Disclaimer: I own nothing.
AN: Decided to divide this chapter as I want to try to keep the updates coming at least once a week and with all the fighting it was getting pretty freaking long. Also... I just realized that aside from the first chapter and when Revan was testing his weapons a few chapters back that this is the first time he actually uses lightsabers in battle in this entire story... Hell, I was so stuck on the Mass Effect fighting system and how I was writing it out that I may have overlooked the nice little kill-sticks Revan carries around. This is my attempt to combine Mass Effect fighting styles with Star Wars ones... Let me know what you think.
Summary: Shepard catches a glimpse of the instability of his Jedi crewman and reminisces about his own demons while searching for a Krogan Warlord.
Chapter 11: A Question of Loyalty (Korlus Part I)
Over the dreary gray and rusted reddish-brown world of Korlus a small UT-47 Drop Shuttle entered the atmosphere. Wreckage from countless hulks of starships and space stations lay strewn about the planet, the toxic fumes from countless recycling plants breaking down the dead starships into their components from centuries before the advent of omni-gel still hanging in the air as a thick layer of smog. The not so low-key Cerberus emblem painted on the side of the shuttle gleamed slightly as it weaved between scattered starship skeletons and dropped rapidly, its thrusters working in conjunction with its oversized Mass Effect Core, dropping the small craft down to the surface to deliver its deadly payload.
Commander John Shepard readied his modified M-8 Avenger, the smooth blue-gray exterior of the weapon gleaming slightly in the distant, smog-choked sunlight. The faint light of the holo-reticle reflecting slightly against the blue of Shepard's right eye. "Looks like they didn't see our approach. Let's move it."
Garrus Vakarian was next off the shuttle, the Magnetic harness of his armor laden with a veritable arsenal of small arms assault weapons. While not as impressive as the heavy weapons Shepard carried, Archangel's personal weapons were not anything to take lightly. The powerful, but slow-firing M-92 Mantis was in the taloned hands of the Turian vigilante, the visor covering his eye painting the radio signals of hostiles in the area and lighting up his motion sensors with their Element Zero-based weapons and armor.
"We've got movement up ahead Shepard. Looks like a patrol. I'm getting three positive signals. Just enough for each of us."
Revan Qel-Droma chose that moment to exit the shuttle, the door sealing behind his red and black-armored form. The former Jedi Knight and Dark Lord of the Sith held no weapons in his hands, a stark contrast to his companions as he allowed the Force and his senses to reach out, confirming the position of the Blue Sun guards that his mask's HUD had located. Making a quick adjustment to his omni-tool, the Mandalorian-raised near-human waited as the shuttle lifted away, keeping low and hiding behind the rusted, skeletal remains of once-great starships to avoid detection and holding nearby to drop its own team of fighters if Shepard ran into any trouble he and his squad couldn't handle. If Shepard had any idea how the mission would turn out, he would've left Revan on the Normandy.
"Alright, we'll hit them hard and fast before they can get a message off to their other-"
Shepard stopped speaking, his brow furrowing as he cast a quick glance around his location. Garrus, sensing the tension in the Commander also allowed his eyes to scan their surroundings. The Turian and Human were alone, the only sound reaching them that of a distant battle and a thick, acrid breeze. Revan was nowhere to be seen and it only took the two men a shared look of confusion that lasted only seconds before they heard a faint humming sound and screams of agony. Breaking off into an adrenaline-fuelled sprint, Shepard took the lead while Garrus allowed himself to fall behind slightly, his sniper rifle going to his magnetic harness while his M-15 Vindicator assault rifle extending as he brought it to bear on the figures positioned around the corner he'd followed Shepard towards. Years of training had stopped both men from advancing blindly and Garrus waited for Shepard to give the signal, watching tensely as Shepard slowly leaned from cover, the expression on the former N7 commando's features unreadable before he lowered his battle-stance and moved out of cover, closing the distance between himself and the pile of bodies at Revan Qel-Droma's feet. Garrus' mandibles shifted nervously before he followed the Commander, the thick cartilage of his avian features flaring in confusion and surprise as he gaped at the sight before him. It looked like someone had taken a guardian laser and sliced clean through two Blue Sun mercenaries. Steam was coming from the dismembered bodies, deep and violent orange gouges glowing along the black gashes in their armor. A third was on the ground, his arm severed and cauterized while he screamed the sound of a cornered animal, his remaining hand on his head instead of his stump of a missing limb. The screams were terrifying, even if they weren't from a Turian and Garrus shuddered as he remembered where he'd heard the sounds before. Doctor Saleon's mutated test subjects had given off the same inhuman wail and the memory of that confrontation tainted the Turian's memory as he approached the spectacle on display before him. Ozone was thick in the air as Revan held his lightsaber's ruby-red blade to the throat of the thrashing and screaming mercenary before him, his features impassive beneath his demonic mask as he looked on in silence. He was in the process of tearing apart the mind of the human before him, searching for any vital information for their mission when a heavy weight struck unexpectedly and expertly on the base of his neck. Armor and an super-human endurance kept the blow from knocking the former Jedi out on the spot but stars still clouded Revan's vision before he turned to glare at the source of the, in his opinion; unwarranted assault.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?"
Shepard's voice did not rise despite the anger he felt. Heat scorched his eyes painfully as his ocular implants glowed orange from the excess adrenaline burning in his veins and he drew his gaze level with the endlessly black slit in Revan's mask, pushing past the unease he felt to allow disgust to show on his features.
"Eliminating hostiles and gaining information."
The toneless quality to Revan's voice, filtered through the microphone in his mask reminded the Commander briefly of Sovereign's horrifying voice before he mentally forced the shiver in his spine from moving up to his shoulders. He wasn't going to back down now and whatever the Hell he had just seen was not right in his books and he wouldn't accept it on his crew.
"You were torturing him, using that weapon of yours to-"
Revan cut the Commander off disrespectfully, his tone taking on a hint of what sounded like amusement which only drove Shepard into a deeper level of anger.
"I merely disabled the man with the lightsaber, Shepard. His mind easily crumbled to my abilities and he is no longer able to present a threat to us or our mission."
Baring his teeth and taking on an expression he normally saved for slavers and thick-headed Krogan, Shepard reached out and grabbed the top of the breastplate of Revan's armor, dragging the man towards him as each violated the other's personal space.
"That isn't how I do things. You could have blown this entire mission, Revan. We need Intel, but we don't need his screams drawing the attention of every mercenary within a kilometer of us! What the Hell were you thinking?"
Revan allowed Shepard to manhandle him, flicking off his lightsaber and gesturing to the quivering mess of a man he'd just interrogated by his own standards. He'd been a Dark Lord of the Sith and a General to the Republic. He wasn't going to get squeamish or emotional over how he got information. Tearing the thoughts from an unwilling mind was always painful and to be fair, the Blue Sun mercenary had pulled a pistol on him before he'd bothered removing him of his arm.
"P-please. I-I'll tell them anything you want!"
As if on cue, a radio message from another Blue Sun patrol sounded over the earpiece the unfortunate mercenary was wearing and Revan merely stared at Shepard a moment longer before turning his masked face to the terrified and severely wounded mercenary.
"You heard your friends. They need direction."
Nodding shakily and offering no further protest, the mercenary radioed a false message to his comrades before Shepard reluctantly released his vice-grip on Revan's armored form and pulled a pack of medi-gel out for the wounded man before him. Revan calmly flicked his wrist, the Force manifesting in a slight tremor in the air around the former Dark Lord before it violently seized the fallen man and wretched his neck to the side. The snap was unmistakable to both Shepard and Garrus' ears and both jumped from the collapsing body to see Revan casually spinning his inactive lightsaber between his fingers.
"He might have given us away once we moved on. Too much of a risk to leave alive, let alone help."
In Revan's mind things were fairly clear. Mission; the potentially life-threatening kind, not the teenaged blue kind with head-tails, data-slicing skills that would put most Republic infiltrators to shame and a chip on her shoulder over an older brother. Enemy; not the kind you coddled or negotiated with. Goal; the success of the mission through any means necessary, preferably in the most expedient way so as to make previously said mission a success.
"You son of a bitch!"
Shepard's armored fist nearly knocked Revan's mask from his face. Careful to keep his saber inactive and dropping to the ground, Revan allowed the Commander his momentary loss of control, his lips quirking beneath his mask when he was pinned quickly by Garrus' foot to his chest as Shepard glared down at him, the barrel of his assault rifle inches from his masked face. He was in absolute control of the situation but they didn't need to know that just yet.
"What you're working on is important, Revan. Maybe more important than anything else right now but I will not tolerate an unstable psychopath on my squad. We do our jobs, but we do them right and as a team. If you can't handle that I've got no problem leaving you here. Maybe even with a bullet in the leg to remind you of your fleeting common sense. I don't allow that kind of behavior on my team. We don't torture, we don't murder and we don't pursue our own goals outside of the mission. You agreed to this on Omega. Why I have to remind you now is beyond me but so help me if you try anything like this again there is no amount of info you have on a Reaper-killing weapon that is going to stop me. Are. We. Clear?"
The Commander's assault rifle tapped the red and black mask obscuring Revan's blank features and while Revan knew it would absorb or deflect the shots if struck there was still the risk of a small round striking his visor and shattering the reinforced transparisteel. His powers could easily dispatch his two assailants but Revan allowed his mind to calm. He'd projected a brief image of what he'd seen while scanning the Seeker Swarmer with his senses into the Blue Sun merc's mind and even if he'd appeared coherent it was only a matter of time before the man's weak-willed mind collapsed under even a fraction of the reality facing his galaxy and all races within. Still, he may have been a bit overzealous in his dispatching of the patrol and while he'd vented his frustrations on the three Blue Sun mercenaries there were still dozens and dozens more within the facility... possibly hundreds.
"My fighting style is vastly different from what I've shown you so far Shepard. The blade is my secondary weapon and my abilities the primary. I can level this entire facility in mere seconds and we could walk over the corpses of our enemiesto Warlord Okeer. These men signed on to a vicious pack of bloodthirsty and murderous pirates and slavers and I have absolutely no sympathy towards them as sentient beings. They deserve the pain I can bring down on them. Hell, Shepard. In me you have a walking super weapon if you'll only grow the stomach to use me properly."
Garrus unpinned Revan, backing away as he cast a wary glance at their surroundings. Despite the violent display of Revan's abilities a lot of what he was saying was making too much sense to the former vigilante and it wasn't like anyone in Blue Sun armor in the last two decades was a shining example of tolerance and understanding. Hell, if it wasn't for the look of disappointed anger on Shepard's face he would probably be cheering Revan on as he ripped the facility apart with his strange mind-powers. As it stood, a pang of guilt grew in the heart of the former C-Sec officer as he realized how much he'd changed in the two years since Shepard's death while the Commander had remained the same beacon of morality and goodness he'd always been.
"I don't like this either but you gotta admit he got results, Shepard."
The look Shepard turned to his friend was enough to silence any more input from Garrus and the Turian turned quickly to monitor the perimeter. It really wasn't the place for a theological debate on the moral parameters of their mission let alone a fistfight between supposed allies and while a lot of what Revan said rang true in Garrus' disillusioned mind, he would be the first in line behind Shepard to pull the trigger if the Commander ordered the threat eliminated. He had genuinely respected and liked the Commander and while their friendship was on shaky ground in light of their unexpected reunion and Shepard's less-than upstanding benefactors it was a simple choice of who to back in this situation. He knew Shepard, he didn't know Revan.
"I'm not going to dictate to you how best to use your abilities in combat, Revan... but this behavior is unacceptable. I'm starting to think the Council wasn't just spewing their normal garbage when they passed sentence on you."
Any trace of amused superiority vanished from Revan's demeanor as he rose to his feet, a snarl on his lips.
"I did nothing to harm them! Nothing to anyone in this galaxy not asking for it! These men would have killed us and many more had they lived, Shepard. The Reapers need not come if scum like this is allowed to continue."
Shepard's features hardened to an unmoving mask as he heard the passion in Revan's voice. Obviously the Blue Sun's conduct on Omega had failed to endear them to the dangerous man but he'd built his entire career both as a Marine and a Spectre on doing the right thing. No compromise. It was as much a part of him as his own mind, his own heart and the blood in his veins. He wasn't going to change that for anyone, regardless of what they promised. Short of the Illusive Man and his missions, Shepard wasn't going to compromise his beliefs. Those missing colonists needed Cerberus, loathe as he was to admit it and the behind the back deal Revan had garnered with the Illusive Man and Miranda hadn't exactly filled the Commander with warm feelings in regards to his ally's loyalties."What did the Illusive Man promise you?"
Shepard finally asked, drawing a startled look from Garrus as the Turian noticed the abrupt change in the air. An electric hum had descended around the trio and Revan's expression, while unreadable through his mask seemed to take on a menacing form.
"Is a war zone really the best place to be-"
Revan began, his words stopping as a shot from Shepard's assault rifle struck the ground by his foot. "I asked you a question, Revan."
There was no humor or emotion in Shepard's tone. No anger either and Revan drew back his powers, his senses detecting no immediate threats while he considered his options. The Illusive Man had forbidden him from interfering in Shepard's grand mission, conveniently leaving out Cerberus' goals beyond the normal advancement and protection of humanity speech. As it was, Revan didn't trust the Illusive Man. The Cerberus leader spoke to Revan as if he'd done something to earn the Mandalorian-raised warrior's respect and Revan scoffed mentally at the thought. Shepard had more of his respect than the Illusive Man ever would. Shepard at least had the courage and drive to stand in the face of someone who so easily outclassed him and while he'd taken steps to assure his conversation with the Illusive man was a private meeting and their plans weren't overheard there was no agreement made between the two over its secrecy. It should have gone without saying, but the Illusive Man had passed the information and the nature of their deal on to Miranda. It was an insult to his abilities and a clear sign of the Illusive Man wanting to keep an eye on his investment in Revan. The former Jedi Knight bared his teeth in a vicious smirk beneath his mask as he laughed to himself. It wasn't like he was going to deliver on his part of the bargain anyways."I lied about the Ion cannons, Shepard."
For a moment it looked like the Commander was going to end it all then and there but after taking in a deep breath and allowing betrayal to cover his features as well as a bitterness that was so deep it seemed to sap the Force of any hope, Shepard merely sighed and shook his head in melancholy. Revan was quick to amend his statement.
"Lawson should have seen the flaw immediately if she is half as smart as she claims to be. I could easily have converted a micro-fusion reactor based on helium 3 to power the ion cannons but I asked specifically for a nuclear fission reactor. I made them believe a radioactive isotope was necessary for the EMP to be transferable to the Ion charge when in reality it's just a fancy focusing emitter housed between a power cell and a particle accelerator. Cerberus' Ion-cannons will work, but they'll be limited heavily by cooling issues that the fusion-based helium 3 reactor would not have... but I the design schematics I gave them would not allow conversion of the power supply without catastrophic power overloads. They'll have to redesign the weapon entirely and as the tech is only theoretical to them, it's unlikely they'll ever make it work without decades of research and field testing. I only need a handful of the supplies I asked of Cerberus to make the Ion cannon. The rest... well..."
Revan trailed off, giving Shepard time to understand what he was planning. In the back of his mind he wondered why he was being so frank with the Commander before pushing it aside. Being able to read minds made it easy to decide who was trustworthy and had earned respect. Shepard was both and Revan knew Garrus would say nothing to anyone over the matter, not if it was going to screw over an organization like Cerberus. While not an engineer or a tech-oriented person, Shepard was quick to realize the implications. Weapons grade radioactive materials and a pile of mechanical parts.
"You're going to make a thermonuclear bomb?"
Shepard was sure Cerberus would have plenty of tactical nukes at their disposal and Revan quickly responded to the Commander, his tone so serious it chilled the Commander.
"The Reapers aren't the only threat out there, Shepard. My galaxy is at the mercy of an enemy that has had a thousand years to prepare for their war. They don't have any idea of the danger they are in and I needed the Illusive Man's resources. He's promised me the Conduit as well as the sensor readings from the Presidium during my arrival in exchange for free reign over any tech I am supposed to bring back from my galaxy. I made him a trade agreement but really, I'm just going to shove a home-made nuke in the heart of my enemy's seat of power and destroy any access they have to this galaxy and vice-versa."
Revan paused a moment to allow the Commander to fully understand what he was willing to do. He'd played Cerberus' greed against them to gain access to a way to end or at the very least cripple the Sith threat to his own galaxy and while it would bring down the ire of an organization as powerful as Cerberus, Revan would be the sole source of information on his galaxy's technology and would be too valuable to kill.
It was a devious and underhanded scheme worthy of any STG unit or Cerberus Cell and it left the Commander a bit unsettled at the implications. While the plan wasn't exactly complex; simple plans were usually the best ones and no amount of whatever powers Revan seemed to possess would stand up against a nuke. Let alone one who's yield would have the benefit of Revan's technical genius behind it.
"This is- You'll be giving up your only way home, Revan... and why are you telling me this?"
Without pause, Revan looked Shepard straight in the eye, the gesture obvious even beneath his armored mask and answered without hesitation, his voice empty of any emotion.
"Cerberus can't be trusted. Why should we make nice with them when they're going to lead us into a trap or get us killed with their pointless little missions. I have nothing to go back for in my galaxy save for some emotional closure and really... we have more to worry about than my feelings."
The last word was said with such a trivial tone that it called an end to the rest of the conversation/interrogation. No other words were exchanged for a long moment before Shepard finally lowered his weapon from Revan, Garrus subconsciously following the Commander's lead and chuckling, drawing both men's gazes.
"It'll be funny to see the Illusive Man's face when he realizes how badly you screwed him over."
Shepard, momentarily forgetting Revan's brutal display on the Blue Sun mercs allowed a small smirk to cross his lips before he sobered quickly and took stock of their situation.
"You promise to rein in this... this mindless brutality... and I'll make sure you get your chance to hit your people's enemy. I want to know what you're dealing with first though. "
Shepard wasn't going to let a possibly unstable and dangerous man use a nuke on someone just on his word alone. He needed proof of Revan's enemy before he would be comfortable giving the man his support. Revan, sensing Shepard's misgivings and having reached his word quota for the day in regards to verbal explanations allowed a tendril of his abilities to lock onto Shepard's surprisingly strong mind and sent a flash of the Sith capitol on Ziost and his duel with their Emperor. Allowing his own sense of reality to cloud the vision he was giving Shepard, Revan exposed humanity's first Spectre to the Force. Through the vision Shepard could see and hear exactly what Revan could at the time, could sense the sickening malice at the edge of his senses and snuffing out any even remotely positive emotions. The Sith, while not as genocidal as the Reapers were by no means humanitarians. Throughout the vision, Shepard could see the thoughts of the Sith on display before Revan's senses as if on a vid-screen and the result was immediate.
Revan broke the mental connection quickly as Shepard heaved his lunch, vomiting on the ground and coughing violently as he tried to regain a sense of equilibrium. The Sith, nearly all of them had only one thought on their minds. Revenge. They wanted to kill or enslave every other sentient in Revan's galaxy or anywhere they could extend their malicious reach. They believed to a fanatical degree that they had the right to dominate and enslave those considered weaker simply because they had the power and while a vast majority of the minds he sensed were not as focused as those of the Sith warriors and Emperor in their malice, it was still a suffocating undercurrent to their thoughts and with a shiver Shepard turned his gaze to Revan, offering a single nod as his consent for Revan to proceed with his plan. He was still skeptical... but that could wait until it was time to deal with Revan's loyalties. Revan had been surprisingly honest with him and as a result he knew he couldn't trust the vision alone. Revan could read minds with ease, trick them and manipulate them without the victim even knowing it. Shepard wouldn't trust a vision again without some tangible proof. That meant going through the Conduit with Revan and his little surprise for the Sith and that meant yet another mission...
"We got movement. Whatever the Hell you two are doing can wait."
Revan and Shepard glanced at Garrus as the Turian shouldered his assault rifle before both exchanged glances and Shepard did the same as his comrade. Revan merely readied his saber and his senses, prepared to exploit his abilities in the coming battle. All arguments and agendas were forgotten between the three as Shepard took point, Revan creeping alongside the Commander and palming his pistol as he considered the dangers of friendly fire if he were to simply charge his opponents with a lightsaber. The answer to Revan's internal debate came when a half dozen Blue Sun mercs; a combination of Human, Batarian and Turian appeared on the edge of a walkway overhead, mass accelerated projectiles whizzing by their position as Shepard and Garrus dove for cover. Revan merely shifted his body, avoiding the hyper-velocity projectiles as if they were meant to miss him before taking cover near an adjacent pile of debris from his companions.
While Revan could avoid most of the projectiles and possibly even deflect them with his armored plates and shielding there was no guarantee his abilities would protect him from a dozen automatic weapons focusing solely on him.
Shepard cursed as he huddled as close to the ground as his armor would allow. Hypervelocity rounds whizzed pas his head, the deafening crack of the projectiles breaking the sound barrier making his ears ring even through the sound-amplifying headset he wore. A flanging snarl told him Garrus was in the same predicament as he was and Shepard turned his eyes from their limited cover to spot Revan's armored form also behind cover, exposed on both sides as they were and in a kill zone. The twists and turns of the metal walls and starship hulks around them were like a maze that the enemy had taken advantage of. With the high ground as well as better cover the Blue Suns had the trio pinned effectively and any advance would be suicidal with the number of guns leveled at them.
The distraction of his confrontation with Revan as well as the images thrown into his mind from the man had left him dazed and nauseous. It was a significantly less intense sensation than the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime had been... but that had put him in a mini-coma for fifteen hours while the vision Revan had granted him had made him feel like he'd had a drinking contest with a Krogan... and a half-dozen shots of ryncol. Distraction and combat were bad combinations and it was painfully obvious to Shepard that they'd need some serious luck to get out of this situation.
Turning his eyes to Revan, the Commander grit his teeth in irritation at the right of the pistol sitting on the former Jedi Knight's holster. Preparing to shout an order for the man to give him and Garrus cover-fire so they could get to better cover the words died in Shepard's throat before they could pass his lips as Revan's hand moved to his belt and the man vanished from the visual spectrum. A faint outline that looked like nothing more than a heat distortion was still visible, but the former Spectre lost sight of the distortion after blinking some dust out of his eyes, the only trace of Revan's presence the heavy pistol lying on the ground where he'd been moments before.
Seventy yards from Shepard and Garrus' positions a dozen Blue Sun Mercenaries poured a constant rain of fire down upon their foes as their suit's scanners looking for traces of Element Zero on their trackers. Seeing that all three targets were still within their kill-box; confidence born of high powered weapons, resilient armor and text-book perfect positioning was bolstered when none of their enemies moved from their cover. All they had to do was spread out to the adjacent walkways and strike their enemy's flank to finish the intruders off.
Assumptions are often fatal mistakes in combat and it was no different in this situation. Four Blue Sun mercenaries broke off from the main force, a trio of fighters armed with assault rifles breaking cover and moving to a position due planetary east of their opponents while the forth took a new position and prepared a high-powered and deadly M-98 Widow sniper rifle to tear apart the cover of their foes. Checking his tracker and wanting to make certain the enemy was in an even worse position the Turian mercenary aimed down his sights at the single element zero contact on his scopes and fired a deadly projectile into the rusted metal of his targets cover. A smirk crossed the sniper's lips as shouts of surprise came from the two remaining hostiles and he drew his rifle to bear on their position, his taloned finger gently squeezing the trigger after he reloaded a new thermal clip into the powerful weapon.
Shepard gave a startled curse when a deafening crack struck the cover Revan had been using mere seconds before and the former N-7 activated the overcharge option on his omni-tool to chance a break for a new position. If he and Garrus didn't move fast they'd be corpses under the firepower of an anti-material rifle designed to stop Krogan and armored assault vehicles in their tracks. Blind-firing his assault rifle the Commander broke into an adrenaline-fueled sprint, his mind going blank as he allowed instinct to take over. Garrus took his cur from Shepard and sprayed poorly-aimed five-round bursts from his M-15 Vindicator as he moved to a new set of cover. Turian Vigilante and Human Spectre reached their new cover unharmed and Garrus spotted Shepard lifting Revan's abandoned pistol before realizing they were no longer receiving enemy fire on their positions. Recalling the evens prior to their current cluster-fuck, the two men exchanged glances before both simultaneously leaned from their cover and leveled their rifles on the chaos before them.
In the corner of his eye, Shepard spotted three Blue Sun mercenaries trying to take advantage of their minimum cover in clear sight of his position and called out to Garrus as the two warriors made quick and efficient work of their would-be flankers. The Commander's shots were fired with the accuracy of an N-7 Commando in his prime with the best weapons and mods available while Garrus' bursts stripped away the shields and took gouging chunks from the armor of their foes. Within seconds of sustained and coordinated fire the two had dropped three Blue Suns before both took new cover and reloaded their thermal clips. Sweat beaded on Shepard's forehead, stinging his eyes as he tried to calm his breathing. They'd beaten the odds again by getting out of their suicidal and ill-placed cover and the Commander took extra care to check the three-dimensional map of their small battlefield to make certain they weren't taken by surprise again from overlapping walkways.
"Commander!"Garrus' exclamation drew Shepard from his brief study of the battleground and he nodded to his companion as they both leaned from cover again and sighted the walkway above. A sniper lay at an odd angle, the massive form of an M-98 Widow clenched in a death-grip in his talons as he hung halfway off of the walkway overhead. A steaming orange gash ran along the weapon's mechanism, having cleaved the weapon in to with surgical precision and continued on to the Turian's helmet. The black scorch in the armored mask, its edges glowing orange told of a quick and violent death and Shepard turned his gaze from their would-be assassin to see what had gained the attention of their once threatening foes.
Slicing cleanly through the Turian sniper's weapon and into his skull had prevented the mercenary from getting off a second shot from his devastating weapon and Revan sprinted past, the action of dispatching the sniper only taking seconds. The red glow of his lightsaber and the flat lining of the sniper on the eight remaining Blue Sun's HUDs had made stealth impossible, though Revan hardly needed it. The Force empowering his body and his armor and shields granting him protection from the shifting fire of his opponents, Revan performed an inhuman leap across the fifteen meters separating the walkway he was on to land in the midst of the gathered Blue Suns. Two groups of four were separated by a raised skeletal support frame from an ancient starship and gave Revan precious seconds to exploit his enemy's divided firepower and numbers.
Metal groaned as the Force swirled violently around Revan, a whirlwind of power energizing the air and stripping away the cover of the four opponents out of his line of sight. Shepard and Garrus could have those, Revan decided as he ducked with inhuman speed and ran his saber across the abdomen of the Batarian mercenary closest to him. With the Force, Revan grasped the collapsing body before it could fall and used it as a humanoid shield, the armor and kinetic barriers of the dying Batarian still active even after the lightsaber slash. Reversing his backhanded grip on his weapon and adopting an Ataru stance, Revan did a spinning leap over the meat-shield, allowing his invisible grip on the body to release as he struck a Human Blue Sun combatant and sliced the unfortunate woman cleanly in half.
Rounds deflected from the powerful Mandalorian dueling shields covering Revan's form before they lost power under the constant strain of fire and several shots from the recovering two Blue Suns within sight of him struck his armor. Cushioned from the force of the impacts due to the new upgrades he'd recently made to his armor, Revan allowed a sinister chuckle to escape his throat as he returned to a backhanded grip on his lightsaber and his favored Juyo stance. The Force grasped both mercenary's weapons and tore them from their hands before it extended its reach to the remaining Turian and Human. Both mercenaries were unable to escape the unrelenting grasp on their forms as they were dragged towards Revan and both soundly decapitated with casual, almost lazy back-handed slashes that resembled a flourish more than a set of deadly kill strikes.
Without cover the four remaining Blue Sun mercenaries had no chance against Shepard and Garrus' skill. Both could see the impressive display of Revan's abilities but did not take the time to gawk or admire them as their foes were moving to strike their ally. All arguments or hostility was forgotten between the three men as they combined their deadly skills and weapons and brought down a force of mercenaries four times their size a mere fifty seconds after being pinned down.
As the final Blue Sun mercenary fell to a shot from Garrus' Vindicator, the Turian smirked towards Shepard, nodding his head towards Revan's position as he gave an amused chuckle.
"Why couldn't we have him with us when we were hunting Saren? Would've made killing all those Geth a lot easier."
Shepard allowed his mind and body to calm from the battle, his senses still alert to nearby threats though the immediate danger had passed with their violent encounter. He allowed his friend and squadmate a small nod of agreement though no smirk crossed his lips. He remembered Revan's actions on the last group of mercenaries and while what he'd seen of the second encounter of Revan's odd and frightening fighting abilities unleashed upon his foes he still remembered the screams of the literally disarmed mercenary and the merciless snap of the man's neck at Revan's hands. He wouldn't forget that anytime soon and he would make sure to have a talk with Yeoman Chambers when he got back to the Normandy. He could recognize signs of post-traumatic stress within Revan that was turning into violently homicidal and sociopathic tendencies and he intended to do his best to save the man. Revan was dangerous and unpredictable... but then so was Wrex and Shepard had seen the better man... or Krogan as it were within his former crewmate and he could see glimpses of it within Revan when he interacted with Lia and Shari'a. Asari weren't easily fooled; especially Matrons and Revan somehow had Shari'a's trust and Lia's as well. His experiences with Tali on the original Normandy reminded him of Quarrian's aptitude of reading body-language, something he'd unconsciously picked up on from the young pilgrim that had helped him track down and ultimately defeat Saren and Sovereign. He could see the discomfort in Revan's body each time Shari'a was near and the reluctance the man had to offer a casual touch of comfort or support to Lia. He'd suffered a similar state himself after barely surviving his father's and sister's deaths on Mindoir and the Batarian raid there when he was only sixteen. It had been a small favor that his mother had been away on duty with the Navy and wasn't subjected to the horrors of the slaver's raid and it had taken months of counseling and literally years of restless nights before he could allow himself to slip into a restful sleep. He'd never found his sister Jane's body, the house having been burned to ashes. She'd been two years younger than him at the time, barely a teenager when the slavers had come and he'd been out hunting for local game, returning to a burning house and the sight of his father's battered and executed corpse, clad in the battle-marked armor of a colonial militia Marine.
His actions there, wandering in a field chasing the planet's equivalent of deer as his family was butchered by slavers still shamed him to this day and it was only the horrors unleashed on Eden Prime and the pursuit of Saren and seeing with his own eyes the damage the path he'd walked could lead to that had pulled him away from the hole he'd been slowly burying himself in. N-7 Commandoes that had seen as much action as he had were rare and he'd been the first to step forward for the dangerous missions. He'd buried himself in his duty, barely speaking with his mother to avoid the mutual grief they shared and instead becoming a hero to the Alliance. Heroes had short life expectancies and it hadn't really bothered him until he'd met an Asari archaeologist on Therum.
Liara had seen something good in him, something worth saving and had nurtured it and been with him every step of the way on his hunt across the galaxy for Saren; even when it was her own mother, barely coherent as she struggled against the Reaper's Indoctrination to give them the coordinates of the Mu Relay so they could stop Sovereign. What had happened there between Liara and Benezia was so heartbreaking to watch that Shepard could scarcely remember releasing the Rachni Queen shortly after. His eyes had been on Liara, even as she tried to be strong and move on after her mother's passing, the grief still plain to see in her eyes even as her voice spoke with the certainty of their mission and it was to her that he owed his humanity and life. An Asari had saved his soul by sharing a piece of her own with him and he'd begun to care again about the people around him, the crew he'd gathered in his hunt for the Conduit.
Thinking of everything that had been lost to the Collectors, not just what he'd lost but also the countless missing colonists, Shepard's blue eyes hardened, ice entering his expression as he sighted an armored Krogan wielding a shotgun and staring up to where Revan still fought after both combined their efforts to slay a squad Blue Sun mercenaries on the walkway above. Most of the Blue Suns in the training grounds were already dead or dying with the combined efforts of the Normandy's squad and the Krogan berserkers that cluttered the grounds... but this one wasn't assaulting them on sight. That much was obvious by the way it gazed up at Revan's armored form as he finished off two other Blue Sun mercenaries with a spinning slash of his lightsaber and an open palm to the remaining fighter that somehow caused the unfortunate human to be pushed backwards off of the walkway and fall to his death, even though Shepard never saw Revan's hand connect with the still-twitching body.
Revan frowned beneath his mask at the way the Krogan below him felt through the Force. It was a dangerous opponent obviously, but this one felt almost docile as it took notice of his presence. Revan's hesitance to kill the massive alien was reinforced by Shepard as the Commander motioned for Garrus to lower his weapon as the two cautiously approached the unmoving alien. From above on the walkway, Revan watched the interaction curiously. He'd watched the Krogan slaughter a squad of Blue Suns but here it was having a pleasant conversation with Shepard. Shaking his head at the spectacle, Revan decided it might be better to emulate some of Shepard's actions as he stayed his hand in slaying the Krogan with his Force-powers. He had no wish to get close to a potential biotic in combat and from what his senses were screaming at him this Krogan was not lacking in that discipline.
A dull thump caused Shepard to glance over his shoulder, abandoning his conversation with the tank-born Krogan. Revan was rising from a crouch after leaping down from the walkway above. Reaching down to his harness, Shepard breathed a sigh of relief as Revan attached the deadly energy blade in his hand to his belt and accepted his previously abandoned pistol. From the look of the building beyond them and what EDI's scans had found a pistol seemed more practical than a laser sword. The tank-born Krogan moved aside a massive plate of debris, clearing a passageway for the trio of fighters before it turned and walked back into the training area. The Krogan's underdeveloped mind could comprehend that none of the Normandy squad mates were its enemy but fell back into the comfort of his mental programming, refusing to leave the life it had known for the seven days of its conscious life.
"That was bloody unsettling."
Revan commented, having encountered a number of the more unpleasant Krogan on Omega in the form of the vicious Blood Pack. Garrus and Shepard both nodded their agreement as Revan checked the thermal clip of his returned pistol before Shepard moved ahead, his weapon sweeping for enemies as they passed through the jagged entrance to the passageway the Krogan had revealed to them. Almost immediately the trio was alerted to the signs of battle as voices shouted in panic, weapons-fire roaring through the enclosed space of the path as it led down beneath the wreckage. Two men clad in Blue Sun armor appeared at the bottom of the ramp from a side-passageway, their weapons firing the way they'd come as a third Blue Sun out of their line of sight gave a death-cry, the deep rumbling of a Krogan's voice echoing over the sound of battle.
The two Blue Sun mercenaries managed to down the Krogan before it was in sight of Shepard's squad and Revan raised his pistol, the distance too great between himself and his foes for a melee and the risk of getting caught in the crossfire too great a risk. Revan lined up his weapon's targeting reticule on the helmet of one of the mercs and squeezed off a devastating headshot while the other managed to fire several poorly-placed shots on the Normandy squad before he too fell to the roar of Shepard's assault rifle. Garrus had been keeping his sharp eyes focused on the corner the mercenaries had come around, listening intently as his senses mentally drew picture of a dozen Krogan if the motion tracker in his armor was working correctly. It couldn't be Blue Suns or the three freshly slain mercs before them wouldn't have retreated from their support.
"Might want a stronger gun, Revan."
Garrus offered as he nodded to the shotgun clenched in the hands of one of the Blue Sun's death-grip. Revan declined the shotgun, his lightsaber returning to his hand as he took a left handed grip of his pistol and kept the Sith-crafted blade in his dominant right in a reversed grip.
"I'm fine with these for now, Vakarian."
Revan commented, causing the Turian to share an uncertain glance with Shepard. He hadn't been privy to Revan going hand to hand with a Krogan with only Shepard's knife in the quarantine zone on Omega and even though he'd seen the deadly effect Revan's skill with the blade had unleashed on their mercenary foes he still knew the best defense against a Krogan was distance and firepower. The M-5 Phalanx in Revan's left hand had respectable stopping power but with only six shots and the fact that their next fight would be with Krogan doubt was beginning to set in Garrus. Shepard wordlessly shifted his gaze over his companions, silently urging them forward before Garrus cast a longing look down at the perfectly good weapons in the hands of the dead mercenaries before following Shepard once more into statistically terrible odds.
~End of Part I~
AN: I'm going with a mixture of Spacer/Colonist War Hero/Sole Survivor for Shepard's character... with just a hint of Renegade for certain situations. This obviously differs slightly from the game's options but that's only because I wanted to make him a broader character and not some mindless good guy spouting paragon platitudes with high-minded ideals as his moral foundation. I think the darker past for Shepard adds depth to him and may even convince Renegade-Revan to stay in line later on... if he feels like it (the Ass). Obviously a Shepard/Liara pairing. Any others we'll have to wait and see.