Chapter 13

The Hard Way

The lift doors opened to reveal Scarlet, Azure, and Violet, all bearing their firearm of choice. Sharing a quick nod, the three began to walk through the mess that was the cargo bay very slowly. They were quite thorough, always careful to check the corners and open any suspect container they happened upon.

About five minutes passed before Scarlet spotted Noir, still tied to a barrel. His head hung still hung limply forward, giving the impression he was either uncomfortably asleep or even more uncomfortably dead.

"Noir!" Scarlet took a step forward, only for Violet to catch her by the arm, shaking her head very slightly.

"Bro?" Violet asked, moving cautiously toward the restrained quarian. She pushed back his head and stared into his open eyes. "He's okay; just stunned."

"Careful!" Azure warned as Scarlet let out a small sigh. "This could be a trap."

"Bang."

Scarlet froze. Violet and Azure spun about, weapons at the ready as Finn clapped theatrically. Hopping off his crate, he said, "Don't worry; he's fine. I just stunned him, that's all."

There was an audible click, followed by the appearance of three little slightly jittery red dots on Finn's chest. With a sigh, Finn raised his hands and said, "I'm unarmed."

"Your pistol?" asked Violet.

"My carnifex? Still on Ilium. Cops typically don't let prisoners keep their weapons, you know."

"I see." Scarlet said as Violet knelt behind her little brother and cut his bindings. "And to whom do we owe our thanks for warning us of the krogan's deceit?"

"He's Finn Cresste." Azure replied, eyes narrowing. "Kyra's boyfriend. I'm guessing she gave you access codes to the ship."

"Only because I was in trouble." Finn lied; all the better for everyone concerned if they didn't connect Finn and his team to Noir. "Wasn't my first choice, but you did leave me holding the bag."

"Oh? And how do we know you're not working with Goto or the Saints?" Azure asked, her shotgun the only one still pointed at Finn.

Ah. Good point. Aloud, he said, "Oh, I dunno; I got caught with the Tear in my pocket, got tossed in a cell. Even my plans work out better than that." After a momentary pause, he added, "Usually."

"We would have returned the tear eventually." Scarlet told him.

"Yes, and I'd hypothetically still be stuck in a cell. You do know I'm trying to stop Cerberus from unleashing Reapers … Reapers on the rest of the galaxy, right?"

This brought a moment of silence. Eventually, Scarlet said, "I may have heard something along those lines."

"Kinda hard to give it to the Illusive man while I'm behind bars or being chased by bounty hunters."

"More bounty hunters." Violet added, a ghost of a smile on her face.

Finn glared at her. "Thanks for that. Yeah, I've already got more than my fair share of trouble."

"So what would you have us do?" Scarlet asked, hands on her hips. "We've been working on this for years, Mister Cresste. To turn back now that we are so close only for us to end up in prison would render everything we've done useless."

"Maybe … he could help us."

Finn had to repress a wince; he knew Noir was trying to help, but Finn was really hoping one of the members of Siren's Call with whom he wasn't affiliated would have suggested cooperation first. Sure enough, he noticed Violet giving her younger brother a curious glance.

Scarlet, on the other hand, asked, "And you'd expect a share of the treasure, no doubt."

"Not really, no." Finn confessed. "The Shadow Broker keeps us pretty well funded, to be honest."

That brought a considerably longer stretch of silence.

"So it's true." Scarlet said, recomposing herself. "You are working with the Shadow Broker."

"Well, the Council certainly won't help, and I certainly don't have the kind of scratch to fight Cerberus on my own. I'm a repairman, for god's sake."

Violet wasn't quite able to repress the snort of laughter Finn's comment brought. Even Azure seemed to relax a little; at least, her shotgun was only pointed at his legs.

Scarlet looked thoughtful. "So if we locate the treasure and give you the Creator's Tear, you'd let us go?"

Finn opened his mouth to reply when the ship shuddered.

"FTL drive is down." Finn said, the all-too familiar prickle of fear spreading through him.

Azure frowned. "We couldn't have reached Tuchanka yet."

"Agreed." Scarlet put a hand to the side of her head, a gesture Finn recognized all too well. "Amber, what's going on?"

"I don't know!" Amber replied over the intercom. "I can't get the engines to activate!"

"FTL Dampening field." Finn said. "That can't be good."

Amber continued, "I'm detecting five … six … eight ships converging on our-"

Her sudden pause made the room go cold. "What is it?" Scarlet asked, not a trace of nervousness in her voice.

"Kee'lah." Amber whispered, "That's impossible!"

"We need to get to the bridge." Turning to Finn, Scarlet said, "We'll have to continue this discussion later. Tell me, are you as good a pilot as they say?"

"Better." Finn told her.

Nodding, Scarlet said, "Then if you would, please accompany us to the bridge. Noir, see if you can get the sub-light engines online."

"Got it." He said, still looking a bit shaken from being stunned.

Amber was more than a little surprised when Finn stepped off the lift along with her sisters.

"Who the …" She was interrupted by another shudder that ran through the ship.

Azure made her way to her station. After a few taps on her consoles, she said, "Six scout ships, four krant-class gunships, and …" She stared at the console a moment before adding, "This."

The viewscreen activated, showing exactly what 'This' was. The gigantic vessel easily dwarfed the rest of the krogan ships on screen. Apparently someone had teased some krogan ship-builder about the whole 'brick with wings' design; the ship had been shaped and sculpted to look just like a thresher maw. At least, Finn hoped it had been shaped; the last thing his subconscious needed was the idea of the krogan flying thresher maws into space.

"So that's a krogan dreadnaught." Finn breathed.

"We are so dead." Amber whispered in horror.

"Amber." Scarlet said, her voice stern as she took her chair at the command station. "Can we move at all?"

Amber didn't respond until Scarlet repeated her question. "R-right. Sorry; uh, just emergency systems and sub-light."

"Thank you. Finn, if you would be so kind?"

"You got it." Finn walked over to Amber and asked, "You mind if I take over?"

Amber's eyes went wide. "Take over?"

"Just the helm." Finn told her, flashing her his brightest smile. "Please?"

Amber looked to Scarlet, who nodded. Reluctance clear on her face, Amber rose from the helm chair so Finn could have a seat.

"Right." He muttered as he scanned the controls. "Let's see what we have here."

"Hang on!" Violet said, "They're hailing us."

Finn paused. He didn't have much experience with krogans outside the stray mercenary who stopped by J-27 long enough to gas up and comment on what a junk heap the station was. Still, he couldn't imagine they had anything to say that the crew of the Meridia cared to hear.

"Interesting." Scarlet glanced back at Azure. "Is our little surprise still ready?"

"Yes ma'am. Don't know if it'll work against a dreadnaught, though."

Finn raised an eyebrow at Scarlet, who only shook her head. "We all have our secrets, Mister Cresste. Onscreen, Violet."

The viewscreen flashed on, showing the biggest krogan Finn had ever seen. With all the armor and weaponry strapped to him, this krogan looked like he could go toe-to-toe with Darsan and his heavy combat suit.

"You have infiltrated krogan airspace; surrender immediately or be destroyed."

Scarlet rose to her feet. "I demand to speak with Primarch Wrex."

What could only be described as a smirk crossed the krogan's face. "Your information is antiquated. Urdnot Wrex is no longer the Primarch."

It was clear from the look on Scarlet's face that this was an unexpected turn of events. Even Finn was a little stunned; from what little he knew, Urdnot Wrex had been the leader of the krogan people since before the Reaper War.

"When did this happen?" Scarlet said. To her credit, her voice barely wavered.

"When the rightful Primarch exiled him from our airspace."

"Exile?" Scarlet said, raising an eyebrow. "Since when to krogan exile people?"

Finn knew he should've stayed quiet; he had enough to do getting the engines ready for what he was about to attempt. Still, even he flinched as he said, "Easier to exile him while he's gone than to kill him while he's not, right?"

Amber smacked him in the arm, reminding him strongly of Kyra. Still, the ugly look on the krogan's face made it clear Finn had hit the proverbial nail right on the head.

"We do not fear the outcast!" The krogan snarled.

"You closed the entire border!" Finn replied, ignoring Amber's continued smacks. "The entire galaxy's been afraid that you're about to start an invasion, but you're just trying to make sure he doesn't get back. Seems to me you're terrified of this guy."

"What do you know of Urdnot Wrex, human?" The krogan roared. "Nothing! You are as foolish as the rest of your kind!"

The screen deactivated, leaving the deck in silence.

"That … did not seem helpful." Scarlet said, a reproachful look in her eyes.

Finn couldn't really argue the point, so he didn't bother. He did, however, activate the sub-light engines at full thrust, heading straight towards the thresher ship. The space behind them exploded as multiple blasts and shots rocketed through the space they had previously occupied.

"Finn?"

"Don't worry, I've got a plan."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Azure asked, her eyes on her own console. "You're heading straight for that monster!"

"Yup." Finn replied. He supposed he could've said more, but he really needed to keep his attention on his controls, especially with another wave of nasty ballistics heading their way.

The thresher ship loomed before them like a great monster of space, its maw open as it fired a barrage that would lay waste to a legion of ships. In fact, it did lay waste to a legion of ships, namely the krogan fleet chasing the Meridia. At Finn's command, the Meridia danced through the armada followed by a trail of detonations that left devastation in its wake. His training with Billy had not gone to waste; as they neared the dreadnaught, not a single missile made contact with the Meridia.

"I'll be damned." Violet said, "Kyra wasn't kidding about you."

"Oh, the best is yet to come." Finn said, not looking at Violet. "Everyone hold on; this is going to get a little rough."

The head of the krogan dreadnaught slowly turned as the small asari ship zoomed past it, quickly weaving between the spikes that lined the sides of the ship. Finn very much doubted the spikes were for anything but intimidation. Still, more than a few were blasted clean off as Finn circled the ship's long body. A few shots managed to clip their kinetic barriers, but if anything, the jolts only piqued Finn's excitement.

This is why he was a pilot, he thought. This is why he dreamed of flying since he was a small child. The rush he felt as he avoided death at every spin and swerve made his senses sharpen to the point he felt nothing could possibly even touch him. It was almost like streaming, the way he was almost not even looking at the console anymore, like he was flying by feel rather than the controls.

Noir's voice broke through his thoughts. "FTL drive's back online!"

"Thank the Creator." Finn breathed. "Time to leave, then."

"Don't get cocky!" Azure snapped. "That thing's head is almost facing us!"

Scarlet rose from her chair dramatically. "There's no choice. Azure?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Azure replied, "Understood."

"Wait!" Finn said, his fingers already dancing across the controls in preparation. "Give me a minute!"

"We don't have a minute, Mister Cresste!" Scarlet said, tension audible in her voice.

Swearing under his breath, Finn started up the FTL drive, prepositioning the ship in the envelope as it began to form around them. Streaming was tricky, and jumping straight into streaming was close to suicidal, though perhaps not as much as sitting in front of the thresher ship's main guns. As the drive activated and his eyes began to water, he was dimly aware of Azure shouting, "Firing!"

The stars leapt forward in Finn's vision, accompanied by a strange purple haze that seemed to tint everything. Streaming came effortlessly, far easier than Finn had expected, and yet something about it felt wrong.

"Kee'lah!" Amber whispered in reverent awe. "How … what are you doing?"

Finn couldn't answer; although they were now far away from the armada, he could feel they were still in danger. Tearing his thoughts from the universe expanding before him, he let the ship fall back to the center of the FTL envelope before reversing the engines.

Nothing happened. The ship naturally settled back into the FTL envelope, but the engines refused to reverse. After a few panicked moments, Finn realized that his controls weren't working.

"Noir." Finn said, "Reverse the engines; my console's bugged."

After a few moments of no response, Lady Scarlet tapped the panel built into the arm of her command chair, asking, "Noir? Noir, can you hear me?"

"Ship's systems are down!" Azure called out, working furiously at her console, which seemed to retain some small spark of life.

"I thought it wouldn't affect us!" Scarlet said, hurrying to Azure's side.

"The defensive fields were shut down when we entered FTL." Azure shot a glare at Finn, who was still busy beneath his console.

"Take the helm for a bit, would you, Amber?" Finn slid under his chair and took a look at the underside of the console in the event something had come loose. From what he could tell, the flight console wasn't getting any power. The engines were still working, though, which meant they were barreling through the cosmos with no way to slow down or steer.

"Finn! Finn, can you hear me?" Jake's voice asked through Finn's internal comm.

"Jake?" Finn said, surprised. "You're okay!"

Amber peered beneath the console. "Who is Jake?"

"I'll tell you later. Jake, can you reach the engine room? I need to talk with Noir."

"Way ahead of you, bro. Noir! Finn's wanting conversation!"

After a few moments, Noir said, "Uh, hey Finn. I'm a bit busy down here; the engines just went haywire, and half the ship just went dead."

"I noticed. Look, I had to stream out of there, and Azure did something that killed the flight controls while we're still stuck in FTL. Can you reverse the engines?"

"Hang on;" After a few moments, Noir said, "No good; everything outside of the engine room was fried. Look, there's an emergency backup generator on the bridge; it should be just under the helm console."

Finn glanced down and spotted the recessed handle right by his right foot. "Got it. Do what you can from there, and I'll try to keep us from becoming another twinkling spot in the night sky."

A brief tug on the panel revealed a small cylindrical generator. One look told Finn that they were still in trouble; there wasn't much power in that tiny thing. Still, it was better than nothing; Finn activated the generator and hooked it up to his console.

"It's back on!" Amber told him as he pulled himself back to his seat.

Finn quickly reversed the engines. As the ship came out of FTL, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's see." he muttered, "Looks like … wow. Hey, Scarlet, looks like we're close to Tuchanka!"

"Thank the Ancestors for small favors." She breathed, leaning back into her seat. "Can we land?"

"I think-" Finn stopped as the lights of his console began to flicker. "Oh, lord."

"Finn?" Scarlet asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Finn shook his head as he tried to work the console. "I've got some control, but we haven't completely stopped yet."

"Well, that's good, right?" Amber asked, perking up. "I mean, we can land now, right?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. We'll end up on the ground one way or the other."