MORDAN
Zaeed was leaning against a wall waiting as Shepard, Lawson and Taylor came round the corner. The Commander was tucking a credit chit into her wallet as they approached. He motioned with his head to where a Turian guard stood, arguing with a human woman who wanted to get into the closed off district to get her things, before looters or the Vorcha got to them.
"Problems?" Calen asked as she drew closer.
"Jackass there won't let us in, says he wants to limit exposure, and besides he has orders from Aria to let no one in."
"Aria huh" Jacob shook his head "Guess you pissed her off Commander."
"She didn't get her own way, she was like a spoilt brat" Miranda scoffed.
"Yeah a spoilt brat with powerful biotics and enough power in her little finger to have you disappear" Zaeed mused.
"OK enough" Calen rubbed her brow and walked over to the Turian "Why you not letting anyone in, I thought Humans were immune"
"They are but there are fears that humans will bring the plague back with them then all of Omeaga is screwed."
"Yeah I understand that, but I need to see the doc"
"The Salarian?" The Turian shook his head a little in amazement "He's crazy as a loon setting up a clinic there. Last I heard the last attack by the Blue Suns ended up with them dead and their heads rammed on poles outside his clinic to deter any more attacks. He's nutty as a fruit bowel but brave with it. Still can't let you in though."
"Look, I just came from seeing Aria..."
The Turian arched an eyebrow "Wait a minute, you're Shepard...THE Shepard, I heard you were dead"
"They say a lot of things about me" Calen groaned "Not all of it is true."
"I heard you beat Saren with your bare hands" He grinned "Good job too, the man tried to sell us down the swanny for his power. Aria said to expect you. The guys are the checkpoint will guide you through"
"Wait a sec" The other human yelled "You are letting them in but not me, how does that work?"
"You don't have weapons all over the place nor are you carrying a grenade launcher lady, now be a good lady and go to the bar till this is all cleared up"
"Fuck you" The woman walked away, shoulder barging Jacob as she went passed. Jacob shook his head.
"You're welcome" he muttered and rolled his neck.
Miranda patted his shoulder, the bruise on his jaw now settling down, she suspected that Jacob was loosing his touch with the female of the species. They followed the Commander into the alleyway and down towards a checkpoint, where they were let through and told to be wary. There was a turf war going on between the Blue Sons and Blood Pack at the moment.
"I thought they had teamed up to take down Archangel" Jacob asked.
"Yeah but it don't stop them fighting each other. They want a bloody bigger cut on the turf, the more turf they have the bigger the fucking status they have" Zaeed told him "Just cause they joined up on one thing, don't mean they will join up on something else. Archangel is business, this is work"
They made their way through the Gozo district, coming into one of the main thoroughfares the stench of burnt flesh almost made them all gag. Zaeed made some comment about plague control at its most basic. Burn the bodies to forestall the spread of the disease. Whatever the reason, it was going to hang in the air for a long long time. Long after it had been cured that was for certain. Sometimes when she was on Mindoir, Calen could appreciate the beauty of her home but the smells and sounds of that night had forever marred her home world in her mind.
She had taken Liara there before the Normandy had been destroyed.
Before she died.
Before she was brought back from her peace.
She shook her head to free herself from the memory but it wouldn't leave. She had taken Liara to a spot near what had been her grandparents home, out in the meadows behind what was now her home. The mountains were a gorgeous backdrop and Calen had taken a picnic. The two of them alone, they didn't have that much time together, alone. It had been a good memory. Liara had fallen in love with Mindoir and said she could see herself settling down here when she was older.
Shepard pulled herself away from that memory and concentrated on the here and now. She followed the others down a flight of stairs and into an abandoned apartment. Two Turian males lay on the floor, dead, they had been for days judging by the state of the bodies and the smell.
Zaeed was crouched down beside one of the Turians and motioned to his bloodied fingers. "He tried to claw his way out" He shook his head and grabbing the large cover from the bed he lay it over both bodies. "can't say I wouldn't have tried it if I was with someone who had caught whatever the fuck this is."
"Any ideas Miranda?" Calen asked as they made their way back up the steps and into the main street.
"Well its tailored for alien physiology, except it seems Vorcha, but then they are immune to all manners of disease." Miranda kept her Tempest close to her leg "this is not natural, but manufactured maybe to cause a backlash of hate against the Human Race"
"Yeah? It's working then isn't it" Jacob replied.
Shepard looked at them both but decided against mentioning that it was something that Cerberus would have used if they wanted to. They made their way further down the street. In the distance the sound of gunfire and explosions. Sounded like the way for Gozo was stepping up.
They came across a sick Batarian, openly hostile and blaming the humans for the state of the district. When Calen mentioned that Vorcha could have done it, the Batarian said that the Vorcha were not intelligent enough, even when she used the medi-gel he said that as much as the human did not want to hear it, humans had something to do with this.
If it were not for the fact the Vorcha were involved, then Calen would have been inclined to agree with him. He told her where to find the clinic and she promised to send some help. Miranda walked alongside her and nodded.
"Nicely done Shepard. Now we just fight our way through Omegas back streets and get the doctor to come with us."
"You've not done this before. Have you Miranda?" Calen asked.
"I have done...other operations apart from being in the lab when I am required. I am very good at what I do Calen"
"I have no doubt. When I was hunting Saren, in order for me to get the result I needed, there was always a catch, a hook. You do this for me and then you can have what you need. If the good professor is battling the plague and trying to find a way to get rid of it...he will want our help"
They walked on.
The district had Jacob turning his nose up in disgust. He had never liked places like Omeaga, not only was it filled with smugglers and thieves. Murderers and other scum of the universe, all under the banner of, what happens on Omeaga is the law. It reminded him of some places on Earth that were still uncomfortably called ghettos. This was too close to home for him.
Places like Omeaga needed to be purged, the only reason he was here, was to hire the two men for their mission, when he was off this rock of psychopaths, sociopath and narcissists then he would have a long shower, although he doubted he would get the stench off for days.
The four of them rounded a corner straight into a gunfight between the Blood packs Vorcha with their pet Varen, and the Blue Suns. He rolled his brown eyes, there was a joint mission to take down Archangel, but it was still business as usual, and innocents caught in the crossfire were nothing more then bullet holes.
With a snarl, Taylor raised his hand and pulled a Vorcha off his feet, blasting him in the face with his phalanx, Miranda scowled a little, that put paid to any flanking manoeuvre they might have come up with. She reminded herself to have a word with Jacob later, but, as she caught the expression on the Commanders face, she had a feeling Shepard would beat her too it. Shepard grabbed Taylor and pointed to the other staircase, "Get up there with Massani, Now!" She ordered "Give me and Lawson covering fire and do not move from there until I tell you"
Jacob did as he was ordered silently. Knowing he had overstepped the mark, Massani shook his head a little "Better keep your head level kid, there are a lot worse places than Omeaga in the universe. You react like that all the time, you'll endanger everyone"
"What would you know about it?" Jacob snarled defensively.
"More than you think, better do what the Commander tells you."
Miranda waited the other side of the door. Shepard moved out the door way as a bullet whizzed past her head. She had to think now, fast. She had read Miranda's file, she was indeed a powerful biotic, and if what Miranda had said about her own biotics being far more than believes, that would be useful.
"Get on your arse!" She heard Massani yell and watched as a Vorcha exploded in a swell of blood and Promethean.
At least someone knew what they were doing she thought.
"Miranda," Shepard spoke into her comms set "take cover behind that table, when I give the word I want you to hit them with your strongest warp field, give it a moment then hit them again after I start my vanguard rush"
"Yes Commander" Miranda kept her head down and did as was directed. She waited, Shepard gave her a moment or two to catch her energy, then gave the word.
The first warp field took out two of the Vorcha advancing towards her, after a moment she felt the rush of biotic energy and timing it as the Commander wanted, she hit them with a second field, the resulting explosion sent the Krogan, Varen and remaining three Vorcha sprawling.
Zaeed whistled under his breath and taking aim with his sniper rifle picked of the still dazed Vorcha and stared as Shepard began to fight a Krogan, she raised her knee and as he bent double, she head butted him, unslung a shotgun, a fired straight into his lowered face, back flipping out the way to let Miranda shoot and kill the last Vorcha.
"Bloody hell Shepard" Massani muttered as he and Jacob rejoined the Commander and XO "Never seen anything like that"
"Its called thinking on your feet" Miranda reloaded her SMG and holstered it. "Although I must admit, it was a hell of an experience."
Shepard rubbed her head, a bruise starting to form on the side of her forehead where she had head butted the Krogan. Something told her that would also be a topic of conversation for sometime. She rubbed her neck and motioned with her hand, they had a doctor to find.
Finding Solus was not as hard as it seemed. They just followed the headless corpses or dead bodies along the way to the Clinic, yet when they walked into the security room it was spotless. Directed to where they would find the Salarian none of them failed to notice the mechs that stood guard with their human superior. The clinic itself was sterile and filled with scared patients, some of them with gunshot wounds others recovering from the effects of the plague, and some of them kept away from healthy patients, in isolation for their own protection as well as the other patients.
The Salarian seemed to have the goodwill of those around him, each and everyone of his patients were expressing how grateful they were to him. Shepard however, was still in for a shock when she met him. She announced herself then stared in a mix of exasperation and amusement as he went off on a tangent regarding her and her companions appearance.
"OK Doc, for the love of god man, just stop, jeez how much coffee did you have this morning. My name as I said is Commander Shepard and I need your help on a mission to find the Collectors."
The Salarian stopped in mid speech and cocked his head, he was strange looking for a Salarian, one of his head noddles flopped over to one side and he had more than a few scars. "The Collectors?"
"Yes Doc, they are taking human colonists by the thousands, I need your help."
"Yes, yes that would explain everything, I cannot leave yet, have to stop plague, although goals here are similar"
"Similar how?" Miranda asked.
"The Collectors want humans, the Collectors made plague and I want Collectors and Vorcha stopped, as do you. Similar goals."
As Shepard turned to leave, the Salarian gave her an M6 Carnifax, Shepard gave a half smile as the Doc handed it over, this was a weapon and a half with a kick like a mule...for anyone unlucky enough to be on the end of it. Rare too.
They made their way out of the clinic, now the fun really started, as they came up the stairs they walked straight into a Bloodpack meeting place, and obviously they were just waiting for any unfortunate victim, no matter their race, to walk into their domain. The smell was awful, Miranda wondered what it was, till Zaeed told her that it was the Vorcha and Krogan marking their territory.
"Ugh" Miranda covered her nose "Just breathe in through the mouth then"
Miranda and Calen took up position on either side of the archway, whilst Taylor and Massani took up a flanking position. At the Commanders signal, they all attacked, not giving the Bloodpack any time to recover, biotics and bullets cut a deadly swathe, and every shot was a head shot, the Vorcha regened faster than the Krogan, head-shots were the only sure way of putting them down.
It was not as easy as Calen thought it might be, they were coming out of the woodwork, and they had flamers, she ducked down as Miranda threw up a barrier to protect them from one of the flame wielding scavengers. A concussion shot from Zaeed put the Vorcha on its arse then another shot into the fuel tank made sure it ended in a bloody mess.
They fought their way up the stairs and through more Vorcha and Krogan, eventually they were given a rest as they finished the last three Vorcha off. Miranda glanced at the Commander, she was exhausted, it showed on her face. Damn Wilson, if he had not forced her hand, then she would be starting to bring Shepard out of her medically induced coma now, not when she had. She couldn't think about that right now. She had to make sure the Commander recharged herself before her amp overloaded or something and made their job a little harder. She reached into her armour pocket and pulled out some juice and energy bars. She gave one to Jacob and one to Shepard and had one for herself, she walked over to a drinks machine and got Zaeed a juice and handed him it. They just need a few moments. The Merc nodded his thanks and kept watch down the corridor.
Calen gulped her juice down like there was no tomorrow. Miranda frowned a little as the Vitamin C made its way down Shepards throat like someone having their first drink in days.
"Take it easy Calen" She warned "Plenty of time."
Finally the Commander lowered the carton and covered her mouth as she belched. She apologised and looked around her. "Its been a while since I had my biotics tested like that" She admitted. "Even when I was chasing Saren it was never that crazy."
"Things have changed Calen" Miranda told her "I had to configure your biotics for the new L5's they are faster and more powerful but they can at first zap your energy so just take it steady"
Shepard bit into her energy bar and took on board what Miranda was saying, "So the L3's went haywire then?"
"When I managed to retrieve what was left of them, it was decided that the new L5's would aid you better, considering what I discovered about your abilities it was the better choice. I understand that Lieutenant Alenko was an L2, did he have any of the psychological pitfalls?"
Calen thought for a moment, and winced inwardly. She had not thought about Kaidan in a long time, not since Virmire, when he sacrificed his life so they could get the Salarians and Ashley away.
"Um, Kaidan had severe Migraines, he was lucky I guess."
"Yes he was." Miranda agreed "I am sorry I shouldn't have mentioned him, it was just I recalled that he was L2 and you were L3, being the same age I would have thought you would have been L2"
"I would have been but Kaidan was a little older than me so once they realised the problems with the L2 I was wired with the L3's" She rubbed her neck feeling her energy return "OK lets get going. Before the Vorcha suffocate the entire district and start a mini war here on this flea pit of a star base"
They made their way through to the air conditioning only to have to fight more Vorcha. Calens first thought was that they bred like rabbits there were loads of them coming out of air ducts, air vents, from the massive fans on the walls.
Still her dead eye and Massanis sniper eye they took care of the Vorcha high on the walkways whilst Miranda and Jacob dealt with the ones on the ground. Eventually they killed them all and made their way through to the main maintenance area.
The Vorcha there would only say that the Collectors would make the Vorcha strong and powerful. Shepard put a bullet through his fang filled maw and ducked, once again entering into a tiring gun battle.
They fought for most of the afternoon, putting the Vorcha down and the odd Krogan. Even when they had inserted the phials into the fans air con sockets they had to turn the power on again, and even then, when they had turned one on they had to fight their way to the next one. Eventually killing all the Vorcha around, they made their way back towards the clinic.
Zaeed heard shouting and motioned to a locked room, Miranda used her Omni-Tool and opened the doors to see a small group of maybe three of four Batarians beating up on a human in a medics uniform. She assumed this was Daniel.
"Let him go" she told them, folding her arms across her chest.
"Why, he is bringing poison, spreading the plague more, that's what you humans do isn't it?"
"No We have just sent the cure for the plague all through the air con, and he was trying to help you, why anyone would want to help a Batarian I will never know but some people do that. Does the word Medic not exist in Batarian culture, you know do no harm and all that?"
The Batarians looked at each other "So you here to kill us?"
"No, but you harm one hair on his head then I will kill you, let him go and I let you go. Choice is yours really"
The leader of the group looked from the human medic to the human Commander. She looked familiar and then he lowered his gun. "OK Let him go, but only because I owe you my brothers life Shepard"
"Do I know you?"
"No but you spared my brother on that asteroid over Terra Nova, funny I heard you were dead"
Calen didn't say anything. She remembered the Asteroid and the people who had nearly died because of some deranged Batarian lunatic called Balek. "What happened to Balek, still in charge I gather" She finally asked.
"I don't know, and I don't care, some of us Shepard want away from the Hegemony."
"Your brother?"
"He was the one sent to kill you, instead he took your advice and left the Asteroid with the men he had. He's dead now, died six months later, a bullet to the head, Balek found him."
Calen nodded a little "Sorry to hear that"
"I came here to Omega, one place I know he won't come after me."
"Why would he want to come after you?"
"Balek always goes after the families of those who let him down." The Batarian stopped beside her as his companions walked out "Not all of us are like that, but Humans took the power on the Citadel and are in charge now, that makes you more dangerous than we ever could be. Not all of us raid colonies either. I know your history human, I know that you were one of the survivors of Mindoir, sorry for that, and thanks for the cure"
"thank the Salarian, he made it."
The Batarian looked around and then walked out. Shepard focused her attention on Daniel. A young kid, no more than maybe 19 possibly 20 even 21 at a push, a small goatee sat on his jaw, she jerked her head a little "Better come with me kid, the Doc needs you" and turning on her heel she walked away.
Mordan listened as Shepard filled him in on what they needed from him and told him that the Ship had a fully functional AI called EDI as well as a lab that would suit his every need. He wanted to get started straight away but he would be there if she required him for landing duties. Daniel it seemed had been quite offended by his mentors more callous attitude towards those who threaten innocent lives.
However, he had taken over the running of the clinic and was sending people out to help those who needed it. Calen was hungry but, she did not really fancy anything that Mess Sergeant Gardiner cooked up, especially as he also cleaned the toilets. She settled for a coffee instead, it would do, until she found something more appetising to eat.
Besides they were off out again in an hour...to find this Archangel, then she could put as much distance between the Normandy and this place.