Hello Roy,
I'm sorry about my previous message. I'm not doing too good right now, and your message came at the wrong time. I need some time alone, Roy. I'll message you again.
But I'm glad you and Shepard are okay. I really am.
Marie.
We were coming up to the eighth week of training, which was going to culminate with a training exercise called, and how is that for irony, the crucible. An excruciating 54-hour march we were promised would test us physically, mentally, and morally.
That last part just confused the hell out of me. Were they going to give us some questions, Blade Runner style, to see how we answered them?
You're walking through the desert, and you see a tortoise.
"Hows school?" I said.
Shepard looked at the screen and shrugged, her face neutral. "Ok I guess. It's just school."
"How are you going with your classmates?"
"… fine." I gave her a look, which only made her shake her head. "You already know."
"I talk with your teachers of course," I replied with a shrug. "But how are you doing?"
"I don't care," she replied. "They keep bothering me, I just want to be left alone."
I suppressed a sigh, because that would send the wrong message. No, I understood wanting to be left alone, while people want to not leave you alone.
"Ali, we talked about this," I said, but that was all I said. There was a whole conversation there I didn't want to repeat. I decided to try another track. "You know, all you have to do is distract them."
That was a new one for her. "Distract them?"
"Yep. That's what I used to do."
"You?"
"That hard to believe? Look, people like to just hang out, talk, all that stuff. If you've got trouble with that, then distract them."
"O... kay?"
"So, do something."
"Like what?"
"Whatever you prefer," I said with a shrug. "Me? I used to cook." She didn't say, but asked with her eyes. "I'd invite my buddies over, and cook one big honking meal at my place. When you're busy playing host, you don't have to spend a lot of time talking, you know. Snatch a bit of conversation here or there, then excuse yourself to check the oven, or flip the ribs on the barbecue, works fine."
Shepard nodded, but she gave me a look again.
"Okay, what is it? You don't believe me?" I said.
"What are you planning?" Shepard replied.
"… Lana, since then are you so paranoid?" She didn't answer, so I continued. "It's nothing sinister, you know. I think it'll help, it works and it helped me," I said with a shrug. "Give it a try, will you?"
"... 'kay."
I glanced at the clock on the corner, my time was almost up. "All right, time's up. You need anything?"
"No, I'm fine."
"All righty. We'll talk next week, in the meantime," I raised my omni-tool to show it to the camera, and Shepard gave me a nod right before the call ended.
Despite now taking care of Shepard, my allotted FTL time was still only five minutes, which was kind of irksome. It was hard to pack a lot of conversation with her when she was so reluctant to talk, and compressing it into five minutes wasn't easy.
And every time I talked to her, I had less of an idea what was going through her head. Dammit, I should be there with her, not playing soldier like a friggin' idiot.
I gave the next recruit taking the FTL a nod, and made my way towards the gym. My unit was waiting for me there. We had a sparring match with another unit, part of a kind of mini-tournament the platoon had going on. I put some spirit to it, and made the run in a couple of minutes.
"Hey Mindoir!"
Only one person still called me that, and that was Jake. I picked up a set of gloves and a headguard, and turned to see him coming towards me. He was already in full sparring gear, ready to jump on the mats.
"Hey bro, good to see you," I said, holding my fist out.
"Damn good to see you too," he replied, bumping my fist. "You ready?"
"Sure. Wait..." I gave him a look, and he chuckled. "We're ducking it out?"
"That's the plan. Well, it's king of the mat, so whoever takes the turn."
"May not make it," I said.
"Speak for yourself," he replied with a chuckle.
I threw him an easy to dodge punch, and after he did so, he gave me a shove out of the way. With that, we walked to our respective units, where they welcomed me with open arms.
"Oh joy, Jinx is back," Ramsey said.
Or not.
"It's great, there's six of us again," Chyse replied, keeping the sarcastic tone going.
"Yup!" Kim added, and she, for one, didn't sound sarcastic at all. "Come on Jinx, gloves up!"
I secured my headgear, cracked my neck, and followed orders, gloves up. With a couple of quick jabs, we were off to the races, for a warmup at least. The sparring was pretty simple, we'd go in order – chosen at random – and it was king of the hill. Last person standing won the point for his unit. Three minute rounds, out by tapping out, three takedowns in one round, or getting pushed out of the mat. If five rounds had the two people fighting tied, both were out, and we moved down the ranks.
To be honest, we were middle of the pack, and it was unlikely we'd get much further. Half our team was very good – Kim, Elisa, and Brod, the latter more due to the fact that he was a freaking wall of muscle – Ramsey and Chyse were pretty meh, and me... Well, I hadn't won one yet.
So, after a good twenty minutes we drew lots, and I was last. Woot.
Brod went first, Chyse next... I wasn't paying much attention. Jake did get the best out of Ramsey, which was hilarious to watch, but it took him five rounds, and then Elisa came along and kicked him out in three. Eight full rounds was a bit much at the pace Elisa had set for him.
In the end, it came down to Carr, from Jake's team, against Kim. And if Kim for some reason failed to kick his butt, it'd be my turn. Not likely, so I just relaxed and watched the show.
"So, you and me then," Carr said, his smile showing a row of uneven teeth.
"And Jinx," Kim replied, raising her guard. Unlike Carr's, her voice was muffled behind a mouthguard.
"As I said-"
"Go!" the ref called, and they were off.
Kim took the initiative quickly, pushing forward and sneaking under Carr's guard before he had a chance to close it. She scored two good hits, and I saw him flinch before closing down and taking a step back. He looked like he was open, but as soon as Kim stepped close again, he reacted with a hook going straight for her.
She sidestepped it, and had to take a quick couple of steps back to get her balance again.
"Woo, almost took the bait there," Carr said.
"You gonna talk me to death or something?" Kim said.
"Just enjoying our little moment," he replied.
I saw Kim's face relax as her guard went up, which I knew meant she was pissed. Unusual. She was usually calm, and it took a lot to get her riled up. She was a curious one, the more relaxed she was, the more expressive; when her face became a mask of bland calmness, that's when you had to worry.
Not that it mattered, though. Pissed off Kim usually meant lethal Kim. I wasn't sure if others had picked up yet, but I was starting to suspect Carr had.
Yet he was acting like it was one big joke.
Huh. I'm missing something.
Whatever, I could ask her later. I expected I wouldn't have to wait for long. She was coiling up like a spring before every exchange, measuring her every step. She had gone through his guard twice already, scored a couple of good body hits, but he was managing to stay in the fight.
Surprising. In fact, the way he seemed to anticipate how Kim was moving was even more so.
Do these two know each other?
It was starting to seem more than likely. Carr kept his cocky smile, even when Kim hit him – body blows, always body blows, he was keeping well clear of grappling with her and for good damn reason – and had managed a couple of hits she had rolled away from. Kim, on the other hand, was starting to look somewhat frustrated.
He was going to lose on points at that rate. Five rounds and they'd be both out, leaving me alone to take the win, and without throwing a single punch too. He couldn't keep that up forever, he'd have to take some risks eventually.
After the second round, I made my way towards Kim. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground, her breathing deep but controlled.
"You okay?" I said.
"Fine," she replied, her voice flat.
Gently now...
"You know you can beat him, right? You don't have to prove anything, we can all see it."
"Your point?"
"My point is that he can't just keep waiting or they'll lose. He's the one who has to make a move. Don't just get frustrated, wait for it and win it."
"Thank you."
Conversation over.
She got up to her feet with one fluid move, getting ready in an instant. I had no idea if anything had gone through, and in truth, I probably hadn't told her anything she didn't know, but it was clear that Carr had worked her head. I pondered again whether I should ask her later or not, but it really wasn't any of my business. Or maybe it was, we were in the same unit after all. She and Brod were the ones making me feel like I was part of it, so maybe I should see if I could get her to talk.
All that was going through my head watching the fight. More of the same, Kim scoring hits, and her hits starting to have visible impact, but Carr kept pushing back every so often. Then, it all happened in an instant. Kim scored a good hit, rolled away from Carr's counter, and he suddenly pressed harder, scoring again and forcing her to move. Two steps, a duck, and she slipped under his guard and away from him.
Good girl, now-
"Out!" the referee shouted.
Everyone turned to him in absolute surprise, everyone except Carr. He laughed softly and lowered his guard, as Kim stared the ref down.
"What the hell are you-"
"You stepped outside," he said, pointing at the blue oval line on the mat.
Realization dawned on her almost in slow motion. She turned to look at Carr, who had the biggest shit-eating grin ever on his face, and for a moment, her body language was shouting that she was about to pounce on him and beat him to a pulp.
"Hey, hey," Carr said, raising his hands in a mock surrender. "Fight's over girl, take it easy."
The funniest thing was how nobody moved to get in between them, almost like we were just waiting to see what would happen. After the longest, most awkward pause ever, Kim lowered her guard, and walked off, sitting by the mat cross-legged and without saying a word, or looking at anyone.
"Come on Jinx, let's get this over with!" Carr called.
He looked all too smug about himself. I didn't care one way or another when we won or lost a fight – well, I cared because everyone wants to win, but not on a personal level, so to speak – but his attitude was irritating me. I gave Kim one last look – she had her eyes fixed on a spot about two feet in front of her – and got onto the mat myself, making sure the mouthguard was in place.
Funny how most people didn't wear mouthguards. Apparently medi-gel in the mouth was a show of badassitude or something. I didn't much care for biting myself when I got pounced on.
"I'll make it quick, don't worry," Carr said, raising his guard.
That's right, I never win any of these. I looked Carr up and down. His guard was sloppy, and his posture relaxed. Confident, aren't we? Well, you ain't got shit on Jameson, little guy.
Everyone looked little next to Jameson.
"Go!" the ref called.
With that, Carr took the initiative, and came straight at me. I flinched and got in my guard, taking the first couple of punches and rolling away on the third. He repeated the attack, and ended up with the same result. Two punches, missed the third, and I backed away.
Then the murmurs started. Waste of time, get it over with.
Good.
"Shit, Jinx. You actually got out of that twice, well done," Carr said, his voice amused and sarcastic.
I didn't say a word, just shrugged and raised my guard again, high and tight around my head. I didn't want to overdo it, I just wanted it to say "I'm scared and don't want to be punched on the face." Which was only half-wrong, I do prefer not to be punched on the face after all.
Luckily for me, Carr didn't care. He wasn't being careful or cautious. He dove in again, threw a couple of punches to my head, then followed with a body hit. Which was what I had been waiting for.
I still had to take the hit, but I was fast enough to grab his arm and pull him in, catching him by surprise and making him lose his balance. I was already making a hard sweep with my elbow and I caught him right on the face with it. The headguard took the brunt of the hit, but still was enough to get enough room and time to finish with a kick.
Straight to the chest.
Short on finesse and grace, I admit, but with all my weight behind it, I sent Carr flying back. He landed outside the mat, and rolled a couple of times and onto the one next to us, interrupting the ongoing fight there and getting quite a chorus of surprised shouts.
Me? I was surprised too, but mostly because it had worked so well. And judging by the stunned silence that surrounded me, I wasn't the only one. I took a quick look around to find that, yep, they were all quite shocked. Some were looking at Carr, who was being helped up to his feet by the guys on the other mat – and none too happy about it, it seemed – and others were just looking at me.
The only one to speak was Jake.
"Holy shit, Mindoir!" he shouted; and with that, he broke the spell. Some of the members of his team rushed towards Carr, and the others just stood there looking.
I just looked at the ref and shrugged.
"Well?" I said.
"That's a point," he replied with a chuckle. "Well done Jinx."
With that, my team jumped up to their feet, and basically mobbed me. Brod gave me a slap on the back that dislocated my freaking spleen, Elisa put me in a headlock, and all around I wasn't sure whether they were congratulating me or trying to beat me up as a revenge for having survived.
Maybe both.
I noticed that Kim didn't join in at first, and she waited until the others went off to train and pulled me aside. OR, well, dragged me, to be more accurate.
"What on Earth was that?" she said, looking at me straight in the eye.
"What was what?"
"That," she insisted, making a discrete gesture towards Carr. Like the others, he had gone back to training, and was punching a large bag with some real gusto. I caught him giving us two a sideglance, then punch the bag even harder.
"Weren't you the one who said I had potential?" I said. I must admit, I was enjoying the confusion they were all showing.
"Yes. And I said you were in desperate need of an attitude adjustment."
I chuckled at that. "Or rather a swift kick in the butt."
"Yeah, rather," she replied, but she didn't let go. "What the hell happened to you Jinx? You were gone for a week. That's it, a week!"
I gestured for her to pipe down, mostly because she was starting to look pissed. What happened? That'd be a long story, and it wasn't really the time for it. After thinking for a few seconds, I decided to settle with a short explanation.
"Batarians," I said.
Maybe too short.
"Yeah, I know, that's what landed you here," Kim said, her voice clipped. "But-"
"No, no, last week. Batarians. That, and training with Jameson."
"Really." She took a step back and gave me a look. "Jinx, you really have a gift for trouble. You've got to tell me this story now."
"Sure." I made a point of looking at Carr, which got Kim's attention. "I'll trade you for the story between you and Carr."
"That-" She checked herself, and I practically felt the electric jolt of a thought shooting through her brain. "Tell you what, let's bet on it."
"Huh?"
"Three rounds, loser has to tell the story."
She didn't give me time to answer before throwing me a body punch, quickly followed by a jab to the face. I took the body hit, and managed to dodge the jab, taking a quick step back to get room.
"Hah, this is great!" she said, with all the glee of a recently graduated schoolgirl. "Look at you. I don't have to hold back anymore!"
Well, shit.
Hey Lana,
I'm going to have to miss this Sunday's call, we're starting tomorrow with some exercise called the crucible, the irony of which I hope you never have to discover. It seems to be a big deal, and people here have been looking at me like I'm crazy for not knowing what it is.
Anyway, just that I'll be out of touch for a bit. Not that you can't take care of yourself while I'm gone, huh?
I'll call you when I can.
Take care,
Roy.-
Shepard looked at the message once again before closing it, her hand swiping her omni-tool a little harder than she'd have wanted. Yeah, she could survive without Roy checking up on her. In fact, the idea that Roy could think that she may not made her a little angry.
Which was worse, because she hated the fact that she was lashing out like that. Moreover, it seemed like everything Roy did was designed to annoy her, yet here she was, about to do exactly what he had asked her to do.
And she was sure it'd work, too. When was he ever wrong?
She closed her omni-tool and stood up. Classes were over, so most people were getting ready to leave. But some where still there. Ian, Nestor, Rachel... And one other blonde girl whose name she couldn't remember.
This is stupid... I don't want their attention.
"Hey," Shepard said, breaking into the little group.
"Yo," Ian replied, he was the only one that really made an effort to talk to her. Tall and thin guy, with short styled brown hair and dark complexion, very proud of his Italian heritage. "What's up?"
"No, just wondering..." Shepard paused for a moment. "Are you guys busy tomorrow?"
A few glances were exchanged, together with a couple of shrugs.
"I haven't planned anything," Rachel said.
"Not me," the other girl added.
"Why, are you doing something?" Ian said.
"No, just... I was going to try the rock climbing gym on deck C, and I didn't want to go alone."
Yeah, that sounded as lame as she had expected, and the others' reactions kind of confirmed it.
"Um, okay?" Ian said. "Any particular reason, or..."
Just figured it involves a lot of doing things by myself and not having to talk.
Unable to come up with something to say to that, Shepard merely shrugged.
"I've done that a couple of times," Nestor said. "Not as exciting as it sounds, but... Sure, why not."
There were nods of assent all around, one hurdle down. "Ten in the morning okay?" Shepard said.
"Will do, we can grab a bite after the workout," Nestor replied.
"Ah, sure, I"ll make something," Shepard replied. The words were out of her mouth even before the thought about them, but now that they had escaped there was nothing she could do.
She blamed Roy. He was the one that put the idea of cooking in her head.
We had been at this for sixteen hours now, and I have to admit, it was starting to get really fucking hard. On the other hand, and on the subject of admissions, I was astonished with the fact that I had managed to hold out for a whole sixteen hours of hell. We had covered twenty miles so far, gone through three exercises – a minefield, a blocked bridge, and the freaking kinetic barrier puzzle Elisa had fucked up big time – and we were coming to another one. It was dusk, getting dark quickly, and I was fucking starving.
Food was supposed to be waiting for us once we were done. I didn't expect a feast though, maybe some dry rations to keep us in a bad mood.
"Recruits!" Yep, the drill sergeant. He was doing the hike with us, and I swear he hadn't broken a sweat yet. My whole unit and I snapped to attention.
"Sir!"
"Do you see that bunker?" he said, and pointed in the distance. Sure enough, there it was. It wasn't so much a bunker as a badly put together collection of concrete walls.
"Yes sir!"
"Your task is to take it, and take it fast!" He pointed to the side, where six pistols had been laid out on a rock. "Those are your weapons."
There were six of them, so this time we did have weapons for everyone. We filed out and grabbed them quickly.
"Chu!" the sergeant called. That was Kim.
"Sir!" she replied.
"You're in charge. Move it!"
"Yes sir!" She turned to give us a once over, and gestured with her head. "Let's go! Stay behind me."
We marched out, following the diminutive figure of Kim. With the low Sun and the way she moved, she gave the impression of being even smaller than she was, taking cover with practiced ease as she did. We had a good five hundred yards between us and the bunker, and the space between us and it was very open. Nothing more than short grass and a scattering of low pieces of concrete acting as cover.
As far as I could tell, it was a very straightforward exercise, and the sooner we could get it over with, the better.
Kim had a different idea. She stopped when we were about three hundred yards from the objective, and gestured for us to get down.
Then, we waited.
And waited.
"What's going on?" I finally said.
"We gonna do this or what?" Brod added, spurred by my silence-breaking.
"I don't like it," she replied.
"What's there to like? Let's fucking do this!" Ramsey said, standing up and moving ahead. He hadn't taken five steps when Kim jumped out and tackled him, taking him down hard.
And just in time. Their dive was quickly followed by a trail of paint bullets, hitting the ground they had just vacated.
"What the FUCK do you think you're doing!" Kim shouted, and it was definitely not a question. I heard Ramsey grunt, but he didn't answer. Probably thanks to the arm Kim had firmly wrapped around his throat. "You don't move, talk, or even BREATHE until I say so!"
Ramsey grunted again.
"Is it clear?" Kim snapped.
"Y-yes..." he managed to whisper, and only then did Kim let him go.
Fuck, that's a new one. Goddammit Kim.
She took another look around, and poked her head over the lip of the rock she was hiding behind. A moment later she dove down, and a few more shots landed on it.
"Three turrets," Kim said. "We're going to have to weave between covers."
Nobody dared to answer. I looked over my own cover, and after some squinting I managed to see what Kim had said. Three turrets, turning left and right, scanning. There was a small flash of light, and I ducked away from the line of fire before they could hit me.
"Jinx!" Kim called.
"One sec," I replied, raising my hand.
Did I see that right?
Slowly, I rose again, and looked at the turrets. They were still moving the same slow way. The one further to the right turned to face me, and another flash of light preceded the string of paintballs thrown my way. I was already down.
"Jinx?" Kim called.
"The turrets," I replied. There was a very obvious pattern. "They-"
"Yeah, I saw," Kim interrupted me. She was looking at us, one by one, and they way she was doing it, she had to be making some mental maths.
And I'm pretty sure even Brod was too scared to interrupt. Hell if she wasn't taking her leadership role seriously. I could see her being the drill sergeant for the next lot of recruits.
It struck me as odd, though. She was calm. When she was pissed off, she became very calm. I didn't think the pressure of leadership would get to her like that. Or maybe she was hungry and tired too, like the rest of us. Well, like me at least. Or maybe she was haming it up for a laugh. She did that; not often, but she did have her moments.
"Jinx, you're with me," she said after a few minutes.
"Sure," I replied, readying myself to bolt out.
"Everyone else, stay here as backup. We may need you to move on a moment's notice."
"Yes, sir," Brod replied, and I couldn't tell whether he was being sarcastic or not.
Kim turned around, gave me a glance over her shoulder, and peeked over the edge of her cover. The sun was getting even lower now, and the shadows were lengthening before our very eyes. We had to haul ass unless we wanted to do it in the dark.
"On my nine," she said.
She counted down from three with her fingers, and on zero, we both bolted, running at top speed for the next cover. She was the first one down, and I had to really press it hard to make it through without being shot. It was so close that I got a few drops of the paintball splatter on my boot.
"Jinx?" Kim called.
"I'm fine," I replied. "No hits."
"Good. See the pattern?"
I looked out of my cover for half a second, then got back in. "Yeah."
"Good, keep pushing."
"You sure this'll work?"
"Sure," she said, her voice relaxed and chirp.
The hell? Is she bipolar or something?
"Go!" she shouted.
I didn't even look, I trusted her enough to just follow as she called. We both pushed forward hard, and again, we managed to get to safety in the nick of time. Kim with a little more time than me. Damn, she was fast.
"Shit!" I shouted. I tripped on the last step of my sprint, landing face first on the short grass but, luckily, out of danger.
"Don't tell me you got hit!"
"No, I'm fine!" I snapped, spitting dirt out. "Dammit Kim, it's not going to work!"
"What do you mean?"
"The closer we are, the quicker the shots come! I'm not going to be fast enough to get to the end."
"You let me worry about that," Kim replied. She paused, making me lean over to look at her. "Trust me."
"… I do trust you, I'm just saying."
"What? Come on, spit it out."
"I'm just saying, I'm not going to make it. I can't make it."
"Have a little faith, Jinx," she said, and even though I couldn't see her face, I could just feel her smile.
"You've got more faith in me than I do," I muttered.
"Ain't that the truth," Kim replied. "On three Jinx, come on."
What else could I do? I followed her lead, following instructions and running, always running. The closer we got to the bunker, the quicker the shots from the turrets got to us. The "bullets" were limited by the fact that they were paintballs - somewhat fragile and rather large - so they couldn't fly as fast as regular ammo block shavings. They could hurt like a motherfucker if they hit you without armor, but with the training set we had on they couldn't really injure us.
When we were about a hundred yards from the goal, I hit my wall. Two false starts and having to recoil very quickly back in cover later, it was clear I wasn't getting any further on my own.
"Jinx," Kim called. She was a good twenty yards ahead now, and very much on her own.
"This isn't working."
"I know, I know. That's okay, we're close enough."
"For what?"
"I'm going to draw their fire to give you a head start. Head for the cover on your two."
"You're going to- Kim, are you serious?"
"Oh ye of little faith," she replied. "Don't slow down, and don't hesitate. You can make it. Ready... Go!"
I heard the shots right before she shouted "go!", and I bolted out without even thinking. Either she was right and I was going to make it, or we were about to fail spectacularly. We had most of the team back at the start, the leader was drawing all the fire, and if I got shot I was going to leave her there on her own with her pants down.
Just fucking run!
The last thing I needed was to get distracted. My chest was on fire, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my throat, but I had to keep moving. It was the longest haul yet, but I couldn't slow down. I made the last step shorter, pushing forward and sliding over the grass to land feet forward right behind the cover, bumping off rather unceremoniously.
"I'm in!" I called to the comms.
"I saw, good going," Kim replied. Her breathing was a little fast, too. Not as bad as mine, but still noticeable.
"What's next?"
"Catch your breath, and we'll do it again."
"Catch my breath?" I looked up to the sky, where a few stars were already visible. "We don't have time, Kim."
"Hey, I'm in charge here!" she snapped.
Friggin hell!
"… 'kay."
I heard Kim snickering, loud enough that I knew she wanted me to hear. She was driving me freaking insane, was she crazy, pissed off, or what?
"All right then, let's move Jinx."
We kept the pace this way, inching closer and closer to the bunker. Until we were just one run from the outer wall. Just one run.
And fucking pinned down by the turrets. We couldn't get an inch of armor out of cover without getting pelted, and this time it looked like they weren't just moving along. They were actively tracking us.
"There's always a twist, Jinx. That's life," Kim said over the comms. We were on opposite sides of the field, which would have been a perfect position if the turrets had still been behaving as normal.
"Now what?"
I saw her peek out of cover, and dive in immediately as the shots started. We had tried alternating, too, but we didn't get far. Turrets were finally behaving somewhat intelligently.
"I guess it's time for the cavalry." The comms crackled, and my HUD lit up with the status on the rest of the team. "How is it going back there?"
"Boring," Brod said, getting grunts of agreement from the rest of the team.
"It's about to get more interesting. We need you four to move forward. Just get close enough that the turrets notice you, but stay in cover."
"Want us to shoot a few?" Brod said.
"No!" Kim snapped. "We're taking this place without a single bullet."
"… you're crazy, Kim," Brod said.
"Like a fox." The HUD lit up again, and I saw four markers appear in the distance. "Get your asses into place, now!"
She cut the comms, and the team dutifully followed orders, moving to their designated spots. The turrets had already picked them, and had started their sentry program again. I waited, looking for the pattern, and as soon as I saw a gap-
"Jinx! Stay put!" Kim barked over the comms, rooting me to the spot instantly.
".. were you reading my fucking mind?"
"Yes, you're that transparent," she replied with a chuckle. "Stay put."
I don't know how long we were there. The Sun was gone, and the moon wasn't helping much as clouds had started to appear. I had no idea what Kim was waiting for. As far as I could tell there was no pattern we could use. The turrets were simple on sentry mode, but with us they were simply reacting fast, chasing us.
And she didn't want us shooting them. Friggin' overachiever.
Then the comms finally crackled to life.
"All right everyone. By the numbers. Brod, Elisa, Chyse, and Ramsey. On my mark."
We got the acknowledgement from the other four, and then the wait started, trying to get to the right moment.
"One!" Kim shouted. The turrets soon started picking targets. "Two! Three!"
A heartbeat. Then I saw what she was doing. The turrets paused the sentry movement when they started shooting. And she was freaking syncing them.
"Two!" she called again. "FOUR!"
On four, all three turrets were shooting over my head, facing the opposite side of the field. Then Kim took off running.
She was fast. Damn but she was fast. She headed straight for the wall, making the best of the split second advantage of the turrets having to switch targets. The turret closest to her lost the target as the wall blocked the angle. The one in the middle was soon to follow. Then I realized the far one, the one closest to me, was going to take her down.
No fucking way.
I didn't think about it. I vaulted over the cover, and rushed straight for the wall. I didn't even look, I was sure the turret had already tracked me, all I had to do was get to the wall before it could shoot me. I pushed as hard as I could, harder even, I was vaguely aware of the turret shooting, but when I slammed on the wall, I knew I was safe.
Fuck yeah!
That's when I saw the far turret. Much like the near one had a great shot of Kim, the far one now had a great shot of... me.
"Move it Jinx!"
Kim caught on quick. While I had only thought as far as getting the turret off her back, she had already figured out not only how fast they switched targets, but what the blind spots were. She had pulled out, just enough to catch the attention of the Vis driving the ordinance, and pulled back to give me a chance to move.
A sprint later and I slammed against the concrete right next to her.
"Dammit Jinx, you nearly screwed us over!"
"Hey, I saved your ass back there!" I snapped.
She looked at me, and from that close I could see the smirk behind the face shield.
"Come on, give me a hand up," she said, giving me a backhanded smack on the chest.
She looked up, I did the same, and saw what she meant. It was tall, but not too tall. With a good push I might be able to get Kim up there. I interleaved my fingers, bent down, and as she took a couple of steps back, braced for impact. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet. One, two, and on three she jumped ahead. I pulled as hard as I could as soon as I felt her weight on my hands, and of she went. I watched her fly up, reach, and... barely catch herself on the edge of the wall.
But apparently that was all she needed. She pulled herself up with two fucking fingers, and disappeared behind the wall.
And then, we waited.
And waited.
"All right," the radio crackled to life. "That's a wrap."
…
Most anti-climatic end of mission ever.
Shepard thought that climbing walls would be somewhat amusing, but nowhere near as difficult as it turned out to be.
V1 should be doable enough, V5 to V7 are better reserved for geckos and certain species of spiders.
She thought they were joking, but it sure was true. She had gone with the blue marks this time, and she was downright stuck, holding on with two fingers from her left hand, and the most awkward position ever.
There was a handhold about a foot above her reach. She could jump there. Maybe. She didn't have much of a foothold – she'd more call it a toehold – but she could try. She took a deep breath, flexed as much as she could... And jumped.
Far too short. Her fingers scratched against the wall, a good three inches below the target, and gravity took over, sending her scrambling down and in free fall.
"Woah!"
The reel kicked in, and the safety rope slowed her fall, stopping her about six feet from the ground.
"Dammit!" she snapped.
"That was a little too ambitious," Ian said, smirking.
The rope slowly unwound, lowering Shepard down to the ground as she gathered whatever dignity she had left. She hurt all over, but somehow it felt good.
"Yeah, I see that," Shepard replied flatly.
She unhooked the rope, looked up the wall, and was already running the numbers in her head. The blue markers didn't really give her a lot of alternatives, but there were a couple of spots where maybe she could do things differently. She clenched her hands to stop the trembling of her fingers; they hurt now, and she suspected they'd hurt even more the next day.
"You're not going up again, are you?" Ian said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"What?" Shepard replied, turning to look at him. The other were further behind, sitting on one of the benches and chatting.
"We've been at it for three hours, Shepard."
"Really?" She brought her omni-tool up and looked at the time. Crap, he's right.
"The natives are getting restless," Ian said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the others. He smirked at Shepard's apparent surprise. "Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?"
"Guess so," she replied, shrugging.
"So, we're gonna go grab a bite. You coming?"
"Well yeah, I cooked lunch."
That stopped Ian mid-swing, throwing him off his track. "You... What? It was just a joke, you didn't have to-"
"It's just a lasagna, we can go somewhere if you prefer..."
"Hah, nah it's fine. Vat-grown lasagna is my favourite," he said, regaining his smirk.
"Vat-grown?" Shepard's face contorted into a confused expression.
"You know, vat-grown meat?"
"Ah. Right. No, Roy doesn't let me buy that stuff. I just used ground beef."
Looking at Ian's face, it was like he had just heard he was about to receive a gift from God. The silence that followed was so dense that Shepard started to stir uncomfortably in place. True, fresh meat was expensive – vat-grown fare made aboard the station was much cheaper – but Roy had been pretty clear. No crappy vat-grown goop for her, or it'd stunt her growth. She wasn't sure if he was serious or not.
"Wow, cool!" was all Ian managed to say.
The trip back to the small apartment wasn't as discrete as she'd have liked. They were excited like schoolgirls, and all Shepard could think was jeez, it's just some lasagna. The more they talked, the more worried she was. Yes, it's real meat. No, I'm not a chef. Yes, I've made it before. Yes, it was a lot cheaper on Mindoir.
That last one hurt, because Mindoir was the last thing she wanted to think about. Luckily, there was a distraction at hand.
Or, as it turned out, unluckily.
"What the..."
There were two people in enclosed yellow hazard suits right in front of her apartment, and it took her but a moment to recognize the Arcturus fire brigade; they had already had a visit from them, after all.
One of the men saw them coming, and took his helmet off. Brigade captain, she remembered him.
"Any of you live here?" he said.
"Y-yes, me," Shepard replied. "What-"
"Did you leave the oven running?" he interrupted.
"I- no! I mean, I programmed it, what happened?"
"What do you think?" he snapped, making Shepard wince. "This is a space station! Fires inside the station are extremely dangerous, we have to be fucking responsible here!"
Shepard lowered her gaze, waiting for the storm to pass. They got a hell of a lecture last time, and it was because of an equipment failure. This time around, there was nothing to blame except for her own irresponsibility. She had obviously screwed up the oven programming. The simplest task in the world, and she had screwed it up.
"It was just a mistake," Ian's voice interjected as soon as he could put a word in edgewise. "You don't have to-"
"A mistake? Mistakes happen when people are careless!"
"But-"
"Ian!" Shepard snapped, taking the boy completely by surprise. "I don't need your help!" She looked up at the brigade captain and nodded. "I screwed up, I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't going to cut it," he replied.
"I know."
"Whose apartment is it?"
"Roy Morgan, he's at Greyhound Camp, unit eight, eighty-three."
"Good. It's going to be a substantial fine." He stopped, and his voice finally lowered slightly. "Be more careful next time."
"Yes sir," Shepard said.
The captain turned to talk to the rest of his squad, and Shepard watched them go through the apartment. For what she could see it didn't look too bad. Everything was wet, of course, but it didn't look like it had really caught fire. There was a good amount of soot over the door of the oven though.
All those observations were because she couldn't bear the thought of turning to look at Ian. She had snapped at him without even thinking, and had probably undone every last bit of normalcy she might have managed to pass off as hers.
"You need help cleaning up?" Ian said, his voice holding a note of shyness Shepard hated to hear.
"No, I don't need help," she replied. Dammit, stop that you idiot! "Sorry, I ruined lunch," she added, finally managing to turn and look at Ian.
He shrugged, his cocky smirk making a brave attempt at returning. "It happens. Let's just head to Relay Rob's. Ya coming?"
Ribs!
The thought jumped into her mind without any prompt. The idea of a big rack of barbecue ribs was suddenly very, very appealing. Everything was always better when there were ribs on offer.
"But..." Shepard muttered, turning to look at the apartment.
"Eh, they'll close it once they're done. Come on, I'll help you clean later."
"I don't need help," she repeated, keeping the sharpness off her voice this time.
"I know," Ian replied with a shrug. "Let's just go, Nestor's hungry."
"Hey!"
I had had about four hours of sleep, and we were into hour forty-eight. If my maths were right – and with so little sleep, and so many fucking miles behind me, I was right to doubt their accuracy – we only had one exercise to go. And unless I was sorely mistaken, I was in charge of the last one. Again. I seemed to always end up at the tail of all rotations.
To tell the truth, I wasn't too nervous about it. There was no way I was going to screw up worse than Elisa had, after all. Ye gods, that had been embarrassing. At least I could see the humor of it; I was so wired, due to lack of sleep and excess of exercise, that everything seemed a bit surreal. Like it wasn't even happening, or that it wasn't actually me there, or that getting the entire team "killed" in ten seconds flat was funny.
When we arrived at the rally point I realized we were the first ones in. Damn.
"Good job Jinx, you are the first ones to arrive," the drill sergeant said.
He had put me in front to set the pace for the group, and the fact that I just wanted it to be over had propelled me forward at a good clip.
"Yes sir," I replied, trying hard not to show the fact that I was seriously contemplating collapsing and letting the world spin on, with or without me.
"Your target is straight ahead," the sergeant continued, and whether he didn't notice how worn I was or didn't care enough to comment, I didn't know. "It is an improvised comms centre, built on the ruins of an old concrete building."
Yeah, we could see that, but if there's something you don't do, it's interrupting the drill sergeant just to be a smartass.
"You will hold that building against the units following you, until one of them takes the comms from you. At that point, you will leave the station and continue your hike towards the Green Hill. Any questions?"
"No sir!" we all replied in unison. It seemed straightforward enough.
"Jinx, you are in charge. Assign weapons and stations. Go!"
I made for the weapon rack, to look at what we had to work with. Two sniper rifles, two assault rifles, a shotgun, and a pistol. I didn't know how much time we had, the next group could be arriving any second and we had to be ready.
With a quick glance I started divvying up the guns. The second sniper rifle went to Chyse – like her or not, she was good with it – and the assault rifles to the big guys, Brod and Elisa. Needless to say, I took the second sniper rifle. That left me with the shotgun and the pistol.
I handed the shotgun to Ramsey. I spun the pistol in my hand, and offered it to Kim.
"Really?" she said, giving me a look between annoyed and amused.
"You'll make the best of it," I replied, giving her a wink.
"What's the plan, boss?" Brod said, checking his rifle.
"Not much time for planning," I replied. "Chyse and I are going to be up the front perch."
"Both of us?" Chyse said.
"Yep, it's the last thing they'll expect!" That got me the looks again, so I just chuckled at it. "We're not going to be the ones holding them back," I continued, and pointed at Ramsey and Kim. "You two are. Chyse and I will be your eyes. Brod, Elisa, you'll be on the sides." I pointed at the ruins on both sides of the comms, where there was an abundance of cover. "Lots of heavy fire, we'll be calling targets. Kim, Ramsey, you'll be taking them down. Stay mobile, take them down up close."
Kim looked at Ramsey, and he returned the favour. I knew Kim was going to be aces at that role. Ramsey, I wasn't so sure, but hey, he got the role by default. Brod and Elisa I could count on, with the assault rifle, to be big and noisy. Chyse, I hoped she'd follow orders.
"Come on, no time to waste!"
I took off towards the comms, and the rest of the team followed suit. I called the spots for Elisa and Brod, and climbed quickly to the sniper perch. There were at least two other spots we could use, and I was tempted to change track and try to stay mobile between them, but it didn't seem practical. I'd rely on my assault rifles for mobility.
It struck me that I wasn't sure what the attackers would be armed with. The construction was solid, but if they brought heavy weapons – well, explosive paintballs really – we'd be trapped like rats.
I'll burn that bridge when I cross it.
Our first group of opponents came barrelling through less than a minute after we set up. Their strategy was clear, bumrush the comms tower and take it before we took all of them down. The comms were "shielded", meaning there was a glass canopy over it, so they had to physically get there.
"Kim, take the snipers," I called, shooting the recruit with the shotgun and diving in for cover. "Keep shooting, B!"
By the time I got up to shoot next, it was over. Kim and Ramsey were standing behind the group, and judging by the amount of paint covering our opponents, they had gone to town big time on them.
"Tsk, tsk. Guys, we're going to run out of paint at this rate," I called over the radio.
"Spoilsport," Kim replied. She saluted up to my position and rushed away, hiding behind the underbush and disappearing quickly.
It had been much too easy. Either those six were a bunch of knuckleheads – which was a possibility, some of the people who join the marines are at the shallow end of the gene pool – or they just wanted to get it over with and move on with the hike.
Couldn't blame them really.
I saw the second group before anyone else, coming at us slowly from the tall grass at the back. They were spread out, and the way they were moving, they were trying to take us all at the same time.
"Heads up," I called on the radio. "Spread out, watch the markers."
I put three markers out where I had seen movement. Then a fourth when I saw a sudden shake out at my two.
"That was me," Kim said, her voice very soft. "And they're one down."
"Good girl," I replied, and removed the marker.
That left two. I kept scanning the area, trying to figure out where the other two were.
The penny dropped just an instant before the shot. I had started to duck down fast already, so it flew right over my head.
Gave yourself away there.
"Chyse, my marker," I said, programming it on the VI. "Watch them come after me."
I crawled under the cover away from her, and made a show of coming out of cover very quickly to shoot wildly in the rough direction of the bullet. I ducked down in a flash, expecting the shot, and wasn't disappointed when they came.
Then I heard Chyse's gun go off. Twice.
And after that, her giggle.
"Two down," she said. "You should have seen them, I took one down, then the other actually bolted up to see what had happened," she added with another giggle.
"Cut the chatter, we've got three to go."
"Two," Kim replied.
I scanned the horizon with the sniper rifle, looking for a target. The markers had been updated – by Kim, of course – and it looked like the last two were just running around without a clue.
A sudden commotion in the grass preceded another call from Kim.
"One," she said.
"Anyone got popcorn?" Chyse called.
"Keep an eye on the last one," I cut.
The grass was annoying me. I couldn't get a clear shot on whoever was moving under the tall green blades, which was a pain in the ass. I wasn't going to shoot blindly, in case I hit a friendly.
"Shit!" Ramsay shouted.
The sound of guns shooting broke the tense silence, as well as the movement in the grass. I zoomed out in the scope and watched, finger on the trigger, and finally caught a glimpse of a suit of armor. The decision was almost automatic, I hit the trigger and a splatter of paint covered the back of his helmet.
"Ramsey, come in," I said. Nothing. "Ramsey, come on, it's over. I just shot the last of the group."
It was true, they were standing up already, and looked none too happy to boot.
"I'm out," Ramsey finally said, coming out of the grass. His armor was a mess of blue paint.
Damn.
"Okay, go take a break, we've got work to do. Kim, you want the shotgun?"
"Nope, you gave me a pistol, a pistol I'll use," she said. Oh you little-
"Heads up!" Chyse called, with the team responding by quickly scattering into cover.
And so we were off. Third group.
Fourth.
Fifth.
I stopped counting on the tenth. We lost Elisa sometime around the twentieth round, and it was partly my fault. With all the shooting, the spots where we were all taking cover were marked around with countless paint bullets, so it wasn't like we could be cute and sneaky about where we were. I should have made her move, and possibly shoot some fake painting on other spots.
Then, we were four.
"Eleven o'clock," I called, looking at the movement in the distance.
Someone was moving slowly, but not particularly stealthily. He was making his way towards our left, getting to my ten, approaching my nine... It was starting to get hard to follow and-
Shit!
"I got it," Chyse said.
"No! Get down!" I called.
Chyse ignored me, standing slightly to take the shot, and got a facefull of yellow paint over her helmet for her troubles. The impact was hard and surprising enough to drop her on her ass, her sniper rifle clattering away.
"Dammit, sniper down! Kim, find him!"
"I'm on-" her response was interrupted by paintball fire. "Crap, I can't get there."
"Shit."
I took a very quick look, and had to bolt down almost as fast as I had gone up, with a bullet missing me by half an inch. Damn, whoever was out there was fucking good.
"It's getting hairy here!" Brod called.
"You got someone on our nine!" I replied.
"I know!"
Think, think, think!
I crawled down to Chyse's position. She was sitting down on the floor with her arms crossed, and I could just feel the pout on her face. I resisted the urge to give her an earful, and concentrated on what I was about to do.
"Your helmet," I said.
"What?"
"You're out aren't you? You don't need it." She looked at me, but she wasn't moving. "Come on!"
That got her to move, but once she took her helmet off, I saw the face she was making. Definitely not convinced.
"I'm pretty sure I'm just supposed to sit here and not help."
"Eh, I'd have taken it from your cold dead body anyway," I replied.
Okay, that was childish.
I took the helmet, as well as her sniper rifle, and crawled down to my corner again. I didn't have a lot of time, so I had to work fast. I ripped the scope out of the gun, made some quick setting gel with my omni-tool, and pasted it on the side.
With a careful toss, I managed to throw it and make it stick to the ceiling, pointing roughly in the direction I wanted. With a quick flick of the omni-tool, I had it synced to my HUD. It was hella confusing, specially as I still had my own sniper rifle's scope synced too, but whoever had me pinned there was too fucking good to let me take a good look at him.
"JINX!" Brod shouted. Damn, he sounded like he was in very deep shit down there.
I put Chyse's helmet at the end of her sniper rifle, and turned it so that the paint wasn't visible from the outside. After that, I pulled it up, and immediately it was shot out of the end if the rifle by a paint bullet.
Even before it had dropped to the ground I was already up with my own rifle. I had seen the flash from the scope. I put my sniper to my shoulder and shot in the fastest move I had ever made. I was down before any retaliation could come through, but it didn't.
What came through was a "FUCK!" shout loud enough to be heard even without comms.
My next order of business was to get the pressure off Brod. The sniper could have been fucking with me, and just shouted to throw me off and pretend he had been hit. I hadn't had the time to see the result of the shot. But it was a risk I had to take. I pulled over the side of the perch, and smiled when I saw I had a clear shot.
One shot later, and Brod was suddenly out of trouble.
"Go get 'em big guy! Kim needs help."
"Gotcha."
We managed to pull through, but we were down to three. There was so much paint over the comms console cover that it was actually hard to see it through, but so far nobody had managed to get anywhere near it. I wasn't sure how much longer we'd be able to hold it, but I was feeling pretty damn good about it.
Soon, I was just amazed at how many more groups we still had to go through. I didn't even think we had that many people in the platoon (we didn't, the sergeant was re-sending some of the, in his words, "lazy" teams... after hosing them down). We held out for a long time, but eventually we were overwhelmed. Kim was getting slower – she was running offence all by herself – Brod was the only obvious target for the offensives, and me, I was always two to one against the opposite team snipers, and with no mobility as I was stuck atop the perch by myself. I couldn't move to any other spot and still keep a good view of the field to direct my team.
Brod was the first one to go down. Credit to the other team, sniper fire got to him through an absolute mess of obstacles. After that it was just Kim and me, and I was pinned down hard.
"Jinx!" Kim called. "I can't stop them!"
"Can you get to the back?"
"I can't! I'm pinned down!"
I couldn't see where she was from my perch, without becoming a big, honking, juicy target. The scope I had glued to the ceiling was not pointing that close, and the assault rifles were spitting round after round towards me. Two of them were still out there, and they were taking turns.
It was only a matter of time.
Well, fuck it.
"Jinx! I'm pinned!"
"Okay, get ready to bolt. I'll try to take one down at least. Ready?"
"Yes!"
I took a deep breath, and cradled the rifle against my shoulder. I had my back to the wall, getting ready to jump. I would have to be fast as hell to get anyone before they shot me down, but that's what it took.
If it was a real combat situation, it'd mean getting shot to get a fellow marine out of the shit I put her into.
… I can work with that.
A deep breath and shot up to my feet, two shots coming out in a fraction of a second, and right before I was taken down by a whole hail of paintball fire. A red light flashed across my HUD, and my comms went down.
Welp, I'm dead.
"Damn! Good shooting!" I heard Kim said. When I didn't answer, her tone changed dramatically. "Shit, Jinx!"
Sorry.
I saw the last two of the recruits on the other team coming out, one with a pistol, the other with an assault rifle, and make for the comms. They were moving fast, but they weren't just running like headless chickens. They had their guns up, and were trying to cover every angle.
Almost.
They spotted Kim when they were just a few steps from the console, and pounced at her like rabid dogs. She ducked behind cover, her two assailants split in two and went around from both sides, trying to take her.
Unfortunately, she didn't really have anywhere to run. Unfortunately.
For them.
It's a bad idea to corner even a fluffy rabbit, as they can turn dangerous when under intense pressure. The idea of cornering a trained killer panther is a whole different level of bad.
She went for the one on the left as soon as he turned the corner. It was far too close for any proper shooting to happen, it devolved into a melee in the blink of an eye. Shouts, confusion, both of them rolling on the ground. I saw the second recruit make the turn, look at the chaos, and stop in place completely dumbfounded. He had his rifle up, but there was no way he'd get a chance to shoot Kim while the two of them were tangled on the ground.
That didn't mean he was safe. I had no idea how she ever did it, but as they grappled, Kim managed to let several shots loose – maybe she was trying to hit the guy she was grappling with, maybe she really wasn't – and caught the dumbfounded recruit straight on the chest twice.
She couldn't hold onto her gun though, and it was knocked out of her hand. Now it was just her, and a much larger guy trying desperately to get the best of each other.
Come on, come on, come on!
I winced when he smacked Kim's helmet face with his own helmet, and followed with a elbow takedown. Kim fell to the ground like a ragdoll, and I could just see it was over. Dammit, she was going so well too.
At least I learned something by watching the fight. That something was that it's not over until the half-Chinese woman sings.
When her enemy went down to grab her, she bounced up like a coiled spring, wrapping her arms around his, and hooking her legs around his neck. I heard others shouting the same way I did, at that point everyone who was out was just watching the fight go down with all the excitement of a championship prize fight.
Kim had the hooks in deep. Her opponent tried to shake her off twice by lifting her up and dropping hard against the ground, but she wasn't letting go.
Finally, and under a chorus of shouts from my team, he tapped out.
"Fuck yeah!" I shouted. "You're amazing Kim!"
She didn't even answer. She was sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily and desperately trying to recover. I could imagine what she was feeling; not long ago I made a last second save aboard the Einstein, after all.
The celebrations stopped when someone walked out of the back again. Kim saw it, tried to scramble to her feet at the same time she looked for her gun, not managing either, but stopped when the voice of the drill sergeant cut through the cheers and boos.
"All right, that's enough, Chu," he called. "Jinx! Get your unit down here!"
Uh-oh.
"Yes sir!" I hit the comms, and to my relief, they were back online. "Elisa, Ramsey, get your ass back here, the sergeant's calling."
I closed the comms, gave Chyse a slap on the shoulder, and was pumped up enough that I just braced against the edge of our perch and jumped down to the ground, landing with a roll and a jump.
Damn it felt good. We'd have to leave the post now, but hell if we didn't put a good show. Or so I thought, the face the sergeant was making was telling me he wasn't impressed.
"I'll have you know Jinx, you lot have completely ruined this exercise," he said.
"… sir?"
"You were supposed to hold position until the next team took the comms, and you never gave anyone else a chance."
…
Wait, did we keep everyone out?
"I have a good team, sir," I said. Wasn't sure whether that was what he wanted to hear, or even if I was supposed to do anything.
"Yes, I see that," the sergeant replied, giving Kim a look. "What was your thinking?"
"I tried to keep us mobile, sir. The attackers would have had the advantage of cover if we had simply stayed put in place."
"I see." He gave us an encompassing look, but didn't elaborate. "You're at the tail of the hike now. Richards," that was Ramsey, "you're setting the pace. Get moving!"
"Yes sir!" we all replied, and filed out one by one.
I waited at the tail, and joined when Kim did. The way she was lagging, she was definitely struggling.
"You okay Kim? You look tired."
"I'm freaking exhausted," she replied, huffing as we trudged along.
"Come on, I'll stay with you," I said, giving her a very light shove. "You were bloody brilliant back there."
"Least I could do after you sacrificed yourself for me," she said, and stopped just short of putting air quotes around the sacrificed part.
"Of course, anytime!" I replied in a chirp voice. "Just promise you'll take care of Shepard when I check out."
"…"
"…"
"That's not funny, Jinx," she said, her voice as flat as concrete.
"I guess not. Sorry."
We kept going for a while, still at a slower pace, until she started to get her energy back. Could be the gene mods, could be the fact that she trained hard, but she seriously had me wondering whether she was human with all the energy she had. After about half an hour she spoke again.
"Jinx, you better not fuck it up," she said. "But if you do, I'll take care of her."
"… thanks."
Author's Notes: Long time between updates! I have been terribly busy writing other stuff, mostly work related, and it's been a very stressful couple of months around these parts. To make up for it, extra-long chapter! With extra action packed, too.
Thanks everyone for your patience, reviews, and positive vibes. Answering a few questions:
Mizuki00: Teenager indeed! Shepard has the extra challenge of the Mindoir baggage, which is going to stay with her forever. Maybe next chapter things will clear up a bit more. *cough*
Guest: Yeah, I can see why ME weaponry would be at a disadvantage vs. regular aerodynamic bullets. I think it's a matter of whether the much, much smaller surface would reduce drag, and if moving much faster would allow the bullet to move through wind with less deviation. From a purely momentum point of view, it should be the same, but with aerodynamics in the way it kind of throws a wrench into the workings (of my brain :D).
Archer83: If there's one thing about stacking the odds against the "good" guys is that it lets me show their badassery off without necessarily making their victory a foregone conclussion. Like the Greek at Thermopylae. And if it's not much of a spoiler... I have plans for the Einstein crew :D
Thanks again for reading and reviewing! We're coming up to the end of bootcamp, and... things. Next chapter will see some friendly faces back too! Until then, ta-ta!