The vast emptiness of space captured me within the arms of the Citadel. The purple hue of the dust masked the millions of ships in the distance. Secured within the Wards, Mat'al's arrival would be imminent while my recovered legs worked themselves for the first time in days. The steaks of amber light radiating from the Citadel arms reminded me of circuitry. My mind couldn't resist the thought of the Reapers. No, my mind didn't need to think about that right now or the potential bombs inside me. God knows where those so called generators were. And the reminder that a machine lived inside my head, wanting to indoctrinate me and everyone around me, didn't help either.
That hadn't gone unnoticed over the past 24 hours. It was be obvious if you knew what to look for. It felt like a dark stain trying to plunge every spark of life into darkness. A glue that spread through my mind, choking my thoughts. It would twist my mind, burn my anger or – as the case was most of the time – spike my fear. But then it would wash off me after a few hours, as if there had never been a monster inside me. Was it safe to assume that my 'Saboteur' status gave me immunity from indoctrination? Perhaps, but it took time to warm up, much like a radiator in a large room. Those first few hours before that immunity kicked in never ended. A tremor shook me at the thought of failing. There had to be a way to block indoctrination, either on myself or for everyone else.
My eyes followed a ship as it followed the flow of traffic around the docking bay. My heel tapped as Raisha's last words rang like a hymn. The words she parted with poked the cinders to raise my courage. Without them, the knowledge the Reapers wanted to use me as part of their plan to destroy the universe… My mind would never have survived.
The Locust and Carnifex clips clicked off from safety mode. If my previous experience in the Citadel, bad things always happened to me here. The salarians prepared to leave to take the krogan back home, while Mat'al's arrival would still be several hours, possibly even days. Raisha walked over, observing the sights around the Citadel. Nothing surprised or awed her any more, not with her level of experience. But the Citadel was an exception to that. The krogan smiled as she leaned against a railing.
"I suppose this is where we part ways," I said. Raisha nodded as she clasped her hands before her.
"Yes, it is. I hope the next time we meet, there will be less... confrontation," she chuckled. A small smile lifted my lips.
"We can only wait and see," I shrugged.
"Indeed. I wish you well, Endellion, for whichever path you walk. However, please remember this. When you fell the chill of fear upon you, remember that fear is only as powerful as you allow. Stand tall and you will never fall under its snare again," She gave me a firm grasp on my shoulder. "And should you need any aid, do not hesitate contact me. You have my details?"
"I do. Thank you, Raisha," I smiled, squeezing her arm. "Hope you get home,"
"Travel strong, Endellion," Raisha turned, striding back onto the ship. Anthon nodded his head. I nodded back. The doors secured themselves on the small ship and in minutes, the ship was a speck among the stars.
Turian. Salarian. Krogan. My cross-species relationships were improving. With a Reaper inside of me though, how long would that last? Not long unless I stopped the Reaper or myself. The sun was still my default fail-safe. There was little a sun couldn't take care of. But what to do? I was off Virmire, away from Saren... now what? Just return to normal, return with Mat'al and continue the training? Should he know about the threat inside of me or would it be best for me to research it myself, would he believe me? The answers never came, being stranded on the Citadel with little money and nowhere to stay didn't help. I had no contacts who stayed on the Citadel to crash with, didn't have enough money for a hotel and to eat at the same time... There were shelters but they were infamous for being rough. My sigh drifted over my hands before they lowered to dust my hips. Mat'al could forward me some money, he had all my bank account details, after all. Maybe he had contacts to help me here or would he tell me to 'rough it out for being an idiot? Nothing could complicate this problem as much as it already was.
I pushed myself off the railing, turning my back to the stars. A walk, a walk to clear my head, to keep me entertained until Mat'al arrived. That was a good idea. Striding off into the Wards, my eyes gazing around the variety of aliens around me. Turian, asari, elcor, hanar, salarian, krogan, volus. So many species and more remained still. My teeth nipped my lip, gaze dropping. All these people were in danger and they didn't even know it. What if Nyryntha took control of me right here and made me slaughter them? Would my body explode into a Reaper, become the next Sovereign? My hand rubbed down my face. So much uncertainty, so much to learn before a solution to my problem could materialise.
Someone smashed into me, hard. My hands grabbed hold of a nearby pole stumbling back but instinct swung me upright to stare after the person. Just in time to see a scaled, bluish toned alien run from me. A flash of blue eyes before the hood covered the face. With my Locust in their hand. Why is it always the fucking Locust!? My legs powered after the alien, not even bothering to make the typical demands to stop. When did that ever work anyway? The alien wheeled around, sprinting down the street. It was fast and light, not bogged down by armour like me, but my God, the distance between us remained. The adrenaline pumped into my muscles. People yelled and leapt out the way, keeping a clear path between myself and the alien. Was it an asari? What other aliens had blue toned skins? To be fair, my knowledge of alien species was too limited to be certain on that. The alien scrambled up a ladder, reaching a balcony on someone's flat. They kicked the ladder down, thinking would stop me.
Just as well Mat'al's trained me. I ran at the wall beside it, running up two steps before pushing myself off and twisting myself in the air. My hands grabbed a metal pole, one of many that were sticking along the bottom of the balcony for decoration. The poles formed a ladder, limbs hauling me over the glass balcony. The alien was using biotics to jump over some of the gaps between more balconies aiming for some kind of tunnel. With no biotics myself, I improvised. I ran along the walls for two or three steps and jumped to clear the distances, rolling to recover from the landing. This repeated a few times before the alien glanced back, wondering what all the noise was about. It squeak in surprise. Thought you lost me, eh? Bastard.
Well, whatever this alien was, it wasn't asari. It had pink fleshy patches up the sides of the head where the ears would be and around the neck. And this alien was not stopping. It turned up the difficulty. We ran through tall, narrow tunnels, my eyes watching it running up crates and swinging off high poles. My eyes narrowed as my jaw tightened, focusing on a series of piles crates. While my body hadn't recovered from Virmire yet, but with my Locust not pulling my belt down, the injuries stopped aching.
My legs pushed up the crates like oversized stairs, leaping to grab a low pole. Unlike the alien, which used its biotics to swing from pole to pole, momentum was my power. After dropping from a handstand on top of the pole, my grip released before the peak of my swing, hurling myself higher. My feet landed on the 3 inch wide poles. My arms flew out, balancing myself before jumping over the poles like giant stepping stones. It was quicker than trying to build up a swing to push through these poles. It also allowed me to grab a higher pole instead of having to fling myself up again to reach higher ground. A 6 inch wide beam formed beneath me. Nothing for me, after training on the 4 inch balance beam at the STG base. The chase continued, legs refusing to slow down as the alien wobbled its way over the beam. It jumped around a corner to another series of poles.
It tried to lose me by swinging around a corner, but my hands grabbed a dangling light and swung around the corner. My arms flailed a flailed grab at a pole. These sort of swings took time to master, not something in my favour. My eyes locked onto the Locust in the distance and I was back on the chase. The alien glanced at me as it jumped around a corner, a frown on its face. Give no quarter, my mind roared as the gap closed. We found ourselves on an open balcony half-way up a massive skyscraper. The glass sides stopped normal people from falling to their deaths. The thief slowed near the edge, back turned to me. Instinct wanted to charge in, to snatch my Locust back, but the risk of the thief ambushing me was too high. I waited, a safe distance away, panting. If it jumped and used it's biotics to land, it would be impossible to catch up with the alien. My fears eased as it turned around, pulling the hood down.
The palm part of my omni-tool activated and searched the extranet. My fingers dialled the keys as my eyes remained fixed on the creature before me, arm pinned to my side. The scaled skin was a vivid blue, the eyes were biotic blue, crystal clear and sharp. Their forehead was like a turian, it formed from a series of plates. They also had brilliant cyan and cerulean markings on their brow and the back of their head. It was the pink-red flesh flabs running up the side their face and around their neck that held me curious. They had long frills that hung over the top of those pink flesh patches on the cheeks. They hung behind the exposed flesh like hair. Even their lips looked plated with a line splitting it in two.
"Drell," my ear piece buzzed as the image processed. Great, another new alien I knew nothing about. This could be interesting or a pain in the ass...
"Huh, no one's been able to keep up with me like that," she commented, her biotic blue eyes studying me. Her voice again reminded me of a turian. It sounded flanged, but it sounded more distorted than flanged. My tongue remained silent. Don't let her guess what you are thinking. She raised the Locust, held it one handed. The red haze lowered, eyebrows drawing down as my fingers twitched for the Carnifex. My determination slammed my anger down into the bowels of my mind with my nerves. No. I'll get that Locust back, Raisha style.
A step forward, a slow walk, eyes fixated to hers, eyebrows drawn down and lips set tight. The gun wavered in her hand. Each breath calculated, heart breathing with them. How would Raisha tackle this? Slow and steady, make no more effort than required. Trick them into thinking you are less than you are. She swallowed, eyes darting as she tried to put on a brave face. She wasn't sure how to deal with this. I had no weapon, wasn't arming anything. I was just walking towards her with an expression that could crack her skull open. There was still plenty of time for that.
"S-Stay back, human!" she demanded. Keep walking, slow and steady. Don't waver. She gave frantic glances to the jump behind her. Could she not sustain her biotics long enough to reach the street? She fired a few bullets. My eyes twitched but remained solid, but my resolve faltered. The shields whined, but the Locust was pathetic unless done in a continuous stream. My knowledge of my weapons gave me a small confidence boost. She resorted to small bursts of gunfire, giving me more than enough time to recover shields. I don't think she had never seen a Locust before, judging by her actions. She backed up to the balcony, stumbling until the Locust barrel touched my chest.
Then I pressed more, forcing her arm to bend and the Locust to jam itself into the underside of my jaw. My glare remained cold, pointed, the same look as the walk had. My determination, my stubbornness not to lose my Locust held my resolve, my nerve. The drell gawked at me, the earlier shaking stopping. She grinned, removing the gun from my throat. She flipped the gun, offering the grip. With my gaze fixed to hers, my hand grasped the Locust. She released it. It holstered at my hip again, relief flooding me to feel its weight. The drell was given one last glare before taking a few steps back, then turning around. Turning my back so close to her had been dangerous. With the drell now out of mind, my shoulders sagged now back on my way back down to street level. My skin leapt when she trotted beside me, grinning like a school girl.
"I'm impressed! No one's done that, so nice to meet someone who climb shit," she said. My expression dropped, ogling at her as the shock froze my expression in place. Was this some kind of technique to throw me off so she could steal something else? A shuffled few steps to escape her, trying to put distance between her. She bounded into the new gap, hand out stretched. "Indira Thermi'a, master thief and escape extraordinaire!" My snort dropped her grin a touch.
"A) I kept up with your 'escape attempt', without biotics. And B) a master thief doesn't return what they stole," I retorted. Indira scowled, shoulders rattling like an annoyed wolf.
"I do so most of the time! You're different," she waved a hand. My eyes looked for and escape route. "We should team up! It'd be great fun!" My expression blanked, stepping away again. Yeah, this girl was a mood-swinger.
"I'm not a thief. Besides, I have enough nightmares hunting me down. I don't need C-Sec doing the same," I said. The drell stared at me for a time, tightening my jaw. With luck, that would scare this crazy woman away from me. I didn't need to put any one in danger, myself included! Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
"That's sounds amazing! Count me in! What are we fighting? Geth? Mercs?" she asked, jumping in place. My jaw dropped, how does one get away away from her? She ran circles around me!
"A hyper advanced race of sentient machines called Reapers who want to destroy all advanced life in the galaxy," I said in a flat tone. Indira's eyes sparkled.
"That's awesome! Where do we find one?" she said, bouncing higher. My mind died. My mouth opened to speak, to stop her. "Oh, oh, oh! We need a base! We can use my flat! Come on!" she grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the tall glass doors at the other end of the balcony. My arm tried to yank itself free, but this drell was stronger than she looked. She locked my wrist in her grip. My voice thundered, demanding her to stop pulling me but it was unheeded. Resigned, a moan escaped as she dragged me down the stairs of the building, hurled me into a cab at street level.
Every attempt to stop her was fruitless.
"So what do we need? Guns, armour, fire- no wait, they're machines. Electricity maybe? Know any guns that shoot lightning? No? No worries. I'll think of something-" she rambled.
"Would you stop for 5 minutes?" I snapped. "Where the hell are you taking me?"
"Oh relax!" Indira laughed. "Just sit back, we'll have a great time! I know this great club, might even have a dress for you!"
"W-What? N-No! There's no time for clubbing! I hate clubs!" I squeaked. My eyes flew around the cab to find an exit, but the air pressure kept them secure. There was no escape from this girl! First she was thinking about fighting machines, now she was more interested in partying? God save me...
"Oh don't be so stuck up! If you go through life taking everything so serious, then you'll never have fun!" She laughed.
"There are things you have to be serious about," I growled. Indira grinned at me regardless.
"What's your name, darling?" she drawled. My bullet wounds stung, if only to distract my mind from the haemorrhage on the brink of rupturing in my head.
"Endellion," my response grumbled.
"Don't worry, Delly," Indira winked. "You'll have a blast!"
"Delly? P-Please, just Dell-" I stumbled.
"Pfft, no thanks," Indira stuck her tongue out. But then she was back to perky self. "We're here!" She dragged me out the car, making me yelp in surprise. A growl rumbled in my chest.
"Drell-" I tried.
"Indira," she corrected.
"I refuse to call you by name," I yanked my arm free, panting as my glare failed to pin the prancing alien before me. "Until you agree to stop calling me 'Delly'," Indira scowled at me. She sighed in defeat, lifting her hands to the side of her head.
"Fine, Dellion," she whined. My frown deepened. It was still better than Delly. Indira put her hands on her hips, frowning at me. "Jeez, are you always this uptight?" A high pitched sound of surprise and complaint erupted from me. "Ah well, I can change that!" She grabbed my hand again, dragging me into a tall building. She lost me in seconds.
She led me into a small flat. Floor to ceiling windows opened amber tinted light into the small room. It also revealed the 60 story drop and the ongoing traffic flying past. My legs shuffled me out from the narrow corridor between front door and living room. A set of stairs separated the living room, a wooden floored kitchen hugged the right side, hidden by a half-wall. A glance to my left showed another short corridor with a few doors on it. Indira leaned on the back of a sofa, her double-lidded eyes gleaming. My back straightened, flattening my expression.
"Now darling, to be fair, you reek. Bathroom's down the hall," she said, raising a hand. My glare didn't affect Indira and she didn't give me the chance to speak. "I'll hunt around and see if I have no spare clothes lying around. Don't stay here all that often," My mouth opened to complain, but Indira shoved me down the hall in a heartbeat, cheery smile on her face. "Come along now!" she laughed before pushing me into the bathroom.
"Indira!" I snapped, but was disregarded. The door shut in my face and the sound of her footfalls withered into the distance. My breath squeezed in through my teeth, waiting for the boiling blood to cool. The toilet lid shut to let me sit down on it, hanging my head. My hands held my head. In the quiet of the room, my mind could think.
What the hell had just happened? My hands rubbed my eyes as the past half hour replayed. And it was only half an hour. In half an hour my life had flipped from waiting for Mat'al to being kidnapped by a bouncing drell who wanted to go clubbing. And said drell had taken my Locust from me, which set a sour taste in my mouth. My mind scrambled to figure a way out of this, making me groan. I was 60 floors up with no way out other than the front door. To sneak past the drell required skill, she seemed ready for everything. Even if I tried to fight her, Mat'al hadn't trained me to deal with biotics, or even how they worked. Val would have to give me some tips.
Speaking of which, this was a good opportunity to check my messages and send an SOS. Val had answered my short message. A smile spread, growing into a grin. His response was just as short as if trying to pull one over me as payback. It said 'Well thank fuck for that'. My face ached from the grin, Our next meeting would be a blast, his scowl already in the forefront of my mind. He was not as calm as he was letting on, that much was obvious. He was relieved if nothing else. Then shower tempted me. My last shower was before the Noveria mission over a week ago. A hand ran through my hair, shuddering at the grease. Yeah, may as well take this time to get a shower in. Taking off the battered Onyx armour, my shoulders in relief. When I had the funds, I would buy a custom built set of armour. My first set of armour, the purple one the name escaped me, had been a write off after Feros. This armour had held better but it wasn't salvageable. The hot tap ran for a moment, waiting for steam to fill the air before adjusting the temperature.
The hot water reminded me how washing of indoctrination felt like. A shudder ran down my legs, that was something to worry about, to figure out. I couldn't be around people for long. Indoctrination remained an unknown and there was no information that told me how long it took before someone became indoctrinated. Was it even reversible or anything? And there was no way to test it either, well, there was, but it would induce a body count. My back pressed against the warm tiles, letting the water splatter my face and the water sting my wounds. So much still left to learn and a timer was ticking, but I knew little time remained. Nyryntha had said I was going against the programming. What was that original code? My computer and hacking were juvenile to be kind. Yet Mat'al made me an engineer class? Bloody Mat'al, machines and I never got along. Looks like that was still holding strong. A growl rolled up my throat until the lock flicked open and Indira strolled through.
"Do you mind?!" I cried, covering my chest with my arms. Indira shrugged as she dropped a pile of clothes on top of the closed toilet seat.
"No, not at all!" she answered. Already waving and turning out the door. My expression gawked after the scaled alien. What the fuck!?
The Galaxy Map has been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.