Omega Nebula
Sahrabarik System
The extra attachments were not too heavy. The weight was barely palpable. There was a feel of potential waiting to be unleashed. April frowned. Augmented. Yes, that was what it felt like. As if she had thrice the normal level of strength. She flexed her arm experimentally, made a fist and threw a punch at the target stand that held a three inch thick metal plate. The plate buckled around her enhanced gauntleted fist. Pulling it back, she examined the site and whistled soundlessly, suitably impressed with the size of the crater. Servos hummed inaudibly as she turned, lifting her legs one at a time before doing a little jump that lifted her three feet off the deck.
"What do you think?" a soft voice asked behind her.
She turned around carefully and shrugged as Liara came up to her. "Need a really good bop session to find out." She looked over to the technician, who had attached the hardsuit enhancements, standing at the modification bench. "You up for that?"
His face went red. His hands came up to wag furiously in rejection. "Not me, captain. Sergeant Harris thought you'd want to run it, he's suiting up now."
Welcomed news to her ears. Scuttlebutt among the crew put Harris as the best brawler in Mungo Company. With much of her time revolving around in conferences, thrashing out the mountain of data the probes collected with Liara and Dorrin, she hadn't had time to run her usual drills in the gym. Half hour workouts now and then was not the way to keep herself top of the line, especially with the imminent deployment. Trying out a new, to her, untested power hardsuit was not exactly what she was looking for but it was better than nothing.
Liara regarded April's hardsuit critically. The enhancements were akin to a exoskeleton, designed to attach and detach when needed. It had originally started as an expedient measure to mount heavier weapons and boost ammo capacity for rocket troopers during the Reaper War, with some success. The original augmentations were crude, bulky and fragmented. The choppy targeting programs created occasional hitches during engagements but the value of the concept was recognised.
After the war, it was further developed and streamlined into a more modular framework. Hence, the enhancements fitted like an integument over the hardsuit. Depending on the nature of the assignments, loadouts were flexible. Her bondmate looked somewhat bulked up around the shoulders, arms, legs and taller. A sound from the technician drew her eyes over to the entrance of the combat range. Her eyes widened when she saw the figure stepping up from the armory, Sergeant Harris she supposed, in his own hardsuit. He reminded her of lieutenant Vega, magnified two times.
She blinked. No, it was just an illusion. The enhancement had amplified the human's girth, making him twice the size he really was. Solid and squat, he looked formidable and exuded an air of competence that implied he was capable of putting down hordes without any of them leaving a smear on his hardsuit. Perhaps her bondmate might end up underfoot at the end of the exercise. As if aware of her thoughts, April winked at her before pointing behind Liara and wagging her fingers. She wanted her helmet on the modification bench, Liara realised and went over to get it. Prudent. Pulling down the breather mask and locking it into place, she approached April and helped her to put it on.
"Hot shower and oils after?" she murmured as she made sure the helmet was secured.
"Aw c'mon, it'll be a cakewalk," April protested, a little put out that Liara thought she would get her rump shown to her. "Though I'm all for the shower and oils," she said in a sensual low voice before turning to face Harris.
Her tone evoked memories of the night before. Liara smiled. Depending on the amount of time they had left before the deployment, it was unlikely they would be able to indulge themselves very much. Retreating to the modification bench, she leaned against it and crossed her arms. There was no light artillery firing range on board the cruiser so her bondmate could not try out the rocket loadouts. The other thing she could test was the augmented hardsuit.
She watched April conferred with Harris. As they stepped out on the combat pad, several marines who were engaged in light exercises stopped to watch. A few were huddle together, whispering and eyeing the combatants speculatively. Clearly they were making bets. A human trait she found rather curious but diverting. A beep from her omni-tool distracted her. She turned away to pursue the incoming data.
Harris held out his hands, palms up, like focus mitts. Striking his palms lightly, April tried to get a feel of the improved mobility, speed and power of the augments.
"Harder," he said when she tried a feather-like strike. "That's a finger tap on the shoulder."
She put slightly more strength in the punch and saw the impact pushing back his hand slightly. "That's a normal rapping?" she asked.
"You're angry, you want to knock his lights out," he said with a grin.
"If you say so."
His arm jerked back slightly when she punched harder.
"Are you bracing?"
"No. I'm letting the impact flow through. If I actively resisted, more of the impact will be absorbed."
"So," April said musingly as she looked at her gauntleted hands. "If I go all out and you're not wearing your hardsuit, I'll break your hand."
He nodded. "You'll shatter it. You're new to this so you won't be able to control the potential of the augments which is why," he pointed to himself, "I'm in this hardsuit."
"Your people go unarmed against hardsuits?"
He cocked his head as if considering how much he should reveal. Was he laying the iron ruler on the grunts?
"We do," he said with a shrug. "Right now, we're the only ones to have the augments but that's not going to last long. Powered armor will go vogue. It's pretty much in the dance cards," he grinned when she chuckled. "Some unlucky grunts are going to find themselves bare ass in the worse situations. Better to be prepared."
"What're the chances of skinning out in one piece in that kind of situation?"
He shrugged. "It depends on how far south the mess is, the opponent and luck. The best thing is to get away. If not, try to immobilise the limbs or disable some of the augments like shooting out the power relays or running a electrical charge strong enough to short them out."
"Hmm." April examined the seams that covered the additional cables corded along her arms. "Cutting would also work."
"Possibly."
"I take it you don't go full burn in your exercises."
He shook his head. "The present version is still crude. There's no fine control over force impact, there's also a lack of practical simulation to build up experience and evaluation so we're risking our necks if we go full burn."
"Competence and refinement will be modest at that rate."
"It's no drawback in a hot zone," he pointed out.
"I hope so since we are going into a very hot zone," said April. She brought up her hands. "Ready to go to the next level when you are."
They circled, exchanging light swings, dodges and kicks. Feeling more comfortable, April nodded to Harris who began to put more bite into his punches that sent tiny tremors down the shock absorbers as she fielded them with her arms. He made several moves to grapple but she evaded them. There was no way she would allow him to close in, he knew, but he was going to try nevertheless. He struck out again. She evaded the uppercut and dodged the inward hammering punch to her torso.
She pivoted on a foot to slam an elbow into his exposed back. Most of the force was absorbed but enough filtered in for him to feel it. Turning quickly, he body slammed into her which made her ears rang for a few seconds as she staggered backwards. Caught off balance, she couldn't evade his charge that flipped her over his shoulder. She went crashing to the deck.
That's a dooozy.
Even as that thought flashed through her mind, she was rolling. The fist that was heading for her middle slammed into the combat pad. Springing to her feet, she lashed out with a foot but Harris was prepared and fast. His large hands caught hold of it. She didn't try to go against the twist that sent her falling down to her front but struck out with the other foot that clipped his knee. His leg gave way slightly. She followed it up with a foot strike to his head before he could lean his upper body out of range.
In her usual hardsuit, the impact would be shrugged off but the power armor boosted the kinetic energy such that the force was akin to a hammer to the side of a head. Fortunately, the enhancement was applied to the entire hardsuit. His helmet absorbed most of the force. He jerked back and lost the hold on her foot. Bending double, she lashed out with both feet. The little biotic push she generated propelled her forward and her feet struck his chest, sending him crashing backwards. She got up and bent over him to give him another clout as he made to get up. He caught hold of her fist before it landed.
Too slow.
In a test of strength, Harris had the upper hand so she did the other thing she could think of before he could punch her with his free hand, she headbutted him. His head slammed back against the deck. She retreated to a safe distance. The watching marines waited with bated breath.
"You all right, gunny?" she asked when Harris lay there without moving. There was no answer. As she was about to run to him, he stirred.
"You don't happen to have supped with a krogan recently, do you?" Hand clapped to his helmet, Harris sat up. Not expecting a headbutt, he was unprepared for the sudden bash. His head and neck twinge in protest. "Cause that felt like you got all the pointers down pat."
Chuckling, she unlatched her helmet, blowing a sigh of relief at the cool air that brushed against her sweating face. "Not recently, no." She flexed her hand before offering it to him and pulled him up. "It feels kind of dissociate."
She held up her gauntleted hand as he removed his helmet. He blinked when he saw the slight dent just above the visor and count himself fortunate he would have no bruises, just a rattled pea.
"Not much finesse in melee," he said. He understood what she was feeling and held up a clenched fist. "These outfits are more for enhanced brute strength and fire power. That's why the rocket troopers came up with them in the first place. With no steady supply feed, they could only use whatever they brought with them. Reaper grunts didn't leave nothing when they go down but a mess. The only stuff they could pick up were pea shooters which didn't have much impact against the heavies. The prototypes they came up with were clumsy and slowed the troopers during deployments but with all the extra armaments and the extra damage if they had to melee, they lasted longer. Plus, they could ditch the suit shells if they need to really leg it."
"Brute strength might be the thing," she muttered, thinking of the unknown mutants running around Omega. "I'd say there was half as much pounding and grappling as there would be shooting."
He nodded grimly, following her line of thought. "Comes in handy if there are Brute like specimens. Not saying you can go toe to toe with one but a good punch in the right place really helps."
"What did those troopers do for parts during the war?" she asked curiously, "Replacements out in the field are hard to come by." She flipped up the empty weapon slots in the left arm gauntlet, trying to decide what load outs she should bring.
"Slap and stick, spit wads, whatever fits," he said, "dry spells are always an incentive to be creative. Have you decided on your toys yet?"
"Tentatively, explosive darts and rockets. You have recommendations?"
"Unless you're planning to bring them as extra ordnance for the stick, I'd forget the rockets and go for grenades and mines." He saw her incomprehension and explained. "I field tested the rockets myself dirt-side. The targeting software needs further tweaking. The projectiles often end up as frustrating dummies. Damn near took my own foot off."
"How did the RTs manage to lock in back then?"
He raised his hands, pretending to aim down a imaginary scope. "The old A3TCOG (tactical combat optical gunsight). Doesn't take much when there's a wall pounding up front. Further out, it's mostly guess work."
"And some luck?" she grinned. "Thanks for the advice and workout gunny."
"Any time you want more of it, I'm always available, sir." He grinned wolfishly as he threw a salute which she returned before he stomped off to the armory, throwing a meaningful glare at the gawping marines who took the hint and drifted back to their own workouts.
The wardroom would be filled to the brim with all manner of yarn for the next few days of his inglorious knockout. Some of the grunts might try it on one another. If they knew what's good for them, they wouldn't pull that one on him. That was the least of his worries. He didn't have a good feeling about the upcoming mission when it's chock full of Reaper mutants. He looked down and touched the tiny worn patch under his gauntlet before stripping it off and laid it carefully in his armor locker. There was still that letter to finish and he had better get to it.
"How is it?" asked Liara when April returned to the modification counter and noted the falling lock of hair on her bondmate's brow. It really needed a trimming, she observed absent-mindedly.
Flexing her hand again, April shrugged. "It's new and I haven't have a lot of time to train in it." She frowned, turning her gauntlet hand back and forth before meeting Liara's questioning eyes. "The extra candies are going to help against what's on that station. I hope I don't have to go one to one against a big guy," she said grimly as she carefully removed the enhanced hardsuit.
Liara helped her with the chest piece, thinking over the data the probes had sent. There was more than ample evidence that there were hundreds of mutated beings onboard the station. Strange groups were seen moving around. Clashes often broke out when one encountered another. The composition of each group were often comprised of the same species. Human, salarian and so on.
Cerberus had clearly separated the inhabitants of the same species into specific groups for experimental purposes. The problem was determining exactly what they were and how much intelligence was left in them. That they were dangerous was clear. The ferocity of the fracas was chilling. The abilities that were displayed a deep concern. More often than not, such exchanges left few to no survivors.
"The latest data from the probes came in," said Liara. "Omega Control is heavily fortified."
"As expected." April took a deep breath before expelling it nosily, depositing the last piece of her hardsuit on the bench, feeling much lighter in her undersuit. "That's the only place they could have fallen back to-," she leaned against the bench, "when they lost control. Getting there will be thrice as bad as storming the Collector Base," she said gloomily. "Any chance of a hack?"
Liara shook her head, dispelling the notion of any such attempt. "The geth probes are good but I have to hold them outside the perimeter. There are many sensors and scanners."
Chewing her inner lip, April frowned. Sooner or later, they would have to breach the zone. The question was to pick the most optimum time to do it.
"We can plan for it but like all plans, once out in the field, some go completely south," she said.
"That is why there is something called plan B," said Liara.
Reaching to grab April's hand, Liara pulled her away. Too much time was spent in deliberations, speculations and brainstorming. Every waking minute since they embarked on this mission. She had enough. There were barely 24 hours left before retaking Omega began in earnest and she wanted to snatch a few hours doing something else than collating information and talking about the mission.
"Right now, I want plan C."
Her roiling feelings was clear through their link. April knew her bondmate was still extremely upset that she would not be accompanying her on this mission. Biting her tongue to hold back the suggestion that they should update Dorrin, she said, "Well, at least let me put away the hardsuit. How'd it look if I leave my gear lying around?"
"Ohh..all right." Liara couldn't help but gave a little huff but she turned around to help gather up the rest of the hardsuit and followed April to the armory. "Mind, there is a plan D."
"Dare I ask what is it?" April threw a teasing look over her shoulder and jumped when Liara suddenly rushed up close to murmur sultrily in her ear and then sauntered away slowly, leaving a slightly breathless dazed bondmate behind as unbidden visions rose to the fore.
It was sometime before she realised she was standing outside the armory door staring dreamily into the air. Looking behind her, she could see the interested gaze of the marines and hastily stepped through the entrance, taking her out of their sight. Liara was softly humming an asari song somewhere to her right, where her locker was. No doubt pleased with herself.
Plan D? Wait till Liara see what I have in mind for plan A!
The muted thrum of the engines was comforting and familiar. So was the silence in the cargo compartment. April ran her eyes over the squad of Alliance marines. A second shuttle with another squad followed behind. Out of the lot, Lt Ulros and Sgt Harris were the only ones she was familiar with. The rest were relative strangers from other units in Mungo Company though she made it a point to interact with them during mission briefings. All of them were veterans. All of them had volunteered. Hackett had wanted a picked team but she argued against it. For this particular mission, she wanted people who knew exactly what they were up against and were willing to do it.
Most them had set faces, their eyes the only clue to what they were feeling. The only visible signs of anxiety was a slightly jerking leg, drumming fingers, masticating jaws that pulverised sugarless gum over and over again, gnawing on the lip, staring into the air. None of them was inclined to indulge in chatter. They had done all the requisite lollygagging, invoking the usual brew of traditional maledictions on their equipment, the mission and the pestilence that refused to die, back on the cruiser.
It was pretty much what she had done with Liara who was now monitoring the probes on the space station. Her bondmate had sent her off with threats on the dire consequences of her failing to keep her promises intermixed with all the bulwarking she could think of. Both of them knew the score. If she really did not make it back, Liara would forge on ahead. She had made her promise. At least, that was what she said when they went over the pictures they had taken together in the holo-album. They hadn't decided on a name for the baby yet, she suddenly remembered. There was that one other thing she had been holding back for an opportune time. Perhaps she shouldn't be entertaining such pessimistic thoughts. She looked at her chronometer. Time to find out if Aria had kept up. She tapped into the comm channel.
"Sunstone to Aitser."
She frowned when nothing came over the link. Releasing her hold on the overhead handbar, she made her way to the cockpit. "Aitser, do you copy?" she repeated as she hit the panel to the hatch, stepping into the dim interior lit by consoles and stopped behind the co-pilot's chair. "What's Aitser's position?"
The co-pilot enlarged the scan display on his console and pointed to the green icon close to theirs. "Parallel to us, sir, heading to objective."
"Aitser, do you copy?" She tried again and something crackled over the link. What the hell was going on over there?
A rumbling voice filled with stones finally answered. "What'd ya want?" it said surlily.
Krogan?
"Put your boss on," she said acidly and bit back a sigh when silence answered her. If this was the type of cooperation she was going to get out of the mercenaries, she'd rather leave them behind or use them as cannon fodder. Either option suited her fine.
Aria's voice finally came on. "What is it, Shepard?"
Rolling her eyes, April counted to ten. "Aitser, keep to designated names over communications."
Cerberus might be holed up at Omega Control but that didn't mean they wouldn't be looking out for signs of a rescue. The last thing she needed was an alert Cerberus tech to pick up comm chatter, hear her name and prepare a welcoming party for one captain Shepard and friends.
A pause.
"Sunstone," came the silky response, "Aitser awaits your command." Aria's voice oozed honey and invitation. A cough, hastily stifled, escaped the co-pilot.
Biting back another sigh, April said, "Aitser, 15 minutes to the gate. Copy?"
"Aitser acknowledges, ready when you are."
April didn't want to know how Aria managed to convey that much sexuality into that sentence but she could see the effect on the co-pilot who fidgeted slightly. The pilot on the other hand, was too focused on his job to listen in.
"Switch to secondary comm after gating. Sunstone out," she said evenly and stared at the second green icon. If Aria could set fires by voice alone, she didn't want to imagine what kind of chaos would erupt if the pirate queen went full out in a roomful of grunts.
Returning to the cargo compartment, she swept her gaze across the squad who looked expectantly at her. "Minus 14 to the gate, gear check."
A flurry of hands immediately reached for pistols, assault rifles, rocket launchers and sniper rifles, running effortlessly and smoothly over the components, making sure they were working properly. Spare thermal-clips, grenades, rocket pods, darts and knives were next, followed by their hardsuits. She turned around as Lt Ulros went over the fixtures of her hardsuit and turned back when he clapped her on the shoulder.
"Good to go, sir," he affirmed. He turned and she did the same check for him. The muted thrum of the shuttle engines died away.
"Ferret 1, good to go," she said.
The rest sounded off as each checked their partners. Those who were seated, stood up in turn to be examined. The lights in the cargo compartment went amber.
"Five minutes to landing zone," the pilot announced over the shuttle intercom.
"Lock the hatches, people," April said, sealing her helmet.
The helmet visor display lit up, confirming a secure seal. The marines followed suit. The gum chewing marine spat out his gum and pressed it to his chest piece before sealing his helmet. His compatriots said nothing except for a few who thumped him on the shoulders.
"Comm check, sound off," April said as she made her way to the exit hatch. The marines responded quickly. All was in order.
"Ten seconds," the pilot said softly over the intercom. The seconds ticked off. "Holding at appointed drop off. Good luck and good hunting."
She gestured to her squad who braced themselves as she grabbed hold of the hand bar above her before she hit the vent button on the panel above the hatch. The air in the compartment was swiftly sucked out through the air vents. She reached for the next button once the compartment was in vacuum. The hatch opened silently, revealing the enormous greyish metallic expanse of the space station outside. Her helmet visor automatically shielded as sensors scanned the area. The lights in the shuttle turned green.
Turning to give a thumbs up to the rest, she grabbed hold of the sides of the exit door, made sure of her trajectory and launched herself towards the station. Behind her, Lt Ulros imitated her and propelled himself in the same direction, the others followed after suitable intervals. Keeping her eyes trained on the metal surface, she hit a key on her gauntlet to enable the magnetic tabs in the gloves. She silently counted off and reached out as she neared the metal hull. Grey clouds ballooned when her hands and feet snapped to the surface.
Standing up slowly and carefully, she turned to see the squads made safe landing from the shuttles. Once the marines were away, the shuttles maneuvered away on propulsion thrusters. The engines would not be enabled until they were at least hundreds of meters away, on a different vector from their position. Turning off the magnetic tabs in her gloves, she surveyed the surroundings. The girth of the station curved away from her in a wide expanse. With centuries of grit sticking to the hull, it was a dull grey. Spread across with magnificence in the inky backdrop was the Omega Nebulae.
"Sound off." She turned to her squad before switching over to the secondary comm channel. "Sunstone to Aitser, status?"
The mercenary group would have made the same landing as they did, several hundred meters from her own position, if they were successful.
"Aitser to Sunstone, target reached. All accounted for," Aria said crisply, not a hint of sultry overtones in her voice.
"Proceed at will. Sunstone out."
April waved to the squads and made her way to the highlighted airlock on her visor. Her boots snicked smoothly on the metal, leaving a wake of drifting grit. It reminded her of the time when she went EVA through the ruins of a geth docking tube. The view then was spectacular. The quarians and the geth were engaged in a slug out and she had a grandstand view of the spectacle. Here, there was no fiery displays. The only sound she could hear was her breathing. It took them a few minutes to reach the airlock. As she crouched down by the control panel of the hatch, Ulros stationed himself where he would have a good view of the interior. The rest of the squad gathered around loosely.
"Sunstone to Eyes." She waited with a tiny smile, knowing who would answer.
"Eyes actual," Liara said immediately.
"Beach locker 1. Good for a dip?" If by ill luck the answer was no, they would have to make for another airlock on another level, north of them.
"Go ahead."
April looked up and gestured to Ulros who was watching her. The rest took two steps back as Ulros brought up his rifle and sighted at the hatch. She leaned forward and slapped her hand on the hatch controls, omni-tool flashing as she hacked through the lock. If the scans were wrong and something come out at them, they would be ready.
The omni-tool flashed when the hack was completed. The hatch snapped aside but nothing jumped out at them. They looked in and saw a dimly lit empty airlock. She patched in to the other comm channel.
"Sunstone to Aitser, how does it look?"
"Aitser. Raring to go for a swim in clear waters," Aria drawled. So far, so good.
"Aitser, you're clear. Sunstone out." April nodded to Ulros who gestured to the rest of the squads before stepping into the airlock. "Sunstone to Eyes, going swimming."
"Understood," Liara replied steadily before adding softly. "Be careful."
"Will do."
Last to enter, she closed the outer hatch behind them and stood braced with her rifle. The rest crouched down as two marines planted themselves at the inner door, rifles held ready as the airlock established atmosphere. Ulros toggled the control panel once pressure was even. It snapped aside, revealing a dimly lit corridor that stretched inwards. The walls on both sides showed no alcoves or doors.
On her visor, April saw the highlighted bobbing probes floating at the ceiling. Barely bigger than five inches, each probe was programmed to wander throughout the station along the ceiling, thus avoiding detection. In large places, they would float at the bottom, scurrying along like rats among debris. Encountering the real critters themselves in those forays. Being inedible, the rats left them alone.
They spread out into the corridor. With prudent spacing between each marine, it was easy to thread her way through the group to the front. The entry they had selected was the closest maintenance corridor to Omega Control, outside their scan and sensor range. In the interval of information gathering, several assaults by mutant groups on the Cerberus fortification was recorded. All of which were repelled by perimeter defenses. Outside that fortified zone, the threat level was highly hazardous.
They went down the corridor at a steady pace. It was several minutes before they came to a door and a body. April held up her hand. The squads stopped as she bent to examine the desiccated corpse, more skeleton than flesh. Dead for more than a year or so, she guessed. A human, from the shape of the skull. Perhaps a worker, judging from the torn and tattered clothes. Its ribcage was crushed. Something heavy had stomped on it. A pistol lay beside its hand. Picking it up, she ejected a spent thermal clip. Overwhelmed by numbers, biotic or physical attacks, maybe.
There were unusual markings on the bones and skull. She bent closer to examine the skeleton more closely. Was that teeth gouges near the back of the skull? Using the pistol, she lightly nudged the skull forward to have a better look. It rolled off, the lower jaw detaching to drop on the lower body, and came to a stop at the opposite wall. Its empty eye sockets seemed to stare reprovingly at her. Ignoring it for the moment, she took another look at the crushed ribs. Caved in at both ends, the broken bits made it hard to see. Using the helmet visor, she magnified the bones that were not shattered. There were definitely teeth marks. She was on the comm to Aria at once.
"Sunstone to Aitser. Bad news, gang. Found a body with signs of chow on it. Anything at your end?"
"Aitser to Sunstone. Nothing yet."
"Coming up to intersection in a few." April turned to look down the corridor where she could see a wall. "Update in twenty, Sunstone out."
She pulled out a small slim sticky grenade from one of the pouches at her waist and slapped it on the floor behind the corpse. If something should come up behind them, the friend foe sensor on the grenade would identify it. Bad luck if it was not a friendly. She opened the door the body was leaning against. It led to a utility room. They had no time to make it safe. The longer they hung about an area, the likelihood of discovery was highly probable. She scrambled the control panel and locked it.
Flashing another signal to the marines, she stood up and continued down the corridor. Whatever it was that trapped the unfortunate person and ate him, she hoped it or they had found better food sources elsewhere. Like one of the mutant groups. How many groups would have survived in two years? For that matter, did they produce more of themselves? Little healthy ones rather than a mutant transformation. She shuddered. She hoped not but Liara thought it was possible.
At the intersection, they paused again. Here, they split into two groups as they had planned. She watched as Ulros led the second squad away. They would try to infiltrate Omega Control from another direction, making it a three-prong attack with the mercenary group. If all went well, they wouldn't have any run in with mutants and Cerberus would be immobilised from the start. April knew she was being overly optimistic but it was better than nothing.