Here is the next chapter. I hope you guys liked the fight last chapter. Guess who our masked man was? You'll see coming up. We are also getting to the next DLC. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy it. Please R&R and let me know what you think about the path the story is taking. Enjoy!
Luke groaned as Dr. Chawkwas pressed a cold pack to his jaw. He apparently had a fractured cheekbone and a dislocated shoulder, but other than that he was fine.
"You really did get your ass kicked didn't you?" Claire said watching Luke wince as he pressed the cold pack to his face.
"I told you…but it was worth it." Luke said using his other hand to take a small OSD out of his chest pocket. "The Cerberus agent I fought is named Kia Leng. He use to be an assassin for hire. I chased him during my early C-Sec days. One brutal son of a bitch." Luke winced again as he spoke. Claire took the OSD and plugged it in to Dr. Chawkwas' work station.
"Luke, these are the files for all Cerberus cells run out of that facility. Most of it is encrypted but this will be a huge win for the Alliance. How did you get this?" Claire said looking over at her brother as Dr. Chawkwas injected a small amount of medi-gel into his shoulder.
"During the fight, I had to get an excuse to get close. I watched what pocket he put it in and lured him into the fight. I got close and picked his pocket. But um, not without a little pain." Luke said adjusting the cold pack.
Claire nodded and looked over at Dr. Chawkwas. The doctor smiled warmly and made took a seat on the other side of the med-bay.
"So you knew that you were going to lose the fight?" Claire said taking a look at Luke's shoulder. The discoloration under his skin look extremely painful, he would be out of action for at least 24 hours.
"It was not about winning the fight. Kia Leng was N7 before he was an assassin. I'm pretty sure he could beat you in hand-to-hand. The fight was simply to get close enough to lift the OSD." Claire nodded.
"Next time, try not to get beaten too bad." Claire said patting her brother on his bad shoulder. Luke groaned laughing as he moved the cold pack to his shoulder.
"I'll keep that in mind." Claire kissed her brother on the forehead and made her way out of the med-bay.
Luke turned to the doctor and approached the woman. "Hey doc, would you mind checking something for me?" The doctor turned to face him with a curious look. "I could use a diagnostic check of my amp. I want to make sure it did not get rattled."
"I can do that." Chawkwas said standing up and bringing up her omni-tool to scan the device.
000
Claire stepped out of the comm room with a smile on her face. With all their leads on Saren exhausted, they had time for some R&R. Hacket had suggested that the team demonstrate the Alliance's training and a multi-species squad's abilities in a tournament on a station called Pinnacle Station. The rooms for the contestants wer going to be the equivalent to a five star hotel. It would be a very welcome break, but they could still keep their skills sharp.
She made her way down stairs to the mess hall and caught Mallory having a cup of coffee.
"Got some good news. We are getting some R&R while the intelligence community digs up some more leads on Saren." Claire handed the data pad to Mallory for her to read.
"A military tactics tournament? Are you kidding me? That is your idea of relaxation?" Mallory exclaimed tossing the data pad down.
"Better than wondering aimlessly through space. Besides, they only allow standard fire teams of three on the field so if you don't want to be involved, just stay in your room." Claire snapped back.
"Whatever." Mallory said getting up and heading toward Kaidan's station. Claire shook her head. She did not approve of the obvious relationship while they were on duty, but there was not much she could do to stop it. She had to keep the peace though. The last thing she needed were clichés forming among her ground team.
"A military tournament for R&R?" Luke asked coming up behind Claire. She turned to see her brother holding a cold pack to his shoulder. His face was slightly swollen where it had been fractured but he looked to be in good spirits.
"What? Are my ideas of a vacation not good enough for you either?" Claire said folding her arms.
"Hell Claire, fighting virtual enemies instead of real ones sounds like a vacation to me." Luke said smiling.
"I figured you would see it that way. Look, I want you to get some rest while we're there. I don't want you hurting yourself worse." Luke pouted dramatically. Claire crossed her arms and gave him a knowing look. She had seen this act before.
Luke finally sighed and shrugged. "Fine. But I want in on at least a few of the matches."
"I think I can make that happen, but in the mean time, take Ashley out for a nice dinner. You two have not had much time together and I think you two are good for each other." Claire smiled as Luke's cheeks turned a rather becoming shade of pink. Luke must really like her. Even as a kid, he only blushed when someone said something to him about a girl he liked.
"Definitely will. Hey, what about you? There anyone special in your life right now?" Luke asked. Claire sighed and wet her lips.
"You know me. I don't really have a great track record of holding on to a man. It did not get any better after I joined the military. Most of my boyfriends ended up stationed on other ships, pulling long tours where we never go to see each other, or I ended up on classified missions where we couldn't talk. It just... well, I never really try to settle down anymore. I focus on the mission." Claire lowered her eyes as her thoughts wandered to the turian who had sat next to her as she fell asleep. He did not seem to be going anywhere.
"I do know you and I know that you are happiest when you have people around you. You can't be a commander forever. After this is done, don't you want to have someone waiting for you?" Claire sighed. Of course she wanted someone waiting for her when her career in the military was over, but she was honestly afraid of committing to a true relationship.
"For now, let's just say that Saren has my undivided attention. I'm sure I'll find someone like you and Mal have eventually." Luke nodded and sat down at the table.
"Well while you're waiting would you mind grabbing me some grub?" Luke said motioning to his shoulder. "Help out the handicapped."
"Oh go whine to Joker, you big baby." Claire said giving him a playful shove. Luke laughed and started to get up, but Claire shook her head and pushed him back into his seat before heading over to pick up his tray. Luke chuckled to himself. He missed messing with his sisters. He never realized how much until he had the opportunity again.
000
The Normandy docked with Pinnacle Station and Claire had her team follow her onto the station with their combat armor and weapons. They were quite a sight to the other competitors.
Most had teams that were from their own species' military, but the first human spectre not only had humans, an asari, and a turian, but also a krogan and quarian. It was one of the oddest teams that they had ever seen. One of the turian guards who apparently was in command of the others made a snide comment about fresh meat for the simulator. Luke almost said something but Claire restrained him.
"Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre and Hero of the Skyllian Blitz, I've heard a lot about you." An admiral said approaching them. All the humans except Luke immediately snapped to attention and saluted. The admiral returned the salute as his gaze fell on Luke. "Is there a reason you refuse to salute a commanding officer?"
"Admiral, forgive my brother. He is not a member of the Alliance military. He is an agent I brought aboard the Normandy under my authority as a Spectre." Claire stated. The Admiral sighed and relaxed. Luke let a small smirk cross his face. I'm not a marine. Luke thought.
"I understand commander. I suppose the rest of your team is here under the same authority?" The admiral asked.
"Yes sir."
"Very well. I am Admiral Ahern. My job is to run this facility. You and your team are welcome here and your rooms are ready. The first round of competition will start in twelve hours. Feel free to do a few trial runs in the simulator to get a feel for how things will be." The admiral immediately turned to leave as the team turned to Claire.
"You heard the admiral. Either head to the rooms, test the simulator, or grab a hot meal. This is our shore leave people so enjoy it. We could be called with a lead on Saren at anytime." Luke immediately grabbed Ashley's hand and led her to the restaurant while Mallory and Kaidan took a lift up to the rooms.
"Well, that is the last we will see of them." Wrex said. Garrus and Claire laughed. Liara covered her mouth in amusement while Tali let out a small giggle.
"Come on, let's explore the station for a bit. I want to see what exactly we are up against. Garrus, what's the competition look like to you?" Claire asked as they started walking. Garrus eyed the other competitors and visually scanned the room.
"It looks like we have some former black ops operatives from the turian military, asari huntresses, as well as a few krogan battlemasters. These guys are not going to be easy to beat. Most of them have been fighting and studying warfare for decades if not centuries." Claire smiled. Decent competition, it would be a close match.
Claire led her team members to the simulator, where a salarian was programming the combat levels for the competition. Claire peeked inside the simulator and saw that it was technically a large arena where holographic projections that were the enemies. The pulse rounds that they fired would affect the armor and shields the same way that bullets would, with the exception of inflicting death.
Tali watched the programming the Salarian was doing fascinated with the technology. It was not as advanced as the Normandy but the flotilla had nothing like it. It would have been useful though for training their marine teams.
"This is going to be fun." Wrex said slamming his fists together. Claire looked back at her teammate and smiled. Yes, it would be.