The Red Moon Collection - 2 - Three Phantoms

Chapter 23

MSV Hyperion, en route to Yamm, Nubian Expanse

"Ready to get this started?"

Will glanced over to Vayren as he spoke. The salarian stood beside him, tapping away at the control panel of the holoprojector at the center of the bunkroom. On the other side of the table, the rest of the squad stood waiting. Kallux, Eleena, Shansa and Tul were at the center, eager for the briefing to begin. T'lees stood off to the side with her arms behind her back and hands holding one another in a non-threatening posture. The only person not beside the table was Tyrixis, who leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed slightly. Vayren finished entering his commands and the holoprojector flickered as the image of a largely oceanic planet appeared at the center of the table.

"Yes," the Spectre finally answered as two waypoints appeared on the image.

Will turned his attention back to the others. "Well, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but this may be it."

"I fuckin' hope so," Eleena responded with a smirk.

"As do I," Vayren added. "Given the damage we inflicted upon Antarian's best soldiers, I'd be willing to bet that he won't be on the radar for much longer."

Kallux nodded in agreement. "Any idea where he might disappear to?"

The salarian shook his head. "No. Which is why Yamm might be our last chance at finding him for a long time."

Tul'Sorrin looked over the planet curiously. "So what is our plan? I imagine he won't let us just park our ship in the middle of his compound."

"You're probably right," Will said sarcastically. "Luckily for us, the coordinates we retrieved from Russon's omnitool," he pointed to one of the waypoints, "is only a few dozen kilometers from the port of New Karnak, the colony's capital." He pointed to the other nearby waypoint. "We can dock there."

"That's all well and good, but Antarian was able to track our ship while we were heading to Neidus," Kallux argued. "He might already know we're on our way."

"He might have before," Vayren answered. "But Tul'Sorrin and I implemented a fail-safe."

Will nodded to the quarian, having already been informed a few hours earlier. "Care to explain it to everyone, Tul?"

"Yes, of course." Tul looked to this comrades and cleared his throat. "Normally, shipboard comm arrays do not publicly broadcast information that would identify anything significant about the ship itself. This made me very curious about how Antarian was able to pull our information using only broad-scanning probes. I mentioned this to Agent Vayren, and I found my answer." He looked around to see everyone was still listening intently. "Almost all comm array hardware is hardcoded with certain root passcodes that can allow anyone who has the proper tunneling software and the specific code to reach into your transmission system. Typically, these codes are only known by the manufacturers of the hardware."

"Manufacturers, and Spectres," Vayren continued. "Some manufacturers provide them to us willingly, others are stolen by our agents. The end result is that we have the ability to pull a large amount of data from a ship's onboard systems by simply tapping into their outbound comms. Because these codes are essentially part of the hardware and do not change, Antarian would have easily been able to perform such a root access hack on the Hyperion. So long as the comm array was not replaced since he was removed from the Spectres and lost access to new codes."

"And why are you so sure that this is what Antarian did?" T'lees asked from the end of the table.

Vayren smirked. "Because I checked the array's logs and confirmed it."

Will nodded. "So what was the solution? Change the root passcodes?"

Tul shook his head, but responded with excitement. "Unfortunately, that is not possible. However, Vayren and I devised a solution that may work even better. With his help, I wrote a program that intercepts any attempt to enter our system using the root passcode and redirects them to false databanks. If anyone tries the hack, we can feed them any information we desire."

"What would our system respond with now?" Eleena asked curiously.

"We're a large, erratically scheduled freighter that's made numerous deliveries to Yamm in the past," Vayren explained. "At least for the time being. The important factor is that we are not, for those prying in, the MSV Hyperion or even a Guiana Class ship. The latter bit would, of course, be contradicted by a silhouette scan, but Antarian would not we inclined to perform this if he could pull all the information he needed from the ship's databanks."

Will looked between Vayren and Tul. "I've gotta admit, I'm impressed."

"Heh, well once Vayren told me how easy it was for Spectres to get hold of these root passcodes, the problem and solution became fairly obvious." The quarian raised his chin in pride.

Eleena chuckled. "Oh, yeah, it was completely obvious."

Will smiled and looked over to Kallux. "Still concerned?"

"If these two say I shouldn't be," the krogan looked to Vayren and Tul, "then no."

"Right then, where was I?" Will looked back to the map. "Oh, right... New Karnak. Our plan is to bring the ship into port and set out in the Kodiak." He reached forward and pointed to a long gorge that ran close to Antarian's waypoint before ending at the sea. "Vayren's convinced that any scanning equipment Antarian has in place will not be able to read the shuttle if we stay down in this ravine. If we unload somewhere near the top of the cliff, it's only a short hike through the jungle to the compound."

Tyrixis finally spoke. "And then?" Her voice was cold and flat.

"We have two objectives," Vayren answered. "Find Antarian and sabotage his possible means of escape. T'lees, what do you remember about where you landed during your visit?"

All eyes shifted to the asari as she looked to Will and Vayren. "It was small. From what I could see through the window of the skycar, there seemed to be only one landing pad large enough for the small ship that delivered me. There were two smaller pads as well, one had a freight shuttle and the other housed the skycar."

Will nodded. "So we've got two vessels that could transport him off planet. How many skycars?"

T'lees shook her head. "I am not sure, but I would assume there are at least a few. It was very secluded, so I imagine he must fly in his supplies from the city."

Vayren let out a contemplative sigh. "This... could be a problem."

"I have an idea," Shansa asserted nervously.

Will raised a brow. "Yeah?"

She nodded with a smile. "If you disable the shuttle and ship, that just leaves the skycars. And they're nowhere near as fast as our Kodiak. If a skycar makes a run for it, I can chase it and take it out. Or at least disable the engines."

"And how would you do that?" Vayren inquired.

The pilot looked over to Kallux. "Well, we'd have to leave the cannon mounted..."

Will crossed his arms. "That's a valuable asset to leave on the sidelines just in case."

"Bah." The krogan waved a hand dismissively. "I don't need that bulky, overheating piece of junk to do my job well. Just give me that shotgun you never use, Hume."

"Hey, I'd use it if it didn't have such a kickback," Will argued.

Vayren looked to Shansa. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

She smiled and gave him a confident nod. "I can do it. I'm tired of sitting around on the shuttle while everyone else does all the work!"

"Fair enough." Will looked around the table. "I think we should handle cutting off his escape routes before we even think about moving deeper. Quietly, if possible."

"I agree," Vayren said plainly. "Once that is taken care of, we can move in and find Antarian. The longer we stay undetected, the better."

"So we'll move as one group? Tul and Eleena can be in charge of figuring out a way to disable whatever we find at the landing pads," Will suggested. "T'lees can stay on the shuttle with Shansa and watch our feeds. Give us any advice on the area if she recognizes anything."

T'lees cleared her throat. "Actually, if you would permit me to do so, I would like to join the squad for this excursion."

"Are you joking?" Eleena eyed her up and down. "You could barely stand up a day go."

"I want to help," she insisted. "It would take my mind off of the pain."

Will wasn't convinced. And judging by the looks on the faces of the others, they weren't either. Before he could respond, Tyrixis stepped forward and took a spot at the table.

"Ms. T'lees is capable, even with her impairment," the turian stated. "And she has a longing for vengeance." Tyrixis looked down the row to where the asari stood. "It would be foolish to turn down her offer. We can always use more guns, right?"

Vayren glanced over to T'lees and shook his head. "I have not seen much of what you have to offer in terms of combat strength." He turned to Will. "Captain, your thoughts?"

T'lees stood with her arms crossed and a grim yet determined expression on her face. Will looked to the woman for a long moment before relenting.

"She did well on Lorek," he affirmed. "The only reason she was injured is because I wasn't fast enough to help."

Vayren looked to Will and then back to T'lees before nodding. "I trust your judgment, Captain."

The asari's lips rose ever-so-slightly.

"Now, there's a chance Antarian has short-range scanners that could identify our silhouette, so once we get near the planet we're going to have to land and launch the Kodiak as fast as possible." Will looked over to Shansa. "Do we have an ETA?"

"We're less than an hour out," she answered. "I've already contacted the spaceport in New Karnak and reserved a berth like you asked."

"Good. The shuttle will be ready to go as soon as we've touched down." Will gave her a teasing grin. "And you might want to skip the post-flight checklist."

The pilot furrowed her brow irritably at the suggestion.

Vayren looked around the table. "This may very well be our last chance at finding Antarian." He looked down. "Well, my last chance, at least." The Spectre glanced back up. "And just in case I'm reassigned from this mission, I want you all to know that I've enjoyed working with you more than I had ever anticipated."

"And if you aren't removed from the mission?" Kallux asked with a smirk.

The salarian met the krogan's gaze. "I'll save my thanks for then," he grinned lightly.

The Kodiak weaved from side to side through the meandering gorge as Shansa's deft hands swiped at the flight controls. Heavy vegetation from either side covered most of the stone faces that surrounded them, creating thousands of rays of light from the setting sun. Will gripped the bulkhead of the door to the cockpit nervously as the shuttle rocked back and forth.

"Still nothing," Tul announced to Will and Shansa. "If he's running any scanners, they're not picking us up."

Will gripped a little tighter as he felt the Kodiak begin to decelerate rapidly and nose upward.

"No room to land," Shansa announced as the shuttle slowed and began to hover in place. "Should be enough room to jump safely, though."

The Kodiak had approached a small outcropping near the top of the cliff that was almost completely concealed by enormous, tear-shaped leaves and vines as thick as tree trunks. Will gripped his helmet a little tighter and tucked it under his arm as the cabin hatch opened behind him. Shansa looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"This is your stop," she said with a wink. "Be careful."

Will nodded and stood aside as Tul jumped up from the copilot's seat and stepped past him.

"You too," he told her.

He turned to see the rest of the squad was already standing and double-checking their gear. Kallux stood without his cannon, having locked it into place on the nose of the Kodiak before they launched from the Hyperion. Eleena was already peering out the door to the ledge that awaited beyond a two meter jump from the hovering shuttle. Beside her, Vayren stood examining his omnitool, checking over the comm frequencies that had been established for the mission. T'lees was carefully sliding her replacement helmet into place, carefully making sure not to dislodge the medical eye-patch that Tyrixis had given her. After the mission briefing, the doctor had made one last examination of her wound: an empty, shallow and unsightly eye socket of fresh scar tissue that T'lees was quick to request a cover for. Now, Tyrixis leaned against the back wall of the shuttle's cabin watching the rest of the squad in silence. Will stepped past them and came to a stop at the open door as he reached up and slid his helmet into place.

"One at a time now," he said with a grin.

Will leapt for the ledge and rolled as he cleared the jump by a good foot or so, tearing through vegetation as he did. He jumped to his feet and grabbed his M-15 from his back, igniting the omniblade bayonet and slicing through a large collection of the vines and leaves that had hindered his jump. The flora tumbled down into the deep gorge below as he stood back and waved the others to follow. He retracted the omniblade and turned to look up and down the ledge he had jumped to. It tilted upward on one end, stopping at a collection of rocks that looked as though they would provide a path to the top of the cliff. The other end slowly receded into the mossy stone before disappearing behind a thick coil of vines. Behind him, Eleena, Vayren and Kallux had already made the jump and were moving to clear the landing area. Will stowed his rifle and hurried over to the rocky ascent. He reached up and grabbed onto the first handhold he could find which, much to his relief, supported his weight.

"Watch yourself," Eleena advised as she stepped up behind him.

Off to his left, there was only a few leaves and roots between him and a painful fall.

"The rocks are stable," Will assured her as he began climbing.

It was only about fifteen feet upward before Will pulled himself to feet on the lip of the cliff. The jungle around him was illuminated by the sinking sun, sending orange and yellow rays through the vibrant, verdant foliage. He took a few steps away from the gorge and looked up to the crisscrossing branches and leaves of the jungle canopy. Will stared, entranced for a good minute until Kallux and Eleena had moved up to his sides, looking up with him.

"You okay, Hume?" Kallux finally asked.

"Heh, sorry," he said as he looked down to Kallux and then to Eleena. "Pretty view."

Eleena smirked lightly and drew her SMG. "Get it together, Captain."

Will grinned and turned back to watch as the others began to appear one by one. The noise of the Kodiak's thrusters slowly began to fade as Shansa lowered the shuttle deeper into the gorge to wait for her moment to pounce. Vayren, Tul'Sorrin, T'lees and finally Tyrixis climbed up from the ledge and formed up. Vayren and Tul quickly consulted one another before nodding in agreement.

"This way," Vayren announced as he set off into the jungle.

The rest of the squad fell in behind him without question. Will drew his rifle once again, holding it across his chest as they began wading through the thick flora. Just in front of him, Kallux reached for the shotgun on his back and began looking it over.

"Hey, be careful with that thing," Will called to him.

Kallux looked over his shoulder and laughed. "You never use it," he argued accusingly.

"It's sentimental!" Will retorted.

Eleena was following close behind him and stepped up at his side with a grin. "Oh of course! Who wouldn't want to remember when you almost got a face-full of shotgun from an insane batarian?"

Will glanced over to her. "The sentimental part is that I didn't."

"Thanks to me," Kallux reminded him. "Which is why I'll fiddle around with this thing all I want."

He cocked the shotgun and nodded approvingly. Will looked down to his omnitool to see Eleena pinging him on a private comm channel. He opened it up and looked to her with a raised brow.

"You really think Antarian's here?" She asked.

Will looked ahead as they ducked below the roots of an overturned tree. "I honestly have no idea. But it's our only lead so why not hope for it?"

Eleena rolled her eyes with a smile. "You really know how to inspire confidence, you know that?"

"Oh I'm aware," Will replied jokingly. "I've tried cutting back, but bottling up this much charisma just isn't healthy."

There was a small, almost silent laugh before Eleena cut the comm channel and dropped back into formation behind him. The next ten minutes went by in silence only broken by grunts as the squad jumped over logs and landed from small drops in the terrain. Vayren remained vigilant at the front of the group, guiding them with his rifle drawn and at the ready. After growing anxious from the silence, Will looked back over his shoulder to see the rest of the group keeping up nicely and opened up the squad comm channel.

"Doin' okay back there, T'lees?"

The asari, second to last in the line, perked up and nodded. "Yes, I am managing well enough."

"Everyone stay alert," Vayren ordered from the front of the group. "We're only a few hundred meters out from the coordinates."

"See anything yet?" Will asked as he stepped past Kallux.

The salarian shook his head as Will came up to his side and scanned their surroundings.

"I suggest that we halt the group and take cover once we get closer," Vayren advised. "Tul'Sorrin and I can activate our cloaking generators and get up close to investigate the perimeter."

Will nodded. "Sounds good. When do you think we'll be close enough?"

Spectre squinted and came to halt, stopping the rest of the group behind him. He raised his rifle and slowly scanned the horizon with his scope.

"I see a structure. It looks like a wall." Vayren lowered the weapon and looked over to Will. "To answer your question: now."

Will turned and waved the others up. "Alright, you've all heard the plan, right?" With nods of affirmation, Will motioned toward an enormous boulder a few meters away. "We'll lay low here while Vayren and Tul go in quietly. Any objections?"

With no response, Will stepped into cover behind the rock and watched as all but Vayren and Tul'Sorrin followed him. The quarian gripped his pistol in two hands and stepped up beside the salarian as Vayren stowed his rifle and retrieved his own pistol. The pair exchanged a quick glance and nodded before activating their stealth field generators and disappearing in a brief flicker. Leaves and vines parted to their invisible forms as they set off once again.

"We'll radio in as soon as we've found something," Vayren informed them.

Will leaned his back against the boulder and looked over to the others. Eleena had already stowed her weapon and leaned back in a similar fashion with her arms crossed over her chest. Kallux sat on a small rock, still examining the shotgun he had acquired from Will. T'lees stood at the far edge of the boulder, her shotgun raised as she seemed to familiarize herself with her reduced vision. Tyrixis was turned away from them, staring into the jungle with her rifle slung across her chest.

"You alright, doctor?" Will eyed her worriedly.

The turian continued to stare for a few seconds before answering. "I'm fine."

Tyrixis did not break from her gaze into the jungle as she answered. Will looked over to Eleena, who shrugged. He let out an anxious sigh and closed his eyes as they waited. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Will was debating on opening his comm link when Vayren finally radioed in with an update.

"This is Vayren. We've done a quick sweep and it looks better than I was anticipating. Tul'Sorrin and I see no cameras, but there are a few motion detection devices on the walls themselves. It appears as though they will trigger an electrical discharge intended to kill or drive off local wildlife."

"Any way to disable them?" Will asked.

"Yes, I can spoof some data for them," Tul answered. "Luckily, we shouldn't have to worry about them at all. Agent Vayren and I found a doorway that looks as though it opens into a prefab on the opposite side of the wall."

Kallux snorted lightly. "Is there anybody in the prefab?"

"That's what we're about to find out," Vayren replied.

Will pulled up his omnitool and activated the vid feed from Vayren's helmet camera. He watched as the image of an invisible Tul, made visible on Vayren's HUD by an overlay, worked at the security door. Eleena, Kallux and T'lees all hurried to Will's side to watch the small screen on Will's omnitool. After about thirty seconds of work, the door finally pinged and slid open. Vayren peered his cloaked head around the corner to see that the room was a small storage shack. At the far end of the room, a turian in non-combat fatigues was looking over a datapad as he examined a few crates. The turian turned to the noise of the door opening, and quickly tossed the datapad aside before drawing a pistol from his belt.

"Hey! Who's there?"

Vayren's perspective darted back around the wall as the turian took a step toward the door. The sound of cautious footsteps rang out until the pistol poked through the doorway, followed by the curious turian. As he leaned out to investigate, the squad watched as Vayren reached up drove the butt of his pistol into the back of the turian's head.

"Aggh!"

The turian's thick skin absorbed most of the blow as he turned to face Vayren with his pistol pointing straight at him. Before the salarian could raise his weapon in defense, the turian discharged a shot straight into the center of his chest, flaring his shields and revealing him. Will's heart skipped a beat as another shot rang out and blood burst through a newly-formed hole in the turian's throat. He grasped at the gaping wound and fell to the ground, writhing in pain as he choked through blood for a breath. Vayren watched him fall before darting his sight over to see Tul withdrawing his pistol from firing position.

"Good shot," Vayren's voice said firmly over the comms.

The salarian peeked into the doorway once again and, upon finding it clear, stepped inside. "Captain, bring the squad up. I will activate my indicator."

Will deactivated his omnitool and looked around the group. Tyrixis had finally turned to face them as well.

"Let's go," he ordered. "We've got our way in."