Bastion Descent, Kahje

Day 1, 1720

"Alright…" Wendy murmured, from the cockpit. "We're clear through orbit. Where am I putting this thing down?"

"Small village outside Last Bastion," Sarah replied. "Orbit control said that's where the last communique came from. We touch down there, and find whoever's calling."

"So we don't know who they are?" Mac'Tir muttered.

"Negative. The hanar said 'she', so it's a woman, but besides that, we don't know. Could be hanar, drell…"

The assassin just made a little 'hm' noise, as if musing, and went silent. Between the sombre drell, the meditative justicar and the stoic Irving, it wasn't the most talkative squad. Reliable though, all good, solid operators, and that had to be worth something.

"I've got visual on the village," Wendy called, as the shuttle lurched and swung again. "I'm not too sure about the beach, though - I'll bring her down hovering, and you lot can jump."

"Copy that," Sarah nodded, rising from her feet and grabbing hold of the ceiling rail.

The Kodiak gave a little shudder, and she could feel it swing down through the air, tipping her slightly as it did. Irving grabbed his rifle from beneath his seat, Ekris pulled his gauntlets on, and a moment later, the craft growled to a halt, engines flaring.

"Alright," the helmswoman reported, "everybody out. There's a bluff on the north side of the village - I'll circle round to there for a solid landing and pickup."

Sarah just flashed her a thumbs up through the open door to the cockpit, and made for the door, sliding it open with her spare hand as she checked her weapons with the other. Almost immediately, a rush of wind whipped through the open door, accompanied by a flurry of sand, sent spiralling up from the beach below by the thrusters.

Tapping the doorframe once for luck, the lieutenant hopped off from the edge, thudding down in the sand a moment later. She reached for her Shuriken, just in case, and scrambled up the beach a few feet to clear space - sure enough, Irving landed behind her with a loud thud just a few seconds later. One by one, the squad jumped down behind her, with Mac'Tir finally bringing up the rear - he gave a quick rap on the cockpit wall, and as he hopped down, Wendy sent the ship soaring back up into the air.

"It's warm," Mac noted. "Very… humid."

"You sound surprised," Irving grunted. "Isn't this your homeworld?"

"Most drell reside in the cities," the assassin explained. "Domed. Conditioned. Less humid."

"Then what's this place?"

"An outlier," the drell shrugged. "A fishing village, if I were to guess."

Sarah just glanced around, wordlessly, as her two colleagues chattered. The village was tiny - a dozen or so abandoned, domed silver huts, all dotted across the beach, with a rough trail winding between them and up towards the bluff which, incidentally, Wendy's shuttle was now gliding down onto.

"Hello?" the lieutenant called, cutting off whatever chatter had been going on - she'd tuned it out, anyway. "Anybody there?"

A moment's silence, broken only by the water lapping up across the beach. Then, with the slight scuffling noise of boots in sand, a slim figure appeared from one of the nearby huts, a green face appearing around the door frame. No, a… bronze face. Or… huh. Kinda iridescent, switching between the two depending on the light.

"Alliance?" the drell called, stepping cautiously out onto the sand.

Sarah just pointed to the insignia on her shoulder in lieu of a response.

"You'll forgive me…" the stranger continued. "Asari and drell aren't usual Alliance fare."

"The drell speak for themselves," Sarah frowned. "And the asari's a justicar. You can trust her."

"Her, undoubtedly. Ekris here, not so much."

As one, the rest of the squad turned to stare at their colleague.

"Ah… Solara," he muttered, awkwardly.

"Why is it…" Irving whispered, leaning into Sarah's ear, "that we always run into someone we know?"

The lieutenant silenced him with a glare, and stepped in before either Ekris or 'Solara' could speak:

"We're on a timeframe here. The hanar told us you'd have a sitrep?"

"Indeed," she nodded. "As you might have gathered, my name's Solara. Until recently, I was assistant to Administrator Kanis, the governor of Last Bastion."

"Until recently?" Sarah echoed.

"The administrator is missing, or dead. So are a lot of people. How much do you know already?"

"You got attacked, you killed some Reapers, the debris hit the city," Irving rattled off, before Sarah could answer. "How's that for a summary?"

"Pretty good," Solara noted. "A troop transport broke up in the atmosphere, but the wreckage hit us hard. City spaceport, wiped out. Central residential complex, sunk. Administrative complex, flooded."

"Casualties?" Sarah murmured.

"Extensive. Many of the hanar escaped through the ocean, but many more were killed by impact, crushed in falling buildings… and the surfacers didn't have the luxury of swimming away."

"Surfacers?"

"Drell and other aliens," Mac'Tir interjected. "They can't live beneath the water like the hanar can. Not without a far greater degree of risk, anyway."

Solara just nodded.

"Most of the surfacers were trapped or drowned, best I can tell," she explained.

"Then how did you get out?" the lieutenant frowned.

"I wasn't there. I was attending to business on one of the orbital stations. I returned as quickly as I could after the Reaper assault, and found… devastation. Outlying settlements like this" - she gestured at the huts - "abandoned."

"So you sent out the distress call…" Sarah nodded. "Why didn't anyone else?"

"If I were to guess, I'd say the city's power and communication networks were disabled - one or the other, or both. It's been silent for days. That's partly why the response has been so minimal - the hanar don't seem to believe there are survivors after this long in the dark."

"You disagree?"

"I think we should at least check. And I have a duty to look for the administrator, with or without your assistance."

"You're goin' in with the Reapers?" Irving grunted, looking her up and down.

"I can handle myself," Solara scowled.

"She can," another voice admitted, sourly - Ekris, taking a step up towards them. "I'll vouch for her."

"How kind of you," the female drell muttered, sarcastically. He just rolled his eyes, and looked at Sarah for a lead.

"Alright…" the lieutenant concluded. "Plan?"

"Aerial entry. Your shuttle takes us up, and we go down into the administrator's complex via the roof. Find the administrator or his body, and go from there."

"Fair enough. We're parked on the ridge up there. When you're ready."

Solara just gave a curt nod, turned on her heel, and made immediately for the shuttle, parked high on the bluff. Irving shot Sarah a look, snorted once in amusement, and then set off after her, trailed by the rest of the squad. Sarah, however, lingered for a moment, allowing Saffiya and Mac to pass her by. Ekris too was hesitating, and as he finally made to leave, she caught him by the arm, pulling him back.

"Lieutenant?" he frowned, confused.

"You and her," Sarah whispered, nodding at the departing Solara. "What's the deal?"

"Old acquaintance," the drell grunted.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And, do I need to worry about her?"

"I don't… think so?"

"Well, that's encouraging…"

Ekris just looked at her, then sighed, and rolled his eyes. Breaking free of her grip, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and explained:

"We grew up in the same village. And, when we were children, we were taken to be trained together. Same school. Same one Raziel attended too, but he was a bit before our time."

"She's an assassin?" Sarah frowned, a little incredulously.

"Different skill set," he muttered, shaking his head. "More of a… spy? Saboteur?"

"You're really filling me with confidence here, Ekris…"

"Look, you can trust her. Just don't think 'assistant' means 'secretary', okay?"

"Mkay…"

Ekris nodded, and made to leave, but once again, Sarah caught him by the arm.

"And?" she murmured, raising an eyebrow.

The assassin grumbled a little, but he knew damn well what she meant.

"Her brother trained with us too…" he admitted, finally. "And he was an assassin. He was part of my team, on Illium."

"So he's…?"

"Dead? Yup."

"Does she know?"

"Why do you think she's so pissed at me?"

"Hey!"

The both of them looked up at that, as a new voice cut into proceedings. Irving was halfway up the path through the village, waving his arms at them.

"Are you two done yammering yet?" the big marine yelled.

"Moving!" Sarah replied, flashing a quick nod at Ekris. "Let's just get this over with…"