The Red Moon Collection - 2 - Three Phantoms
Chapter 19
MSV Hyperion, en route to Lorek, Omega Nebula
Eleena?
It felt as though reality had faded into the ether. Will could remember where they were, their bodies laying flush with one another, warm and nude with nothing but a thick fire blanket beneath them on the cold deck of the engine room. But after the joining began, the separation between their bodies and minds had melted away, leaving nothing but one essence. One consciousness shared by two beings. He could feel her, all of her, just as she could feel him. Their bodies and minds had entered a union that even the most extensive and detailed warnings could not have prepared him for. He would have nervously attempted to tell her that this was the first time he had joined with an asari, but the thought quickly left his mind. Will could feel that she already knew.
I'm here, Will.
He could hear her, but it was nothing that resembled a voice that delivered the message. Will had felt it through the thoughts in their collective mind. Somewhere in the melding, the pleasure from their sexually fused physical forms swirled as a reminder that they still existed in the physical realm. Slowly, a wave of memory began washing over them.
Will reached out for her again. I feel something...
Don't hold back, Will. Open yourself.
Embrace eternity. He didn't exactly know what that meant, but that's what she had told him to do. As the wave reached them, and he understood. He could see her, as she could see him. A perfect, unobtrusive amalgamation of their memories, hopes, desires and everything else that lurked in their thoughts. At that moment, they truly knew one another.
A buzz rang out from Will's wrist. His eyes fluttered open to see Eleena rousing from her slumber as well, her head resting on his chest. He looked down at his wrist to see an orange light blinking on his omnitool bracelet. Eleena shifted her arms and pushed herself off of him with a small sigh of exertion. She gave him a regretful smile as she sat up at his side.
"Few hours of sleep is better than none, I guess," she said quietly.
Will rubbed his eyes and nodded. "Haven't slept that well in years." He let out a small grunt and pushed himself into a sitting position. "I had some... weird dreams though."
Eleena eyed him as she placed her hands behind her back and leaned comfortably. "That's probably my fault. Your mind has some catching up to do..." She blinked a few times. "So does mine."
His bracelet buzzed again to remind him of an awaiting alert. Will rolled his eyes and raised his wrist to activate his omnitool and read the message.
"Corsin's calling for everyone in the bunkroom," he informed her. "Which means we should probably get dressed."
She smirked softly. "Probably," she repeated, jokingly.
Will turned to face her and raised a hand to gently cup her cheek. The asari's smirk lingered as she looked back at him.
"This, um..." He paused to collect his words and let his hand slowly trace down her body. "This wasn't just something you wanted to get out of your system, right?"
She chuckled softly and reached for her shirt that lay slumped against the wall a few feet away. "You really have to ask that?"
Will cleared his throat and stuttered. "Well, I.. I mean-"
"How many times do I have to tell you to relax?" She slid her shirt on and gave him a reassuring nod and smile. "I really enjoy being with you, Will." Eleena grabbed his undershirt and tossed it into his lap. "I'm looking forward to spending that shore leave together."
He slid on his shirt with a warm smile. "Count on it."
Eleena leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. Four or five hours ago they had shared their first, full of passion and intensity. This one was different; the perfect combination of gentle caring and timid excitement. They proceeded to dress themselves quickly and quietly, their faces still adorned with blissful smiles. As she finished dressing in her shirt and pants, Eleena reached for a black jumpsuit that sat half-wadded up on a shelf. She slid into the utilitarian garb and zipped it up just as Will was sliding on his jacket.
Will stood by the door and crosses his arms. "You still want to keep this on the down-low?"
"At least until things slow down a bit," she answered. "You know, after we catch Antarian or die terribly at his hand."
"Such optimism," Will quipped sarcastically while nodding to the doorway. "After you."
Eleena tapped the control panel as she stepped up and through the opening door. "Gladly."
He turned to follow her into the cargo bay and looked ahead to see Kallux walking toward the bunkroom. The krogan glanced over his shoulder as Will and Eleena appeared from the engine room, a small grin spreading on his lips. Kallux shook his head slowly as Will raised a finger and pointed to the krogan, still maintaining his stride toward the forward compartments.
"Not a word, Kallux," he ordered.
The krogan turned and continued onward ahead of them, still grinning. "Whatever you say, Captain."
Will smirked as they continued on to the forward hallway and turned into the bunkroom where they were greeted by Corsin, Vayren, Tyrixis and T'lees.
"Finally," Corsin jabbed as they entered. "We're about an hour out."
The table at the center of the room displayed a slowly rotating hologram of Lorek. Eleena stepped up and leaned forward on the table with a nostalgic sigh.
"Ah, Lorek," she reminisced. "We've had a lot of fun here in the past."
Vayren crossed his arms. "There won't be much to be had now, I'm afraid."
Will looked around the room and raised a brow. "Where are Shansa and Tul?"
"Cockpit," Corsin replied. "Flying and setting up the comm arrays, respectively. They're listening in."
"Try to speak clearly!" Shansa's voice requested from the intercom.
"So what's the situation?" Will stepped up beside Eleena at the table and eyed the hologram.
"Corsin and I managed to uncover some enlightening data," Vayren promptly began. "As some of you may or may not know, Lorek is currently controlled by the Batarian Hegemony, or at least that's who controls it officially. The government is ruthless, and the population is always in various states of turmoil. This is due not only to the harsh rule, but the fact that the colony once belonged to the asari, and resentment toward the unlawful annexation lingers to this day."
Corsin picked up immediately where Vayren left off, almost as though it had been rehearsed. "The past few years there has been increasing levels of protest and violence in the capital, Jalnor. All signs point to an eventual attempt at upheaval."
"You mean a civil war," Kallux finished.
Vayren nodded in affirmation.
Eleena shook her head in bewilderment. "Fuck, is Antarian completely insane? He's going to start another war?"
"It seems likely," T'lees said as she stepped forward. "After a significant amount of prying, I convinced Agents Rentarius and Vayren to fill me in on the nature of our hunt. His removal from the Spectres is now quite understandable."
Tyrixis looked to the Spectres. "There is more you were able to find, correct?"
"Yes, we were also able to recover a fair amount of information about this 'silo' that Antarian's men are assaulting," Vayren continued as he pointed toward a waypoint on the image of Lorek. "It's a planetary missile defense base capable of striking both spacecraft and land-based targets."
"What do they want with it?" Tyrixis inquired curiously.
"That's what we need to find out," Corsin answered as he looked to his sister. "I'm guessing it's nothing particularly benevolent."
"If I may," T'lees interjected. "By the sound of things, this defense station is most likely a military installation. Antarian would have sent a sizable force to take it."
Corsin nodded in agreement. "Which is why we'll be going in hot."
"What's the battle plan?" Kallux asked.
Vayren let out a sigh and shook his head. "We don't know much about the facility itself, unfortunately. I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but in my opinion our best course of action would be to going in guns blazing. If this silo is part of Antarian's attempt to instigate another war, we don't have the luxury to dedicate time to recon."
Will blinked in surprise. "That's... a brazen plan."
"There's not much plan there, really," Eleena noted. "What do we do once we're there?"
"We've already talked to Tul'Sorrin," Corsin answered. "He'll stay on the Kodiak with Shansa to run the scanning equipment, monitor comm channels and coordinate the attack as needed."
Will let out a sigh. "Well, if you think it's our best option..."
Tyrixis looked across the table to T'lees and narrowed her eyes. "What will we do with her?"
The crew turned and looked at the asari with suspicious glares. Corsin crossed his arms looked down.
"Well, we can't exactly lock her up." The turian raised a hand to stroke his mandibles.
"Before you make the suggestion, it might be just a tad difficult for me to keep an eye on her, monitor all these systems and coordinate you all," Tul remarked sarcastically over the intercom.
T'lees raised her hands softly. "I understand that my presence is a burden upon your normal procedures. I apologize. But perhaps I can be of some help."
"You want to help?" Corsin glanced to the asari. "How well can you fight?"
"Excuse me?" T'lees turned to the Spectre in surprise.
"The more guns we have the better," Corsin reasoned. "Can you fight?"
The asari shrugged lightly in consideration. "I can handle a shotgun as well as anyone and my biotics are expertly honed, but I'm not trained as warrior. I'm no commando."
"Nor is she on our side," Tyrixis quickly added. "Corsin, I may object to your actions on a regular basis, but this is truly absurd."
"And our alternative?" Corsin waited for a moment for the appropriate response.
"Our alternative is to leave someone behind to watch her," Will finished.
The Spectre nodded. "Precisely."
Eleena stood back and shook her head with a small laugh. "This is fucking ridiculous."
T'lees frowned indignantly before raising her chin. "I gave my word to Spectre Rentarius that I would do all that I could to aid in the capture of Narenthus Antarian. If that means fighting alongside you all, so be it. Antarian has taken far too much from me over the years, and I'm ready to return the favor." She looked to her side where Corsin stood. "Perhaps my dedication to our arrangement will encourage you to uphold your portion when the time comes."
"So you really want to give her a shotgun and stick her in the middle of our squad?" Kallux reiterated, unconvinced. "I may have suggested that we bring her aboard, but at some point we've got to draw a line."
Vayren cleared his throat and raised a finger. "Might I make a suggestion?"
Will shrugged. "By all means."
"We allow her to fight with us," Vayren began as he slowly began walking toward T'lees. "But we do so with a contingency plan."
Corsin nodded for him to continue. "This plan being..?"
The salarian came to a stop behind the asari and made a few tapping motions on the tech panel on the back of her hard-suit. "I happen to have a software modification for armor tech that, when activated, shuts down the suit's microframe computer, disabling the shielding and non-conductive medi-gel functionality. I used it quite successfully in many infiltration and sabotage missions during my time with the STG." Vayren looked around the table. "If I give everyone a trigger for their omnitools, she can be rendered helpless at the first sign of treachery."
The group remained silent until Corsin let out a small chuckle. "That... is just sinister yet practical enough to earn my approval." The turian gave Vayren a nod. "You're thinking like a Spectre."
T'lees cleared her throat and looked to Tyrixis and Eleena. "I'm sorry, but you wish to give everyone the ability to make me a helpless target at the push of a button?"
Corsin sighed and glanced to Vayren. "How about just you, me and Hume."
Will raised a hand. "Woah, hold on now... are we really going to force this woman into a deadly firefight against her will?"
"You won't be forcing me," T'lees assured him. "I'm ready to prove myself trustworthy and return the misfortune that Narenthus Antarian dealt to me." The asari raised a gloved hand and produced a small ball of biotic energy. "Sounds almost... fun."
"If you say so." Will looked around the room to the others. "Any more issues? Suggestions?" After hearing nothing, he looked up. "Shansa, what's our ETA?"
"We'll be at Lorek in about thirty minutes," Shansa piped in. "I'll set the ship down about a hundred kilometers from the target and launch the Kodiak from there."
"Sounds good." Will stepped back from the table and crossed his arms. "Everyone load up on supplies. If there's even a chance you might need something, bring it."
Corsin nodded to dismiss them. "Let's get this done."
The crew turned and began filing out of the bunkroom to the armory. Will waited until the only people left in the room with him were Corsin and Tyrixis before crossing the room to his personal locker to hang his jacket inside. The Spectre stood at the meeting table, reading through data displayed beside the hologram of Lorek. Once Tyrixis realized that Will would not be leaving, she turned to Corsin and stepped up beside him.
"Do you really think it's wise to bring that asari with us?" The female turian gave him a sideways glance.
"Wise? Probably not," Corsin admitted. "But you're going to have to trust my judgment on this one."
"You know how I feel about your judgment at times," Tyrixis countered as she looked to the hologram.
The Spectre turned his attention to his sister. "There's no body governing our actions out here, Ty. No one has given you an order since you resigned. Why keep acting like that's not the case?"
Tyrixis continued to stare at Lorek in silence as Will closed his locker and turned to watch the turians from the far side of the room.
"I..." The female turian shut her eyes after a long pause. "Old habits are hard to break, I suppose."
"That's not always a bad thing." Corsin raised a hand and placed it on her shoulder. "Someone's got to keep me in line."
Will smiled softly and walked to the door. He had a lot of equipment to round up.
Forty-five minutes later the crew was fully geared and strapped into their seats as Shansa piloted the Kodiak out of the Hyperion and toward the defense facility. The shuttle had never been so full, and all of its occupants were waiting anxiously for the short flight to end, and the fight to begin. Tul'Sorrin was hard at work in the copilot's seat operating the electronic warfare suite. If things went as intended, he would be able to scramble any scanners their foes might be running. While the Hyperion entered the atmosphere, Tul had been able to get some decent scans of their target area and identified what appeared to be a landing pad at the center of the facility.
"Three minutes," Shansa reported calmly from the cockpit.
Will brought up his omnitool to make a few last-minute checks. All comm channels were operating with their intended recipients. His armor was functioning at peak efficiency. Under his "Mission Temp" executable category, the kill switch for Fayneer's tech systems sat waiting. Will hoped he wouldn't have to use it.
"Thirty seconds, everyone get ready!" Shansa said, her voice growing louder.
The squad pulled themselves to their feet and retrieved their weapons. Kallux, whose cannon would have taken up a significant amount of space in the small compartment, drew his pistols. Will eyed T'lees as she grabbed the shotgun from her back and aimed down the sights once before hugging the weapon to her chest. Will stepped up to the door and placed his hand on the control panel.
"Stand back," he warned.
With a tap of his finger the shuttle's hatch unsealed and swung open, revealing the near pitch-black night sky and driving rain from the perpetual storm that covered much of Lorek. He looked to the viewscreen beside him where the feed from the forward facing camera displayed with a night vision filter. The Kodiak was approaching a large plateau dotted with long slabs of metal scattered about and a few antennae. In the center was a deep, sunken square, where at the bottom was the landing pad that Shansa would deliver them to. The forward and belly thrusters roared as Shansa pushed them to safe descent strength and guided the shuttle into the landing zone. Will gripped his rifle and turned back to the doorway. They had barely reached a safe deployment distance from the ground when gunfire erupted and impacted the shields of the waiting squad.
Will waved the others forward. "Go!"
The landing pad was illuminated by a series of floodlights positioned at the top of the surrounding walls. As Will leapt from the shuttle and hit the ground he could see at least four soldiers near a wide door on the far side of the below-ground enclosure. The Hyperion squad's weapons opened up in retaliation as they unloaded from the Kodiak. Will watched the side of his HUD where his allies' shield statuses dipped. A ball of biotic energy flew past him in the blink of an eye and exploded between two of the enemy targets, causing what looked like an unstable mass effect field to expand and encapsulate the pair, sweeping them off of their feet and twisting their bodies as they floated helplessly. With two of their targets incapable of returning fire, the squad concentrated on the immediate threats. They were tough; their armor and weapons were clearly above the standard of average Terminus mercs. The first to drop was a turian, finally giving in to the heavy gunfire and falling to the ground. The second, his batarian counterpart, was downed by a well-placed headshot from Vayren's sniper rifle.
"I'm glad I still remember how to do that," T'lees announced proudly as she unleashed a shotgun blast into one of the two soldiers caught in her singularity.
Will held his fire as the biotics dissipated and their remaining foes dropped to the ground, motionless. Behind him, the door of the Kodiak shut as the shuttle's thrusters blasted it up and into the sky.
"I'll be circling nearby," Shansa announced over the comm.
The squad made a quick visual sweep of the landing pad to see that the four dispatched targets had been their only opposition. There were two doors, one on both the eastern and western walls around the landing pad. Will raised his rifle and hurried toward the collection of fallen soldiers. Kallux holstered his pistols as they approached and reached for his cannon, initiating its warmup while Vayren hurried to Will's side and knelt down next to one of the dead soldiers, a turian, and grabbed his wrist. The salarian activated the turian's omnitool and scanned it with his own.
"Looks like I've got a map of the facility. Sending it to you all now," he announced as he quickly reviewed the data. "No labels or notations, of course. The facility looks mirrored for the most part, but I can't tell where the control center might be."
Before he could say any more the door at the opposite end of the landing pad parted to reveal another group of five foes. Kallux and Eleena had been watching the door and immediately raised their weapons to the newcomers, only to be met with gunfire. The others turned to meet the opposition and unleashed a torrent of bullets in return. Will dropped to his knee to steady his aim on what looked like a human and squeezed off a few bursts into his legs. Kallux's cannon roared and cut down a turian at the center of the enemy squad as Eleena locked up another in a biotic stasis. One of their targets, a salarian, raised his omnitool and sent out a small flash.
"Damn it!" Corsin shouted and stumbled backward.
Will glanced to Corsin's shield monitor to see it had disappeared completely under the salarian's overload.
"Get down!" Will called to the Spectre.
Corsin did not hesitate before diving behind one of the nearby bodies. Bullets from the enemy squad's weapons tore into the corpse and ground nearby as they focused their fire on the Spectre. Kallux's cannon hissed and steamed as rain poured over the weapon, the heat sink barely keeping up. Tyrixis and Vayren downed the salarian engineer with heavy burst as Will, Eleena, T'lees and Kallux placed shots into the others. As the third fell, the remaining two targets seemed to panic and turned to run back through the door and into the base. Will caught one of them, a turian, with a shot to the neck and set him to the ground. The door shut as the fifth escaped.
"This may be tough," Corsin muttered as he pulled himself up, his armor's systems finally recharging. "This unit is organized."
"I would expect as much," Tyrixis noted. "Antarian did refer to this operation as... 'priority one,' after all."
"So where are we going?" Eleena asked impatiently.
Vayren had already returned to studying the data on his omnitool. "We need to cover as much area as possible. I suggest we split our forces and take a squad through each entrance. If this map is accurate, these halls are too cramped to maneuver a seven-man unit, anyway."
Corsin nodded. "Sounds good. How should we split up?"
"Allow me." Will raised his hand to point as he named off the groups. "Vayren, Kallux and Eleena will move as one squad. The other will comprise of T'lees, Tyrixis, Corsin and me. That's a biotic and tech specialist in each group, and relatively even firepower."
Vayren and Corsin nodded in approval as the squads gathered together. Eleena looked to Will and gave him a slightly worried look. Will motioned toward T'lees as she checked her shotgun and tapped near his eyes on his visor. Eleena nodded understandingly and turned to Kallux and Vayren as they walked toward the door.
"Stay safe," Will called to them as he, Corsin, T'lees and Tyrixis started off for the door on the opposite side. "If you hit trouble, radio in and fall back to the landing pad."
"Understood," Vayren replied.
Will watched over his shoulder as Vayren, Kallux and Eleena breached the door and, upon being met met with no resistance, entered the facility. As he approached the other entrance with his squad, Will raised his rifle and trained his sights on the center of the door. Corsin activated his omnitool to force open the lock as T'lees and Tyrixis took up position on either side of Will, their weapons at the ready. The door panel blinked green and began to rotate as the security shunt did its work. T'lees raised her palm and readied a biotic attack.
"Here we go," Corsin announced as he stepped back and raised his rifle.
Will took a deep breath and curled his finger around the trigger of his M-15 as the door slid open.
"This way!" Came a voice from inside the door. "Shit!"
The Hyperion squad opened fire down the hallway into a squad of four soldiers that were charging toward the door. T'lees unleashed a quick shockwave, throwing them off balance as Corsin, Will and Tyrixis unleashed a torrent of bullets into them. The enemies fell one by one as they regained their composure and attempted to return fire. The squad's shields dipped slightly as the powerful weapons, surely of Antarian make, landed a few shots. T'lees landed a blast from her shotgun that silenced the final target, leaving him slumped against the wall.
"Maybe they're not as organized as we thought," Will said hopefully as they moved into the hallway.
"I wouldn't say that," Tul'Sorrin mentioned through the comm. "But there is a lot of confusion in their network right now. I'd suggest moving as fast as possible to keep them guessing."
"Affirmative, will do," Corsin replied as he took point.
The door shut behind them. The hall was relatively short and ended at T-intersection lined with windows to another chamber. Everything around them from the color to material of the facility's walls was strictly utilitarian and militaristic. The gray metal walls were painted with red signs and warnings that listed various directions. Sadly, all the destinations displayed were nothing more than vague or unhelpful locations such as "Level 1" and "Landing Pad." As they approached the intersection, Will lowered his rifle slightly to get a better view through the tall, glass viewports. The squad checked either direction and upon seeing no targets, turned their attention to the chamber through the glass.
"I see why Antarian has such an interest in this place," T'lees mentioned worriedly.
The chamber was a launch silo, at least two stories in height. At the center of the room was an enormous missile, the bottom of which was misting around what appeared to be fuel hoses.
"We should not linger," Tyrixis warned them.
"She's right." Will turned for the door on their right. "Everyone keep your weapons ready. T'lees, be ready to drop another singularity or shockwave." He tapped the panel at the center of the door and raised his rifle. "Here we go."