Allright everyone, here's part two of my ME fanfic. As always, I love comments. Anything you like? Anything you don't like? Anything you want to see in a future chapter? Let me know!
Nick stirred a little against his harness. He was stopped by a sharp, stabbing pain in his side. He cringed, and fumbled for the buckle. He unsnapped the straps, throwing them over his shoulders. His eyes were open, but everything was still dark. Nick administered himself a unit of medigel, which eased the pain in his side. Once he could stand from his seat, he was able to see that the emergency access hatch behind him was open.
"Anyone out here?" Nick's voice shook as he climbed from the wreckage. It was twilight, the sun was just starting to shine through the thick forrest that surrounded the wreck.
"Ah. So you are alive."
Nick's head snapped around to the voice. The elderly captain of the now destroyed ship was sitting in the dirt, leaning up against the trunk of a tree. He had some supplies gathered around, and not far away was what appeared to be a human form draped in a blanket.
"Wh- Who is that?" Nick stammered, climbing down from the wreck.
"Davis... Shame I thought you were dead too, you might have been able to help." The old mans words were hardly having an impact.
"Miles?" Nick continued.
"Eh- Haven't seen him." The old man shook his head. "Probably got sucked out into space after the turian torpedo hit us.. poor guy."
"Turian?" The word snapped nick out of his stupor. The turians had shot them down. He remembered finding their ship just before a torpedo had come out of nowhere. "Why the hell would they...?" Nick gestured to their downed craft, a hint of panic in his voice.
"Cause they're bastards, every last one of 'em." The old captain struggled to his feet. "Just think about it, they're outside of council space. They find a human colony, run by Cerberus, and decide to lay waste..." He explained, walking past Nick.
"Still-" Nick followed, surveying the crash site. "As much as I don't like turians... I'd never think they would do something like this.."
The old man cackled. "This is exactly what they do... Find some lame excuse to start a fight... And then lay waste to everything, without even giving you a chance to even think about surrender." The captain stopped at one of the spilled cargo crates. He pulled a metallic case from the wreckage, and tossed it down on the dirt. He unsnapped the two latches, and flipped the lid open. The old man removed the Avenger assault rifle, and check to make sure it was loaded.
"You're not going after them, are you?" Nick asked in disbelief. The captain remained silent, continuing to inspect the weapon. "Listen, if you expect me to go after them with you, you must be batshit insane. My job was to help deliver the goods, and thats it!" Nick felt his face get red.
"I don't expect you to help on this one..." The captain picked up a pack of supplies, and slung it over his shoulder. "We're stuck out past communications range, being hunted by Turians. On top of that my whole life has been reduced to a god damned smoldering crater... This is personal."
"I always knew you were crazy." Nick chuckled. He watched as the man swung the pack over his shoulder, and started walking. Nick stared back at the crashed ship, and then to its disappearing captain.
"Hey, wait!" Nick shouted, hastily gathering supplies of his own. He caught up with the old man at a light jogging pace. "Listen, you crazy son of a bitch." He slowed to a steady walk. "I'll go with you, but I'm not going up against the turians... As soon as we find any other humans, you're on your own." Nick explained, fumbling with the straps on his uniform.
"Fine by me." The captain said, his eyes scanning the horizon. "Did you bring a weapon?"
"No. I wasn't planning on a fight."
The captain grumbled something, and then produced a pistol. "Here..." He handed the weapon over to Nick. "Won't matter if you're not planning on a fight, they are."
"Right..." Nick mumbled, securing the weapon to his uniform. He had heard stories about the First Contact war between the humans and turians from his father. Sure, the two races were supposed to be allies now, but memories of the war were still the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Nick was shocked that the turians would have attacked them so blatantly, but at the same time he wasn't surprised. Who could blame them from taking a little revenge on some human "terrorists", all the while the Council is looking the other way?
"You see that?" The captain stopped walking abruptly. "Smoke." He pointed to a spot on the horizon, through a clearing in the trees. There was a faint plume of blue smoke rising to the sky, likely the aftermath of large fire.
"Yeah, I see it." Nick also stopped. The had walked a couple of kilometers already, with no sign of any of the colonists or turians. "You think its more wreckage, from our ship?... Or the colony?" Nick sounded worried. If the colony was destroyed, there would be no way of getting off the planet.
"Only one way to find out." The captain shrugged, and started walking in the direction of the plume. Nick reluctantly followed. The two stayed silent for a little while longer. The forest was oddly quiet. Nick didn't know anything of the native species, so the silence could have been completely normal. Nonetheless, it was unsettling. Before long, the two reached a dirt trail, probably used by the colonists to ferry goods between different camps.
"My god..." Nick mouthed as the source of the smoke came into view. It was a burned out dwelling, with its roof blown completely off. Charred debris littered the ground, and an acrid electrical burning smell hung in the air. Nick scanned the other buildings in the area, all of them pockmarked with small arms fire.
"Got someone over here!" Nick shouted after spotting a figure laying face down in the dirt. He approached it cautiously. He noticed the ground surrounding the figure was soaked in blood. Nick kneeled down next to the corpse, and slowly turned it over. The colonist had been shot in the torso numerous times, and bled out where his body now lay.
"Dead turian over here!" The captain announced, standing about 10 meters away. Nick stood up and walked over to the old man, wiping sand and dirt from his pants.
"That colonist has been dead for a few hours. Whatever happened here, we missed it."
"Yeah, this guy has been dead for a while as well." The old man poked the dead turian with his foot. The alien had similar injuries to the dead human: Multiple gunshot wounds. Only this time, focused mainly around the face and head. If either of the humans had the ability to tell individual turians apart, this one would have been unrecognizable.
Nick sighed. He rubbed his face, noticing that his headache was returning. "Well... Looks like we're fucked... Was it you or the recruiter that told me this was going to be a simple job?" Nick asked, starting to vent his frustration.
"Who said its not simple?" The captain asked back, giving a mischievous grin. He cleared his throat. "Theres nothing more simple than life and death." The old man moved his eyebrows up and down on the last part of the sentence.
"Fuck it, I'm done here." Nick said, storming off to one of the intact dwellings. "Go carry out your death wish by yourself, I'm staying here!" Nick shouted over his shoulder. The last think he heard before entering the dwelling was the cackling of the old man, fading off into the distance.
The inside of the dwelling became completely dark after Nick shut the door behind himself. He turned on his omni tool, activating the built in flashlight. Nick scanned the contents of the small building. It was in disarray; tables and chairs were overturned. Some of the walls were scorched with weapons fire. Doors were ripped off cabinets, and their contents were strewn everywhere. Nick paused when his light passed over a computer terminal.
"What are the chances..." Nick spoke out loud, approaching the terminal. It powered on. "Yes!" He typed franticly, trying to find any log of what had happened. Just when he located a promising file, a warning popped up on the screen.
"Shit.." He stepped back. The file was encrypted, and Nick was no expert hacker. He stood, pondering his next move. There was a slight noise from the other side of the room. Nick spun around, drew his pistol, and pointed his light at the source of the sound.
"Who's there?" Nick said forcefully. "I'm armed, show yourself!" Nick heard a soft moan come from an open doorway. He scanned his light around, spotting a pool of blue blood flowing from around the door frame. Nick sidestepped carefully, getting a better view of what was beyond the door. Slowly, an injured turian came into view. The alien soldier was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the wall. It sat in a fairly large pool of its own blood.
"Hey..." Nick tried to get a response, but the alien didn't notice him. When he got close enough, he kicked the turian's rifle out of reach. He then holstered his own pistol, and knelt down.
"Hey..." He shook the aliens shoulder, receiving another moan in reply. The alien had two gunshot wounds in its upper chest, which were steady oozing blood.
"I'm a medic, I can help you." Nick swung his pack off of his shoulder, and removed his medic kit. He administered a dose of medigel, and the turian opened its eyes. Nick noticed the aliens vital signs improved slightly with the dose, but were still at dangerous levels.
"Why did you attack us?" Nick asked loudly.
"... No..." The turian mumbled, blood spilling from its mouth.
"Listen, you have to talk now. You're too seriously hurt, I can't fix you with just medigel. Why the hell did you attack my ship?"
"... Ship?..." The alien finally made eye contact with Nick. "What...ship?"
"My ship. The cargo ship you shot down!" Nick was starting to get frustrated.
"No... cargo ship... Distress call. Attack-" The turian heaved, leaning forward to expel more fluid. Nick responded by administering another dose of medigel. The alien leaned back, and groped at the med kit that lay on the floor.
"Thats a human med kit, all the other meds in there but medigel will kill you. Tell me, why did you attack these colonists? Why did you shoot down my ship?"
"... We did not..." The managed to say, just before going into convulsions. Nick watched on his omni tool as the turian's vital signs crashed, and finally flatlined. The alien stared up at the ceiling with a blank gaze, motionless.
"Damn it!" Nick slumped back on the wall opposite the now dead turian. He had no idea what to make of the alien's statements. If the turians didn't attack, then who did? He stared at the dead alien, contemplating his next move.
It wasn't ten seconds before the silence was broken by a sudden burst of intense gunfire. Nick jumped to his feet, and ran back to the main entrance of the dwelling. He drew his pistol again, and peeked outside. He couldn't see where the gunshots were coming from, but they were close. Then, almost as quickly as it had begun, the gunfire went quiet. Nick seized the opportunity to make a run for it. He doubled back they way he had come, passing over two more dead turians. These aliens had been killed just moments before, most likely during the intense firefight Nick had heard.
He increased his speed to almost a full sprint. He passed the last dwelling before the forest began again. As he rounded the corner, he ran headlong into a turian soldier. Nick went sprawling backwards, the wind knocked out of him. He sat up, his pistol still firmly gripped in his hand. He tried to bring it to bear on the alien, but froze when he felt the barrel of an assault rifle pressed firmly against his forehead.
"Don't move." The turian commanded, ripping the pistol from Nick's hand. He closed his eyes as the turian pushed the rifle even harder against his forehead. At least this death would be painless...