Understanding
New Hiroshima, Two days later:
Shia'va was walking better today. Her side hurt less than it did a couple of days ago. The family doctor, an Asari by the name of Althena, had checked on Shia'va to ensure her wound had not gotten infected. She wore a looser kimono so it didn't put pressure on the wound and cause it to break open again. She watched as a couple of Quarians continued to patrol the area, two had walked past the window of the kitchen. Garrus had gone to New Tokyo to speak with the Adjutant of the city. The security of both New Hiroshima and New Tokyo were now very high priorities. She smiled as she thought about Garrus. They would have to spend some time alone together. They hadn't really done so in the past several months. Shia'va walked into the living room, a cup of coffee in hand as she saw the girls watching Saturday morning cartoons. It was some show about a Turian Spectre and his Hanar sidekick. The girls found it funny, Shepard never understood it. But she figured it wasn't a mother's job to understand the basis behind the cartoon. She wondered if her mother thought the same thing when she was younger. Shia'va walked over and kissed her two girls on the tops of their heads.
In turn they hugged their mother tightly and replied, "Watashi wa haha, anata o aishiteimasu (I love you, mother)."
Shia'va smiled. "To watashi wa, watashinojinsei o anata o aishiteimasu (And I love you, my life)." Her children were that, they were her life. She would give anything for them. She had taught her children how to speak Japanese when they were very young. They were able to speak Japanese, Turian, and English. It was rare for any alien people to be trilingual. And they were able to speak without the universal translator. Another rarity among young children. But then again, Shia'va's children were special. The children went back to watching their show. Shia'va stepped outside and saw Harbinger speaking to a female Quarian. She watched as the female embraced the man, touching her helmet to his. The Quarian saw Shepard and nodded her head, leaving the man and Shepard alone. As Harbinger approached Shia'va she motioned to the woman. "Someone special I take it?" She asked.
"She is my lifemate, and chief engineer aboard the Maelstrom." Harbinger watched as the Quarian boarded the shuttle to go back to the ship. "Her name is Valna'Kreeza."
Shia'va was shocked to hear the name. "Quarians take the last name of their new family. But you're human. Why do you have a Quarian name?"
Harbinger watched as the shuttle lifted off. "I was human, once. But that life is no longer mine, Shepard. I hold no love for humanity. Not after what was done to me and the Dark Sovereign."
This was something that Shia'va had not expected to hear. What was so brutal that he turned his back on humanity? "What happened?"
Harbinger motioned towards a pile of rubble from the assault. Both people sat down. "It started before the battle of the Citadel. I was a Spec Ops Biotic. One of the stronger L2's. Then, I was known as Dyson Cortland." He thought back as he started to explain everything. "Our drop point was on Rannoch, the Quarian homeworld. There were twelve of us. I was the only biotic in the group. The rest consisted of N7 marines. We received our orders via an encrypted transmission..."
-"Shadow Squad, find and ascertain strength of main Geth force planetside. Lt. Colonel "Harbinger" Cortland, you are in command. Failure is not an option. Confirm command."
"Five by five. Confirm directive to ascertain strength of the Geth. Is my readback correct, command?" Harbinger asked.
"Affirmative. Good luck, Shadow Squad. Command out."
Harbinger shut down his omni-tool and looked around. "Alright, boys. We have our orders. Two by two, tight cover formation. Make sure these synths don't get in behind us. MOVE OUT!"
"SIR, YES SIR!" The group confirmed.
The group moved quickly through the foliage. Stopping every so often to check their six. No Geth. The group got to a second checkpoint. They quickly got below the foliage line when they spotted an Armature. The Armature scanned the area for any life signs. It didn't detect any. Or so the group thought. The Armature moved away to another route on its patrol.
"Sir, I don't like this. The Geth don't just use one unit to patrol a large area." Sergeant Dalin was one of the best intel officers the Spec Ops groups had. He knew the routines of a Geth patrol and how many should be there. And being that he didn't like this situation was enough of a warning for Harbinger.
His voice went quiet. "Two flank left, three right. Watch for Hunters." Harbinger's body started to glow with biotic energy. As the first soldier started to move, his head exploded. Harbinger spun around to see a Geth Sniper reloading its rifle. A "spider" Geth leapt to another tree. They termed it "spider" because of its ability to attach to walls and ceilings without being detected. "SON OF A...! ONE SHOT ONE KILL! MOVE!" Harbinger unleashed a Singularity, catching the "spider" Geth and hitting the Singularity with a warp field, detonating the Singularity. The Geth flew through some trees and stopped short of hitting the sniper's perch. The sniper fired another shot hitting Harbinger in the shoulder. He snarled in pain but used a biotic levitate to catch the sniper and then threw him from the air.
Harbinger grabbed his shoulder as his men pulled him to safe cover.-
"We were getting pinned down and the Geth were surrounding us, reaching battalion strength." Harbinger's eyes glowed slightly.
Shia'va listened intently. She sipped on her coffee.
-"SIR! They're on us!" Dalin called out.
"God dammit! How did they ambush us like this? We have to get to higher ground! Make the sons of a bitches pay for every inch they try to get near us! GO GO GO!" Harbinger stood and unleashed a shockwave of biotic energies. The shockwave shot back several Geth. He ducked quickly back to cover.
"Sven! Give those bastards something to chew on!"
"On it, Harbinger! Let's bring the pain! LET'S BRING THE NOISE!" Sven Montres, a very close friend of Harbinger's and a heavy ordinance soldier, stood up and threw an inferno grenade. It hit one of the Geth Hunters and exploded into several more incendiary pieces, burning through the armor of the Geth. A massive explosion ripped apart a section of ground, killing five marines. Six were left. Sven stood again and fired his assault rifle. Tesla rounds screwing up the circuitry of the Geth.
Harbinger saw the window of opportunity. "MOVE! GET TO POINT DELTA! GO GO!"
The Marines ran like hell, Harbinger unleashing more biotic energy. Covering them as best he could. But he was getting tired. Two Geth Armatures fired their pulse cannons, killing three more marines. A sniper killing the fourth. Harbinger and Sven were the only two to make it to the higher ground cover. The higher ground giving them the best advantage. But it was still a long drawn out fight.-
"Sven, or who is now known as the Dark Sovereign, and I entrenched ourselves on the hill." Harbinger shook his head. The memory was still vivid. "The Geth kept coming and it seemed there was no end to them."
Shia'va thumbed the cup in her hand. "You had lost your entire team?" It wasn't an accusatory question but she was trying to keep count.
"All but myself and Sven." Harbinger stared towards a home. "But what we learned next..."
-"Dys, we can't keep this up. I'm running out of heat sinks. And you're barely holding together as it is using your biotics as you are." Sven got off a few shots. They could still hear the Geth from cover.
"Why hasn't the Alliance sent word? Were the FUCK are they?" Harbinger activated his omni-tool. "Alliance Command! This is The Harbinger! We are under heavy enemy fire! Request immediate evac! Minus ten! I repeat: Minus ten! The Geth ambushed us!" He stood up and fired off a few rounds from his pistol. He heard something and got back to cover. "Say again!"
"We cannot evacuate you at this time. We have no ships in the vicinity. You will have to hold out for as long as you can. Citadel-Alliance Command out."
Harbinger's face went ashen. He looked at Sven. "Those god damn...sons of...they're leaving us here to die!"
Sven growled. "FUCKING HUMAN ALLIANCE!"
The stress of the situation finally drove Harbinger to go beyond the ability of his L2 implant. Harbinger grabbed his head as his implant went into overheat. He screamed in pain. Grasping his head as Sven grabbed his friend and "brother". Harbinger opened his eyes, blood seeping from under them. At that second, the implant in his head fractured and broke. His eyes now glowing with biotic energy. The restriction of the implant no longer there, his biotics now at full strength.
Harbinger stood up, his body completed engulfed in biotic power. "WE ARE THE HARBINGERS OF YOUR DESTRUCTION!" His biotics lifting him off the ground as he let loose a massive biotic shockwave in front of him. The shockwave scorching the ground and destroying the small group of Geth left. The release of so much energy caused Harbinger to collapse to the ground.
Sven ran over and in a fireman's carry, got Harbinger and himself out of the area. To a cave that seemed to scramble the sensors of the Geth.-
Shia'va shook her head. She knew he wasn't lying. But she wasn't surprised to hear that the Alliance, at that time, didn't have a problem considering people expendable. "There was a lot of corruption in the Alliance military."
Harbinger nodded. "Yes, I remember seeing the trial. It was wrong of them, and the Council, to do what they did. To not believe the warnings you gave them." He stood up, his back to Shepard. "That is why Sven and I had left the Alliance. Humanity had turned its back on us. And we had little reason to remain among them."
"Then why come to New Hiroshima? Why risk your live and your people's lives to save us?" Shia'va looked at him.
"We were not saving humanity. We were saving innocents. There is a difference, Shepard." The cold confidence in Harbinger's voice showed that he believed in what he was doing.
"But I don't understand. There were more humans here than there is any other of the Council races. How can you say that you didn't help humanity? I don't see a difference." Shia'va was asking in earnest. To her, people were people. But to Harbinger, there was a distinct different. She wanted to know why.
"That is where you and I differ, Shepard. An innocent is not classified as a race. Be they Asari, Salarian, Turian or otherwise. An innocent is one who does not seek the danger they are put into." His four eyes glowed slightly. "Perhaps there were more humans than other races. But they were not humanity. They were innocents being threatened. Were humanity in danger, then I would not lend my aid. But when innocents are, then I step in and then I leave when I know they are safe." He looked back at Shia'va. "I no longer consider myself human, Shepard."
"Do you say that because of what the Illusive Man did to you and your friend?" Shia'va couldn't even begin to imagine what Harbinger and his friend went through. But she still believed that the Illusive Man's depravity had known no bounds.
"That may be a small part of it, perhaps. But I had always considered myself a better Quarian than a human." He chuckled a bit. "Ask your friend, Miss Lawson to access the old Cerberus files. She will need to bypass some old codes that sealed my file during my…rebuilding. Those should answer more of your questions. If you will excuse me, I must return to the Maelstrom. Keelah'seli, Shepard."
Shia'va watched as Harbinger walked down the street to a shuttle pickup point. She did have more questions. But they would have to wait. She stood up and walked back to the house to make breakfast for her children.
A/N: One week, people. Just one week! Let the Countdown to Extinction begin! Get your N7 armor and your assault rifles ready. Earth will never be the same again! Yes, I'm a little stoked. I'm thinking what the next chapter might be. But I'm thinking a flashback for Harbinger. And don't worry; the Dark Sovereign will make an appearance. Still working on that. Stay tuned for more!