Indira kept low as gunfire and screams sounded above us, leading to a doorway so well hidden no normal civilian would find it. Tucked behind trees and now ruined pillars, the door opened under Indira's coaxing hands. We stepped in, metal beams hanging flat overhead, wires and conduits along each wall. The deeper we moved in this tunnel, wide enough for 4 krogan shoulder to shoulder, the more my stomach twisted. The lights overhead flickered, there was no glass to peer into the darkened depths. Above our heads the intense fighting raged, the pounding of every husk echoing through these tunnels. It was dark, it stank of rotted seaweed and grease and our footsteps echoed like murderers in the night. Bodies who either hid here or tried to escape lay in little heaps on the ground, hindering navigation around them in the flickering darkness. We approached the branching tunnel leading to another tunnel parallel to the one beside us. Every hair on my arms stood to attention, snapping me awake and throwing an arm out. Everyone froze. My throat felt tight, every nerve screaming. My hand lowered to a corpse, easing the helmet free. A pipe torn from the wall slid into my other hand. With the helmet on the end of the stick, it reached out into darkness, out into the connecting tunnel's view.
A fist-sized cable crushed the helmet into the opposite wall. My heart exploded in my chest, scrambling back as people drew guns. But it wasn't a hanar that turned the corner. The massive hulk of metal and flesh, a half-torn turian head bobbing on a cable formed neck roared as it spotted us, a claw larger than any Krogan hammer raised. A wordless cry escaped my voice, rolling to the side as it charged. Hot damn, why was it so fast?! My eyes glanced to the wall. How much stood between us and the ocean...? Before that thought went much further, Algenis managed a half-cry, launching towards me. A split second filled me with confusion. The next had me screaming in surprise as cables and tentacles encased in snakeskin metal grabbed me from behind. My feet left the ground, the tunnel walls a blur before my shoulder crashed into the floor, already rolling onto my feet with the Paladin half-raised. It wasn't a hanar - again - rather a wave of red glowing Abominations sprinting down the tunnel that took my attention. The Paladin managed two shots. Blue sparked across my vision like lightning. My only warning.
My jump jets flared to life, launching me up as a Quake thundered past where I was. The Abominations screeched as they erupted. Acid like fire stained the walls and floor as I landed, wheeling around to the fight behind me. A hanar finally filled my vision. The jets shoved me back, saving me from a strangling, as the Paladin snapped in my hand. The bullets dinged off the thickened metal protecting the head, but a bullet tore through the snakeskin like armour on the legs easier. A thud distracted me, Shaul on the ground as the massive bulk of meat and metal swotted Savanor away. The beast rumbled as a leg jerked in the air, a biotic field stopping a second charge. It didn't seem to have any range ability aside from throwing things. My attention snapped back to the hanar. Caught between the hissing fire and a Saboteur. Just what I liked on my Wednesday afternoons.
"Oh hi there," I said, forcing my voice high and cheery. "Fancy meeting you here, how's the war going?"
"Swimmingly," the hanar said, the voice laden with robotics.
"My God, a Saboteur with a sense of humour. Miracles can happen," I said. The hanar side stepped as Alder crashed and rolled on the ground past him. My stomach plunged for a moment.
"It is good to let the Shells have their fun from time to time," the Saboteur said, a tentacle grabbing Alder by the ankle and yanking the human towards him. Alder yelped in surprise as his body flew off the ground. My Paladin howled, the bullet tearing past an open point in the snakeskin. Alder tumbled to the ground, scrambling away while the Saboteur growled.
"Uh, uh, uh. None of that. That's mine," I said. Clicks and growls rumbled behind me.
"Your hunting is an annoyance, Shaik," the Saboteur said. My lips tugged up.
"In the words of one dead Reaper; my quarry revealed itself of its own accord," I said, the words bitter on my tongue. The hanar fell still. "I didn't even know where you were until 10 minutes ago. You really only have yourself to blame,"
"...Twould seem I overestimated you," the hanar rumbled.
"I know you mean that as a snide... but I don't really care," I said. My eyes scanned behind him, noting the stumbling monster husk. "Besides, I think I've distracted you enough," The hanar half turned as Utren blasted the beast with the shotgun, the hulking monster dropping dead.
"Under normal circumstances, Shaik, I would be more than happy to finish Nyryntha's job. Unfortunately, we have orders. You are much too dangerous to deal with," he said.
"Flattered," I said, drying my tone as the team fanned out behind him, guns at the ready. "But you aren't killing anymore people, Dumitra,"
"Ah, I forget you have access to our names. Excellent deduction. Nonetheless, I have work to do. I am sure my little pet is more than enough to keep you entertained for a time," he said.
"...Pet?" I asked. My heart skipped a beat, a low hum all too familiar from so long echoing down the tunnel. My head snapped behind me as a blinding beam cut through a tunnel. The deafening sound of gushing water thundered. My eyes flicked forward, Dumitra spreading out his tentacles and cables.
"RUN!" I ordered. A moment of hesitation from the crew, a heartbeat, before they turned and sprinted for the door. My eyes trained on the hanar before running towards it, traces of gold skin beneath the armour. He braced, ready to grab me. I dropped to my ass and skid along the ground. The body of the giant husk slammed into the hanar from behind, the biotic force dissipating as they flew over me. A force grabbed me, heaving me up and forward. Searte grabbed me as the biotic aura faded, sprinting for dear life to the door. Everyone piled in, the door slamming behind me and Searte as the krogan sealed it shut. The water crashed against it seconds later, bulging out the metal. We stood there, gasping.
"That won't hold it forever, it's not meant to hold back that much pressure itself," Utren grunted.
"Agreed, we need to find the Saboteur and end it quickly," Algenis said.
"We need to lure it somewhere we can fight it, but the only place we can do that without risking civilians is Station 3. And that is a walking war-" I said.
A low creak snapped through the entire station, like a high tension wire snapping. Every muscle froze. My eyes flew to the nearest window, sprinting towards it to stare. In the gloom, the partially lit Station 3 hovered in the distance. It tilted, another metal grinding snap echoing down our station. A faint blue light darted through the water, so swift I nearly missed it. But there was no missing this. Metal screamed, the tunnels above our heads bent and bowed. Station 3 slid down, growing darker and fader until the darkness of the ocean stole it entirely. The bridges snapped free in mangles wrecks, bodies of people and husks twirling through the water. My heart limped in my chest, water gushing overhead and pouring into Station 1. Voices screeched from above. We snapped around as a wall of water washed off the upper floors and dropped like a dam overflow into the middle of the station. Water rushed towards us as it hit the tip of our floor, but it was at worse ankle high. We sloshed towards the edge, eyes up, unable to hear anything over the deafening water. The gush of water eased then, before stopping entirely. Only then, after my ears stopped ringing, did the screams from the civilians hiding in the upper floors reach me. The yelling from the soldiers barked over the din, something about closing water doors. My hand grasped the banister, staring down the drop to the bottom, broken by wider or shorter balconies from the floors below. There was no telling how many people were down there, washed away in the current. My eyes fell on Indira, the drell quivering beside me.
"Indira?" I asked. She managed to lift her head to stare at me. "...The Saboteur is going after Station 1 now,"
"I know," she said. She swallowed. "We won't have access to the surface now,"
"He might not appear until after he's sunk Station 2. We need to evac off this Station," I said.
"Let's head back to those mercs... the Saboteur?" she asked. My lip nipped under my teeth.
"...Assume lost for now. If he appears again we can take a stab at him but we can't do that dead," I said. "On me, goddam it all, on me!"
The climb back to the civilians heightened my urgency. My ears kept a sharp lookout for anything suggesting either of the two remaining stations were giving in. So far, no popping metal or whining supports. But it wouldn't last long. Nearing the location of the mercs, we slowed, my jaw dropping. The glass that looked so brittle beforehand now had hatches slapped on them, those damn merchant ships attached to the sides, submerged in salty ocean. People scrambled inside, a dozen ships with more sliding into place. The ships' skins shimmered, seemingly absorbing the colours of the deep and blended into the sea. Without the glint of the interior lights, I wouldn't have seen them. Armoured aliens barked to the hanar and drell, herding them at sprinting speeds onto the ships. There was no time for kind words. My eyes landed on Reena, jogging towards her.
"The hell is-?" I managed. The asari snapped her eyebrows down, stress marks gorging deep wrinkles in her skin.
"Is it dead?" she asked.
"Would Station 3 be gone if it was?!" I snapped. She clenched her jaw.
"I thought you were meant to be used to this," she rumbled.
"Oh yes, I can totally fight a Saboteur with a fucking Behemoth flooding the tunnel! Yes, totally can do that!" I snapped. The asari swung her jaw.
"Two floors up, there's a shuttle you can use," she rumbled. She returned to herding people inside the hatches. "We have to fill these ships up before Indoctrinated servants tell them what the hell is going on!"
"Well, at least you can use part of your brain!" I snapped, wheeling around and sprinting for the stairs. I heard a muttered asari curse before she was forgotten. Two floors up, a lone salarian stood, nervous and twitchy.
"Oh thank the Wheel," he heaved. My omni-tool burst to life. "Do what you can,"
"What the hell are you- Oi! Get back here! OI!" I thundered as he turned and sprinted towards a ship. My eyes flicked over the omni-tool. "...Shuttle access codes... nice," I moaned. I waved the codes to Laegan, the salarian already ducking inside. "We got to go, people. Hustle, hustle, hustle!"
We clambered inside, the shuttle fitting us just and no more. My head ducked inside the cockpit as Laegan and Fehan got the shuttle ready for take-off. We didn't have much time before a barked splurge of words over the radio sealed the hatches to the station. My head swung around as she ships disconnected from the shuttle. A red beam tore above us, cutting through anchoring points to floatation devices at the top of the Station 2. The station sagged, a single connection holding it. My eyes scanned the glass, stomach twisting as screaming faces flashed through the flickering lights. Fists battered on the glass, on the hatches. But the ships were gone, and a darkened golden blob in the distance sealed their fate. My hands gripped the back of the shuttle seat, teeth clenched tight to stop me ordering the shuttle around to pick up people. It was over for them. And there was nothing I could do. Absolutely. Nothing. A muffled twang registered, the lights flashing once before shutting off, the faint wails of screams echoing as the massive metropolis sank to the darkness. Instruments on the shuttle hummed, before a sound spike rattled. The glass caving, the city flooding. Station 1 hung on a handful of connections, it's descent to the depth paused to stop the evacuation. The water turned paler, clearer, before we burst above the surface.
But it wasn't over. Before I could shake the faces of screaming people, a red beam thundered from the waves jolted me awake. Ships popped to the surface, engines powering to get them airborne. The attack ships and unused merchant ships swooped low, hugging the waves as more and more ships bobbed to the surface. A group took off, half a dozen ships pointing to the sky. 4 ships hovered with them, keeping themselves between the ships and sea. The water crashed up, a darkened, metallic snake rising. Everything stopped. We had seen Behemoths, fought one once. But we never got this close. We could almost touch it. The fine textures of the metal gleamed, the Reaper blue lights dancing beneath the plates. The long, hooked limbs reached, the AA gun releasing another burst towards the fleeing ships. My eyes squeezed shut.
"Holy shit," Alder managed. Everything jerked, eyes finding the monitors again. The huge red beam, powerful enough to tremble the sky, battered itself to nothing against a shield. The four ships glowed ezzo blue, a concave shield between the Behemoth and the ships. The shield held. My jaw slackened.
"That's why the ships were so full of ezzo... they carried as much ezzo as they could to use as shields," I mumbled. More ships took off, more defence ships guarding the precious cargo as they fled, following them through space. Would those shields be enough to stop a Reaper from getting them until the ships could FTL?
"Captain! 3 o'clock!" Laegan hailed. My head shook, snapping back to reality before turning to the sensors. At 3 o'clock, bobbing in the water, a discontented hanar garbed in metal floated. My jaw clenched, the hundreds of faces, of all ages, staring up at me flashing like lightning.
"Can we get him?" I asked, my voice cold and distant. Indira narrowed her eyes.
"If we knew how to kill hanar Saboteurs, sure," she said. My eyes scanned the seas and instruments. Everything paused on a red beam aimed for another group of fleeing ships.
"...Searte, Zeedra, Indira. Warm your biotics," I said. The women turned to me. "...We're chucking that thing straight into the Behemoth,"
"...That would do it," Shaul rumbled. "Let the Starquake distract the beast," he said as the Saboteur disappeared beneath the waves.
"Get it done. I need to bring blobby to the surface," I rumbled, grabbing the mechanical winch line. Indira clenched her jaw, but said nothing.
"How?" she asked.
"When the line goes slack, pull me up," I said, threading the harness over my shoulders. "Just be ready to grab him and throw him," The door popped open, the wind howling through the shuttle.
Indira couldn't open her mouth before watching me jump. People yelped and scrambled. Every muscle tensed, as if realising my own insanity. Only the whining line behind me kept me company. The waves rushed up to meet me. Just before hitting the waves, the jump jets cushioned my crash into the water. It all fell quiet within seconds, the bubbles rushing from my vision to stare into the endless abyss of the ocean. My throat squeezed. But it couldn't for long. Movement dragged my attention, a blur flying past. My eyes scanned all sides, above and below, but whatever I saw vanished. A minute passed, a few more seconds. Did the Saboteur suspect a trap? On one side, the bottom half of the Behemoth twisted, mimicking the turning beast as it dived below the waves and resurfaced elsewhere in the hopes of a better angle.
Tentacles grabbed me from behind, my heart leaping to my throat. My movements felt slow and delayed, like fighting on Dekuuna, even as the omni-blade whipped out and made a stab at an arm around my neck. The armour saved me. The helmet blocked the far reaches of my peripheral vision, but there was no mistaking. No matter how hard I thrashed, the arms and cables wrapped tighter. He started dragging me to the depths. Panic passed over me for a moment, a remembrance of the faces now gone. With effort, I struggled straight, head towards the surface. The jump jets fired, pushing up just a little, managed to fight him for a few heartbeats. Then tension grabbed my tights. Breath stalled in my lungs as we flew up, my hands grabbing the tentacles as they tightened on instinct. Dumitra realised the plan, or part of it. He tried to release, but my legs wrapped around everything I could even as cables battered against my armour. The visor cracked. We broke the water's surface, continued even further up before the water cleared from my helmet. Something grabbed me, invisible hands. It took a moment to see the blue aura around me as a force yanked the Saboteur away from me. I grabbed the winch line, finally gasping as the Saboteur soared. A flash in the distance showed the twirling Starquake. The Behemoth thundered, the air weeping as a beam fired towards the charging ship. The Starquake barrelled to the side. The Saboteur got another biotic kick as the red beam past. It vanished in the red. Within seconds a blinding magnesium light burst from the beam, a thunderous boom swaying me on the winch. The Behemoth paused, as if realising what happened. It screeched, the blue lights burning red as the AA gun turned to us.
Hands grabbed me as the shuttle banked and rolled, the air temperature skyrocketing as the shell flew above us. The Starquake rolled back, the cargo door open. One warning, a wordless cry from the cockpit as the door slammed shut and people grabbed whatever they could. We swung into the open cargo hold, sideways with the doors facing sky and sea. The thrusters on the bottom pushed to the max, the nose scraping the top of a small shuttle. We crashed into the back wall of the shuttle deck, the cargo door closing. Laegan and the three biotics heaved, straightening the shuttle enough to land on the landing pad. Once everything shut down we stopped, gasping, staring at each other. My throat released enough to talk.
"...I'm killing Tevos for this," I said.
"I'll help," Indira wheezed as she pushed the door open and stumbled out. I grunted, following as the ground grew rallied. Fresh faces bounced into view, forcing the door open and assessing the damage, Kala's voice ringing above us. All ignored. We worked our way towards the bridge, my eyes scanning every face.
"Just go, just go!" Val barked.
"Prepare to jump!" Lanster hailed. Indira grabbed me, both bending down to grab the floor. The ship lurched, a red beam aimed towards us vanishing. We straightened after a moment. Val glanced over his shoulder, a weight sagging from his shoulders.
"We good?" he asked.
"Define good?" I rumbled. He clicked his mandibles as I stumbled over, wrapping my arms around him and leaning against his chest. "No more water worlds,"
"...No more water worlds," Val said, turning back to the screens for a moment. "I'll deal with the mercs. Call the Council and fill them in,"
"Two new husks," I mumbled. Val shook. "Hydra and this... other thing,"
"...Worry about it later, You can fill Julian in," he said. My head bobbed, relieved to receive orders for a change. So much easier to follow than to make and give commands. "We're in FTL en route to the proposed meeting spot. We'll dump their shuttle and head off,"
"Ok," I said, coaxing weary legs towards the door.
"...Are you alright?" he asked, his voice torn. My feet paused for a moment, thinking.
"...I don't know," I said. What could I say? It is the most truthful answer I can give. Val clicked his mandibles as the doors closed behind me.
It became harder to walk the closer to my quarters I got. My eyes stayed forward, unwilling to peer into any side rooms as they passed. In FTL, leaping to a non-combat zone, the elevators were back on again. A small blessing. Back on the top floor, it felt like such a chore to reach my room and land in the chair by the desk. With trembling fingers, the armour clicked off, dropping where it fell. My toes rubbed the thin patch of carpet beside the work area. Alive. Alive to fight another day. My throat finally opened, my first deep breath since the mission started. Tevos' number dialled under laden fingers. The new encryption codes are too long, my laden mind struggling with every passing moment. Minutes later, the call connected, the familiar asari sitting at her desk, the peaceful Presidium behind her. A sourness lit a flicker of fury in my blood, but the body was too weary to burn.
"Captain Shaik, good afternoon," she said. She studied me in my dark under-armour, the odd piece of armour peeking through on the floor, on my eyes focused on the floor. "Are you well?" she asked. A blink, a moment to think. My head shook. Tevos clasped her hands, a sign of tension. "The Saboteur?" she asked.
"Dead," I managed. God, I sounded like death.
"Good... good. I'm glad. I apologise for the secrecy, Endellion," she said, her voice a gentle caress. She didn't use my name often. When she did, it was because she knew my boundaries were crossed or she wanted something.
"No more water worlds," I mumbled. Tevos studied me again.
"No more water worlds. We'll send Shepard in the future," she said. My head managed a weak nod. "Go and rest, Endellion. I will get a report from you when you are ready,"
"Thank you," I said. Tevos smiled, meaning it to be comforting before the call cut. My eyes managed one weary blink. I doubted my ability to talk, but Julian needed to know.
"Kala," I said. "Send a message to Julian. Tell him about the new husks," I said.
"I will gather the evidence from the body cams and send them his way, Captain," Kala said.
My feet stumbled over the fallen armour, hands tugging at the jumpsuit until it peeled off, still damp from my latest swim. It found a spot on the floor, everything collapsing on the bed with a hard bounce. It didn't take long after that for darkness to find me. And the nightmares. Screaming faces twisting into husks, melting away to nothing like a Saboteur, like my first body. Fountains of grey fluid and blood. The endless depths on the ocean, the shadowed form of a Behemoth in the distance. The images tore me awake three times. Once just after dinner, another at 3 in the morning and the final one around 6. There was no getting to sleep after that. Ignoring the tugging muscles, a gentle snort escaped, rolling off the bed and onto aching feet. When was the last time I had a mission that didn't end in a visit to the med bay? A miracle indeed. Val's eyes tracked me to the bathroom, then followed me again as I reached for clothes after a soothing shower. He was content to remain in bed once he saw me sit at the desk and begin my duties.
First up was the report writing while it was mostly still fresh in my head. Tevos got a TL; DR version of everything, she didn't need the dark details. With that written and sent off, my attention turned to my mailbox, trawling through the dozens sitting there waiting for me. The minutes ticked by, flicking through the names. My heart ached for Gunner's name to appear. But it never did. My head shook, reading the rest. Val was up and gone by this point, downstairs grabbing breakfast before work. My brows crept down, lips pursing. No response from Julian. Unusual... I searched the Sent box. Kala did indeed send a detailed email out to him. Maybe he found some respite? My eyes scanned the clock. Nearly 7:30am. Still a bit too early to call him. The omni-tool burst to life, fingers navigating towards the Fleet tracker. My heart thumped to a stop. No Constellation. Nothing from any of the other ships in the fleet. Dread filled my stomach, heart restarting and pounding hard. No, no, no. Not now. Not so early. He must just be laying low. Must be! My hands found the keyboard of the computer, typing out a coded message to a mutual contact, one who was almost in constant contact with Julian. An arms smuggler. Look, I don't approve either but sometimes you need to get things under the counter. Tense minutes passed, my fingers interwoven under my chin, teeth nipping my lip. A brief response returned.
"Not heard from him for about 10 hours now. Last I heard he was having Engine problems,"
It took a moment to realise I was on my feet and pacing, the main computer connecting a phone call. I didn't even know who. The call bounced, no receiver found. My breaths rushed in hard blasts, retyping the number time and time again. None connected. The signals found nothing to connect to. The other ships? But once more, there was nothing but emptiness. No! A new number, hands clamped to my shoulders to stop them bunching up. It rang out the first time. The second one was swiped away. The third one finally annoyed the recipient enough to answer. A very sleepy salarian glared at me, golden sunlight peeking through the window behind him. A dressing gown haphazardly covered him. Come to think of it, it was the first time I saw him without a hood covering his horns.
"Shaik, what is the meaning of calling me at this time in the-" Valern complained.
"Julian's gone dark," I said, my words rushed out in a pitched squeal. Only then did I realise everything was shaking. Valern paused, his morning grump fading.
"...Define 'gone dark'?" he asked.
"I can't find him... I can't reach him. No one has had contact with him for hours," I said, my voice trembling with my body. Valern blinked, waking more. "He always responds... always responds. He never ignores an email!"
"Shaik, calm down before you start hyperventilating," Valern ordered. My mouth worked overtime to swallow.
"He always responds..." I managed to whimper. Valern blinked, slow and purposeful.
"We'll send word out to keep a look out for his ships. If we get any word, we'll relay it back to you," he said.
"Thank you..." I managed.
"...Do you think he has turned?" he asked. A tremor stole me, landing me hard on the chair.
"...I don't know..." I said. "The Reapers... they've been hard on his ass since they came here,"
"Then we will assume the worst. Prepare your ship, Captain. You may be fighting a Martyr in the next few hours or days. However long it takes to find him," His words nearly curled me in a ball. I managed a stiff nod. Valern nodded before the call cut.
Turned... or dead. My throat closed. Please just be going to ground... Please God, just let him be going to ground! But what did I prefer, death or turned? Find a cold corpse covered in blood, or have to make him a cold corpse myself? In a heartbeat I was out the door, scrambling down ladders to the Intel department. Only a few early birds were awake, most still at breakfast. Indira no doubt was already having breakfast or recovering from Kahje. Faces glanced up before backs snapped straight, fingers touching foreheads.
"Captain... everything alright?" Anthon asked. My throat felt too tight to talk. Was I as pale as I felt, as wide-eyed as my meagre reflection hinted?
"Drop everything. New objective. Kala, you better be listening in," I said.
"I am listening, Captain," Kala chimed.
"The Constellation has gone dark," I managed. A stillness fell over the room. "Find them,"
"Are the transmitters down?" Sherin asked. My head nodded. Looks passed between them.
"We will find Admiral Shaik, Captain," Kala said.
"Hurry..." I said. People nodded, throwing coffee down their throats and moving to their consoles. I stepped out of the Intel department, standing in the hall as a sensation of disorientation swamped me, alien on my own ship. What to do? What do we do? What can I do? Was there anything I could do?
"Dell," my head snapped up, Mat'al marching down the hall at speed. He took one look at my expression, to my hands still clamped to my shoulders. "...What happened?"
"I can't find Julian..." I said. Mat'al breathed through his nose.
"So that's why Kala ordered the Intel team to their posts. What do we know?" he asked.
"O-Our smuggler said he was having engine problems about 10 hours ago, 11 now maybe... that was the last we heard from Julian," I said. Mat'al folded his arm, clucking his tongue as bodies filed into the Intel room. Indira jogged over, toast still in her mouth.
"...He's been penetrated, Dell," Mat'al said.
"I know that!" I snapped. "Just find him! Please..."
"I'll relay over the last set of positions from his transponder. We'll search the immediate areas. If he had engine problems, he wouldn't have gone far," Mat'al said.
"Julian?" Indira asked. Mat'al nodded. Indira tightened her jaw. "Leave it with us,"
"Thank you..." I said, squeezing my eyes shut. Why so soon, why so soon into the war? I needed him. I needed him for more than his knowledge and resources. I needed my brother while the universe burned…
"Go and get something to eat, Dell, while you still can," Mat'al said, turning to head to the labs. Gideon skid to a stop before the door.
"Mum?" he asked.
"...Find your uncle. Hurry," I said. Gideon narrowed his eyes. He nodded and vanished inside the room.
Hours past with nothing. I sat on the bridge, skipping breakfast, staring up at the galaxy map for some sign or word. Still nothing from Julian. And his contacts were now getting in touch with me asking what had happened. Hundreds of names whisked under my fingers, sending message after message. Some were familiar from my recovered memories. Some were new, but I was the emergency contact it seemed. While it passed the time, it only heightened my sense of panic. No word from the Council, nothing from the Intel team. He had vanished from the face of the galaxy. My hands wrung as another message flew into the abyss. That everyone was coming to me proved something was wrong, that it wasn't a little glitch. My heart knew, but nothing else wanted to believe. My hands clenched my trousers tight, waiting. Always waiting. Would it be days before we caught wind of where he was, of what happened? We were fast approaching 18 hours since his last known whereabouts. And yet nothing-!
"Incoming transmission, Captain," Lanster hailed. My eyes blinked, startled awake.
"From who?" I asked.
"An asari cruiser a few systems over," Lanster said.
"Let it though," I said, leaning back in my chair, forcing a professional expression to mask the stomach twisting pinning me to the chair. Within moments, a pale asari with vivid lime markings over her forehead appeared before me. She blinked, studying me, her armour more marked with war wounds than necessary. "Good afternoon, Captain Shaik of the RSS-2 Starquake. How can I be of service?"
"The instructions said to spread word to you if we found any ships on a missing ship file that came through earlier today," the asari said. My heart thundered, fingers tensing on the arms of the chair. "A cruiser, the Cassiopeia jumped into our system an hour ago. We have been assisting them with the assault,"
"…Assault?" I echoed.
"Half of them don't know who is friend and who is foe, the place was filled with mindless… things shooting everything that moved, not to mention those monsters from the invasion vids. We made it imperative to contact you once the situation stabilised," the asari said.
"Put me through… Goddam it, put me through!" I begged, leaping to my feet. The Cassiopeia, a human style cruiser. 420 personnel on board. Or had been. The asari tensed her jaw, but maybe she saw something in my face, the professional mask crumbling away. Wordlessly, her face vanished from the screens. A trail of dots flashed on the screen, every nerve on end. A dusty cyan, green and white salarian flashed on the screen, weary amber eyes blinking.
"Dell?" he said.
"Tolova, what is going on? Where's the Fleet, where's the Constellation, where's Julian?!" I demanded. Tolova blinked once, the normally perky man now dead on his feet.
"...The Reapers launched a massive assault," he said. Everything tightened in my chest. "Despite our best efforts, we still had indoctrinated servants on our ships. There was word of a Saboteur too, but I don't know how substantiated that claim is,"
"Where," I begged.
"Dell, you can't go out there, the Admiral would kill-" Tolova said.
"Where damn you!?" I screamed. Tolova blinked, swaying against the force of my fury. He released a slow breath.
"Shadow Sea, Heiligen System," Tolova said. The engines hummed around me. "Dell, please. It's a lost cause. We barely escaped," My teeth nipped my lip until it bled.
"Are you stable, no more indoctrinated servants?" I asked.
"We're stable. We activated the RIT transmitters. No hiding from that," he said.
"Jump to the Citadel and wait for further orders. We'll join you once we get the fleet under control," I said.
"But-" he said.
"Do not back talk to me. Not now," I snapped. Tolova stared. "Not until Julian is safe,"
"...Aye, aye, Captain. We'll keep an ear out for you," he said.
"Stay on the Celestial Emergency frequency. We'll relay from there to not deafen the entire Citadel," I said. Tolova nodded, his face vanishing. My finger tapped at a screen beside me, taking 3 attempts to put the right code in. It took a few moments to swallow. My voice shook. "Attention all crew, attention all crew. Prepare for combat, all teams to your stations, ETA 5 hours. Prepare for full space and ground assault. The Reapers… They have the Constellation and the fleet. Expect fire from indoctrinated servants, husks and ships,"
A trill rang through the ship, an alarm rallying everyone awake. In minutes the armoury would fill, in hours every weapon on the ship will be primed and ready. The flight crew took shifts to change into the armour, weapons on everyone at all times. Kala made her preparations, making shields and emergency cut offs to prevent any attempted takeovers software wise. That Marshal hadn't stopped the Reapers could only mean nightmares lay ahead. We jumped from the middle of nowhere to the nearest Reaper free relay, leaping our way to reach the Shadow Sea. During that time, the forgotten armour snapped back on with a fresh under-armour jumpsuit, checking and rechecking the clips on the guns sitting on my hips. I paced the bridge as we jumped towards an increased flurry of radio activity in the nearby system. My hands folded on each other as I waited for a call to connect. We had 5 minutes before we dropped from FTL. After a few moments, Valern appeared, lips tight and fully dressed and hooded.
"Captain Shaik. No word on our end, I'm afraid," he said. It took a second attempt to unlock my jaw.
"We're heading to them now. The Cassiopeia should be in Citadel space by now," I said.
"Is all well?" he asked.
"No… no they are not. We're 5 minutes out and we're expecting hell," I said. A tightness squeezed my heart. "This is just a friendly call to prepare for… for whatever remains of the fleet to arrive in Citadel space in the next 12 hours,"
"Absolutely not, Shaik! His fleet remains out of Citadel space!" Valern snapped.
"Councillor, I am about to spend the next few hours killing thousands of indoctrinated servants, wrangling 21 ships back under control and trying to save as many of the over 56'000 people who live and work on those ships as I can! I can't do that if there are hundreds of Reapers around!" I cried.
"Take it to a quiet system then! You'll lead them straight to us! Why the Citadel?" Valern barked.
"Because I need all the help I can get!" I shouted, tears stinging my eyes. Valern breathed hard through his nose. "We need a safe place to get the situation under control, with medical facilities and firepower to help us when we need it! I don't know what to expect, I'd rather fight in a place where I at least have allies handy than in some random piece of space any Reaper can drop in and attack us. The Citadel intimidates them, why wouldn't they strike there first otherwise?" Valern huffed, a hard breath through his nose.
"...You keep those ships at the edge of the system," he rumbled.
"Thank you, that's all I'm asking," I said, voice weakening. "Look after the Cassiopeia until I get back… they've gone through hell,"
"I'll warn the relevant resources," he grumbled. I nodded, the call disconnecting. My eyes focused on the screens overhead. My teeth found my lip again, dragging in a slow breath, fingers tapping the side of the Locust. Val and Mat'al joined me on the bridge, each staring at the screens as everyone prepared for imminent combat. The engines hummed, whining, before my stomach lurched forward as we dropped from FTL. I only registered the incoming projectile warning after I was on the deck, clinging to Mat'al as the ship spun on her wing tips to avoid a massive cruiser shell disappearing behind us. We found the screens, the scene before us, and my heart shattered into pieces.
The Saboteur Sheet has been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.