Crack
A shallow breath prickled cold. Frost spikes crinkled in the silence of the pre-morning still. Tense. Release.
The ghost moment of pressure lingered beneath my finger. Milliseconds.
A flash. A rearing crackle of blue through the scope. Auto Dark clamping the hard bloom.
Darkness.
Blink.
The distant rise of rubble remained still for the barest of moments. The sea of mangled metal and liquifying corpses littered the ground, obscuring meaningful context and place from view. Movement flickered.
I dialed in the scope. Cycling through various filters.
They'd gotten damn good at hiding… static fuzz rippled through the view. A few lines of distortion twisting the hazing scene. Shit..
Something streaked from the gloom.
I dived as the broken wall shattered. The world exploding in a seering immolation. The thrown landing crunching me hard into the twisted remains of a petalling bulkhead. A half curse managing to escape my throat before a second explosion blanked out the world.
"...er? Respond."
The crackle of comms cut through the ringing. The darkness was solid.. safe. Alien characters flickered in the emptiness of my vision before recognition dribbled back into the present.
[Auto seal activated - 11hours. Secure. Integrity 16%. STANDBY]
The, now closed, visor faded the world back into view. What little I could see of it. Dust, smoke, scatterings of lighter debris still settling. Shit..
"Ar-cher." The foreign syllables, broken in half barked command, finally cut through my awareness. "Re-spond."
Behind the words rang the sounds of raging battle.
"Here." I could just about manage as I pulled myself upright. Broken shafts of grey light showing little that looked familiar. An inch of ash was layered over everything. "Riak? What ha-"
"The enemy. Detonated failsafe. All of them.", the near constant thud of energy weapons behind the voice was punctuated with shouts. None of them were good. But behind, at the edge of hearing, the hint of things that were a lot more worrisome.
A trickle of fear crawled down my spine. The comms direction gave a vague lock. I snatched my rifle up and stowed it while sprinting through the shattered bones of civilization.
"Send me a coordinate to regroup."
The response did not come immediately.
"Negative."
"Damnit Riak. Where are you? Where's the team?"
Indistinct voices shouted in the background of the link before an explosion and rumble silenced the battle chaos.
"Tenéra is fallen-"
"Where..", my irritation breaking through the panted word.
"Halt. Ar-cher. Listen."
"For gods sake, Riak.", I swore.
"I have failed."
"DON'T you fu-", I was cut off with a harsh crackle of static that was accompanied with a tremor and the rumble of heavy material shifting precariously around me. Off in the distance the sound was like pottery crumbling, underscored with long running cracks that sounded as though the ground was tearing itself apart.
A chuckle came over the comm, "Even in the absolute and certain you dare to challenge." Riak's tone having shifted effortlessly away from the terse clarity of command to the confident relaxed measure that I'd known for years. "No, my friend." He continued. "We here are already dead. Now is just the moment of pause before that end."
"..where?"
"Sanctuary, E level.", there was a moment of silence.
I froze in half a step as the realization sank in. "No. Dammit, NO!" The punch I landed on the nearest wall spidered cracks through the already compromised structure. Dust settled in the returning still. "How the fuck did they find it?"
"That will not help now. Ar-cher."
"What the hell happened Riak? This was supposed to be a surface battle.. that was the contingency. The subterranean was supposed to-"
"They knew everything." The matter-of-fact statement cut me short. "Where. How. When. Their attack was perfect. Their timing was perfect. There was no defence. They compromised the failsafe, took control.. the entire shaped charge planetary array. Every bunker went dark across the eleven continents at the same time. Central may have detected it, but it was barely able to raise the warning."
Central.. damn, I'd not even thought. "-Aniath, Terin, Marres, Taya? Anyone else?"
"No." The comm stayed silent for seconds in a respectful mix of comprehension and regret. Riak continued with a hint of defeat finally permeating his words. "It's been initiated, Ar-cher."
An almost constant rumble of deep oscillations that were layering and building. But what I felt underfoot I now knew was a lot more ominous.
"This tomb will break soon enough." Something unnerving about Riak's calmness sat uneasily on my mind. I knew their species were telepathic in some sense, but it was only ever subtext to conversation. His next words hit me hard. "You are freed from your oaths. Serve forward the honour of the empire, friend."
The dust on the floor was starting to rise in the near constant vibration.
"Riak?"
"Tenéra… is ending. Goodbye my friend. Remember us."
The ground rocked.
The comm fizzled and died.
I clambered to the highest portal in the maze that I could get to as around me the shatterings of once towering buildings began to crumble and slide into rubble. Massive plates of earth seemed to shift, lift and tilt. Throwing any notion of balance to the wind. I grabbed onto a foundation wall as an enormous crack gaped open, the fissure barely a step in front of me plummeted into abyssal depths. Which, at the very bottom, was threaded with a worrying blue-white that crept up from the unfathomable depth at an impossible speed. Lances of light spread into walls that speared into the early evening sky. Blasting away the blanket of cloud to reveal the deepening sky which faded to starlit black.
[Warning. Off planetary transition detected. In vehicular transportation recommended]
What the hell?
The sense of gravity that had seemed overbearing peaked then reversed. Everything was falling, floating. The silence of sucking void descending as the white grew.
Warnings shouted. I shouted, I tried to.
The crushing pressure of the white pressing in from every conceivable direction. Consuming everything. Until.. until... until…. unti-...
I could feel myself wake up. A rather odd sensation to describe because it is not just cognitive awareness. The bit of you that is before words. That bit was awake. Something was stopping it from going further. A pressure, something outside, something foreign, was there. Holding back the normal waking cascade to consciousness.
I didn't like it. Instinct reacted and pushed back.
The pressure increased.
I pushed back harder. In what was the exact opposite of a tug of war. The more ground I won the stronger my resolve grew. I could feel the pressure slipping. It rallied. I dug in. Unwilling to give an inch. Force piled on to try to push me down. Anger found traction, I found my thoughts. A moment later the world exploded in sense.
Pressure on my feet told me I was standing, half crouched. Arms thrust outward in the subconscious battle to push away.
Cold metal pressed hard against my back; the haze of cold, clinical, white light bloomed in my unfocused vision. The first gasp and cough of air tasted sterile and metallic. Sounds thundered in a cacophony of claxtons and voices.. shouts and exclamations amid a clatter of thuds and bangs. I forced myself to blink, trying to focus. Trying to get a full mental grip on what exactly was now. Cold air spun around me. Six blue women, no.. not women.. different.. alien.. were untangling themselves from various crumpled positions across what was very much a room. They were dressed in a variety of definitely well-fitted uniforms.
I blinked, suddenly aware that I was very much missing anything of the armour or even remotely garment related attire. Not to mention weapons.
Fuck.
A green chevron blinked on what opened to reveal itself as a split door. Three more similarly dressed alien women ran in. These carried what I would assume to be weapons, not just by their stance and demeanor; but also by the way they were immediately directed my way.
A half roll brought me to what may have been a bed or table that I could assume I had been on. The base was wide enough to offer the briefest cover while my brain figured out step two. It was then my ears caught up; bringing to attention what very much sounded like a stand-off argument.
I peaked round once it seemed to have diffused.
Eight pairs of eyes were firmly fixed my way now from the farthest side of the room. Beside the open doorway stood a dark blue clad figure. Older, maybe. She.. (can I call them she?) certainly exuded an air of authority but her confidence was betrayed in the flicking doubtful eyes of the onlookers.
Exit.. okay. Was she blocking it, no. On purpose?
Of course.
I stood up. Acutely contemplating the risks, so making sure to move slowly and deliberately.
Some chatter was instantly cut short by a single word from the lone authority.
I slowly reached for the thin cloth that lay on the table and fashioned it into an impromptu toga. Offering, at best, the barest sense of civility; at worst, a guaranteed trip hazard.
A further admonishment of the watchers.
I paused for a moment. Trying to gather together a few strands of coherent thought. The initial flood of adrenaline was ebbing away leaving behind the draining tug of exhaustion. I had no weapon, no armour, no advantage.. no energy.
These.. captors.. were, at least by galactic standard, technologically capable, primitive but not blindly rash. I'd caught a few of them quickly banking flares of energy. Emotional. Guarded. So, they were either skilled in dark energy manipulation, or poisoned by it. My attention flicked back to the measured calm of the leader. The deepening well of focus she surrounded herself with answered any doubts over their ability to wield. She was good at it too.. definitely practiced.
I gritted my teeth. Bringing to mind the dwindling encounters with the few surviving members of the emperors' chancellery before the- .. before the.. the.. ..
I shook my head, trying to clear the shock of the instant headache. Knuckles whitening in grip on the edges of the table while I steadied myself. A sudden fount of lucidity pushed past my struggling awareness and the fore. Thousands of memories threatened to blind my senses in resurgence, consuming me for the merest fraction of a moment before snapping into settling waters. My awareness, my.. self.. boyant.. floating ethereally over it in detached clarity..
"In the memory of the fallen Empire, I greet you.", I articulated the complicated gesture in as best an emulation as I could without four eyes and a carapace; focusing on projecting the engram as was proper. The technique felt almost second nature in the lingering moment.
Silence answered.
The leader shielded her flash of surprise well. Momentarily flicking her gaze to a subordinate who hastily pecked at a holographic display that enveloped an arm.
An exchange flitted between the parties a few times.
The leader flashed a palm to end the debate then slowly took one step forward, a combination of recall and concentration etched across her guarded features.
".. obligation.. in.. measuring.. aliveness.. good. (question)"
The fumbled mash of words skirted the bounds of comprehensibility. I buried the mirthless wry grin that pulled at the corners of my mouth. The diffusing surprise relaxed the coil of tension that had wound up within me.
"I am fine." I over-articulated the syllables for clarity.
She gestured to the gathered huddle. "Extraction.. (question)"
I nodded slowly.
The eight aliens didn't need much persuasion to move. The slightest of gestures from the leader saw them keenly skirt the wall and disappear quickly through the door; where they turned back to watch with mixed stances of curiosity, fear and anticipation.
The leader didn't break eye contact with me. Not even to blink.
"You (complicated mixed attribution).. greeting.. neither.. sustenance.. elsewhere.. here.. traveling.. abode.. fourteen cycles.. location." She gestured around the room.
I nodded again. Trying to stitch the intention into meaning.
".. return (question)", she gestured to herself then toward me. She fixed gaze for a second before steeling herself. The dark energy well of defences deepened to an impressive potential before she turned and walked confidently back through the bulkhead door. Stalling just enough for me to see she came to a halt as the doors hissed shut. The reappearing chevron blinking to red accompanied with a dull clank of metal.
Matriarch Rethana slowly released her breath. It didn't do to show fear when absolute control and caution were necessary. The awkward shell shocked presences of the lab and science team would warrant some careful debriefs. Two of her three commandos's attention flitted through the still frozen gathering. The third was focused, elsewhere..
"What by the goddess was.. that?" Tyla glared at the sealed door.
"Tyla", Cassia, the more senior commando, shot her a cautionary glance.
"That.. that's not biotics- It glowed! If it weren't so.. so.. different, it's almost-"
"Peace, Tyla.", Matriarch Rethana commanded calmly, "and Llys, take the lab team to an isolation lounge.. they need time to gather themselves and clear their thoughts." She locked eyes with each of the scientists in turn. "I shall speak with each of you later. Nothing, I stress: nothing of this is to be recorded or spoken of unless it is approved by me. Please surrender your omnitools to my commandos. Do not have fear. You will be safe."
The scattering vanished down the corridor with a smattering of back glances coloured with worry.
Cassia stared into the sealed door. Her Matriarch was still looking far beyond the length of the corridor. Beyond the walls, armour and barriers of the vessel. Beyond simple space and the now that everyone fretted in.
"Matriarch Rethana-" She began.
"Cassia.", Rethana finally turned to meet Cassia's questioning gaze. "Not here."
"What do you need?"
"Walk with me." It was twenty paces later Matriarch Rethana continued, "I need your loyalty and trust before any care. Secure this deck. Seal the records. I need to confer with the Temple records as soon as possible. For now, see the Captain to my personal quarters, she deserves to hear it from me."
Cassia blinked, her blue brow furrowing, "Matriarch?"
"This vessel is now directly under the authority of the Thessian Order."
"Is there a threat to the Republic?"
Rethana paused to glance back down the corridor. The pause was long enough to let a rivulet of concern trickle through Cassia before the Matriarch continued. "Set a direct course for Thessia, best time to Asari space. No deviations. No flight record and no general communications. Priority Six Eight Four. Check on Tyla and Llys - Then see me."
"The Traverse is dangerous my lady, a direct route will take us away from the negotiated corridors."
"See it done." came the terse reply.
Cassia nodded. The two proceeded through the silent corridor before pausing before the door to the Matriarch's quarters. "What about you? Do you need anything?"
"Time. I need to meditate. But I am uncertain whether the goddess has granted that luxury.." Rethana looked Cassia directly in the eyes, the matriarch's visage a mix of dark shadows. "I need to prepare for the next encounter."
The room was a laboratory. Detritus littered worktops, shelves desks and occasionally the floor. Rack upon racks of carefully separated rocks and odd fragments of ancient shattered glass. Some painstakingly separated and collated into attempts at reassembly.
I rubbed my arm. Simple irritation with the unshakable coldness in my bones slowly morphing into frustration. The cold metallic decks, workspaces, walls, floor.. everything.. was inescapable. The damnable cloth was plasticized too, it was like wearing a cold, damp, raincoat. Where was my gear? A search of the immediate area was fruitless.
Nothing scattered around the various shelves, stores or workbenches hinted at anything even remotely resembling armour or an under suit.
I scratched at my elbow, something hard and crystalline peeled from the skin with effort and more than a little pain. I held the offending article to the light between my thumb and forefinger; fumbling a clumsy catch as recognition made me flinch.
'Shit.', I swore.
Briefly caught in the decision paralysis of wanting to throw the thing as far away as I could and the sinking realisation that I had absolutely no idea how long it had been attached to me.. or, given my general state of discomfort, that there weren't more.
The glimmer of the eezo crystal was only slightly muted in the diffuse blue light of the room. It was barely the size of a thumb print, two millimeters thick at its apex, but clear and solid.. the ethereally translucent blue had a faint inner glow that concentrated along the fractal edges on the surface. Nothing about it engendered beauty or calm.. the singularly most toxic substance in the known galaxy was in my hand in its purest and most potent form.
Every atom of my being was focused on not being reactive, or rash, or stupid. At least a handful of the myriad of scenarios playing through my hyped imagination included throwing the thing away one direction and running in the other. Slowly the rational brain kicked in, bringing along with it a fathomless sense of dread.
I wasn't dead (yet).. Eezo poisoning was slow, insidious (inevitable). So.. this was it then. Clawed memories of galloping horrors and twisted monstrosities. Corrupted through the ineffable taint.
My hand shook.
But..
I wasn't dead.. Maybe, maybe I… was okay? perhaps it wasn't eezo. Just a dream. Was a dream.. is a dream.
I remembered snow. Running. Instinctively I tried to tap the comm. The action only finding an ear.. and a mess of cropped hair. No armour, no helmet.. where was my rifle? I..
Fists clamped the sides of my head. I half heard my own scream.
Backpedaling, my back hit a wall.. then a corner. The distant clinking irrelevant to the rising swarm of glowing hollows that clawed at me from below the floor.
The walls flew away, time slipped from my grasp.
A thud ripped my unseeing gaze back to the present.
The fleeting fraction of confusion jolted my head away absent fixation and to the settling parcel about a meter before me.
Up, a little further, was a seated figure.
The alien from before. But now the lights were a lot dimmer. The deep shadows darkened her features. Not unpleasantly so. Her demeanor was serene, controlled.. meditative. Another figure lurked at the edge of attention by the closed door. Making every effort to be silent and inconspicuous. A guard.
The alien before me must have caught the furrow of my brow. Her demeanor altered almost imperceptibly. Caution shifted to alertness.
I could just make out the subtlest hint of her dark gaze.
The mental tickle at the periphery of awareness made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The predatory defences slamming down with the barest conscious call.
You dare, I snarled before restraint dragged back the first instinct. The glint of a weapon subtly being readied in the twisting grip of the guard gave me pause.
Was I the threat? I didn't know these creatures… they didn't know me… that was for sure. My head pounded with uncertainty. I inhaled deeply.. Slowly letting the breath take away at least some of the irrationality and anger before lowering some of the walls in a calculated risk.
The presence was strange.
It was tentative and nervous, even though the being outside it was assured and confident.
I kept my mind still as it explored.. letting it find me through its own threads of intention and curiosity. The longer it took the more I realized that it was guided by touch rather than by sight through their connection.
My patience eventually ran thin and I grabbed the mental strands and pulled them forward.
The shock and sudden shift in the balance being vocalised in surprise as her darkened eyes snapped into absolute focus. The world turned white in the privacy of a shared mental space.
Here I was comfortable.. The alien was not immediately so; her own instinct holding her mental image as that she saw herself in the real world.
"How?", she blinked at hearing her own question. The words she spoke in her native language, but here were carried directly through the thought space that we now shared.
I smiled at the obvious but dismissed the temptation to show it, here I was amorphous given the choice..
"Here we can speak." I replied in my own language. I watched the alien slowly turn around, trying to find the source of my voice.
"You are doing this?" Suspicion and uncertainty wove through her words. I could feel her testing the boundaries of the space.
"No," I broadcasted a formless shake of my head. "Just a part of it.. You initiated the link.. I just brought us here.."
"Will you show yourself? I mean you no harm."
"That remains to be determined. Your guard is armed and you.. you are far from defenseless.. I find myself at every disadvantage. Why would you expect me to trust you?"
The figure seemed to contemplate this before replying. "I am Matriarch Rethana of House Rethanis of the Asari Republic, servant of Athame and Council of Thessia. You are on my vessel, enroute to my home world of Thessia." She held out a small silver bound wooden box that formed between her hands. The elder Asari smiled, only slightly surprised at the manifestation that she carefully turned over before offering it outward. "Will you accept this token of understanding?"
My curiosity tugged me toward it. The memory that had crafted it was precious to her, yet she offered it freely.
I extended a filament to touch it.. it was benign, free of thoughts, but heavy.. with memory? No not memory.. context.. knowledge. A diplomatic package? Language. Culture. Some history. The simple looking thing was valuable beyond words. I turned the thing over in my thoughts.
The tidbits of the present and past were my most eager focus. Some of it was useful but it was heavily curated and vastly hollow. The hunger pressed out a question that slipped past my control, "What of the war?"
The Matriarch seemed perplexed by the question. The fleeting surprise at my asking it in her own language was instantly lost.
"What war?"
I nodded to myself. The purity of the answer resolved any lingering doubts I might have had. I accreted myself into a standing form a few tens of paces from where the Asari had stood speaking to the depthless white. Not armoured as I had known for the last decades of my recent life, but in the last memory I had from a more peaceful time. Tan, white, gold and black. The fabric and colours of a forgotten time. I stared at the strangeness of mere fingerless gloves as a windless breeze tugged at the cloak that hooked over my shoulder.
I looked up into the studying gaze of the Matriarch.
My internal distraction having given her ample time to saunter to within a few metres.
She studied me closely. "You are nothing like we have encountered before.. so similar, but so different." She said.
I looked her in the hauntingly familiar eyes to weight the reply, "And your kind are very familiar to that of my own.. and of others."
The moment she was off guard vanished as quickly as it had come. "And your kind is?", she led.
"Extinct, I believe."
"For how long?" The Asari didn't hesitate at all.
"Long enough to have fought the same cause more than once." I weighed her reaction carefully. "Will you grant me sanctuary aboard your vessel and among your worlds?"
She watched me carefully, judging. "What is to say that your wars do not follow you? Are you a threat to the Asari?"
"I am not a threat to you." I sighed and shook my head. "Maybe the opposite. There are threats to all sentient creatures that you will learn of in the fullness of time." The white space darkened, the infinite morphing briefly into billowing dark clouds etched in ominous yellows and crackles of red. I shook my head, dispelling the dark and pulling the soft white back into focus. I opened my eyes, aware that the moment of effort would still linger in my eyes. I didn't care. "I am not in the mind to speak of this now."
The Matriarch looked distant, her expression shifting to distraction.
"We need to leave this space." She looked me directly in the eyes. "Quickly." She said.
I nodded. Letting go of the link between us. The white dissolved away, letting hints of normal vision shadow back into vague perception. The cool dimness of the spartan workspace returned through blinking eyes, the half mental image strangely shattered with a jolt that flickered the lights and shook through the deck plate.
The Asari guard that I now knew was an Asari Commando was helping the visibly tired Matriarch to her feet. I shook off the lingering disorientation, uncertain of the elapsed time. Flashing red lights were arcing through the open door from the corridor and the ship beyond it. The mental stillness was now utterly gone and replaced with the blaring crash of claxtons.
I made to push myself up, finding the wall for support as I fought back the mental haze. Instantly regretting it as dizziness rose to meet me halfway.
The movement was not lost on the Commando. A weapon was instantly swung toward me.
"No, Cassia." The Matriarch ordered. There was a heated exchange of words barely at the cusp of hearing.
"What is happening?" I eventually asked, still using the wall to balance as the ship lurched once more.
The Commando shot me a surprised look that was dismissed by her superior with a curt gesture passing the matter as a concern for later.
"Pirates." she half turned back to address the Matriarch, "A patrol, may be a faction we do not know. Out from the relay, they've zero'd on our location and course. Three cruisers-"
She seemed to listen in on a comm channel for a second
The ship jolted, lights monetarily flickering before being replaced by emergency lighting. "Two direct strikes. Barriers are in a bad way, Maam. This frigate is not built for a fight-"
Matriarch Rethana brushed off the sleeve on her robe.
"Operating this deep in the Traverse was a calculated risk."
The commando jabbed at a holo matrix that enveloped her left arm. "The Captain is suggesting we get to the shuttle Maam, She will make a pass through the system's asteroid field.. the radiation field will mask the small craft-"
There was a clunk and shudder as a ceiling support spar collapsed into the centre of the room, showering everything in sparks.
I tried to lend half an ear to the argument that ensued- bad place, bad people, bad decisions. The Matriarch was important.. I could respect that.
I also was not part of the immediate problem - which made me an ignorable thread as the commando hastily dragged her charge out of the room.
I was still uncertain about a lot of things, most things actually. Which left the basic decisions down to immediate concerns..
Right now, the distraction bought me time. A quick glance catching the retreating figures stumbling down the corridor as the ship shook once more.
I grabbed the fabric parcel, tearing open the dark bag to pull out an assortment of gear, somethings akin to clothing.. some lengths of black cloth material and something approximating boots. An effort had been made to simplify and roughly
adapt them for my stature. A long band and a vaguely split piece cloak of a sort. Everything required effort to work. Which was time and energy. Both of which were in minimal supply. Survival was paramount, which meant: improvisation. A minute earned me basic wrap trousers and something that at least gave me freedom of movement and a little more dignity; the black material was strong, but it still ripped with some effort to make hand and wrist wraps. With the last tied into a crude belt and a sling across my torso to throw the restuffed bag over my shoulder.
Making for the door, the floor was a mess of the scattered content of fallen shelves and smashed workstations. Much of it was valueless burnt rocks, some were bits of broken artifacts.. tablets and parts I forced myself to ignore.. except.. a small nondescript black cylinder rolled away from my foot. I grabbed the object as another jarring rumble ripped through the vessel.
The lurch tumbled me through into the corridor as sirens wailed. The sense of listing and rolling motion boiled through into perception. Whatever counted as inertial dampening on the ship was struggling to keep up with the craft's reality.
It then sputtered.
Then it stopped.
The adjacent wall rammed into my shoulder along with multiple G's of unrelenting force. The door behind me automatically rammed shut just as the thundering roar of tons of content slammed across the room.
The hard acceleration gave way.. Leaving only the useful 'up' of softer artificial gravity behind. Even this was occasionally punctuated with the eerie stabilization jolts of thruster sputtering.
The ship was dark.
Before my eyes had adjusted, the few emergency lights only succeeded to break the dark. Now, they just barely illuminated the space.
I ran down the corridor. Cautious of the unknown maze beyond. Most of what could have been doors to other ship compartments were sealed with bulkheads that had ominous red chevrons that glowed over them. Sealed… Breached.. dark.
A staircase to the left was tumbled with fallen debris ahead, beneath the crush of a structural beam was a figure.. one of the crew… no, three of them. By the look of it their deaths had been messy but quick.
A sign etched on the wall ahead in the blocky alien script read: Bridge. An arrow pointing in the opposite direction stating: Cargo/Shuttle Bay.
A rumble and clank rattled through the metal. A vibration coming from the bow perfused the floor plates.. Ok. So.. That way then.
I tried to ignore the streaks of brutal carnage. The blockages forced me to try various routes before stopping before a heavy door that blocked entrance to the labeled bridge. A vent grate hung from the ceiling where it was very apparent that the superstructure had twisted, felling the squared tiles from the ceiling and jutting wall panels into the narrowing space at uncomfortable angles. The twist also blocked the door from opening.. conventionally, anyway.
I looked up. The grate squeaking as I pulled myself into the narrow box space above. The tighter space carried an ominous sucking whistle in the drift of the air as I crawled through the mostly dark. The odd cut of sliced light filtering at regular spaces a little further ahead.. and voices.. maybe voices.. tinned by the walls of the narrow crawlway.
"N-Nothing is responding."
"-they're almost through-"
"Secure stations!"
"En-engineering is spaced… p-primary systems.. offline"
"Arm yourselves!"
"Ensign Triel is dead, sir."
"S-secondary systems are, o-offline."
"Get that crate over there!"
"-exterior hull breached-"
"I need a triage kit here."
"Airlock breach in 12.."
"Can you get me a visual?"
"S-security s-systems.. offline"
"..8"
"The armoury door is jammed.."
"g-godess.."
"..4"
"Everyone. Cover. NOW!"
I clambered toward the first light. A heavy thud rang through the air as a firefight broke out.
The tingling ripples of dark energy ripping through space amidst angry shouts was accompanied by the hypersonic pinging of mass driver weapons.
Pock holes of light appearing in the vent as ricochets scattered the lethal sand grain sized projectiles.
Motivation to move.. I definitely did not have any meaningful protection in here.
The defiant and gurgling shouts thinned. Finally stopping in a footstep studded silence. The hiss of numerous sets of breathing apparatus approached in heavy steps.
"Check for survivors. Leave this lot.. I don't care for the dying or wounded." The tone was distinctly not Asari, deeper and guttural - and the words were calculating and harsh.
Another language.. I tried to discern it in the imprint I'd received in my interaction with the Matriarch; the effort leaving me unsettled. This was a savage tongue. Stratified, oppressive and engineered to be discerning.. we: the better over all others.. my senses rallied and blood boiled.
"Search the ship. Let's see if we can double the week's takings! A prize for any handsome finds to make a ransom. The republic should know our systems are not for their idle curiosity..", the rough chortle echoed through the heavily armoured arrivals before the leader finished, " Then scuttle this rig. We don't want to scare the tourists.."
The figure stumped back through the roughly hewn door. Two squads came through to set up in the destroyed bridge.
A string of beeps preceded a shuddering explosion. Wrenching the internal door open enough for the newcomers to file off deeper into the ship.
Stealing my moment I kicked out the vent panel and jumped
down. Managing to land silently and crouch over to the cover the defender's had so briefly held.
A small wet cough pulled my attention down. The prone blue figure's eyes fixed on me.
"You're- what she- found?"
The fading voice fitting the memory of the command from minutes before. I frowned and dipped my head to nod once.
"Go. No- time- to- launch-" Her face warped in pain and concern, morphing to a plea. "Slavers. Help- mistress-"
Her shallow cough of bloodied blue. A shaking hand dragging something out of a sleeve on her side. She pushed it into my hand. "Go-", she mouthed the word. Her last breath sputtered as her consciousness faded. Her eyes rolling back as her head lolled.
I glanced a look toward the breach, certain that absolutely nothing friendly was that way. But through the broken door were now two armed and armoured squads between me and two possible friendlies.. everywhere else: oblivion.
It wasn't much of a choice.
Hopefully whatever counted for luck in this age was vaguely on my side.. this time.
The thing in my hand glinted. A knife? a simple and savage thing.? No.. not so plain, this was a Blade.. This one was both fine and lethal.. just over twenty centimeters long and perfectly balanced. Incredibly understated, yet undeniably ceremonial. I tested it in over and underhand grip.
This..
This was a hunter's weapon. Given in the dying words of a huntress.. The honour bind that this unwittingly blood bonded action demanded was unavoidable. Having witnessed the slaughter amplified the sense of apprehension. I did not know these people; but I knew the evil that preyed mercilessly on the innocent. It riled me.
The blade found purchase on my palm. The metallic scent of warm blood flared. The blade fizzed where it made contact.
Blood for blood.
I shall be retribution.
Their hunt was now mine.
I stepped carefully through the breached door. The gloom heightened my senses. This singular route was in and out was not ideal.
There was little other choice.
I stalked through the tangle of metal and debris. Listening. The barest of vibrations carried through the hull now.. even distant footsteps pinged through the undamped plates. These pirates were using magcoupleing for sure footing.. which meant there was a literal cacophony of twelve heavy armoured feet clumping about. Finding them was not going to be a challenge. I had my target. There was also something else moving deep in the vessel, making it barely discernible.. a curiosity.
I picked through the near darkness. The pirates had what? Armour, weapons, barriers.. sensors?
The last one was tricky.
I stalked silently along the alien corridor, the odd storage cabinet's content now strewn across the floor by the marauders.
They wore heavy armour. Ignoring the ache of the deep tiredness; I suspected I could at least match these beings, depending on powered augments. There had to be movement, so there had to be weaknesses. A calculated gamble.
The first hapless pirate gurgled as the blade slipped across his neck from behind. The soft reinforced rubber gave effortlessly to the honed edge. I lowered the body to the floor silently before repeating the attack on his busy counterpart. The armful of loot pattering softly down as the body rumpled to the floor.
Barriers would either be kinetic or shielding.
The third of this group was busy at a wall safe. The flicker of holographic tools lit the side room. The enthrallment with whatever he was doing bought me the needed distraction to slip through the doorway. A triumphant exclamation as the door clicked open was cut short. I grabbed the helmet to plunge the blade through the myriad of holo layers with the barest of perceptible flickers as it sunk in beneath the jaw.
Kinetic.
I caught the body as it slumped forward and lowered it to the ground.
Something caught my eye as I looked up.
The partially open door slowly swung open. My spine ran cold. I reached out, fingers closing over the blackened cube within.
Why was this here? Did someone else know what this was?
A scritching noise made me look over my shoulder.
Chatter over the prone body's comm. The indecipherable barks broke me out of my distraction.
I slipped out the door and back into the shadows. The growing disquiet was going to alter the battleground. Haste was required. The next target was going to be a greater challenge. The squad was a deck below the quarters and doubtlessly on guard.
I skulked toward the cargo bay. The wall signage intimated that there was an alternate route via engineering. But every door leading way was shut with a 'sealed' chevron. Leaving just one path in.. and out.
The weapons in this age, beside biological dark energy manipulation, were clearly based on mass manipulation. The technology was a challenge, yes, but it was line of sight, highly directional which had existing mitigations. The most effective defence were kinetic barriers.. the were usually from one of two basic sources.. a projection harness worn by armour bearers, or a dark matter projection by a skilled wielder. I say usually because there is a third, uncommon but potent.. though not with its own limitations. In general, however, most projectile weapon tech would be vulnerable to close combat and distraction tactics.
I rounded the corner to hear open chatter from
the small hall. A figure was busy at the gutted remains of a control terminal. The massive door adjacent to it was apparently electronically disabled. Beyond that was the cargo bay. The tech was presently dedicated to resolving the blockage. The problem remaining was with the two armed comrades. Their drawn assault rifles actively scanning the other two entrances.
And then, lastly, there was: sensors. Most species develop bio trackers and sensors based on common distortion traits and the electrical fields that most lifeforms, biological and synthetic, put out. Barring complex exceptions, this was usually limited to the near vicinity. Jammers or scramblers were a common and simple countermeasure, but these also informed the scanning party of a local threat. Then there was also a blocker. Rarer and usually of biological origin and gifting basic sensor and tracker invisibility, however it also came with serious downsides.
Every moment of indecision carried the cost of potential failure. It would not be long until reinforcements would storm in from the attached ship to find their compatriots.. and then.. well, all bets were off.
The tech looked up from his holo wrapped arm as a chime bleated from the dangling console remains.
".. we're in-", a clank from the door indicating the retraction of locking bolts. "Gonna need a hand to open this manually."
"On it." The left goon holstered his weapon on his back. The device folded and compacted as he instinctively stowed it on a waiting magclip built into the armour's backplate.
An ingenious solution to an apparent loadout limitation.
The door creaked as the two grunted in effort.
I took my chance. A river of calm flowing through me.
Technological over dependency was a real thing. Give a soldier all the gear, only train them to the nines on it and then take away every edge it gives them..
Stepping into plain view I walked straight toward the solitary guard.
The first reaction is denial. Trust in their own senses has long since been replaced by markers and prompts.
"Eh? what the hell?"
Move swiftly and directly. Remain still in every other way. Keep the obvious threat concealed. Exploit and excite every uncertainty. Stretch denial to disbelief, hesitation to paralysis.
The confused exclamation was ignored by the occupied two. The helmet snapping back from its questioning glance.
Take every distraction. Close the space.
The assault rifle started to lift and swing my way.
Strike.
The weapon barked as it fired wildly. My launched kick driving the aim away, up and across the ceiling in a rain of sparks and tracers. I spun, dragging the freshly pitted and serrated length of the blade through the exposed neck, a simtaneous knee into the arm breaking the rifle out of the reeling grip, letting it to tumble into the air. I flipped the hilt and rammed the blade through the faceplate. Driving the blade down to the ground with all my weight and an audible crunch.
I snatched at the clatter of the falling assault rifle. The trigger fell effortlessly beneath my finger as a second instinct took over. The attention of the other two was finally focused on me now that they'd freed themselves. I rose from a side roll, the burst of rounds flaring on barriers before pounding through. Making their mark just as a scream accompanied the body of the tech as he slammed across the room. The blue glow of dark energy crackling and weaving dark flames around the slumping figure as a warp followed to pile into the form.
I watched the body crumple and slide down to a stop. The assault rifle plinking as the metal cooled.
"What the hell are you doing?" Barked an angry Asari voice through the horizontal split door. Her full head was just about visible in the gap.
I looked at the rifle. At the hole riddled body. At the pinkish bloody pool surrounding the buried knife… the boneless figure wasn't my doing.
I shrugged.
The Asari I recognised as the commando, Cassia, glared
at me from beyond and across the carnage. "Get in here and do it fast."
There wasn't a good way to clamber through a partially open door. The effort was made slightly more uncomfortable with a recently liberated blade clutched in my left hand. The item was immediately the focus of the black clad Asari. She rounded on me as I found my feet. Her hand clamped around my neck as she grunted, summoning a significant dark energy field to slam and pin me against the wall. "Where did you get that?"
"Cassia. We have more pressing matters at hand.", the notably weakened voice of the Matriarch Rethana from the open shuttle door, turned the commando away from the impromptu interrogation. "Perhaps our friend can assist?"
"Fine." Cassia let out an acknowledging growl as she collapsed the field. My feet quickly taking my weight again. The commando looked me up and down in a late attempt to gauge my mass before gesturing with a cock of her head for me to follow.
The primary occupant of the cargo bay was a boxy shuttle craft. Not a simple and spartan craft of military providence that I was used to.. no, this vessel appeared to have no small amount of hints at understated capability.. FTL, in some degree. A large number of field projectors suggesting significant barrier generation. Weapons.. a bulkier than expected powertrain.. A shuttle or a small yacht?
Rethana retreated back into the lit and well fitted space beyond the small craft's door.
I guess that answered the question..
The commando led on around the cramped bay.
"The door is solid tritanium." She started in the singsong effort of open annoyance. "There is no power to drive it and we can't blast it open without taking out half the ship with it in the explosion and decompression." She glared at me in open and misdirected frustration, "Do you have any bright ideas?"
I ignored the Asari's goads, wiping the blade on my belt and crudely sheathing it. Noting the distasteful wince.
"You have no other options?"
She folded her arms. "I wouldn't be asking if I did."
I studied the locked door. "Can you phase?"
She scowled at me. "What is that?"
"A dark matter trait, sometimes those who wield element zero based abilities can harness the non interactibiltiy of the element to varying degrees."
Cassia shook her head. "I've never heard of it."
"It's not common.. Those who discover first tend to die in its execution. Especially if in a gravity well." I looked at the plainly impermeable barrier between us and free space before turning to the idly observant commando and asking, " Is your Matriarch dying?"
The Asari stared darkly at me. "That is not your concern."
"I see." I made my way back to the craft. "Then perhaps it is better for us to leave the immediate danger before our problems multiply."
"You've done nothing to get us out?"
"Correct."
"We don't have a way out.. so.. how do we get out?"
"You do." I stopped and frowned, then grinned at the patent confusion. "Isn't it obvious?"
"NO!"
I stopped outside the shuttle's hatch. "You can warp, correct?" I pointed toward bay's the massive door.
"Not a chance."
"I didn't see you try."
"No one can sustain a field of that size! And it's into a vacuum.. I'd be sucked into space!"
"So?" I pointed to the latch interfaces and lingered on one of the hydraulic driver pistons.
"Goddess! Oh, come on!"
I cocked my head. "Do you pretend to serve your charge? Why are there limits to the extent of commitment and duty in your responsibilities? Who do you really serve? Your charge, or you?"
"I.."
I smiled. The expression taking the Asari even further off
guard. I patted her on the shoulder, earning a fresh scowl.
"You believe value is service in continuum.. that serving agency in tomorrow is more important than today. You fear what you think you may not be able to exert control over. I understand."
"By the goddess.. What are you?"
I stared into free space for a moment. Ignoring the impending and immediate mount of chaos. We needed options we didn't
have.. leaving one remaining course of action. Make a new option.
I turned to the still simmering Asari commando. "Will you assist me?"
I could feel the bore of her gaze. "Will it kill me?"
"Only if you want it too."
".. give me strength-"
"Yes. We will need it."
"I wasn't talking to you."
"I know. But we will still need it." I walked back toward the partially forced open cargo door where the split orange chevron blinked a staccatoed warning. The unmoved asari's glare following me. "Come."
/** AN:
Hey! Thanks for getting this far. I hope its been an interesting ride.
/E
**/
