Last Bastion, Kahje

Day 1, 1745

Gasp. Light. Air…

Sarah broke the surface with a panicked flare of biotics, arms burning for a second as she took a deep gulp of sea air… and dropped back under the water again, barely finding a moment to pinch her nose and clamp her eyes shut.

When she finally bobbed up again, she swung out her arms, flailing wildly to stop herself going under again. Her eyes were searing, salt water clinging and stinging, and her lungs felt fit to burst. For a moment, the world was silent, muffled as if still beneath the water, and then:

"Mayday, mayday, going down. Ditching her on the nearest rooftop, I repeat-"

Whoosh. Somewhere in the distance, a blue blur went drifting down between the ragged spires, chased by a dark-winged form in the sky behind. It dipped below one in particular, and failed to emerge on the other side…

"Wendy!" the lieutenant called, reaching one arm for her radio and praying it still worked. "Wendy, do you copy-"

Sploosh. With one arm paralysed on the radio, she dipped beneath the waves again, taking a deep gasp of seawater as she did. By the time she came up again, kicking out and treading water, she was coughing and spluttering, the radio was silent, and her armour was weighing heavy.

"Wendy! Chief! Anyone?"

Splash. Something moved, close at hand. Sarah tried to twist around, only for the current to tumble her the other way, denying her anything more than a fleeting glance of a dark shape. Whatever it was, she heard it dip below the water, heard a low rumbling break the air a moment later…

An unseen force tightened around her waist, and she did the only thing she could - yell, lash out, flail her arms and try to run through everything she knew about Kahje's wildlife, which was… not much. There was a growl as she swung, carving a wide arc through the water's surface, and a moment later her gauntlet connected with something hard, struck one blow, then another, then another…

"Easy, ma'am! Easy…"

Finally, the words got through to her groggy senses, and her fist relented, for just a beat. She twisted in the water, but the 'unseen force' spun with her, denying her a view once again. Finally, her eyes shot down, to the pressure around her waist.

An arm, black-armoured and thick as her leg - streaked with blood, too.

"Easy…" the voice in her ear repeated. Finally, as her ears drained, some sense of familiarity returned…

"Chief?" she murmured, quietly.

A nod, which just barely grazed against her shoulder.

"I got ya," the voice muttered, after a moment or two. "Can you keep yourself up?"

"I… just. My arm's… kinda numb," she replied, realising the latter for the first time as the adrenaline of the crash wore off.

"Probably took a knock. Same here…"

"How are you staying up? That armour weighs a bloody ton…"

"Lost most of my gear in the drop," Irving chuckled mirthlessly, taking a deep gulp of air as he did. "Figure that sheds a few pounds. Doesn't matter - you good to move, ma'am?"

"Where?"

"Four o'clock. There's a road back there. Think the others landed on terra firma a little ways down."

"On three, then?"

Another nod, causing his stubbly chin to bump against her shoulder pad.

"If the arm's bad, put it around me," he instructed. "It ain't far to shore. One. Two. Three."

They kicked off, twisting slightly to the right, and Sarah slipped her arm - now heavy and vaguely leaden - over Irving's back, as the both of them pushed hard through the water. True to the gunnery chief's word, a half-sunken roadway lay ahead of them now, dipping down into the water and surrounded by floating debris, chunks of alloy and stone…

It took no more than a few minutes to fight their way over to it, and as they got close, they simply laid back and allowed the waves to carry them in, until they bumped into the sunken edge of the highway, arms now tearing at steel rather than sea.

Sarah wasn't quite sure how long they lay there for, face down and side by side, occasionally looking up to splutter and cough, or shift a little further out of the water.

"Jesus…" she murmured, eventually. "Next time someone suggests jumping, remind me to say no."

"Deal."

Another few minutes passed, to a soundtrack of breaking waves and creaking buildings. A steady trickle of water was working its way out of the corner of Sarah's mouth, and her arm, numb just a short while ago, was beginning to gain feeling again - rather painfully.

Eventually, it was the crackle of a radio that broke the silence - not Sarah's, which she had long since given up on, but Irving's, attached to his collar.

"Chief?" said a blurry voice. Male, had to be one of the drell. "Chief, are you there?"

"Here…" the marine grumbled, propping himself up on his arms with no small amount of effort.

"Any luck?"

"Got her," he nodded.

A deep sigh of relief from the speaker on the other end.

"Status?" the voice asked, eventually.

"Banged up, same as me. Turns out, jumpin' out of a shuttle ain't the safest thing to do. She'll be fine, though…" - he flashed her half a grin - "she's a tough girl."

"Understood. Where are you?"

"Err… highway. Just back from where you dropped, I think. Want me to ping it?"

"No need. We see you - wait there."

Sarah picked herself up at that, glancing to left and right, up and down the road… for a moment, it seemed as bleak and barren as it had before, but then she saw a little cluster of figures emerge, from amidst the wreckage of a building on the left. Three drell, one asari… good, that was everyone. Almost.

She rolled over onto her back, and as she did, a wash of water swept back from her nose, filling her throat and causing her to cough and splutter anew. Her throat was red raw and burning, but unsealed, there was every chance her suit's water supply had flooded with salt water, so that was out…

By the time she straightened up again, pushing herself into a sitting position, the rest of the squad was upon them, bearing various expressions of relief and concern. Mac'Tir was at the front - judging by the omni-tool open on his wrist, he'd been the one speaking on the radio - and Saffiya was close behind, already reaching for her belt.

"Thank the Goddess you're in one piece…" the asari murmured, "any injuries?"

"Nothing you can fix with medi-gel," Sarah muttered, flexing her arm. It was hot, and stinging slightly, but there were no wounds, no blood or bullet holes… "Chief?"

"My pride's pretty wounded," Irving grumbled. "The ocean just kicked my ass."

"That armour isn't exactly built for buoyancy," Mac'Tir observed, with a wry smile. "I'd say you did just fine, Irving."

The marine just cast a half-glance at Sarah, before turning back to the drell and nodding, ever so slightly. Saffiya, however, seemed to be more concerned with his arm. Crouching down and nodding at it, she frowned:

"Chief? Your arm…"

"Huh?" he grunted, rolling onto his back and holding it up. "Ah, s'not bad. Probably hit the door as I fell out."

Whatever he'd hit, the logical part of Sarah's brain had to disagree with the 'not bad' analysis. There was a lengthy gash along the side of his forearm, still bleeding, and a pale wash of crimson was going out with each wave that broke around him.

"Uh-huh," Saffiya scowled, seemingly sharing her scepticism. "Come here, let's get some medi-gel on it…"

"Gimme a minute," Irving muttered, dragging himself up out of the shallows with a grunt and an effort. "Suit's flooded, might as well shed the weight."

Staggering to his feet, he reached up to his shoulder plate, finding the catch under the pauldron and yanking the whole sleeve of his armour off in one. He dropped it to the floor with a clatter, and a steady stream of water began to spill out from the top of it. Red water, she noted, with a little lurch. Even as he reached for the other, pulling that sleeve off too, Saffiya was going to work on his bad arm, applying a liberal coating of medi-gel to the jagged wound.

Sarah dragged herself upright, glancing around as she did. The roadway disappeared into urban sprawl - flooded urban sprawl - on either side, and open water stretched off to front and back, with the ocean to one side and a bizarre kind of lake on the other, formed in a sunken section of the city. There was some small mercy, though - at least they weren't under attack. As the lieutenant reached for her own armour, pulling off her gloves to let some of the water out, Mac'Tir was crossing over to her, as Ekris and Solara hovered anxiously in the background, watching the horizon. The sun had dipped well below its peak, but it was a fair way off setting yet...

"Lieutenant…" the assassin murmured, with surprising calm given the circumstances. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she nodded, a little breathlessly.

"Good. We're ready to move when you are."

"Any idea where we go?"

"Absolutely none. I imagine we should make for the administrator's office at some point, but…"

"…Wendy."

"Wendy," he nodded.

"Is she alright?"

"Unknown. We lost radio contact with her, as with you."

"Ah, yeah… damn thing flooded. I'll patch my omni-tool in once we're on the move."

"Very well. And Miss Arness?"

Sarah bit her lip, glancing around at the battered cityscape.

"We need to find her," the lieutenant nodded, after a while. "I mean, even if I weren't the sentimental type, she's our ride out. We need to know if we can still count on that."

"And at any rate, you are the sentimental type," Mac noted, smirking slightly.

"Aren't we all?"

"Some of us more than others," he shrugged. "Irrelevant, anyway - as you say, we need to know the status of our exfil."

"Any idea where she went down?" Sarah frowned, business-like for a moment.

"After we lost the two of you, she dropped us on the highway, then lured the Harvester north," the drell muttered. "We watched her shuttle crash on one of the rooftops."

"Hard landing?"

"Could have been worse."

"But could have been… better. Alright. You and Saffiya can cover ground quickly, right?"

"Correct."

"Then chase down that crash site. Kodiaks don't exactly go down subtly, you'll probably have a smoke trail to follow."

"Indeed. And the rest of you will proceed to the administrator's office?"

"Right. We'll get Solara in, do what we need to, and then fall back to a safe location for evac."

"Provided we can arrange it."

"Well, yeah… if not, I guess we try and make contact with the hanar, or, I dunno… find a boat?"

Mac'Tir just smirked a little, at that.

"What?" Sarah shrugged. "It's always good to have a backup plan."

"And where exactly do you believe the boats are kept?"

"Hey, I never said it was a good plan…"

The drell just rolled his eyes, and turned on his heel, checking his weapons as he did. Saffiya was straightening up, having seen to Irving's arm, and he caught her by the arm as she did.

"Siha, we need to move," he muttered.

"Just us?" she frowned.

"Just you," Sarah confirmed, stepping up to the pair. "I need you to find our bird, justicar."

Saffiya nodded in understanding, and reached for the pistol in her belt, checking it cautiously.

"The rest of you," the lieutenant continued, "we're heading for the administrator's office. Do what you have to, we move in five."

"That's way off west. How the hell are we gettin' there?" Irving asked, before coughing, and adding: "Err… ma'am."

"We'll swim for it," Sarah shrugged, nodding to the water as she did. Sure enough, the spire Solara had pointed out earlier was visible on the far side of the 'lake' that now occupied the middle of the city.

"Great…" the marine muttered. "Before I go drown myself again, one thing - anyone got a gun?"

"I thought most marines carried their own…" Solara noted, speaking up - rather sarcastically - for the first time.

"Laugh it up, princess, you didn't get flung out a shuttle. So unless you fancy divin' in that ocean to get my rifle back, helpful suggestions only."

"Take mine," Ekris sighed, unhooking the assault rifle from his back and proffering it with one hand. "I can make do with a sidearm."

"Appreciate it," Irving nodded. As he took the rifle, a deep grin broke over his jaw, and he muttered: "Avenger. Nice and old school…"

"Yeah, well… just try not to lose this one, mkay?"

"…smartass."