Even the Best Laid Plans
He was the unseen, the silent blade. She was the protector, the shining lance.
Together, they will fight.
Right and wrong are more often shades of gray than black and white.
Can they change the fate of the galaxy?
Can they save each other?
The planet Invictus was one of the few garden planets in the Minos Wasteland. Turians occupied the desert areas but avoided the lush jungle belts due to unknown pathogens that mowed them down by the dozens. The lack of possible intervention from planetary authorities made the equatorial regions ripe for illicit operations by races immune to the diseases.
But not for someone suffering from Kepral's Syndrome.
Still, this was his mission. Shepard had taken on this quest for his sake. He wasn't about to let her leave him on the ship. He had told her as much when she'd tried to convince him to stay. It was one of the few times he'd categorically disagreed with her, and he thought it was the surprise of it as much as anything that caused her to change her mind.
Privately, he had smiled to himself. Her concern had been a bright point in a mission that was proving longer and more trouble-ridden than even one of Shepard's missions usually merited. He'd also been surprised, gratified, and a little unnerved to learn from Shepard that half the crew had volunteered to raid the facility. He thought some of the voices had spoken up out of a desire to stave off boredom, but others seemed genuinely concerned. He wasn't sure what he had done to earn some of those loyalties, but he tried to appreciate them as they deserved.
Their chosen landing area was just outside the guarded perimeter of the compound, in a rare clearing. It looked to have been created during a mudslide and the vegetation hadn't grown back in yet. Tali'Zorah, whom Shepard had chosen to accompany them due to her familiarity with the subject matter thus far as well as for her technical abilities, circled once, then dropped into her landing as if she were being graded on his results. Barely a rattle shook the shuttle as they stood to raise the door and let the raucous jungle atmosphere fill the compartment.
They had scanned the planet from orbit and knew with reasonable certainty the layout of the compound. The plan today was to create a malfunction in the security alert system, sending most of the compound guards running to meet a false threat. They would then walk straight in the front door, remove any resistance, and find an active terminal. Tali'Zorah would break through any electronic defenses their software had, and create an uplink to the Normandy. EDI would then siphon off any relevant information while they made their escape.
In other words, they were going to spring a trap and see what came out to find them.
"Warning: Perimeter defense ten meters ahead of your current position. Place my override device against the base of one of the relay station and I should be able to take control."
Shepard pulled the tiny transmitter from her arm-pockets and placed it against the nearest post. They backed a few steps away. The device blinked red a few times before settling into a steady green light.
"The override is complete. I will turn the perimeter back on once you have passed through."
"Thanks, EDI." Shepard replaced the device into her arm-guard and they hurried past the perimeter line, taking cover behind a low ridge that extended several meters in either direction. On this side of the fence, the dense jungle foliage had been stripped to bare topsoil, pressed down and trampled by the press of civilization to a hardened, beaten surface.
Shepard tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and pointed at the front of the low gray building. A handful of uniformed soldiers stood guard at each of the visible corners and two leaned against the recessed entrance. He nodded, twitching a brow ridge to show that he understood what she wanted. Moving carefully to prevent any traitorous sound, he pulled his sniper rifle off of his back and took aim. The scope brought his target into close relief; the sunlight gleamed off of the emblazoned armor.
Amonkira guide my hands...
His bullet sped through the air, a tiny slice of death hurrying to greet its end. He didn't wait to see the guard crumple to the ground but instead brought his rifle around to the next target. Twice and a third time his finger twiched, and three bodies lay in silent heaps on the pounded ground, silenced too quickly to give an alarm.
He paused briefly to check his heatsink in an automatic action; he had kept count and knew that he had six shots remaining but the reflex was pure habit. He had learned to take nothing for granted and the next two shots had to be perfectly timed. If he missed or mis-timed, the remaining guard could raise the alarm.
Fortunately, he was good at perfection.
Twice more his finger moved and two more bodies fell; the only sound was the low drumming of limp limbs collapsing like broken puppets.
Shepard nodded to him and Tali'Zorah, and the three of them vaulted over the ridgeline and sprinted toward the unguarded entrance.
Once inside, they were met with a branching corridor. It continued forward for fifty meters before ending in a set of doors to the left and right. Both glowed green to signify that they were unlocked, but otherwise had no distinguishing features.
"When in doubt, always go left first," Shepard muttered, stalking to that portal. It opened to reveal a storage closet with shelves of cleaning supplies and a forgotten datapad.
"Or not. At least we got some credits out of it," Shepard said, handing the datapad to Tali'Zorah. "Right it is, then."
The right set of doors led them to a small observation room with oversized windows looking out over what appeared to be an empty mess hall with adjoining cubicle-offices. The long bland tables were empty at this hour, the occupants in training or off on missions. Just visible from the doorless entryway of one of the offices was the amber glow of a computer console.
Thane pointed to the walkway leading down into the dining area. "Those doors appear to open onto a stairway leading down. If we can reach the mess hall, will that active terminal be sufficient to your plan?"
Tali'Zorah nodded. "Any console that can access the internal network will do. Let's go, this place is far too empty."
"She's right, siha," Thane commented to Shepard. "I would expect the base of an operation that can manage coordinated attacks to be better defended than this. Only five guards at the entrance and no one in the first two levels pushes the boundaries of my suspension of disbelief."
Shepard frowned, looking around the room as if for a better option. "We came here to find answers," she replied at last. "And I don't intend to leave until I find them. Let's go."
"As you will, siha," he murmured, falling into step behind her, with Tali'Zorah bringing up the rear.
The metal floor clinked softly beneath Thane's boots as he swept the room to make sure no hidden dangers lurked beneath the desks or behind the chairs. A second door was locked beyond his ability to decode, but he could just make out an empty adjoining room through the tinted and darkened windows set on either side of the exit. Once he was satisfied that it was clear, he joined Shepard and Tali'Zorah, positioning himself so that he could keep eyes on the unknown factor; the remaining exit from the mess hall with its red-glowing lock indicator.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tali'Zorah rapidly keying in commands on the console. Shepard stood close behind the masked quarian. She seemed to be sensing the same anxiety that he felt, as she kept rubbing her neck and peering over Tali'Zorah's shoulder.
"Tali, can you hurry it up? I'd rather be a moving target than a stationary one, and right now, we're pretty stationary."
"This isn't as easy as it seems, Shepard," Tali replied, not bothering to look up from her work.
"How hard can it be? You're just pressing buttons."
"I'd like to see you try...oh no."
"I don't like the sound of that..."
"Neither do I," Tali replied. "Multiple firewalls just locked into place. I can try to get past them but it'll take time."
"How much time?"
Thane brought his rifle up, checking through the scope. The magnification confirmed his guess; shadowy figures were gathering in the once-vacant room on the other side of the lock. "We have enemies incoming, siha."
"Co-der, we- l-z-g your s-gnal. Do -ou -d?" Joker's voice came over the communications channel, interspersed with the pop and crackle of static interference.
"At-p-g to -mpens-te. -peat, do -ou read?"
Shepard joined Thane at the front of the cubicle, arm raised as she prepared her biotics. "Joker, you're breaking up. Please repeat."
"You nee- to get -t of there. We're read-g som- big mother- dropsh-ps in-nd."
"Working on it, Joker. Give us a minute. Tali, how much time do you need?"
Tali'Zorah shot a glance over her shoulder as guards began spilling into the room, their black and white variegated uniforms standing out starkly against the plain gray walls. "More time than we have, I think!"
On those words, the portal began to open, revealing the full squad of uniformed guards on the other side. Shepard had held her biotics ready, and immediately sent one of her near-transparent orbs streaking into the mass of men. She'd timed her strike perfectly, causing the entire line of men to stall as they were sucked toward the center of the singularity. A few rockets launched from her auto-guided ML-77 Missile Launcher dropped the entire group, leaving the way clear.
"Tali! Can we leave yet?"
"I think I was able to patch EDI into one of the internal communications services. It's a weak link and she won't have access to much. She'll have to do the rest on her own."
"Did you get any data?"
"Some. Can I tell you about it when we're not being shot at?"
"We're not being shot at right now."
"We're about to be!" Tali'Zorah's voice rose into a warning as they all spotted another set of soldiers clearing the blockage that Shepard had created from the other guards' bodies.
"Okay, falling back sounds like a good idea to me too. Thane, Tali, make for the walkway. I'll cover you, then you can set up crossfire positions while I catch up."
"Understood, Shepard," Tali said.
Thane merely twitched a browridge as he threaded a fresh heat-sink into his rifle. He suspected that the toll of lives lost in this place would rival that of his sojourn on Omega and he regretted the necessity. But he would see his siha safe; her life would not be extinguished so easily.
Decision made, he felt no remorse as he and Tali'Zorah emptied their clips into the milling mass of guards jammed into the hallway behind Shepard's Singularity. The air distortions from the effect field made aiming difficult, although he saw more than one form crumble lifelessly to the ground. The orb began to fade, and one of the soldiers managed to launch a spray of bullets in their direction. Thane reacted quickly to push Tali'Zorah out of the way of the bullets. Unfortunately, that left him stranded directly in their path, his momentum given to Tali'Zorah. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for Kalihira's embrace.
Brightness, lightning out of a clear sky, blazed through both sets of his closed eyelids. They popped open to stare at the spectacle before him. A dozen bullets were suspended in midair, surrounded by a fluxing mass effect field, defying gravity and all sense. He looked back at his siha, amazed at what he saw. She was standing with her arm stretched toward him, her eyes closed and her teeth gritted. She was surrounded by the glow of her biotics, which had bioflouresced right up into the ultraviolet spectrum, making her appear to be covered by a bright silvery light.
Her aura flared even brighter and a low grunt escape her throat as she made a pushing gesture. A wall of force seemed to emanate from her skin. It passed over him, Tali'Zorah and the cubicle without effect, but when it reached the bullets, it pushed them back toward the enemy soldiers.
Stunned, the men did not move as their own bullets returned to them. Several missed their mark, the bullets hitting the glass wall and cracking it. Others buried themselves in the gunmetal gray of the bulkhead. The largest majority, however, flew true and entered the flesh of their enemies. They dropped soundlessly and the room was empty.
"Siha..." Thane spoke her title quietly, awed.
Her eyes popped open and she gave him a weak smile. "We should go."
"I..of course," he took her hand and led her upward and out of the facility.
Just inside the exit doors, they paused. Thane could faintly detect radio chatter and the noisy roar of shuttles. Reinforcements for the enemy had arrived.
They went out shooting. Thane had switched to his SMG; its smaller weight gave him added flexibility in choosing his targets. With this mass of enemies, rapid fire was more critical than the delicate precision that he preferred. He threw himself into a roll to avoid the worst of the incoming fire, coming to a stop against the trailing edge of one of the drop shuttles. From the other side, white and black suited ground troops blasted holes in the ground where he had so recently been.
His distraction allowed Shepard and Tali'Zorah to time their runs and dodge their way down to where he crouched; fiery streams of flame narrowly missed singeing their heels. As they threw themselves beside him, Thane risked a quick glance around the tail of the shuttle to assess and memorize the positions of their opponents. The troops had erected temporary metal baffles for cover, giving them the advantage. Behind them, what had been a simple thermal sensitive perimeter alarm had turned into a three-meter high force shield; electricity sizzled along the entire length of the perimeter, arcing from one support column to the next.
"I see twelve. Three to the left, five in the center and four on the right."
"I think this trap was better planned than we thought!" Shepard panted heavily behind his shoulder. "We'll head to the right, since there're fewer guns and more cover." Indeed, the jungle behind the guards to the right was thick and overgrown, to the point where pushing through the growth would be a challenge itself.
"Might I remind you that our transport is in the opposite direction?" he asked, raising a browridge at Shepard and nictating both sets of eyelids mildly, as if they were not outnumbered and nearly surrounded.
Shepard unhooked a flashbang grenade from her belt before she replied. "Never do what your enemy expects!" She tossed a grin at him over her shoulder; sparkling eyes challenged him. But when her lips parted, it was to say, "Tali, if I get you to one of those repeater towers, would you be able to take down that barrier long enough for us to get through?"
"If you can buy me a few minutes, I think so."
"We'll get you as much time as we can. Ready?"
Tali'Zorah shook her head slightly but her answer, filtered through her voice synthesizer, was more excited than wary. "Always, Shepard." She leaned forward and set her shotgun more securely against her right arm. Her other hand was pressed knuckles down on the gritty ground, ready to push up and forward. Shepard pulled the pin out of her grenade and threw it in a wobbling arc toward the section she'd indicated.
As soon as the shrilling scream of the grenade faded, Shepard and Tali'Zorah broke cover to run toward the electric fence. The four men who had been blocking their way were sprawled on the ground with their heads cradled in their hands. They were groaning loudly and their guns were scattered around them, dropped in their pained surprise.
"Arashu defend us," Thane whispered and hurried to follow them. He fired over his shoulder, without looking, trusting to his memory to place his bullets where they needed to go. He didn't look back as he flung himself toward the jungle, but his scales itched, expecting the punishing pain of a gunshot wound at any moment. Light flashed by him and he braced himself for a hit, but the streaking orb missed him by inches. As he continued to run, he realized that the attack had come from ahead of him, not behind. Shepard had reached the shelter of the barriers the four had been using for cover and was sheltering his run.
When he reached them, he rested his back against the gnarled trunk of a towering moss-covered tree, allowing exhaustion to overtake him for a moment. He panted hard, drawing the spicy-sweet sticky air into his much-abused lungs. For a moment, Thane found himself longing for Kahje's humidity; the air there had been just as damp, but not nearly the oven that was Invictus. When he opened his eyes-he did not recall closing them-he saw that Tali'Zorah had reached the nearest generator post, twenty meters away, and was working furiously on her omni-tool.
"Thane, I kinda need your attention over here!" Shepard called.
Thane shook himself out of his distraction. She needed him; he could deal with his exhaustion later. Turning, he let his eyes dart across the battlefield, then drew his gun and fired in the same quick motion. His SMG shook in his hand as if eager to be used and its deadly spawn buried themselves in flesh and cries of pain.
"Shepard!" Tali'Zorah called from behind them. Thane looked back in time to see Tali'Zorah leap over a fallen log, then turn to beckon them toward safety. "Come on, I don't know how long the barrier will stay down!"
Before Shepard could get to Tali'Zorah, before even he could stand from his crouch, before anyone could so much as blink, a roaring shadow blocked out the sun and deafened them to any sound but the barrage of engine-burn upon their eardrums. Pain burned through his neurons. As if from a distance, he heard faint groans and cries of shock. He didn't realize he'd fallen over until he tasted the clammy dirt of this world on his lips, felt the agonized pressure of Shepard, collapsed over his legs.
Slowly, far too slowly, the red haze receded from his vision. He struggled to sit up, clutching his head with one hand, trying to support Shepard with the other. He could just barely make out the shape of Tali'Zorah; she was bent over on her hands and knees and was wobbling back and forth. Between them, the blue electric glow of the fence had reappeared, separating them as surely the darkness between the stars. The shuttle that had stunned them with a large area shock grenade was now landing; uniformed soldiers were pouring out of its hold almost before it stopped moving.
"Tali.." Shepard's voice was hoarse and thready. Thane could hear the rasp in her throat as she swallowed. "Tali, you know what you have to do. Get back to the shuttle before they realize one of us is still free."
"What? I'm not leaving you, Shepard!" Tali'Zorah had pulled herself back to the repeater tower she'd been working on, and was trying to open its access panel from the other side of the fence.
"Tali, listen to me. We're surrounded, we can't get to you. Take off and get reinforcements. I'm counting on you."
"Shepard, I.."
"Go, Tali. That's an order. Get your ass moving!"
With a frustrated near-sob, Tali'Zorah tore herself away from the access panel and disappeared into the jungle. Thane and Shepard were left alone.
Except for the twenty or so marines standing around them with guns drawn.
Dragging herself to her feet, Shepard raised her hands, palm-outward, in the universal sign of surrender. "Easy, fellas. I'm not going to try anything." She kept her arms up as she whispered, "Thane, put down your guns."
"This wasn't in the plan, siha," Thane murmured to Shepard as he slowly stood up.
"I'm improvising. Get used to it, it happens a lot. It's not like you can't kill them with your pinky at any point."
"I don't see what my pinky has to do with this conversation."
"Would you drop your gun before they shoot us dead? And make it good."
Thane scowled but lowered his gun and tossed it at the foot of the nearest mercenary, his entire stance radiating the scorn he felt at surrendering to what amounted to a set of thugs in custom painted armor.
"There, you see?" Shepard called in a louder voice. "We're unarmed now. Let's just take things nice and slow."
They had not fought back and the guards had treated them with some measure of courtesy. They were searched, of course. Their clothing, armor and weaponry were taken away, and they had been given loose gray jumpsuits instead. The officer in charge had informed them that they were to be held indefinitely, but no harm would come to them if they cooperated with requests that they would be given. No particular emphasis was placed on the word request, but the subtext was understood; They were to be questioned and possibly tortured if they resisted.
Thane feigned a much greater disorientation than he actually felt. He stumbled often and allowed most of his weight to be supported by the guards' hands under his arms. Beneath his slitted lids, he examined the hallway he was in. The long, drab gray corridor stretched for some hundred meters and only the thick slabs of doors passing at intervals gave the walls any distinguishing features. Behind him, he could hear two more guards dragging Shepard along and he could only hope that the lack of animation on her part meant that she too was trying to form a strategy. The alternative didn't bear thinking about. Several more followed to ensure that any resistance would be curtailed immediately.
Eventually, they neared the bland end of the corridor, where two locked doors glared balefully at each other across the empty space. The lead man motioned for the two holding Shepard to stand by the farther door. Thane was dragged to the nearer door, which opened at the touch of the officer. They lowered him onto the narrow cot and left him alone in the room. The sound of the door slamming shut was like the final crack of thunder that ended a storm.
Thane lay on the cot for a few minutes. He was waiting both for the majority of the guards to move away, and for the tingling pain in his extremities to cease. He knew there would be no permanent damage, but a neural shock of that level took some time to wear off.
Soon enough, he was on his feet and examining the room. It was sparse enough that a single glance told him he would find no help in these quarters. The cot could be folded into the wall to give more room. A metal hole barely as big as his hand was in the far corner and a small spigot sat above it.
The searchers had taken away even his shoes, anything that could conceivably be a weapon, and there were no secrets hidden in the plain gray knits he wore now.
However, as he approached the locked exit, grim amusement tugged at the corners of Thane's lips. No one ever thought about decorations, particularly when they adorned the body. Even trained soldiers often dismissed his frill clips as mere affectation. But for someone of his background, nothing was done by chance or whim.
He removed one of the brushed metal clips from the left set and tugged on the fastening. It slid out mere millimeters to reveal that micro-circuitry wound its electronic pathways throughout the tiny space. Body tensing, he pressed the opened clip against the locked control pad. It emitted a satisfying bleep and the door clicked open.
Not hesitating a second, Thane pulled the door open the rest of the way with his left hand, using the swing of the door as a pivot to propel himself, elbow first, straight into one of the men standing guard. He felt the man's windpipe collapse under his elbow and continued his turn, using the body as a shield from the gun blasts of the other two guards. Reaching into the dead man's holster, Thane pulled out a small but powerful Carnifex pistol, and emptied it into the center of mass of the first guard.
The second guard dove to the side and was coming at Thane too quickly for him to find and load a fresh thermal clip. Instead, Thane dropped the body he was using as a shield and threw himself into a spinning roll, coming out of it just in time to grab the man's pistol arm. Using his gained momentum, Thane yanked the arm up and back and heard the loud pop as the shoulder was dislocated. The man screamed and fell to his knees, dropping everything to clutch at his broken shoulder.
Thane ended his pain with a snap and the man fell lifeless to the ground.
Searching through the guards' clothing, he found enough weaponry to give himself and Shepard a fighting chance of getting out of the facility. He also found the encoded plastic keys used to lock and unlock prisoner doors. Two of the guards had been standing by the last door in this corridor. He pressed the keycard into the electronic lock and prayed to Arashu.
The door turned green, then opened. He burst into the chamber, heart thudding and breath rasping in his throat.
He was met only with silence and empty walls. A dead end.
Shepard was gone.
A/N: Wow! I'm REALLY sorry this took so long to get updated. Never-ending infections and a ton of work-stuff makes for really slow writing. I appreciate everyone's patience with this next installment. As long as germs stay the heck away from me, I certainly expect chapter 21 to be out in less than two full months! I know, bad me, ending this on a cliff hanger. But it's such a great way to end a chapter, isn't it?
Thank you to kiwibliss for proofreading, and all of NSAS for not tarring and feathering me, although it surely came close some days!