woke up earlier than intended as usually, but a look on the clock told me I had at least slept six hours – more than usual. "No nightmares tonight, you could nearly call it a good night's sleep. The first in weeks actually, I should get an overdose of this mental "Asari drug" she gave me yesterday". I glanced at my unexpected guest for the night still sleeping beside me, again marvelling at her breath-taking beauty in relation to the age of 97. "Don't even think about it Gray, she deserves better than you." I stood up as silent as possible and went for the bathroom "No chance to fall asleep again, so I better use the time, we will need a good share of luck today, and time plays against us."
When I left the bathroom, Serena awaited me "Good morning, my guardian angel, how do you feel today?" She asked me accompanied by a smile.
"It just got better, seeing a friendly face and furthermore a smile in the morning is a welcome alternation, be careful, I could get used to it." I replied smiling back in kind.
"I will accompany you for at least some days or weeks, so you better…" She was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. I dropped the towel, grabbing the Locust from the table nearby and gave Serena a sign to hide in the bathroom. I moved cautiously beside the door. "Who is it?"
"Please open the door, what I have to say mustn't be heard by the whole place." A male voice answered my question, I couldn't make out what species exactly, because the voice was muffled by the door. "Maybe my friend from the pub got impatient and wants an answer now, who else knows where I am? Well, I won't find it out by waiting for Christmas" I disabled the security devices and opened the door just a slit. A short glance outside showed me a turian, his posture was at ease, his features likewise. "Ok then, why are you disturbing me at this time of the day". I queried him, now opening the door a little more.
"I could hear voices inside, so apparently you were awake and also not alone. Anyway, I have an invitation for you." He replied even-tempered, obviously not expecting any trouble.
"I didn't like the first kind of invitation yesterday, this is better now, but we agreed I contact you, not the other way round." I retorted.
At first he looked puzzled at my answer, but then he replied with the same calm expression. "I don't know of another invitation yesterday, I am here to bring you to Aria T'Lok, she wants to speak with you. Maybe the reason is your invitation from yesterday but I don't know, you have to ask her this question."
I couldn't hide my surprise at what he said, but quickly regained my composure. "I intended to leave this station as early as possible, I just started to catch my luggage and head for the docking bays."
"An invitation from Aria is not to be denied, you won't leave Omega if she doesn't approve, be sure of that. Do you come with me now or do I have to carry you down to the shuttle?" Still the calm voice, but now with some threat in it."
"Ok then, I am gathering my luggage, I come with you, but under one condition" I gave in.
He raised an eyebrow – or whatever goes for this on a turians face. "There is no point in making conditions, I won't accept any if they interfere with my order, so what is it?"
"I am not alone, and I don't wanna leave my companion in this lodge, the moment I step out of this building with you they're gonna hunt me, and with that also her." I explained my request.
"I don't see a problem with that, Aria will decide what to do with your companion. So be quick now, Aria is not to be kept waiting."
"Got it, give me a couple of minutes." With that I closed the door, turning around calling for Serena. "You can leave the bathroom now."
She opened the door and looked at me, a worried expression on her face. "Who was it?"
"Well, things just got a lot more complicated. You remember I told you, I was offered a job yesterday, to assassinate someone?"
She nodded with a glimpse of fear in her eyes.
"This someone is unfortunately the uncrowned queen of this station and she just invited me to meet her. If we want to leave Omega we can't do so without her permission, so we have to go." I explained the whole mess to her.
Her face now looked really troubled. "I am invited too? Or do you don't want to leave me here, because your friend from yesterday won't be happy to see you with one of someone's agents?"
"Again your quick comprehension astonishes me, but we're running out of time. Please, get dressed, gather your luggage, we have to get out of here." I begged her.
She sighed. "I won't get out of this anymore, so be it." With that she caught some clothes and returned to the bathroom.
In the meantime I assembled my armour and gathered my few belongings. As Serena was ready too, I opened the door, finding the turian still waiting outside, leaning at the wall. His eyes quickly swept over my armour and weaponry and then Serena. "Faster than expected, I appreciate that." With that he turned for the stairs leading downwards.
As we left the lodge, I almost awaited an ambush, but nothing happened. Suspiciously I scanned the buildings around us for a possible sniper hideout. As I spotted a small flash on the rooftop of a building some 50 meters away, I instantly knew what must follow. "Sniper" I shouted, jumping backwards trying to cover Serena with my body. In that moment the familiar "thump" of a sniper rifle shot broke the silence, missing me by an inch and hitting the ground floor instead. Feeling the adrenaline rushing through my veins time started to blur, I drove Serena back into the lodge.
"Stay in cover" I shouted before I jumped into the cover of the shuttle where the turian cowered. "You could have warned me about those friends of you, didn't expect to pick up such dangerous cargo." He said with a grunt.
"Surprises me likewise, be sure of that. Let's get out of here before the cavalry arrives." In the meanwhile I had my sniper rifle ready and activated the cloaking device, moving out of cover and focussing on the balcony with the rifles telescope. "5…4…3… where is this son-of-a-bitch? My opponent emerged from cover, searching for a target. "1…got you" In the moment the cloak collapsed I pulled the trigger, scoring a headshot. "Job done, time to leave."
The turian nodded curtly. "Nice one, especially this little trick, but let's not waste time now, I guess we're in for some more fun."
"Serena, you can come out, please, hurry up!" I shouted as I picked up our luggage. We quickly mounted the shuttle and took off.
Serena was sitting in the rear, obviously shocked, she shivered a little, her face a mask of fear. "Are you ok?"
"Yes, at least physically. If this will happen now every day I might get used to it in a couple of years" She answered with an afflicted smile.
"I am sorry for all that, seems I brought you out of the frying pan into the fire." I said conscience-stricken.
The turian who had been silent until now interrupted our conversation. "I'm sorry to interrupt you two love-birds, but it seems we've got some company. Two shuttles are on our heels, and by the looks they are armed." With that he pushed the thrust to full speed and slid around a corner. "Could get a little rough, all the while. Take the com unit and report our current situation, ask for reinforcements." He added after he regained full control over the shuttle, his voice was still calm while saying this.
I did as ordered and got an immediate answer. "All right, we're on our way, hang in there, only a few minutes."
I glanced at the turian. "Is this vehicle armed, can I help somehow?"
"We've got a single assault rifle on a hidden turret for rear cover fire, unfortunately I won't be able to fly on full speed while aiming at the same time." He answered while skidding through another curve. "They're still closing in, must be some sort of speeders. Open this panel in front of you and activate the rifle, the HUD is rather small so actually hitting something won't be easy, but if you can keep them off for a while, would be charming." He explained in a rush, now a little out of breath.
A second later the shuttle was hit hard in the back, the impact causing a wailing sound as the bullets ricocheted from the rear armour. The shuttle shivered and slithered, the turian frantically tried to regain full control, finally sending us into another breath-taking bend, this time colliding with a protruding metal conduit, sending it flying along with some patches of the vehicles' ground armour. "Getting tougher now, hope our reinforcements are on the way." He commented with a grunt.
I finally managed to activate the assault rifle controls and issued a few bursts into the direction of our pursuers, without actually hitting something. My intention was rather to show them that we were not just fair game. "With all that rolling around a hit will be pure luck, but maybe we can combine our efforts." Just tell me the next move you're going to do, the direction is enough. So I can try to adapt my fire."
"Sounds like a plan, we…" He was cut off as our pursuers scored another hit, this time several layers of the armour went flying. "Shit, a few more of those and we'll be lucky if the engine doesn't send us to hell." Another sharp bent caused one of the speeders that followed us to race past the entrance. "Ok, let's give it a go, now right".
He moved the shuttle into a right sided rolling; I tried to adjust my fire according to the directions he barked now in short intervals. "Got that bastard" I barked with satisfaction.
The speeder behind us now lost speed, issuing a trail of fumes. "Seems you hit something vital, but where is the other one? The turian said while looking at the instruments. The answer came a second later as the other pursuer suddenly emerged from a by-street before us, weapons blazing with fire, he must have used its higher speed to outpace us in the meantime. The assault hit our vehicle hard, causing it to shudder as several layers of the armour were stripped away. A few bullets hit the front panel causing it to fracture. Our driver frantically tried to regain control of the shuttle, handicapped by the lost frontal vision. As we razed along a building he steered the shuttle upwards leaving the cramped space between buildings behind us to prevent a crash. Suddenly the com unit barked "Stay tuned, the cavalry has arrived". Two additional armoured shuttles could be seen closing in from the right. Outnumbered now, the lonely speeder stopped his pursue and turned away in the opposite vector of our reinforcements. Quickly accelerating the speeder lengthened the distance with every second, outclassing the slower shuttles. Our reinforcements turned about, each one on every side.
"Not a second too early, nice to see you, guys!" The turian said into the com unit.
"We simply couldn't bear to lose old' Grizz, what about all the fun we would miss without you? And think about our old lady, she would be obnoxious for at least a week" The voice replied, seemingly in good moods.
The turian issued a snort "I'll give you some fun once we're back, little rookie, be sure of that" He answered with the equivalent of a grin on his face. "Good team play back there and nice shot by the way" He said now turning around to me. "As you may have noticed, the name is Grizz. I think I'm in for a drink now, a pleasure to get your asses out of the line of fire." With that he steered the shuttle downwards.
"Thanks for the taxi, Grizz. Nice ride, maybe a little rough from time to time, but we made it. As you may know my names' Gray and hers' Serena. If we are in need of another taxi service be sure you are our first choice." I replied with a grin.
As we touched down and disembarked from the shuttle, he addressed me once more. "Just one question, what the hack is a cavalry?"
I laughed at the question. "I guess the one we spoke with from the other shuttle is also a human, otherwise this term wouldn't be known to him. It stands for a special sort of warriors on horses, four-legged animals from our home planet. At these times they used to be the most powerful part of an army, as firearms except bows where not invented yet. They had full plated armours made of iron, using lances, blades and shields as weapons. As I said they were very powerful, an attack in full speed mostly annihilated an enemy unit. That is why we still say the cavalry has arrived in such cases where you are in need of assistance."
"Nice story though, how long is this ago?" He asked as he led us to the entrance of a well-defended three storey building.
"Before the invention of firearms they ruled the battlefield for several hundred hears. Afterwards their importance diminished quickly. It lasted until the 15th century of our time calculation, so merely 700 years ago, in galactic standard years about 600."
He shook his head at my answer "That reminds me how young your race actually is, but nevertheless humanity is a force to be reckoned with. Unlike other turians I don't nurture a grudge on your folks, but your impregnable drive to surge forward challenges other races. This trait of you is both gift and curse, given time to learn how to use it without antagonising the other species you can accomplish a lot in this galaxy."
His quick and accurate subsumption of humanity and his view on us stunned me for a short time; finally I managed to give an answer. "Your insights are interesting; I must admit I never thought about it that way. Concerning this special trait you mentioned you are perfectly right, considering our history of the past three thousand years this was always the root of our biggest achievements and our worst problems. We nearly managed to extinguish ourselves a mere 100 standard years ago. I hope this time we do it better".
"This time half the galaxy is at stake, so our hopes are the same." At that we arrived at the entrance to the building before us. It was surrounded by high fences, some guards patrolling the walkways and the roof.
"We heard you had a heavy ride to bring us those two guests, getting too old for this, Grizz? One of the guards watching the only visible entrance – also a turian – addressed him.
"Let's continue this one in the sparring room, I'll show you how old I am" Grizz retorted, but not unfriendly. He turned around to us "You will have to leave your weaponry here, I'm sorry, but we don't take any chances on this."
I eyed him suspiciously. Why should he bring us here only to give us a shot in the head? Won't make a real sense, so be it."
"I don't appreciate it, but I do understand the reason." I answered firmly, handing over my weapons to the guards.
As I passed over the weapons Grizz glanced at the Locust. "Nice one you have there, I always liked it for its accuracy in combination to an adequate firepower. Not easy to get and very expensive." He concluded.
"Yeah, I love it, most weapons tend to have more firepower in exchange for accuracy, this ones' perfectly balanced." I said with affirmation.
"Ok, then, let's not keep her waiting" He invited us leading the way inside.