"This is so not fair! This isn't damn fair! I'm been working my ass off and you're abandoning me on the ship?" I snapped. Sassy raised a brow as he clicked the last of his armour on. My teeth ground as he ignored me. "Why? I've been working so damn hard on this and you're just going to leave me right at the gates!"
"Is he always like this?" Shepard asked. Sassy groaned.
"Always. Gideon, what combat experience do you have?" Sassy asked, voice cool. My jaw clenched.
"Enough," I spat. Marruns barked a laugh behind me, rattling my tensed shoulders.
"One little trip down on a roasting wreck of a city and he thinks he can take on the world," Marruns chuckled.
"Gid, we don't know what we will walk into. The safest place for you is here on the ship," Shepard said with a frown.
"I can look after myself! What the hell did you think I did before mum came along, huh?" I snapped.
"Gideon, you're 13. We don't use child soldiers here," Shepard sighed, clicking his guns into place. My mouth opened to argue, but the Predator flashed in his Sassy's hands, cocked and loaded. My mouth jammed shut, my whole frame trembling as fire consumed me.
"I have almost lost you to Nyryntha once, boy, I will not risk you again. Wheel weave, just imagine what your mother would say if something happened! She'd never let me hear the end of it!" he exclaimed.
"Brace for deceleration," EDI warned. Hands grabbed the nearest tied down object as the ship shuddered with a jolt. The adults around me ignored me as they continued prepping for the mission.
In the corner of my eye, a camera feed filtered images through. A space station, built in a T-shape, floated nearby, undisturbed from whatever trauma danced around the universe since its abandonment after Shepard's revival. It seemed so peaceful from out here; the lights long dead, power non-existent on the departed station. Only re-programmed mechs wandered the halls, if they still worked. Here lay the equipment we needed to clone mum's body, to give her a new start without a Reaper taunting her every waking and sleeping moment. My eyes drifted down to Kala, the mech standing guard. A few mechs would not be a problem, Kala could reprogram anything that tried to get close. Besides that, my hacking skills beat most. But no. My teeth snapped shut. They wanted to keep me on the ship, keep me from my job, my duty!
"ETA 10 minutes. We'll do a few scans of the station first. It was on fire last time we were here," Shepard said.
"Let's hope the labs survived, the cloning equipment is sensitive and finicky," Miranda said as she buckled armour into place. "There are spare parts in the lower section of the station. I'll mark them on the omni-tool,"
"Good. Gid, get out of here. Delern, send me the details for the hacking systems you made," Shepard said. My teeth gnashed together, fists shaking at my sides. With an aggravated growl, they watched me storm from the cargo hold. Kala sighed in my ear, walking beside my storming gait.
"Even I tire of all the red tape that appears before us," she said in my ear. A frown creased my face.
"Not like you to want me to wander into danger," I muttered under my breath. Kala sighed.
"No, it is not. I do not worry so much if you are with those who can defend you however. You leaving with your mother to wander space in a shuttle is one thing. Going on board a station overrun with mechs I can override is something different," Kala said. "Or maybe my programming is evolving, deciding that taking risks may have its rewards so long as you are not in too much danger," A smile lifted my lips. The rules and regulations annoyed even cautious Kala.
"Then I say we take a risk," I said. Kala's emoticon changed, frowning. "I say we go,"
"The Commander said not to," Kala said. My smile grew. Kala groaned. "Oh,"
"Now you're learning," I hushed under my breath. Kala's emoticon scowled. She trotted ahead of me, sitting in the door of the elevator as we pressed onwards to the CIC.
People bustled around me, tearing panels off the walls to get to the cables underneath. My eyes focused on the airlock, eyes scanning the cockpit. Joker's hands flicked windows as he assessed the scans. Already armed and ready to go, the only thing that stood between me and that station was an airlock. Joker called out when the Normandy docked with the station, noting nothing dangerous within the immediate vicinity. Inside the cockpit, my eyes scanned the screens, pretending to care. Joker glanced back, but said nothing. The Normandy docked with a clunk, the ship shuddering as the damaged dock struggled to hold. My jaw tightened. Kala sat close to the airlock, assessing the ability required to overpower EDI and gain control. EDI had more powerful than Kala's, but Kala had surprise on her side. My arms wrapped across my chest, eyes closing. For mum. For mum I would go to the ends of the galaxy. She deserved nothing less. My eyes narrowed, resolve hardening. As the activity in the cockpit settled, turning towards Kala. With so many people in the CIC, we would only have a few seconds.
It would take 10 minutes for the scans to reveal a clear picture of what was happening inside this facility. That gave us more than enough time for us to get in and stabilise the mech situation. We waited for people to become distracted with something; a strange reading, a mech appearing. Something. We got one. Something seemed off with some thermo-scans. My fingers flicked. Kala's emoticon narrowed its eyes while my helmet slammed over my head. Within seconds, alarms blared as the airlock burst open, the air pressure difference blowing people off their feet. The pressured vessel pulled me and Kala out and onto the station. The reason for the sudden and fierce depressurisation was the lack of gravity. We floated for a few seconds, until my mag-boots activated. On solid ground, resolve pushed me forward. Kala floated behind me a second later, aided by small jets. In my ear, voice cried out, thinking I got sucked out against my will. When they released I wasn't jumping back on board, the situation deteriorated. Shepard's voice rang in my ear piece, demanding me to return. My eyes focused ahead, ignoring him until even his voice annoyed me. My hand flicked up and turned it off.
"Kala, monitor the comm traffic, if they give any indications of trouble, tell me. They won't leave me alone," I said. Kala beeped.
"Understood," she said. "Thus far, it's nothing more than demanding your return. Commander Delern has begun too,"
"Great, so I have a few bullets waiting for me later on… wonderful," I grumbled.
"I appear to have also taken the AI by surprise. It has recovered my attack and is tracking the mech through my server connection," Kala said. A frown stuttered on my lips.
"But you're not connected to the Normandy," I said.
"No, but my wireless communication signals between the server and the mech are open for all to see if they have the encryption codes. My attack gave it enough time to read some of those codes. It has then cracked the rest." She said. We slipped through a door, exiting the docking area.
The interior of the lab was a mess, lit only by a torch on my shoulder and Kala's head. Fire had burned the halls black, bullet holes marked every wall, heat from the flames cracked and shattered glass. The most telling were the blood stains on the floor and walls. Any corpses had reduced to rotted piles of meat and bone, long beyond recognisable. The smell… my mind wandered to dark times. Only my resolve dragged me from the darkness, pushing me through the shadows towards the light. Hope. There was hope. My jaw clenched, biting back the quiver while marching past the bodies twirling above me. Power had long died on the station, my mag-boots the only thing keeping me pinned to the floor. We'd need to get the station's power back up and running. Equipment long charred stood as hallowed husks. People once worked here, lived here, brought Shepard back to life here. Now it remained as a floating shell of its former self. As the debris floated around me like flecks of ash, Kala stayed by my side. Small jets burst white clouds behind her as she hovered, the mech lacked mag-boots. Kala beeped.
"The Normandy AI wishes to set up a data link. Do I accept?" she asked. My brow furrowed.
"Depends on the data. Is it a virus?" I asked. We paused by a broken door, my shoulder shoving against it to widen the gap.
"It's a live data feed. A preview packet of metadata states it is live maps, improved communications and location assistance. I believe either Commander Delern or Spectre Bellum has informed them what I am and what my intentions are," Kala said as she squeezed through the widened gap in the door. The damn thing refused to open the whole way. My tongue clucked.
"Fine, but put a data quick cut in place. Any sign of a virus or take over, you cut the link," I grumbled, skidding around a corner. Kala beeped in response.
Kala's visor and omni-tool burst into life. A detailed map of the facility in its heyday blinded me in the dark facility. The area of interest, where the cloning machine stood, blinked on the map. Several floors down from the looks of things, but that didn't concern me. Dots flickered on the map, Kala and I highlighted too. 4 dots closed in from behind, following my path. The mag-boots slowed me down, but we had to get some distance otherwise they'd drag me back to the ship. A push of a button and my feet lifted off the ground. Kala's headlight flashed. Any complaints died as the jet boosts shoved me through the zero G.
"What way to the power plant? There is no way we'll be able to get the cloning equipment out of here if we're bashing it against everything. We need gravity," I asked.
"It's on the lowest level. With the lab damaged like this, I expect the usual ways won't be accessible. We can try the elevator shafts," She said.
"Lead on," I ordered.
We meandered around the wreckage, shoving them out our way as we moved towards an elevator that punched down through most of the facility. The door lay half ajar, having failed before the power died. Under torch light, the shaft showed no sign of damage or any large pieces of wreckage. A peer upwards found nothing. The elevator car must be down near the bottom. My suit's jets powered me downwards. The dark tube messed with my spatial awareness, twisting as vertigo seized me. Gravity couldn't come soon enough. We ran into the elevator car, 3 floors from the bottom of the shaft. It sat between floors. Mag-Boots back on, my hand wrestled with the doors. They refused to open. Dammit, gotta get it open! How?! A glance over my shoulder gave me an idea. The Widow popped free, aiming for the door gap, the lack of gravity made pointing the massive weapon difficult just because of the length. The boots held me against the blast, but the sound didn't register, swallowed by space. My Widow punched a hole straight through. The hole revealed nothing out of the ordinary. A reload, another shot just above it elongated the hole. The Widow returned to my back, my fingers prising the door apart. With effort, enough of a gap opened to let me squeeze through. It required more effort to let Kala through.
Beside the elevator, a door leading to a stairway caught my attention. A peek inside assured me nothing blocked the stairs down. We traversed downwards, gliding through the burnt dust until we reached the power station floor. No sign of any trouble. Here, we found the floating remains of mechs, shattered and rusted. Only the outside walls protected this place from radiation from space. Burnt machinery had melted from the wall, floating around us like oversized bricks. Through the collapsed hallways, we swam, seeking the controls to activate the gravity systems. Maybe even the lights if we could do it without restarting more fires. A gap in a shattered glass window provided an entrance. The sharp glass cut the armour, small scratches scrapping the paint. Inside, a towering cylinder stood in the middle, fanning wider at the roof to lead to fuel and coolant pipes, dead. Arranged around it, three separate controls leading to massive masses of metal – coolant controls or something – rose upwards to join the main power house. My mag-boots snapped my feet to the floor. The console before me refused to start.
"Any generators or something I can use to kick-start this damn console?" I asked. My eyes scanned the room, finding none. Kala beeped. She kicked her legs out behind her as she reached a shutdown mech. Did they have enough kick to start a console? As Kala nudged the mech towards me, my hand reached for a cable. The outer casing of the mech peeled away with little difficulty, revealing the internal generators. Twist a few wires, plug the cable in, cross these two-
The mech's generator burst into life, the console above my head fluttering on the low power. My hands tapped at the console, the meagre generator providing enough of a jolt to start the plant's internal generator. It fried everything in the mech though, sparks and fire bursting free. Didn't matter, the mech was disposable anyway. With the internal generator now running, life spluttered on the coolant fans. Kala floated over to get them running while I battled with the array of errors and critical failures preventing the power station starting. Re-routing power, closing off circuits, securing breeched rooms, shutting down unnecessary machinery, the list continued. Kala got the coolant fans up well before I was ready to start the power. The station was a mess. A few tests fired power through what system remained assessed the wire stability. No shorts, no fires. With everything green and a scan above my head to prove nothing was waiting for me, my hand hit the start-up button. The power station whined, growing higher in pitch as the generators turned. Lights fluttered above my head. Seconds later as power stabilised, objects dropped. Each clang sent a shudder through me.
Gravity restored, it was time to hunt down the cloning equipment. Fists curled by my side as the mag-boots snapped off. Restoring power also gave me the power to override any trouble doors now. Although power to the elevators were a casualty of the power re-routing. Stairs it was! Coaxing the door to open, we jogged down the hall towards the stairway, looking for a clear path up. The stairway that took us down only granted us an additional 4 floors before fallen rubble blocked the path. In the hall outside of the stairs, a husk of a YMIR mech jolted my heart. None of the mechs seemed operational. Yet. Down the hall, my arm raised to gaze upon the omni-tool map. Shepard, Miranda and Sassy were somewhere about 6 floors above me. Marruns, from the looks of things, was fighting to get down to me. My tongue clucked. Time to move.
We turned a corner, breaking out into a massive circular room. Overturned furniture riddled with bullet holes littered the place. Fire had burned everything but a small section of an upper walkway on the next floor up, the floor crumbling to the floor below. Only a tiny section near an upper door remained, but even that looked shaky. In the centre, a destroyed half-wall that used to be a green space, although the tree lay snapped in half and had burned to a charcoal husk. The mechs here weren't destroyed, just shut down. Although, that wasn't what held my attention. Across the room, sitting on a half melted bench before the burnt tree, someone sat. My heart stuttered in my chest. Sitoln Noverok waited. The salarian's lips lifted, uncrossing his leg to stand. The FENRIS rumbled, leaping between me and the Saboteur before me. My heart thundered, fingers flexing before they grabbed the Paladin, aims straight.
"Long time no see, little spawn," Sitoln greeted, folding his arms.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I snapped.
"You are not as subtle as you think," he said. My eyes narrowed. A blink of yellow caught my eye. One of the mech's lights blinked on. Yellow. My jaw tightened, refocusing on Sitoln. "And this time, you don't have your mother or that damned turian to save you from me,"
"I dunno about that… the turian is on the station," I said. Sitoln's lips dropped, creasing his face. "Aww, still sore I fucked your plan up?" I asked. Sitoln's lips dropped.
"Sore? My dear boy, as you organics say, I am fucking livid," he snarled. My grip tightened on the Paladin. More mechs blinked alive. "Trust me, by the time I am finished with you, you'll be begging for indoctrination,"
"Not likely, we Shaiks don't take to indoctrination very well," I said. The Paladin quivered in my hand at the thought though. No! Fight! Fight for mum!
"We've noticed," he grumbled. Reaper plate slipped out from under his skin, encasing him in dark, angular armour. Cables slipped free to whip in the air. "However, spawn, you are in no position be 'sassy',"
"Actually, I think I am," I said with a smile. Sitoln frowned. A few seconds later, he spun around as a YMIR mech released a missile. Sitoln vanished in the dust and smoke, but a mere missile wouldn't take out a Saboteur. The grappling system Sassy had failed to keep from my grasp fired to the upper door, hauling me off the ground floor. A creak scratched from the opening door. The walkway gave way seconds later.
"Kala, can you hack the station?" I cried, powering through the halls.
"I can, standby," Kala said in my ear.
A junction reared up before me, but determined not to slow down, wall running while turning seemed to be the only way to do it. My arms flailed out for balance until my feet stumbled back to the ground. It was time for the earpiece once more. My hand flicked it on. Seconds later, activity filled my ear. EDI mentioned something about my location changing at speed while splitting from Kala. She also noted the activation of mechs across the station, but suspected the 'unfamiliar AI' was to blame after a sudden increase in transmission waves. After turning another bend down a blackened corridor, my eyes skimmed the map. Marruns had reached the same floor as me and fast approaching. My teeth grit, debating my next plan. Well, the Spectre fought Sitoln once. Mechs shambled to life as Kala hijacked the remains of the computers, transmitters and God knows what. Cameras sprang to life, swivelling to track my progress and assess the upcoming hallways. A spin around a corner and a sandy turian filled my vision, just 10 steps from me.
"Boy, I am going to kill-" he barked.
"Run, you stupid bastard!" I snapped, leaping around him. "Unless you want to fight Sitoln again!"
"Sitoln?! Are you fucking with me?" he thundered, skidding to change directions and follow.
"Do I sound like I'm fucking with you?!" I yelled, reaching a new set of stairs. Marruns snarled as his finger pressed to his ear.
"We've got a Saboteur on board! Sitoln's reared his ugly face!" he called.
"Oh fuck me, why do Shaiks attract so much attention?!" Sassy snapped.
"Where's the cloning equipment?" I called.
"15th floor, although the whole floor looks consumed by fire," Miranda said. My heart faltered. "Since you are down there, however, you can check to see if the spare is in better condition,"
"Spare?" I echoed.
"Of course, what would we do if something happened to the first?" Miranda asked.
"Give us the nav point," Marruns grumbled. My omni-tool blinked with a new location.
"Kala, are there any mechs in the area? Scout it if you can!" I ordered.
"Right away," Kala said.
The nav point took us 2 floors up, but with Sitoln so close behind –according to the light Kala added to the live map – we couldn't waste time with blocked stairs. Kala directed us through a winding path from what the cameras could see. My worry was that Sitoln would take a more direct route. What am I talking about, of course he will! At least while Marruns was with me, there was an extra line of defence. On the second floor, we had our first run in with Sitoln. He blasted out from the floor below us, a hail of mech bullets behind him. Marruns' assault rifle blasted beside me while my legs skidded on the floor to find a way around him. Mechs shambled to their feet, marching in the opposite direction to my sprints. A YMIR mech thundered past while my fist slammed on a hologram to enter the target room. Lights above me flickered, the bulbs struggling to stay lit. The room was an oversized warehouse, crates lying in random sprawls to the ceiling. The lack of gravity had shifted everything. Dammit, how was anyone meant to find anything here?!
"Miranda, you gotta help me figure out what box I'm looking for! No sign of fire damage," I said.
"It should be near the back. We never needed to break it out," Miranda said. Well, it was a start.
The boxes made it impossible to navigate through or around. The container crane would be my only option. While my hands flailed at the controls of one of the 3 cranes, they sprang to life. My heart thundered. Kala took over the controls, draining what processing power the servers and this place had to run the mechs, herself and the station. The cranes hoisted boxes off the ground, stacking them in the few clear areas. Some crates held a layer of dust and soot from what ash the ventilation swept up and blasted into the room. Dust flew under my hands as the fighting intensified. Sitoln was wrecking the mechs. Kala kept a clear path wide enough for the largest container and myself to the door, but the crates stacked higher. My job was the scan the codes and descriptions. Nothing about a cloning machine… wait. A crate lying in the middle of the pile, under another bundle of crates had 'clon' on it, the rest masked by crates. Ignoring the mass effect fields of the cranes hoisting and adjusting the boxes, my arms heaved me over the rumbled mess. A closer exanimation provided the answer.
"Kala! This one!" I called.
Cloning-Chamber-2, found it! Now we had to get rid of Sitoln. Or at least get the machine back on the Normandy and get the hell out of here. As crates hovered around me, I returned to the front of the room, digging through the storage chambers in the walls. Opening one caused the entire contents to collapse, missing me by a hair. No sign of a transporter. Another storage unit, again nothing. The third one brought more hope as a large transporter tumbled out. It still had power, so the massive table hovered off the ground. Seconds later, Kala had freed the crate and lowered it onto the waiting transporter. A quick link between my omni-tool and the transporter and we were ready to move. Back in the hall, the gunfire sounded loud and close. Too close. But it wasn't just Sitoln's robotic roars and Marruns' swearing echoing down the hall. I heard Shepard bark orders too, so they must've caught up with Marruns-
"Boy, I will skin you alive when we get out of here!" Sassy thundered, sprinting around the corner. A shudder ran down my spine. "Move it!"
My legs jolted into action, sprinting down the hall with the transporter in tow. With Kala and EDI, the two AIs guiding us around any fire damaged blockages and other problems that would slow or hinder us. A radio call cried over the intercom, something about Marruns acting weird, looking like he was about to turn on Shepard and Miranda. Mental Assault, goddam it all! At least it wasn't Tech Incap, in a station like this we would be dead in seconds. We clattered up a set of stairs, rushing for an exit as Shepard, Miranda and Marruns backed off the Saboteur, seeking escape from the Mental Assault twisting the minds. If they turned against us like the krogan had… We reached the 7th floor, about 4 floors until the docking bay. Kala chimed a warning. Sitoln was close. Sassy and I shared a look.
"You run to the Normandy, I'll hold him off," Sassy said.
"But he's after me! He'll just swot you to the side and keep going!" I cried. "Take the machine to the Normandy, Kala has the station, she can keep me safe until everyone teams up again! I can outrun him with Kala's help!"
"I am not putting you in danger like this again! You are not your mother! Wheel, boy, are you trying to make her kill me from beyond the grave?!" he snapped.
"But if I go to the Normandy, he's just going to follow me there and then we might not be able to leave if he damages the ship!" I pleaded. Sassy snorted, grinding his teeth as we skidded around a corner.
"Kala, new orders," Sassy barked. "Take the cloning machine to the ship. I'll stay with Gideon before he gets himself killed!"
"Understood, Commander. The next mech will escort it," Kala said.
We spun around a corner, spotting a battered FENRIS mech hobbling towards us. My resolve wavered. If something happened to this machine… Sassy grabbed the collar of my armour before hauling me down a hole in the floor. The transporter did not follow. On the new floor, Sassy set me running once more, leading by a hair down the charcoaled halls. Kala voiced a warning as Sitoln approached. We burst into a large room, a 4 floor gap separating us and an unsealed exit. Before Sassy could open his mouth, the grappling hook fired. My other hand grabbed my wrist to help ease the strain. The force flung me over the banister and into the wall. Everything spun as my feet staggered beneath me. Sassy pulled himself over the gap with his jump jets. He hauled me off the ground and through the door.
"I took that damn thing off you!" he snapped.
"D-Didn't stop me taking it again," I stammered, shaking my head straight. Sassy growled beside me.
"Have you hooked that damn thing up to your core?" He asked. My blank expression spoke volumes. "Wheel forgive, are you trying to rip your arm out of its socket?! You're supposed to wear the specialised armour that transfers the force from your shoulder to the rest of your body which doesn't just pop free!" A flush burned my cheeks. "Wheel, I will have to train you if you are so insistent on breaking something,"
"That's what I've been saying for ages!" I cried as the robotic sounds of anger rippled through the air. My head spun on my neck, spotting Sitoln behind us with cables flicking. My heart thundered. Seconds later, a robotic roar sounded as doors slammed shut and gunfire popped through the air.
The cloning device was nearing the Normandy, with Miranda now reaching the device to aid. Shepard and Marruns pushed onwards, looking to reconnect with us. Sassy attempted the same, grabbing me before his jump jets heaved him up a floor in a large lab. He spun around, shotgun primed and fired two quick blast while he kicked me deeper into the station. He chased after me two seconds later. My hold on the floor slipped as an oil slick stole my feet from under me. The sounds of a shotgun rang up the hall. Sassy grunted as Sitoln ensnared him, slamming him to a wall. Sassy struggled, releasing an Overload. Sitoln's hold refused to give, the Saboteur groaning under the strain. My heart leapt to my throat. Not Sassy… not Sassy too!
"Oi! Sitoln!" I thundered, hurling an Incinerate down the hall. Sitoln's armour plating protected him from the hit, but his attention swapped to me. "What? Can't keep up?" A second later, the sight vanished, sprinting down the hall. Sitoln's robotic crackle electrified the air. A glance over my shoulder provided more than enough motivation to run faster. At least he let Sassy go!
My head shrank into my neck while skidding around a corner, a cable slamming into the wall where my head would've been. A trickle of pain radiated from my right temple, an annoying niggle but nothing serious. Darting through an abandoned room, devoid of all use, my heart crashed against my chest. There was no door or window here to escape from. Desperation sank in, spinning around to flee. Sitoln's frame blocked the doorway. Blood pounding in my ears, my hand found the Paladin and raised it. Sitoln responded with a cable, flying forward to slam my shoulder into the wall behind me. A flying bullet bounced off the armour on his torso. He stalked closer, eyes glowing electronic blue. The cable refused to relinquish me, even with a bullet's help. His hand enclosed around my neck. My legs kicked out, fighting the hand that held me as the glowing lines of circuitry pressed close. My hand raised the pistol, trapping it against my chest. A piercing headache dulled my senses. Kala released an Overload, but Sitoln snarled, a cable crushing the omni-tool bracelet on my wrist. My eyes popped out of my skull.
"And now you are alone," Sitoln murmured, a cold grin spreading his lips.
A tremble quivered through me. My vision distorted, my mind questioning itself. Reality warped. It was the Mental Assault, I knew, but my mind couldn't resist. Sitoln had been part of the crew- No! He tried to kill mum- No, no, he wanted to protect her, he tried to- no, fuck no, fight! Fight him! A croaked scream escaped. Sitoln's voice rang like echoes in my head, bouncing and amplifying until only his reality remained. He and mum were close, lovers. Cops had tried to kill- STOP IT! No! Mum! Mum help! Make him stop! Mum, I fucked up, I fucked up! He lying, Cops would never- Stop it! Mum, safe me! Please! I'm sorry! I fucked up!
A bang snapped me awake, my head swimming in pain. Only when my body slammed to the ground did my mind work once more. My head shook, everything swaying. Smoke trickled from the Paladin in my hand. My eyes flew to Sitoln as he staggered back. His head hung back, jaw snapped in two. A hole punched through the neck, just under the jaw pointing up. Inside, the upper part of the spine sparked. Sitoln stumbled around the room, cables twitching as if drunk. My eyes found the door. After a shake of my head to clear the webs, my quivering legs pushed me up. I stumbled outside into the burnt hallway. Kala's normal mech charged down the long hallway, Shepard hot on her heels. Relief flooded me, draining me of strength. My mind felt numb, despite the pulsating pain. On shambling legs, I stumbled towards them. Shepard grabbed me, hauling me over his shoulder as the pair skidded to a stop, retreating the way they came. All other mechs charged towards the area.
"I've got him! Retreat to the Normandy! Full retreat!" Shepard cried.
"Shepard, Gideon's biometrics-" Kala said, voice crackling through the mech.
"I know," Shepard grunted through gritted teeth. "Delern, is that RIT thing working?"
"What do you think I've been working on the past few weeks?" Sassy said. My head cleared as Shepard ran. My legs twitched, eager to flee the area, but felt too numb to hold weight. A warning blared out on the station, a brief flash of lights. A second later, power died, gravity vanished around us. Shepard swore. Free from gravity's hold, my hands reached for Kala, grabbing the rim of the head. Jets pushed us through the gravity, Shepard following close behind.
"Are you alright, Gideon?" Kala asked.
"My head feels funny, like… really funny. I-I think it's easing," I said, focusing ahead. Kala pushed off the floor, moving up through a hole. We broke out into the entrance area. Shepard ushered us through the broken door. An army of Alliance personnel waited with guns. The Normandy hovered behind, the airlock open and ready. Upon seeing us, the team retreated, covering us as we swam across the abyss to safety. Everyone onboard, the Normandy pulled away, sealing us inside before applying full thrust to make a hasty escape. The airlock pressurised, dropping us onto the floor. My hand released Kala as the internal lock opened. Shepard herded me inside the CIC n shivering knees. My arm raised, still clutching the Paladin. It clicked together. It pressed against my cheek as my arms wrapped around it, holding it to me.
"Boy!" Marruns snapped. My head jolted up, then swam from the action. Kala pressed against my back as my warms flung out for balance. Marruns grabbed my scruff, dragging me down the CIC. "RIT, now! Spirits, boy, what are we going to do with you?!"
"H-How does training me sound, huh? Ever thought about that?" I grumbled when the elevator doors closed. Marruns snorted but remained silent. The elevator dropped to the med bay. Inside, Sassy finished setting up the machine. My stomach plunged at the sight of the cryo pod at the end of the room, a shimmering blue shield around it. Why didn't they put curtains or something around it… for my sake?
"We will talk later," Sassy said, tone frozen. He snapped the armour off me, leaving me in the jumpsuit and under-armour. He pressed the RIT headband over my temples. The headache worsened. "And you will not like it,"
"Do I like any of our talks?" I grumbled as Sassy helped me onto the bed.
"Kala, download Gideon's biometric data," Sassy ordered, clicking the headband into the machine.
"Of course, Commander," Kala said.
As darkness surrounded me, my mind wandered. Too close, Sitoln got too close. Thank God for the Paladin, if it hadn't been there… did… did Mum hear me? My heart stuttered. So deep in the Mental Assault, I could have pulled the trigger and not realise it but… maybe Mum heard me. Maybe she wanted to come back too, or was still trying to help me from beyond the veil… probably not. But it soothed an aching scar. There may not be such a thing as ghosts, but I wanted it to be true, to know mum was still there for me. But if she was still there, still fighting… it was me still doing stupid stuff that disturbed her so-called peaceful sleep. I needed to be trained, so mum wouldn't worry any more. For now – while the white hiss descended – closing my eyes against the rising nausea, knowing mum was there… I didn't feel so bad. The memory of Mum holding my hand during my first RIT with her by my side, only my second time going through it, brought a wave of emotions. Let her hold my hand this time again. Just… once… more…
The Timeline and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A/N: Well, my life is hell right now. My move to England has gone horrible thus far and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. So, this will be the last chapter for a few weeks until things settle down. I am back home for a few days so I have enough time to recollect myself and post this chapter.