Ripples in the Stream
A D&D / Shadowrun / Mass Effect crossover
by Vyrexuviel
Disclaimer: The author of this story does not, in any way, derive any profit from the story. D&D, Shadowrun and Mass Effect are the property of their respective copyright holders. Jorukaia and other unfamiliar characters in this story, however, are mine.
The perimeter security was one tough nut to crack. It didn't help that the geth were actively reinforcing and policing the firewalls either. Still, she was good. And she was a quarian. She knew all about the ins and outs of hacking an adaptive firewall.
"Any time your ready, Tali." Garrus was keeping overwatch, she could feel his presence, as clearly as she could hear him in her right ear. Wrex was keyed to her right ear, and both their locator beacons were synced to her HUD. She was prepped for this.
She wouldn't fail again.
"Almost, just a bit more...Got it!" The door snapped open, and, of course, those damned synthetic zombies the geth liked to use flooded out. "Garruuuuuus!"
She did not squeal, she did not, she didn't!
"On it!" Wrex's voice came through loud and clear, as did the bright thunder of his weapon. She knew that Joru had given him that gun, but honestly, she hadn't expected the krogan to take to using such a crude weapon.
Well, true, it wasn't crude, it was very efficient, even elegant, with its stylized spiral swirls long the barrel, but still! It was a chemically-powered weapon, who even -uses- those things anymore!
*KA-RASH!* The husk's upper half was rapidly redistributed in a rather randomized fashion as the big, burly krogan stepped through the door. The bright tongue of flame licked from the muzzle thrice more in rapid succession as Wrex gave a laugh and rushed forwards.
"UNCLE URDNOT IS BACK IN TOWN, AND HE'S BROUGHT THE BOOM!"
... You know what, never mind.
Tali sighed, and nodded as Garrus came up beside her. She slid forward in his wake, careful to keep a solid wall behind her as she circled around to the undamaged console. Garrus kept close, taking his protection duties very seriously, as most turians did. she couldn't help but be thankful. Between Wrex punching bloody big holes in things with Joru's borrowed gun, and Garrus keeping his head on a swivel and checking everywhere for possible threats, she actually felt very well protected.
Still, she had a job to do. And she got to it, rapidly prying off the front cover of the console and starting to hot-wire herself an access patch into the system.
"There is -such- a lovely beach out there, imouto-chan!"
Tali twitched and swore at the unexpected voice, long dexterous fingers fitting data shunts rapidly over optical cables. "You niha bosh'tet, you nearly ruined my hack!"
"Whoops." Kasumi's voice was apologetic. "Well, I recognize the hardware Saren is using. He may be a former Spectre, but he still sticks to Turian systems and he's no techie. Did you know that the secondary turian encryption from Armax Mk 7 computers are tied to a redundant broadcast signal that you can bounce back and suddenly get full access from the inside?"
"Yes." Tali was busy, she didn't have time for banter. "And I know about the exploit with the backup secure passcode storage unit itself having substandard encryption."
Kasumi was silent for the next thirty seconds as Tali finished her work. "There we go, got you, you ikuz."
The quarian's nimble fingers fitted the last shunt, and started siphoning the data from the now unprotected archives. "So, what are you doing, Kasumi? I'm kinda in the middle of something."
"I'm ignoring Saren's privacy and rummaging through his dirty secrets!" Kasumi giggled brightly. "Joru wants to know what he's hiding. He is just not a good boy, I tell you. Not like that strapping turian watching your back, mind you, all principled and attractive."
"You're on Virmire too?" Blink. Blinkblink. "Wait, what? I, I don't know what you mean!"
"Oh! Em! GEEEE! I knew it!" A delighted squeal sounded in Tali's helmet. "And I can certainly approve! I'm not into turians, but I can see it. Garrus is a nice gentleman and a good soldier, huh?"
"I-I mean, yeah, he's nice... Good soldier, but..." Tali suppressed a groan as she watched Wrex enthusiastically tearing into another krogan, while Garrus provided a distraction in the form of assault rifle rounds to the face of another.
"Don't worry, I'll keep your secret safe." Kasumi relented, much to the quarian's relief.
"I-I mean, most people just assume quarians and turians are a thing, because we're both dextro, but seriously, he's a different species! We have wildly different...well, -everything-!" Tali was so very very glad her suit was soundproof, and she could turn off her external speakers.
"Really? And here I thought your immune system would be the only problem."
"I d-don't know -what- you mean." Tali slid into the corridor as Garrus motioned her, heading right towards a terminal at the end of the corridor, while Wrex lived up to his name
"Tali, I can tell that it's not some experimental medical treatment. And seeing how Joru has quite the soft spot for you, did she give you something for your immune system?"
"Ummmmm." Tali hesitated a bit, drawing a glance from Garrus. "Yeah... A while ago. She added new protections to the, um, item while we were stuck in the Refuge. Why are we even discussing this, you -saw- how she almost tore my glove off to get at the ring...?"
"That was my first clue. I'm just curious what kind of perks my new best friend got as a reward."
"Didn't Joru tell you herself? Hold on." The damn console was being obstreperous. "You wouldn't happen to have any tricks for a battlefield control system would you? looks like older turian manufacture, fiber bundle clusters instead of the optical data conduits."
"Oh, there's an easy trick for those." The ninja sounded amused. "Flood it with false data about suffering critical damage. That makes the safeties kick in and then the entire system shuts down, including whatever battle systems it was coordinating."
"Got it. Hold on..." She fitted a randomizer chip with it's small bit of radium (in a well-shielded container, of course), into the aux input slot and... "There we go. Nice. You really know your stuff, Kasumi."
Wrex's laughter had died down a bit, and he stumped past her, giving the quarian a look which seemed...pleased. Or at least as pleased as a krogan ever got. "Got everything, girlie?"
"Yeah, just a sec while I wipe this console." A small patch cross-wiring the I/O ports and... heh, eat that Saren. With it constantly looping its own data, it'll be so busy it won't notice the disabled overheat warnings until far too late. "Got it, go!"
"I got a copy of everything Joru needs, thanks!" Kasumi sounded chipper again. "Speaking of which, no, she didn't tell me what she got you. Feel like sharing?"
She shut her speakers off again, following behind Wrex and Garrus as they stacked up against another door. She hacked it, Garrus lobbed through a couple grenades, and Wrex followed hard on the heels of the explosion. "Why are you so interested, Kasumi? Didn't Joru promise you something yourself?"
Kasumi went uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. Tali actually thought the line had gone dead for a moment.
"Um, Kasumi?"
"... cat-girl." Came the tiny whisper.
"What?" Tali paused glancing away from the next console in confusion. She waved off Garrus's question and went back to the hack, fingers tugging up bundles of cables to attach more shunts. Her supply was running low, and she flash-fabricated another batch, tucking them into one of her suit's myriad of pockets.
"A CAT-GIRL! Joru says she might be able to make me into a cat-girl! EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!"
Why did she have the feeling that Kasumi was bouncing all over the walls on her end? She couldn't help a small smile, listening to the excited woman on the other end of the line. "Ummm, Kasumi? Hellooooo? Tali'Zorah nar Rayya to Kasumi, come in Kasumi, your last transmission was riddled with interference."
"I know what you're doing, and yes, the shoe is now on the other foot. AND I DON'T CARE!"
Tali smothered a giggle, not particularly hard to do as a bunch of pistol-carrying salarians rushed them, firing wildly as Wrex and Garrus cut them down with precise, brutal fire. She shivered a little, picking her delicate way through the corpses to another terminal. This was a research one, different, more complex and with ancillary storage and correlation modules. Tricky. "Gotta bit of a problem here, Kasumi, do try to keep the squealing to a minimum? I mean, what even -is- a cat-girl? I mean, isn't a cat some sort of creature from Earth? One of those things you people ride?"
"Ah... hehehe, well, not that kind of riding."
Why did Tali feel like some joke could just going over her head?
"Anyway, they're fluffy, sneaky and so adorably kyooooot! Don't judge me!"
"Oh, so some sort of vermin then?" Tali fiddled with the console, installing a bypass shunt to swap the data flow-control regulator and swap which aux memory unit the central core was talking to on the fly. This was going to take some delicate timing, so having Kasumi suddenly screech in her ear was rather distracting.
"Furtherest thing from it, you wouldn't understand!" Kasumi sounded like she was pouting now. "And what about your ring, Tali? Seriously, do you even need to wear a suit anymore?"
Now it was her turn to blush. "I-If what Joru said is accurate... not really. Even... even out in space." She struggled not to think on that though. Her suit was...it was -home-, a home she could take with her, it carried all her things, she...she wouldn't ever really be without it, would she?
"Okay. Wow. Just... wow. That's amazing!" Kasumi gasped. "You do realize this makes you the luckiest and most special quarian alive, right?"
"Y-Yeah." She couldn't quite help the glance in Garrus's direction, but kept working on the console. "And all I had to do to pay for it was almost get captured by Saren, and have Joru coat me in blood for it..."
"We need to get you a swimsuit. Yep. Needs to happen."
Tali blushed a bit, shifting to fiddle with one of the aux processor units. "But I'm in a suit, Kasumi! It just wouldn't be the same. Besides, this thing is rated for up to half a kilometer immersion in acidic, corrosive salts, I'd be fine."
"Ah, come on!" Kasumi giggled in that evil way of hers. "Do you know how many girls would kill to have hips and legs like you, Tali? Just imagine how people would be fawning over you! Garrus might appreciate it, too."
"K-K-Kasumiiii!" Tali was never more glad than right now for her helmet, or the fact that she had something to distract her from near-terminal embarrassment. "That isn't just something you talk about! N-Not among quarians..."
"Oh, I know." Kasumi chuckled in her ear. "But it's still fun."
"And don't be ashamed of what you are or what you have, Tali. Just appreciate that you're a very attractive young woman, and anyone would be lucky to have you."
Tali...wasn't sure what to make of that, and just focused on keeping the computer from realizing someone was fucking with it, long enough to break the encryption pattern and hack in. "There got it. We can go now."
"Data received, imouto-chan!" Kasumi called. "And I'm still going to get you the cutest little swimsuit!"
Oh, Keelah Selai, just let her die now...
"Ma'am, we got incoming!"
Ashley hunkered behind a rock, timing the volleys of fire to pop out and give the Geth some of their own back. "Cut 'em down!"
"Civvie!" That was Hernandez. "We got a civilian here!"
"Shit." Ash popped back into cover, touching her commlink. "Report!"
"One asari, ma'am, coming in from behind the geth. She looks pinned down, unarmed!" Hernandez was clearly in the middle of a firefight. His squad was taking a different route up to the base, while Martinez took the flank.
"Can you cut a path to her?" Ash rolled out as her squadmate faded back, providing covering fire as Patricia let her shields recharge.
"Negative, heavy resistance!" Hernandez's voice shouted to one side. "Fall back! We're taking heavy fire over here, Ma'am!"
"Shit!" Ash glanced over to Kirrahe. His men had been split up among the squads, providing tech support and overwatch. "Can your people make a diversion?"
"One moment." Kirrahe's omnitool had been working the entire battle, collating reports, coordinating the teams. As much as Ash hated to admit it, he was a better technical officer than she'd ever served with. Given that he was Salarian that was kinda a given, but even so, it stung her pride to have to admit that an alien could be better.
"Thank fuck! Sorry Ma'am." Ash could almost -hear- the sheepish smile in Hernandez's tone. "The geth are falling back, flanking fire pouring into them. Got a couple of those little geth fliers fighting them now. Nice work!"
"Can you reach the civvie?" Ashley winced at the characteristic breaking-glass sound and dove for cover as Pat stood up to cover her.
It was a moment before Hernandez came back. "Think so ma'am. If you can have Marty give a coordinated flanking attack, we should be able to get to her and get her out of there."
"Do it. Captain?" She shot the salarian a look, but he was already on it. And simultaneously patching up one of her marines. Again, the disdain and outrage bubbled up in Ash's chest, but she choked it down.
She'd have to get used to things. Her soldiers were better fighters than the salarians, and the frogmen were better techs, medics, and specialsts than her people.
'Soldier, shut up and soldier.' Ash gave the order, and her people pressed forwards, while Marty's men did an end-run around the far side of the rock.
The geth were caught in a crossfire for a bit, before they withdrew into a side-passage, a few of them leaping up on the rock walls where Barclay's rocket launcher blew them to bits. Between the three coordinated squads, the Geth melted away, either left as sparking hunks of scrap, or fading out of the battlezone.
Leaving Marty's Bravo-squad to provide cover and harry the stragglers, Ash's Able-squad pushed forward to secure the forward perimeter. As soon as the geth got out of sight, the civilian broke cover and sprinted towards them, almost sobbing with relief. "Oh thank, thank the goddess! A-Are you Ashley? Pleases, I was told to find Ashley!"
"That's me." The gunnery sergeant tightened her grip on her rifle. "Identify yourself. How do you know my name?"
"Sh-She said to find you, s-said I would be safe with you, oh goddess, please, keep it away from me!" The asari all but fell against Ash's chest, sobbing in fear and exhaustion. She had the look of someone driven right to the edge of exhaustion, and they were still a good mile or so away from the base itself.
Had the crazy asari sprinted all the way here? She clearly wasn't commando-material, but...
"We can provide you protection, but again, who are you?" She gently took the asari's shoulders, pushing her way far enough to look the terrified woman in the face. "Who told you my name?"
"I d-don't know...she...she burned down the door and..." The woman was clearly on her last legs, close to fainting from exhaustion. She couldn't have gotten that bad this fast, could she?
"Hey, hey, stay with me." Ash shot a look at Becca, who nodded and took charge of the squad. "Here have a seat, tell me about her."
She was starting to form a suspicion, which only grew stronger as the woman gasped out a tale about being captured, interrogated and set free by a "woman with burning eyes". Ash's stomach fell as the asari, clearly exhausted, was on the verge of falling asleep right there, seated on a rock with her back to the stone.
Exhaustion? Or something more?
"Alright, Joru is an... ally of ours." Ashley reassured the asari, squeezing her shoulder gently. "It's okay. We'll keep you safe from Saren."
"I-It's not Saren I'm a-afraid of..." The woman's head rolled, her eyes rolling up, and Ash had to catch her as she slid sideways
"Sergeant, intel: Our team has located the geothermal taps. We need to clear a route." Kirrahe blinked his huge black eyes at her.
"Roger that, Captain!" She shot the sleeping asari a frown, "Bravo team, take the civvie back to our last check-in point. Alpha team, move it out!"
"We're on it, ma'am!"
The base shuddered and groaned like a dying dinosaur, being nibbled to death by scavenger beasts. The ancillary research building had been engulfed in black flames that radiated a hellish heat, even at this distance, and which cloaked the softening lines of the glowing-hot building from view.
"SAREN!"
The voice thundered even above the crackling fires and din of battle, giving even the Geth momentary pause as it rolled like a boulder down the passages of stone.
"I AM COMING, SAREN!"
Again the voice of thunder rolled, and this time, the figure was visible, wrapped in hellflame as both cloak and shield, only her outline discernible through the roaring orange-red flames, and the black metal of her weapon, itself trailing a heat-haze, as it whined through a series of spins, each one cutting down a Geth that had strayed too close, the constructs falling in twain with white-hot edges, dimming rapidly to yellow, orange, and red.
He was already airborne, not out of any desire to meet the Anomaly in the air, but simply because it was easier than navigating the rubble-choked ruins of his base. The southern bunker was all but inaccessible, and the geth platforms inside were working tirelessly to open an access path to join the fray.
As for him, he had other issues.
Vasir was being annoyingly efficient at staying out of his sight. The brash asari tended to get stuck into the thick of things, but none of his geth had reported positive IDs. Granted, she -was- good at the high-risk, high-reward gamble of rushing in head-first to destroy her targets, but the geth were very efficient at communicating information.
That -was- what they were designed for in the first place, after all.
He grounded his flier on a convenient rooftop access way. If the Anomaly was going to give him a clean shot like that, he might as well take it.
Even his eyes weren't fast enough to see the metal do more than blur.
He had pulled the trigger three times in as many seconds, each shot aimed and steadied with mechanical precision. His Master had given him -thorough- upgrades, and his aim was true, a direct strike into her temple.
None of his shots hit home.
The first was blocked at impossible speed by the weapon in her hand snapping into the way. The second passed between her skull and the horn on that side, as she turned her head towards him, and the third was actually intercepted as she brought the weapon around in a sweeping defensive arc.
Very well. Time for another tactic.
His pistol obviously wasn't going to work, so he'd have to try something else. A pulse of dark energy rippled down his arm and lanced out from his upraised palm as he broke his dual-handed pistol grip. A Warp should do nicely, she didn't have a shield, after all.
Saren's eyes widened and his jaw sagged slightly as the flame-winged woman's weapon completed its spin, now in a flat horizontal grip. She dove forward, still slow compared to his senses, and the Warp that sped towards her like a missile.
Then her arms shifted, and her weapon swept forward. Whatever material it was made of, it parted the Warp like butter, the two half-globules of violently reacting dark energy going out of his control, detonating each other with a vast explosion of gravitic disturbance behind her.
And now her eyes met his. An amused grin split her lips, the flames that surrounded her licking at her face as she sped towards him like an arrow, far -far- faster than his flier could manage.
He may have miscalculated...
It was a moment of tragedy, melded by the unspeakable power of a mother with a broken heart.
The air crackled as Benezia screamed a wordless cry, tearing open the earth with raw biotic power.
Aethyta was almost blasted backwards by the torrential assault, clutching at Benezia to keep the older woman. "Benezia! Nezzie, please, stop!"
The Matriarch didn't even hear her. She only continued to scream as she rent the helpless earth asunder.
"Nezzie, please, look at me!" Aethyta grabbed at her lover's face, forcing her head to turn away from the bare, and much torn earth, almost pulling her away, as her commandos came to a sliding stop nearby. "Goddess, please, Nezzie, I can't loose you too!"
Benezia stopped. She looked to Aethyta. And then she broke down into sobs, wailing into her lover's arms.
"Shhh..." Aethyta felt her own eyes stinging, felt the wetness on her face, even if she couldn't feel Benezia's tears on her shoulder.
The other matriarch clutched her convulsively. "Little Wing..."
Aethyta suppressed a shudder at the way Benezia's voice cracked and broke. She sounded almost mad with grief, broken inside, as if her world had shattered.
Every asari formed an unbreakable bond with her mother, nourished and supported by her mother's body and mind since before birth. The only bond stronger than the one forged between an asari and her mother, is the one formed between her, and her child.
No child should ever die before her mother.
"Yeah." Her own voice cracked a little as she held Benezia tightly. "Yeah... She...She's spread her wings, Nezzie... T-Told you she'd go far..."
Benezia was quiet for a few moments before mumbling something into Aethyta's arms. The half-krogan nodded and turned to the commandos
"Dig it up. For goddess's sake, dig it up!"
They shot each other a glance, but as Aethyta slowly and gently moved Benezia away, they went to it with a will. Dirt flew and stones were lifted out, as the girls worked with adrenaline-fueled strength to unearth... a small, steel cylinder.
Aethyta's heart broke at Benezia's shattered moan. "O... Open it..."
The younger matriarch shook her head and held Benezia closer, slowly urging her to her feet as the commandos reverently removed the metal cylinder. "D-Don't, you don't need to see that, Nezzie..."
"Just... Tell me what's inside." Benezia's voice was slowly getting back under control as she held Aethyta tightly. She looked up as the asari holding the canister scanned it thoroughly.
"Just... some trace inorganics, Ma'am... I'm sorry, I can't even get DNA from this, ma'am... Whatever's inside, it's nothing solid."
Aethyta's jaw dropped in shock, while Benezia's legs gave out from under her. The Matriarch stared mutely at the canister. The scanners couldn't tell, but Benezia knew. A primordial, indescribable instinct that had been with her since Liara's birth told her.
Her daughter was gone. Her Little Wing was gone.
Benezia had lived almost a thousand years. And yet, the hole now in her heart was more painful then anything she had ever experienced.
"Oh, goddess, what did they do to her..." Aethyta's own voice was toneless with growing grief.
"Saren." The Matriarch let out an uncharacteristic growl, her fingers digging into Aethyta's armor as her voice dropped to a hiss. "He left almost nothing."
Aethyta had heard that tone before. An emotional shudder ran through her, a chilling sensation, as if her heart clenched with sorrow.
Benezia gave a faint gasp, and for a moment as she pulled away, her eyes met Aethyta's. A dark fire burned in them, and steel hardened her voice. "Joru. Get her on the line. Now."
Aethyta didn't need to be told twice. Not when her beloved Nezzie took on that tone.
"Knock knock!"
The door was a large, steel security door, the type used in banks to separate secure areas from unsecured ones. The operative word being 'was'.
A series of spots had been discolored and now another thundering blast slammed into the far side, at last ripping a hole through the door mechanism and causing a cascade failure. A burly krogan arm reached through and started shoving, while a turian rolled through the slowly opening door to check the large, two-storied area.
"Entrance, clear. Checking the high ground." He sprinted off, his assault rifle held in a loose double-handed carry as he headed up to the upper level.
The left half of the door ground open to its fullest extent, revealing the krogan in all his burly glory, and a slander, waifish quarian almost hiding behind him. The quarian slid in before the krogan, who gave a grunt and a disgusted snort. "What? No one here to shoot? Wrex not happy."
Tali shot her large...friend? She wasn't really sure what Wrex was to her. He treated her like a kid, but not in a way that denigrated her about it. He reminded her vaguely of Auntie Raan's husband, back before... "Ehhhh... I'm sorry about that, Wrex. Truly."
"That bastard did this on purpose, didn't he? Saren left his inner sanctum without any elite troops for me to shoot just to be a dick!"
"And now you can see why he needs to get dead, Wrex." Garrus called over his shoulder.
Wrex gave a grumble, stomping down the lower ramp and hopefully pointing the black-as-night and heavy-as-sin gun into the shadowed space beneath the raised platform Garrus was inspecting. With a snarl of disgust he turned away to eye the glowing piece of statuary as Tali examined it from a safe distance.
"Still a lot of intel in here. Got one hell of a fancy terminal up here." Garrus's voice came over the comm, rather than direct. "I think I can get in, but this is, AAWK!"
"It's a Kyserius, Mark Eighteen comm station with auxiliary add-on packages..." The figure that had pushed Garrus aside and was lovingly running her hands over the controls looked up into the turian's assault rifle and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm with Joru. She sent me on ahead to steal Saren's files. I believe her exact words were, 'I want his fucking porn stash if you can find it'."
"It's okay Garrus, she's a friend." Tali chimed in, suppressing a giggle as Kasumi caressed the comm station with a soft hiss of 'my precious'.
Wrex chuckled, completely unfazed by the ninja's abrupt presence. "Didn't know you could scream like that, Garrus."
"Hey, I did not scream!" Garrus replied indignantly. "It was a... manly roar of surprise!"
"Funny. I got one of those out of the last six turians I killed." The krogan stomped up the ramp, grinning at Garrus's glare.
Kasumi emitted a soft giggle. "I could listen to you two all day."
"Wrex, behave." The quarian pattered up the ramp behind him and swatted at his side. He jerked his gun in her direction but her startled eep had him raise it away from her as she sprinted behind Garrus.
"Ahh, I knew you'd show your true colors, quarian." The old krogan's grin was amused as he caught up with the group, but it faded as he glared past the comm station, which Kasumi already had half-apart and was fiddling inside. "Saw something down there, looked familiar. Saren's got a Beacon, the lousy bastard."
Garrus' eyes widened and his mandibles went slack. "Spirits..."
Even Kasumi was starstruck. "Um, Tali? I'm not... drooling, am I?"
Wrex gave her an amused snort as he eyed the turian. "It's not just that he has a beacon. Seen plenty of those things, all busted up and all. This one's working. Got the glowy green energy spike and everything. I haven't seen many of them, but I've seen one or two in my time. Always caused trouble they did."
"That was a prothean beacon?!" Tali's squeak of excitement turned into a squeak of surprise as Wrex caught her arm before she could sprint back down the ramp.
"Easy, girl. Them things are dangerous. Didn't Joru tell you that one of them fried her brain but good, just by getting close to it? Or were you passed out in the bath at that point?"
She glared at him with narrowed eyes through her faceplate, her exposed mouth pouting in a babyish frown. "She should have told me..."
Kasumi snickered. "Bathtub, Tali? That's one I have to hear. But later. I've already sent a message to Joru. She said, and I quote: 'I will personally ream anyone stupid enough to get their brains scrambled by that thing. Stay away, at least ten meters, I'll be there when I can.'."
He was good. Damn good. Fast, fluid, utterly without hesitation.
A worthy foe.
She couldn't keep the grin off her face as she parried yet another strike, the searing-hot metal of Yolnahzii blocking the fifth strike in two seconds. He certainly was relentless.
Fast too. Too fast.
He had to be augmented, no baseline organic was this fast. His cold, calculating eyes, the cybernetic arm, and the replacement crest all spoke to Saren's augmented nature.
She wondered how much of him was left.
She pivoted, bringing the ring of her weapon up to momentarily catch his short sword, spinning into a powerful series of strikes. He had learned not to try to block her anymore, and swayed, rolling out of the path of her blade, and leaping over the final stroke to bring his blade in for another strike at her arm.
He'd wounded her twice already, minor blows that hadn't bled much. His weapon was good, and the hand that wielded it held ferocious speed, but her scales were bolstered by her armored enchantments, and she was proof against such minor pinpricks.
She blinked as her HUD indicated an incoming call, intruding into her natural vision only minutely at the bottom right of her field of view. She spun through another defensive sweep, driving him back, and having to catch his blade once more on Yolnahzii's edge, as the call connected, and she spoke through thought-translation. [I'm a little busy here.]
"I will keep it brief, Jorukaia." The darastrix actually flinched at the restrained yet venomous steel from the voice. "This is Matriarch Benezia T'Soni. I have found my daughter's remains. Liara is gone. I want you to take Saren down. End him."
Joru felt his blade bite into her left horn, twisting around and shooting him a wicked smile as the momentary capture of his blade forced him out of alignment. But again, he was too damned fast, letting go of his knife and flipping over her to grab the weapon and try to saw through her horn.
She was too tough for such things, however, the tough bone of her horn had broken many blades before. And while Saren's did not break, she did wrench him out of position as her tail snapped up towards his crotch. [I'll do my best, he's a slippery bastard. I've got him in CQC right now, but he's too damned fast.]
"Do whatever you must. Turn this island to glass if you need to. And anything you need, you will have."
Joru grinned at the steel in those words, cutting the comm as she addressed Saren. "Time to stop playing, I think."
She spoke out loud, catching Saren by surprise as she spun clear of his blade, parried two swift strikes, and snarled as a third stroke slid across her fingers, drawing blood, but doing little else.
Her feet grasped at the smooth surface of the rooftop, leaving gouges in the synthetic stone, as she summoned shadow to blanket the battlefield. Her eyes widened as Saren unerringly stepped to the side and sliced at her arm, forcing her to defend once again as he ignored the darkness even as she did. "Impressive."
"Do you understand now, newcomer?" Saren stepped closer, weaving through her guard and striking at her shoulder again, where he'd already wounded her once. "Even the mightiest of us are no match for the Reapers. The Cycle cannot be stopped."
"All things end, in time. Even stars will end someday." Her grin was almost feral as she parried twice more in rapid succession, watching him as he rolled around behind her with senses other than mere sight. "The Reapers' end is just as certain as your own."
She whirled, sweeping her blade through a horizontal arc, which rose into a vertical slash as Saren leapt. He had made a slight miscalculation: An airborne body can't dodge.
Not that he didn't try his hardest to do so, and sacrificed his blade on the plasma-hot edge of Yolnahzii to gain the fraction of leverage he needed. His gun spoke thrice as he landed, rolling into another evasive pattern as she blocked two of the three shots, letting the third spark harmlessly off her exposed thigh.
"That is just the kind of deluded ideas that will doom our galaxy!" Saren grunted slightly as he dove under another killing stroke, a quartet of barks from his pistol having little effect. "The kind that fires up people's imaginations, fills them with pride! The kind that would march all our peoples into a genocidal slaughter we don't have any hope of fighting!"
"And do you think that in all the billions of years that the Reapers have harvested the galaxy, that no one simply surrendered and cooperated?!" Yolnahzii was only momentarily caught in the rooftop surface as she brought it over in a deadly arc, which Saren avoided by a narrow margin. "How naive can you be, assuming you're the only one to have that 'good idea'!"
It was the first time she ever saw Saren hesitate. He was still for only a fraction of a moment, but then shook his head. "That does nothing to change the fact that we can never win! This is our only chance! I have to succeed, I must! And you are standing in the way!"
A spray of molten plasteel was torn from the roof as she pursued him, clawed toes digging into the rooftop as she danced the dance she had spun many times before. "Yes, Saren. I am in your way. As you are, in MINE!"
The last word was roared as she kicked off the rooftop, wings ablaze with fire pulsing to send her hurtling at him with deadly intent. He rolled, to the right this time, which neatly evaded her sweep to the left, but forced him almost prone to avoid the kiss of the blade as she brought it round in a full sweep.
She suppressed a snarl as another call came through, interposing her weapon between herself and the bullet with practiced ease as the call connected. [What?!]
"Hey, Joru!" Kasumi's cheery tone rang through her mind. "Look, I know you're busy, but I thought it was important that you know we just found Saren's lab, his files and even a Prothean beacon!"
"A what?!" She blinked in surprise. "Stay there, secure the room. I will personally ream anyone stupid enough to get their brains scrambled by that thing. Stay away, at least ten meters, I'll be there when I can."
"No, you won't." Saren's voice sounded almost sad, and she snapped her head around, to see him far too close.
A familiar wet, tearing pain slammed through her chest.
"Not to break anything up, but did one of you open the comm channel in Spooky-Mode?"
Tali looked up from hot-wiring a transfer node into the guts of the comm station at Garrus, who seemed to be staring over the station itself. She crawled out to peek up at the red glowing hologram hovering over the active comm center. "I get the feeling something bad is about to happen..."
Kasumi was already prodding at the controls, and gave a startled squeak as a burst of static forced her hands away from the controls. "What is that, some kind of VI interface?"
A deep, basso profundo voice seemed to resonate through the entire chamber. "RUDIMENTARY CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH. YOU TOUCH MY MIND, FUMBLING IN IGNORANCE, INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING."
Tali was suppressing a sudden trembling in her gut, her voice trembling only a little. "I d-don't think that's a VI, Kasumi..."
"THERE IS A REALM OF EXISTANCE SO FAR BEYOND YOUR OWN YOU CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE IT. I AM BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION." The voice rolled around them like a physical thing, a miasma of terror, a presence felt as much as heard. "I AM SOVEREIGN."
"I don't like where this is going." Wrex sounded unnervingly somber. There was a slow growing feeling in his gut that made him tighten his grip on his gun. He hadn't felt like this since he saw Joru's true form. When he witnessed something old, something primordial.
"Sovereign?" Garrus asked, all his senses on high alert. "You're that oversized ship that belongs to Saren?"
"SAREN. A PAWN OF FLESH AND METAL. A SERVANT THAT HAS NOT OUTLIVED HIS USEFULNESS." The voice paused, and the hologram twitched slightly. "AS IGNORANT AS YOU ARE INSIGNIFICANT. YOU HAVE MISTAKEN SERVANT FOR MASTER."
"This is what Joru was warning us about," Tali breathed. "You're not a Geth construction at all. You're something... ancient."
"WE ARE ETERNAL. THE PINNACLE OF EVOLUTION AND EXISTANCE. BEFORE US, YOU ARE NOTHING. YOUR EXTINCTION IS INEVITABLE. WE, ARE THE END OF EVERYTHING." the hologram's slight writhing halted for a moment, then began again in a quicker rhythm. "ANOMALY. SHE HAS NO PLACE HERE. HER TOUCH IS UPON YOU. YOU ARE MARKED FOR EXTERMINATION."
"W-w-what?!" Tali sputtered in alarm, terror surging from her stomach. "Me specifically?! Why?!"
"Tali." Kasumi shot her a concerned look, mouthing 'the ring' at her, before shooting a look back at the hologram. "I highly doubt Jorukaia would let you get away with that."
"CONFIDENCE BORN OF INGNORANCE. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN. EVEN THE ANOMALY CANNOT STOP THE CYCLE."
"Wait, wait...you say this like it's already too late." Kasumi breathed, shock written over her face. "Like this cycle has us in a trap."
"THE PATTERN HAS REPEATED ITSELF MORE TIMES THAN YOU CAN FATHOM." The writhing, squid-like hologram showed no body-language, the voice was a simple monotone, though many-layered and dripping with subliminal harmonics. "ORGANIC CIVILIZATIONS RISE, EVOLVE, ADVANCE, AND AT THE APEX OF THEIR GLORY, THEY ARE EXTINGUISHED."
The voice was an omnipresent pressure in the room, an almost physical weight. "THE PROTHEANS WERE NOT THE FIRST. THEY DID NOT CREATE THE CITADEL. THEY DID NOT FORGE THE MASS RELAYS. THEY MERELY FOUND THEM, THE LEGACY OF MY KIND."
Garrus leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "Why would you just leave that sort of tech around for anyone to find?"
"YOUR CIVILIZATION IS BASED UPON THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE MASS RELAYS. OUR TECHNOLOGY. BY USING IT, YOUR SOCIETY DEVELOPS ALONG LINES WE DESIRE."
"Oh gods..." Kasumi's eyes were wide as she gazed at Tali in horror. "They've been molding us, setting us up with tech they understand, so they can exploit its weaknesses and..."
"WE IMPOSE ORDER UPON THE CHAOS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. YOU EXIST BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT. AND YOU WILL END, BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT."
"Like FUCK we will!" Wrex snarled as he stomped up the ramp from the lower pit, shooting a glare at the hologram, then a cold stare towards Tali. "We done with this self-important asshole?"
Like a switch was flipped, Kasumi's apparent terror suddenly vanished and was replaced with a cheeky grin. "Yep, I recorded everything we needed from this Cthulhu wannabe. Wrex? Smash."
The krogan gave a wicked grin, and leveled Joru's archaic killing engine at the comm system. Tali gave a squeak and darted out of the way, as the hologram writhed once more.
"YOUR FUTURE IS EMPTY AND BLEAK. I AM THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION. WE ARE LEGION. AND WE SHALL DARKEN THE SKIES OF YOUR WORLDS."
The staccato roar of the fully-automatic shotgun drowned out any further commentary as dozens of bright, searing lines of light blasted forth from the old beast, and tore the comm system to sparking shreds, sending pieces flying off as Wrex hosed the station with a terrifying amount of firepower, leaving little more than scrap and shattered ruins.
"Talking's done, asshole." He gave a grin as he hefted the borrowed shotgun, and gave it a caress. Then he looked to Kasumi, who was busily fiddling with her omnitool. "Better get the news to Joru. She'll wanna know about this."
He felt something, as he gazed into her shocked eyes. He'd killed many people, and forgotten most of them. A few, a very few, haunted him years later, but this.
He could almost see the moment she realized her heart had stopped beating.
Master had given him specific directives, and his gun spat six more times, turning her chest into a mess of shredded meat and pulverized bone. He kept firing as she dropped to her knees, clutching the black-bladed staff with convulsive strength as he systematically ruined as much of her as he could.
"JORU!" The scream came from some distance off, and he flicked a glance in that direction. Female, human, biotic, no threat. Too distant to affect this outcome.
But he had paused to make the quick assessment, and to his horror, he could see the flesh knitting back together as her eyes fastened on him, a fire raging within them hotter than any he'd seen. She was still coated with flickering flames, but it was the gasping, blood-choked words that made him pause.
"Buh...Bah...sterd..." She was quickly regaining her strength. He had to end this, quickly, or she'd power through to a victory.
He steadied his pistol with both hands, flicking the switch to activate overcharge mode with unconscious ease as he sighted on her forehead.
An icy chill in his hand rapidly sped up his arm, but he didn't have time to focus on that. When her mouth dropped open, he at first thought she was going to speak. It was only when he saw the white-yellow glow at the back of her throat that he felt himself overridden by the command of his Master.
The torrent of searing-hot flame that boiled out of the woman's throat chased him as he was sprinted across the rooftop, the sensation of pain running like, well, fire up his leg as the woman that should have been very very dead sent searing flame washing over him. He felt his Master gathering power, knew that whatever else happened this day, he would survive. He was still useful, could still serve.
The pain of his leg was replaced by saw-blade agony as he was dislocated.
It had happened. Jack never thought it was even possible but it happened. She actually found someone she now hated more than Cerberus.
She shot another Lift as she sprinted across the rooftops, Vasir on her heels, not caring as she was shot several meters into the air, rolling with her impact, leaving a crack in the roof as she shot towards her lover.
Yes... The woman she loved. Joru meant more to her than anyone she'd ever met. Not just because of the sex, but because...fuckit, she'd think about that later.
Another biotic-boosted launch brought her to the rooftop where Joru was still on her knees. "Fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuck, shit, goddamn shit!"
She hadn't realized how badly Joru was torn up. Her entire chest, including those big bountiful breasts, was nothing more then bloody-raw meat, dripping with thick, black blood. She was breathing, but only just, and fuck, Jack could SEE HER HEART.
"Jah.. Jah..."
Joru shut up as Jack grabbed her horn and pulled her head back for a quick, hot kiss. "What do I do, Joru? What the fuck do I do?!"
The dragoness's smile was thin as she reached to her ruined bodice. A greenish-gold light flared there for a moment, and when Joru breathed again, it was much deeper. She spat out a string of bloody coughs, mixed with invective in a language Jack didn't understand, and a bright-blue flame flickered in front of her lips that made Jack grin.
"I-it's not as bad as it...looks." The dragoness shuddered and groaned as she gripped Yolnahzii tighter and started to get to her feet.
"Holy Athame's underpants, Jorukaia." Jack couldn't quite suppress a snort at the image as Vasir finally caught up with her, staring at the dragon with a mixture of disgust, and a tiny hint of awe. "How the fuck are you still alive?"
"I'm...not as robust as a krogan." Joru gave a toothy grin, wobbling a little, before gritting her teeth and touching her chest again. Another flare of green-gold light beneath her fingertips had her sighing in relief, as scales regrew over torn bleeding meat. "Ahhh, much better."
The asari gave a snort and pointedly stared at Joru's chest, which finally drew Jack's attention to the fact that Joru's top had been shredded along with her chest. Just about everything was on display.
The dragoness noted the Spectre's gaze and smirked at Vasir. "See something you like, Tela?"
"Goddess..." Vasir rolled her eyes and turned away, looking at the seared path on the rooftop. "So, he got away again."
"Yes. I felt his master take him." Joru stepped forward, whole again to Jack's disbelieving eyes, and tapped the roof where the melted trench, still cooling, ended. "Here. I didn't see exactly what method he used, but to judge by his screaming, I did some damage to him at least."
"Oh shut and up and come here!" Jack pulled the dragon down into a desperate kiss, filled with more tenderness than she ever gave anyone else. Vasir gave an amused snort as Joru's arm slid around Jack's waist in a possessive hug, before the human biotic let go of her. "Damn you for scaring me so much."
Joru's grin was quite broad as she held Jack close, using her to obscure her chest for the moment. "It's good to be appreciated. But as to Saren..."
"Oh goddess..." Vasir drawled. "First you, and now Saren can teleport?"
"No." Joru's tone was rather forceful. "His master can teleport Saren. No doubt a variant on the Word of Recall. I won't get into the technical aspects, because the mathematics involved would probably give you an aneurysm."
She smirked at Vasir's rolled eyes. "Suffice it to say, Saren's master has the ability to pull him out if things get deadly. We saw this before, Vasir, back on Virmire. I wonder what Nazara's range is..."
She trailed off, resting her chin on the top of Jack's head for a moment, still holding the trembling woman close and ignoring the way Jack clutched at her like a child.
Vasir let out a long sigh and buried her face in her hand. "The Council is not going to like this."
"Oh there are many things the council won't like, but it's not my job to placate them." Joru straightened, holding Vasir's gaze with her own. "It is my job to make sure the galaxy is still intact in ten years' time. Whether or not the council survives..."
"I'm fine with that. Now get yourself covered (I must insist on that!) and link up with the rest of the team. Prepare to move out."
"You forget yourself, Spectre." This time, Joru's tone was laced with a low, rumbling tone that Jack knew so well. It meant the dragon was amused, and slightly annoyed. "The galaxy might bow before the Council Spectres, but the Darastrixi do not. Jack? Come along."
Jack clutched at Joru harder and murmured something into the dragon's chest, provoking a soft snicker from the ebon-scaled woman and a quiet kiss in return.
Vasir rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Really? Now of all times? In the middle of a war-zone?! Yes, everyone is aware of your already established independence, and I was merely informing you of my own team's next course of action. It would be appreciated if you stopped threatening other people when you misinterpret someone's words as an order."
"Until you cease to act like a child, I will treat you as one." Joru shot Vasir a quelling stare. "This is not your operation, Spectre. It is mine. Do not forget your place, and I will not be forced to remind you of it."
Her tail stroked the air behind her as she guided the still-trembling woman towards the edge of the roof. "You might want to follow me, Spectre. My friends have found Saren's vault. He had a working prothean beacon."
"A... prothean beacon." At this point, Vasir decided she should simply stop being surprised.
The entire room rocked as a thunderclap sounded in the distance, drawing Garrus's attention to the windows. "Something big just blew."
"That was just a diversionary attack to draw the Geth off." The hole that had once been a door was no longer empty, as a familiar, long-tailed dragoness strode through. She was doing something with her top, and it took Kasumi a moment to realize she was threading the long laces through the eyelets that lined both sides of the extremely abbreviated, vest-like garment, and tugging the dark leather tight around her bountiful bosom once more.
Tali 'eeped' and frantically looked away, while Kasumi merely snickered at the embarrassed quarian.
Joru raised an eyebrow at Kasumi, but gently touched Tali's shoulder. "Saren's been modding his gun. Blew through my top like tissue paper and tore my chest to shreds. I'll have to see about getting myself some proper armor enchantments, I think."
Tali nodded frantically, still looking away from the dragon's chest. "Y-y-yes, I-I understand! No need to explain it to me!"
Joru smothered a soft chuckle and lightly rested her elbows on Tali's shoulders a moment, holding her close for a bit.
Before she could comment further on the quarian's near-terminal embarrassment, Wrex stepped forward with an unusually serious look. More solemn than Joru had seen on him with the rachni. "We have a problem. That ship, Sovereign, just spoke to us."
"Ahh, Nazara." The dragoness gave a faint smirk, turning away from Tali. "Too bad, I would have enjoyed bantering with him. What did he say, did you get a recording?"
"Eeyup!" Kasumi chuckled, holding up her omni-tool. "That thing was happily to ominously gloat."
"Good." The dragoness radiated smugness as she turned to Vasir. "Be certain to get a copy before you leave. I want to ensure that the Council has all the data."
She glanced past the group, towards the greenish glow from the lower bay. "And how's the beacon. No one has approached it, I hope?"
"Not a chance," Garrus shook his head. "That thing is way above my pay grade."
"I should think so." Vasir muscled her way past Joru, ignoring the amused dragoness as she stalked down the ramp towards the softly-glowing beacon. "Goddess, I didn't think I'd see one still working..."
"Don't get too close, Vasir. The last one I interacted with caused vast neural damage across my cerebrum and started full neural shutdown due to systemic overload." Joru stopped next to the Spectre, examining the glowing beacon, before giving the asari a smirk. "Granted, at the time, I wasn't as...protected as I am now."
"Tell me you don't intend to take the Prothean technology for yourself." The asari Spectre shot Joru a resigned, disapproving stare.
The dragoness gave a soft snicker. "Only for a short time. I fully intend to deliver it directly to the Council, but Saren cannot be allowed to have such a relic all to himself, no?"
"Define 'short time', Darastix." Vasir's eyes narrowed at her.
"Only a few days." The dragon made to pass her, then paused, giving Vasir a slow, measuring stare. "You're welcome to keep watch over it personally, if you prefer."
"Not like there's anything I could do to stop you." The memory of the otherwise fatal hole in Joru's chest still fresh. "You told me that you're a woman of your word. I'll hold you to that."
"Good." The dragon's tone was smug as she sauntered past the Spectre, surveying the beacon with a thoughtful stare. "Mmmmm, tricky. I'm protected, but none of you are. This will have to be done delicately..."
She turned, glancing about and pulling something small out of her belt to touch it to a blank panel on the wall nearby. Blank no more, however, as a standard security door, identical to the one that Wrex had wrecked, opened on the recently empty panel, showing the moonlit canyon of the Refuge.
Garrus cleared his throat. "Okay, let's... give the dragon lady some space before things take a turn for the weird."
Joru gave a faint smirk, turning back to the beacon and giving a faint sigh. She stepped forwards, eyes narrowed and, as if she were expecting it, a shimmering sheet of energy lashed out towards her. Claw-tipped toes dug into the steel grating as she struggled against an invisible force, snarling under her breath as the Beacon flared with greenish-white light.
"Yeah, I'm with you on that." Tali took several steps back.
"Way ahead of you." Kasumi backflipped away, perching on the ruined comm station.
Joru's struggle ended abruptly with a scream of tearing steel as she was lifted from the ground, her muscles straining against nothing as she opened slitted eyes, and snarled with effort. Darkness flowed from her back, and her wings shoved at nothing, straining against the invisible grip of the beacon.
A thin whining humm could be heard from the beacon as Joru suddenly lurched forwards in midair, thrashing as if escaping from the clutch of an invisible giant, and finally coming to rest in front of the beacon, down on one knee and with her hands on the ground, breathing hard.
"Stay back everyone." Vasir held up a hand in caution. "Joru, are you still with us?"
"I seem to be." She rested one elbow on her knee, examining her hand for a moment, before rising to her feet and glaring at the beacon. "Pushy son of a bitch, aren't you. Right..."
She bent down, examining the base of the beacon, and giving a soft snort. "Clamped to the floor. Saren seems to have been rather paranoid. That won't take me long. Vasir, how much do these things mass, on average?" She slid her thin, leaf-shaped blade free and began to carve through the steel clamps as she waited for the Spectre's reply.
"Approximately three hundred kilos." Tali instantly deduced. "Three fifty at the most."
At Vasir's stare, the quarian girl shrugged. "I have an interest in technology."
Joru's quiet snicker was good humored as she shot Tali a warm look. "Is that all? Fine."
She stooped, took a gentle, careful grip, and hefted, letting the beacon thump forward onto her shoulder with a soft grunt as she shifted her hands for a better grip. Without apparent effort, Joru turned and strode towards the opened doorway to her demiplane. "Vasir, I recommend not coming through until I've set this down. I'm not sure what it would do to you if it caught you while it was moving."
"Not a problem." Vasir nodded. "It will take several days for us to get back to the Citadel. I hope you'll be done with it by then, because it would be best for all parties involved if we don't have to stall the Council about handing it over."
"Ahhhh, that's right, I have another present for the council too." Joru smirked as she vanished through the doorway into the Refuge and returned a minute later. "Right, that's settled then. Now, what's this I heard about-"
She was cut off as a violent explosion slammed the side of the building, making the catwalk overhead rock and shake. Tali gave a squeak and clung to Garrus as Kasumi did so on the other side, rooting the turian in place, petrified by the two women clinging to him. "Ummmm."
"That sounded like a breaching charge." Vasir shot up the ramp to peek out the shattered windows. "Wow, the Alliance Marines don't fuck around, do they?"
Joru lifted upwards on smokey wings to peer out at the devastation, chuckling at the huge rent torn in the compound's outer walls, with dark-suited Marines focusing fire on each charging krogan in turn, tearing them to bits before the vat-grown clones could close to melee range. "There's an old human saying. 'There is no problem in the universe that cannot be solved with the sufficient quantity of high explosives'."
"Makes goddamn sense." Vasir turned away and sighed at Joru. "Which brings up the last act. The salarians. They said their drive core could be repurposed into a twenty-kiloton nuke."
"The only way to make certain the secrets of this place remain out of Sovereign's hands, is to eradicate it entirely." Joru shot the Spectre a cold stare. "We already have all his research, we must deny him this base."
"Indeed." Vasir sighed. "I'll make the call."
"Sergeant Williams." Captain Kirrahe spoke over the comm. "Ordinance in place, and my operatives nearly have it primed. Radio the green light as soon as your team is ready."
Ash nodded to herself, and spoke forcefully into her mic. She rolled out of cover, assault rifle spitting a hail of bullets. "Pull back to the evac point! The package has been delivered!"
Hernandez had been wounded twice, shoulder and thigh, but he was still standing and fighting. Good looking kid, certainly had guts. "Joker, we need evac as soon as you can reach us."
"Already on the way, ma'am, just watch for the cavalry."
She rolled her eyes at Joker's flippancy He might be a sass-talking wise-ass, but damn did he put his money where his mouth was. She'd seen what he could do with the Normandy, and she hadn't seen any of her sisters dance so well.
"Sarge!" That was the leader on team Charlie. "What about the civie?!"
"Get her to the evac point ASAP! On the double, soldier!" She rolled back into cover just as Liz rolled out, letting her shields recover.
"On it!" Good man, Jackson. Knew his shit, and got it done, fast and tight.
They had all earned medals today. She flicked her comm to wide-band "Once this is over boys, the first round's on me!"
"Hot damn!" That was Martinez, always the cowboy. "You heard the lady, boys, hold 'em off a little longer!"
The Normandy first showed up as a dark spot overhead, but quickly grew to the ship that they had called home these last few months. Damn, was she getting attached already? She'd been assigned to Eden Prime for six years, and that had never really felt like home...
Maybe it was the mission, maybe it was the crew. Whatever it was, that ship was more of a home to her, than her entire previous planetary posting.
Ash smiled as Joker brought the Normandy to a halt just at the edge of a low rooftop, the cargo hatch lowering just to the edge, nice and neat as you please. "Right, evac's here, start falling back. By the numbers!"
"On the bounce, Ma'am!" Another cocky cowboy, she could hear the grin in his voice.
"keep it up, and it won't be you boys bouncing!" She let off a ripping roar with her rifle, covering her squad's retreat. "Back to the evac point, NOW-NOW-NOW!"
The geth were coming in swarms, now, and the few krogan still left were massing for one final charge. This could get bad.
She hadn't expected a bright blue-and-silver streak to slam past her and into the charging krogan.
Backup arrived with a bang, as that asari Spectre slammed into the krogan lines like a battering ram, and the old, scarred krogan, Wrex, stalked past her, blowing away geth and krogan alike with a gun that was dismayingly familiar.
"You did good, Ashley Williams." She sighed, closing her eyes a moment to glare up into the molten-gold eyes of her personal nightmare. A gentle hand patted her shoulder. "Get back to the ship. We'll cover you."
Ash had heard rumors, but assumed it was scuttlebutt, not quite true. She certainly hadn't expected to see the huge woman sporting a hafted weapon taller than she was, nor how gracefully, elegantly, and skillfully she wielded it.
It was like watching the difference between a professional, and a grandmaster. Joru tore into the geth like a tornado through wheat fields, ripping apart anything in her path. Vasir was like that too, but she was starting to get bogged down, Joru had no such problem.
It took her a moment before she realized she hadn't given the order yet, and tapped her helmet to activate her comm. "All units, pull back to the evac site. Let's button this one up and get out of here."
She shot one last look over her shoulder and shivered as Joru swept her blade around in a graceful arc. One that spoke of supreme skill and agility, and which only happened to bisect two geth on the bitter edge of the cleaver-like blade. Both Geth fell in two pieces, their edges glowing white-hot.
Most of her marines, and all the commandos were already aboard the Normandy when the three primary combatants returned. The quarian girl, that...Turian, and a hooded woman that hadn't introduced herself had already boarded, along with the asari scientist civilian. Vasir came back first, panting a bit and limping a little from a shot to her left shin. Wrex lumbered back like a giant bear, full of smug pride and patting the weapon that sat low on his hip.
Joru was last, and took Ash's breath away as she rose on black wings into the rising ship's cargo bay, rather than have the ship wait for her to board. Her hair floated about her shoulders, deep black for the most part, but a deep red at the roots, as she touched down. Molten eyes shot a quick glance around, before she gave a slight nod to Ashley and strode past.
Somehow, the act warmed Chief Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams' heart.
"Hold onto your butts, people!" Ash grabbed at a stanchion just in time as Joker slammed the throttle wide open, and the Normandy arrowed skyward. A cheer broke out among the marines, and after a second or two of hesitation, the asari joined in. The STG bastards were disapprovingly silent, but, well, they had lost more than half their men. Ash found herself suddenly empathizing with the alien captain, as memories of the 212th and Company D sent tears stinging her eyes.
She'd lost too damn many friends that day.
As if sensing her distress, the frog-man shot her a questioning glance, and Ash found herself giving the alien...the fellow soldier, a respectful salute, almost before she knew what she was doing.
The tableau held for a moment or a minute, she wasn't sure. She was sure that the asari that all but plastered herself against the human marine, clamping her mouth to Ashley's, had to have been Alyra.
Goddamnit, she was sooo going to get Aethyta for this!
...But later, after the party.