Well here's the long awaited sixth chapter. I honestly have no excuse for the lateness other than I've been busy with many other fics and life.
I'll continue writing this story but it is second on my priority list after my other fic Reality Effect, so I'm sorry to say this but please don't anticipate quick uploads. I hope you can understand.
Sorry again and I hope that this chapter is satisfying.
Enjoy and please review.
Interval 6 – Subject Zero
"Commander, are you sure this is a good idea?" Miranda asked as she looked cautiously at the tank that held a young Krogan. They had just returned from the planet Korlus where Dr Okeer, a brutal Krogan warlord and scientist who they were sent to recruit, unfortunately perished ant the hands of the Blue Suns however this tank held what he claimed was his legacy, a pure Krogan.
"Relax Miranda, I know what I'm doing," He said as he approached the tanks release button however he paused beforehand. "Um, EDI is this safe?" He whispered.
"I'm afraid that I cannot tell if he is actively aggressive however he still is a Krogan," The AI replied. If Shepard didn't know better he'd say that EDI had been sarcastic.
"Right, of course. Miranda I'd stand back if I was you," Shepard said. He was then suddenly aware of the lack of said person in the room. "Miranda?" He turned to find the room empty however he saw Miranda standing on the walkway outside looking through the windows with an expression that said good luck.
Shepard sighed before pressing the button. There was a hiss of escaping gas as the liquid drained. Shepard stood back as the tank opened and the krogan fell to the floor. It gasped its first breath of air and choked up a slimy fluid before rising to meet Shepard's eyes with an agitated glair.
It roared and charged.
Miranda gasped as she saw the Krogan pummel into Shepard and disappeared around the corner. She ran to the door and to her distress found it to be locked. "EDI! Open this door! NOW!"
"For safety reasons I'm afraid I can't," The monotone voice replied.
"That was an order EDI!"
"I know but crew safety comes first and I can't risk the Krogan becoming loose,"
"But the Commander-" Miranda would have continued to argue if it wasn't for the door swishing open in mid-sentence to reveal Shepard dusting off his uniform with the krogan standing behind, the krogan had a glimmer of respect on his face.
"Ah, Miranda meet Grunt our newest member." Shepard said. Grunt grunted in acknowledgement.
The Normandy soured silently though the vacuum of space. Dust rippled on its kinetic barriers as it glided over the asteroid belt and down towards the large former ark-ship that has come to be known as Purgatory, the infamous Blue Sun run prison.
"We're here to collect a prisoner," Shepard began in the Normandy's briefing room. All ground crew members were present and holding data pads in their hands. "The prisoner's name is Jack and, well, I doubt you need the dossier to know that Jack is violent. Miranda, as Cerberus is paying for their release your coming with me and Grunt, you're coming to,"
"There better be a good fight," Grunt grunted whilst cracking his knuckles in anticipation.
"If there is then that's why you're coming," Shepard said. "Garrus if anything does go wrong you're in charge of everyone else."
"So what do you want us to do? Go in guns blazing after you?" Garrus asked.
"Only if I call for you, if not just keep them off the ship,"
"Commander," Joker's voice called over the ships intercom. "We're coming in to dock,"
With that the crew dispersed to their stations as Shepard donned his armour and weapons and headed to the air lock where Grunt was waiting. He cradled a shotgun in his hands and held a glimmer of delight in his eyes. "I'm ready Shepard. These mercs won't stand a chance,"
"I doubt they will, just remember that we're not here to shoot them,"
Grunt grunted and grumbled; "Very well then. But the next fight better be good."
They waited for a few more seconds for Miranda to arrive and to Shepard's surprise she wasn't wearing her normal black and white skin tight 'uniform', instead she was wearing an equally skin tight suit of Cerberus armour with a yellow HUD visor.
"Where did you get that?"
"I ordered it from the Cerberus Requisition Department but they lost the paper work and when the courier finally caught up with us on the Citadel he charged me 160 Credits for the shipment." Miranda said as she pushed passed Shepard and Grunt to step out and onto the prison ship.
The trio walked down the bleak grey corridor towards three blue sun guards that awaited them. "Welcome to Purgatory Commander," The first guard greeted, "Your package is being prepared. As this is a high security prison as I must ask you to relinquish your weapons before you can proceed."
"That's not going to happen." Shepard said, his hand hovered over his pistol. Miranda did the same as Grunt clasped his shotgun protectively as if it was his child.
"I'm sorry sir but it is procedure, your weapons will be ret-"
"It's my procedure to keep my gun." Shepard said, his eyebrows frowned in concentration. It was a standoff. One that was reminiscent of those old 'westerns' Shepard had heard off yet never watched.
The doors behind the guards opened. A Blue Sun strode in barking, "Stand down!" The guards reluctantly replied. "Commander Shepard, Welcome to Purgatory." The barefaced Turian greeted, "I'm Warden Kuril and this is my ship. You have to understand that we take security seriously here and you must relinquish your weapons."
"I'm sorry but I can't do that." Shepard replied, Grunt grunted in approval.
Warden Kuril's brow plates frowned. "Well, we're more than capable of handling three armed guests. Welcome aboard Shepard, please, follow me."
They passed through the ships raised corridors over the maximum security blocks. Kuril prided himself on the efficiency and deterrents of the prison and was more than happy to show examples of his work, also to defend himself when Shepard questioned his motives and means of extorting the criminals' worlds.
Eventually Kuril pointed them in the direction of out-processing whilst he left to check to see whether Cerberus' funds had come through. Shepard entered the room, a technician pointed them to the far side but he wasn't what caught Shepard's attention. It was the man standing by the door on the far side that did. It was Fettle; he gave a sadistic grind before turning to ash. By now Shepard was beginning to get used to people appearing and disappearing yet seeing Fettle unease him more than Alma. Alma always seemed to be watching over him, Fettle however, he seemed to want only chaos.
Nerveless Shepard continued to the far side, he had a job to do and no ghosts would stop him from his mission. He opened a door at the far end only to find himself staring into an empty cell.
"I'm sorry Shepard," Kuril's voice called over the intercom as guards entered the room, "but you're worth more to me as a prisoner then as a customer. If you would be so kind to drop your weapons and enter the cell and no one has to be harmed."
"It's a tempting offer but I'd say you men's life expectancy has dropped dramatically."
"Kill the Krogan and Female! Take Shepard alive!" Kuril's voice ordered.
The Blue Suns and mechs surged forwards opening fire. Shepard, Grunt and Miranda dived behind the cover of a bench as bullets whizzed and cracked overhead and around them. There was too many. "Garrus!" Shepard called into his radio, there was a sudden burst of static.
Everything slowed for Shepard as he bravely peeked through a gap in the bench. A Blue Sun was bathed in a red glow that emulated form his body as he twitched and convulsed before letting out a blast of red energy that shatter the guards around leaving only red and blue spears along with piles of bone, shell and scrap metal.
Grunt grunted in approval. "I like that on, can we get him too?"
Shepard ignored him as he slung his weapon over the edge and began to fire at the remaining mercs, Grunt and Miranda soon followed. The Blue Suns fell into chaos. They were falling right to left and in their panic some even turned their guns on each over. In that end only the red Blue Sun remained. He turned to Shepard and the faceless helmet met his eyes. Shepard not hesitating knew this 'man' was dangerous and raised his rifle and fired.
The round smashed into the Blue Suns helmet. Blood exploded form the back. The lifeless merc fell back however a man remained in the mercs place. Paxton Fettle, with a satisfied grin on his face. He stayed for a second before turning to ash.
"Can humans do that?" Grunt asked.
"No, we're not supposed to… Let's find Jack and get out of here." Shepard said, as he walked and carefully stepped over the crimson and blue rivers. Grunt strolled through and Miranda gulped as she followed close behind.
The emerged back into the walkways above the prison floor where more mercs moved forwards to attack only with a lot less enthusiasm then before. Shepard and Miranda took cover behind the metal struts on ever side. Shepard leaned out of cover, switched to incendiary ammo and raised his Mattock rifle as time slowed. The Warp that Miranda had thrown glided gently over the floor as Shepard unloaded round after round into the mercs' heads.
When time turned back only one merc remained and he obviously was having regrets over his choice of career. There was a cry of excited anger from Grunt as he shot passed Shepard and raised his shotgun at the cowering merc. Grunt pulled the trigger. Shepard didn't see much of what happed only the large blood stain that splatted over the windows and floor.
"Ha! This is fun Shepard," Grunt called, "It's like, what's that human phrase… Shooting amphibians in a box!"
"It's fish in a barrel Grunt," Miranda corrected as Shepard led them down the walkway.
"Why would anyone want to shoot fish in a barrel? That's just un-sportsman like."
"Jack should be though here." Shepard said as he stood in front of the last door on the walkway, Miranda and Grunt stood to his side as he pressed the open button. The other side was a large room with the far wall consisting of windows looking down into an area. In front of them was a console with a panicking technician calling for help as he snakingly raised a pistol towards Shepard.
Shepard didn't feel sorry for him as a shot from his Mattock made the glass behind become peppered with the technician's blood.
"According to this Jack's down there," Miranda said as she examined the console. Shepard looked though the blood smeared glass at the large room below. It was empty apart from three deactivated YMIR mechs and a large robotic arm over a circler object in the floor. "We can release jack from here but doing so will release every other prisoner on the ship."
"Well I hope that whoever thought of that is in one of these cells." Shepard muttered, "Open the cells, we don't have much choice."
Miranda nodded as she pressed the button. There was a hiss of escaping gas the robotic arm grabbed and raised the cryo cell. Condensing gasses flowed around as the three got their first look at the convict.
Grunt was the first to speak, "Jack's small… and a female!"
Shepard however had noticed something else. His radio filled with static again as Jack's eyes opened. She looked around at the now activated mechs. The glow of biotics flowed around her; however this glow wasn't like any biotics the grope had ever seen. There were wisps of red and yellow amongst the blue as she shot forwards with enough force that the prison ship rocked almost knocking Shepard and the others to the floor. There were three explosions from the mechs and a tearing crash as a hole was ripped in the wall beneath them.
"Shepard what is going on?" Garrus called over the radio as Shepard regained his stance and began to walk a side door that lead down into the chamber.
"Jack is out and so is every over prisoner on this ship. Hold the Normandy; let no one on except for us." Shepard said.
"Roger that Shepard."
The chamber was a mess but it was nothing compared to the devastation jack had caused in the ships walls and service corridors.
"Sectors seven, nine and eleven have lost life support, no survivors," The ship's VI said as the trio emerged into a cellblock littered with the corpses of Blue Suns and prisoners alike. The block was in flames and falling apart. Gunfire was calling from nearby.
"Ha! I like this girl!" Grunt exclaimed as they raced across the cellblock only to take cover as guards and prisoners alike opened fire indiscriminately.
"How do we find her?" Miranda asked as they exchanged fire with the Guards.
"Easy, we just follow the senseless carnage and destruction." Shepard smiled as he leaped over cover, time slowed again for him as he picked off anyone who moved.
"You're valuable Shepard! I could have sold you and lived like a king!" Kuril said as he fired wildly with his Revenant machinegun sending Shepard and the squad sprinting for cover. "But you're not worth the trouble, I can still capture jack!"
"Not gonna happen Kuril!" Shepard yelled back.
"I do the hard things civil governments are unwilling to do! This is for the good of the Galaxy!" Kuril called again as he sprayed Shepard's cover with mass accelerated rounds. By now Shepard was understandably fed-up with the barefaced turian. Kuril had surrounded himself with a near impenetrable kinetic barrier. The only weakness was the fact that the three generators keeping the barrier up were on Shepard's side. Shepard briefly wondered why Kuril had done that and why he just didn't use the kinetic barriers to trap him, Miranda and Grunt instead.
Shepard simply shrugged the thoughts off as he took out the first generator whilst Miranda and Grunt held the mercs back. Miranda sent a warp at the second ripping the generator to shreds in seconds. The third however was more difficult. Shepard pulled out his Mantis sniper rifle and took aim as time slowed again. He locked onto the generator and pulled the trigger once, twice and then a third time. The generator blew to pieces as the barrier around Kuril collapsed.
"It's over Kuril!" Shepard called as he pulled out his grenade launcher and turned to Miranda and Grunt, "Cover me."
The two only complied as Shepard rolled out of cover, time slowed once again as he lined up the shot and fired three grenades. Kuril's bare mandibles twitched before he disappeared into a ball of flames.
Shepard stepped back onto the gangplank to the Normandy. There the almost naked and heavily tattooed Jack paced around and seemed to be screaming in anger at the Normandy. A batarian Blue Sun rose behind Jack and lifted his assault rifle to her. Shepard raised his pistol to fire at the merc, he pulled the trigger, there was a click.
Shepard cursed as he hurried to place a new thermal clip in his pistol. Jack however glowed blue in biotics as she shot round to the last merc. She screamed in rage as she let loose a blue, red and yellow blast into the merc. Shepard filched as the merc was ripped to shreds and splattered the wall with deep crimson blood leaving only a pile of broken bone and armour.
Jack turned to Shepard, she scrolled as she began to pace from one side of the gangplank to the other. "Who the hell are you!"
"My name's Commander Shepard, I'm here to get you out of here."
"You're Cerberus. I not gonna go anywhere with you!"
"I'm not your enemy Jack. I don't work for Cerberus and I came here to get you out."
"You show up in a Cerberus ship, she's has Cerberus logos over her chest and you expect me to believe that!" Jack spat.
"Jack, this ship is going down, I need your help and I'm offering you a way out." Shepard calmly said.
Jack thought for a moment. "Fine! But if you want me you've gotta make it worthwhile."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I bet that ship is full of Cerberus secrets. I want access to them, to see what Cerberus has got on me."
"I'm sure that can be arraigned, you can have full accesses." Shepard said.
"Shepard! You are not authorised to do that!" Miranda intervened.
"Ooh have I upset you cheerleader? Even better." Jack smirked. "You better be straight with me Sheppard."
"You have my word."
"Then what the hell are we doing standing here? Let's go."
Shepard shot up from his bead panting and covered in sweet. He slammed on the lights and rested his head in his hands with a frustrated sigh. He's been having nightmares almost every night since his… resurrection? He still didn't know what to call that time. His nightmares however never made any sense; this one though was different from the others.
"Are you alight Shep?"
Shepard's head shot round to the voices owner. Kasumi stood somewhat awkwardly nearby with a worried look on her hooded face.
"Kasumi what are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to-"
"Sneak into my cabin whilst I was asleep?"
"I was only having a look around. I wasn't going to disturbed you or anything. But then you started rolling about and mumbling before waking up." Kasumi said as she sat on his couch in her usual legs to chest pose.
"It was nothing…" Shepard sighed.
"Shep, you helped me get Keiji's greybox back, something's wrong so let me return the favour." She smiled.
Shepard sighed, "I've been having these nightmares. It's nothing that you can help with, but thanks for the offer."
"I know that you've been seeing things, strange creepy things,"
"How?" Shepard asked.
"Zaeed and Grunt haven't shut up about their encounters with them; I also overheard Miranda and Mordin talking about them. At first I didn't believe it but I know when people are lying. Does this have something to do with them?"
"It was a weird dream," Shepard said, "I don't know if it has anything to do with those two… ghosts or not. I was on this barren planet only all around was thousands maybe even millions of dead, rotting corpses of Krogan children."
"Why would you dream of that?" Kasumi gasped.
"I wish I knew. Anyway that wasn't all. I was chased around the mountains of dead Krogan by a thresher maw, it almost got me when I slipped from the top of a mound and fell down the corps pile. When I landed at the bottom I looked up to see Mordin standing there, he seemed… distant. Next thing I knew I was being sucked into the pile of corpses then I woke up."
"You my friend have some seriously messed up dreams." Kasumi said.
"Thanks." Shepard said with a short small chuckle.
"Well I don't know how to help but if that's all I guess I'll be going." Kasumi said as she stood and walked towards the door.
"Yeah… and please don't come in here again without me knowing."
"No prob' Shep." Kasumi smiled.
"Oh and Kasumi,"
"Yes shep?"
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." Kasumi said as she vanished.
Shepard sighed as he lied down and switched of the lights. He rested for a few seconds before saying in a warning tone, "Kasumi…"
"I'm going, I'm going." A disembodied voice said as his cabin doors opened and soon closed again before locking themselves.