Chapter 20:
Leaving Omega Behind
Joker swept his hands across the controls of the shuttle, hoping to avoid any of Omega's numerous loose asteroids. The shuttle they had didn't have the most sound defenses, with no weapons and kinetic barriers that would go down with a few shots of a pistol. Shepard apparently shared his concern, as he occasionally pointed out an asteroid that was a bit too close for anyone's liking.
Callus was quiet during these proceedings. Shepard wondered what was going on in his mind. He seemed to recognize the batarian that ambushed them near Omega's port. For a moment, he considered asking about it, but decided against it. One galaxy-shattering problem at a time, he thought. For instance, saving Commander Anderson from Hollister on Akuze. Shepard's mind continued to reel over the thought of stepping foot on that damned planet ever again. Hopefully Cerberus was smart enough to avoid the thresher nests. He'd hate to have a reverse situation with Anderson and Akuze.
The proximity detectors on the shuttles beeped an alarm suddenly, and Shepard immediately sat on the copilot's seat of the shuttle. "Three bogeys inbound!" he reported to the pilot, whose face grew more severe.
Outside the shuttle, three Blue Suns attack shuttles sped toward the lesser-prepared shuttle. Two of them were run-of-the-mill Kodiak shuttles, with mounted machine guns that could still do a fair amount of damage to the shuttle the group was in. It was the gunship leading the pack that worried Shepard. A chain gun, missiles, and surprising speed made it a real threat to them.
Wasting no time, Joker turned the shuttle left sharply, leading the pursuers into the asteroid field. In the rear of the shuttle, Callus held on for dear life, knowing full well that they were dead if they hit one of the large rocks orbiting the station. Trying to distract himself from the danger of the asteroids, he looked out of the back window, only to see the glaring face of Dorin in the window of the gunship. The assassin was persistent, he'd give him that.
Shepard noticed the decreasing distance between them and the attack squad. "What kind of weapons do they have?" he asked nervously.
"Machine guns, rockets, heat-seekers, and a Ralex cannon," Joker dutifully reported as he navigated through the field.
Shepard didn't like the sound of that. Ralex cannons were some of the most powerful on the market. Due to their ability to be easily modified, they were considered contraband for any ship in Council space. In the Terminus systems, however, anything was fair game. "What have we got?" he asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
Joker reached to the top of the shuttle and flicked a switch on the panel before returning his attention to the flight console. "Me," he stated grimly.
The small shuttle was good for something, however. It's lightweight material allowed for quicker and tighter turns, and with less armor came less weight for the thrusters to move. While the Kodiak shuttles could keep up decently, Dorin's gunship had a harder time maneuvering through the asteroid field. Joker used this to the group's advantage, ducking through the tightest spaces possible to catch the pursuers off guard.
Ahead of them, two asteroids threatened to crash into each other, undoubtedly crushing anyone or anything caught between them. Joker hit the throttle, speeding the small shuttle through the rapidly closing gap. They made it through before the collision which crushed one of the pursuing Kodiaks. Joker sighed in relief before returning his attention to his flying. There was still another Kodiak and Dorin's gunship to deal with.
Soon enough, the shuttle was being shot at by the remaining pursuers, hoping to bring down the shuttle and collect the bounty on the soldiers' heads. Joker used the asteroid field to throw off the attackers' aim, weaving around asteroids and making it very difficult to hit them.
Suddenly, the gunship's heat signature grew significantly. It was charging the Ralex cannon. "Oh, shit," Joker whispered. As the cannon fired, everything seemed to go silent, the three passengers unable to hear the thrusters moving the shuttle along, or the warning that they were being fired upon, or even their own breathing. Then Shepard heard the loudest explosion he'd ever experienced in his life before a line of asteroids near the group were reduced to debris.
Joker moved quickly to avoid it, but the shuttle was pelted by the exploded rock, tearing through the weak kinetic barriers and crashing directly into the shuttle. Suddenly, everything inside went dark. "What happened?" Shepard demanded.
Joker looked around. "We lost power," he replied.
"So what do we do?"
"We splice it."
Before Shepard could ask what he meant, he was on the floor and removing the panel at the front of the shuttle. Joker began grabbing wires, sorting through them to find the exact right ones.
Callus looked around nervously as the other Kodiak flew overhead, oblivious to their position. "We're not going to have long before they find us."
"Which is why we need this piece of shit up and running," Joker replied. He looked over to a sort of locker on the far wall. "Lieutenant, get me an omni-gel pack, would you?"
Shepard nodded and walked over to the locker, which had a glass door. He tried the handle, but it wouldn't budge. "Damn it," he said. "It's electronic." Thinking quickly, he mentally prepared himself before smashing his elbow through the pretty thick glass. He suffered only a few cuts, nothing that wouldn't heal over time, and grabbed the omni-gel packs.
There was another deafening moment before another extreme explosion, and some of the asteroids outside moved, lessening their chances of remaining undetected. Joker moved quickly, tearing open two wires and tapping them together repeatedly. Almost immediately, the engines began sparking to life. Joker tapped the wires together a few more times to start the engine, then twisted them together and applied omni-gel to seal them.
He and Shepard returned to their seats, hoping to get moving before the attack party found them again, but the second Kodiak shuttle came blazing into view, guns trained on the defenseless shuttle. Suddenly, it exploded, victim to an attack by Dorin's gunship. Callus knew exactly why. He wanted the prize for himself.
Shepard looked at their surroundings, trying to come up with a plan. Then he saw it: the Omega 4 Relay. "Joker," he said. "I have a plan."
Dorin shook his head at the wreckage left by the Blue Suns' Kodiak shuttles. Such a waste. The merc group should never have sent them. His sympathy for the moronic gangsters subsiding quickly, he returned his attention to the fleeing Alliance soldiers. A glance at his instruments told him the Ralex cannon was still charging. Mentally cursing himself for carelessly shooting the asteroids around them, he switched to his rockets, wanting to save the ammunition in his heat seekers and machine guns. Rockets were much cheaper than either of those.
Following the bounties out of the asteroid field, Dorin began firing his rockets, his aim not inaccurate, but not quite on the mark, either. The humans (or the turian, if he even knew how to fly) were good, he'd for them that. But he'd had decades of experience running down targets. Even a Councilor-to-be wasn't safe on the Citadel from him. He'd get them.
His confidence faltered a little when he saw the shuttle aiming for the Omega 4 relay. If they got through there, the bounty was over. They'd be dead, for sure, but with no evidence to bring back to the payer, he'd lose the credits on all of them. Well, most of them.
Dorin sped up, trying to get close enough to strike them down. As the target reached FTL speeds, so did he. He got ready to fire his last rocket, hoping to bring their little run to an explosive halt.
Then, the shuttle stopped.
Dorin hadn't noticed it until it was too late. He'd sped past them and straight into the energy of the Omega 4 Relay. He tried to stop, like the shuttle had, but the only thing that could suddenly stop a ship was a sudden loss of power. They must have found a way to shut themselves down before hitting the relay. He wasn't so lucky.
As he was being crushed between six different black holes before even exiting the relay's jump, Dorin found himself admiring the tenacity of his targets.
Shepard, Callus, and Joker looked after Dorin's gunship as it made the relay jump. "Well, I'll be damned," Joker muttered. "It worked."
"Told you it would," Shepard replied, dropping the now-unspliced wires to the floor. "Too bad we can't splice those again."
Callus sat in his seat, head leaned against the wall. "At least we'll just suffocate to death instead of blowing up."
Shepard grinned. "Who said anything about dying?" he asked. Turning on his omni-tool, he found an Alliance frequency he'd memorized a long time ago. "Mayday, mayday! This is Lieutenant Shepard of the MSV Kennedy. Our hip has been destroyed, and we are stranded on a shuttle with no power."
Not long after, a familiar voice replied. "Lieutenant, this is Admiral Hackett. Give us your location and we'll come pick you up."
Shepard sighed in relief as Joker cheered. "We're just a ways from the Omega 4 relay. You may want to be careful on approach. We just lost a gunship to a relay jump."
"Copy, Lieutenant. We're on our way. Hackett out."
Joker was still cheering as Shepard got off the line. Even Callus seemed enthusiastic. "We're going home!" Joker said excitedly.
Shepard turned and looked out the shuttle's window at the ominous Omega 4 Relay. "I'm not," he replied grimly. "Not yet."