From Across the Galaxies
Chapter VII: The Spectre
Being a Spectre had its perks. At least, that's what Ashley Williams had decided only two days after having earned the rank for herself. When Commander Shepard had been instated, it had been a bittersweet experience. His mission began almost immediately and his friend and mentor, then Captain David Anderson, had lost his position as commanding officer of the SSV Normandy as a result. The first human Spectre had felt guilty for costing the now councilor his job, which was coupled with the overwhelming responsibility of setting out to find Saren and save all of humanity from the Geth. Ashley's inauguration had been very different. Currently, the Council didn't have a location on her target, who incidentally, happened to be Commander Shepard. Thus, she had been given some time to kick back and settle into her new position of authority.
The Council had given her a luxury apartment on the Presidium, which was where she currently sat. After bunking in the crew quarters of the Normandy and in cramped, shared barracks in various military outposts, having so much space to herself came as a bit of a culture shock. The lodgings were probably larger than the house that she had grown up in with her mother and three sisters. She could only imagine the look on their faces if they could see her bedroom. The apartment consisted of a spacious living room that came fully furnished with very comfortable leather lounge chairs, a matching sofa, and a glass top coffee table. All of these faced a large entertainment system and computer terminal, both of which had gone ignored since she had moved in. The kitchenette, as it had been described to her by an Asari tour guide, dwarfed the kitchen that she had cooked in as a child. On the far left side from the entrance stood the door to her bedroom, which sported a walk-in closet, a large dresser, a kind sized bed, and night tables on either side. The young woman contemplated fondly on how she could get accustomed to such treatment.
More importantly, though, Admiral Steven Hackett had paid her a visit. The Alliance Navy had seen fit to issue her a promotion, feeling that her new status as a Spectre merited a higher pay grade than operation's chief. As such, she was now known as Lieutenant Ashley Williams, which made her the first Williams to become a commissioned officer since General Kurtis Williams had surrendered to the Turians during the First Contact War. She had finally broken the old curse on her family. Upon receiving her first paycheck with an officer's pay on it and the stipend granted by the Council for all Spectres, the second human Spectre nearly fell out of her chair. Her monthly income had more than tripled in the course of just a few days.
Ashley had wasted no time putting her new wages to good use though. As soon as as new Normandy was spotted, she knew she'd be off and chasing Shepard's tail immediately. The fact that she had been given any downtime before her mission actually seemed like a rare grace in life. She wouldn't squander it. A trip down to the Spectre requisition's office had proved most fruitful. The first thing that she had procured had been a full set of armor that had been manufactured by Armax Arsenal. Unlike most of the generic suits, however, this set consisted of various pieces rather than one whole body garment. The breastplate, greaves, arm guards, and shoulder plates all came as separate elements which were attached over a form fitting black bodysuit. She had specifically selected the Armax units due to their extra bulk and protective layering. The pieces themselves had all been painted a dark gray color, with almost teal accents along the edges. As a mild statement of vanity, she had even gone so far as to have the Spectre insignia emblazoned on the upper chest on the left hand side.
In addition to the armor, she had requisitioned a new set of firearms for use in the field. During basic training, many years previously, she had been certified as advanced in the use of assault and sniper rifles. Since then, she'd stuck to using those two types of weapons when at all possible. As such, those had been the first two weapons that she'd paid to replace. The new automatic assault rifle, produced by Kassa Fabrications, was prototype M-96 Mattock. While it was heavier than the Alliance grade weapons that she had grown accustomed to using, the large gun more than made up for it in fire power. The particles fired off by the mass accelerator inside were nearly four times the size of those fired by the M-8 Avenger, meaning that slugs hit harder and did more tissue damage upon impact. The sniper-rifle, on the other hand, sacrificed brute strength for speed. She had taken a liking to the semi-automatic M-97 Viper. Developed by the Turians, it was capable of firing at a rapid rate with pinpoint accuracy from across a distance of nearly half a mile. It would be deadly if she ever needed to take out a target from across a great distance. Last, but certainly not least, she had bought a simple M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol as a hold out weapon. Her basic training insisted that all soldiers keep a sidearm on hand at all times as a hold out weapon. It could be the difference between life and death. The Phalanx had a pretty standard firing rate but also benefited from a sapphire laser sight which could be turned on or off with a simple finger sweep. As an added precaution, she had made a bulk order purchase of fragmentation grenades from an arms dealer in the Wards. Overall, the newly instated Spectre felt that she had cobbled together a fairly deadly little arsenal for herself.
Ashley sat on the sofa of her new apartment, cleaning the barrel of her new pistol when a soft chirping sound went off, indicating that someone was at the door. She set down the weapon and stood up, crossing towards the entrance. She pressed her hand against the pad to her left and the door slid open sleekly. Standing there was none other than the Asari Citadel Councilor, Tevos. Ashley was taken aback by this unannounced visit but did not object. She simply stood back, bidding the other woman enter.
"Hello Ma'am," she said reverently whilst backing aside and gesticulating for the woman to enter. "Please, come in." The violet skinned alien did so, glancing around at the undecorated space around her with a nod. "Can I get you anything?" Ashley inquired. "Tea?"
"No thank you," the councilor responded as she continued to inspect the room for a moment before turning to face her newest Spectre. "Don't be nervous, Ashely. I like to meet all of the Spectres personally."
"We've met before, Ma'am," the younger woman replied before thinking to stop herself. She immediately caught her mistake and straightened up uncomfortably. "Sorry."
Tevos chuckled softly and shook her head. "Not at all. You helped save the Destiny Ascension while I was still aboard it. I owe you my life."
"Thank you, Ma'am," the significantly younger woman replied, relaxing a little bit. "Is there something that I can do for you?"
The Asari crossed her arms and gazed at Ashley. For an uncomfortable period of time, she simply stared her up and down, sizing her up it would seem. The newly appointed Spectre shifted awkwardly under such scrutiny but didn't say a word. Finally, Tevos nodded. "You seem like a strong woman, Lieutenant."
"Thank you," she repeated.
"I know about your history with Commander Shepard," the councilor stated plainly.
Ashley bit her lip before saying anything in response. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she tried to come up with something appropriate to answer but nothing occurred to her. Finally, she managed to utter a simple, "Oh?"
Tevos nodded as she crossed to Ashley's window and looked out onto the Presidium. The Asari crossed her hands and chuckled softly. "The other three councilors all felt that it wouldn't impact your work."
"It won't," the Spectre tried to assure her new boss.
Tevos smirked. "Well that remains to be seen," she answered with a look that rudely implied that she didn't agree. "I'm over eight hundred years old. I've had more than a few... partners in my day. I've loved them each dearly and I miss all of them. But none of them ever came before the greater good of the Asari or the Council."
"I can do my job without letting my feelings get in the way," Ashley insisted.
"Really?" Tevos returned, her brow raised in skepticism. "If it really came down to it, you believe that you could kill Commander Shepard?"
The new Spectre's eyes narrowed and her face hardened. Clenching both her fists, she scoffed at the very statement. "Councilor," she began, her voice tough as the hide of a Korgan warlord. "As far as I'm concerned, John Shepard is already dead."
Darth Revan stepped out of the Normandy's elevator and into the main section of the CIC. Standing directly in front of the holographic map interface was acting commanding officer Miranda Lawson. In addition to the usual Cerberus crewmen and Yeoman Chambers, who occupied positions around the device, Garrus, Jack, and Jacob had all surrounded it as well. The former Sith Lord couldn't help but smirk. The whole team had gathered. He strolled lazily up to the terminal to the left of the elevated position in front of the elevator and looked up at Miranda.
"Yes?" he inquired lazily in response to the summons that he had received down in the hangar about five minutes previously.
"We've broken atmosphere into Korlus," she explained, her tone clearly conveying agitation towards his attitude. "Welcome to your first official mission briefing." She turned to the Cerberus garbed red headed woman beside her. "Yeoman Chambers?"
The slightly younger woman looked up from her console and nodded. She looked about as she typed something. The galaxy map vanished and the projectors quickly replaced it with a large spherical shape. Given the distant landmass shapes and atmospheric shading, everyone quickly gathered that it was a planet; Korlus to be more specific. Kelly tapped a key on her board and the image zoomed in on a specific section. A red dot appeared and began to blink softly.
Before speaking, Kelly cleared her throat deeply. "Alright," she began, a bit of nervousness seeping into her tone. "This is the Kaibur Recycling plant on the southern continent, Omnigal. It's one of the largest facilities of its kind in the galaxy. It is responsible for the reuse of nearly fourteen percent of the steel in the galaxy. Unfortunately, it shut down about three months ago. Council intel hasn't been able to find out why."
"But Cerberus has?" Jacob asked from across the room, obscured slightly by the hologram in front of him.
"Yes," Kelly confirmed with a nod. "Our agents within the Blue Suns discovered that they took control of the plant."
"Why?" the former Alliance marine inquired. "An ecofriendly image doesn't seem high on a mercenary group's priority list."
"Our target," Miranda interjected as she activated her omni-tool. The planet faded out and a picture of a burly Krogan dressed in black battle armor popped up. Everyone looked a little disgusted. The creature's skin appeared to be a sickly mustard yellow color while his forehead and ridges were a deep brown. The skin around his eyes had discolored, giving them a black appearance. The photo made it difficult to tell, but he appeared larger than the other Krogan that most of the people in the room had seen.
"Wrex would love this," Garrus commented mildly to himself.
"Warlord Okeer is inside of the Kaibur facility. According to our infiltrators, he was working with the Blue Suns. About two days ago, the situation changed," Kelly continued. "We have reports that he's barricaded himself inside of a makeshift lab at the far end of the facility. The Suns have been trying to get to him ever since but haven't been having much luck. Unfortunately, our intelligence ends there. We think our operatives may have been killed."
"Do we think that they were discovered?" Jacob asked.
"Not at this time," Kelly commented. "If a fight broke out between the mercs and a Krogan warlord, a few casualties isn't unexpected."
"Here's the plan," Miranda continued from the top of the room. "The Normandy will dock on an island here," she said as the planet reappeared on the projector and a simulation of the Normandy flying towards it activated. "It's only about a mile and a half wide and it's uninhabited. We'll be able to safely treat Shepard there. Meanwhile, the shuttle will take Revan, Jacob, and Garrus to the facility. Find Okeer. Bring him in."
"Blue Suns ain't easy," Jacob muttered as he pondered to himself.
"To you," Jack sneered from her corner of the galaxy map. "Why the hell ain't I going in?" She looked directly at Miranda, her eyes demanding an answer.
"You're a lunatic," the Cerberus operative answered as if it were an obvious statement of fact to everyone in the room. "This is a diplomatic mission. When we need a few mechs smashed, I'll let you know."
"Go to hell, Princess!" the younger woman snarled as she took a threatening step forward. "I agreed to help you. If you think that means that I'm just going to sit on this ship with my thumb up my ass, you've got another thing coming!"
"Jacob's already pointed out that the Blue Suns can be tricky," Revan interjected before any violence could ensue. "Jack could be useful and she'll be under my supervision."
Miranda looked from the psychotic biotic to the psychotic Sith Lord. She exhaled deeply and shook her head. She just knew that she was going to regret the decision. She glanced to Jacob, who gave her a reassuring nod. "Alright," she muttered bitterly. "Anything goes wrong and you pull her out," she ordered Revan.
The former Sith Lord nodded, though he knew for certain that he wouldn't be following that particular order. Jack was a volatile woman; a ticking time bomb of power. Revan had nothing but curiosity about her. He wanted to see what would happen if he turned her loose on the facility. How many people could she kill before getting herself killed? He thought back to his time as the Dark Lord and idly considered how valuable the bald woman would have been to his war effort in the Republic. Her biotic skills matched the Force strength of several of his strongest Dark Jedi. Hell, she might have even given Bastila a run for her money. Pulling her out of a hot situation didn't seem like any fun at all.
His thought was interrupted as EDI's spherical shape popped up in the middle of the map interface. "Ms. Lawson," the AI spoke softly. "We are nearing the island that you specified."
"Good," she replied. "The four of you," she specified, indicating Revan, Garrus, Jacob, and Jack. "Get down to the hangar. The shuttle launches in five minutes."
"Yes ma'am," Jacob answered with a soldier's amount of bravado.
As the Normandy SR-2 broke atmosphere above Korlus, the hangar bay slid open and the Cerberus grade Kodiak shuttle within spat out, speeding down towards the Kaibur Recycling Facility where the Krogan Warlord known as Okeer and the Blue Suns had set up their operations. With Darth Revan at the helm, the shuttle split off from the larger space vessel and smoothly sailed down towards its destination. The Dark Lord kept his eyes on the instruments before him, his senses attuned for any signs of danger or even movement. He didn't want the mercenaries to have even the slightest advantage when the strike team moved in. Jacob Taylor came up beside him and pointed towards an open gap in the facility.
"There," the soldier stated firmly. "We can put down there."
Revan nodded. He turned the wheel down softly, causing the Kodiak to bank downwards towards the clearing. As the small craft got closer and closer to the ground, the Sith Lord began to detect faint signatures of anger and hostility in the air. He frowned and shook his head. "Something's wrong," he commented as he scanned the devices before him.
"What is it?" Jack called out from the back seats.
"Oh shit!" Jacob swore as he looked down into the facility.
While it remained impossible to make out any individuals during their rapid descent towards land, both Revan and Jacob could clearly make out several signs of a firefight. Trees surrounding the recycling plant were ablaze with flames and heavy artillery canons were firing superheated plasma at the buildings themselves. With his Force heightened senses, the Dark Jedi could also see several tiny burst ripping through the air, indicating to him that smaller skirmishes involving handguns and rifles had also broken out. They were about to land in the middle of a hot zone.
"EDI, can finish the landing?" Revan inquired as he threw off his safety belt.
"Negative," she responded over the speaker system. "My systems are not as fully integrated with the shuttle as they are with the Normandy itself."
The Sith Lord swore loudly. "Everybody, hang onto something!" he shouted at the back end of the shuttle. Everyone quickly complied as the ship took a nose dive and Revan put them into a full on free fall. Jacob and Garrus both grabbed onto nearby handle bars for support, crying out nervously as they did. Jack snarled defiantly as she held onto her seat for dear life. The ride had a lot of turbulence as they rocketed towards the ground at nearly one hundred and eighty miles per hour. "EDI, tell me the last possible second I can safely pull out of this!" Revan ordered the computer.
"Acknowledged," she responded.
"Are you fucking serious!" Jack screamed from the back.
The seconds ticked by. About twenty went by before EDI gave the signal. "Now!" she shouted. Upon hearing that word, Revan pulled up on the wheel, ripping the Kodiak up into it's normal position. The sheer momentum from their fall continued to drive the ship downward but he quickly compensated by typing the correct commands into his console. The landing thrusters activated and the ship came down safely in the middle of the clearing.
"Let's go," Revan ordered as he got up and moved into the back. The vertical door lifted upwards, allowing him to exit. The much more disoriented crew behind him took a second to collect themselves before following.
Everyone brought their weapons out and to the ready. On Revan's signal, they all sprinted forward. Before too long, the team discovered themselves in the midst of a firefight. The Blue Suns had taken cover behind various pieces of machinery and equipment. Every once in a while, they would pop up from their concealed position and fire at what looked like two fully armored Krogan. They were huge. While Revan had only seen still images and videos of their race, Garrus, Jacob, and Jack all had firsthand experience with the hulking creatures. The two Krogran that they were staring down were far larger than average. Even Urdnot Wrex, who in Garrus's opinion was larger than normal for his people, would have been dwarfed in comparison. They also appeared to be more durable. Several punctures, many of which oozed yellow bile-like fluid, could be seen across its armor. These injuries didn't seem to be slowing them down in the least.
The Blue Suns, on the other hand, were not faring well against their opponents. Several blue armored corpses littered the ground and only three of the remained to fight the Krogan. Seeing an advantage, the nearer of the two brutes leapt forward from his unconcealed position. Running head first into bullet fire, the beast burst into the mercenary ranks and began to decimate the enemy forces hidden there. With hulking arms swinging to and fro, the Krogan grabbed one Blue Sun and hurled her into a trio of her companions. Before they had a moment to recover, it had leapt in the air and came down upon the foursome with an incredibly heavy body slam. While Revan and his team couldn't be sure if the force of the attack had killed them, the sound of bone and armor crunching most certainly emanated from the flattened soldiers. They were out of commission for the time being.
The half-dozen or so remaining Blue Suns had directed all of their fire on the Krogan that had engaged in close quarters contact. Their combined gunfire managed to rip through its armor, causing more of the yellowish blood like substance to pour out. The Krogan howled in blood rage and attempted to tackle a nearby Sun. Unfortunately for the alien, the wounds that it had sustained were too great and it at last succumbed to its wounds. Keeling over dead, it made a loud thump when it hit the dirt floor. The mercenaries had no time to celebrate their victory. The Krogan's companion, who had kept a distance and continued to fire on the mercs with its shotgun had seen his ally's death and had flown into a berserk state. It hurled its weapon at the closest Blue Sun, striking him directly in the head. The force of impact sent the man staggering, giving the remaining Krogan enough time to close the gap between them and tackle the poor guy to the ground. The mercenary landed head first and Revan was fairly certain that he heard the man's neck snap upon touching the ground.
The Krogan brutally managed to dispatch the remaining Suns with little effort, though it did sustain several gunshot wounds in the process. More yellow blood flowed freely from the perforations in its suit. It had been severely weakened. Revan felt that the advantage had swung towards the Normandy crew.
Moving from his concealed position near the Krogan, he came out with both hands up and nonthreatening. "Hello!" he bellowed out to the berserker. The Krogan turned to look at whoever had spoken to him. The sight of four more people didn't do well for its rage. Beneath the dented helmet that it wore, a vicious snarl could be heard. It charged towards the group at full speed, like a tank that had lost control of its treds on a sharp decline.
"Shit!" Jack swore as she hurled a quick Biotic warp at the oncoming Krogan.
The aura of azure light struck it directly in the head, throwing the brute off-course. It veered off to its right and slammed into a nearby rock formation. Before it could recover, Garrus moved in close with his sniper-rifle and planted the barrel directly into the Krogan's helmet. Without hesitation, the Turian fired a high caliber round directly into the downed alien's head. It penetrated the thick poly-weave headpiece and struck the savage Krogan's brain. A few spasms later and the Krogan was dead.
Garrus stepped back and glanced to his teammates. "These things are vicious," he muttered as his mandibles flared.
"No kidding," Jack agreed as she kicked the dead body ruefully. "One of my shots should have creamed the bastard."
Revan stepped forward and squatted down beside the dead body. With gloved hand, he touched one of the bullet wounds in the deceased Krogan's armor, smearing some of its yellow blood across his fingers. Granted, the former Sith Lord would freely admit that he knew next to nothing about this species of alien. All that he had time to study were the data files that Miranda had given him aboard the Normandy and those were somewhat lacking in biological information. Still, he could sense small gaps in the Force within the Krogan before him. It was as if there were tiny, maybe microscopic, machines inside of it.
"That would explain that," he muttered to himself as he stood up straight and absent mindedly wiped his hand off on Jacob's armor, much to the other soldier's disgust.
"Ugh," the dark skinned man grunted. "What would?"
"Nanites," he replied. "These creatures have been upgraded."
"How can you tell that?" Jack inquired with a tone that clearly expressed her doubt in his assessment.
"Because I can," he replied vaguely. He turned back to his three crewmen as a plan began to formulate in his mind. "I'm going to use the shuttle to clear a path for the three of you. Press forward and kill any stragglers in your way. We'll rendezvous at the facility where Okeer is supposedly hold up."
The former Dark Lord turned his back on the trio. Jacob, who had technically been designated team leader, scoffed at the order. "Hold on!" he ordered as he grabbed Revan by the shoulder and attempted to turn him around. Reacting more out of instinct than anything else, Revan spun around and kicked Jacob in the upper chest, which sent him sprawling backwards and caused the former Alliance marine to crash into the floor painfully.
Before Jack or Garrus could respond, Revan straightened up and continued towards the shuttle. "Don't ever try to give me an order again!" he shouted back as reached the craft.
The former Sith Lord hopped into the shuttle and the team watched as the doors closed up and the vessel took off. Jacob stood up just in time to watch his shuttle fly off, into a war zone. "Damn it!" he shouted into the air.
"The fucker just made off with our ride!" Jack snarled bitterly. "I'm gonna kill him!"
Jacob activated the communications device lodged within his ear, hailing the Cerberus Kodiak shuttle that Revan had just stolen. "Revan, this is team leader. Abort. You do not have authorization to proceed."
He waited a moment for a response but none came. He swore angrily and turned to the other two. "We proceed with the mission," he stated. "When we're done here, we'll hail the Normandy for extraction. We can worry about Revan later."
"Aye, aye," Garrus responded. When no response came from Jack, Jacob gave her a dark look. The biotic woman sighed and shrugged.
"Fine," she muttered in response. "But when this is over, don't get in my way!"
"Yes ma'am," the Cerberus Operative answered.
"We should get moving. Revan might be a good distraction. We might be able to slip into the base undetected," Garrus suggested.
Just as the Turian finished speaking, a loud explosion could be heard in the near distance. The trio looked up, though they were unable to see anything from their current position. However, all three of them silently ventured to guess that Revan had opened fire on Blue Sun forces. Shaking, his head, Jacob broke the silence.
"Let's go!" he ordered with a deathly calm.