Earth-Chicago-Government Ship Yard Facility
Beads of sweat clung to Abigail Shepard's brow as she led the procession of Special Forces and resistance fighters down a long metallic cross walk. Smoke billowed up over the sides from the heavy and brute force, industrial processes going on through the bowels of the facility. She was in the lead, followed by James, then the resistance leader, and Paul. Quickly they made their way across one catwalk then down a short flight of stairs to another catwalk, construction paths most likely. What followed were the rest of the resistance fighters, eight in all.
"Shepard." Leighy's voice broke out behind her just barely audible.
She sighed, paused for a second, put the Vindicator in the 'at rest' position and then fell back letting James squeeze by her, his body grinding against hers, and then the leader of the resistance snaked on through.
"What is it?" She asked when they got a little further down the road.
"Contingency ma'am, you know just in case there is something here waiting for us."
She nodded, "Very well."
He nodded and marched back towards the end of the line, she let another resistance fighter pass her before doubling on her Vindicator and moving to catch up with James at the bottom.
They were looking for a place to put their bombs. Even though the explosives were quite substantial the facility was more than a match for it, and the larger the explosion they were able to generate the better their chances for destroying the facility.
But the paths they were on snaking their way down the bottom of the well were for construction purposes. Either for the project they were coming to disrupt or for general purpose, Shepard did not know. But they were in case the people building here wanted to build their projects several stories tall.
Shepard supposed the reactors and fuel lines would have been more near the bottom of wherever they were at, powering and pumping the whole operation, which is what their target was.
They crossed down deeper into the structure, going down one flight of stairs after another, another eight minutes of tedious climbing and they arrived at their destination. Pipes and computer consoles were littered throughout. The heat was pretty oppressive, sweat dripped down into Abby's eyes causing them to sting, but she managed to maintain her sight picture.
"Alright, we're here, spread out, look for anything that looks like a capacitor or a fuel injector, or a power relay, or just something that will go boom in the night."
James and the resistance leader snorted around her as the two of them began searching for what she told them to, she smirked wryly before wiping her head with the back of her right hand.
Several minutes later brought them to a central intersection, with a large pipe leading up and then out around a corner out of sight. The resistance squad huddled in around her, managing to maintain a respectful distance.
"Well, damn." James muttered next to her.
Abigail nodded clearing the area with the Vindicator.
"Captain Shepard." A familiar voice boomed out behind her.
James, Jason, and her spun around drawing their weapons into their shoulders, aiming into them, Nathan Burke came around the corner with his hands held out in a conciliatory gesture.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
As he spoke Abby felt a rush of bodies behind her and the expert click of weapons coming up into the ready position. Abby's body tensed up as she arched an eyebrow over her shoulder. We are surrounded.
A smattering of Alliance guards along with the Batarian and the Krogan member of Nathan's squad covered the entire group; Abby surreptitiously checked out the surroundings no Paul.
She turned her full attention back to Nathan Burke, "Well, you have us now. So was this a trap?"
"You could say this, though a hurried one. We heard about your presence on Earth only recently."
"One of my fighters? How is that possible?" Jason's voice quipped suddenly.
Nathan's eyes ran over to one of the fighters, he was trying to be secret, but both Jason and Abigail picked up on it, and spun on the victim. A young, brown haired, slightly overweight mouse of a man.
"It was you!" Jason screamed twitching forward, only to be met with several Harrier Assault Rifles swiveling into his direction.
The resistance fighter came over, slowly, timidly, moving over to her. She felt curious and her breath held, but she could not do anything as the guards were watching her every movement. Finally he stood before her, definitely in her personal space, he reached out his hand timidly, then boldly, and stroked her cheek.
Abby felt her body freeze, felt her hand twitch to the pistol at her side, but she still could not act.
He smiled, "they promised me…you…if I would just give you up. The voices, what I know are right and moral. To stop you, and be with you."
James flinched behind her letting out a deep scream and lunged forward.
"James!" She warned before the soldiers around her riddled him with bullets.
He stopped, and nodded gravely.
She nodded to the man and let up a little smile, "Well son, I will be right with you, but I really should talk to Nathan first."
He blushed violently. "Of course."
She turned back to Nathan and arched an eyebrow at him.
He chuckled before she could speak and opened the palm of his hand, a blue ball rotated out of it and spun before her, "Someone wants to speak with you."
The hologram generator hummed and a blond haired figure appeared, "Shepard."
"Prime Minister Soren." She tried to greet professionally but could not help from letting a slight snarl into her voice.
The blue figure smirked before her, "I take it you are still mad at me? For everything I have done?"
"Well, usurping the freedoms guaranteed to us by decades of legal precedent and then coming after me with the force of an entire planet…I do not know why you'd think I would be mad?"
He chuckled, "Yes, there could be no other reason that I would do the things I do. I have to be some evil force."
She barred her teeth, "There is no excuse good enough for what you have done to the planet. Look around you. Look at what you have done."
"All I have done is in the name of peace and security," Sorren intoned, "the Leviathans are the key to Galactic peace. Galactic peace without a cycle of extinction, Galactic order without the Reaper ruining everything."
"You believe you can trust them?" Abigail muttered.
He barked a laugh and closed his hands over his chest. "Abigail you surprise me! You who have spent your life under military discipline, commanding and being commanded, slaves to political masters! You know the cost of chaos, a chaos the Government saved you from."
She shook her head, "You just don't get it do you?"
"What don't I get? That it was an Alliance court, an arm of the Government that ordered you to go into the military. The military, a Government organization, which allowed you to be successful and happy and find your place, without which you would be dead or in jail? The Government saved you. Control is the only answer to the problem of human suffering, it worked with you."
"And how many rights will you sacrifice before you get to the end?"
He laughed, "A few petty rights, the loss of which should be temporary, is a small price to pay for the creation of the new Galaxy. The creation that only the Leviathans allied with the Council races could bring about. Security, a brighter future, without suffering. What are the rights of speech or self-determination next to the promise of that future?"
"No," Abigail shook her head again, "you aren't taking away those rights, and you are taking away the right to fail. You are taking away people's ability to fail."
He blinked up at her, "I'm afraid I don't…"
"Without failure I wouldn't be who I am. Without conflict and suffering I wouldn't have grown. I would not have gotten up and dusted myself off. And yes I wouldn't be in this position without some help from some judge. But here I am, also because someone took me in, taught me, a private citizen. Other individuals pointed me in the right direction. Not a Government, not a bureaucracy a committee or a parliament."
"You would be cold and dead without our help though! Without the assistance that we offered you, you would never have made it." Sorren pressed.
"I was a cold scared lonely child!" Abby snapped, "Cold, alone, hungry, fighting for the scraps of my day to day life. Stealing, murdering, committing hundreds of crimes in the name of survival. You cannot force that kind of change on a person, only the person that will make the choice can make the choice. To be a better person."
Sorren paused, stopped, and turned back to Nathan. "Deal with her, you know what to do."
The hologram faded and the ball fell to the pavement.
Abigail glanced at Nathan, "So, now what?" She asked.
"Well, now we take you in, or you fight us and die. But if we take you in we put you into a prison with a Leviathan sphere until you come around to our way of thinking." Nathan explained.
She smirked confidently, "You know I have been indoctrinated before? And I beat it."
"This isn't just indoctrination," Nathan blurted, and then closed his eyes steadying, "but, if you are right, then you will die in prison, along with your crew. After all, is James immune? Are any of the resistance fighters? Now hold still."
The guards began closing the noose, some of them staying behind.
"Not going to happen."
"Abby be reasonable!"
Before he could advance another step a white orb slammed into one of the armor pieces of one of his squad, they looked at it; it exploded tearing through the armor and killing the guard. The sound of a Vindicator burst to life just behind them. Abby did not have time to check to see it was Paul as she spun her Vindicator up and fired at Nathan, his shields failed, his body took hits, and he spun away.
Abigail didn't have time to celebrate her victory or force the issue as she rolled to the left, just before a burst slammed through her previous position. She toggled the guard who had fired the burst, and eviscerated the man through his gut.
"Scatter and move!" Abby shouted into her intercom as she was forced to reload.
The guards began to fire at them as Abby had to run through the corridor to the left, she fired a burst, and another guard met his fate. She fired two bursts into the Krogan just to spite him before marching down the corridor and fired at a third guard, killing him with three bursts, which forced her to reload.
The gasses spewed around her providing her the perfect opportunity to escape through the gasses. She was doused in quiet, the dull reports of weapons fire came down the hallway she was at.
She scanned down her Vindicator, expecting a threat to materialize in front of her at any second, waiting for it, and not trusting the silence in the least.
"Raah!" Ragaruk leapt out of the hallway at her with a glowing fist that he proceeded to slam into her ribs, causing her to wince, and jolt back.
The Omni-blade deployed across her side as she ripped it across his body causing his shirt to sizzle. He grunted and slammed a fist into her shoulder in rage causing her to scream and drop to a knee. She punched out with her fist and connected with his parts, causing him to howl, and to her forcing to crawl back.
Ragaruk slammed out with a hand and slammed her arms to the side causing her to drop the Vindicator. Abigail leapt back and glared at Ragaruk who glared back at the space in front of her; he smiled with his face full of Batarian teeth at her, and marched slowly towards her. He stopped as he glanced down at the Vindicator, and then slammed a boot down onto it with his boot causing it to crack and spark.
She hissed as she scrambled back, trying not to stumble over her feet, continuing to scan the area with her eyes darting about looking for something she could use. Raguruk marched forward quickly trying to close the distance between them.
Her eyes darted to the left just in front of the charging Batarian, a pipe and a release valve high pressure. She smiled and went into Adrenaline Rush, the Batarian seemed to freeze in front of her, his fist flowing again, and she ripped the Suppressor from its Holster, applied incendiary ammo, and fired.
The first burst split the valve open causing a jet of steam to flash in front of the Batarian, Abigail fired again causing the fuel to catch on fire, Ragaruk screamed. She fired a Concussive Shot through the fire for good measure.
James's grunt of pain forced her to spin around. She glanced back at the Vindicator briefly wanting to scoop it up but knowing such a gesture would ultimately be pointless and symbolic.
"James!" She yelled out going back towards where she heard him. "James!"
Another grunt and she thought she could hear a "Lola" drifting in down the hallway. She followed it making her way towards the noise.
Eventually she spilled out onto another central chamber; she had to blink her eyes clear of the sudden light. When she managed she saw James Vega and the Krogan grappled with one another, James trying to get the Krogan's hands off his neck, the Krogan trying to squeeze with all of his might.
No! Abigail thought as her hands leapt to her Omni-tool and raced her hands across her display toggling the new app she loaded. It came up and she brought the Omni-tool up slowly, and fired, the bow appeared on her arm, and the bolts raced down it as the holographic string pulled back.
The bolts leapt off her arm and all six of them plowed into the shoulder of the Krogan warrior. The warrior yelled out and turned to her, charging in a blur.
Shepard's eyes widened as her hands once more raced across her arm applying a new app, the crossbow collapsed quickly forming into a shield. She slammed it down into the decking just in front of the Krogan who charged into it, freezing partially in the process. Abigail used her arms and pushed off on the warrior driving him farther back.
He retaliated by growling and slamming out a clenched fist, right across her face, causing her to spin and for her to yell out in pain as her jaw snapped dramatically. Shepard sprawled out before him, and he took the opportunity to bring his fist down in a hammer blow. She flinched, but he growled as James's Vindicator hit him in the back.
The Krogan growled furiously as he turned around to face the new threat to take the final burst from James's Vindicator to his face.
Abigail scrambled for her Suppressor pistol reaching for the weapon; she fired into the Krogan's back causing it to catch on fire. James fired a carnage causing an explosion which Abby felt the heat from. She quickly followed the explosion up with a Concussive Shot mixing into another fiery explosion before her.
The Krogan's eyes widened, his weight gave out from under him and he toppled to the ground. But yet he still lived.
He lay on the ground glaring up at Shepard, she got up on her hands and knees then managed to heave herself up onto her feat towering over him.
"Please, please." The Krogan croaked out, "Spare me, let me live."
Shepard stared at him coolly for a second, and then grimaced as she placed her Suppressor in a weaver stance, looked down, scowled, and fired two bullets into the Krogan's brain casing.
She stared down for a second, making sure he was dead.
"Lola, Lola!" James interrupted her concentration.
She turned to the soldier as he came up to her, she felt the tension leave her body by an inch and her shoulders slumped.
"James."
The resistance leader came up behind her out of the fog of industrial waste, "Now what do we do, our forces are decimated, and who knows where their reinforcements are?"
Shepard scowled and opened her mouth to speak, but winced from the jolt of pain.
She grimaced and tried again, "We blow this place to hell."
"How?"
Abigail glanced at James.
"Anyway we can." The Soldier decided.
Abby nodded her agreement.
"Fine, looks like there is a heat controller down here, take that out and the whole place should go up, but we should really pickup sticks and head the other way."
Abigail nodded and held up six fingers, the resistance leader froze watching her limp towards the exit but complied quickly by going to get the explosives. He placed them down and fiddled with the display.
"Come on," James said leading the way.
The time ticked down as they moved quickly down the catwalks. Any resistance was swatted aside, literally as Abigail charged into an Alliance guard, her Omni-blade switching out, slamming into his gut, then flipping him over the side.
From there on it was clear sailing out of the facility, they emerged out of a pothole into the smoky sunlight of Chicago, they dove for cover as the ground shook below them, a gout of flame appearing out of the pothole. Sky Car alarms and emergency services blared in every direction, they didn't have much more option other than to move as rapidly as possible away from the scene of the crime.