There was no doubt as to whose mission this was. Sara had planned to step back, to let Cora take the lead, and see what her inclinations were. Of course, that was taking into consideration that Sara even be allowed the grace to stand aside.
Lieutenant Cora Harper began barking orders before Sara could get a breath in and what really chafed her ass was how the ship's crew listened without question. Her second had studied the schematics and had a preferred docking bay that contradicted Sara's method of, "let's see if any bay is still intact and what Kallo's opinions of them are." It would seem the Leusinia had been the primary focus in Cora's mind while Sara had traversed vaults, dueled wits with Tann, kissed krogan ass and otherwise gotten her rocks off. There was no ceding ground to the lieutenant; Sara had no ground to stand on at all.
Cora, of course, would head up the landing party. Sara was included for the necessity of a functioning SAM and for SAM, only. She was both surprised and not by Cora demanding that Peebee be their third. Despite any questionable loyalties, Peebee was in fact the only asari aboard the Tempest (excluding the non-combatant Dr. T'Perro,) so maybe that counted for something in some universe.
It was a nice reprieve. Both from the responsibility of wrangling grown adults who ought to know better and the fact that Peebee was slower gearing up than even Sara. Cora had no patience for Sara's awkward jokes and chitchat, but was too proud for a commiserating sigh, so it was blessedly quiet. Sara's shower wet hair had soaked a line down the back of her t-shirt that she hoped she'd forget about underneath the rub of her boots and muted sounds of her helmet.
The docking bay they entered still possessed an artificial gravity, so perhaps it left Sara foolishly optimistic. Voices speaking in identifiably Milky Way languages over the intercom also came as a relief, until she heard the immediate command to, "vent them into space." Moments like that in the vids would have Sara be clever, maybe override the console or say just the right thing to convince the party on the other side. Reality always had a way of being more muddled and embarrassing.
Peebee was stuck hammering on the single word, "no, no, no-!" stumbling like a broken record while Cora hoarsely demanded, "wait!" while attempting to tether her body to the handrail on the wall. Sara showed uncharacteristic restraint as she abstained from obscenities, but that was only so long as it took her to wail, "SAM!" as if the AI could do anything to save them.
It did the trick. Not SAM, or the panicking, or even the futile pawing at handrails as their feet began to drift up in the air. It was the screaming in Common Trade that saved them. That was what prompted whoever was on the bridge to cancel all planned murder the rescue party protocols. The emergency lighting stopped flashing red and the screeching countdown to imminent death halted. Instantly, Sara forgot about her wet hair in lieu of being relieved over not having wet her pants.
"Transfer our ident codes," Cora commanded too little, too late. Gravity righted itself and the door slid open.
On the bridge they were treated to an irritable and exhausted pilot being dressed down by an equally irritable and exhausted superior officer. They could have been anyone to Sara, and Peebee still dusting herself off, seemed more concerned with examining herself for missing parts. Only Cora had dropped her helmet's visor and given her wide eyed gaze, could have been a kid on Christmas morning. If huntresses celebrated Christmas.
Maybe a volus with a backdoor into the Shadowbroker's networks would be a better comparison? Sara shook her head.
"But you'd vent a Pathfinder team into space?" The commanding officer had dark purple tattoos etched across her face. A series of interlocking "V's" on her forehead ending on the bridge of her nose made her appear more stern, almost like she had an excessive number of angry eyebrows sloping downward.
The pilot, free of any makeup or characteristic markings, didn't even flinch. "Respectfully, yes. We can't take any more chances."
The officer exchanged a glance with the pilot, seemingly pleased Sara's group had stumbled upon the conversation when they did. She turned to face them. "Sarissa Theris, Pathfinder." Sarissa nodded back at the pilot. "Don't mind Captain Atandra. Scolding me eases her blood pressure."
Cora took a step forward. "I thought Matriarch Ishara was the Pathfinder, ma'am and you were her tiamna." The look she received at that word wasn't unkind, exactly, but it certainly wasn't inviting. Cora cleared her throat. "I served with asari commandos, ma'am. Memorized all your battle manuals."
"Matriarch Ishara is dead," Atandra said. "Sarissa was next in line. Her battle manuals haven't kept the kett off my ark."
If Sarissa was bothered by the captain's ire, she gave no sign. Sara resigned herself to asking the stupid questions. "What happened? Why are the kett after you?"
"Matriarch Ishara died trying to negotiate with those kett bastards, so I took something precious from them, too." Sarissa pinned her hands primly behind her back as if she was addressing a group of hopeful recruits and not her equals. "I stole a module containing tactical data. All their secret routes through this phenomenon."
"We call it the Scourge, ma'am," Cora eagerly offered. "If we could outmaneuver the kett through it-"
"We'd stand a better chance against them," Sara agreed, cutting the other woman off.
Atandra just sighed and shook her head. "Their Archon had the same thought. He sent his elite agent the Valiant and Decimation hunters after us. We take more damage each time we escape the Valiant." She glared at her Pathfinder and spoke to Sarissa directly. "The last assault? He sent forces to board us. Sarissa's theft has made things problematic."
The corner of Sarissa's mouth curled up in a wry amusement that was betrayed by the cold glint in her eyes. It sent Sara scrambling to talk over her lest she say something the pilot found unforgivable.
"How many boarders are we talking about?" Sara blurted.
It pulled Atandra away from whatever had been brewing between her and Theris. "We're not sure," she said. "But for now they're contained below decks. We couldn't do more. We spent our resources evacuating civilians. The Valiant wants Sarissa to pay."
Sara shot a sympathetic look in Sarissa's direction and shrugged. "Pathfinders have to take risks, Captain. I've taken my fair share." Such as lying about the extremity of any personal risks taken to a desperately needed pilot whose ship was filled with an unknown number of kett.
"Goddess preserve me." Atandra shook her head.
"What would it take to get the ark out of here before this Valiant catches up again?" Cora wanted to know.
"An FTL burn long enough to lose him," Atandra replied. "But since the evacuation, we've been stuck at minimal power. The drive core's dead."
"My people are investigating, but those systems are below deck." Sarissa offered Atandra a tight smile. "With the kett boarders."
"Sounds like they could use some backup," Sara said as Cora put her visor back up.
Sarissa barely gave them a nod as she linked up with the Leusinia's internal systems. "Get power to the drive core and my SAM and I will finish deciphering the kett data. We'll turn the Valiant's escape routes against him."
Atandra waved a hand and the doors to the bridge opened behind them. "The last commando report came from Hangar Control. I'll give you access. Please be careful."
Cora was already marching off. Sara spared a final glance to the asari women locked in an icy silence before she scurried after Peebee and the lieutenant.
"Well," Sara breathed as soon as the door closed behind her. "Nothing like the feeling of rushing toward your doom!"
Peebee made a noise. "Pfft. First rule: Always know your escape plan."
"Will you two hush?" Cora snapped. She had her rifle drawn and seemed to be agitated that they hadn't automatically fallen into whatever formation she could have only relayed telepathically. "Any charming banter is going to alert the kett to our position."
"Right." Sara coughed. "So do we have an escape plan?"
"No," Cora ground out. "Because the plan is to kill every last kett bastard and reclaim the ark."
That would be ideal. Sara didn't have to look at Peebee to know the gears were already turning in her friend's brain, developing Plans B, C and D. Too late, she thought that perhaps with so many kett involved, Jaal would have wanted to be included.
Sara hadn't spoken to Jaal in a while. Last time, he'd been frustrated by how the multitude of Milky Way politics and drama had waylaid any forward momentum against the Archon. Jaal wasn't wrong. Saved Moshae or no, it made Sara wonder how absolutely steamed the angara had to be with the plodding Initiative by now.
It felt better to second guess that than to focus on the eerie quiet of the ark as they hopped the monorail tram that would take them below deck. The Natanus had been worse, Sara told herself. That had been a ghost story, the echoes of dreams cut short crackling over the intercom. The Leusinia was different. Most likely, they'd just be wandering into an ambush. Fantastic.
"Pathfinders do take a lot of risks," Cora murmured as the monorail hummed to life. She stared out the window despite the minimal power only allowing for a view of infinite black as opposed to the typical blur of hallway. "Your father, Matriarch Ishara..."
"Macen Barro," Sara agreed. She dropped to one of the tram benches and sighed. "I wouldn't count this one so much a risk, but a necessity."
"Right. Of course." Cora rested a hand below the pane of glass and her fingers began to drum, almost instinctively.
"It'll be fine," Sara insisted. "Though, it's probably too much to hope they kept an engineer onboard that could troubleshoot what's up with the power, but that's what SAM's for, I guess."
Cora breathed a little snort. "You're not much for silence, I gather."
"Not when the entire ark is," Sara replied. "It's spooky. You suppose this was what they all were like? Drifting in space for six hundred years?"
"No, there were skeleton crews," Peebee said as she flitted from one end of the rail car to the other. "They had to be thawed out every decade or so to oversee progress. Heck, I know they were specifically seeking out young asari and krogan to stay awake the entire trip. For the Nexus, anyway."
"Were you one of the recruits?" Sara asked.
"I was canvassed, yeah," Peebee laughed. "But no thank you. Why anyone would want to waste their maiden years aboard a ship with only like two other conscious people is beyond me."
Sara quieted after that. She could certainly see the appeal, but that was running on the fantasy that the other person awake would be someone like Scott. Knowing her luck, she'd end up with a Liam.
The monorail deposited them into more silence. The depot should have been a bustling hub of busy passengers traversing across the Nexus for work and appointments and recreation. Trash receptacles were overturned, and recently planted seedlings for ambiance and air quality were smashed in their urns. It looked like someone had hastily barricaded off the exit past the frozen turnstiles of the queue.
Cora took point, her feet padding along the ground surprisingly soft for the length of her stride. Sara fell behind her, resenting the sharp clack of her own boots against the floor. She grabbed for her pistol, not because Cora preemptively had her rifle out, but rather because Sara knew she was notoriously slow on the draw. For as much as Zia shooting her had turned into an inside joke, it exposed an obvious weakness that was exponentially more problematic surrounded by swarms of kett than a couple of irate smugglers.
As suddenly as she sped down the hallway, Cora raised a hand signaling they stop. The response was almost Pavlovian and Sara felt her feet scuff to a halt next to Peebee's still form. The only thing missing would be for Cora to glance back and offer a brief, disappointed shake of her head, just like dear old Dad. Thankfully, Cora was too focused on what lay before them to fully emulate Alec Ryder.
It wasn't kett. A lone asari stood frozen like a statue, her omni tool flashing over a center command console. Almost as soon as Sara noted the commando's stillness, the other woman spun on them, the gleam of blue illuminating the corridor.
"Stop in the name of the goddess or I'll-!"
"Shoot your rescuers?" Cora dropped her weapon and smirked as the asari's shielding petered out, disintegrating into the air maybe a yard from where they stood.
"Rescuers?" The woman lowered her arm, her stance relaxing. "And- humans! Your ark made it!"
"Just about." Sara stepped out from behind Cora. "I'm Ryder, the human Pathfinder. This is Peebee," she pointed a thumb at her friend and then nodded to Cora, "and you've just met Lieutenant Harper."
"I'm Vederia Damali, the asari Pathfinder's new second in command." She was a pale blue in the dim lighting, with lavender markings accentuating her eyes. "Sorry about the mix up, I hope I can help."
"The captain says we need to restore power to go to FTL," Cora said pointedly.
"Right. Yes." Vederia nodded and waved them toward the console. "I've tracked the power drain and I think shuttering the hangar bay doors will do it. The kett forced the doors open and the safeties are draining power trying to shut them."
Sara paused for confirmation before speaking. "My SAM should be able to override whatever the kett did."
"Kett can survive in vacuum for a little while." Sara recognized the look on Vederia's face. The smile was less friendly and more long suffering. Like she'd been weighted and tasked with treading water until someone more competent showed. Vederia was readily dumping responsibilities beyond her expertise onto Sara's shoulders before Sara could think to protest. The asari opened a walking map of the Leusinia as she talked. "If we shut the doors, the Valiant's pet hunters lose their last escape route, too. I pray the power will be enough for FTL, I just-"
"Vederia." She quieted her fretful chatter at the sound of her name. Cora smiled and continued on with conviction. "I served as a huntress. Remember Sarissa's manuals. Breathe, purpose, action. Breathe-"
The asari's brow line shot skyward. "Okay." Vederia didn't inhale, but she was polite enough to offer Cora a curt smile before turning back to Sara. "Please take a look at the console. I'll keep watch."
"Sure thing." Sara stepped forward, synced with the Leusinia, and let SAM do his thing.
"Should we be expecting an attack?" Peebee asked.
"Always," Cora said immediately. "Huntresses are always ready."
"Yeah," Vederia managed to sound agreeable for someone who was likely as stressed and exhausted as the other asari on the bridge. "The tram you arrived on makes some noise. I sent it onward a few decks below us, hopefully it will lure most of the kett after it."
"Great thinking, Vederia." Cora told her.
"Thanks-"
Whatever Vederia was going to say was lost in an eruption of gunfire. Sara could hear the dull ping of slugs striking biotic shields and chose to stare down the console, instead of reacting. The longer the hangar doors stayed open, the longer they had to stand there and entertain whatever kett happened upon them. If they were at the correct console, it would have been a matter of seconds, but having to remotely access the doors, along with rerouting power was creating a delay-
Sara was thrown to the ground, her knees skidding across the metal plating before her nerves caught up to the searing hot pain in her upper arm. SAM immediately pulled processing from the doors to initiate some kind of survival mode. Damage to her suit was assessed, shields were cranked to the max and Sara was assured that while whatever injury she had just sustained may leave a scar, it was not, in fact, fatal. The AI also noted that it could still perform its task with adequate proximity to the console and recommended that Sara seek cover.
"No shields today, Peebee?" Sara called out after she was done yowling and took to cupping her arm with a hand.
"Out of range, sorry!" And there was her blue, glowing savior leaping down the steps to her side. "You okay? I thought Cora had you."
"SAM says it's just a graze-"
"If you needed shielding, you should have said so," Cora shouted back at them, the electric blue crackling from her arm and extending to the kett before her. "A lot easier than standing like a brazen fool, hoping for someone to read your mind in the middle of a firefight."
"I was doing my job!" Maybe it was the burn of a fresh wound, but Sara felt extra peevish. "One that I've done numerous times without injury when Drack or Vetra or Jaal were with me! I come out with you one time-"
"It was three kett, Ryder. You mean to tell me that you've been playing babe in the woods all this time and they've been letting you?"
"When you say it like that..."
Cora shook her head, before violently crushing the kett's skull in her grip. She tossed its corpse onto the monorail trail. "Let me get this right. You could have died countless times over while I've been sitting aboard the Tempest doing inventory, because I thought you knew exponentially more than you actually do?"
"Technically, I do know quite a bit," Sara mumbled to herself. "Exponentially so."
Cora only stared her down at that. It was impressive, the effectiveness of such a gesture, when the only thing Sara could see in the lieutenant's visor was her own sheepish reflection. Sara lowered her own visor over her face.
"I'm not a fighter," Sara said finally. "I interface with monoliths, I reactivate vaults. I crunch numbers to set courses for the best outcomes and today, I'm shuttering a hangar door. I need reliable muscle to save my ass while I do those things."
"Right," Cora relented with a sigh. "I can do that. How's your arm?"
"Eh, slap some medi-gel on it and I'm sure I'll be fine..." Sara ignored what was likely Cora rolling her eyes in favor of SAM alerting her of its success.
Power flickered on, painting what was left of the three measly kett in a soft yellow light. It stayed on long enough for Sara to drop her hand and stretch her shoulder, but then cut out suddenly, replaced by flashing red emergency lighting. "Vederia?" Sara said, more to buy herself time as she sat up, "SAM says we lost some electrical junctions."
"I know!" The commando darted back to the console, her omni tool taking over where Sara's had left off. "The overload started a fire. Damn it, that shouldn't have happened!"
"Be calm, soldier." Funny how Cora could don that farce of cold professionalism mere moments after snapping at Sara. "What could have made them overload?"
If Vederia flinched at the tone, she recovered quickly. "If... if there's something else draining power on the lower decks?" She shrugged at them. "Something big?"
"Maybe the kett rigged something up?" Peebee suggested.
"I wouldn't put it past those wretches," Vederia agreed. "Those kett must be watching us. If they delay the repairs long enough, the Valiant's ship catches up."
"If we're quick and efficient, we can outmaneuver them," Sara declared, borrowing SAM's words.
"Okay." Vederia nodded to herself. "First thing is the last stasis pods. I'll go check on them. You go below. Look for whatever's draining power and maybe help with the fire."
Sara used her good arm to push herself up from the floor. "Which way to the lower decks?"
"Through the living quarters. I'll open maintenance access- you can cut through. Good luck. May the kett wither in the void before you." Vederia brought her omni tool to Sara's and allowed them to sync up. Along with access, Sara was gifted to a map of the Leusinia's innards with SAM chiming in on the fastest route. The commando offered them a final nod, before she dashed off in the opposite direction, presumably toward the stasis pods.
Sara shrugged a shoulder and tried not to wince. "Well-?"
"Ryder?" The frequency on all their omni tools spoke in unison. "It's Sarissa. We got some power, then a damage report. What happened?"
"An accident," Sara replied. "We're fixing it."
"All right. Go forward. We'll keep prepping the drive core."
"We won't let you down, ma'am," Cora insisted.
"Of course not, Lieutenant. Sarissa out."
The living quarters were fairly typical to someone used to a lifestyle the Citadel provided. Space was precious, but the amenities were lux. Sara rounded the painstakingly measured floorplans and snorted to herself over the self-cleaning, bacterial resistant counter that also doubled as a breakfast nook, until she caught sight of the bigger picture, one that expanded far beyond the cupboard sized the exact diameter to house the standard Ariake Technologies teapot (or coffee pot for the human that wished to customize for a nominal fee.) Personal effects had been prioritized, but things always got lost or abandoned in the haste of a sudden evacuation. A shattered picture frame with the photo removed was dropped on the circle rug by the vid projector. Further in, Sara could see a single, mate-less shoe kicked to the side of a doorway and she could only speculate stupidly on whether the owner of the tiny, button eyed doll had safely made it to Prodromos.
"Um, the uh..." Sara stilled her restless mouth as a hand touched her forearm.
Peebee nodded past the living quarters to what looked like a closet. "Maintenance tunnels," she said. "Probably a quicker route."
"Yeah." Sara nodded. "Let's go."
Within the maintenance tunnels, there were no more forgotten dolls, but clear evidence of an electrical fire. Not a lot of smoke, but wire panels were scorched and the walls were hot. The captain probably wouldn't like it, but they'd have to redirect power to the extinguisher systems before juicing up the drive core.
"We need to find a command console to activate some safety measures," Sara murmured. "Preferably before everything's damaged beyond repair."
"I'm just glad it's down here and not by the stasis pods," Cora said.
"As far as we know!" Peebee cheerfully chirped, earning herself a presumably ugly look from behind Cora's visor.
Sara's groan was interrupted by their radio frequency. "Vederia, here. Two kett were trying to mess with the stasis pods. Not anymore."
"Good work, Vederia," Cora said before Sara could open her mouth.
"It's what I've been trained for, Lieutenant." Without a visual, it was hard to tell, but there was a strained reediness to Vederia's voice that reminded Sara of a customer service rep.
If Cora had picked up on it, she gave no sign as she plowed onward. "Just remember Sarissa's-"
"Manuals? Yeah, got it, thanks."
"Come on." Sara nodded her team forward to the end of their tunnel.
It opened to what looked like a mess hall of sorts. Large enough for the initial group of colonists scheduled to wake that would be responsible for reuniting the Leusinia with the Nexus, but streamlined and simple enough to be converted to some other purpose once people were housed. As Sara stepped out from the tunnel exit and into the room, she spotted what she needed: a console next to the never used cereal dispenser.
Cora slipped past her, the lieutenant's shoulder bumping into Sara's injured arm as she went. "I'll take point," Cora insisted and Sara could not argue that.
Their objectives revised, activating the fire suppression system went smoother than shuttering the hangar bay doors. Sara herself practically radiated blue with the strength of the shielding Cora blanketed her in as she borrowed power from the ailing drive core and funneled it to the sprinklers in maintenance until SAM was satisfied. Even so, Sara kept a low profile, crouched at the console and glancing nervously at every gunshot, her eyes tracking biotic mass effect fields and bullet holes.
She got shot again. But the shields must have been tied to Cora's vanity; the impact of the kett weaponry hardly nudged Sara, the ricochet creating a flash of light reminiscent of a parade sparkler sputtering into dusk.
A deadly error to shoot her, apparently. Cora appeared almost insulted over it choosing the soft target over her and she ended it quickly and without mercy.
"Damn," Peebee whistled. Leaned against the doorway of the maintenance tunnel with her arms crossed, it made Sara wonder if she even lifted a finger for this skirmish at all. "How long did it take you to master that type of shield?"
Cora's head pulled back at that, startled. "I wouldn't say 'master,' exactly, but three years, maybe?"
"Impressive." The asari nodded.
"For a human, right?" Cora drawled.
"Now, I never said that-"
"The Tempest is a small ship, Peebee," Cora interrupted in that clipped, even, mother-knows-best tone that SAM had begun to associate with high stress levels. "I am neither deaf nor stupid, so please don't treat me as such."
Peebee groaned, her head falling back as she pushed away from the wall and breezed toward them. "I am not a monolith for the asari people."
"Really?" Cora sniffed. "Because you certainly speak for them often enough-"
"It's Vederia-!" Sara shot her arm with her omni tool on it skyward as the commando contacted them. Cora and Peebee paused whatever strange standoff they were building toward and turned to their own omni tools.
"The kett saw me. I'm trapped in an air vent!"
Cora brought her omni tool up to her helmet. "Ready your biotics and pick them off as they pass."
"They'll hear-"
"You're a huntress-"
"Yes, I am," Vederia growled back with a sudden ferocity. "I'm four hundred eighty-two years old, ma'am. I was a huntress when your great-grandmother was still learning how to wipe her own ass- Goddess!"
Cora physically recoiled at that, her face unreadable beneath her opaque visor. She paused at the pop of weapon's fire over their frequency. "Vederia?"
"I may be a little late to any rendezvous point. Going silent."
"You know, I thought she sounded a little too nice for a commando," Peebee giggled.
"You were laying it on a little thick, Cora," Sara coughed. Cora ignored her as the fire suppression systems finally activated, covering them with a snowfall of sodium bicarbonate. Sara tried again, pointing a thumb toward a darkened hallway. "We should keep looking for what's sucking the power."
"How compromised is your suit where you were wounded?" Cora asked. "Has SAM managed to repair it?"
"I think so..?"
"Not very reassuring, Ryder."
"Why?" Sara wanted to know. "We're not planning on crawling on the outside of the hull, are we?"
"It wouldn't be my first plan, no," Cora said. "But Vederia did say kett can survive out there, I want us to be ready for anything."
"I should be fine," Sara told her, wriggling her arm for effect, thankful for opaque visors. "A tiny shield weakness, but the nanotech has already sealed the hole."
It was a testament to her personality that Cora still managed to stare her down when their actual faces weren't visible. "Okay... let's move on."