Chapter 11

End of the line

Date: September 6th, 2183

Planet: Illum

Two weeks after the Battle of the Citadel.

"Jesus, I hate this planet," Martin complained as he tried to keep pace with Velpia.

"What, not cold enough for you?" She quipped back. Martin looked over the side of the railing they were walking past. The vertically built city stretched further than he could see. Nothing but densely packed "elegant" skyscrapers polluted the sky. "There's that." Velpia looked at Martin and smiled. "You just don't like it because there's not enough dirt."

"Dirt doesn't hurt as much as concrete and metal."

"Well, if you didn't end up in the ground so much, that wouldn't be a problem." Velpia quipped.

Martin smiled and shook his head. "I thought you liked me on my back?" She quickly turned her head away and cleared her throat of her embarrassment, and changed the subject. That was the first time she could remember that he had made that kind of joke. She cleared her mind and refocused herself. "The bar is up ahead. Remember, I'm meeting reps of the Turian government, don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, I'll try not to fuck anything up this time."

As they approached, Martin slowly fell back, creating distance between them. Velpia walked in first, sitting in the back left. Martin took up a seat on the other side of the room. After a few minutes, Martin ordered a drink and sat quietly. Soon two Turians entered and took seats at her table.

Martin watched as they began to talk. Slowly sipping on his drink before returning to overlook the bar. His thoughts drifted; most of the stress of the last few years finally felt as if it had been lifted. Cerberus' agreement seemed to be holding, and he was sleeping more at night. The night terrors were becoming rare.

Between the pay they had gotten from Cerberus and from completing their job on Elysium, they were neck deep in credits. So much so that Martin ordered a secondhand cannon from the old Quarian Rilo back on Omega, and Velpia had even updated her arsenal. All in all, things looked up for them; at least things were better than before.

Martin's thoughts were interrupted as a shadow covered the table. He noticed a human with slick back gray hair and a heavy five-o'clock shadow standing in front of his table. The man didn't seem armed but seemed in good fighting shape for his age.

"Can I help you?" Martin asked as his eyebrows dropped lower.

"My name is Alec Rider, and I represent an exploratory organization called the Andromeda Initiative. If you have some time, I'd like to discuss a business proposal."

Martin paused momentarily and looked towards Velpia, still talking with her contacts. "I've got some time, I guess," he sighed as he slouched and propped his left leg on his knee. "I'm not much of an explorer, so you'd probably be wasting your time."

Alec sat down across from him. From how the man carried himself and sat in his chair, he figured the man was probably military. He signaled over to the barkeep for another drink.

"Maybe I am, but that's why this discussion is important. Have you ever heard of the Andromeda Initiative?"

"Nope," Martin quickly replied while an asari delivered the second drink.

Martin slowly slid the second glass of whiskey toward Alec.

"The Initiative is a project aimed to put explorers in the Andromeda Galaxy with the end goal of creating permanent self-sustaining settlements."

Martin raised one of his eyebrows inquisitively. "The Andromeda Galaxy? You can do that? I don't know much about space travel, but that would take thousands of, not millions of years-"

"-Six hundred, actually," Alec said as he smiled.

"Are you planning on a generational ship or-"

"-Cryo-Sleep. The resources needed to sustain a generational ship wouldn't last a century." Alec gripped his glass and took a gulp.

Martin became quiet; the idea of being shoved back in a cryo pod made him incredibly uncomfortable.

"I know you may have reservations against using Cryo Pods, but I assure you this is different."

Martin's thoughts became defensive, and a swirl of emotion stirred. His paranoia began to surface. Maybe this was a ploy to seal him away again. "Why would you think I'd have an issue with the pods?"

Alec smirked while taking another sip from his glass. "I wouldn't have come here if I didn't know anything about you."

Martin's chest tightened; he gripped his glass and locked his jaw. He also started getting warmer and felt himself beginning to sweat. For a few seconds, his paranoia was dominant. He quickly looked over to Velpia before turning back. He didn't want to make a scene and wasn't exactly sure of Alec's intentions. So he attempted to calm himself. "What do you know about me and how?"

"I have contacts in the Alliance. You've made quite a lot of noise on Elysium, and you're not exactly a state secret."

Martin managed to wrestle his demons and began to relax again as he wiped his forehead with his hand. "So why me?"

Alec leaned back into the seat and tried to display a more relaxed tone. He saw the changes in Martin's body language and didn't want to come off too formal. "We'll be jumping into the unknown. While I would like to hope that everything will go smoothly, I also know there's a chance we are jumping into a hostile environment." He paused and took another sip. "I've studied your handy work on Earth and heard much about your recent exploits. It makes sense to bring you along. You have experience with leadership in difficult situations, you've shown you can adapt to foreign environments and situations, and you have a hard enough head to get knocked around and get back up. If things don't go our way, you're exactly who I want."

"So I'm a weapon, a sword to unsheath when you want something cut down?"

"If that's how you want to put it. Is it any different than what you are doing now? You'll be able to start new, no governments keeping tabs on you, no mercenaries trying to hunt you down. I know the Milky hasn't been the most welcoming."

Martin chuckled, then smirked. "Yeah, not that it ever was."

From the corner of his eye, Martin noticed Velpia's meeting wrapping up. "Well, this has been all very exciting, but I will have to give it some thought."

Alec placed a data disc on the table and finished his drink. "If you're interested, I have more information on the disc, and it also has information on how to contact me. I hope to hear from you." He stood up and put forward his hand. Martin slowly shook his hand, left a few credits to pay for his drink, and left the bar. Martin grabbed the disc and held it in his hand.

Velpia approached and sat down. She folded her arms on the table, burying her head in the pit of her arms, and sighed deeply. "Ugh, I hate those meetings."

Martin smiled, but his mind was still processing his previous conversation. "What did they want?"

Velpia lifted her head and propped her head on her hand. "They gave us a job, some Turian smuggling illegal arms from Illium to Turian space. It's got them spooked." Martin finished his drink and set the glass back down on the table. "So, who was that? Don't tell me the Alliance wants something now too."

Martin leaned forward, "Just a strange job offer; it didn't make any sense." Velpia sat up straight and saw the data disc in his hand. "What's that?" she asked while reaching for it. Martin opened his hand to let her take it. "Details of the mission. Apparently." She handed it back to him and stood up. "We should get out of here; I've gotten the location of the weapons deal. We should probably get there soon."

The slight bluish tint of the buildings in the city reflected the light around them from the setting sun. After the construction crews cleared out for the day, they set up a sniper's perch in one of the unfinished highrises. Martin lay on his stomach with his Viper rifle on the floor. The front of his rifle rested on a firm bag, and Velpia lay close next to him, looking through her spotter's scope overlooking the landing pad across from them. They also covered themselves in a gray net draped over them, with a container to their left, right, and behind. All in an attempt to break up their silhouette.

"So, have you heard from Kahoku yet?" Velpia asked while adjusting herself to get comfortable.

"Nope, the last three times I've sent him my report, I got nothing back, nor has the Alliance paid me like they said." Martin cleared his eye with his finger while noting the time from his analog wristwatch. "That's a little concerning. Do you think they pulled out of their agreement?"

Martin stretched his right arm out and flexed his hand to regain blood flow. "I don't know, but it's not a pleasant thought. I don't know why they even care what I'm doing out here. What I do know is that I have to flirt this line very carefully between them and Cerberus, or I'm going to end up in a very bad situation."

Velpia took her eye away from her scope and slightly turned her head towards him. "You mean We."

Martin slid his arm across the concrete floor back onto the trigger of his rifle. "Yeah, we."

The two grew quiet; Velpia still had her head dropped from her scope. Her eyes looked down at the floor as her heart began beating harder.

"So, I've actually been meaning to talk to you about that."

"About what?"

Velpia cleared her throat and paused, debating whether or not to continue her line of thought. "Us."

Martin froze in place; his body only moved to breathe. "Like us, how?" He said suspiciously.

"Us, us. You know…"

He exhaled heavily but remained locked on his rifle, hoping for the conversation to move on. "Us? Like us? I thought we were talking about We?"

Velpia hung her head almost to the floor, giggling at his infantile attempt to derail her. "Smartass, I mean, Us." She paused for a moment, picking her head up back to her scope. "For the last two years, you've been glued to me, you've had a lot of chances to leave, yet you're still here, and you've also haven't made a pass. I wanna know what gives?"

Martin hid his embarrassment below his rifle's stock. He couldn't control his expression for some reason. He quickly shrugged while darting his eyes in her direction.

"Do I embarrass you? Or do you not like Turians? I get it if I'm not your type, but…." Martin was slightly taken aback by her sudden boldness. He took another quick breath to steady himself. "Nah, nothing like that. I… it didn't seem… appropriate." He paused again, trying to articulate his response to not upset her and fighting back the slight tremble he developed in his hands.

"I didn't want to complicate things. With so many things coming after us, it just didn't seem right"

Martin stopped while taking in another deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment.

"...And I don't know how that would even work mechanically." He joked, trying to shake off the feeling.

She noticed him flexing his hand on the rifle and his slight jerky motion. "This is probably the most serious I've seen you outside combat." She let out a small chuckle as devious thoughts began swirling."...You know there are vids for that if you ever got curious."

"You linked our Omni-tools. Ain't no way you're catching me looking up anything on that subject." Martin nervously joked. Velpia giggled while grabbing his forearm closest to her and scooted herself and her scope closer.

"So that's it, huh? It still doesn't explain why you stick around." Martin noticed her dual-toned voice change, almost suggestingly so. He swallowed the saliva and tried to keep most of his attention on the landing pad. "I stick around because you are the only person I trust… Hell, I trust you more than myself most days. I didn't want to complicate it."

She moved her hand from his forearm and scooted closer, yet. She then placed her hand on the inside of his forearm. Martin tried to ignore her advances, at least for the moment. "I guess we can figure things out later if you're curious." She giggled as she returned her sight back to her scope.

"We got movement," Martin said while turning the safety off. She let go of him, shook off her feelings and reached into her chest pocket, and held a holo in the target's hand. He had a lighter complexion and had white face paint.

Velpia looked through her scope to see eight Turians from the building moving toward the edge of the Landing pad. "None of these look like our target."

"Nah, they look like the buyers," Martin said while forcing out his prior trembles. He pulled out his ballistics cheat card, looked over it, and checked his range one last time. "1,302 meters. 3.5 mil south."

"Wind holding steady at 5 knots, east-west," Velpia replied. Their focus was interrupted as the shuttle slowly flew In front of them, kicking up dust and heat from the engines and the unfinished floor. Forcing them to recoil to protect their eyes from the fine dust and small pebbles that were kicked up. The shuttle past them and made a tight turn, touching down on the pad.

"Shit. Do you think they saw us?" Velpia panicked as she tried resetting her scope. Martin tried wiping the debris from his eyes. "Fuck I hope not!"

They quickly returned to their scopes; their calm was shattered as he nervously awaited for the shuttle's doors to open.

The first exit was two humans or Batarians and two Turians. All were wearing helmets. Then a Human and another Turian. These ones were not wearing helmets.

"Your boy is working with the Blue Suns," Martin stated, looking over their armor.

"Martin, That's Mitchell standing next to the target!" He quickly moved his rifle to the Human, and sure as shit, he was directing the others offloading the cargo.

"Well, I'll be damned. I guess we had to run into this prick eventually. Let's focus on our target. Then we can see if we want to deal with him today." They both dropped their view of him, and we're now back on the Turian.

The Turian was moving around a lot while talking to the buyers. "Confirm if that's our target." Velpia looked at the holo several times before setting it down.

"Confirmed, center right, just below the grey and blue container."

Martin began regulating his breathing in slow, methodical breaths. He adjusted his aim to account for the distance and windage. He placed his finger in the trigger and began applying pressure. The target was firmly in sight. "Get the demo ready."

Velpia reached for the detonator. They had set up some light explosives in another building across from them to draw attention away after firing.

The target finally stood still as Martin focused on his scope with both eyes open. His body felt attached to the rifle as time began to slow. He was so caught up in the moment he could forget that he was more to his existence than his rifle and the target. All sounds began to fade, he was a hawk viewing a mouse in a field from the sky. Nothing in between them, nothing more than them.

The rifle fired, throwing the already disturbed dust away from them. Velpia watched and detonated the demo charge. "Hit!" She smiled as he watched the target sump to the ground. The crowd below didn't react right away, more confused at first look. After a few seconds panic set in.

The pair slowly slid out of view and packed up their gear before slowly moving toward the exit. "Let's hope your little distraction works." Velpia quipped as they began jogging down the stairs. "This kind of work is my specialty; it'll work."

They quickly left the building to another pad on the opposite side and jumped in their cab. Velpia began dialing away as the car took off into traffic. Martin cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his slightly longer than normal hair trying to shake off the dust.

"So that went well," Martin commented. "Did you see the look on Mitchel's face? He just about crapped himself." Velpia laughed as she navigated through the traffic. Martin smiled as he looked off to his right. "Uhhh, shit."

"Uh shit, what?" Velpia looked over at Martin's window only to see the side of a shuttle open up. Without hesitation, she turned the cab to its side as several Mercs on the shuttle began firing at them with automatic weapons.

A few rounds pierced the car's bottom and straight through the roof. Martin helplessly watched as one round came through between his legs and through the roof. He sat back up against the seat, holding on for dear life.

Velpia's dash began blinking with warning lights and sounds as she desperately tried to control the vehicle. "I'm losing power! We're going down!" she yelled over the alarms and the wind noise. "Can you put us down somewhere soft?!"

"Oh yeah, let me get right on that!" she angrily snarked back. Martin looked ahead as the car began to bank left and head down toward a building. The car vibrated violently as it continued to head straight into a skyscraper.

Martin awoke to alarm sounds and the smell of smoke and debris. His body and head felt like they had just run into a brick wall. The pain and general unwellness meant that he was at least still alive. His vision was blurry but slowly coming back, but the buzzing sound in his head seemed to linger. He moved slowly, leaned back, and saw his bloodied face in the broken mirror just above him. The broken glass that covered the interior rustled about as he turned to his left and tried shaking Velpia awake. "Come on, wake up. You still good?" After a few shakes, she moaned and began to stir, lazily blushing away his hand.

She grabbed her face and buried it in her hands, trying to compose herself from the throbbing pain for a moment. After a few moments, she turned to Martin, attempting to shove his door open. She was concerned as she saw the blood rolling down his face.

The door latch finally opened as Martin exerted himself to push the mangled door open. He fell out of the car on his back and lay there for a few moments. Attempting to gather some energy to stand.

Velpia slowly pulled herself out of the climbing over him and helped him up. "You're bleeding pretty bad."

Martin took a moment while bent over, trying to work the kink out of his back. "Just a flesh wound." He joked as he watched blood drip from his face and pool on the floor. Velpia stood him back up and brushed his bloody hair out of his face. She smeared some medi-gel on the massive gash that ran from his one across his forehead and into his hairline. "That's going to leave a nice scar." He gave a pained smile and turned around to glance at the broken car. His face was still covered in lines of blood. The car was completely smashed and smoking and bent like an old warped shoe. "I don't think I wanna be in a car for a while, boss," Martin snickered. Velpia shook off his comment as she grabbed him. "We should try to get out of here."

They were both still dazed as they slowly made their way through the destroyed floor. The office floor was covered with mangled desks and cubicle walls, and the fire suppression system was cutting in and out of several places. The sound of the evacuation alarm blared throughout the building. They entered a glass-enclosed elevator, and Velpia looked over the keypad and pressed a button.

"This should get us to a skyway; maybe we'll get lucky and find a way out of here."

Martin leaned against the elevator's wall and looked over the night skyline. However, the muffled sounds of thrusters grew louder, and he saw the spotlight begin combing over the building from the outside. "I really hope that's a rescue shuttle." She scoffed.

He backed away from the wall and into the keypad forcing the elevator to stop at the next floor. "I'm not gonna get shot trying to find out." He grabbed Velpia as she stared at the light as it came over her. He yanked her out as gunfire erupted through the glass walls.

Martin quickly pulled her in front of him and held her behind the metal wall. The sounds of broken glass and some rounds impacting the metal wall were only slightly muffled by the intense wind forcing its way into the building.

He let go of her, shook off the pain, drew his pistols, and slid out from behind her. Martin pushed her against the wall and peeked back into the elevator. He started firing at the shuttle. Velpia, not content with sitting idle, drew her Phaeston rifle and joined him as they both blasted off rounds toward the shuttle.

The shuttle quickly pulled away; Martin recoiled back behind the wall and reloaded new thermal clips into his pistols as Velpia watched the shuttle escape. "We need to get out of here before they come back!" He panted. She immediately turned and looked around the room and began moving to the far side of the room, toward a staircase.

They quickly made their way down the stairs noticing another landing pad with a few sky cars a couple floors below them. They raced down to the level and out the corridor leading to the outside.

Martin burst through the door but quickly noticed a shuttle now parked on the pad. He promptly turned around and practically picked up Velpia, who was still following behind, and carried her back into the building.

He shoved her into the corner and drew his pistol. The door was stuck open as they waited on the other side. "I should have known it was you two!"

"Shit, Mitchell." Velpia snarled.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time!" Mitchell yelled as a squad of Blue Suns troops set up around him.

"We had a deal, asshole!" Velpia retorted. Mitchell laughed as he walked closer to the doorway. "This is the Terminus, baby; no one gives a shit!"

Martin turned around and peaked the doorway firing off four rounds before the troopers began firing back. They ran back through the corridor as the gunfire followed them. They returned to the office floor, where another squad had cut them off. Forcing them to dive to the floor to avoid their gunfire.

Velpia hit the floor, her rifle still in her hands. She saw Martin just behind her firing his pistols at the corridor. She watched as a few of the first troopers were torn to bits. She rose onto her knees, grabbed a grenade off Martin's vest, and threw it into the corridor before turning her attention to the fire coming from the office. Things were getting intense way too fast for her liking.

The grenade exploded with a deadening thud as Martin covered himself from the shrapnel. He quickly recovered, reloaded his pistols, and rolled himself up behind the desks. "We can't stay here. We gotta move!" He yelled over the noise.

They wildly began firing in every direction as they tried to force their way through the floor to the corridor on the other side of the building. Martin followed while switching to his Viper rifle. The Troopers kept pouring, and the fire grew in intensity. They made a fighting retreat, blood, and bodies spattered the walls and floor as they moved through. The corridor was a straight shot to the neighboring building.

Velpia ran inside the walkway and knelt at a control panel. "What are you doing? Martin demanded over the noise.

"Shut up and cover me! I'm buying us some time!" Martin stood in front of her shielding her from the fire as rounds began deflecting off his kinetic barriers.

As the fire door shut, a sharp burning pain in his shoulder knocked him over, tripping over Velpia and then to the ground. He instinctively rolled over and pushed himself to his feet. His arm was numb, and it refused to move. She turned and stood up, grabbing him after noticing his pained face.

Velpia quickly looked at his wound; the round pierced clean through his left shoulder. She applied medi-gel; it stopped the bleeding but wouldn't fix it. "We need to keep moving." Martin put away his rifle and held his arm as they moved through the corridor.

Mitchell entered the building from the corridor. His men were attempting to breach the fire door where the two escaped. He looked around at his men gathering up the wounded and dead. "Sir, they managed to escape to the second building." The trooper said as he approached. "Yeah, no shit. A platoon of you fuckers, and none of you can even shoot straight!" Mitchell barked back. "We have another squad that displaced and is heading over in a shuttle."

"Good, gather another squad. We are going over with them! We can't let them escape. The bounty on them is too high!"

Martin was following Velpia, trying to run to keep up with her. His shoulder burned with every jolt of his stride. He held his wrist with his working arm trying to keep his arm from adding any weight.

The other building was empty, and they thought maybe they had given them the slip. They slowed down a bit, trying to save some energy. "I really want to kill this fucker." Martin blurted. "You and me both!"

They had made it to another corridor to another pad. As the door opened, another squad of troopers were running toward them. Velpia immediately raised her rifle and gunned them down before Martin could draw his weapon. The bodies fell straight to the floor with a meaty thud. Velpia gave her Turian smile, looking over her handy work, "I love my job sometimes." She snarked.

They moved to the landing pad and jumped in the now-empty shuttle. Martin gently forced Velpia out of the way and took over the pilot's seat. He let his injured arm dangle as he got the engines going and managed to get it in the air. The shuttle began moving forward as Velpia stood between the cockpit and the cargo area. "Can we bring this thing around to the other side?" Martin smirked as he knew exactly what she was planning. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say those words." He joked.

Mitchell was returning back to the landing pad with a hand-picked squad. He lost contact with the team on the other side, and his troopers had finally made it through the fire door from this side. He looked up in the night sky and saw the flashings of one of his shuttle's returning. However, this shuttle wasn't exactly slowing down.

He quickly realized it wasn't his men piloting the shuttle. He dove out of the way as the shuttle pitched up over the troopers and kicked its thrusters toward the landing pad, scorching the squad.

Mitchell watches in horror as his men caught on fire and their armor melted to their skin. The shuttle turned around and landed in between the exit and himself. The shuttle's door opened, and the darkness of the night was broken by the darkened Turian figure standing in the interior light of the shuttle. He quickly got to his feet, noticing a knife in her hand.

Velpia walked off the shuttle and paced toward him, holding Martin's K-Bar knife in a reverse grip. Mitchell reached down for his pistol only to panic once he realized he had dropped it, diving out of the way. He darted his head around, trying to locate it also while trying to create some distance.

"Fuck you, you skull-faced bitch!" Velpia paid no mind continuing her determined march toward him. Mitchell caught a glimpse of his pistol and quickly darted toward it. He tried reaching for it, only for a loud deafening *bang* from Martin's pistol to shatter his weapons into pieces.

Velpia made a running start punting a kick straight into Mitchell's chest. The air in his lungs was forced out as he stumbled to stay on his feet. She quickly grabbed Mitchell by the shoulder, turned him around, and stabbed him in the corner of his neck. She forced the blade with all her strength down to the hand guard. She felt muscle and tendon tear as she twisted the handle.

In a panic, Mitchell grabbed onto her, trying to fight her off with little success. What little air he could gather was expelled as he let out a gasp, unable to breathe in. She held onto the knife as Mitchell began to weaken; her anger at their betrayal and the crap they put her through fell directly into that knife.

Velpia watched until his grip loosened, and he slumped to the ground. She removed the knife and headed to the shuttle. "Let's go."

Martin sat on the sofa, trying to relax. The apartment was the nicest they had been in since the Citadel. He was exhausted and finished patching his shoulder while changing out of his armor. His arm was in a makeshift sling he had cobbled together, and the Medi-Gel seemed to be finally working. The round had hit a nerve, but not the bone as he initially thought.

He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back cushion. It was quiet, and his attention turned to his breathing and aches and pains. Martin's thoughts drifted into silence. Something he hadn't experienced very often. He heard footsteps moving around him. Martin felt the cushions around his move and a weight shift into his lap. He opened his eyes to see Velpia straddling him, sitting on his lap.

She had a damp cloth and some bandages and began cleaning the dried blood off his face, careful not to agitate the gash on his forehead. "I'm really tired of being the only one getting injured," Martin grunted.

"Talk to Cerberus about that; if they were smart and made you less squishy, and you wouldn't bleed everywhere." She paused for a moment to focus on her work. "I swear you've left enough of your DNA all over the galaxy; Cerberus could make a clone out of you." After cleaning his face, she moved to close up the gash on his forehead. A few moments passed before she started to giggle. "What's so funny?"

Velpia giggled a little more while touching up the last bit of the wound. "Nothing." She paused again before stopping and looking down at him. "You never actually answered my question from earlier." she quavered. Martin smirked and looked at her. "Now that you have me trapped, want to interrogate me?" He joked back.

"Seems like the only way I can get you to admit anything is through interrogation. So yes, I have you trapped, and I want my answer." Martin let out a hearty laugh and smiled uncontrollably. He didn't know exactly how he felt, embarrassed? Awkward? His laughter died, and their eyes locked. They stared into each other's eyes without moving. He felt exposed, as if she had reached into what was left of his soul. He tried to assemble the words he needed, but she stopped him. She raised her hand and ran it through the hair on the side of his head. "I think I have my answer."