He wiped away the rest of the frost, and he saw that it was exactly as he dreamt her. Silvery white hair and chiffon cloth floated around her, her hands clasped on her chest. Her eyes were closed, but her brows were furrowed, as if she was in pain. He noticed that her eyeballs were moving under her closed lids.
"Crap!" Jarred muttered again, and he scanned the console beside her. It was functional, but just barely. He downloaded the information it contained and saved it.
"What's going on, Jarred? Talk to me." Tristan said through his earpiece.
"There's a human here!" Jarred exclaimed, as he tried to press the buttons on the console, but an error message popped up. "She's still alive. She's contained in a cryo-shell!"
"Hang on! We're on our way." Tristan said, and he heard his Commander's footsteps as he ran.
Jarred was still fumbling with the controls, but he stopped. He sensed something. He looked at the corner of his eyes, seeing something in the darkness move.
As quick as a flash, he dodged, just as a metal blade slashed down, destroying the console. Jarred raised his pistol and the light showed another human, clad in black armor, holding what looked like a sword. There was a visor with blue lights on his eyes, and his hair pulled back in a ponytail.
He raised his pistol to shoot, but the human merely slashed it aside. He retaliated by bringing up his foot to the adversary, where it connected with a rib. He followed it up with a punch to the human's face. It staggered a few feet, which gave enough time for Jarred to run for his gun.
He picked it up and turned, and his pistol clashed with metal. The human was pushing his sword down, and he used his gun to block the attack. Jarred grunted with effort, trying to push the human away, but his strength was too much. He summoned up his strength and kicked the human away. He flew through the air, and his sword slashed at the cryo-shell.
The shell splintered, and broke, freezing cold water spilling everywhere. The woman inside started to fall. Jarred broke into a run, just as the woman fell. She landed directly at him and he was able to catch her in his arms.
She coughed up water, spilling it down his arm as he held her. Slowly, she raised her head, and opened her eyes. Just like in his dream, her red irises met his.
She wanted to talk, he could see her pink lips move. But before she could, he heard his attacker get up. He raised his pistol, trying to maneuver a shot even though he was carrying a woman.
But the woman raised a hand, and the attacker suddenly stopped, and started floating through the air. He looked down at the woman, and he could see her face, twisted in effort. She made an action of throwing out her hand, and the assassin flew through the air again, and Jarred heard the satisfying sound of skull on metal. There was a shot, and the assassin grunted, before exhaling a long breath.
Four more shots fired at the assassin. Then he heard light footsteps. The woman in his arms groaned in pain, before fainting limp in his arms. He arranged her so she could look at her face. It looked like she was sleeping.
"You've been busy, Jarred." Thanikah stepped to the light and grinned down at him. "Why do you get all the fun?"
"Very funny, Thanikah." Jarred said annoyed, "Help me. I think she's really weak."
Thanikah removed her jacket, and wrapped it around the girl. "Damn, she's freezing."
More footsteps sounded, and Grunt, Tristan and Amira looked down at them. "Thanikah! What are you doing here?"
"Getting my share of the fun, of course." Thanikah said, grinning as she tucked the rest of her cloak around the human. "I got another shuttle after I dropped Samara into the Normandy. Turns out, I was lucky. I recognized that bastard who attacked Jarred."
Amira dropped down on the woman, and Thanikah straightened up, the planes on her face hard. "I heard it from my father. That guy was a clone of Kai Leng… the assassin that stabbed my Grandfather Thane when he was protecting the Salarian Councilor during the Cerberus coup thirty one years ago. Commander Shepard killed him. But I guess he had a clone hiding out here. He must've activated when Jarred started picking around the console."
Tristan nodded, and pointed down at the human in Jarred's arms, "And this?"
Jarred shook his head, "I don't know yet. But I took whatever info that console contained." He pointed at the slashed up console, beside the girl's cryo-shell. "I was about to open it up to free her when that bastard attacked."
Tristan kneeled beside the human, "I just hope she's not with Cerberus. How is she doing, Amira?"
"Slightly hypothermic, but she seems to be fine." Amira said as she scanned the woman with her Omni-Tool, "No sickness or injuries whatsoever.."
Grunt asked, "What is she doing here?"
"We don't know yet, but I think we can ask Liara for some info. And maybe take a look at what we got here." He pressed his earpiece again, "Edison, you hear me?"
"Yes, Commander. What's up?"
"Tell Nicholas to prepare the Med Bay. We got a human down here. Tell Liara to wait for us there too, we got some information she might look into."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Tristan ended his conversation with the pilot and nodded down at the woman, "Let's head back to the Normandy. Maybe Liara could get some intel on her."
"Yeah, okay. I got her." Jarred tucked the coat around the woman and held her in his arms as he stood up. She was light, and her arms were cold. Thanikah gave him a weird look before walking ahead with Tristan.
Grunt came forward, "Need some help with that?"
Jarred shook his head, "Nah. I'm good, Grunt. But try and help by covering behind us. Maybe there are more clones around here that we don't know about."
The krogan nodded, and walked behind Jarred, using his flashlight to see if there's anyone following them.
In the darkness, Jarred bit his lip. He felt like there was only one of the clones, but didn't want Grunt to know about it. He just didn't want anyone else to touch the woman sleeping in his arms.