So it's been about a month since the last update, sorry for that, but that's probably gonna be how it goes from now on. That'll give me more time to edit stuff, as I feel like previous chapters have felt too rushed and unpolished with a weekly upload schedule. And hopefully that shows... Anyway, enjoy Chapter 6!
Rocket's ears twitched as he heard Jack pacing in the troop bay. He and Kara had settled into the cockpit on the flight to Pragia, and Rocket was trying to read the Cerberus files Serina pulled up on the planet. Not great, but better than nothing. Assuming of course anything in it was truthful. But it was difficult to focus, Jack's behavior was worrisome.
Kara tilted her head to gaze at her companion. "She'll be fine, Rocket."
"I don't know… goin' back to that place, it'll bring a lot of bad stuff up for her."
"And that's why we're here, to help her get through it. Now quit worrying, and give me that briefing."
Rocket cleared his throat. "Alright. So... Pragia. Cerberus built a facility somewhere on the planet. Cost 'em a lot too, the vegetation grows really quick. They had to have teams cut the stuff back daily, or it'd be completely covered... Says here the purpose of the facility was to create "Superior human biotics", so some super soldier crap or something."
Kara's head dipped, and she scowled. that was a troubling thought. Jacks existence was proof that whatever Cerberus was trying to accomplish here, they succeeded.
Rocket looked up from the data pad, worried by Kara's silence. "Are you... okay?
She was silent for several moments. "Yes, I'm just... we might have some serious problems to deal with. Cerberus might be a bigger threat than I thought."
"That's... really bad, isn't it?"
Kara nodded. " I'm afraid so. Is there anything else in your briefing?"
Rocket cleared his throat, then turned his gaze back to the tablet. "Um... no, nothing."
"In that case, can you speak to Jack? Make sure she's ready for this?"
"Sure."
Rocket stood from his seat and stretched, before moving to join Jack in the troop bay. She stopped pacing as the door opened, and her eyes snapped up expecting someone taller, then down as she looked at him.
"Hey…" She said, her voice heavy with barely contained anxiety.
" Hey. How're you holdin' up?"
Jack shook her head. "'Bout as well as can be expected. Just thinking about going there brings back all the shit I tried to forget about, all the shit they put me through..." She shifted her gaze away from him, and seemed to stare off into space.
Rocket quickly snapped her back to reality, before she could get too far down that rabbit hole. "Well, don't worry about it. Pretty soon, that place is gonna be nothin' but a smoking crater."
Jack smiled at the thought of that. Before either of them could say anything further, Kara's voice echoed through the intercom. "Get ready, we're almost planetside."
Jack breathed a heavy sigh, then readied her shotgun, while Rocket brandished his too-big-for him rifle. He felt his gut rise to his throat as the dropship decelerated for a landing.
Kara stepped into the troop bay, and slid the rifle on her back up, over, and against her right shoulder, while she slid the heavy side door open with her left hand, blasting the occupants with a wave of hot, humid air. Rocket stepped up to the threshold, and gazed at the rapidly growing trees, and the faded white structure nearly buried beneath them.
The dropship shifted, and angled towards the landing pad. Rocket extended a hand and planted it against Kara's leg for support. He felt the ground underneath his feet shift as they came to a halt, and Kara hopped out, landing on the rain soaked pad with a heavy thud. She brought her rifle to bear and swept the perimeter surrounding the dropship, then took note of her surroundings. The air was heavy with the scent of rotting vegetation and animal musk, it was almost nauseating. Rocket wasn't lying about how quickly the vegetation grew, she could practically hear it.
Kara shook her head and fought to ignore the scents that threatened to overwhelm her as her comrades exited the dropship. With the area clear, and with Rocket and Jack to cover her, she holstered her rifle and approached the door to the facility, nearly completely buried underneath vines, and began to tear the vegetation away from the door. Jack gazed uncomfortably at the faded white doors, and the Cerberus insignia emblazoned upon them.
With the vines cleared, Kara was about to forcefully open the doors, when a chime rang through the air, and they opened. A low growl rumbled through her throat.
Rocket gazed at her, and shifted his grip on his rifle. "I thought this place was abandoned."
"Stay alert. If the facility has power, there might be other surprises waiting for us." Kara holstered her rifle, and readied her sidearms as she crouched through the doorway, Jack and Rocket close behind.
Kara swept the room left to right. To her growing concern, there was what appeared to be the fresh corpse of a Varen on the left side of the room, and an active terminal on the right side of the room. The Varens body had exploded forcefully as it struck the wall, as if it had been thrown. That much gore required far more force than anybody was capable of. Except for her... or a very powerful biotic. Kara snarled and turned away, angling for the terminal.
Rocket spared a glance at the Varens corpse, before following Kara, covering her six while she used the terminal.
Kara growled softly as she stared at the blank screen, its cursor hanging lifelessly at the center of the screen. "Got anything?" Rocket asked, nervous at how... anxious Kara seemed to be.
"No, nothing. It looks like the data's been wiped. Someone's been through here." She snarled. "Recently." Kara's ire grew steadily. Everything that had happened thus far had her on edge: An ostensibly abandoned facility with power? A fresh kill bleeding out, and terminals that had been wiped? Things were going to get bloody, and soon.
"And why do we care? Look at this place, there's probably been tons of people that've come through here looking for scrap." Jack said
"Because the purpose of this facility was to create Humans with superior biotic abilities. And judging by all accounts of your activities and capabilities Jack, they succeeded. I doubt simple scavengers would have thought to perform data wipes, or would have been capable of throwing a Varen against a wall with so much force it exploded. And If the rest of this facility doesn't have any data, it means Cerberus has dispatched teams here to erase any evidence of what happened on Pragia. Which has... troubling implications."
"Fuck, why can't you just speak English? What do you mean?" Jack snarled, not following Kara's trail of thought.
"She means," Rocket continued, "that if Cerberus made one "super" human biotic, then they've probably made more than just you since then. And those guys ain't gonna be as friendly as you are."
Jack scowled as she finally understood. "Oh… fuck. Fuck fuck fuck... Wait. If they were trying to hide what happened here, why not just destroy the facility before we got here?"
Kara and Rocket were silent for several seconds. "Because…" Kara eventually said.
"They knew you'd come back." Rocket said quietly.
Jack was about to say something, but she saw Rocket's ears perk up and swivel sharply, and at the exact same moment, Kara leveled her pistols and spun, firing at seemingly empty space.
The air wavered, and blood splattered from nowhere as Kara killed the man who'd approached. He'd been trying to sneak up on them, unaware that invisibility and stealth were practically useless tactics against her. But now everyone else who was here knew that.
His armor flickered as the stealth technology failed, and Jack saw that the man's armor wasn't Cerberus. "They were waiting for you." Kara finished, as they heard more footsteps approaching. A lot more. Six armored figures came through the open door on the other side of the room. They fanned out in a diamond formation, five of them were carrying vindicator rifles, a popular choice for mercenary groups, while the sixth was unarmed. The air around the sixth figure began to waver as he readied a biotic assault.
Shepard shifted in her seat as she felt the Kodiak angle towards Korlus. She eyed the only other occupants with her, Laura and Samantha. Normally Shepard would have a team of six, three squad members of her choosing, plus her, Rocket and Kara.
However, the bulk of the two Hunters with her meant there simply wasn't room for anyone else to accompany her planetside. Not that Shepard thought that would matter, she'd seen what just Kara and Rocket could do, so she felt more than confident that the three of them would make quick work of any obstacles they encountered.
She grunted and relaxed as the Kodiak suddenly decelerated as it rocketed towards the LZ, and she felt her body suddenly jerk in its seat as the dropship came to a screeching halt. Shepard hit the release for her seat's restraints, and bolted out the door, following Laura. Samantha swept the area around the LZ then nodded to Shepard, who sent the shuttle to wait at a safe location.
Shepard eyed Laura and Samantha. Laura reached her right hand under her back, and swung her weapon forward, catching the front grip with her left hand, carrying the weapon like a chainsaw, and pushed the grip forward, readying the weapon for combat. The thing was longer than Shepard was tall. "Laura, you're on point." Shepard smirked.
"Putting the girl with the biggest gun on point, good idea Shep."
"The gun doesn't make the warrior Laura." Samantha huffed as she took up position behind Shepard as they advanced. Shepard heard a crack, and spotted Laura's shields flare, then moved more closely behind Laura, using her as makeshift cover. More fire began to rain down on Laura, who simply smiled as her shields absorbed the incoming rounds. Shepard poked her head out and spotted the hostiles firing from a walkway above them.
Laura let out a roar that was quickly drowned out alongside all other noise, as she fired her weapon, sending screaming orbs of plasma flying towards her assailants.
The mercs that ambushed them, Blue Suns judging by their armor, ducked back behind cover, the hail of plasma rounds burning smoldering holes through their cover. Shepard and Samantha advanced under cover of Laura's suppressive fire, and took position as more mercenaries moved into position across from them.
Shepard saw a blob of molten metal fall from the walkway above and land on an unfortunate Blue Suns operator, who sprung out of cover screaming as the liquid metal burned through their armor and seared their skin. Shepard fired a burst into their skull as a mercy killing, while Samantha dispatched the two who tried to cover their unfortunate comrade, then they turned to face their reinforcements.
Shepard fired at the Turian in the lead, only for his shields to absorb the rounds. He responded by leveling a missile launcher. Shepard scowled, and she saw a flash as he fired, and the missile careened towards her. She ducked behind the closest available cover, and the projectile impacted the sheet of metal. The concussive blast blew apart the sheet metal, and Shepard felt a truck slam into her back, sending her head over heels as the concussive blast washed over her.
Her shields had collapsed, but her armor managed to prevent her from suffering any serious injuries. Dazed, Shepard saw shadows dance across the ground near her, and she twisted to see behind her.
Laura and Samantha had taken position over Shepard, covering her before the Blue Suns mercs could capitalize on their opening. Shepard shook her head clear, then stood. "Thanks for the cover." She remarked, as Laura fired a burst that sent multiple heads ducking behind cover, one without their body.
With Shepard back on her feet, the three began to advance slowly but surely, the sheer firepower that Laura and Samatha had, coupled with precision fire from Shepard, pushed back the Blue Suns without too much difficulty.
As they rounded a corner, Serina's voice echoed through Shepard's helmet. "I've managed to crack their comms, it sounds like we're not the only problem they're trying to deal with."
Right on cue, Shepard was patched into their comms. She heard the voice of a woman, the Blue Suns commander from the way she spoke, berating her troops. "-don't care how many of your men you lose, get this situation under control, then deal with the Krogan!"
Shepard hummed at the mention of Krogan. "Krogans? Do you think this could be an "enemy of my enemy" type situation?"
Samantha looked back at her. "Doubtful. The enemy of my enemy is usually not really your ally, they're just smart enough not to fight a war on two fronts, and the Krogan? Well... they're not the brightest bunch."
Shepard sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, let's not start a fight with them if it can be avoided."
"Don't fire unless fired upon, got it."
The trio proceeded up a ramp, and rounded a corner that awaited them at the top, only to be greeted by the sight of the mangled corpses of several Blue Suns operatives. All but one had gunshot wounds, while the last had their limbs bent at unnatural angles, suggesting broken bones, meaning they'd probably been killed in CQC. They could hear someone loudly cursing just a little further ahead, out of sight, and they carefully advanced, and spotted another Blue Suns merc with his back to them. He'd been wounded, superficially in Shepard's assessment.
Laura and Samantha kept their weapons trained on the man, but didn't fire, and Shepard cleared her throat. The man spun, and what little fight he had drained out of him the instant he spotted them. He quickly raised his hands. "Don't shoot! I'm not armed." Shepard kept her rifle trained on him, but her finger hovered by the trigger.
Samantha shifted, covering the way they'd come with one weapon, the other trained on the Blue Suns merc, while Laura traveled ahead slightly, making sure nobody could ambush them. "Why are the Blue Suns here?" Shepard asked.
"Jedore, that's our commanding officer, hired some Krogan scientist or something. She's trying to make Krogan soldiers with his help, but they don't turn out… right. At least that's what we keep getting told. So we end up having to terminate them."
"How many Krogan has Jedore made this scientist make?"
"I don't know, enough that we have to fight them almost daily, my team got wiped out by those freaks, so have a lot of other guys."
Shepard sighed. If there were that many Krogan, even with Laura and Samantha backing her up, this could be harder than she thought.
"Alright you two, let's move."
Samantha holstered one of her SMGs and leveled her sidearm at the wounded Blue Suns merc, and fired a ball of electricity into his chest. He spasmed, and fell unconscious as the three women advanced. They came to a clearing littered with the bodies of Blue Suns. And standing in the midst of the bloody aftermath, were nearly a dozen Krogan. One of them turned, and spotted the newcomers. He let out a roar, and the other Krogan spun to bear down on Shepard's team.
She grit her teeth, and gripped her rifle tightly. This was going to be rough...
Nora and Machiko watched as Kara's dropship exited the hangar. Nora turned, and gestured to Machiko to follow her. Despite the massive size of the Dreadnought, the space that was actually accessible by organic crew was relatively small, not much bigger than the Normandy. The rest of the dreadnought was dedicated to the birthing of the rest of the battle-group, as well as other ground forces, predominantly armor and strike craft. They entered the crew quarters, and retrieved two large robes, large enough to cover their wearers entire body, stopping just above their ankles. The purpose of the robes wasn't to help them not draw attention, a nine foot tall figure in a cloak would still stand out, it was to hide their more… bestial attributes. Best not to spook anyone. They donned the robes, and entered a dropship. Nora told the AI controlling Dreadnought to open a wormhole leading to the Citadel, where she and Machiko would book passage on a civilian vessel to Palaven.
They made their way to the docks silently and briskly, earning the gaze of many a passerby, but no one gave them more than a curious glance before going back to their business.
When they arrived, Serina directed them to the ship that'd be bussing them, a humble little Asari luxury cruiser. She'd already paid for their passage (with credits she'd received from a generous banker who was unaware of his donation) and she gave them the ID codes they needed to reserve their seats. The security screening accepted the codes with some trepidation, but nobody paid them too much mind thankfully, and they were shortly on their way.
Nora removed the robe once they reached their quarters, revealing the jet black armor she never removed, while Machiko settled for removing the hood covering her head and elongated neck, and scratched her fur.
"Settle in you two, we'll arrive in Palaven in 24 hours." Serina's voice echoed through their minds. Nora knelt, intent on meditating the entire time, while Machiko pulled the hood back up.
"I'm headed out, see you soon." Nora hummed in response as the door opened and closed.
Machiko halted as she came face to snout with a small family, a human female and an Asari with two anklebiters in tow. One of the children stopped and stared at the cloaked figure for several seconds, her parents not noticing her falling behind. Machiko smiled beneath her hood, crouched, and waved a hand at the diminutive child, her hand poking out from the sleeve, revealing her claws.
The girl's head tilted, before she flashed a toothy grin, and waved was when her parents noticed her absence, and spotted the clawed figure hovering over their daughter.
The adult Asari quickly snatched the girl's hand, and dragged her back, fear evident in her eyes. Machiko huffed in mild offense, before waving once more as the girl looked back.
Machiko had explored the ship for several hours, dodging the crowds in the more populated sections, when she heard Serina's voice. "Heads up, I've been monitoring the ship's sensors, just to be safe, and they've detected another vessel on an intercept course."
"This is a luxury cruiser, it would be a prime target for pirates looking for easy prey." Nora commented over the comms
"You two should get ready for contact, I'll sound the alarm. Hopefully we can contain the situation."
An image opened in their HUDS, showing the current location of the pirate's vessel, and the predicted area the pirates would board, as well as a five minute countdown for their arrival. Their ship would latch onto the portside docking umbilical, and then If the pirates were smart, they'd secure the bridge first, taking a hostage or two to make sure they had the leverage to get in, then make their way aft, securing the rest of the ship.
Serina wanted to make sure Nora and Machiko were in place to intercept before any hostiles made it onboard, so as to minimize the risk to the civilians and crew. Nora was moving quickly, and Machiko was almost at the umbilical, while Serina had activated the alarm, and was locking doors and using emergency lights to guide passengers and crew to more secure locations aboard the ship.
Machiko arrived when there were just thirty seconds left to contact, and Nora wouldn't be able to make it in time. "Nora, new plan. Proceed to room 304, it's empty, and has a window."
Nora grunted as she understood Serina's instruction. There wasn't a Hunter alive who enjoyed EVA.
Machiko removed her robe as the counter reached ten seconds, and activated her wrist mounted plasma blade. Five seconds.
She felt the cruiser shudder as the pirate's vessel connected, and she could feel them moving behind the door. She raised her arm, and roared a challenge as the door opened.