Chapter 28: Contact

Reaching the end of the hallway, Jack walked into an operations room being fortified as a bunker. It appeared that most of the Batarians had already left, but elements of the Blue Suns remained. Amongst those present were the two guards who had witnessed her humiliation.

Shooting her sidearm once in the air to get everyone's attention, she said, "I'm with the Encounter. What will it take to get the cargo bay hatch open?"

A frazzled technician responded, "With the main power out, the manual release levers would all have to be unlocked. There should be six of them."

Looking at him, the biotic said, "Go release them and you'll get a ride off this rock. Whatever is happening, it can't be good."

At that point, one of the two guards who was there came up to her and said, "Commander Juxsun said no one is to leave this room until the first team is evacuated."

Putting out her hand without the weapon, she used her biotic ability to slam the guard into the wall. When his cohort drew his weapon to attack her, Jack was ready to shoot him also. She didn't get the chance because Thane took out the guard before she could fire. Offering the Drell a quick smile, Jack took control of the situation.

"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Captain Linn of the Encounter. If you want to live, proceed to the rear cargo bay and you will be welcome aboard. Garm here will assist you in reaching the vessel."

The crew didn't need to be told twice, and they began to run toward the waiting ship. Still holding the guard at bay, Jack said to Thane, "Make sure they get aboard okay. We can use them to start our own operations."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To take care of unfinished business."

The Drell frowned, but understanding, he left Jack to pursue whatever vendetta she had in mind.

Turning her attention back to the guard she had pinned down with her powers, she said to him, "Where's your boss?"

"He left to evacuate on the shuttle near the front of the building," was the response.

"Do you know exactly what is happening here?" she asked him.

"Some assault team attacked us. We don't know who, but they were definitely professionals. We've got the main hall sealed so Juxsun can reach the vessel."

"How do I open those doors?" she asked.

"I can't tell you that," he began to blurt out, and then she punched him right in the jaw.

"Don't make me ask twice."

"The boss will kill me if I help you," he whimpered.

"I will kill you if you don't. Consider who is pointing the gun." She aimed her weapon at his head, and he began to whimper.

"Okay, okay!" He reached up to the control panel there and activated several switches. Jack had no way of knowing what he was doing as the monitors were down.

"It's all done," he said. "I did what you wanted."

"We'll see about that. If the doors aren't open, I'll kill you when I come back." With that statement, she clocked the back of his head with the butt of her pistol and he fell unconscious.

On the other side of the facility, the Krogans were getting more impatient with where they were stuck. The Batarians had withdrawn behind a sealed door, and the Krogans had occupied the hallway that was now abandoned. Grunt was on the point.

Banging on the door, he screamed, "Why won't you open!"

Just as he did that, the door began to rise and he pulled his weapon out. Tossing a grenade underneath the door, he rolled it into whatever was ahead. A loud explosion reverberated throughout the hallway that deafened the Krogan, and covered the cries of the soldiers who were behind that door. Blood splattered and oozed beneath the door that now came open.

The scene was carnage as three bodies had been mangled from the blast, but Grunt didn't think of that as he called out, "We're through." The strike force assembled, raised their armor to the highest setting, and began charging down the hallways.

They quickly reached a cargo bay where a number of Batarian military personnel were loading onto a vessel. Preparing for their escape, the Krogans ran into combat with the unsuspecting troops. The first dozen were slaughtered almost instantly, as the assault rifles decimated the unprotected ground crew.

The Batarians responded quickly though, bringing some of their soldiers off the ship and into positions covering the entrance to the vessel. They sought cover wherever they could, trying to set up crossfire situations, but the charging Krogan horde made it impossible. They were upon them too quickly, and were about to get on the ship itself.

Leaving their troops behind, someone in the ship must gave the order to depart because it began to hover inside the bay as the cargo doors were beginning to open. The Batarian soldiers rushed back toward their planned escape, but all it did was make them targets for the Krogan team who was now surrounding the room and laying down heavy fire.

The ship rotated and prepared to leave, but at the back of the room, Urdnot Wrex had been watching the carnage. He had taken a shoulder fired rocket launcher out. They were stuck until the doors were fully open which gave him a minute to put to good use.

"Everyone find cover," he indicated via their communicators, and the Krogan withdrew to the hallway within second. With a wide smile on his face, he said, "Nobody gets away," and launched the missile.

He aimed for the engine which was located on the side wing of this design, and when the missile hit, shrapnel went flying everything as a huge explosion caused the ship to tip onto its side. Lacking stability, it crashed into the side of the cargo bay, and Wrex dove into the hallway, taking no more time to admire his handiwork.

He barely escaped the blast from the ship crashed into the bay and consumed itself in a ball of fire.

Not having suffered any casualties, the Krogans were roaring and in the heat of their battle lust. Beyond the bay lay several different passages. Not having any idea what was where, Wrex called out for them to split into teams of two and explore.

While he had originally planned on escaping with the Batarian delegation, Commander Juxsun had caught wind of the attack from listening to the radio, and decided to avoid the mess. He had survived many years by always having an alternate plan, and he would get to the surface. From there, he would find a way to escape, as there were certain hidden shelters left on this planet for such an eventuality.

He reversed himself and headed back toward the control room, planning to pass it and reach the access shaft to the surface. As he turned down a corner, he saw someone waiting for him.

With a gun in her hand and his head in her sights, Captain Linn was there.

They were separated by about thirty paces, so he began walking toward her and said, "If your vessel hasn't left yet, we can still escape that way."

Jack shot a bullet that whizzed by his ear, missing purposely, saying, "You're not going anywhere."

He took another few steps toward her and said, "I'm your commanding officer and you will…"

"I will kill you," she said with cold intensity. Using her power, she slammed him against one wall and then another. She banged him around like a sardine in a can, and then let him fall to his knees.

"You sick bitch," he gasped as he grabbed his ribs, "Is this worth dying for?" Panting between breaths, he watched as she came close to him and said, "We can escape."

"Juxsun, make no mistake. I will escape, with my ship, and with my crew. I will tell Vido how we did everything we could to survive, but the one thing that will not happen is you will not leave here alive."

Jack was savoring the moment of revenge, as she got within arm's length of the wounded Batarian. She looked down at him, gloating, daring him to try something. She even threw aside her gun, inviting him to fight her hand to hand. This was personal.

Although wounded, Juxsun wasn't without his own tricks, and he reached into his leg pocket. Slamming a stim pack into his body, he received a boost of chemicals that took away the pain and gave him strength. He would pay a price in the long term, but he had to get there first.

Roaring, he kicked at her legs, but she jumped over him, and force slammed him backwards. He got up and began to charge, but Jack made him fly over head and launched herself into his back as soon as he landed. He heard a snapping inside as her body flew like a bullet. As he turned to face her, fighting through the daze, she launched a roundhouse kick to the back of his head.

Juxsun slammed to the ground and Jack just danced over him, "Look at you, the big bad dude can't even keep up with a little girl. Pathetic."

He couldn't stand the taunting, and charged back after her. She let him get near her, this time not using her force abilities, and landed a punch right to his solar plexus. Winded, he fell back, and she jabbed his face, uppercut his chin, and then once he had fallen, she stomped between his legs.

Juxsun fell over in pain and bleeding from the mouth. As he curled himself into a ball, Jack flipped herself over and behind him, taking his arms in her hands and putting her knee in his back. In a creative use of her biotic ability, she pushed her body forward beyond where his arms could reach, cracking the bones in his arms. Not able to resist any longer, Juxsun gave up and cried.

Jack came right behind him, darkness in her eyes, and said, "You deserve worse." Wrapping her arms around his neck, she twisted and snapped it. Juxsun fell dead on the floor.

Exhausted from the effort, she sat down on the floor for a moment to collect herself before returning to the ship. She examined his body and found he had a datapad on him, as well as a few other items she would sort through later.

Jack stood up to leave, and as she did, two Krogan strike warriors came rushing into the other end of the hallway. Seeing her in the open, they targeted her with their heavy duty rifles. Not having shields or anything to hide behind, Jack was beyond the ability of where she could reach with her biotic powers.

The Krogan began their charge toward the biotic and opened fire. As they did so, another figure emerged from a hallway ten feet in front of her. Thane had come and put himself in the line of fire. "Get out of here," he cried. "Take the ship and leave."

Although he had his own sidearm and his armor gave him enough protection for Jack to get out of the firefight, Thane didn't have enough to stop the Krogan strike warriors. His shields quickly gave way as his body was tossed backwards by the force of the ammunition. Shot in the shoulder, in the side, in the chest, and in both legs, he fell over bloody and in a heap as the Krogan rushed past him to find Jack.

Crouching around the corner, Jack watched Thane fall, and a hot tear came rolling down her cheek. When the Krogan came past him, and reached her, they did not expect her to still be there. She was, and she slammed each of them into each other with her force pushing ability. Each dropped his weapon, and the two massive warriors dangled like circus balls being handled by a juggler.

Jack screamed like a banshee, and threw them against the wall. She forced their armors into their chests. Taking hold of the metal with her mind, she squeezed on all sides until their bodies popped, destroying their primary, secondary, and tertiary organs.

Once she had them knocked out and unconscious, she took one of their rifles and emptied a full round into the two bodies, and then she rushed over to Thane.

Crying, she ran a hand tenderly along his green face and said, "You can't leave me. I need you."

He was very serene as he said, "You need to leave." The gasping and coughing was worse than usual. A chest wound was bleeding out and he was struggling even more for air. "I have lived a good life, and my days were numbered anyway."

She cried and put her head into his chest. Not listening, she tried lifting him, but the body was too heavy to do more than drag. In her rage against the Krogan as well as fighting Juxsun, she was spent beyond her ability to accomplish anything else.

She lay his body down, and looked into his dark eyes, "I don't want to leave you, Thane."

"Keep an eye on Kolyat for me," he asked her. "Now go. There will be more, and you won't have me to rescue you next time."

She forced a laugh and gave him a smile through her tears, squeezing him in one final warm embrace. She kissed his head, and then dashed away. While she did, she cried all the way to the ship.

In her shock, she couldn't believe Thane was gone. She couldn't believe anyone would be willing to give his life to save her own. It was all working out perfect, and now she felt more alone than ever. She wanted to cry, to punch something, but instead she ran even faster.

Reaching the Encounter, she arrived to see the ship fully loaded, as a full complement of Blue Suns technicians had taken her offer and the bay had opened. Lieutenant Richards was waiting at the door saying, "Captain, we're ready for launch. We were only waiting for you and the first mate."

In that moment, she realized the ship was truly hers as they could have left without her, but did not. She could never replace Thane, but she shared this with him. Jack would remember and treasure that, and as she scampered up the stairs, she said, "Garm…no, Thane didn't make it. Let's leave."

"Yes, Captain Linn," Richards said.

"No, Captain Jack," she corrected him. "My name is Jack."

Nodding at the correction, Richards took position at the helm and started up the engines. He brought the ship to hovering position, elevating out of the bay, and then launching out to night space.

Jack found herself slumped in a seat behind him, looking out at the stillness of the night sky.

"Where to, Captain?" Richards asked her.

"Anywhere that isn't here," she said, and she retired from the cabin as Richards was left to puzzle what that meant.

Wrex had heard reports from all the ground teams who had eliminated all the Batarians and Blue Suns personnel they had found except for the one working in the farthest corridor.

Finding Grunt, he said, "Take six of the team with you. We haven't heard from Bedlok or Grondak."

Grunt pounded his chest once and took off running toward the area in question. As Wrex looked around at the damage and also what survived, he bet the Alliance would have a field day with this. It seemed like this was a base for Batarian piracy operations for the whole sector, and its destruction would very much benefit the fleets moving into position now.

All he waited for was the final report from Grunt, but he remained prepared in case they had missed something.

Grunt ran down the hallways, finding nothing until he reached a far corridor. Putting his hand up to get those following him to halt, he advanced alone at first. He saw the two bodies of the Krogans who had been beaten badly and killed. In frustration, he roared at them, wondering what had happened here, and then he saw another body laying there, still moving.

Rushing toward whomever was there, Grunt came charging with his rifle ready. As he came close, his charge slowed to a startled stop. Looking down, he saw Thane there, and Grunt wondered what happened.

Barely blinking, and the blood now flowing out of him onto the floor, Thane looked up and somehow recognized Grunt. He gasped and whispered these final words. "Tell Shepard I'm sorry."

His last breath taken, the Drell fell silent to the floor.

Grunt threw his rifle to the floor, raising his arms in the air as he fell to his knees and screamed in clear anguish, "This was my friend!"

Author's Note: I thought Thane was always a surprisingly warm character, and in a way, this ending for him brings perfect symmetry to his first love, his wife. I saw his relationship with Jack as more paternal in this context, but him taking the bullet for her is redemptive. Now the question is what she takes from it, and I don't know yet what she will.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter as always, and the story will continue. Your reviews are appreciated as ever.