And voila! Final and longest chapter. Enjoy!
Tarnik stood there for a few seconds, glad he was finally reunited with Lina. It might've been really selfish, but he was glad it wasn't her that the banshee impaled. Lina also stood for a few seconds, obviously caught off guard. She probably never expected to see him again, which wasn't surprising. He was amazed himself that he got this far without dying. After confusion, different emotions went across Lina's face. First it changed to relief, but that quickly switched to happiness, which changed to a blank stare, way too quickly for Tarnik's liking. Then it finally stopped at anger. Oh great, Tarnik thought. She rushed up to him, shouting at him all the way.
"Where were you all this time?! Why didn't you get back sooner? We could have used your help! What were you thinking! Why'd you have to leave me - us?" she turned to face away from Tarnik, her voice making clear she was very distraught.
"Wait, did you just say… 'me'? As in you, not the team?" That's when she almost fell, with a loud sob. Tarnik jumped forward and caught her just in time.
"You were gone! I couldn't go back, I tried, I pleaded, but they took me from you. You were dead!"
Tarnik cradled Lina in his arms, playing the role of mother that she had done so many times before.
"Calm down, calm down. It'll be alright. You don't have to worry anymore, I'm fine. We're going to be fine."
They stood there for quite a while, Lina crying her heart out while Tarnik held her firmly to his chest. At that moment, he didn't care if any more reapers came. It was only him and Lina. This was a moment he would never forget… and maybe the only moment to say how he really felt.
"Lina, I'm really sorry. I just had to save the squad, but more importantly you. You know our job, you know the dangers. The mission and the people of the galaxy come first. But, I have been thinking. I also… lost contact with you guys. These last hours were the worst of my life. Not because I was on the run from those awful creatures, but I didn't even know if you escaped. I had no idea if you were okay. I was sick to my stomach about you. And with 'you', I mean 'you' and not the-"
Lina interrupted his monologue by putting her hand up to his face.
"Tarnik, I understand." She said, with a sniff. "You don't have to say it."
"You… you know?"
"I've noticed quite a while ago."
"But then why didn't you say anything? Do you…not feel the same way?
"Tarnik, I don't know. We're in the middle of a war and… I thought you would tell me when you felt right and… I don't know. We're just in very difficult times right now."
"What? Difficult times? That's got to be the most ridiculous…. Look, we're both out here risking our lives for the greater good. I know that. But that doesn't mean we can't be together!"
"Tarnik, please. There are more important things at hand now. Ellen was just… oh goddess!"
Lina broke into tears again, and all Tarnik could do was hold her again. Although his military instincts told him they were in danger, the tension in the air was high and there was a dead human a few meters away, he still wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Lina's body gave him warmth, but at the same time he was protecting her too. Standing out in the cold night of this human colony, he wished it could go on forever. Lina was the first one to break the silence.
"So what are we going to do now?" She asked, obviously avoiding further discussion of their previous topic.
"I guess we still have to finish the mission. You did a good job on the first device, but there's still one to go." Tarnik knew Lina would need some time to think about their latest development, so he didn't press the issue. Or at least, he thought she would need some time. Or would she? She already seemed to know… females can be so confusing sometimes, especially the aliens! And yet…
"As for Woods, we'll have to leave her here. I hate to say it, but she's too much of a burden."
"No! We can't just leave her for the reapers to take!"
"Well, do you have a better idea?"
"No… well, maybe. We could… cremate her body. It might be a bit rough with military tech, but humans do have it as one of their ways to…go after they die. And that way the reapers won't… take her."
Tarnik was surprised she was already so up and ready after being in tears just a few moments ago. Just another thing he admired in the woman.
"I guess I could use something…" Tarnik said, already fine-tuning his omni-tool to get the least gruesome result. His omni-tool was built for battle, its functions weren't one you'd normally use at a ceremony of the dead.
He then proceded to copy Ellen's critical omni-tool files. They was no use wasting resources when you had the chance to salvage them.
"If it's okay, I'd like to do it now. I'll try to make it quick," he said.
Lina looked at Woods' body. She seemed on the verge of breaking down again, but she stayed calm.
In the meantime, Tarnik started looking for all other valuables on Ellen's body. Thermal clips, explosives…
After a few moments Lina talked again.
"Okay. I'm ready."
Tarnik made his own little prayer for her spirit, or whatever the humans believed in and then watched as her body turned to fine ash, that was then swept away in the wind. The accompanying light of his incineration tech was gone after a second. He got up and took Lina by the hand so they wouldn't stay any longer than they needed to.
"You know, I haven't been around the last few hours, so I have to ask. Where in the world is Motch?"
"He's… dead."
"Damnit! Him too?" Tarnik frowned. "Do I even want to know what happened?"
"The reapers had ambushed us. First it seemed like they were too much, but then I… kinda used all my explosives. They then seemed to be way less in strength. I don't know, but I think they were retreating."
"I thought I heard something a few hours back. I had just lost some reapers on my tail, but found another group passing by. I couldn't let the opportunity go, I thought it would be best to ambush them. The explosion was an excellent distraction, really made my job a lot easier."
"That's the second time… but anyway, after that, it all seemed ok, but Motch… wasn't himself. He had gone crazy and attacked Ellen. I… well, I didn't mean to, but… there was an accident and I… killed Motch."
"What?! You wouldn't… look, this isn't your fault."
"How do you know? You weren't there! I was-"
"No. Lina, you're the most compassionate person I know. You wouldn't intentionally ever kill someone without good reason. The fact that Motch is dead, is due to this mission getting screwed up. If anything, I should've been there. Motch was getting out of control and was my responsibility. Even if I wasn't there, I was still alive, so if anything, it's my fault. You didn't do anything wrong."
Lina just listened, and afterward kept silent. She would need some time to recover, that was sure. She was a strong woman, but this…failure of a mission could get to the best of soldiers. Realizing it was probably best to change the subject, he broke the silence again.
"I guess you're probably wondering where I was this whole time?" She didn't say anything, but simply nodded. "Well, it's quite a story. I'm guessing you didn't leave first like I told you and saw my… great leap?"
Again, Lina said nothing, but just nodded.
"Well, yeah. That really hurt, but I couldn't stay. More reaper troops were coming, so I started dodging in and out of buildings, not really looking where I was going. It's easy to run if you don't have a squad. But the reapers kept up the pressure."
Finally Lina spoke again. "You couldn't use your jets? Or how about your cloaking systems?"
"No, they both were badly damaged from that praetorian laser. It still hurts like hell, I think I'm going to have a burn on my back for weeks. I'm just glad I'm alive. That laser really did almost everything – burned out my shields, took out half my jets, most of my cloak… hell, the built in medi-gel dispensers weren't working. I really hope that burn isn't infected. I had to aply medi-gel manually, but that was only way later."
"Tarnik, I think I should look. It sounds serious."
"Yeah, well you can't really do it now. We need to keep on the move, and I'd prefer to stay in the safe zone of my suit. I know you can't resist checking out my body, but it'll have to wait."
"Ah, Tarnik!" Lina groaned, pushing him away. A small smile told Tarnik that she was at least still okay, and enjoyed his joke.
"So anyway, this went on for a bit. Me going from house to house, trying to shake those bastards. I knew I had to get my gear up and running. My jets could only help with a decent, and if I wasn't careful, they'd flip me over. My tactical cloak was horrible as well, it only worked on my legs and part of my right arm. Not really that useful. My escape from them was actually pretty much like my escape from the warehouse. I found a huge area between two blocks of buildings, then made another great jump, followed by a nice bone-cracking fall. Not one of my best moments.
But the gap I crossed was sufficient. The reapers couldn't pursue, not without leaving most of their force behind. I kept going for a while though, to be sure. Then I got my systems back up and running, applied medi-gel where needed, and took off in the direction of the first mission objective. I hoped I would find you guys there, or at the next one, but then I noticed I had been running away in the opposite direction. Not only that, but more reapers popped up.
At least this time, I had my suit working. Tactical cloak works a long time in non-battle circumstances, no shields and all, but that's when I came across the reaper patrol. The same patrol that was distracted by the blast. They weren't that hard to take down, but more seemed to keep on coming. Eventually I had to flee again, with the reapers on my tail. Again, my tactical cloak came in really handy. And that is when I finally came close to that first device. Thank the spirits not too close, cause that's when you detonated the charges. Realizing you must be close, I tried to contact you, but my radio systems still weren't working too well. Luckily, I then saw you fighting the banshee. You did well to take it down, but then those other reapers came. You're just lucky my Mattock has this scope installed."
"Well, that is quite a story. Nice shots by the way."
"Some of my best." Tarnik said, with a grin.
"But you said your radio isn't working? Shouldn't you get that fixed?"
"Yeah, I've been working on it. Especially now that we're back together. I close to each other. No! I mean-"
"You're so funny when you get embarrassed. Calm down."
Tarnik just started working on his radio again, pretending like the last bit didn't happen. Oh spirits, I suck. Why can't I just be smooth around the ladies?
He kept on working on his radio, while he and Lina went to the next and last device. After a few minutes, he thought he got somewhere.
"Hey Lina, go ahead a bit, I think I got the radio working again."
She jogged up further, so she could easily make a distinction between Tarnik's normal voice and his voice on the radio.
"So, testing 1,2,3… this thing work?" Tarnik asked.
"Loud and clear." Lina replied.
"Well, I-"
CRASH!
Tarnik had his Mattock deployed and ready in less than a second. Something big had just fallen in an alleyway they just passed, something that wouldn't fall by itself.
"Tarnik?"
"Get back here. I just heard something in a nearby alleyway."
Lina rushed over, gun in one hand, the other ready to release her biotics. Tarnik might've been turned on, or at least looked at her, but in critical situations he was always able to put his head in the game, no distractions. They got to the entrance of the alley. The fact that it already was night, and the alley was covered made it very hard to see. Tarnik put on his helmet and activated his night vision, while Lina turned on her gun's light. There was nobody there. Not that he could see right away, at least. A garbage can had been knocked over, that was probably the sound he heard. But where is the thing that caused it? The can's original position would've been somewhere on the wall… right where a ladder was. Something must've come down and knocked it aside or something. But if it were reapers, wouldn't they be all over them by now?
"Be careful." He warned Lina.
Probably not reapers, but then again… maybe some new assassin-type reapers? Or some variant of the geth hopper that he heard about? Strange, he hadn't come across any geth on this colony yet. What could it be? Wait. Did that shadow move? By the doorway?
"Lina," he said, now whispering over the radio, "I think I saw something move by the doorway over there. Think you could put a stasis over that area?"
She looked at him, then at the doorway and nodded. The strange sound of a biotic field was followed by a soft blue glow from the edges of the stasis bubble, just popping out around the corner. Tarnik slowly walked up to the doorway. Nothing yet…
THUMP!
Something hit the ground hard behind Tarnik. He spun around to see Lina flat on the ground, with a human sprawled over her. He tried to get up, but Tarnik was faster. He grabbed the human by the scruff of his neck, took him off Lina and slammed him against the wall. The human grunted, and slumped down to the ground. Taking a step back, he aimed his rifle. It wasn't a normal reaper soldier, but he just attacked Lina, so Tarnik stayed alert. Standard procedure said he couldn't kill him, yet.
"Who are you?" He shouted at the human, making sure his translator was on. It was one of the only suit functions not destroyed or damaged by the praetorian.
"Owwww, my head!" he moaned, "why would you do that..." The human looked up and squinted his eyes. He probably couldn't see too well in the dark, but he was able to make out the gun in Tarnik's hands. "Whoah, shit! Calm down there! Don't shoot me!"
"I'll ask again: who are you?" Tarnik said a second time, still angry. Lina had managed to get up and was standing next to him.
"I'm Sam Tennyson! I'm just trying to survive here, please don't shoot me!"
He seemed genuinely scared, so Tarnik lowered his gun. The fact remained that he could turn on them at any moment, so he remained alert.
"Why did you attack us? What are you doing out when it's so dark? What did you even do exactly?"
Sam started talking very quickly, obviously filled with some human hormone that got him nervous and hyperactive.
"Well, I was with my friend Johann, you see. We were returning to our…house, back from a small supply raid. Then we heard you guys, so we headed to the roof, 'cause we didn't know if you were… reapers, you know? I went up first, but Johann panicked and fell when he tried to climb up, knocking over that garbage can. I was going to go down when I heard that you were coming, so I went up and he hid in the doorway. Then when I saw you weren't reapers, I thought it would be alright. But then you did something to the doorway, and I couldn't let you just kill Johann! So I just kinda… jumped on your friend here."
"And that really hurt, may I add!" Lina said, slightly annoyed.
"Yeah, well it hurt me too, but I'm sorry. Now please tell me you can undo what you did to Johann?"
Tarnik looked at him skeptically. It could all be true what he said. But then again, people could always hide parts of the truth too. Still, might as well check if he was right.
"Lina, check if there really is another human. If there is, you can free him of his stasis and escort him here."
Lina left, but the human called Sam seemed to get more worried.
"Why, you're not going to kill us are you? Execute us against the wall in cold blood? You're not indoctrinated are you? Please don't be, I've been through too much to die now. I-"
"Spirits be damned, will you just shut it?" Tarnik didn't actually know what he was going to do with him yet, but he didn't need to know that. The human was just a bit to energetic to Tarnik's tastes.
"Ahhhh!"
THUD
That would probably be his friend, Tarnik thought.
"Hey, what are you- augh!"
And that was probably Lina. Sure enough, another human was dragged around the corner a few seconds later. The 'Sam' human started up again.
"See, that's my friend Johann! Can you please-"
"I already asked you once to shut it. It would be wise not to make me ask again," Tarnik said. He was beginning to feel uneasy about acting like this, but he was still mad over the way he attacked Lina, and the fact remained that they could be dangerous.
The second human started talking this time. "If you don't mind my asking, who are you guys?"
Tarnik looked over at Lina and Lina looked back. He wasn't sure if he should just give away that information, but then Lina told him: "Tarnik, I think you're getting a little paranoid. These are just regular civies, can't you see? If you won't tell them I will."
Tarnik again almost doubted if it was a good idea, but if Lina, who was the one that was attacked, could forgive them, so could he. There was supposed to be a resistance here, after all, maybe they knew more.
"We are the… remains of a special task group. We were sent to Benning to deactivate two reaper indoctrination devices, after meeting up with the local resistance. They were not at the rendezvous point, and we have already lost three members of our group and our shuttle pilot, along with the shuttle. But we have already managed to shut down one device, and were now on our way to the next, when… you two 'interrupted'."
The two humans looked in amazement. They really didn't seem to be intent on attacking Lina and Tarnik anymore, so Tarnik finally start to calm down. He still couldn't help the feeling that he should still be wary of signs of them being indoctrinated.
Johann started talking first.
"Wow. We were in the resistance a few weeks back, but left because we thought it was too dangerous. Never thought they'd send someone to help us, but I'm not surprised the resistance didn't show up. Probably all dead now, poor bastards."
There was a moment of silence. Then Tarnik spoke again.
"Well, if you're trying to survive, you go and do that. We still have our mission."
"Tarnik!" Lina said, "Can't you see they can't possibly survive for long? We have some extra supplies if you need anything: food, drinks, weapons…"
The two humans looked at each other, then back at Tarnik and Lina.
"Well, I think you'd be surprised how long we could survive." Johann said, pulling out a gun that was previously tucked away under his shirt.
"Lina, watch out!" Tarnik shouted, as he charged his omni-tool for an overload. No sense in killing an asset you could use. He aimed at the second human and-
"Woah, woah, WOAH!"
"WAIT!"
"Don't shoot!"
"Calm down!"
Both humans were shouting through each other, it was hard to make out who said what. They were also both using their hands to cover their faces, the previously concealed gun now on the ground.
"What was that?!" Tarnik asked, outraged, "Were you trying to kill us, or get yourselves killed?"
"No! We were just saying we can take care of ourselves!" Johann replied, now very scared. "We didn't mean any trouble!"
Tarnik eyed the two viciously. He wasn't about to let it slide, but Lina put her hand on his shoulder. Her face said it all. Tarnik sighed. Alright, I'll calm down, if only for Lina.
Suddenly the Sam human piped up: "Now might not be the best time to mention I also have a gun?"
Tarnik stared at him and sighed again. These guys will get us killed, whether they're indoctrinated or not.
"But anyway, maybe we could use some food supplies? If you really think you could spare some?"
Tarnik wasn't in the mood to answer, but luckily for the humans Lina took over.
"Yes, we always take more than needed, and now that most of our squad is… gone, we have plenty left over." She began handing some of their levo-amino rations over. "It is military grade stuff, so it might not taste that good to you people."
"That's alright, we're just glad to get something."
"Well, if that's all, we better get going." Lina said, "We've wasted enough time already." Tarnik laughed at that last bit. They turned around to go, but were stopped by a call from one of the humans.
"Wait! If you're going to disable a reaper device… well, maybe we could help?"
Tarnik gave them a dead stare and curtly answered: "No."
Sam tried to convince him: "But c'mon, we could help! We know the city pretty well! We have our own weapons! We're willing!"
Lina looked over at Tarnik, worried, then back at the humans.
"This isn't some simple game. We've already lost 3 trained soldiers. I'm not sure if you two could handle it."
Then Johann spoke up, in a serious tone: "Look, Lina was it? This is our colony, our home. We don't like seeing aliens just take this place over. If we could help, then we want to. The resistance never got anything done, and we thought we could do more on our own. We're starting to not care about ourselves anymore. We're the only part of our pasts we have left. We'd rather die fighting that live doing nothing."
Tarnik and Lina were both amazed by his speech, and stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. Tarnik still had a bad feeling, but you couldn't just make something up so quickly like that? Would they really help, and be useful? He was still thinking about it when Lina made the decision.
"I guess… you can come. But you have to follow our every order, whatever they may be. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am!" They said together, both saluting in an awkward fashion. They obviously didn't know anything about military life. But nothing could be done about it now.
"All right then," Tarnik concluded, "since we seem to have a new commanding officer, we might as well get on with it and finally GET GOING!"
"You'd better do what he says," Lina added, "He can get pretty angry." She finished with a smirk.
She knew he wasn't mad at her. Not that he could ever really be mad at her, but she had just undermined his command, in front of – he thought with an inward growl – new squad mates. It wasn't her place to do such a thing, but it was done now. The most important thing to do now was focus on the final objective.
It had taken them about 30 minutes to get to the next device. It might've been longer, but the humans proved they did know the city, and took them on some shortcuts. In the meantime, they had been rather silent themselves, but Lina told them most of what happened in their mission. Again, something Tarnik would have preferred her not to do, but at this point he didn't think it would make much difference. They also got some thermal clips, if the need would arise. They kept their low-grade weapons though, partly because they were used to them, partly because they weren't trained enough to handle military-grade weapons. Another thing they thankfully didn't get, were the explosives. That was still reserved for Tarnik and Lina.
The humans' knowledge also came in handy when they heard of the target site. As with the first site, it was an open area, with little to no cover. The humans would stay by the entrance and exit street, while Tarnik and Lina set up the charges. It seemed like a solid plan. Until they arrived.
About a block away, they already heard they wouldn't be the only ones. The reapers had obviously gotten here before them, probably to defend the device. Only a street away from the square, Tarnik ordered the others to stay back.
"I've got cloaking tech," he explained to the humans, "makes it easier to spy on them."
Lina however, was looking extremely worried.
"What is it?" he asked, knowing he couldn't just let it go by.
"Nothing, it's just… be careful, okay? Ellen had a tactical cloak too, but I think they somehow spotted her. I'm just not sure if it's safe."
"Hey, I stayed out of their reach this long. I don't plan on dying now."
Lina looked a little comforted, if only just. Tarnik couldn't stand seeing her like that, but he had a job to do. He turned around and cloaked before he would get second thoughts. He thought for a moment, then turned off his shields along with any unnecessary suit functions. It would give his cloak more time to be active and less emissions to be detected.
He snuck from building to building, finding the best spot to spy on them. After a few, he finally went inside one. He hid against the wall to let his cloak recharge and then started watching the reapers, trying to find weaknesses. There was a banshee commanding quite a few marauders and cannibals, supplemented by husks. At least 3 platoons' worth, not something they could take head on. He kept looking for something to exploit. After a few minutes with no results, he decided to message back to the team. He went against the wall again and reactivated his communications.
Bleep! Bleep!
Damnit! Someone had messaged him, and he had foolishly not muted his omni-tool when he started it up again. No time to check the message, he needed to make sure the reapers didn't notice him. He cloaked again, dearly hoping they hadn't heard anything.
Shit!
2 platoons of marauders, cannibals and husks along with the banshee had left the square, and were coming in his direction.
Damn, damn, DAMN! What do I- wait.
They didn't really seem to be coming towards him. Instead they veered off a bit to the left, away from him.
It must be some patrol or something, but why would they send so many? They're not headed in my squad's direction… oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter.
They now had a chance to attack, before the two platoons got back. I should message the team. And maybe check my messages, he thought.
The message that nearly compromised his stakeout turned out to be a worried message from Lina, wondering where he was. Although, blaming the message or Lina was hardly justified. He was the one who forgot to mute his omni-tool. It was his fault, really. Either way, they had to get over, ASAP. He sent a message back, ordering them to get to a rally point, but not to be seen. The last bit was obvious, but one could never be too sure with civies.
He cloaked and got to the point, just as the others arrived.
"Okay, here's the sitrep," he told them, "two platoons worth of reaper ground troops, along with a banshee just left the square, I don't know what for. They were headed away from us, so don't worry. One platoon is still there, but I think we now have a chance. I'm sure we can all handle this." He tried to go over it as fast as possible, he wanted it to be over with before the two extra platoons returned. "Hopefully the device will be gone before they get back. The plan still stands: you two," he pointed at the humans, "stand guard here. We'll take care of the reapers and set the charges. Keep our exit open, unless you hear exact orders otherwise."
"Hey, Tarnik…sir! Good luck," Johann said.
Tarnik eyed him, then replied with a: "And good luck to you, soldier."
He and Lina snuck into a nearby house. The window would give them temporary cover, and since there was no glass, they could hop over to get into the square after they did a surprise attack.
"I'll set up for the first shot," he whispered to Lina, "After I fire, you hit them with your biotics and I'll close in, keeping the fire off you. Just hit them with all you've got."
"Roger that," she answered.
They got below the window sill and Tarnik cloaked. He cloaked and set up his first shot, aiming perfectly at one of the remaining marauders' head. Finally we won't be the surprised ones, he thought, as he pulled the trigger.
The first shot landed perfectly in the marauder's skull. That is, it would if not for their damn shields. He let a few more shots fly as he saw a blue glow appear next to him.
There was no doubt that they could react very quickly. Not even fazed by their surprise attack, they had already begun shooting in their direction. Time to take the pressure off Lina. He vaulted over the window sill starting to feel some bullets hit his shields. He knew he couldn't last long like this, so he set his Mattock to full auto and powered his jets. His 'stunt' sure took the pressure off Lina, and was just barely keeping himself alive. Jumping in huge leaps and using tons of thermal clips, he was just able to keep his shields up enough to stop any bullets that could hit him. A moving target wasn't easy to hit, especially if that target is flying all over the place and shooting back at you. But his tactic wouldn't last forever. He would either need to find cover, or they had to take down the reapers before he'd be a flying corpse.
He was doing his best to hit the clustered cannibals, but it wasn't going to well. Boosting and stopping every two seconds, along with the fact that his mattock wasn't really built for full auto took a toll on his accuracy. Furthermore, husks had started coming at him. They were closer range and easier to hit, but the cannibals remained unharmed and were able to shoot at him as much as they wanted. And now my back's starting to get sore again. Damnit, Lina, what are you doing?
He slammed his gun into a husk that got to close, and checked the window where he previously was. Lina had left it now as well, and was plowing through husks and cannibals from a small bit of cover.
That's my girl, he thought with a smile. Now time to get rid of – he shot a husk that got a little too close – these damn – another husk shot –husks! A whole group had gotten clustered, which was a perfect opportunity for a well placed overload. They all went down like flies that hit a bug zapper, but at a price. He seemed to have pulled something, and now his back pain was really flaring up. He knew he couldn't stay out there, and headed back to the buildings. With a final jet boost, he flew through another glassless window.
Good thing I landed on my stomach, he thought. His back was really hurting. Not on fire – at least not yet – but still very painful. He grabbed for a stim pack in his belt. He didn't have many with him, but there couldn't be a better time to use one. He finally got one out and jammed it in his thigh.
Ahhhh! The rush was followed by a numbing of his backside. He felt the pain a lot less now, but he knew it was still there. That meant he would definitely have to get it checked as soon as possible, and that it would hurt like hell when the stim's effects wore off. But he needed it now to focus on the battle at hand. Again, he vaulted over the window sill. Lina had done well to hold off the enemy, but they weren't done yet. Him leaving for a moment had made the reapers split up and now a group was closing in on Lina. Yeah, that's not going to happen, he thought. He cloaked and set his thrusters too their maximum. He planned to do another cloaked air drop, just like the old days in the 26th. Some reapers had seen him cloak, and were now firing in his general direction, but not close enough. They couldn't stop him as he got up to the group getting close to Lina's position and brought hell down on them.
He started with a chain overload, taking out any shields that they might have and even incapacitating some enemies. He then came down with all the force he had, sending out a shockwave on impact. Lina had seen her moment and threw some other reapers through the air. Tarnik set his gun back to semi-auto and started shooting the shocked marauders and remaining cannibals.
Once they were down, he could focus on the other, further away troops. He set his gun to auto, cloaked again and boosted towards them. They had no chance to survive as his gunfire went straight through any shields, backed up by Lina's biotics. After half a minute, all enemy troops in the square were down.
"Few! Nice work, Lina!" Tarnik said.
"You too. Nice… dive to cover you made."
"Yeah, had to use a stimulant pack. My back started acting up again. And no, we won't do anything about it now," he said, before Lina could complain. "Let's just set the charges and go. Then we can maybe get it checked out."
They went to the middle of the square, where the device was emulating some strange noise and signal. It was definitely a little bit creepy.
"This is bigger than the last one," Lina remarked.
It did reach to Tarnik's shoulders, but when he thought in comparison to the things that made it, it was a speck of dust.
"Let's just hope this doesn't have shields like the last one," she continued.
"I'll use enough explosives to make sure that it doesn't even matter," Tarnik answered. "But no reason to be in the dark."
He got up from the explosives he was priming and to a shot off at the device. It didn't seem to do anything, but Lina took a step back.
"It's alright, Lina. Can you help me set these up?"
She got down and primed the rest of the charges with him. They finished and both got up.
Just great, what now? Tarnik thought as he saw the humans come running through the street. I knew I couldn't trust them to stay there. But then he saw why they were running like maniacs. They were running away. The banshee he had previously seen leave the square was charging behind them, behind her the two other platoons. Ah, crap.
"MOVE!" He shouted, also alerting Lina if she hadn't seen it yet. "To that exit street!" he commanded, pointing to another way out. He took a few shots off at the banshee until the humans came close to him. He then turned and boosted ahead to make sure it was safe. It wasn't. A group of marauders was coming up through the street and opened fire as soon as they saw him.
"BACK! This exit is overrun! To the West exit!" That was there last hope. Otherwise, they would make their stand in the square, and if worst came to worst, he would detonate the charges. Firing back at the marauders, he boosted backwards, then did a 180 degree turn and went ahead of the group again. This was their last chance to escape, but the spirits didn't seem to be watching over them. As Tarnik neared the last street, he saw multiple figures. This time it wasn't any marauders or cannibals, but husks. Maybe they could break through them, seeing that husks were usually really fragile. These looked even skinnier than most husks.
That's when Tarnik noticed they weren't the only ones. Almost all the windows of the nearby buildings were occupied by more…husks? Wait a moment, Tarnik thought, those aren't husks, they're-
"YEEHAW, THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!" came a shout from the street. It was the resistance, finally appearing after not showing any trace for so long.
Tarnik had to jump aside as he saw the leader had brought up some chain gun and was powering it up. As soon as his first shot was released, the whole square lit up through massive gunfire. It seemed each resistance member had brought something with them, and was releasing their fury on the reapers. It was a great feeling to finally have some backup, but they couldn't have all the fun. Tarnik turned and started firing as well. His team was clear from most fire and made their way over to him, before turning and firing themselves. They had perfectly drawn the reapers out into a kill zone, but they were still fighting back viscously. The reapers tried returning fire, but none of their shots came near Tarnik or his team. There were simply too many resistance members that were spread out and the reapers didn't have enough guns.
While most of the ground troops were dying, the banshee somehow stayed alive. It began charging up at Tarnik's team and did not die. If Tarnik knew anything about biotics, he would say it refilled its barriers with each jump, but that didn't help him in this situation. Some of the resistance was now shooting at it, but not enough to take it down. Tarnik himself tried everything he could think of, overloading the barriers and shooting it to bits, but that didn't help much either. Lina's biotics were hitting it, but didn't seem to affect it somehow. If they didn't do something soon, they'd be in big trouble.
That's when the resistance came to their aid, a second time in a matter of minutes. A bulky human came up beside them, pulling out some rocket launcher.
"Eat missiles, you bitch!" he said, as he pulled the trigger. That was followed by a blast powerful enough to knock Tarnik back, and some other people down. Thank the spirits those explosives don't really react to outside factors, was all Tarnik could think. Some humans act way to fast, like at relay 314. Some of them just need to calm down.
That being said, the humans did their job well. The banshee went down without even getting the chance to scream and almost all other reapers were dead now, the few movements being responded to by shots from the windows. Amazingly, they had survived.
"Way to go, spiny head!" The same human said, giving his back a hard pat. Hard enough that he could feel the pain through the stim pack.
"You too," was all he replied. "Where's your leader?" he then added. That human has some explaining to do.
"Back there. The guy with the armor and chain gun? You can't miss him."
Tarnik signaled Lina to come with him. The other two humans were already conversing with other resistance members.
Lina followed Tarnik as he marched up to the human resistance leader. He was laughing with some other human. Why? Tarnik would never know.
"Are you the resistance leader?"
"Yup, that's me. It's been me for, what? 36 hours or so?"
"Do you have any organization? Do you know who we are, what we've gone through?"
"Woah, man, calm down. I've heard something about you, I think. The spec ops team, right? Well, sorry 'bout that leaving you in the dark, we were… preoccupied."
"Preoccupied? More than half of our squad is dead now! They'd probably still be alive if you were actually competent!"
The resistance leader was silent for a moment and gave Tarnik a death glare. Something he wasn't used to, but he held his ground.
"Don't you ever… call us incompetent. We have been living through hell. Most of us aren't even trained and have lost more than everything, yet they fight. You lost half your squad? Well we lost almost everyone. So I don't want to hear you complain that we couldn't help you when the damn REAPERS ARE KILLING US!"
At this point, Lina decided it was best to intervene. "Men, please stop! We have just defeated the reapers, at least temporarily. We should be happy, not arguing. We're all just tired from fighting so long."
"Yeah, I guess." The human said, "But it's just tiring, you know? Losing so many… I don't know how much more we can take. I wasn't joking about the 36 hours, Adrian was just killed not too long ago. He was my predecessor, by the way."
"I understand." Tarnik replied. "I shouldn't have said those things. You are doing your best with limited resources, and I highly respect you and your men. I genuinely apologize."
"Ahh, it's alright. We're all on the same team, are we not? And you seemed to have just done our job for us!"
"What, you mean the device? You were going to take it out?"
"Yup!"
"Well, our charges are set, so if you don't mind moving to somewhere out of the blast zone?"
"Okay, I'll round up the men."
He turned and started shouting to all men, getting them to gather in a big group. Lina came up next to Tarnik.
"So what now?"
"I don't know. Of course, we detonate the charges, then… I guess we try to find a way off this planet, otherwise we stay and fight with the resistance until we can leave."
"I guess it's…something."
They stood there, together for a few more minutes as the resistance leader rounded up all the other humans. Tarnik didn't know if he should say any more to Lina. It was a bit calmer now, maybe they could continue their discussion they had earlier. But he didn't. Why not? 'Cause I'm too damn uncertain of the outcome. She might really shoot me down this time.
The resistance leader returned.
"They're ready. We'll be going to a residential area we use. Not everyone together, the reapers target big groups, but still close enough for emergencies. You coming with us?"
"Yeah, we don't really have anything else to do. Our shuttle was shot down, so we can't really leave."
"Hmm. I think… well, I'll tell you later. We need to get going."
He left them to go to the front of the group and start leading them away.
"Hey guys!"
Tarnik spun around – to see Sam and Johann.
"Spirits, would you not do that? I tend to like to relax after a mission like this."
"Calm down, man. We did it! Sorry 'bout, you know. Not keeping the exit clear, and all. But it was either that, or die. You did some nice shooting. And how about the resistance eh? Finally actually doing something, I guess. Doesn't mean we'll join again, but it couldn't hurt to stay a night. I am getting pretty tired." He yawned, as if to prove his point. "So, you guys joining the resistance now, or what?"
"No, we're just going with them for a moment, then we're trying to find a way off this planet. If that doesn't work, I guess we don't really have any other choice then to sign up."
"Well, I'm sure you'll get off. Not really our thing though, you know? I even had the chance to leave, in the beginning of the war… but I thought: 'Screw that!' I don't know why, but I just didn't feel like leaving. Still don't, you know? Well it's been nice talking to you, but I want to get back on track with some friends I haven't seen in a while. See you around!"
And with that, the energetic human was off.
"Well, it was nice to see him so happy," Lina commented.
"That's one way of putting it," Tarnik replied.
"Oh, come on. They're nice people."
"Says who? We just met them and they couldn't even do one simple thing. And he's a little too hyperactive for my standards."
"Really? Too hyperactive? And it wasn't his fault he couldn't defend the exit."
"Yeah, I guess…."
Tarnik couldn't think of anything else to say. They walked a bit further, getting out of the blast zone. Tarnik was about to go looking for the resistance leader: he wanted permission to detonate the charges. Just as Tarnik was about to go looking, the resistance leader popped up beside him.
"I think we are clear of the blast zone," the leader remarked, "And we're just about in the residential area."
"I was about to say the same thing. It's okay to detonate the charges then?"
"I'll just give a heads up to everyone: don't want them to get frightened..." he typed a bit on his omni-tool, then continued: "That should about do it. You're clear to blow that device to hell and back!"
"My pleasure," Tarnik said. He got out his detonator, but hesitated for a moment. Then he turned to the resistance leader.
"You sure you don't want to do it?"
"No no, my friend. You risked yourself setting the charges, you should be the one to activate them as well."
"Well, technically Lina helped, but if you say so…"
He pressed the button, and for the fourth time in a very long day he heard a great explosion. With that, he realized how sick he was getting of the colony. When will we finally leave? Wait, didn't he mention something before?
"Were you saying something about us leaving this planet? Before you came back to give the all clear?"
"Yes, well, you see the thing is: We don't have any pilots. At least not anymore."
"So?" Tarnik asked. "That doesn't exactly help us, nor do I really see what that has to do with us leaving"
Lina jabbed him in the ribs. Maybe he was a little rude, but he had a point.
"I'll get to that. So anyway, we used to have two pilots. Long story short: they died." Then he added, as an afterthought: "Seems like that's all we do here."
Tarnik was waiting to hear the point, but stayed silent this time. He was a t least a little bit tactful. And he didn't want Lina to jab his ribs again. She might've done it biotically, and his hurting backside was all he needed for now.
"You see, when I say pilots, I mean they could fly. And when I say fly, I mean we had something for them to fly. More specifically I mean…" At this point, he pointed his omni-tool at a garage door, which slowly opened to reveal…"we had- and still have- the blackbird."
Tarnik and Lina were speechless. Did this mean…
"It's a small merc ship, but it got the job done. We couldn't use it all the time, we had to be careful the reapers wouldn't bring in heavier guns to take it down. But now, without our pilots, we can't really use it. It was originally from a turian merc, I think. We were just lucky enough to have one pilot who knew how to fly it. He taught the other, and well… I think you get it. But like I said, we can't fly it. Any VI we install might be hacked by reapers, so now it sits here gathering dust. They used to switch out between missions… that was a while ago. When the resistance still seemed to have a chance. But maybe you could use it, if you know how to use it. We sure as hell don't. It might just get you off this planet, I think the original owner had it built for space travel."
Lina was still speechless, but Tarnik found something to say.
"Wow, that is… amazing. I don't know everything about ships, but I might get it working. I'll see what I can do.
And about the resistance? I know it might seem hopeless. I know your chances don't seem that great. But you're already doing a great job of leading your people. You are all taking a stand against the reapers, and you aren't the only ones. I'm working with the alliance, as are countless other aliens. Almost all fallen colonies have each formed resistances. I don't know if you've heard, but Shepard, the human spectre, is forming alliances none thought possible. He united the krogan and turians, by the spirits! Know this when you fight: you are never alone. Not only do you have your resistance, everyone is fighting the reapers, and we will defeat them. I just know it."
"Thanks, but I don't think I'm the one who needs to hear it the most. Why don't you go check to see what you can do. I'll… find something else to do."
Tarnik went to check out the ship. It was clearly of turian design, but not standard military issue. The resistance leader wasn't kidding when he said that it was gathering dust, you could see the particles from a kilometer away! He went around to the back, where the engine was and blew off the top layer of dust. He opened the hatch, studying what lay underneath. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Tarnik had no idea of what he was looking at. That's alright, just because I'm no mechanic, doesn't mean I can't fly this thing. He closed the hatch and went to the cockpit. Great. Just what I needed, another problem. It was a one-man ship. There was no cargo bay to be seen, and the cockpit was built for one pilot. Then again… the cockpit might just be big enough… and if so, that just gets me closer to Lina. Aww man, get your head out of the gutter. I need to see if I can fly this thing.
He checked the controls, trying to recognize some things. Part of his training not only included flying with jets, but also with actual ships. Although this one wasn't military, it showed some similarities. With maybe a little training, he would be able to fly them out of here.
BOOM!
The sound of a grenade going off sounded around the block.
"Lina! What was that? Accidental explosion or… damn the spirits."
A husk had appeared around the corner. It seems we can never get a break, can we? Tarnik unfolded his Mattock and shot the husk. Then he started hearing alarms.
"Tarnik, can you fly that thing?" Lina asked.
"I don't know! I think maybe some basic stuff, but I really should have some practice first!"
Before they could argue further, Johann appeared around the corner opposite to the now dead husk.
"You two should go. NOW!"
"But, I'm not sure if I can fly this thing… and you need help!"
"If you have even the slightest idea how to fly it, you can fly it. Now go!"
"No, we came here to shut down the reaper devices and help the resistance. We can't leave now!"
"You did the first part, and you already helped us enough. There's no time to argue."
As if the spirits were trying to prove the human right, a group of reaper enemies appeared behind him.
"Watch out!" Tarnik shouted, as he opened fire, making sure not to hit Johann. Along with Lina, the small force couldn't hurt any of them before they were gone in a mix of bullets and biotics.
Lina tugged on Tarnik's arm.
"Tarnik, we have to go." She said it in a voice that made clear it wasn't up for discussion. Tarnik bowed his head in defeat.
"Johann!" he called out "Just… stay alive okay? We'll need everyone to defeat the reapers, you included."
"Yes, sir!" he replied, before turning to go defend his home and friends.
Tarnik and Lina raced to the shuttle.
"I'll go in first," he told her, "I think it'll be easier to… control the ship, yeah."
He hopped in to the cockpit, Lina following him. Another group of reaper foot soldiers, mostly cannibals came around another corner.
"Damn! Lina, put a barrier around the cockpit!"
A hum and a blue cover enveloped the cockpit as Tarnik fumbled through the ship's controls. Where oh where? Ahh, here! He pressed a button, and the cockpit's reinforced glass rolled over their heads. The cannibals had begun shooting, but their guns had no affect on the relative heavy armor of the ship. Tarnik still didn't want to take any chances.
"Lina, see if you could take care of those guys while I try to start this thing up?"
Lina nodded and started glowing as she performed some of her biotic abilities. Tarnik was more focused on trying to start the ship, which wasn't the easiest thing seeing he had a moving companion in front of him. Not to mention, his stims were working off and he was beginning to feel his back pain again. He finally found the recognizable button that started the engines.
"Okay, you might want to sit back down. It's sort of hard to fly with you moving like that."
Lina got back down and Tarnik took the controls. OK, this shouldn't be too hard. I used to be able to do it, right? Nervously, he activated the thrust. It gave a bit more of a shock then he expected, but they were still fine. Carefully, he steered the ship out of the garage and slowly into the sky.
"Um, Tarnik?" Lina said, "We have a harvester incoming."
Of course. Why would I expect any different? There was no time to back down now. It was either them escaping, or them dying. And Tarnik wasn't planning on dying. He fumbled at the controls, and got a shaky response. The harvest closed inOK, I need to get going, now! He quickly moved the ship to the side, as the harvester came swooping by, just barely missing with its cannon shots and body slam. They probably wouldn't get so lucky a second time. But apparently, they didn't have to. Tarnik couldn't see what happened, but the ships computers gave a warning flash, then told him the harvester was going down, until it hit the ground. After that, it didn't move. What just-
"That was a once in a lifetime shot! Almost hit you there, sorry about that! Now you get the hell out of here!"
It was the resistance leader on the ships radio. Maybe the spirits are watching over us, Tarnik thought. Getting out between the buildings, it was a clear shot. Setting thrusters to maximum, they shot up into the sky. Shortly thereafter, they broke through the planet's atmosphere. Tarnik started plotting a course for the nearest relay and when they got to a safe debris-free space zone, the ships FTL-drive activated and they were on their way.
I can't believe it. We actually made it out. We're actually still alive.
He looked up at Lina. Through all the excitement, he didn't realize she was sitting on his lap the whole time. It felt kind of… nice and relaxing.
"I knew we'd get out alive," he told her with a smug grin.
"I think your daring escape deserves a proper reward," she replied. Awkwardly twisting around in the enclosed space, she somehow managed to give him a kiss. Not just one on the cheek and made awkward by it being interspecies, but a full blown, mouth to mouth, maximum saliva exchanging – well, you get the picture.
"I thought you didn't know? Difficult times and all that stuff…"
"Well, I thought that if we could all die tomorrow, I don't want to regret not doing things today."
Tarnik let a happy sigh come out as he hugged Lina from the backside. His back might be burning and he might be in this cramped area, but for the first time since he heard what the term 'reaper' meant, Tarnik was truly happy.
Soooo, hmmm what did I want to comment about this...
Let's see: 1) Thanks for waiting so long and for everyone who read and reviewed. It wasn't that many, but if I could entertain one other person than myself with my stories, I think I'm doing good. Anyway, I'm actually starting my final 12th grade exams right now (or whatever you want to call it), so you guys are kind of lucky I was almost done anyway.
2) I hope you're glad that there are survivors. I couldn't kill Tarnik, he's just too cool.
3) Also, I just got solo mastery in Mass Effect multiplayer, with none other than... you guessed it: Tarnik (aka turian ghost). He's a beast on the field (and a beast in the sheets with Lina, nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean know what I mean, say no more say no more :D)
4) It might've been the last chapter, but it (and the whole story) was way longer than I ever expected. It was fun to write, though.
5) This is probably it for my OC's. What I'm planning to do next is:
- make a timeline of EACH MISSION AND SIDEQUEST AND SO ON of Mass Effect 1 2 and 3
- make some short stories in the trilogy around Commander Shepard and his friends
- write some stuff from inbetween 1 and 2 (and possibly 2 and 3)
- write about my take on the ending, and post-ending (don't hate me, but I liked the extended cut endings. it'll also be destroy)
- and then (going further in Shepard's story) write a crossover (because who doesn't like crossovers? everyone? if so, too bad.)
but my next story will take a while. I have to finish exams, then I'm gone from July 1st to July 11th with no pc. But I don't think I'm going to stop writing.
So that was it! Read and review, stick around if my next stories seem interesting, you could even give some feedback on my plans if you want. I hoped you liked this story (why else would you read it?)