Dust and grit swirled around Jade's knees as she stood outside the tomkah waiting for Shepard and Wrex to finish their business. Sweat trickled down her back and pooled in the valley between her breasts. She pushed a lock of sandy hair behind her ear and felt for the clip it had escaped from. She was glad she'd swapped her helmet out for the cooler visor this mission, but it meant the breeze was constantly teasing tendrils out of the thick braid she'd wound her hair into.
Christ, I have no idea how Mikki dealt with this shit all the time. Jade smiled softly to herself as she thought of the half-Hawaiian woman who had served as the team's explosives and demolition expert. Hell, I still can't figure out how she managed to keep from sitting on all that hair, let alone how she kept it in order during a fire fight.
Jade's hair wasn't nearly long enough to sit on, but apparently, Cerberus had kept her out of cryo long enough for it to grow significantly longer than the collar-length bob she'd kept it in before going under.
"You ready for this?" Garrus asked. The turian had gradually warmed up to Jade since the incident in the mess.
"Sure," she replied, still gazing out over the broken, sere landscape of Tuchanka. "It's not every day I get to help reverse genocide. Usually I'm stuck on the side that's facilitating or ignoring it."
He gave her a skeptical look.
"I was a citizen of the most powerful nation on the planet at the time." Jade shrugged. "We had the biggest military and the most devastating weapons, and we'd had the guts to use them against our enemies in the past, just to expedite the end of a war we probably could have won conventionally but at a slightly higher cost. If what was going on in another part of the world didn't impact us, we ignored it and if it benefited us, we found some way to support it, either directly or indirectly."
Jade chuckled darkly. "We weren't exactly known for our benevolence. You could pretty much count on the USA looking out for its own interests at any cost. This? This is a nice change."
"Sounds like a rough time." He checked the load on his rifle. "And you were in the thick of it?"
"Eh, it was a living," Jade took a sip of water and spat into the dust at her feet. "I joined the military straight out of high school. I didn't know how to do anything else, so when I got discharged, I was sort of directionless. Typhon gave me my direction back, so I didn't ask questions."
Garrus snorted and clapped the smaller woman on the shoulder.
"Well, I'm glad you're on our side then. Cerberus didn't know what they had." He glanced over his shoulder, his more sensitive hearing picking up something Jade couldn't even hope to catch. "Looks like Shepard's wrapping up. You're in the lead truck with Wreav. Shepard is with Mordin, Eve and Wrex. Javik and I will be running with the rearguard. Keep radio contact."
"Will do, Vakarian, sir!" Jade snapped him a jaunty salute and jogged to her designated truck.
Jade leaned to look out the driver's window for what had to be the hundredth time since the convoy got on the move. It bothered her how smoothly this op was going.
The smoother it goes the worse it is when it all falls to shit. She thought as the krogan driving elbowed her out of his space with a growl. Granted we're just getting started, but still …
She sat on the bench across from Wreav but sprang up almost immediately as she felt the tomkah slow. Her comm clicked in her ear.
/What's going on Harmon?/ Shepard's voice was tight.
"Looks like we've got a break in the highway, boss." Jade crouched over the driver's shoulder as he brought the truck to a rumbling halt. "I don't think we're going to make our rendezvous."
/Unacceptable, there's got to be a way through. We can't miss our window with the airstrike. They'll get creamed./
"Looks like there're a couple of sappers already working on a solution." Jade moved to exit the truck, elbowing in front of Wreav to be first out.
"I'll go check on their prog – Ulk!" As she crawled out of the hatch, the butt of her rifle caught on the lip and jerked her back. The big krogan growled a curse and planted a foot in her back to force her through the opening.
"Thanks, asshole." She grunted as she popped free and shrugged the weight of her equipment back into position. Shepard was already out and talking to the lead engineer.
"Shit," Garrus' assessment of the damage was as eloquent as it was long. "We got notification from Artemic Wing, they're gonna be left high and dry if we don't get a move on."
The turian fighter squadron screamed overhead at that moment, as if to punctuate the point.
"Spirits help them," he rumbled. "They're going for it anyway, those beautiful bastards."
"An airstrike isn't enough against a Reaper!" Javik called to Shepard over the plane's roar. "We must join the fight."
"Jesus," Jade breathed as the Reaper rounded the Shroud to engage the Turian air wing. "That's what we're up against?"
The behemoth effortlessly cut through the turian ships as Jade watched in awe that rapidly became the adrenaline fueled knife-edge of combat reaction as one of the doomed craft tumbled straight for them. Jade leapt into the hatch of the nearest truck.
"Go, go, go!" She screamed at the driver as she slammed the door on a world gone hellish with smoke and flames and the sound of rending metal. Vaguely she heard Wrex calling out to Shepard for a sitrep. They were already in motion when she replied over the open channel telling them to get out of there. Jade felt a sickening drop in her stomach as the tomkah caught air and nearly bit her tongue off when they landed on the other side.
/Harmon? Harmon! Where are you! Report!/ Shepard screamed through the comm link.
"Here! I'm here with Wrex. Made it in just before the crash." Her voice was thick with blood. She spat a bright red gob onto the floor before responding. "You all make it?"
/Yeah, we're good here. You stay with them, make sure they make it to the Shroud facility. We'll find another way around./
"Roger that, boss. They'll make it, or I'll die trying."
/Nobody's dying today, Harmon. Just be there to meet us on the other side./
"Will do commander."