The blaring alarms soured the bile rising in my chest, another hard sideways G-Force threatening to hurl me across the room, saved only by the mag-boots and my determination. All the screens above my head flared with a blinding red streak, flying past the ship by a hair. The hull warning systems crackled, the heat pushing the barriers and metal skin to beyond safe values. But only for a moment. Until the next time at least. These things had good aim, which only worsened my nerves. Orders flew, our main gun useless without a hard swi- urh. Ok, there's the hard swing there. My stomach pinned to my side, threatening to empty in a heartbeat if it didn't stop. The ship rumbled, a loud bang shuddering every bolt and nerve. All the while, people flooded past, assessing systems, running rampant, the clang of mag-boots and surprised grunts soon following. Why?
"Xanthe you fuck-nugget! Get tae fuck!" I screamed, aimed to the rear cameras as a Reaper pursued. The long legs curled, a slow, methodical movement designed to strike fear into anything organic. It only pissed me off more. The Starquake dived, another monstrous beam pelting towards us. The Reaper rumbled, judging by how the hairs on my arms stood on end. We couldn't hear said rumble, but after being possessed by a Reaper for as long as I had, your body… attunes as hard as that is to admit. My teeth nipped my lip to stop my mind wandering down that path further.
"How do you know this is Xanthe?" Val grunted, grabbing my chair as we swerved.
"Cause they tagged this bitch in Khar'shan and made damn sure everyone knew she was still sore about being the first to die to me," I said, a grumble hiding the twang of guilt panging my heart. Gun'to said they saw her screeching my name near the capital, predicting we would move to the most stricken area first. She wasn't wrong, she was just too early thanks to delays on the Citadel. Dammit, Xanthe wanted me dead more than she did Julian, and her Shell used to sleep with Julian! My eyes squeezed shut. If only we had the forces here to take her down and put Julian to rest on that issue. But one thing at a time.
"Prepare to jump!" Lanster hailed. My hands grabbed the console before me, bracing as the ship shook and hummed. A second later, we launched into FTL, escaping Reaper and her ragtag little army of bots with her. The IFF shared by Shepard and the Normandy crew would hide us for a time, longer if we were more careful than we had been. My main concern – and gripe – was it only worked with ships with hyper intelligent machines inside them. That meant AIs.
Which brought me to my current household issue, the one that had every crew member on edge and gave me more than a few sleepless nights. And still does, but don't tell Val. Kala. My eyes trailed over the bridge, finding no sign of boy or bot, both locked in the Intel department these days. With the Reapers hitting hard and fast, we needed every edge we could get. When EDI passed Kala a copy of the IFF data – without all the nasty, as Shepard put it – how could I scoff at such a useful tool? That did, however, mean giving Kala access to the Starquake's systems. It sent quite a few people into a flurry, the quarians in particular. Then again, we didn't have much choice. We didn't have the algorithms nor the time to have someone sit in a console and prepare code and encryption keys to send responses to Reaper transmissions hoping they were correct. Reapers were machines and transmitted beyond organic timescales. We needed an AI to deal with that. Kala was in charge of Reaper interception. Part of her duty included course corrections when she received Reaper based transmissions. It drove Lanster and the flight crew mad to no end, but the ship was theirs… mostly. That mostly part was the sticking point; how much was theirs, who had responsibility in terms of an override to a course, what if the pilots wanted to be A but Kala wanted C? Kala promised to leave command of the ship to them at all other times but it didn't help the nerves, not at first. Thus far, she had kept her end of the bargain… albeit with some intervention from Gideon. A few times he had to yell at her for something, to which the AI surrendered command until she and Gideon battled it out. At least he was taking to his role as AI Handler with virtue, now witnessing the issues so many people feared when she was discovered in the beginning.
My hands scrubbed my face. Kala loved it. She delved into the challenge without a second thought, gobbling up her server's resources to minimise strain on the Starquake's systems, something Intel and Engineering both thanked her for - with grumbles. Her work demanded intense usage at all times. Reapers didn't sleep, neither did she, and her servers ran hot. Ran so hot that Gideon had to move them into the server room to keep them cool, he couldn't sleep in his own bed without fear of it catching fire. We needed more power just in case, and Gideon wanted spare servers for Kala to back herself onto in case the server room took a direct hit. Fingers crossed the Council raised no questions for those additional servers as a backup… But we needed it for protection against Reapers and to let Kala process the damn noise filtering in from across the galaxy for Saboteurs. She couldn't help if a Reaper physically saw us - which is how this little dogfight with Xanthe started. My head shook, dragging my senses back. She was several lightyears away now, even she'd need time to track us down. Enough time to get to Khar'shan and do what we could to save the species with luck. My contact, Gun'to or Gunner, sent me gruesome reports. Nothing like I was used to from the bonkers man. My heart fluttered. He was one of the few batarians that didn't hate humans… or me at least. We flew with all haste to batarian space, but the space surrounding the systems lay thick with Reapers. Although they dispersed, they started in the Kite's Nest and all stragglers arrived in this area of the galaxy. All relays in the system were under Reaper control. We wouldn't be arriving by relay into this system. We would need to arrive in a neighbouring system and then FTL the rest of the way… which was what we were doing.
The past week was a blur, a flash, everything moving too fast. The war had taken hold so fast it gave us little time to adjust. For myself, this war will hit worse than any mission previous. It would take time, but the wait made it worse. When the war kicked into full gear, the stress… well, the stress is something I'd have to deal with. I have no choice on in matter. Val helped, although even he wasn't prepared for conflict scale. My ass landed on my chair, head flopped back against the head rest. We made a lot of sacrifices over the past week, the hardest for me was my duty as a mother. I pulled Gideon from school indefinitely until the war ended. We needed him and Kala too much, especially if a Saboteur popped into view. Our experimental pistols could fire a single clip of the Anti-Reaper rounds, but the Daemon was the only gun we had that could fire in quick succession. The cooldown time on the pistols was too long. Gideon's joy dampened as his workload piled on, now in charge of intel scrubbing and managing his hyperactive AI. Indira would keep him out of trouble, and he had Kala to help manage most of the work, but he still had to send our encrypted messages and handle Kala and keep her from doing anything stupid. If that was possible.
The crew kept moral up for the first few hours after booking it from the Citadel, but as more images came through, realisation hammered home. No one was ready for this. The worst of it was the batarians. We didn't need images to know something was horrifically wrong over there. The silence from Batarian space concerned some, it was unusual to have nothing from that region of space. Then the first few refugees emerged, beaten and traumatised. Despite out best efforts to get out there as soon as Gunner's reports came in, it still felt too late. They were the first victims of the war, and Gunner seemed convinced they would be the first to go extinct. That painted a horrible picture of batarian space. And this was 6 months after losing a huge colony to a mass relay explosion. In 6 months Gunner had to prepare his people but they did little to nothing to slow the Reapers once they had access to the Harsa Relay. A large force went for Earth upon arrival, many more stayed to 'harvest' the batarians. The reports were few and all reporting differences with errors on the 50% scale. My fingers rubbed my eyes, easing the strain. We'd see just how bad it was when we landed, and then report back to the Council…
Who I was still avoiding, by the way. Yes, I had no contact with the Council beyond written reports and requisitions orders. The Council hadn't rejected anything so far and had posted everything I asked with haste. Maybe I could squeeze in a new coffee machine- No, dammit! Focus! My head shook free, dreading any rationing that may set in. Time to stock up on coffee… just in case. A tired sigh escaped. The Council asked for meetings, but they met with Val instead who wasn't as easy to sway or intimidate into giving answers. He knew of my slipup to the Council, but he didn't judge, he knew better and understood my emotional outbursts better than most. My teeth found my lip, nibbling away at it. The Council must know Julian is my biological brother and therefore, a Saboteur since they also know my correct date of birth and history. That was a fun form to fill out when they freed me from prison. What they planned to do with that information, I don't know. Maybe they'd find mercy and spare Julian, fearing my wrath. Maybe they'd use this to force Julian's hand. Please for the love of God, no. Let's not think about that much more. But yeah, avoiding the Council as much as possible for the time being.
"I want a full report on this ASAP, I don't have time to worry about hull damage when we're about to hit the worst place in the galaxy," I said.
"Aye, aye," Val said. His eyes trailed over my locked jaw. "You're overthinking things again," he said.
"I'm fine," I said. My jaw swung to release the taut muscles. "Any word from the Council?"
"Not much beyond wanting to speak to you for the first time in a week," he said, a smile in his voice.
"Fuck em," I growled. Val laughed.
"You can't avoid them forever, love," he said.
"Watch me," I said. Val shook his head. "I need to call people. Man the helm if another Reaper appears,"
"We'll be fine. No doubt Kala is working hard to deal with all the inbound transmissions," he said.
"I'm sure," I sighed, shaking my head and leaving the bridge.
First on my hit list of calls was Shepard. The images from Earth were sparse now, the news feeds dying by the hundreds each day. But each one drained my will, dampened my moral. It was something… there were no words that could describe the devastation. No wonder the Protheans lost, that every species before had lost before them. London in flames, Tokyo in shambles, Rio shaken to its core. Every cell wept. My home, my world, ravaged by monsters too powerful for us to do more than push around. But my place wasn't there, not fighting for those still trapped on the planet. It was here, saving trillions from the few that could damage them the most. My jaw tightened, a physical reminder that the crew watched me still in these uncertain times. It was too dangerous to show weakness when the war had only just started. The safety of the elevator gave me no pause either as people came and went, my hands clenched tight behind my back. Only my quarters gave me the time to catch my breath and sag my shoulders.
The computer blinked with messages from the Council, ever persistent. Those messages vanished with a flick of a finger, the dialler replacing them. How long would it take to reach Shepard, where was he now? Still on Earth? My head shook, sitting as the call connected through the Reaper filled abyss. The computer clicked, Shepard's face appearing on the screen. The ruffled captain's chambers of the Normandy decorated his back. He lifted tight lips, face strained.
"Delly, good to see you," he said.
"Don't call me Delly, Shepard, I won't tell you again," I said with a frown. "How is Earth?" I asked.
"Before I left? Bad," he said, shaking his head. He noticed my furrowing brow. "Anderson sent me off to get help, but it looks like nowhere is safe these days,"
"The salarians and asari homeworlds aren't in immediate danger for now. Same can't be said for the batarians and who knows about the vorcha. Even the Volus and Elcor look shaky," I said. "I need to know your plans so we don't tread over the same ground, we can't afford any crossovers," Shepard frowned.
"I'm looking into things, this isn't a secure connection so I cannot divulge more," he said. My brow rose.
"Kala, secure this connection," I said. Shepard's eyes widened.
"You let your AI onto your ship's systems?" he asked, a grin growing. My lips pressed tight.
"As you know, the Reaper IFF only works with AIs, we can't afford to lose time when we have an advantage," I said, grumbling.
"Connection secure, Captain," Kala said. Shepard sighed, verifying with EDI that the connection was safe from Reaper intervention. As if he didn't trust Kala… God, I'm sounding like Gideon now. Shepard straightened his back.
"Liara is looking into a possible Prothean weapon that might give us the advantage to turn this war in our favour. Don't know much about it, but the Alliance and what people we can round up are working on it. We're on route to the Citadel to get support to get help for Earth," My lips twitched, heart clenched. He wanted to help Earth, it should appease my aching heart, but my mind wandered.
"And the other worlds?" I asked. Shepard frowned. "It's all fine and dandy to say 'Please help us with Earth', but I'm about to drop onto Khar'shan in the next day or so," Shepard's face fell. "So what help can you get when the other species are worried about their own worlds? They'll want to shore up their own defences, keep their own people safe. We may have sent hundreds of thousands away to Andromeda, but we have trillions still here, still dependant on the leadership of their governments to keep them and their families alive. What can you do, what can you give, to help these people settle their fears for the coming months?" I asked. Shepard stayed silent, churning my words. So blind was he to save Earth he had forgotten everyone had their own worries to deal with.
"I'm not saying it will be easy," I said, continuing. Shepard raised his eyes. "But each side will have to make sacrifices. We need the turian navy, we need the krogan army, we need the asari commandos, and we need the salarian infiltration and science teams. Shepard, you need to bring these people together,"
"You would have an easier time of that, Miss Deals-with-Saboteurs," Shepard sighed, scrubbing his face. My eyes diverted, finding a rock on the desk more interesting.
"I don't think I can, Shepard. I'm a soldier, not a diplomat," I said, a snort escaping. "Suppose I am a soldier, huh?"
"Imagine saying that 3 years ago," Shepard said, raising strained lips. "Find these Saboteurs, Dell. I'll update you with what I have when I speak with the Council,"
"Thank you. I'll report back from Khar'shan when I can," I answered.
"Don't die again," He added with a smirk.
"You either, prick," I grunted through clenched teeth, dropping the line before he could laugh.
Well, Shepard is stressed already. That was from seeing the Reapers on Earth or from the general workload he has to do now. At least he knew what he had to do… kinda. No one had fought a war like this. My head shook, stray hair tickling my face. My hand rose to type another number, this one more familiar. Tension worsened across my temples, the headache reminding me of two things; 1) we were totally screwed without some serious action and 2) a mountain stood between me and success. That reminded me to set out what a 'success' was in the first place. Do we celebrate every tiny victory, or would that remind everyone that despite everything, we only mustered a tiny result? My head hung, hands running through my hair as the news reports blinked on the side of the screen, demanding my attention. No matter how temping they looked, they never did raise my finger. I knew what waited for me on the other side of those glowing buttons; destruction, death, despair and a whole lot of Reapers. The news reports would vary from bone cutting to blatant propaganda. With Earth dark and everyone else on high alert, how much time did that leave us before Thessia fell? Or Sur'Kesh? Hell, what if Palaven fell and the strongest military with them?
"Delly," the voice snapped me from my stupor. My skin crawled, chasing away the shadows of unwanted thoughts as my attention rose to my brother. Strain marred his eyes bags forming under heavy eyelids. In the distance, the cry of sirens and automated warning systems. He was being attacked again.
"I'm glad we got the Reaper out of me now, more so than ever," I said, keeping my voice soft. If anything it was to calm him, let him know I wasn't cracking under what little strain pressed against me. Julian lifted one side of his lips.
"As am I. You went through this with one Reaper, there is no way I would wish this upon you. Hell, I wouldn't wish this upon anyone," he said.
"At least you have the staff," I said.
"I don't have the ships though. A second Constellation would go a long way right about now," he said, shaking his head. "What word?"
"Shepard is chasing down a Prothean weapon, once they get that sorted and deciphered, they're dragging what resources they have to build it," I said. "I don't think we have much else to go on right now,"
"Nothing on my end. So blame him if everything goes to shit," he sighed, swaying as his ship's shields took another blow. "I'll speak to my people to pass you details. We have contacts with engineering firms and dry docks that may be useful to you in a pinch. They may even help with this weapon thing if things get that desperate,"
"I'll pass the message across," I said. "We're heading to Khar'shan... I'm not expecting very much beyond extinction," Julian's eyes narrowed, jaw tightening. He dragged in a breath, teasing the tension from his muscles.
"I won't say what i want to say," he said. A smile tugged on my lips. He didn't want me to go, I knew. "But what I will say is I don't think you are prepared for what you are about to see out there. I have meagre reports. They aren't pretty,"
"What kind of numbers?" I asked.
"Millions... a day," he said, My heart froze. "It's a harvest, Delly. Watch for new husks, report back what you can,"
"Will do. Stay safe, if you can," I said.
"It's only a matter of time, Delly. Remember what you said when Nyryntha chased you across the galaxy; I can't run forever," he said. My hands clenched, every muscle tightening. "I need you prepared for that eventuality,"
"You're not turning-!" I snapped.
"No, I'm not. I've already told to crew to kill me if there is no way out. It's safer that way," he said,
"What is the leadership order?" I asked.
"I'll have someone forward you the contingency plans. No doubt you have you own," he said with a smile. It widened when he spotted mine. "Father raised us well,"
"He did... I just wasn't expecting to see him this early," I said.
"Well, early for us, very late for him," he said, shaking his head. "You'll get out of this, you're a Shaik. I know you can,"
"But you won't..." I said.
"No. But I am content with that. If we kick this things in the arse, I'll accept death with a smile," My eyes squeezed shut fighting the bubble swelling in my chest. "I am not afraid to die, Delly. You know this,"
"It still hurts," I said, shaking my head. "But enough of that, you aren't dying any time soon. Keep me up to date, pass me those reports from Khar'shan if you can,"
"Already on their way. Just promise me you'll be careful. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt or worse after everything we went through to bring you back,"
"Speaking of which-" I said.
"No, Delly. We don't have the time nor resources right now. There is no way you can worry about fighting a war and rebuilding me at the same time. It isn't fair on either of us. Beside, we don't know if we can read my memories from my brain properly without Reaper intervention. I'm pretty sure the Reapers are just going to outright destroy me after our last little ploy. They won't give us a second chance,"
"One could hope," I said. My shoulders sagged. "Try to stay safe,"
"Shall try. You as well. And tell that turian bastard if anything happens to you, no amount of Reapers will stand between me and castrating him," he warned. He ignored the scowl burning on my face. He flicked two fingers next to his temple before his feed died. Well, at least his relationship with Val was still healthy and strained... a small sign that he was still hanging on?
Millions a day… millions of people dead in a day. My hand rubbed my chest, clenching at the jacket, the stripes now heavy. Indoctrination, Saboteurs, Reapers and desperate people all at the same time. I needed to trust Gunner and his judgement, but what help could we provide? Any Saboteurs would be so buried they wouldn't want to be discovered… unless killing me was high up the priority list… My teeth nibbled my lip. No, stop with the thinking. Land on Khar'shan, speak with Gunner, and decide from there. With fire in my bones, I stood, ready to face the waiting eyes of the crew around me. Or as ready as one could be. The elevator consumed me, dropping me down the active 4th floor. Once there, my attention fell on the Intel department.
Inside, the walls glowed with flowing data, people flying in all directions. Indira rallied her crew, three datapads clutched to her chest as she called the orders. In the middle, Gideon smashed a keyboard with a tight jaw, eyes on the screen before him. Kala's mech lay curled up under his chair, out of the way, while her voice hummed low in the air. She updated the crew with her intelligence, plotting new Reaper callsigns and charting them and their possible paths. The crew further processed this information and passed to the relevant teams and pilots. Few worked harder than these men and women. And AI.
"Dellion!" Indira cried. "Still getting information through from Khar'shan, a few transmissions here and there,"
"Just make sure they aren't fake," I sighed, stopping by the massive holographic ball in the middle.
"Easier said than done, Indoctrinated servants fills the area," Seth grumbled. "The propaganda is killing more people than the Reapers," My eyes squeezed shut. Goodie…
"Are we cutting through the noise?" I asked.
"Hard to say until we see it with our own eyes. Some of the propaganda is pretty obvious, others… not so much," Indira said. A frown tugged on her lips. "I don't know what we are going to find down there. There might not even anyone to save. It could just be indoctrinated servants,"
"Are the conversions to the prison cells completed?" I asked.
"Ask Shayan," Gideon said, chewing his lip. "I swear, if I see another Reaper virus hidden in the middle of an encrypted message with Batarian Hegemony keys in it, I'm going to nuke a Reaper,"
"Don't forget to rest, Gideon," I said. "We cannot afford to have you down and out the count for long" Gideon's gaze dropped to his lap.
"...I did always want to help… I just wasn't…" he mumbled. The mother pummelled the captain into submission, a right hook out of nowhere. My arms wrapped around him, Gideon leaning into the hug, face burrowing into my shoulder.
"Just not like this" I said. "I wish I could say it will get easier, but I won't to lie to you, not now. But I'm here if you need to talk, and you have Kala to help if anything looks wrong," I said.
"Thank you," he mumbled, words muffled by shoulder. He squeezed me hard, releasing a tense breath as my arms squeezed back. Another transmission awaited his attention. Another joined the queue before Gideon could even lift his hands. My eyes closed, fighting the rising swell. One day at a time. just one foot in front of the other. I turned, looking for the door. My hand grabbed Indira before she bounced out of sight. She paused, blinking. My throat tightened, forcing it clear.
"Keep an eye on him," I asked, pleaded. God, who know what I meant. Indira narrowed her gaze, a rare moment of unfaltering grit.
"Aye, aye," she mumbled, tone hard. She marched out of my slackened grip, leaving me to abandon the bustle behind.
The ship hummed in the hall, the press of people sprinting up and down the halls like hammers clattering on a bell. My eyes closed, soothing my aching chest, the tension threatening to collapse my knees. One step at a time. They carried me close to the stern, towards the labs. Inside, the quiet babble caressed my ears. Scientists, if nothing else, respected silence and light noise. Much better than the clamour of the bridge or the press of the intel department. My eyes hunted, searching but finding naught. He wasn't here. Then there was only once place he could be. Back into the noise I go, down to the cargo hold. The elevator flew past Deck 4 on its way up, carrying people down a snail's pace. But the engineers needed their space. As much as using the ducts sped up the transition around the entire ship, we still hadn't arranged emergency power outage travelling procedures... another thing to look at before going to bed. My head shook hard, brows snapping down as the elevators doors opened and people filed out. Salutes flew, but they stayed attentive to their duties.
Down in the cargo hold, I heard it. The firing line was in active use. And judging from the pops, these were the scientists on their test runs. With my hands to my ears, a scientists shuffled out the door, side stepping me as another engineer sprinted back inside. The door to the shooting range opening up with a gentle whoosh. Just in time to see another pistol explode in the hand of a mech. My shoulders trembled, eyes seeking the black and white salarian and his shaking head. My shoulders lifted, striding across the distance.
"Right, get the 3mm armoured barrel," Mat'al said, folding his arms. The mechanics shuffled forward, replacing the mech's hands and pistol with a new, thicker barrel.
"No luck?" I asked. Mat'al swivelled, a smile lifting his lips.
"Progress, but yes," he said. He faced the shooting range again as I stepped beside him. "We can fire a few rounds now. Next, we just need to increase the firing speed, the heat sink efficiency and/or armour the back of the barrel more. We should have working guns in the next week. The scientists of the Daemon have sped things up considerably,"
"Good news at last," I said, slipping ear protection over my head as they commanded the mech. One shot, two shot, three shot, four shot, explosion.
"Better, get the 3.5mm," Mat'al ordered. A tentative smile lifted my lips.
"So I could get a new gun next week?" I asked. Mat'al snorted.
"Technically," he said. His smile narrowed my eyes, his rising grin sent shivers down my spine. "Assuming we teach you to hold a miniature cannon without smacking yourself in the face,"
"One time!" I snapped. Mat'al burst out laughing. "One time! And I wasn't even working out at that point!" A rolling growl vibrating in my chest, Mat'al's contented smile only worsening it. "For the next one, have him hold it," I grumbled, pointing to Mat'al before stomping for the door.
"Try it," he said to a young mechanic. He trembled under the frozen voice. "And see what happens," My head shook, leaving the salarian to his tests.
My teeth nibbled my lip, arms holding each other before following the trail of people towards the old prison cells. They weren't prison cells... just holding cells. Not much different but different enough. Val insisted on strengthening the glass and shields, also providing back up power just in case. He never explained himself, but there wasn't an obvious reason to deny it. The maze of storage containers meandered through the hold, piled high and thick, strapped down and anchored in place. In the stern most section, the converted cells loomed. The engineers finished connecting Val's requests for the cells, old glass doors lying strapped to a hover table for use or recycling. They had changed little, but the walls were armoured, just in case and everything reinforced. We couldn't afford any chances now. It could kill us. That sent shivers over my skin. Well, if these failed, I was blaming the Council. Damn Council and their fucking standards. My teeth ground, already abandoning the room, seeking shelter elsewhere. Only there was no shelter or sanctuary. Not anymore. A throb danced through my blood, shuffling my weight as the elevator took me back towards the bridge. No rest for the wicked, no rest for the good. There was just no damn rest. Fuck it, I am sleeping tonight, flirty Val be damned.
The Fact Sheet, Timeline, Saboteur Sheet, Galaxy Map and Reaper Forces have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.
A/N: Alright, I owe everyone an explaination. And an update.
First, MMO's apparently steal an awful lot of time away. I can now fully appreciate this. On the upside though, my new job has allowed me 1h a day (well, more like 50mins, depends on how quickly I eat lunch) to write. Unfortunately... I've kinda gotten myself pulled into another story. I have a co-writer and everything. That one, however, won't be published until it is actually finished and we're both happy with it. It's a Final Fantasy XIV based story, so you can expect that in the nearish future as well. As far Starquake, what I plan on doing is when work starts back up again in the new year, I'll write one chapter of Starquake, and then once that is finished, I'll write a chapter of the other story I'm doing and then cycle that way. I may take me 3-4 days to write a chapter, which means Starquake may have to go onto a 2-week release schedule... since I have no other chapters written apart from this one. Thankfully, this other story isn't going to be a 5 volume saga like Starquake. Thank Christ.
This does mean I don't have a date for the next chapter. I am going to start writing it in the next few days hopefully. But as you know, tis the season. So I thought I would release this chapter as a Christmas gift and as an apology for taking nearly a year to get back around to this. Starquake isn't dead! I'm just... getting side tracked... a lot. On the bright side, my raiding static was disbanded last night, so I have lots more free time now!... yay... (we haven't even finished the content yet and the party collapsed so... sad face).
Anyway, enjoy the chapter, go re-read everything... ahhhhhhhhhh fuck I need to finish the edits for Revenant... FUUUUUUUUUU-