Chapter 4: Nightmares

Fehl Prime- Months ago

Fehl Prime, a beautiful world in the Terminus Systems full of desserts and forests, after the hustle and bustle of Illium it was nice to come back to a quiet and peaceful place. To think just two years ago, it was a war zone. The blood pack led by the krogan battlemaster Archuk attack the colony, causing the Alliance to respond with several teams of marines. However they had underestimated how strong this squad of blood pack mercs was and the marines were slaughtered until Delta Team, James' team were the only ones left. They prevailed against the blood pack, though not without earning some stitches and broken ribs for their trouble.

After saving the colony, they were ordered by Admiral Hackett to remain on Fehl Prime and bulid up its defenses, much to the team's chagrin; however they soon came to see the colony as home. "Home sweet home" James said with a smile. As he walked into the colony with the shadow of planetary defense system overlooking him, what they were building in case more mercs had the smart idea of attacking the colony.

As he walked over the hill, he saw his friends come up to greet him; the first one to run towards him was a girl, no older than six. She had reddish-brown hair and wearing a white t-shirt in overalls, she had a huge smile that showed some missing teeth which the giant man always considered cute. "James!" she lept into his arms, and James smiled as he gave her huge hug.

"Hey April, did ya miss me?" He asked. April O'Conner, one the colonists that James had bonded with since being stationed on the colony. When his team was working on the defense systems, she and her mother would always come over to visit. His team would always joke about April being James' girlfriend, due to the young girl having a crush on him. Unfortunately, April being a young and impressionable, came to believe she was James' girlfriend much James' annoyance. He heard a chuckle, it was April's mother.

"Miss you? She couldn't stop asking when you were coming home" James chuckled and looked at April and reached into his bag.

"Hey I got you something, kiddo" Her eyes lit up as she saw a box with a plastic hanar in.

"The new blasto action figure! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" April said excitedly. James chuckled and rubbed her head.

"What no gift for us?" James looked up and saw a blonde hair man with a shit-eating grin. Jake Essex, the biotic of the team, and the loud-mouth of the team, but when push comes to shove he would fight and die for James. He has a carefree and easygoing nature, constantly bragging about his biotic abilities to the point of overconfidence, though his boasts do have some basis, however, since he is capable of casually dispatching enemies and takes pleasure in doing so. He's also prone to making mistakes due to grandstanding but mostly manages to make up for them in one way or another, his excuse being his favorite statement "Just trying to look cool before I die."

James smirked. "I think you have enough porn in your collection, Essex"

"He's got you there" a man in glasses said. He shook James hand. "Welcome back, Vega" Nicolas 'Nicky' IIyin, technical and tactical specialist of Delta Squad, He is a shy and timid person but seldom fails to perform well in trying situations. He has a healthy respect for the chain of command and shows great deference to James, though he often gets called a kiss ass by Essex at times.

"Good to be back" April walked over to them and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, James, we want to show you something…"

"April, what do you say…?" Her mother scolded.

"Oh yeah, please…" James chuckled and let the little girl lead him over to Delta Squad's barracks; the room was dark for some reason, until Essex turned the light on revealing a huge banner that said Happy Birthday.

"SURPRISE!" James smiled, he had rarely celebrated his birthday, wasn't planning to but the others had plans of their one. Next to the cake, were more of his friends, Kamille Garcia the only female on Delta Squad, she is a sincere and obedient soldier and her training speaks for itself on the battlefield. Next to her was her boyfriend, Jamal Mason, another member of Delta Squad he was a big guy that didn't talk much and let his action speak for him. For as long as James had known them, they have been in a relationship, being high school sweethearts, though that doesn't stop Essex from shamelessly hitting on Kamille, much to their annoyance. To the far wall, was Todd Milque, the last member of Delta Squad he was the loner of the team, as the infiltrator on the team he was cynical and abrasive at times, but loyal to a fault. He nodded his head, not the warmest welcoming but from him it would do.

"I'm surprised Milque came, I would have thought he'd be off somewhere brooding"

"It wasn't easy, but he came once Treeya asked him too" Essex said. James looked and saw Treeya around Milque, the infiltrator seemed…content. Treeya was an asari anthropologist, back in the day James had a huge crush on her, however he gave up after he found out she was seeing Milque. Not only that, she was a peaceful person who hated violence, and unfortunately James' first instinct is to crack some skulls. The party went off without a hitch, there was laughing, some dancing, even their commanding officer, Captain Toni joined in festivities. This was one of the best days he had ever had, only for it to become the worst….

"What the hell, Vega?! What about the colonists?!" Milque asked.

James hesitated, two weeks after his party the Collectors came and invaded the colony. The colonist fought back like they did against the Blood Pack two years ago, but Collectors were relentless, they were either killed or immobilized. James's team was no different; Kamille was captured and was processed into one of their weapons where she killed Mason. Nicky was killed by an attack that meant for James, and Essex volunteered to stay behind to give James and the rest of the team time to rescue the colonists. They were able to free the colonists from stasis, but Treeya was captured by a traitor among them due having vital information on the Collectors. It was there he had to make the hardest decision in his life, let the colonists die for the information Treeya had or let Treeya die and save the colonist….

"We need to get Treeya…"James said turning away.

"But Vega…they'll die!"

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!" James snapped. "I'm letting thousands of people die, some of whom I consider friends, but if there's even a chance that information can prevent a tragedy like this from happening in the future….I have to take it…." James and Milque ran towards Treeya's direction.

Omega-Now

In his run-down apartment was a broken James Vega, he was sitting in his chair just staring out the window in complete darkness. His eyes were dark from the lack of sleep, not because he couldn't but because he wouldn't…every time he closed his eyes, images of that day would come to haunt him. He could still hear it all, happy laughter of April, the festive cheers at his party, music from when he and Lia danced on Illium it was the only thing keeping him sane. His omni-tool beeped, he didn't even need to look, he knew what it was…it was another call from Lia. He let it beep until it stopped, he couldn't let Lia see him like this….it wasn't fair to her….

Citadel- After Fehl Prime

Councilor Anderson and Admiral Hackett were on the vid screen commending him for Vega' for the intel saved, saying that he saved a lot of lives in the process and that he should be proud. James scoffed bitterly at that, he wasn't a hero, he was a murderer that deserved to be punished. Afterwards, James, Milque and Treeya went back to Fehl Prime to pay their respects, the Alliance were there shifting through the wreckage of the collector ship that had become a tomb for the colonists. As they walked, James felt something below his feet; it was the blasto toy he had bought for April, except now it was melted to the point of being unrecognizable. The soldier starts to breath hard; as the tears started to flow from his eyes… he becomes distraught and runs aimlessly through the remains of the colony as the memories kept replaying in his head. Milque and Treeya run after him, to make sure he didn't anything to hurt himself until they found him in front of a monument on his knees.

He held the ruined toy close to him, as he sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"