Remnants

by General Rage

From Halo's ashes, a mismatched Alliance is born. UNSC soldiers now serve alongside both Batarian deserters and shifty Jackal Space Pirates. Now Shepard and Master Chief have to keep these strange bedfellows from killing one another before they can stop an emergent new threat to the galaxy. The Next Swashbuckling Chapter of the Wormhole Chronicles.

6. Escape from the Hollow

Chapter Five: Escape from the Hollow

In a World of Thieves, the only Final Sin is Stupidity

-Hunter S. Thompson

As soon as the shooting started, the crowded market cleared out, not in any orderly fashion or completely, but enough that Zek and Taq could keep running without running over people constantly. Lurz and his entourage had less trouble finding them though, so it was a double edged sword of sorts. As the plasma kept getting closer, Taq ran into a storefront, Zek close behind. Sadly it wasn't a weapons store, just miscellaneous tech shop. Bits and pieces of stripped terminals, computers and other hardware hung on the walls or were scattered across old tables. The owner, cowering behind the counter poked his head up slightly at Zek and Taq as plasma bolts hit their cover.

"Say, uh, since you're in here," he began. "You two looking for some computer upgrades? Got some nice transistors in from my supplier this morning."

"Does it look like we're shopping here?" Zek asked scowling.

"Come on, man, help a bird out," he asked pleadingly. "My mate is really ragging on me for not living up to my end of the income. I need to make a sale or I'm out of the nest!"

"I'm being shot at by a rival pirate gang!" Zek demanded to know. "Why the fuck do you think this is my problem?"

The door way was suddenly lit up by needle rounds striking their cover, as well as Carbine rounds. Taq growled aloud in frustration.

"Screw this! We gotta move!"

She reached into her satchel and grabbed a plasma grenade she was keeping inside. She activated it and tossed the explosive at the side of the store. The explosion ripped open a hole in the storefront, destroying a ton of merchandise in the process. She and Zek made a run through the hole while it was still smoking, the owner bemoaning the damage to his place of business.

"Oh no, not again!" He shouted in anguish. "That's the seventh time this month! Why does no one listen to the 'No Grenades' sign!?"

Taq and Zek squeezed through the container spaces and forced themselves to the other side. Across from them were a row of vendor stalls. Not much, but better than being out in the open. They ran towards them, just as they heard the clattering of metal above and behind them. Lurz and his posse were climbing over the containers just to keep after them.

Just as they made it to the vendor stalls, the plasma fire renewed. Now under fire, they both slid over the nearest counter. Plasma bolts smashed into food and trinkets, as Taq and Zek kept their heads low. There were a few remaining sellers with them, busy trying to save their inventory or gathering whatever valuables they had been offered in payment for that day. One was trying to stuff silver chips into his pockets, both from his stall and a rival's next door that had been abandoned.

"I always hated that creepy Ibie'shan," Taq growled. "Had nightmares of him cornering me in a dark alley once or twice."

She looked to Zek incredulously.

"None of them involved you though, so reality is infinitely worse," she told him scowling.

"Hey, you're the one who decided to double cross fucking Snarlbeak," Zek reminded her, more defensive than before. "So maybe stop blaming me for every little thing that's gone wrong today."

A plasma bolt sliced through a corner of the stall, causing it to tip slightly. Taq groaned in frustration slightly, clawing at her face slightly.

"Fine," she shouted in frustrated admission. "Coming here was a big gamble and it's gone up in smoke, you happy now?"

"Still being shot at, so no," Zek answered looking around frantically. "Relax though, I'm still getting you out of this."

Not that she had a choice, it was either take his help at this point or let Zhoc's men fill her with plasma. She didn't want him to get any ideas though.

"This isn't going to change anything," she told him straight up. "We're not getting back together, not even for 'Thank-You' Sex. Understand?"

"What about just showing me your ass?" He asked crassly. "Is that off the table?"

She made a suggestive strangling gesture as she growled at him. At that second, several needler rounds hit their stand, one almost impaling Zek through the side of his head.

"We'll work out the details later," he decided. "We gotta get to my ship!"

Zek finally spotted what he had been looking for, a Jappa Fruit that had been knocked off the stand. He grabbed it, jumped up briefly and tossed it. It smacked one of Lurz's posse in the face, taking a little fire off of them for a bit while he was blinded. Zek and Taq then crawled behind the vendor stands as plasma, carbine and needler shots continued to chase after them.

"You realize they probably know that the Serpent is our only shot of getting out of here, right?" Taq asked as they wormed across the floor.

"Shit, you're right," Zek said, smacking his head in realization. "I need to warn Retz, tell him a shitstorm is coming his way."

Zek got on his communicator and contacted his friend. As he did, a melon exploded above him, pouring fruit guts onto him and Taq. He wiped some of it off his face and ate it, smacking his beak as he did.

"Hmm, nice and ripe," he said.

That was when the call got picked up.

"Retz," Zek shouted into the communicator. "We got a problem!"

---

"Oh really?" Retz responded, trying to shout over the loud klaxon alarms echoing throughout the docks. "Here I was thinking that this panic had nothing to do with you. Wishful thinking, I know."

"Will you stop being a smartass and listen?" Zek asked snarling through the radio. "Zhoc's people are probably already on their way! Lock down our shit and hold them off until I get there."

"Way ahead of you," Retz assured. "Try not to get shot out there."

Retz dropped the call and he could already feel Garrus and Varvok's eyes on him. He didn't bother turning around for that reason, that and he was watching the area around their dry dock clear out considerably. The sudden evacuation of kig-yar did not go unnoticed by either Garrus or Varvok either.

"I take it they're all leaving because of whatever trouble Zek's caused," Garrus said in the most monotone voice he could muster.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Retz mumbled aloud. "For the record, I have no idea what is going on. This was not something I planned for and I don't think Zek did either."

"Well at least we're not in danger on purpose," Garrus said sarcastically. "That makes this so much less terrible."

"We can sort this out later," Varvok stated plainly. "Right now, we should break out some of the weapons we purchased and get our people in defensive positions."

Garrus still looked cross, but he did agree with Varvok regardless of his current feelings. He nodded to the batarian and looked to Retz.

"Have we loaded those rare weapons you promised yet?" He asked him.

"I believe they're over there," Retz responded pointing to a set of crates a few feet away. "And don't worry about defenses, I've already sent snipers to several positions up top. They should be able to spot any trouble coming in."

"Good, better than nothing," Garrus said quickly before turning to Varvok. "Have your men set up some crates as barricades, I'll have my team help."

"I'm on it," Varvok assured before taking off.

As Garrus went off in his own direction, Retz stood his ground. He activated his shield gauntlets and took out his dual plasma pistols. He took position near a spare loader and prepared himself.

"We have some armed customers heading our way," a voice chirped over his comm. He recognized it as one of their snipers up high.

"Don't give away your position," he cautioned. "Wait for them to get boxed in."

The armed kig-yar soon came into view, rounding a small ship parts shop nearby. They were packing plasma rifles, uncommon for most kig-yar. Definitely Snarlbeak's people, he liked his men to pack sidearms with more punch. Problem with a plasma rifle though was it was hard for anyone who wasn't a sangheili to hold it in one hand. It was a lot heavier than a plasma pistol and lacked accuracy at longer ranges. A kig-yar couldn't carry it and hold a shield, sacrificing defense when the enemy was closer to you. With a Carbine you could at least keep some distance between you and them.

Zhoc's people didn't seem to care about that, which meant this was probably going to get real bloody and real dirty. The last thing Retz wanted was close quarters brawl, especially when they lacked proper cover. Worse, he suspected these guys were just the first probing wave.

"I'm seeing more guys taking up positions near the dry dock," warned another sniper through the comm. "Carbines and Beam Rifles mostly."

"Stay hidden and let them expose themselves first," Retz ordered. "They'll reveal their positions and we can taken them down quickly."

Retz moved out of cover as the first group of Zhoc's people approached. They stopped about a good ten or so feet from him, their weapons raised slightly.

"Something the matter, friends?" He asked them from afar.

"You know what's the matter," growled the leader of the group. "Tell your people to stand down and we might let you live. Tell us where Zek is and we'll even consider letting you leave. Snarlbeak doesn't want any of you."

"Afraid that's out of the question," Retz informed him. "Zek just gave your boss payment for our new slipspace drive. Now you're attacking us. How are your other customers going to feel about that rate of turn around? This is not good for business."

"Zek should've stayed out of Snarlbeak's business," the kig-yar with the plasma rifle replied. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if he had. Now tell your men to stand down."

Retz just chuckled, a sinister grin growing on his face as his eyes scanned the area around him..

"Problem with that threat," he told them, his fingers reaching towards the triggers. "You have no leverage."

The leader kig-yar growled in disgust and raised his weapon.

"Screw it, just kill them al-"

The lead kig-yar's head exploded as a powerful shot from a Widow Rifle rang out. Legion, who had been hiding behind some boxes of to the side for awhile now, had scored a great hit. Before Zhoc's remaining men could figure out what happened, the bright blast of a focus beam cut down a second of them with a shot to the sternum. It had come from Garrus' position closer to the ship, where several of the crates had now been turned into barricades. The turian had apparently found the Focus Rifles. Retz admired his good taste in long range weaponry.

Between the two shots, Retz ran at Zhoc's men. His plasma pistols were already charging to near full as he closed on them. He raised them up and fired two fully charged blasts into two separate enemies. They took the blasts straight to faces, collapsing as the plasma burned through to their brains. The last two of Zhoc's advance squad tried to aim at him, but Retz avoided their wild shots. The plasma rifles made them look scary, but they were no sangheili, it wasn't a gun made for them and their inexperience showed.

Retz managed to roll towards one's back and elbow him in the spine. His cry of pain was followed by a bolt shot to the upper back. He then turned on the last of them, punching him in the face before he could fire another burst of bolts. He struck again, this time with the blunt force of his shield gauntlets before kicking the fool to the ground. Retz then fired a flurry of shots into the downed kig-yar's body.

That was when enemy carbines opened up. Retz deflected the first with his gauntlets and started making his way back to cover. It was slow going as he had to keep his gauntlets up to deflect the shots. That and he had to watch for Beam Rifle shots aimed for his head. He ducked one and jumped away from another, both missing him harmlessly. He had to keep facing the enemy though, just long enough for him to get close to the loader again. Then he broke into a run, made a hard turn and slid back into safety.

He had done his job though, acting as live bait for the snipers. Already he could hear his own men firing back, the positions of the enemy marksmen exposed when they tried to kill the lone target they could see. It was an old trick, one he perfected with Zek on quite a few smuggling operations that had turned sour. It was good to know it still worked.

As he was settling into his cover, Legion appeared beside him. The geth was reloading his Widow and activating his combat drone.

"Enemy communications have been intercepted," the machine reported. "Two more squads are approaching this position from several angles. Others are currently en route."

"Oh good, more party guests," Retz groaned aloud sardonically. "I really was worried this would be a rather painless uneventful trip to the Hollow."

"We detect that your statement is insincere as well as self-deprecating," the geth reported.

Retz frowned slightly at the synth's comment. Carbine fire was hitting their loader and Beam Rifle shots were whizzing over their heads. He really didn't want to be stuck with a clueless machine in the middle of this mess.

"It's called sarcasm, robot," he informed him in a very monotone manner.

"We are aware of this organic concept," Legion assured. "We were simply confirming that this was indeed the case. We would have to classify you as mentally deficient if you favored this current scenario in any fashion."

Legion sent the drone off to start killing the enemy and began firing back on them himself. Retz felt weird, was that how robots told jokes? He couldn't be sure, he hadn't really met many synthetic life forms in his life to create a consensus. Oh well, he thought, at least he was a good shot. He joined the machine in the defense of the docks, firing on enemy positions scattered across the area. Retz hoped that Zek would be here soon, they could not fight off every pirate on the Hollow forever.

---

Plasma bolts continued to rain down on them, ripping their current stall apart bit by bit. Zek tired firing through a hole one of the shots had created, managing to kill one of their attackers with a clean hit. Taq for her part had her needler out, but could barely get a shot off with all the fire hitting them.

"We are going to get massacred out here," she told Zek. "Seriously, we're too exposed."

"You don't think I already know that?" Zek growled back.

Problem was they were pretty much pinned down, so running was a lot harder then it should be. He considered activating his wrist shield, but with all this fire it probably wouldn't last long. They needed to get out of here. There were some stairs a few feet away from them leading up to some proper storefronts. Chances were they'd bring them up a level where they could probably try and lose them. Problem was getting there in one piece.

Peeking over the top of the stall, he spotted something behind a few of Zhoc's men. A small storefront with some plasma cells on sale, what luck. Zek charged up his plasma pistol and looked to Taq.

"Cover your ears," he told her.

He jumped up for a brief second long, enough to fire off a shot. It flew straight into the plasma cells, causing them to go off in a fiery blue explosion. A few of the attackers were thrown to the ground or burned by the flames.

"Alright, move!" Zek shouted.

He activated his wrist shield, hoping it would stay alive long enough to get them across the street. He ran out, Taq rushing after him. They raced across the street, Lurz screaming aloud and shooting at them as they did. Taq fired off some needles, hitting Lurz with a few. The brute of a kig-yar just roared and continued firing, pounding Zek's shield with Carbine shots. Zek went to fire back, but his plasma pistol didn't shoot. He looked at the gauge and mentally slapped himself. The battery was dead.

"Shit."

They managed to get across the street and reached the stairs. They were in relative safety behind the corner of a store next to steps, but Zek suspected Lurz had seen his gun fail to fire. They were a gun short now, never good in a firefight. Taq wasn't happy either.

"You forgot to recharge your pistol, didn't you?" She asked scowling at him.

"I had a long night and a bit of hangover," he tried to explain. "I didn't expect to get involved in a damn gun fight today, give me a break."

"I'd like to, I really would," Taq told him through gritted teeth. "But then I'd be lugging around a dumbass with a broken limb, not ideal in this situation."

Fire started hitting their cover and the duo now rushed up the stairs at full speed. Their attackers weren't far behind, racing up the steps after them. Taq turned briefly to fire back at them, but she quickly found a better target to shoot at.

Above the pursuers were some large signs advertising nearby stores or products. She fired at one of these and the exploding needles ripped it from it's mooring, sending it hurtling down onto one of Zhoc's men. The kig-yar's skull was caved in by an ad for some meat shack and it's twenty percent off special. His body and the sign fell back and tripped one of his comrades giving chase. Taq fired her needler again at another sign, this one was longer and spanned the width of the stairway. Her shots damaged a corner of the sign and sent it swinging into another of Zhoc's lackeys. It smashed him against a nearby wall, taking him out of the pursuit.

They reached the top of the steps, finding a few more stalls crowding the small landing along with a few other storefronts as suspected. They also found two more kig-yar with shields of their own charging around the corner up ahead. Both Taq and Zek dove to ground and plasma fire slashed through the air.

"Damn it!" Zek growled as he pulled himself up into cover. "They're friggin everywhere!"

That was when he spotted a hover cart loaded with fruit. He opened up the panel on the back that housed the anti-gravity controls. After ripping out a few wires he got behind the cart and kicked it with both of his legs. The cart flew forwards, it's safety systems compromised by Zek's tampering. It raced into the kig-yar in front of them and smashed through their shields. Both of the rival pirates were run down by the runaway cart, one of them being rammed into a wall.

Zek grinned at his handiwork and looked to Taq. She did not look as impressed.

"Stop being proud of yourself and move!" She ordered.

She was already out of cover and running again. Zek sighed and followed after her, but he stopped long enough to grab the plasma pistol of one of the cart's victims. He checked the battery first, good near full charge.

"Guess you won't need this anyway," he told the dead kig-yar squeezed between the wall and the cart. "Thanks, bud."

He could hear more of Zhoc's men coming up the steps. As they rushed out into the open, Zek fired at a nearby transformer against a wall. It exploded, sending electrical sparks and flames flying into the faces of his attackers. He then continued after Taq, heading up to the next level and out of the markets.

---

Garrus knew this was going to go south at some point. This place was too much like Omega for things to remain easygoing. He was just surprised it took this long. He had always been wary of Zek's people, not because of the fact they were former enemies, but because of who they were. They weren't exactly noble individuals, they were criminals and seemingly proud of it. Shepard had hopes he could turn them around, get them on their side of the war. Garrus was less optimistic, he knew people like Zek, he'd been stuck dealing with them practically all his life. He and his pirates were probably less vicious, bloodthirsty and cruel, but it didn't make them any less of what they were, crooks with a hustle to work.

Was he being unfair? Maybe, but it didn't change the reality this pirate port represented. Just like Shepard couldn't change the fact that this pirate life was ingrained in Zek and his men. Not that it mattered, as Garrus now found himself relying on these very pirates to cover his back and get him off this moon alive.

The Jackals had at least set up a solid defense, positioning themselves around the perimeter, securing all paths to the ship. The snipers up top provided good support fire and acted as terrific spotters. Retz kept reorganizing defenders as their reports came in, warning them of incoming attack groups. Varvok's own forces made things slightly easier, supplementing the defense where needed. One batarian with a grenade launcher managed to fire a perfect shot that took out a group of enemy pirates using a storefront as a firing position. The explosion sent their bodies flying out the window in a heap.

Garrus, for his part, was doing his best to hold the fort down from his position. The Focus Rifle he found was exceedingly powerful, able to take out most anything in a single shot. He could also hold down the trigger for a continuous stream, allowing him to kill two bad guys in close succession to each other. Wasn't as easy to do on the Jackals with plasma shields. The beam damaged those, but more or less got absorbed. Garrus didn't want to waste power trying to take one down so he had started to avoid them. Besides, Grunt had them covered.

The krogan was of course near the front lines, using his Claymore shotgun to blow apart any Jackals stupid enough to get close. If they had a shield he charged out and trampled them, almost ripping their arms off just to get behind their protective shell. This of course forced Garrus to cover him, like he was doing now. He had to kill one Jackal who was charging his plasma pistol with a quick controlled blast. Then he had to take down a second with a Carbine aiming from atop a storage crate. The hostile pirate fell to the ground, still smoking from the energy stream that burned through his torso.

Unfortunately, while Grunt escaped back to cover to smash another day, Garrus hadn't been paying attention to his own safety. He was pretty close to the front himself and one enemy Jackal, armed with an energy cutlass, had spotted him. He bolted his way through the lines, rushing at the turian. Garrus turned to fire on him, but didn't have to. A hand appeared out of nowhere and punched the ravenous alien bird in the jaw. The enemy pirate fell to the floor as Kasumi materialized and rushed into cover beside Garrus.

"I should really start keeping a tally of how many times I save you guys like that," she laughed.

"Please don't tell me you're enjoying this clusterfuck," Garrus asked, his frustration with the situation apparent.

"I'm in the middle of a pirate gang shootout," Kasumi reminded him. "It's hard not to find it a little exciting."

Well he didn't, not in the slightest. They were getting hit on three sides by these guys. The only reason it wasn't four was because their backs were to their only means of escape, the Fallen Serpent. They were not going to hold out if this continued. He called up Shepard again, which he had already done just awhile ago at the first sign things were going south.

"Commander," he said growling. "Please tell me your Plan B is almost here! Because we're going to get murdered if we're stuck here any longer."

"Don't worry, Garrus," Shepard's voice stated calmly. "Just keep watching the skies. It'll be there."

Garrus hated when Shepard was cryptic. It was not nearly as cute or charming as he probably thought it was. However, in this case it seemed fairly accurate. As moments later, something flew into the docking bay and over their heads. It was a shuttle from the Normandy, flying fast and low. It's doors suddenly opened over the enemy lines and out jumped, who else, but Samara.

The Asari slammed into the ground, sending a wave of biotic energy resonating out from her. Shockwaves knocked back three enemy Jackals, sending them into stalls or boxes nearby. As she stood up, weapon in hand she glared at the stunned pirates around her.

"I am usually more tactful in these situations for fear of harming innocents," she called out to the pirates. "There is no such issue here. Lay down your weapons or die."

"Fuck you, whatever you are!" Shouted back one of the pirates.

He got hit by a reave attack that burned his insides before Samara filled him with bullets from her assault rifle. She sent a throw attack at another Jackal as she quickly took up cover with the others. The shuttle remained overhead and sniper fire could be heard coming from it.

"Garrus," Thane's voice contacted the turian through his earpiece. "I am providing additional sniper support from the shuttle. Samara and I will do our best to assist the defense."

"Good to hear, Thane," Garrus said with a sigh of relief. "See if you can take out any bad guys our snipers can't see from their nests. Would really take the pressure off them."

"I will do what I can," Thane promised.

Garrus was happy to see the reinforcements, but he knew it wouldn't matter in the long run if Zek didn't get here. He supposed he could try to force Retz to abandon him, but he doubted that would work. Besides, despite Zek's less than reputable behavior, it didn't feel right just leaving him here to get killed by whatever trouble he had stepped in. He'd hold off on doing anything drastic for the moment, but he really hoped Zek wasn't taking any detours on his way back here.

---

Zek and Taq burst through the door of the rundown bar, although no one seemed to give them much notice. Either everyone was too drunk to care or they were just generally apathetic to anyone entering the establishment. Zek didn't care, he just wanted to get lost in the crowd of drunkards and slip out the back. Hopefully Lurz would lose them and they could make their way to the docks unmolested after that.

"We can slip out the back," Zek told Taq. "Come on."

Taq followed closely, both of them hoping they wouldn't attract much attention. Lucky for them most of the attentive parts of the bar were too busy at a table of some sort watching weird little rodent like creatures running a maze.

"Come on you little bastard, I got a hundred creds riding on you!" One shouted. "No! Don't look at me! Run the fucking maze!"

As they passed by the bar one of the patrons threw up near Taq's feet. He said he was sorry and then passed out on the counter. The bartender just shook his head.

"Ugh, again?" He asked shaking his head. "One of these days his stomach is going to come up along with everything else."

He grabbed one of the bottles that was still relatively full and looked to the backroom.

"Hey! Vux!" He called. "Gop just drank himself into another coma! Call him a shuttle and get him back to his shipmaster, will ya? I gotta clean up his mess!"

That was when the door burst open again. Lurz was back, wish fresh meat by his side. One of the bouncers moved over to confront him.

"Hey buddy, you can't just charge in with your gun drawn," he warned. "You need probable cause, house rules."

Lurz just snarled and pointed his Carbine at the bouncer, who quickly backed off.

"Okay, okay, be cool," he said nervously. "There's no trouble, no trouble."

Zek knew it wouldn't be long until they got spotted. Worse yet, he had no time to think, so he improvised. He grabbed the bottle from the barkeep, quickly slapped down a credit pack and took out his own plasma pistol.

"Keep the change!" He said frantically, charging his plasma pistol.

"Zek," Taq said wide-eyed in fright. "Whatever you're doing, don't do it."

"Sorry, doing," he replied and he shoved the end of the charging plasma pistol into the bottle.

The super heated plasma ignited the ichor and a small flickering flame burst out of the top of the bottle. Zek, not waiting for Taq to try and stop him, lurched his arm back and then tossed the bottle itself at Lurz's posse. The bottle smashed against the ceiling and flames rained down around the hulking Ibie'shan and his comrades. They tucked themselves under their plasma shields to escape from catching alight themselves The bartender screamed in terror, as did everyone else in the establishment. Kig-yar began running for an exit and in the chaos, Zek and Taq made a run for the back.

Lurz forced his way through the flames engulfing the front entrance as the bartender and his employees activated the fire suppression system. Foam and water sprayed out from the ceiling to dampen the flames, but the panic was well under way now. As a consequence, a number of kig-yar ran into Lurz and his squad in their bid to escape the bar. Lurz grabbed one unfortunate kig-yar, who collided against his right arm, by his neck and hurled him over the bar into some ichor bottles. He growled in anger as his signaled his men to force their way through the chaos.

Other members of the pursuing pirates managed to avoid the panic completely by jumping on nearby tables. One of these table jumpers spotted Zek and Taq pushing through the crowd and he lunged at them with an energy cutlass. Zek managed to activate his plasma machete in time to block the strike. But the force of the lunge sent him to the floor.

"I got him!" The attacker cried out. "He's over here! They're over-"

A bottle smashed against the back of attacker's head before he was unceremoniously kicked off of Zek entirely by Taq. She threw away the rest of the broken bottle and grabbed the attacker's cutlass for herself.

"Might need this," she reasoned, before helping Zek to his feet.

By now though, Lurz had spotted them. He hiss at them both and began firing his Carbine. Taq and Zek ran for the back door, passing a few electronic gambling machines along the wall. One was still being operated by a kig-yar, despite all the insanity raging around him.

"Everyone shut up already!" He cried aloud at the screams of terror. "I am trying to win me a damn jackpot!"

He dropped credit chip on the floor and bent down to pick it up. That was when one of Lurz's stray shots hit the machine and a whole mess of credit chips flooded out of the machine. The lucky gambler grinned as he dug his grubby claws into the pile of riches.

"I knew this machine was lucky!"

While the machine continued to spew money, Zek and Taq quickly raced out of the back door. Zek shot the electronic lock with his plasma pistol at full blast, melting it. For good measure he then pushed a large dumpster in front of it, just to make it harder for anyone who tried following them.

"You could've set both of us on fire!" Taq shouted at him.

"I needed to do something!" Zek responded agitated. "It worked out, didn't it?"

"Whatever," Taq growled back, not caring to argue right now. "How far are we from your ship?"

"Still a ways," Zek admitted. "But I got an idea, we just need to take a shortcut!"

He took off and Taq followed after him.

"I thought the Bar was the shortcut!" She shouted at him.

"Well, this is a shorter shortcut!" Zek insisted.

"That makes no sense!" Taq screamed at him.

As they left the bar behind, something exploded the back door outward and tipped the dumpster over. Lurz lumbered out from the smoke and sniffed the air. He looked in the direction, Zek and Taq ran to and cried back to his comrades with an ear-piercing hiss. He knew they could not be allowed to escape, too much was riding on what the female carried and he would get it back to Zhoc no matter the cost.

---

Samara remained outside the main perimeter, firing at incoming hostiles along the main path to the Fallen Serpent. As a group of pirates rushed forward, Samara lashed out with a shockwave that sent them hurtling into the air. As they were lifted up, she fired into them with her assault rifle. She then quickly rolled over to another container a Jackal with a Carbine fired near her flank. He was standing atop an old building's roof, probably a holdover from the moon's mining days. She lurched out just in time to send a throw attack his way. It blasted him off the roof and he screamed as he hurtled away.

To Samara this was almost an ideal mission. This pirate den was full of the guilty and the unjust. In a number of cases, being a Justicar meant you had to ignore whatever grey areas of morality existed. You had accept that those who did wrong had to be punished regardless of their personal reasons. There was some room to interpret the appropriate punishment, but sometimes there was no room to maneuver. She hated thinking about how her Code might force her to kill someone who was a loving father for example.

Here though? Everyone here was a guilty of something. They were pirates who preyed on the weak and slaughtered others for were no mixed feelings, her mind was at ease when gunning them were unjust through and through, her Code demanded their deaths. Her earlier offer of surrender was to assure herself of the necessity of self-defense, removing any last qualms she may have held. Places like this Hollow were part of the reason she became a Justicar, second only to one other that had been resolved.

When Shepard had asked her to take part in this mission, she did not hesitate to accept the burden. She felt somewhat guilty for anticipating things going awry, but then again she was not too sorry. It was an inevitability in her mind. This moon bred crime and corruption, things were bound to go wrong just coming near it. If she could she'd cleanse this place herself. Maybe not everyone here deserved justice to be delivered upon them, but she imagined there were few who did not deserve it in some manner.

If she had any regrets about this assignment it was that she would not be able to destroy every criminal low-life in this The second regret was that she was forced to protect Zek's pirates in the course of this. In her opinion they had signed their own death warrants when they chose this profession. She did not really care if any of Zek's crew fell to these hostile pirates. As far as she was concerned, it was only natural that they destroy each other.

Her crew were among those pirates though and for the moment their survival depended on the Fallen Serpent's crew living through this. Garrus was a former vigilante, but he believed in justice almost as fervently as any Justicar. Grunt was the product of a monster, but under Shepard's care he had refrained from doing anything against the Code. The krogan, despite his violent nature, was innocent. Legion was a bit strange, as the morality of a machine wasn't as explicit within the boundaries of the Code. The synthetic did attempt to act morally in it's actions. Kasumi, for all her misdeeds, was not out to kill her opponents if she could avoid it. Her recompence would come eventually, but Samara did not wish her death.

Her Oath to Shepard demanded she protect them, but in another sense she wanted to protect them. They were part of the crew, although she hesitated to say friends. They were good people, despite their faults. The Code always said they should stand with such individuals, keep them safe. She would not fail in that.

Samara fired again at a group enemy pirates armed with shields. Her shots bounced off, but she continued to suppress them. They fired back with plasma bolts which struck against her container. Even just a near miss was enough to damage her barriers, so she ducked down again. Luckily, she had help in this endeavor. Kasumi was sneaking up through some nearby stalls, her cloak was off but she was keeping a relatively low profile regardless. She did not use her tools as a crutch, Ms. Goto was skilled in stealth whether or not she was invisible to the naked eye.

Realizing she still needed some help getting into position though, Samara leaned out again and fired her assault rifle off at the Jackals approaching them. They blocked the shots and turned to face her. When they did, Kasumi rushed up a bit further to the next stall and activated her omni-tool. An overload blast knocked out the power for both of hostile Jackals' plasma shields. They had no idea what had just happened and probably never would find out. Samara quickly unleashed several quick bursts from her assault rifle, killing one of the pirates. She then used a throw attack on the second to send the little ugly bird flying into a stall at top speed.

With both those threats neutralized, Samara moved to another position further up behind broken down old shuttle that had long since been stripped for parts. A beam blast nearly took her head off as she got into position, a sniper was about somewhere, one she couldn't see. Luckily she had a few more eyes than just her own.

"Thane," she spoke through her comm. "Can you see the shooter from your shuttle?"

"I believe so," the drell answered. "I need a bead on his location to be certain."

She would provide it. She moved out briefly into the open and flung a shockwave attack in a general direction. The biotic blast shook through the floor, sending anything untethered to the ground flying. She didn't expect it to hit the Sniper, but she flung it in the general direction. She then ducked back into her cover, just a beam nearly grazed her leg. Her barriers were still damaged by the near miss regardless.

"I have him," Thane responded instantly.

A few shots rang out above her from the shuttle hovering close by. Samara looked to the craft, knowing the outcome before Thane announced it.

"Target down," he reported.

That was when plasma fire started hitting the shuttle hard. Apparently, the pirates had realized it was more of a danger than originally expected.

"Thane pull back out of their range," she called up to him through the comm. "We need your eyes to win this day."

"Pilot is pulling back now," he informed her. "Find those pirates and take them out for me."

She was going to do that anyway, but it was good to have it insisted upon regardless. She moved up towards a small warehouse of sorts. Across from her she could see a group of Jackals, all still taking pot shots at the retreating shuttle. She fired on them at once, bringing their attention down on her instead. She ducked back into cover as plasma fire hit the corner of the warehouse. Soon the pirates converged on a better position to continue their assault. Samara realized she would not be able to hit them from here, so she moved back. She'd circle the warehouse and attack from the flank.

She moved along the side, wary of her surroundings as she did. Turning the corner she felt something amiss. Above her came the sound of scampering feet. She turned her gaze skyward, just in time to see a lone Jackal jumping down from above with an energy cutlass in hand. He was coming in too fast to shoot, so she blocked his slash with her rifle and jumped back. The Jackal leapt away, his back against the wall of the warehouse now, his teeth snarling through his disgusting beak.

She didn't wait for him to strike again, she fired at the filthy bird creature with a full burst. He bobbed and weaved away from the shots, trying to close in for an easy slash. Samara simply threw out a biotic punch than sent him hurtling into the wall of the warehouse where she quickly pinned him with her right hand across his throat. The Jackal's right hand held his blade and he attempted to slash her, but she grabbed the arm and squeezed. There was a crack and the Jackal screamed aloud, dropping the blade as the Asari pulled the pirate up along the wall, letting his feet dangle in the air.

"What the fuck are you?" The filthy creature asked as he started to choke in fear.

A question she was familiar with, but only vaguely. Many who asked it were entirely ignorant of her Order, but this creature had never heard of them nor the Asari. If he had, maybe he'd have thought twice about engaging her as he did. Whatever the case, she had a simple answer, which she gave as she released his broken hand and reeled her arm back.

"I am Justicar," she said, serenity and calm washing over her.

Then she pulped his skull through with a single clean biotic blow. Samara let the body fall and resumed her flanking action. She reached an optimal position a few moments later, an abandoned loader across the street and to the left of the stall her enemies were using. She aimed her rifle at the nearest of their number and fired, a clean shot killing her target.

The Jackals turned to face her, but were suddenly blinded by a big flash of light. There was little doubt in Samara's mind as to where it had come from. Kasumi had apparently gotten into her own flanking position, although Samara could scarcely tell where, and was merely waiting for Samara to strike. She used the opportunity provided by the flashbang and sent a shockwave over to the blinded Jackals. They popped up into the air as it struck them and Samara quickly filled them with lead as they fell. Another incursion halted before it ever reached Garrus' position, they were doing well.

"Samara," Garrus' voice suddenly called out through the comm. "You and Kasumi get back here, we got a new wave coming in and we could use your help."

"On our way," she assured the turian.

She quickly jumped up and started running back towards the frontline. Kasumi joined her shortly afterwards, appearing from behind a stack of crates where she had been hiding. She seemed her usual jubilant self. It was hard at times to think that her constant upbeat attitude was foolishness or endearing, but Samara settled on it being a little of both.

"We make a pretty awesome team, huh?" She asked randomly. "I mean, that's a bit weird right? It's cool, but it's weird. A thief and a Justicar, that's like some kind of bizarre buddy comedy vid."

"I would not know," she admitted. "But if you feel it an appropriate analogy, you are free to make it."

"Sweet, I'll pitch it to some studio execs when we get back home," Kasumi shouted happily. "Come on! Lets find more pirates to fight!"

Kasumi took off at a lightening pace and Samara just shrugged as she kept up. She didn't find this as fun as the thief did, but she did admit to finding it satisfying. Not aloud of course, that was unbecoming of a Justicar. Besides, Kasumi would misconstrue the meaning as her having fun, the rest of the crew would never let her live it down if that idea caught on.

---

Zek wasn't great at hacking, Retz had always been his go to for that. Lucky for him, Taq knew how to crack into old Forerunner tombs, so really the backdoor to a restaurant's kitchen wasn't much of a big deal. She bypassed the lock and they both made their way inside. It was a bit of a weird shortcut, but once they got through the kitchen and left through the garage where the produce was delivered they had a straight shot to their best chance at escape.

Of course, they picked the worst time to use this as an escape, because it was rush hour. The cooks were all working around a central preparation table, when Zek and Taq charged in. They were apparently preparing stew for the midday patrons. The head of the kitchen didn't seem at all pleased to have interlopers in the middle of service. He scratched himself through his greasy stained apron as he approached them both.

"Who in the fuck are you two?" He demanded to know. "If you want a damn table you should've come in the front."

"We're not here to eat, we'll be out of your quills in a second," Zek assured trying push his way by him.

The cook tried to keep them from getting by him, but he stopped when he saw two armed kig-yar coming up from behind them. More of Lurz's pursuit team no doubt. Zek shoved the flabbergasted cook out of their way and ran through the kitchen. Plasma fire erupted almost at once as he and Taq ran, cooks dropped to the floor or tried to run out the front. No one wanted to get involved in whatever this was. Zek couldn't blame them, considering he hadn't planned on getting involved himself. It was just this was how things had worked out.

Zek grabbed a shard knife left at one of the cooking stations and threw it at one of the shooters. The blade sunk into his shoulder and he collapsed to the floor in pain. His partner charged up at them, shooting wildly at both of them. Taq reacted quickly to his charge, tipping over a nearby pot of boiling water as the pirate got close. The brigand took a full splash to his left side and fell to the floor screaming in agony. Seemingly in the clear, Zek and Taq now ran for the garage, but someone else soon halted them.

Vaulting over the central preparation table, another pirate tackled Zek, pinning him against a stove against the nearby wall. In the attacker's hand, he held a energy shard dagger, pointed at Zek's neck. Both kig-yar struggled to push the dagger forwards or backwards, Zek barely able to keep the blade from piercing his jugular.

"Should've stayed out of Snarlbeak's business," the attacker hissed sinisterly. "Now you're gonna be Razorfin chum!"

Zek looked briefly over to Taq. She was blocking the attack of another attacker with the cutlass she had stolen before. Apparently it was useful. She kicked her attacker in the groin before cutting him down. That's when he saw she was standing beside the stove's heater controls and he got an idea.

"How about grilled pirate instead?" He chided at his attacker.

He kneed his assailant in the groin and quickly jerked him to the right, effectively flipping him over on his side. He smashed the attacker's face into the stove and Taq, sensing what Zek wanted, turned the switch to max. A small red flame jutted out of the heater and the attacking pirate started screaming, the tables now effectively turned. He jumped up, half his face on fire, dropping his dagger. Then Taq grabbed a pan nearby and smacked him across the face one last time for good measure. He dropped to the floor unconscious.

"Okay, that was decent quick thinking," she admitted.

"No time for bathing in my awesome," he told her. "Come on!"

Taq rolled her eyes but followed. When a fourth pursuer tried to charge over the table, she smashed him in the head with the pan. He fell onto a plate of stew beak first. They were almost to the garage, a small hover tray of cutlery and dishes in their path, when yet another group of Lurz's posse burst through a secondary door from the dining room. Zek grabbed the nearby hover tray and pushed it towards their attackers. Before they could even fire off a shot, the tray bulldozed into them, sending dishes and utensils flying and forcing them back out into the dining room in a heap.

Zek and Taq ran through the garage, barging out through it's back door and running out onto the new street. Zek knew better than to think they had lost Lurz at this point. To get away, they'd need something faster than their own two feet. Thankfully, he knew they weren't too far from something that could provide them with just what they needed.

"Just around this corner and we'll be there!" He told Taq. "Move!"

"You better know where you're going," Taq said, scampering after him.

---

Holding this line was proving to be an issue, as it seemed every slimy crook within this miserable moon was out to get them. Garrus had already run dry on his Focus Rifle and had switched back to his regular Viper. Still effective as ever, but without the advantage of a continuous sustained beam. He took aim at one of enemy Beam Rifle shooters, pinning down some of Varvok's men along the line. One well placed shot and the sniper tumbled off his perch with a fresh hole in his head.

Thankfully he wasn't the only sniper. Between him, the Fallen Serpent's shooters, plus Thane and Legion with their marksmanship, they had effectively stalled out the enemy. They weren't trying to force their way forward anymore. They seemed more content to just try and whittle the defenses down from afar. It was more or less working, quite a few of the Serpent's shore crew fell under continued fire. This siege was going to break them eventually.

Of course, they apparently had another problem, that Retz quickly made clear as he rushed up to the Turian's side. Varvok also joined them, reloading his weapon as he plopped down beside the two.

"The ship is fully functional and ready to go, but we can't leave," Retz explained. "Docking clamps won't disengage. Someone has rescinded our exit privileges. I'm guessing it's Snarlbeak."

"You still haven't really explained who that is," Garrus told him.

"Well we're a bit busy for backstory, Vakarian," Retz growled and pointed upwards. "Look, we need to get up to this drydock's control room. We can cancel the no-fly order from there and release the clamps. If we don't do it now, then even if Zek shows up in the next two seconds, we can't leave period. Better to deal with this before it becomes an issue."

"Fair enough," Varvok agreed. "Won't there be a crew in that control room though?"

"We may have to force them to follow our instructions, but they will with a little prying," Retz explained. "No amount of credits is worth dying over something like this. They'll fold, I'm sure of it."

Garrus looked up to where Retz had pointed to earlier and spotted the control room. It was relatively high up, but reachable. It didn't sound like they had much choice, if they didn't go now they'd have to later. He preferred to not have to end up doing it when Zek showed up and spending more time fighting off this rival gang. Time to multi-task then.

"Someone has to stay here and hold the for while the rest of us head up," he reasoned.

He didn't have to look far for a volunteer, as a powerful throw attack obliterated the nearest hostile position by sending both enemy pirates flying into the side of a container. Samara moved up, firing short bursts from her assault rifle with Grunt close to her side.

"Go, Garrus," she told him. "I shall keep the defenses firm in your absence."

He didn't feel like arguing, so he just nodded and let Retz take point. Varvok's people provided cover fire as they ran out beyond the lines for a few feet, making headway for a small building nearby. Varvok moved the old broken door for it aside and they hurried inside. Retz quickly moved them through the corridors, both his plasma pistols out and at the ready. It wasn't out of the range of possibility that a few of Snarlbeak's men were lurking nearby and guarding the approach to the control room.

"We need to cut through some of these old port authority buildings," Retz explained as they slunk through the old halls. "The conning tower is just through here."

They made their way outside again and found a small courtyard. Unfortunately they also found a hastily set up Shade Turret and a small group of armed guards between them and the tower itself. A small problem to be sure, but it confirmed that there were probably more of them inside already.

"I'll take out the gunner," Garrus told the others. "You make a run for the tower while I cover you."

Varvok and Retz moved up to a small wall while Garrus took position behind an old stripped bare shuttle. Not great cover, but he wouldn't be there long. He took aim at the head of the Jackal gunner, who thankfully hadn't spotted them yet. One good shot and the ugly bird toppled out of his gunner seat and collapsed to the ground.

Not even a second after the shot rang out, Varvok jumped from his cover and started firing. Retz joined in and they both charged the enemy position together. Garrus only hanged back for a moment, firing one more shot at a Jackal trying to get to the Shade turrent before moving up to wall himself. When he got there, Retz and Varvok were already halfway to the conning tower. Garrus looked through his crosshairs again and took aim at one of the Jackals armed with a Carbine. He fired at the hostile pirate, putting a bullet through his eye. After that, he switched to his assault rifle and tried to catch up to Varvok and Retz.

Varvok had already opened up his assault rifle sustained rifle fire, spraying the enemy lines with bullets. Retz had taken up a kneeling position against a wall and was firing off quick burst from his plasma pistol one after the other. By the time Garrus reached them, they had already killed at least three of the enemy number.

Snarlbeak's forces tried to rally, even tried to reach the Shade, but Varvok beat them to it. He tossed a plasma grenade towards them and it landed beneath the turret's legs. When it exploded, it sent the gun toppling over onto one of the nearby Jackal pirates. Garrus fired a concussive shot to follow up the attack, flooring one stunned Jackal. The line was now broken, and the trio pushed forward. What remained of the outer guards tried to run for the conning tower, but they didn't make it far. Varvok gunned them down before they even reached the door.

"Just a few flights and we'll be at the control room," Retz assured. "Come!"

Following Retz inside, they began bounding up the steps. Of course, Garrus had expected to encounter more resistance and they did. A small barricade had been set up on one of the stair landings and their occupants started firing down at them as they approached. Retz, who was still on point, blocked the shots with his shield gauntlets, while Garrus laid down fire on their position. When they were dealt with, they pushed the barricade aside and kept moving.

The next landing had the same problem, but rather than deal with it in the same manner, Varvok elected to force their way through. He tossed another plasma grenade up along the steps as he took cover around he corner of the stairwell. The enemy Jackals tried to run, but there was little room to move in such an enclosed space. The explosion tore apart the barricade and the Jackals defending it. They continued on their way.

The last few steps until the top were soon crowded with Jackals with energy shields. They were not as easy to dislodge. Retz fired an overcharged plasma bolt at one, taking out his shield, and Garrus followed it up with a quick burst. But while that enemy went down, a second took his place and the group of shield bearers began opening fire. Garrus decided to screw it and activated an overcharge attack. The blast short circuited the equipment, turning off the shields. That was when Varvok struck. Taking out his shotgun, he blew the Jackals away, even as they tried to race up the steps to safety.

The last of their number fell at the top as Varvok put a final shot into him. It looked like their path to the control room was clear. Unfortunately, as they tried to round the corner, plasma fire nearly took sliced apart Retz. He jumped back and Garrus took up the corner, peek around it to spy a Plasma turret set up in the hall.

"Another gun," he warned.

"I'll handle this one," Varvok declared with a stiff face.

He powered up his omni-tool and activated the ballistic blades. He then dove out from cover and fired them. They stuck into the turret and the shoulder of the gunner, exploding moments later. The gunner barely had a chance to renew fire, now both he and his weapon were in pieces on the floor.

That obstacle dealt with, Varvok quickly stood up and moved to the door of the control room. He didn't wait for Garrus or Retz to join him, he just placed a charge on the electronic lock. When it detonated, he briskly moved inside, his rifle drawn. There was one armed pirate inside, he shot him without even a second's hesitation. Garrus and Retz got inside after and found the batarian staring down the now very terrified dock workers.

Retz nodded his head, not very surprised at this point by Varvok's proficiency, and moved over to the workers. He now had his own weapon raised to them.

"Rescind the no-fly order," he ordered bluntly.

"Hey, just because you jerks crossed Old Scratch doesn't mean we have to go down with you," the dockmaster claimed. "We're getting paid good money here!"

Retz charged his weapon and pointed it in the bird's face.

"Good enough to get your face melted off?" Retz asked curtly.

The dockmaster backed down instantly, as Retz predicted he would. Garrus wondered if Varvok hadn't made the negotiation a little easier though. It was kinda hard to argue with a bunch of guns stuck in your face. The dockmaster deactivated the docking clamps.

"There," he grumbled. "Locks are off. You can leave whenever."

Retz grinned happily at the dockmaster and then shoved him out of the way of the console. He fired both plasma pistol into it, utterly destroying the controls. Now they couldn't un-rescind the no fly order and they could get back to the fight below.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Retz told the dumbfounded dockmaster as he walked back to the door.

"You know how long it takes to find replacement parts for these old models?!" the dockmaster shouted as they left. "You could've just locked out the console for a couple of hours!"

"That wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying," Retz explained. "Next time, don't cross the Fallen Serpent, for any price or anyone. Bye now."

Retz waved as he exited, leaving a distraught dockmaster to clean up the mess he had just been left.

---

Zek finally stopped running when they reached the end of the street. They had reached their destination and Taq looked somewhat impressed even. Before them was a used shuttle lot. Nothing fancy, but certainly faster than trying to get back to the Serpent on foot.

"Okay, I admit it," she told him. "Good idea there. A shuttle is just what we need."

Zek just beamed at her.

"Do I get a thank you kiss?" He asked arching his brow slightly.

Taq's grimace returned instantly.

"You are now pushing it," she scolded him. "Pick a shuttle and let's move."

Zek rushed up to the proprietor, interrupting him in the middle of a sale by tapping on his shoulder.

"Hi, uh, quick question," he began. "What's your fastest model?"

The owner thought for a few moments, rubbing the underside of his beak.

"Huh, I guess it would be the 602-X3," he said, pointing to a shuttle near the end of the lot.

It was a sleek, if rundown looking vehicle. A curved nose, slender chassis and dual drive thrusters at the back. It was a shade of red, although some of it was peeling off and there were bumps and scrapes in he frame. On the plus side, it had some nice tail fins that resembled a Razorfin's tail and the cab had wing doors that folded up.

"Can this thing still fly?" Taq asked, looking at the rundown vehicle.

"Every single one of them can fly, I assure you," the owner claimed. "We can go out for a test flight, if you like?"

Zek looked down the street for a moment and saw that they had run out of time. Lurz was at the corner and he was already hissing aloud, his claw pointed at them as he did. The rest of his posse was close behind, charging at the lot.

"No, it's fine, we'll take it," Zek said frantically.

"Excellent, that will be nine thousand credit chips as down payment and you need to sign this waiver," the owner said, pulling out a datapad. "It says were are not liable if things fall off or the engine explodes. Which is unlikely anyway, I assure you. Also, no refunds."

"No, we're just taking it," Zek explained, pulling out his plasma pistol and pointing it at the man.

The owner just sighed and put his hands up.

"You know, you people could at least just steal the thing from the lot," he grumbled. "Do you have to get my hopes up with every potential big sale?"

"Charge it to Fleetmaster Zhoc," Zek said as he opened the pilot door, his gun still pointed at the owner. "Now deactivate the engine lock already!"

The owner reached in to get a device from his pocket and pressed it. The shuttle's engine lock disengaged and Zek was able to start the craft. As it sprung to life, Taq jumped into the passenger's seat and shut the door. Zek pulled back on the stick and the shuttle lifted off. As it did, it came under fire from Lurz's gang, Carbine and plasma shots striking their vehicle. Zek pushed the shuttle's stick forward and they raced away from the lot.

Lurz growled and clenched his fist and then looked to the owner. He grabbed him by the collar and bared his teeth. The salesman just tried to smile.

"I don't suppose you'd be interested in a new shuttle for yourself?" He asked nervously.

Lurz just placed a needler to the bird's temple. The owner nervously handed over the engine lockout device to the big Ibie'shan.

"What do you know, we're having a clearance sale," he chuckled fearfully.

Lurz dropped him and he motioned the rest of his squad to clamber into any shuttles they could find. The salesman just sat on the ground holding his head in his hands.

"Just great," he sighed. "I can hear the wife now, 'You should've hired the Mgalekgolo Bodyguards like I told you to', nag, nag, just because she runs a successful tech distribution firm she thinks she knows everything."

---

Zek raced through the shuttle skyways of the Hollow as fast as he could. It was mostly old mine tunnels or the designated spaces above certain levels. He hoped that enough twists and turns would make it impossible for Lurz to catch up. Somehow he suspected they'd find a way, perhaps because he knew where they were ultimately headed, but that was neither here nor there. He kept his plasma pistol ready just in case they caught up to them.

"You probably won't be able to come back to the Hollow for a while after all this," Taq warned.

"I figured," Zek reasoned, looking about towards the shuttle's sensors. "I have just ruined about four or five businesses today."

"I just want you to know I do appreciate you putting yourself on the line here," she told him sincerely. "Even if it is somewhat your fault, you are doing what you can to get me out of here."

Zek's nervousness vanished for a moment and smiled at her. She quickly grimaced at him in response though, seeing the wheels in his head.

"This doesn't mean I'm forgiving you or that we're getting back together," she stated bluntly.

"Oh come on," Zek pleaded. "What do I gotta do for you to accept I'm actually sorry."

"Zek, you saving me has nothing to do with that," Taq informed him. "I'm grateful you're trying to make it up to me, but it's really not that easy for me to just forgive and forget here."

"Honestly, woman," Zek chided. "I'm risking my life here! What more do you want?"

"I don't want anything," Taq explained. "It's you who wants something. Now I might owe you something in return for this, but not what you're hoping and you need to accept that."

Zek would've continued to argue, if not for the fact the shuttle lurched forward suddenly from a plasma bolt striking their rear. He looked back out the window and saw at least four shuttles pursuing them, kig-yar leaning out the sides and firing.

"We'll table this for now," he growled at Taq.

Then, with his hand still on the control he leaned out the window and started firing back at the pursuing shuttles. Their craft listed to the side, Taq nearly falling over in her seat. Zek continued to fire, even as the shuttle bobbed around erratically. His shots went equally as wild as a result of this, but he did manage to hit one of hostiles. The enemy pirate's body dropped out of the side of the shuttle and crashed to the ground.

"You lunatic, what are you doing?!" Taq shouted as the shuttle lurched about.

"Saving our asses, what does it look like?" He responded angrily.

He continued to fire at their pursuers, although with very limited success. Luckily, his lack of attention on the road didn't help Lurz's gang either, their shots couldn't get a bead either. A few needler rounds stuck themselves into the side of the shuttle, but they missed Zek entirely. In the meantime, Taq tried to steady the shuttle herself, grabbing the controls from her passenger's seat. It was not easy to drive from this position, nor was it any less difficult with Zek's own hand seemingly fighting her for control as well.

"You are making this worse!" Taq shouted at him. "We are going to crash into something!"

"Are not!" Zek argued. "I fly a big old spaceship! I can handle a crappy little old shuttle!"

Zek jerked the control to the right and smashed into the side of a shuttle passing them. Taq was knocked forward by the hit and with her hands on the controls that forced the shuttle to slam into the back of another larger shuttle. That at least evened them out, but Zek nearly fell out of side window from the impact. Taq managed to grab onto his belt before he tumbled out though, pulling him back in slightly. He still kept shooting at the pirates chasing them though.

"You are not hitting shit and we are going to die!" Taq shouted at him. "Let me drive!"

"We are doing fine!" Zek shouted. "Your negative attitude is the only thing not helping!"

"Truck!"

"Why? They're not hitting anywhere near me!" Zek shouted back.

"Not duck! Truck, you idiot! Truck!"

Zek looked forward and saw they were headed straight for a large trucking shuttle in their way. Zek pulled himself back inside the shuttle and moved the stick back hard. The shuttle rose over the truck as it crossed their path. Their bottom chassis was scraped by top of the truck, but they made it through alright. The same could not be said of all the shuttles pursuing them. Three of the vessels managed to fly around the truck without crashing. One did not, colliding head-on with the trucking shuttle's side and exploded.

"Okay, you take the stick," Zek said, still trying to shake off the near brush with death.

He moved over and let Taq take over driving. She began weaving through the traffic of shuttles and transports, hoping to lose their pursuers. Zek, in the meantime, went back to shooting. He leaned out the other side window and started taking more careful shots with his pistol. He still wished he brought his Needler Rifle, he was better with a scope.

He managed to score another kill on one of the shuttles, but it was going nowhere. He realized he needed to take down the shuttles themselves. He took aim at one of the pilots and fired a quick series of shots. They melted through the windshield and perforated the pilot. As he slumped over in his seat, one of the other pirates grabbed the stick, but they smashed into the side of the tunnel wall before they could correct course.

Their driver's side was smashed, but they kept racing after them despite the damage. They came up alongside the shuttle, taking aim at Taq. She didn't give them the chance to fire, turning hard into them. The enemy shuttle was bumped away and smashed into the side of a large transport. Their smoking heap pulled away from the transport momentarily before dropping out of the sky completely.

Zek continued firing at the two remaining shuttles that were after them. He fired a few shots near their rear fuel cell. Although the shots failed to break through at first. The shuttle moved up and tried to fishtail them, but Taq managed to pulled away at the last second. As they got through the next tunnel, Zek realized they were close.

"Take us down," he called. "We're getting near the drydock!"

"On it!" Taq replied, pushing down on the controls.

The shuttle ducked down out of the skylanes and brought them down over the roofs of the docking level storefronts. The enemy shuttles followed, one of the pirates inside firing a Carbine at them as they descended. Zek fired up at the shuttle as they flew, one of the shots managing to hit beneath their less protected chassis. It ignited the fuel cell and the shuttle exploded.

Flaming bits of debris fell all around them, as the shuttle split in two. Taq managed to avoid the wreck, which crashed into a large container below. Now there was one last shuttle, which suddenly bashed their backside. Taq rolled to the left to avoid the next hit and Zek got a better look at the pilot, Lurz.

"What is this freak's deal?" He demanded to know. "You've been working for Snarlbeak for awhile, what do you know?"

"All I know is that he's a creepy bastard who really likes his job," Taq explained. "That job is usually whoever Zhoc wants him to kill."

Zek believed that, recalling the poor unggoy from before. He still felt weird about that, feeling sorry for a methane sucker. He shook the thought off and fired at Lurz's shuttle as the flew. Problem was, his plasma pistol was starting to run low from all the shooting he had been doing. He could only think of one way to get rid of this crazy Ibie'shan, drawing inspiration from Chief Brody in the vid he saw the night before. Course, Brody had a rifle, not a lame ass pistol. Whatever, it would have to do.

He took aim at the shuttle, firing at it once, but it went wide.

"Steady the craft!" He ordered. "I can take him out if you keep straight for a second!"

Taq, to her credit didn't grumble or argue, doing what was asked of her. Zek fired again, hitting the nose of the shuttle. He growled as Lurz closed in again. Zek finally decided to charge up the plasma pistol to full, it would probably be his last shot as the battery started to drain.

"Smile you son of a bitch!"

The plasma bolt launched and hit the shuttle in the engine. The EMP function shorted out the craft, all it's power died and the vehicle plummeted to the floor below. Zek could only laugh hysterically at the accomplishment and point as the tiny ship crashed into the ground.

"That was for Quint, you bastard!" He shouted suddenly.

"Who is Quint?" Taq asked confused.

"Eh, no one," Zek responded, somewhat embarrassed. He really did not want to admit he just dedicated a shot to a fictional character. "Dry dock is right up there. We're home free."

At that moment, something exploded in their back. A warning light went wild on the dashboard and taq looked over at it in a fright.

"Ah shit, something blew out the grav-regulator," she growled. "Ship can't sustain lift!"

"Just keep her flying as long as possible!" Zek pleaded. "We're almost there!"

---

Lurz let his smoking beam rifle lower as he snarled. Clambering out of the wreck he made his way towards the drydocks. Suspecting Zek and the female would be able to list there on their own power. He may have lost his gang, but he would complete this hunt and take back what was stolen.

---

Garrus got back to the perimeter just in time for the enemy to bring out their big guns. Riding out into the open appeared two Ghost assault vehicles. The hovering attack craft began to strafe the area, forcing many of the defenders to fall back under the constant hail of plasma. They closed in slowly, keeping up the pressure on the line. Garrus fired at one of them, but the pilots were just too quick and kept their heads out of the line of sight.

Samara was quick to react to the attack, however. She sent out a biotic shockwave across the ground that hurtled one of the Ghosts into the air. The craft crashed down, it's occupant spilling out. Before anyone could use it again, a Fallen Serpent sniper surveying things from above fired a few quick shots from his beam rifle into the fuel cell and caused the vehicle to explode. The remaining Ghost opened fire on the sniper's position, forcing him to retreat.

Garrus continued shooting at the Ghost, hoping his armor piercing rounds would make an impact at some point. Meanwhile, everyone else started head back to the entry ramp, closing the perimeter tighter. Along with the enemy Ghost, the hostile pirates started to close in. It looked like they'd have no choice but to leave Zek behind. Garrus spotted Retz near the ramp himself and made a dash to speak with him. He found Kasumi there as well covering any Jackals running into the Serpent.

"I think we're about to break," Garrus warned Retz. "Where is Zek?"

"Almost here," Retz assured, his voice unconcerned. "Just give him a few more seconds."

Garrus was about to launch into a debate of sorts, but that was when they heard something. It sounded like a speeding aircraft, but Garrus could only see a single shuttle. It's backside was smoking and it was coming in hard. It was specifically aiming for the Ghost as it started to crash. The shuttle smashed into the side of Ghost, sending it tumbling several feet into a nearby wall. The crashing shuttle itself hit the ground and slide several feet before coming to a stop near the edge of their lines.

Popping out of the passenger's side appeared Zek. He quickly moved over to the driver's side and popped the door himself. Looking through his scope, Garrus could see another Jackal crawling out of the wreck. He soon realized it was Taq, specifically from the hood and the fact she knocked Zek's hand away when he offered to help her out. Garrus now looked to Retz again, who was grinning profusely.

"Told you," Retz assured. "He radioed me like a minute ago. You really think I'd be okay with the men abandoning the defense if I wasn't sure?"

"You could've been more specific," Garrus informed him.

"Yes, but Zek likes to make a dramatic entrance and it would've ruined the surprise," Retz explained, still grinning as he did.

Garrus dropped the subject and contacted his team over the radio.

"Legion, Grunt, I need you to cover Zek's approach," he told them. "Once we get him inside everyone is to fallback to the Serpent. Move, people!"

Legion and Grunt moved up to a small stack of crates and began firing at nearby enemy positions. As Zek and Taq made a run for the ship, Varvok moved out to greet them, tossing a grenade over towards a squad of enemy Jackals moving up along their flank. The batarian ran back firing his assault rifle into the enemy lines, Zek and Taq close at his heels. Whatever could be said about Varvok, Garrus had to admit he did not lack courage. The batarian escorted them into the perimeter, even as plasma fire flew all around them. Zek and Taq then ran over to Garrus.

"Well, I assume I can thank you for all this," the turian said scowling at Zek.

"I was saving her from certain death," Zek explained defensively as he pointed at Taq. "Isn't that what you guys do? Save people's lives?"

"Granted he did lead them to my ship and it got blown up," Taq bluntly pointed out. "But I suppose the intent was uncharacteristically noble regardless."

Zek smiled for a brief moment, but then his brain caught up to her words.

"Wait what kind of compliment is that?" Zek asked, sounding a bit offended.

"It wasn't," Taq informed him. "It was me playing Demon's Advocate. Take what you can get."

Garrus groaned, he had no time for this.

"I will want an explanation later, so will Shepard," he stated. "Right now, we need to leave!"

"Don't need to tell me!" Zek declared, before turning to his second. "Retz, have the men still out there grab what they can and make a run for the Serpent. Activate ship defensive systems to cover them, I'll head to bridge."

"Understood, sir," Retz obliged.

Zek moved to the ramp while Garrus called in everyone on his comm.

"We're leaving people!" He told them. "Thane, get back to the Normandy, no time to pick up Samara. She'll come with us on the Serpent. We'll rendezvous later!"

At the same time, Varvok was covering his own men who were also running into the Corvette. The batarians were carrying some of the spare crates with, or at least contents they could bring. Thankfully they wouldn't be leaving much behind, but grabbing what little they hadn't loaded yet was a good idea. As Samara herself rushed onto the ship's entry ramp, followed closely by Legion and Grunt, Kasumi stood up beside Garrus.

"I have to say, this has been a hell of a shopping trip, Garrus," she said happily.

"Just get in, please!" Garrus told her as he backed up. "I am so done with this stupid moon."

"You say that now," Kasumi said running after him. "But I'm sure we'll look back on all of this and remember it fondly. How many people can say they fought in a gunfight on a hollow moon with space pirates? That's at least a little cool."

Garrus just ignored her, he was just glad that this clusterfuck was over and done with.

---

Lurz eventually made it to the drydocks, but only in time to see the Fallen Serpent taking off. It loosed it's docking clamps fired a few shots from it's forward plasma guns on the nose and then backed out of the Hollow into space. It was in the wind, along with the female and her stolen property. He hated to admit he had failed in his hunt. He contacted Zhoc himself.

"Didn't catch them," he said in a dreadful, hissing voice.

"It's alright, Lurz," Zhoc said softly. "I'm aware. You did what you could and you corralled them into a single ship. Don't worry, they're not getting away that easily."

---

Before they even reached the bridge, as Zek rounded a corner, he bumped into an unggoy. The little gas sucker, as per usual, hadn't been paying attention dropping a box of rations in his arms. The methane breathing midget began hurriedly picking up everything that had fallen.

"Sorry, sorry," he desperately. "Everything so crazy. Wasn't looking. I do better, honest! Just want get these to kitchen now. All mistake!"

Zek looked at the sad little alien, his pleading beady eyes and annoying squeaky voice echoing in his ears. He kind of wanted to lay into him for being a clumsy idiot, but something held him back. Maybe he was just too tired to bother. Or too busy with current things to care. Then again, there was something about the pathetic creature that, for once, didn't make him angry. Was this pity? Zek wasn't sure. What he did know was the look the unggoy was giving him reminded him too much of another of his species, one who had not been so lucky when he crossed his boss.

"Look, it's fine, I don't care," he told the unggoy. "It happens, just be a bit more observant and don't rush I guess."

The unggoy seemed confused at first, then when Zek picked one of the rations and placed it in the box for him he seemed even more confused. Not wanting to stare at his ugly mug for much longer, Zek tried to get rid of him.

"Well, get going," he ordered.

The unggoy obeyed, hobbling off, still a bit confused, but not nearly as distressed as before. Zek looked back briefly to see Garrus sharing a similar look, but one of more interest than confusion. Thankfully he said nothing further and they continued to the bridge without and other interruptions.

Zek took a moment to breath as he slumped into his chair on the bridge. It had been one of the more trying visits to the Hollow he had undertaken in awhile. At least he had gotten Taq off safely and as a bonus she was back on his ship. Although, she only seemed happy to be alive, not stuck with him again. Well, one thing at a time. At least she wasn't glaring at him, she was too busy looking a monitor in the corner. The same could not be said of Garrus who did not seem at all happy with him.

"Well, I'm waiting for that explanation now," he began.

"Minor issue, Taq was in danger, the danger turned out to be from my buyer," Zek rattled off quickly. "Had to save her, shit went down, but we're safe now. So really, things are resolved. We cool?"

"Not really," Garrus informed him bluntly. "Who the hell is Snarlbeak?"

Zek just shrugged.

"Just some old pirate who apparently has some sort of deal with Taq which she broke," he replied. "It's no big deal, we're free and clear."

"Well if it was big enough a deal that he chased you all over the moon and attacked your ship, don't you think saying we're in the clear is a bit presumptuous?" Garrus asked, fairly skeptical of Zek's aloofness. "What does she have that is so damn important he'd try to kill us over it?"

Taq must've overheard, because she was soon beside Zek's chair staring up at Garrus.

"For your information, something incredibly valuable to him," she informed the turian. "That's why he hired me to get it. Why he told me not to look too deeply into it. And he'll keep after me for it, you can be sure of that."

"Taq, please," Zek said rolling his eyes. "I'm sure he'll forget all about it before you know it. Try not to oversell this."

"I'm not overselling anything," Taq chided him, before looking back to Garrus. "And before you start thinking about possibly turning me over to the bastard to get on his good side, you should understand what he's after. I think you'll be interested in it yourself once things are clear."

Garrus looked suspiciously at Taq, unsure of what to make of her statement. Zek was worried for a moment that he'd suggest kicking her off the ship. He had risked his life just trying to get her back here, he did not want to lose her now. Taq was not helping things by suggesting Zhoc would keep after her.

"Look," Garrus eventually sighed in a reassuring tone. "I'm not planning on throwing you to a bunch of pirates to appease them. I just need to know what it is we've gotten ourselves into. If you have something to share, you need to talk to my Commander about it."

"Commander?" Taq said, looking a bit confused. "You some kind of... merc outfit or something?"

"Something," Garrus answered. "You can explain things to him when we get back."

A small electronic beep alerted Zek that they were close to their destination. Hovering just behind the planet the Hollow orbited, was the Ascendant Justice and the rest of their tiny fleet. It was easy enough to spot just outside the port windows. Taq looked surprised.

"You have a carrier now?" She asked in shock. "What, was that a going away present from the Covenant?"

"Sorta," Zek replied. "Took a bit more doing to get."

They soon closed within range of the larger vessel, Retz opened a channel to the carrier and Zek spoke.

"Serpent to Justice," he began. "Resupply complete, but we need to bug out quick. Get ready for slipspace jump, I'll explain more when we got the time."

While Zek didn't think Zhoc would be that quick to chase after them, he didn't want to take chances. He wanted to get out of there, now. He'd deal with the fallout from the UNSC and Shepard later, once they were safe.

"Put in a course and activate our brand new drive, Retz!" He called out. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

Retz did as told, but as the engines warmed up for slipspace jump and a rupture started to form something odd happened. The rupture vanished, the entire bridge went dark for a moment, the sound of everything powering down echoed through the ship. Emergency lighting came on shortly thereafter and Zek's questions followed.

"What happened?" He demanded to know.

Retz surveyed the initial systems reports on his screen and turned to him with wide-eyed confusion.

"I'm not sure," he explained. "There was some kind of power surge. According to the computer it resonated from the slipspace drive upon activation."

"What did it do?" Garrus asked frantically.

"Shut down engines, powered down weapons systems, slipspace drive is locked out," Retz listed off quickly. "We're dead and helpless. Zek, I think we just got hit with a damn virus."

"Sir!" A deckhand from a terminal shouted up to them. "We are getting reports from the Justice and the Chorka! Their weapons and engines are offline too! Something infected their slipspace drive along with ours!"

Zek looked about, trying to hide his fright. He knew what this probably was.

"What the hell is happening? Varvok asked him.

"I think I made a mistake," he answered nervously.

"What else is new?" Taq grumbled.

"Really not the time, Taq," Zek growled.

The deckhand shouted up to him again.

"Sirs," he said. "We're being hailed. I think you'll want to hear this."

Zek activated the communication screen himself and the old scarred face of Zhoc appeared before him. The old pirate looked rather pleased himself, tapping his little claws together as he smiled smugly.

"Zek, dear little Zek," he began slyly. "You seem to be in a spot of trouble. I wonder how that happened?"

Zek could only laugh a little and smile cheekily.

"You clever bastard," he chuckled. "You gave me an infected slipspace drive. And since you did that before I saved Taq, I suppose it means you knew more than you were letting on."

"Killing a San'Shyuum, let alone a Prophet, gets around fast," Zhoc explained shrugging. "I like you, Zek, but the price on your head was too good to pass up. The virus is basically designed to infect any ships in a close proximity with active slipspace drives. While it's dormant of course it broadcasts your location directly to me, so I was able to get eyes on you fairly quickly. I suspected you had a small fleet by now, but a Carrier? That is impressive, good job on getting that, Zek."

"Well, I don't like to brag," Zek chuckled warmly, feigning modesty. "But it was a pretty sweet grab."

"I'm sure it was," Zhoc said nodding, returning to the discussion at hand. "I had planned to activate the virus later and have the Covenant basically surround you while I quietly collected the bounty. However, you somewhat forced my hand here. Your Ex has something I want and I paid her good money to acquire it. Contracts are important, Zek. You have to understand my position here."

"I do," Zek said, still keeping up his cordial grin. "But what can I say? I still kinda like her. Old flames and all that, ya know?"

Taq suddenly pushed herself in front of Zek and stared at the Old Man himself with a scowl.

"What you were paying to get this wasn't nearly enough," She declared. "You were ripping me off, giving me scraps while you reserved the biggest prize for yourself!"

"Oh Taq," Zhoc said, shaking his head and feigning disappointment. "You always wanted to bite off more than you could chew. I admire your willingness to push on with this tomb raiding passion of yours, but this is what happens when you allow a hobby to become a job. You have to accept the work you are given and breaching contract is never a wise career choice. Ask Zek, he's about to become my newest batch of paychecks for the fleet for the next few months."

Taq just growled at Zhoc and brought his face up close to the monitor.

"I am going to get out of this, you old piece of shit," she declared. "I'm going to steal this mother-lode for myself and I'm going to laugh at you the whole fucking way!"

"Cute, but that's not happening," Zhoc chuckled slightly. "We had a deal, you broke it. I want my property back and I will have it."

Zek pushed Taq aside and tried to get the conversation back onto him.

"Let's not be hasty, isn't there a way to work this out?" He asked, trying to maintain a confident air about him.

"I'm sorry, Zek," Zhoc said feigning sadness. "You can't show weakness in this line of work. I will perhaps consider letting your ship go, provided you hand over yourself, Taq, what I asked her to steal and that Carrier, of course. Maybe that other Corvette I see languishing in the void too, that would be nice."

"Sorry, can't do that," Zek replied pleasantly. "Mostly because the Carrier situation is a bit complicated and I don't want to die today."

"A bit out of your hands at this point I think," Zhoc replied smugly. "You're weaponless, powerless and I am on my way with two Battlecruisers. You really don't have much of a chance."

"I'll be the judge of that," Zek laughed smiling, before he started to wave. "Nice talking to you, gonna totally kick your ass."

"You're very welcome to try," Zhoc said, smiling amiably at him. "See you soon, Zek, you too, Taq."

"Bite me, dipshit!" Taq snarled back.

Zhoc just laughed jovially at the remark.

"I can see why you still like her, Zek," he said smiling. "She's a fiery one."

With that the call was terminated and Zek laughed lightly at his departure.

"Heh, he's such a card, ain't he?" He asked.

"I'm glad you find the prospect of our impending deaths by pirates so funny," Garrus said scowling.

"Honestly, Zek, you could take this more seriously," Varvok added in agreement. "Do you have a plan on how to get us out of this?"

"I have part of one," the Pirate leader admitted, turning to his crew. "Communications, get me Colonel Holland at once!"

"Uh, he's already on the line, sir," responded one of the deckhands. "He is, uh, well, not happy."

Zek just shrugged at that.

"Well, makes this faster I guess," he reasoned. "Put him on screen."

Holland's scowling face was only slightly better than Zhoc. At least Holland didn't want to kill him, well, at least Zek hoped he didn't. The Colonel was clearly about ready to start screaming, his face near bright red. Realizing he needed to be careful about what he said next, Zek tried to be tactful.

"I'm guessing you've noticed we've run into a problem," he admitted.

"We noticed," Holland stated, his glare icy and cold.

"Okay, before we start blaming each other, we should worry about getting out of this alive first," Zek responded quickly, hoping to defuse matters before they got heated. "Look, we can fix this, we just need to buy ourselves some time."

"Our sensors are already picking up two battlecruisers enroute," Holland informed him still near the cusp of raging. "We have no weapons, we have no ability to move, we have no time."

Zek tried to keep composed, he did not want to get drowned out before he could share his plan.

"We have a way to buy some," he assured the Colonel. "The virus only infects active slipspace drives, right? That means any spacecraft without one is operational. You have a ton in your hangar."

"The Seraphs," Holland deduced rather plainly. "But we'd need someone to pilot them."

At that moment, Cortana interrupted the call, appearing on a screen next to Holland. She apparently had been listening in, as she seemed to know more less everything that was going on. Zek was hardly surprised considering she had spied on them before.

"There's an easy solution to that, sir," she began rather simply. "The Master Chief and the Spartans can take those Seraphs out into a firefight. They're not expert pilots, but they're more than capable of handling the craft. I can upload basic combat instructions to their Heads Up display if needed."

"Four fighters isn't enough to take on two battlecruisers though," he cautioned. "We need more than that."

"Commander Shepard has a solution to that himself, sir," Cortana explained. "EDI is patching his comm through now."

Almost immediately, Shepard's voice came over the communications. Despite everything, he sounded as cool and collected as ever. In fact, he seemed pretty prepared given what he had to share.

"Sir, the Normandy's slipspace drive isn't installed into our systems. The virus didn't hit us," He explained succinctly. "My ship is ready to head out and offer any assistance possible."

"Good to hear it, Commander, but that still leaves us dead in the water," Holland reminded him. "We need a way to get back online."

"And I have the solution to that," Zek informed the Colonel, calling their attention back to him. "The virus came from our drive, we just have to find it's source here and kill it here. Once it's purged, it should fix everything. Right, Retz?"

Retz nodded as he looked back at his screen.

"It will take time on our own though," he warned. "The only way I see us getting it back online before we're space dust is, well, if we hand a few extra hands... or tentacles."

Holland's face on the screen showed he had an idea of where this was going. He did not look any happier. Zek tried to ease his concerns.

"We just need one Huragok," he insisted. "Only one. It can get into the slipspace drive's systems and purge the virus from all our boats at once. It's the fastest the solution, kill it at the source."

Holland growled beneath his throat, but he didn't have much room to argue.

"We'll send one over on a Phantom as soon as possible with an armed escort of ODSTs."

Holland response was a sigh of relief, but then Zek heard that last past. The Drop Troopers? Those guys? Was he serious? They hated him and his crew, at least that was what he heard. He really did not want those angry xenophobes on his ship.

"You said before it would be Marines escorting the Huragok if I wanted one," he reminded the Colonel.

"That was before you got us into this disaster," Holland shouted at him at long last. "The ODSTs will escort the Engineer to the Slipspace drive. It will fix it and the second we're out of danger it will be escorted back to the Carrier. And after that, we are having a very frank discussion together. Holland, out."

Zek was taken aback by the outburst, even if he could understand it. Still, at least his plan to fix this was underway, even if he did get chewed out a little. He looked over to Taq, still beside him, her face one of bemusement.

"You're working with humans now?" She asked, still trying to wrap her head around thing. "Specifically their homeworld's military, given all that rank and file stuff."

"It's a long story," Zek explained.

"Well we're stuck in space at the mercy of Snarlbeak with only a few fighters and some Commander Shepard person protecting us," she recounted. "So, I guess you have some time to start talking."

Zek shrugged, he supposed she had a point. So he went back to the beginning.

"Well, you see, it sorta starts when the Covenant found this wormhole..."

---

Chief hadn't thought he'd have to do something like this today. It wasn't that he didn't think something would go wrong, it's just that he thought it would remain confined to the moon. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Now he was climbing into an alien fighter craft, preparing to face off against two battlecruisers. He was just happy to have a team and Commander Shepard flying with him on this, otherwise he'd be less enthusiastic about this plan.

He strapped himself into the seat and took up the controls. They weren't too dissimilar from a Banshee, but clearly more complicated. Normally, these ships needed two pilots, but that was the same of a lot of fighters in the UNSC and Spartans were often capable of flying those with ease. He and the others had the advantage of course of Cortana who could run most of the secondary functions for them. Her detailed HUD layout for the controls also made it easier to figure out what switches did what, along with other details.

"Everyone strapped in?" He asked over the comm.

"Ready," Linda said.

"Good to go," Kat complied.

"Still not too cool about flying in one of these things," Jun admitted casually. "But yeah, I'm ready."

"Just stay on my wing and aim for my targets," Chief ordered. "Remember, the objective is to buy time for the Engineer to purge the virus. So just keep focused on damaging them, don't worry about taking them out."

"What if an opportunity presents itself?" Kat asked.

"Let Shepard handle that then," he told her plainly. "His ship has the bigger gun."

The hangar doors opened up shortly after and Chief activated the Seraph's ignition. The craft sprung to life, lifting into the air. He eased his hands forward on the control sticks and the ship lurched into open space. It was a rocky launch, he wasn't as familiar with this thing even with Cortana's help, but they managed to pull out into void and form up fairly quickly. Jun was a little jerky, as was Kat, however they still kept a tight pattern regadless. Moments later, they hooked up with the Normandy, flying along it's side.

"Master Chief to Normandy," Chief spoke through the comms. "What is your vector?"

"We're doing good, Chief," Joker reported back "Weapons are primed and good to go. Transferring you to the Commander."

It took only a few more seconds for Shepard's voice to fill his cockpit.

"Chief, good to have you flying wingman on this," he told him. "Last time we faced a battlecruiser we barely managed to fight it off. We would've been dead if it weren't for Joker's flying, we avoided taking any hits from their main weapons, but we still took a lot of damage. I'd hate to think how we'd fare against two of them."

"We'll watch your back, sir," Chief assured. "Don't worry. These Seraphs are armed with plasma cannons and charges. It should be enough to knock out their main guns if we get close enough."

"EDI can help you with that," Shepard assured. "One advantage we have is I doubt these pirates have an AI aboard like the last one we fought. It stopped EDI from shutting their systems down. Hopefully she'll be able to bring her full cyberwarfare runtimes to bare in this fight though."

"A fair assessment," Cortana agreed. "The Covenant only get their AIs by stealing them from the UNSC and corrupting them through poor management. I doubt any of this Snarlbeak's ships have anything that rare aboard. If EDI can shut down the point defenses, it should give the Seraphs an easy attack vector on their main guns."

"I assume so," EDI answered, cutting into the conversation. "However, I cannot be certain they don't have security system backups. These pirates are certainly knowledgeable enough to create a computer virus, it is not outside the range of possibility that they know how to counteract similar attacks."

"Then we got to make our one pass count," Chief reasoned. "We take out the majority of their guns on the two ships and try to avoid the point defenses where we can."

"I'll have EDI keep hitting them with every trick in the book," Shepard assured. "And we got plenty of firepower ourselves. Between the upgrades to the ship and the modifications the Huragok trio we have aboard have been doing, we should be able to handle this."

Now that they had a game plan set up, it was time to move to attack. They set a course to intercept the incoming battlecruisers. They didn't have to fly long to spot them, as the two vessels came floating in from the endless black, speeding towards the disabled flotilla.

"I'm detecting heavy modifications to the armor and weapons," Cortana warned. "Similar to the Fallen Serpent's actually. More guns, better armor, more efficient engines, this Snarlbeak certainly likes to trick out his ships. Makes you realize how much the Covenant are squandering their own fleet's potential by refusing to upgrade."

"All the more reason to hit them hard and fast," Chief reaffirmed to the squad. "Bite, run and come back around again, team. We aren't killing these things and that's not our job anyway."

"Copy, Chief," Linda complied. "Awaiting your signal."

A few tense seconds went by, Chief peering over the information readouts Cortana was displaying for him on the dash. They had a good vector on the starboard gun batteries, that was their best bet. They probably couldn't take them all out, but they could do some damage. It would give Shepard room to start hitting them. Suddenly, EDI contacted them.

"Point defenses are being disabled," she reported. "Their systems were unprepared, but I am detecting security efforts. Make your run now, Master Chief."

"Copy," Chief agreed. "Spartans, on my wing. We're going in."

The Seraphs started their attack run, diving for the battlecruisers. There was no point defense fire, EDI had done her job. Now they had to do theirs. Chief opened fire on nearest ship, raking it with the plasma cannon. As they closed in, Chief decided to break the formation.

"Linda, take Kat," he ordered. "Bomb the second cruiser!"

"Roger!" Linda said in compliance.

"Jun, stay with me," he ordered. "Drop your charges on my targets!"

The flight split up, Chief staying on course for the main starboard battery as they closed the distance. He kept raking the hull with plasma fire, setting off explosions along the armor, destroying defensive emplacements as they went. Then they approached the actual battery and Chief let loose the plasma charges. They fell upon the enemy guns with a crash, blowing up one after the other in quick succession. When it was done, Chief pulled back on the sticks and the lift off from the side of the ship. Tracer fire followed them as they flew higher, the enemy's fire kicking back in.

"It's awfully thick out here," Jun warned.

"We got this, keep moving!" Chief ordered.

Their shields held as they raced away from the pirate ship, eventually getting out of range. Linda and Kat soon hooked back up with them as they turned towards the backside of both ships.

"We took out over half their guns," Linda said.

"Same with ours," Chief added. "That should give Shepard a decent approach vector. Right now, lets focus on slowing the ships down. Aim for their engines, damage them enough and they won't be going anywhere."

Chief dove back down into the fray, his Spartans following.

---

Shepard eyed the sensors approvingly. Chief had taken out a significant portion of the main guns. The enemy wouldn't have full coverage now. The Spartans had done their part, it was time to do theirs.

"Take us in, Joker," Shepard ordered. "And power up the main gun. Slice along the path the Spartans just made and set us up for a second run on the engines."

"You got it, sir!" Joker replied.

The Normandy dove towards the deck, launching secondary weapons as it dive bombed the battlecruiser. Missiles struck the enemy vessel in a cascade. Then, once they were in range, the Thanix Cannon fired. A bright blue flame blazed across the side of the hull, blowing up an additional main gun before it could target their ship. The damage done, Normandy rocketed back up into the void, not wanting to push it's luck too much by getting too close.

"Great shot, Joker!" Shepard congratulated. "Now get ready for another pass!"

"Commander," EDI contacted him. "We have an incoming hail, it is from the lead vessel. Patching you through."

A voice came through the speakers, a smooth but slightly irritated voice.

"Attention unidentified craft, whoever you are," it began gruffly. "This is none of your affair. I kindly suggest you disengage both you and your Seraphs at once. Or do you want to make an enemy of Fleetmaster Snarlbeak?"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, sir," Shepard reported. "You're attacking my flotilla. Those Corvettes and that Carrier are under my protection."

"And who exactly are you?" Snarlbeak demanded.

"Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance," he replied adamantly. "You've attacked my crew and my allies. So I think it's you who should back off."

There was a brief silence and then Snarlbeak returned.

"Shepard? I've heard that name," he reasoned, sounding rather intrigued. "This wouldn't be the fabled 'False Shepherd' would it? The one with a big bounty on his head that the Covenant set up? And you and Zek are working together? My, my, this is a surprise."

"If you're familiar with me, you must know what I'm capable of," Shepard told him plainly. "Again, withdraw while you can."

"I don't think so," Snarlbeak replied. "I am well aware of your reputation and you're probably too big a fish to catch... for the moment. But there are things going on here that are far more important than just mere bounties. Zek has helped someone steal something precious to me, I'm not letting him or his friend take it. Do yourself a favor, Shepard, get out while you can. You have no idea what you've invited into your little fleet."

"Not happening," Shepard declared bluntly. "Zek might not be the ideal partner, but he's part of this fleet. I'm not letting you have him or anyone on his ship."

"Unfortunate," Snarlbeak sighed. "You've just become involved in something way bigger than you, Commander. You will regret it."

"Doubt it," Shepard replied. "I step into this kind of thing all the time."

He had EDI terminate the call. He didn't think he could get him to back down, but he had pried some interesting information form the pirate regardless. Whatever it was that had made Snarlbeak chase after them, it sounded pretty big. He'd have to talk to Zek about it, after they dealt with this problem.

"Commander, the second vessel is charging up their main battery on the port side!"

"Hit them hard, Joker," Shepard ordered. "Then get out of range of the guns and aim for their engines."

Joker moved into attack position, heavy plasma fire racing towards them now. He leaned hard left and right, dodging the incoming fire. Shields took some damage when the shots passed by, but it was minor. When they got in range, the Thanix fired again and the battery exploded. There were plenty more though, so Joker pulled out and started heading towards the engines. If they didn't stop this ship before it got into range of the fleet, well, he didn't really want to think about that.

---

McKay hadn't really been aboard the Fallen Serpent, she had been too busy keeping things with her unit together to consider checking it out. All she knew from the few Marines who had briefly stayed there before they acquired the Justice was that it smelled terrible and was becoming a steadily growing mess. At least she wouldn't be stuck there long, just until the Engineer did it's job.

She felt like she was only really here out of luck, because she just happened to be in the same room as Haverson and Holland when everything went dark power wise. Then again, most of the team was here by luck. Sergeant Buck, Corporal Travers and Private Collis just happened to be the three Drop Troopers she ran into on her way down to the hangar. They found the Engineer waiting for them to board a Phantom.

She got lucky with Buck, as he too had taken Holland's side during the mutiny. Travers and Collis, not as much. Travers specifically had been punched in the face by Kat. Collis hadn't directly engaged with any Spartans, but he did keep giving her dirty looks every couple of minutes. When he heard they were headed over to the Serpent, he spat on the ground and muttered something under his breath. Yeah, he had some issues. Hopefully this whole business would be over with quickly.

The tussle with the Battlecruisers was a bit a ways from them. They didn't have to worry about getting shot down on their way over at least. They soon reached the Serpent's hangar and parked in the center. They had been told Zek's second would be waiting for them, McKay just assumed it was the scruffy looking Jackal with a mane of feathers looking at them.

"Lieutenant McKay," he greeted with a brief bow. "First Mate Retz, at your service."

"Hi," she began, a bit hesitant to return the bow. "Look, we don't have much time, so can we get moving?"

"Of course," Retz agreed.

Buck, Travers and Collis led the Engineer out. It surveyed the immediate area curiously. Buck snapped his fingers, catching the tentacled creature's attention.

"Hey, focus," he told it. "You got a job to do, remember?"

The engineer followed them as they snaked through the corridors of the ship towards the engine room.

"I already have my people working on the preliminary scans," Retz explained as they walked. "Should cut down on some time. The unggoy are there too, trying isolate potential pathways. We don't want any virus leftovers surviving the purge and cropping up later."

"For your sake, space turkey, I hope that doesn't happen," Travers growled at him. "Otherwise we'll be back here in a less friendly-like manner."

McKay looked back at Corporal, giving him a glare. Buck backed her up, poking Travers in the ribs with his elbow.

"Zip it, Corporal," he said. "It ain't the time for that."

Retz didn't seem register the comment as he kept walking. Good, McKay didn't want to make this situation worse than it already was. She did have similar concerns though, although not nearly as hostile.

"This purge will work, right?" She asked.

"Viruses like these have a central origin point," Retz explained. "It's connected to all the systems currently. You kill it here, the purge extends to that connection and wipes out the traces of it over there. Trust me, this is a fairly common cyberwarfare tactic. It's just never snuck aboard like this, it's usually uploaded."

"Yeah, I've heard of Trojan Horses, but this is a whole other level," Buck said, slightly chuckling at his own joke.

The attempt to alleviate the situation was lost on Retz who just kept walking, taking a turn and heading down a ramp.

"Once the system is purged it should take a few second to restart," he continued to explain. "Once we're back online, we'll launch a few plasma torpedoes to scatter Snarlbeak's ships. We'll send Holland jump coordinates and we'll jump together."

"Together, huh?" Collis muttered. "Shame."

McKay shot him a glare and cleared her throat at him. That time the insult registered though.

"I understand if you and your people are upset, Lieutenant," Retz replied plainly, though clearly growing displeased. "But I assure you, we are doing all we can to rectify this situation."

"Good," Collis snarled. "Considering you stupid birds are the reason we're stuck in it."

"Private, that's enough," McKay shouted back at him sternly. "We are not here to argue, we are here to fix this. So stow whatever feelings you got and clam up. Now!"

Collis stiffened his face, but quickly complied.

"Yes, ma'am." he replied, his voice still grumbling.

They reached the engine room at last. Entering they found several Jackals already hard at work at terminals, desperately trying finish up their scans. The grunts were there too, just as Retz said, working on monitors of their own.

"How's it going?" Retz asked the nearest crewmember.

"Scans are practically complete, but this virus seemed embedded in the code," he explained. "We're going to try and supplement the purge by restarting systems one by one. Best we can do right now, we got the unggoy on it."

"Just do what you can and stay out of gas bag's way," Retz ordered.

The Engineer slowly floated over to the slipspace drive port near the engine core. It looked at it for a few moments curiously, before placing it's many tentacles into the connection ports. It moved slightly to the left, inserting another tentacle into a nearby data port.

"Is it starting the purge?" Buck asked.

"It's assessing things, drawing on data we've compiled," Retz explained. "It can use that to figure out the rest. It will begin the purge once it tracks down every bit of the virus and infected code."

"I don't get it," Collis said. "Why the hell do you need it to fix your own ship? Don't you know how to do the purge yourselves?"

"Huragok are just plain better at it," Retz informed the Private, slightly annoyed as he did. "It's their function. By ourselves, setting up a systems purge would take at least a day and that's with a skilled team. A huragok can do all the complex functions required in less time, supplementing the ship's systems with it's own supercomputer brain. Hell, they know more about these ships then even the Sangheili I wager."

McKay cocked her head slightly to the side as the Engineer kept working. It's tentacles were glowing bright blue as light seemed to travel through them. She kept listening to Retz as she watched and her mind raced with questions.

"So they know more about the Covenant's own ships than they do?" She wondered aloud. "Why? How?"

"Who knows," Retz shrugged. "But given how pretty much all of the tech the Covenant have developed is based on the Forerunners, I'm guessing it has something to do with that. Why else would they be so vital to keeping all this shit running?"

The Engineer suddenly disconnected from slipspace drive and moved over to the engine core nearby. It wrapped it's vestiges across the power conduits and the lights started to fluctuate. The core itself began to spark.

"Looks like it's trying to restore reserve power in preparation for restart," Retz reasoned.

The core finally sparked to life, a blue shimmering light resonating from within. The Engineer left the core and then floated over to a nearby terminal connected to the slipspace drive. It's tentacles jabbed into every port and drive it could find and bioluminescent creature began the glow several shades of bright purple, pink and blue.

"It's starting," Retz said, before looking to the crew. "Keep your eyes on those monitors! We need to keep track of it's progress!"

McKay just kept her eyes on the Huragok, watching it work it's "magic" so to speak. It was weird to think this bizarre alien, and it's plethora of kin, was responsible for maintaining the Covenant's edge. Just yesterday it had been on the side of the enemy, keeping the Carrier they hijacked running. Now, it was here trying to save their lives. Was it just self-preservation? She couldn't be sure and she supposed it didn't matter. Right now, they just needed to keep watch on it and make sure none of these pirates did anything with it beyond purging this damn virus, which hopefully wouldn't take much longer.

---

Chief kept the pressure on the engines for a bit longer before pulling away. He didn't want to get too close to the point defenses on the backside of the ship. His shields could hold out, but they weren't invincible. As he pulled back, Jun tried launching a charge at one of the point defense batteries. Unfortunately it missed and he had to abandon his run as fire started hitting his shields.

"I'm really missing my rifle right about now," he said in frustration.

"Keep at it, Jun," Chief encouraged. "We're making an impact, however small."

"Speed for the lead craft is down by ten percent," Cortana noted. "Not much, but every little bit helps."

Chief was hoping they could land a charge or something down a main shaft, but with all the point defenses it was hard just trying to get close. They needed to think smarter here if they wanted to land a good hit.

"I got an idea," he told the squadron. "We need to split the focus of those point defenses, keep them guessing. Fly in a diamond pattern and split apart when we get in range. I'll then double back and hit the engines with a charge while they're distracted."

"Worth a shot," Linda concurred. "Just be sure not to get hit on your way out, you'll be in their crossfire at that point."

"I'll have Cortana boost shields and power to thrusters after I've made the drop," Chief assured. "I have the best shot with her aboard, it's the only reason I'm taking the risk."

"Of course I don't get a say in that, but whatever," Cortana lightly chided. "Good to know I've helped increase your daredevil aspects. Truly, my greatest accomplishment."

The Spartans formed up and raced towards the burning engine thrusters. Point defenses opened up as soon as they entered range. As the hail of plasma raged around them, the formation broke up, going in four different directions. The guns tried to track each ship individually, splitting their combined focus as predicted. Chief was headed downward, but then pulled back on the stick. He got a lock on the engine and launched a plasma charge and fired the cannon for good measure.

The blast went right down one of the main exhaust ports and exploded. Flames burst from the thruster and Chief turned hard to avoid them. He turned on the booster and sped away from the Battlecruiser's backside. He managed to avoid most of the enemy fire as he returned to the squadron, although his shields were almost gone.

"Speed down by twenty-five percent," Cortana reported. "Good shot, Chief. And we still have our heads, so that's a bonus."

At that moment, Chief saw the second Battlecruiser taking point and it pulled away from the lead. The Normandy dived from on high and fired a blast into the aft of the ship from the Thanix Cannon. An explosion erupted along the pirate ship's side as the smaller frigate kept diving below it.

"Chief," Shepard's voice sounded through the cockpit. "We're going to do a run on their belly, less armor around there on this one. Heavier guns though, can you assist?"

"Affirmative," Chief agreed. "Form up for a strafing run, Spartans. We're hitting their underside guns."

The squadron formed up and moved into intercept range. Chief spied the first gun on their assault path and laid into it with the plasma cannon. It exploded after a few clean shots. The rest of the team followed him in, flying hard and fast close to battlecruiser's stomach. The larger point defense guns moved to fire on them, but they were inside their perimeter already. Chief blazed a trail through them, knocking out gun after gun as he weaved two and fro. It didn't take much to ignite the heavy plasma cannons on the underside, the Seraph seemed more than capable of doing that. The smaller laser-based defenses were scoring hits though, their shields starting to drain.

"I'm pulling all power to the shields," Cortana said. "But we got to finish this up."

They came to the last turret on their run. Chief took aim at it even as it pointed it's barrel directly at him. It fired, but he rolled around the blast. He laid into the gun with the cannon and plasma charges. The result was a fiery explosion that ripped the point defense emplacement apart. Spartans then broke for open space, escaping the range of the anti-air. As they did, the Normandy shot up from below, firing the Thanix directly into the underside. There was a terrific explosion that lit up the Battlecruiser's belly. As fires raged, it's dash to the disabled fleet was slowed.

As much damage as they were causing though, they couldn't keep this up forever. Chief's readouts said he had sustained damage to his left side. Their run hadn't been flawless and their shields were cracking under the pressure of this mismatch. And things were about to get worse it seemed.

"Guys, we have a problem," Cortana warned. "I just intercepted a communique from the lead vessel. We have a third Battlecruiser enroute!"

Great, they were barely holding it together against two. Now they had a third on the way. They were out of time. He knew that the Engineer should be inside the Serpent by now. He just hoped that this purge plan would work, because he didn't think they could survive another run like that.

---

The Engineer trilled loudly as the lights all over the ship began to turn on and off. McKay wasn't sure what it was doing exactly, but she guessed this was part of the virus purge. The engines hummed louder and louder, sparks began to fly, alarms sounded and then... it all went dark. A few brief seconds later, everything turned back on. The Engineer released itself from the console it had been working at and floated back to the ODST lazily, looking almost worn out. One of the grunts working at a terminal cried out before anyone else.

"Slipspace drive functioning!" It shouted with glee. "We back online!"

A cheer sounded from both Jackals and grunts situated in the engine room, Retz grinning as they did. McKay, however, had other thoughts on her mind. She contacted the Justice immediately.

"McKay to Carrier, what is your status, sirs?" She asked hopefully.

"Back in the saddle, Lieutenant," Haverson answered, sounding more than a little enthused by the turn of fortunes. "The purge worked! All systems to the Justice and the Chorka are back online! Zek just sent us the jump coordinates. We are warming up for slipspace jump! Hang tight down there, we're getting the hell out of this system!"

---

The Carrier suddenly sprung to life, turning sharply into the angle of attack along with the Chorka. The Serpent sped to their side, firing plasma torpedoes at the Battlecruisers. The enemy ships pulled a hard right just to avoid getting hit, but the second one took a blast to it's stern and listed out of attack position entirely.

"Zek's plan worked," Cortana announced. "The fleet is back in business!"

"All ships, head to the Justice's hangar!" Shepard ordered. "We're getting out of here!"

As they sped back to the Justice, they could see the third Battlecruiser coming into range. It was moving hard and fast, trying to close to attack range. It was also blocking their jump vector from the looks of things. That made it much more of a threat to their escape.

"Sirs," Kat called out through the radio. "Should we do something about that battlecruiser?"

"No worries, Noble Two," Holland's voice assured the flight. "We got him covered ourselves. Firing forward guns!"

An impressive cascade of plasma fire ejected out of the Carrier's forward batteries. The blasts collided with the Battlecruiser and ripped it apart with ease. The enemy ship broke in two, flames licking out from it's insides. Then it's engine core ruptured in a spectacular display. Moments later, Chief's Spartans and the Normandy were back inside the Justice. Holland's voice echoed over the intercom as they landed.

"All Hands, brace for slipspace jump!"

---

Zhoc watched as the slipspace ruptures formed in front of the Carrier and the two Corvettes. The ships vanished from sight through them, disappearing into the vast cosmic black. He sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. He then turned to one of his engineers standing behind his chair.

"You said they wouldn't be able to purge the virus fast enough," he said scowling.

"They must've had a Huragok on hand," the engineer claimed plainly. "I can only do so much to prepare for those and we didn't know they had one."

Zhoc shook his head at the excuse. That's what it was, an excuse. He hated excuses.

"You should have planned for Huragok," he growled at the engineer. "You should have planned for everything. This was too important to not consider everything!"

"This was set up for later remember?" The engineer argued. "When the Covenant could surround them. How was I supposed to predict things would get more complicated?"

"Everything always gets more complicated," Zhoc shouted at him. "Plans change, conditions change, you have to prepared for every potential outcome. If you don't, this happens! I just lost a whole battlecruiser and these ships will need to go in for extensive repairs! That's time and money lost! Time and money I need now more than ever!"

The engineer was now cowering under the browbeating, Zhoc's face in his. The pirate Fleetmaster pulled away, a small friendly smile growing on his beak.

"We will need to readjust things, I suppose," he admitted, slowly turning away. "Like I said, plans change. This situation is easily remedied. We just need to make sure we don't have another oversight like this in the future."

The engineer nodded in response, but before he could say anything else...

"Lurz."

A large claw grabbed around the engineer's beak. He was forced down onto the ground as Lurz pressed his body weight upon him. The brutish Ibie'shan beat the poor unsuspecting bird to a pulp, bright purple blood staining the floor. Zhoc kept his eyes ahead as the rest of the crew watched with grim reverence. This was how Snarlbeak ran his ships, how he dealt with incompetence.

"There is no more room for mistakes," he sternly informed his crew, even as the beating continued. "We can ill-afford them when we are so close. I will have my prize and the galaxy with it. Zek and his new friends have only delayed the inevitable and they have no idea what lies in store for them."

---

The shuttle returned to the Ascendant Justice, bringing the Normandy's ground crew, Varvok, Zek, Retz and their newest guest, Taq, with it. Shepard was waiting for them when they got off the shuttle. As expected, he did not look all that happy to see the Jackals. They had come out of slipspace only a few minutes before. At the same time they arrived, a Phantom was returning McKay's team with the Engineer passenger in tow. However, just because they had gotten away, didn't mean everything was resolved, as Shepard made fairly clear.

"Holland and Haverson are seriously pissed," he informed Zek. "Can't say I blame them."

"Look, for the record, we would've probably done some tests on that drive if things didn't go to shit down there," Zek tried to argue. "It's just we didn't have time to do it when they did."

"But they still did," Shepard informed him. "And while they're angry at you, remember, I still convinced them to come here. So it kind of reflects badly on me regardless."

"They can't blame you too much, Shepard," Garrus told him. "It's not like you went into this without a plan."

"True, but I'd still like to show them the trouble was worth it," Shepard explained, looking back towards Zek. "Garrus told me your new crew member has something I might be interested in."

Taq pushed herself in front of Zek, scowling as she did.

"Let's get one thing straight," she said curtly. "I am NOT his crew member, okay? I'm just apparently stuck with him. As for what I have, if I start talking and you like what you hear, you need to agree to a few of my terms, chief among them my fee, which is big."

"We can work that out with Holland when we meet him," Shepard told her. "To be honest though, I'm not entirely sure what we can offer you, Ms..."

"Taq," she stated abruptly. "My name is Taq. And try to understand, I don't really have much of a choice in this matter now. I need a ship, I need supplies and I need people to pull this off. You are the only ones I can get to now. But just because I'm out of options, doesn't mean I'm going to roll over for you humans. I'm not sure how it works in your part of the galaxy, but this was my find and I deserve my full compensation."

Shepard crossed his arms, a bit annoyed at how he was getting brow beat over this when he was trying to be reasonable and hear her out first. Then again, she apparently had a trying day and had to deal with Zek on top of it, so maybe the anger was a little justified.

"Okay, we'll work out a contract for you somehow," Shepard assured her. "Just tell me what we're dealing with? Why does this Snarlbeak want you so bad?"

"He doesn't want me," she corrected. "He wants this."

Taq reached into her satchel and pulled out a small pyramid object that she held between her claws.

"It's Forerunner," she informed him. "A map to something of theirs if you want to get technical. Does that get your attention now?"

It certainly did, especially considering his prior conversation with Liara earlier in the day. He didn't know for certain, but he had a good hunch this was somehow connected. He just needed to be sure.

"What's it lead to?" He asked curiously.

"The biggest archaeological find of the millennia," she claimed. "The mother-lode."

---

They arrived in the briefing room to find Haverson, Holland and the Chief waiting. Cortana was already plugged into the holotable, Chief was close by. Haverson didn't even let Zek open his mouth before he laid into him.

"Well that was a nice excursion," he chided. "Any other death traps you feel like flying us into?"

"There were... complications, I admit," Zek relented. "But it all worked out. We got the supplies, my ship can jump under it's own power again, and we're alive. That's all good."

"Except now we are on the radar of another space pirate," Haverson shouted at him. "One that wants your head and potentially all of ours!"

Zek just shrugged at Haverson's angry rhetoric.

"I never said that there wasn't some risk involved in coming here," he reminded them. "I tried to minimize it, but things got out of hand. And in a way, we're lucky they did. We forced Zhoc to play that little card of his. Now we don't have to worry about being stalled out in the middle of an ambush. I say we did good today, despite everything."

"I think you have a very weird definition of good," Haverson told him bluntly. "The fact remains that we now have a dangerous pirate on our asses, who apparently, if his title is any indication, has his own fleet."

"We already have enough problems with the Covenant hunting us," Holland added. "Now you've added this wrinkle to things on top of our many concerns. You brought us here, you exposed us to it."

"Not to mention you apparently added to your own resources down there," Haverson added. "Is security not at all an issue to you?"

Zek looked to Retz with a scowl. The feathered Jackal merely sighed.

"It's hard to disguise taking on more recruits, Zek," he reminded him. "Especially when you're under guard."

"I wanted to break it gently at least," Zek countered. "It would've looked better coming from me."

"It doesn't look good either way," Haverson told him. "I can understand replenishing your own forces, to a degree. But we do not share that luxury being out in the middle of nowhere. You should've have run it by us first."

"Yeah, and then you would've put limits on how many I could get and probably got that creepy Asari to glare at us while we did it," Zek answered venomously. "I'm sorry, but I just got out of a shit deal with some asshole religious nuts. I don't need military thugs telling me how to run my fucking ship."

Holland grimaced at being called a thug. His glare was enough to soften Zek's stance, realizing he had probably pushed it a bit. The pirate took a breath and re-composed himself.

"Look, I recovered stolen UNSC property," he began anew. "I got you food. I got you and Shepard rare weapons. I even scrounged up some potential upgrades for both the Normandy and the Chorka if you want them."

Retz cleared his throat slightly.

"Okay, technically Retz got you all that while I was off doing something else," he said correcting himself. "But he works for me, so by proxy I got you all that stuff. I deserve some leeway here."

"That 'something else' you were doing ended up apparently putting us in the crosshairs," Holland reminded him. "Whether or not it revealed a potential danger, said danger wouldn't have existed in the first place if we had more control over this situation, but we did not. We left it in your hands and it became a clusterfuck. If it weren't for Commander Shepard, who knows what would've happened. So if you want your leeway, as it were, you need to start giving us all the facts beforehand."

"So you can refuse my ideas and decide how to run my shit?" Zek asked, laughing derisively. "I find that a very crappy arrangement."

"Alright, stop for a second," Shepard spoke up.

The Commander walked in between the two groups and looked at them both.

"This is a joint venture, if you remember," Shepard reminded them all, Zek in particular. "We're stuck in this situation together. Everything we do impacts others. Zek, I understand your position, but try to recognize you don't share it alone. As long as we're working together, we need to be open about our intentions. Not so we can get in each other's way, but so we can actually plan as a unified alliance effectively."

Haverson nodded as did Holland and Cortana.

"That's exactly my point, Commander," Haverson declared. "We need to work as a unit for this to work at all."

"Well I need to know I'm not getting railroaded or bossed around," Zek added. "I'm the captain of my ship, I deserve some damn respect and the ability to make my own decisions for my crew."

"Can't say I disagree with that myself," Varvok concurred. "Being open is one thing, but I also want to know my input is valued as much as any human's or Shepard's."

Holland made a noise in his throat, a mixture of frustration and acceptance. His shoulders eventually eased up.

"Fine, I respect your positions as fellow Commanders of your respective forces," he declared. "From now on though, if we're going to make decisions, you're going to report in. You're going to keep us better informed. With these new pirates on our tail, it's imperative we retain a strong front against them and other potential enemy attacks. Regardless, I'd still prefer if I knew exactly why things went to hell down there and what the reason for it was."

Shepard looked over to Taq, who was near the back of the group. She forced her way up front and looked Holland and Haverson dead in the eye.

"I'm the reason more or less," she admitted. "Zek was saving my life, after he kinda put it in danger."

Zek groaned a bit in annoyance, but everyone more or less ignored him.

"And you are?" Holland asked.

"Taq," she replied simply.

"Another pirate?" Haverson asked.

"Archaeologist," she corrected. "Or Tomb Raider, depends on how you look at it."

"Trust me, sirs," Shepard told them. "You really want to see this."

Taq placed the tiny pyramid on the table with a thunk. Cortana looked at it in surprise.

"That's a Forerunner data module," she discerned instantly. "In fairly good condition I might add."

"Indeed it is," Taq confirmed. "It's what Zhoc, or Snarlbeak as you know him, wanted. More specifically, he wanted what it reveals."

She tapped the top of the pyramid and instantly it opened. A holographic display appeared over their heads, revealing a magnificent display of stars and planets. There were several lines and bits of information encoded all over the image. Cortana herself eyed the information frantically.

"This is amazing," she declared. "Colonel Holland, this appears to be starchart of some unknown system. And it is detailing what appears to be routes for an interstellar convoy."

"You're pretty quick on the uptake, little synth," Taq complimented. "I was worried I'd have to explain the whole deal."

"Let's just say that I've had a lot of experience with Forerunner technology and data recently," the AI informed her. "Now why exactly is a pirate interested in this sort of find? He can't attack an ancient convoy or abandoned spacelane."

"No," Taq admitted, pointing at the image. "But take a closer look at that starchart. Notice one of the tracking lines?"

Taq pointed her little claw to ship tracker waypoint that just suddenly stopped in the middle of an unknown system. Everything else kept going, but this one line just stopped. Taq fiddled with the pyramid a bit, getting a close up on said system where the tracking ended abruptly. What it revealed was a vital piece of data that made everything clear.

The image of a Forerunner vessel, enormous in size given the stated specs. It was surrounded by a number of small planets and moons. Beneath it's image were series of symbols, lined out in red. Cortana only took a few moments to decipher.

"Loss of tracking," she read. "Vessel Distress Beacon Lost. Unresponsive to hails. Vessel presumed lost."

"For whatever reason, that Forerunner ship crashed," Taq said, picking up where Cortana left off. "It went down in this unchartered system, with every hand on board."

"They could've sent out a distress party or something to recover them," suggested Haverson.

"No, they didn't send anyone after it," Taq insisted. "The data is a bit corroded, but from what I gather this convoy of ships, spread out across this cluster of systems, was some kind of emergency flight deal. They needed to get away fast, no stopping for anything or anyone. It says so right here, on this line."

She pointed to a series of symbols further down.

"It says, retrieval denied," she explained. "They left it behind and carried on with their mission."

"What mission?" Holland asked. "What were they transporting?"

"A ton of stuff, it's why Zhoc wants the wreck," Taq continued. "Weapons, cultural artifacts, data on Forerunner history, all kinds of crazy ancient tech. It's all recorded on the datastream's cargo manifesto for the ship. They had to report what they just lost. But really, all that junk I just mentioned? Small fry compared to the real jewel."

She opened the manifesto attachment and scrolled to the top of the list, marked under priority. She pointed to a single item.

"Read it," she ordered Cortana.

Cortana didn't like how pushy she was being, but she complied. Her eyes went wide when she finsihed scanning it.

"It's a bit degraded," she admitted. "But it says... artifact of power."

"What's that?" Holland asked.

Haverson himself seemed taken aback.

"I wasn't in the xeno studies department of ONI, but I've heard that phrase before," he stated, concern and amazement growing in his voice. "It's usually attributed to very specific Forerunner Artifacts, very powerful ones."

"This ONI of yours certainly knows what they speak of," Taq added. "It often refers to something seriously coveted by the Forerunners. So much so, they never specifically stated it's exact name when transporting one for fear of it being stolen. One such artifact was on this ship and whatever it was, it was deemed valuable enough, perhaps dangerous enough, to stick on a boat and try to ferry it to safety along with a ton of others."

"If it was so valuable, why didn't they try to get it back?" Haverson asked.

"I think I might know, sir," Shepard informed him grimly. "They might not have had time to try. This whole secret emergency escape convoy, it sounds like they were running from something. And we only know of one thing the Forerunner were afraid of."

A grim silence fell over the room as everyone soon realized what Shepard was talking about.

"The Flood," Cortana said aloud, ending the quiet. "They were probably trying to keep these things from falling into their hands."

"Yes, Zek told me about them," Taq added. "They sound sufficiently scary. But right now, the only two entities after this artifact are Snarlbeak's pirates and the Covenant. I stole this little module from one of their dig sites. Chances are, they're scouring the galaxy for this wreck already. I doubt you want them getting a hold of it. And you really don't want Zhoc to get it either."

"With the information in our hands the chances of them doing that are remote," Holland noted.

"Don't be so sure, sir," Shepard cautioned. "There might be other Forerunner sites with this information on hand. Hell, there's a distinct possibility they might have already found one back where I'm from. Liara contacted me earlier today. She and her team hit a major archaeological site the Covenant are getting their allies to dig up for them. It was Forerunner in nature, sir. If this ship was trying to escape the Flood, it might have been headed to my dimension to do so."

Holland was now taken aback by the information, shaking his head in concern.

"If that's the case, then they've already got a head start on us in terms of information and where to look," he reasoned, rubbing his chin worriedly. "They could be on the trail of these artifacts as we speak, closing in."

"There's more, Liara also uncovered something prior to our first contact," Shepard added, his tone growing more serious. "She said that the Covenant were looking for a second ship back in this dimension. What if this is it? What if the first one put them onto the trail of the artifacts in my dimension and this is just the next piece of the puzzle."

"If these artifacts are as powerful as suggested, any of them could be used as a weapon," Haverson quickly reasoned. "From the sound of things, they're trying to build up an arsenal."

"Then we need to do the same," Holland concluded, slamming his fist down into his palm. "Shepard's friend Liara seems to be handling things on her end. We might as well do our part."

Taq took the pyramid suddenly, the holographic image shutting down.

"I've studied this map and the Forerunners extensively," she explained bluntly. "I have a good idea where to start looking for that wreck in the system. I'm willing to help you, Ocean knows I don't want Zhoc to get his hands on this prize. I was going to get a crew together myself to go after it, but now I'm stuck with you. I need allowances, a deal, a contract."

Haverson and Holland looked to each other briefly, but Cortana spoke up first before they could.

"What exactly do you want?" She asked the Jackal.

"Simple, my cut," she informed them with an authoritative and stern tone. "This information is incredibly valuable, my services are incredibly valuable. My terms are very reasonable, I want a sizable sum comparable to seventy-five million credits. I want my own ship, supplied to me by you. I want to be supplied for this venture., with men and material. And I want your protection, from Zhoc and anyone else currently after me for this intel."

Holland and Haverson looked at each other. They huddled together and started discussing matters. It was a tense few moments of silence. Eventually, Holland came to a decision.

"We'll draw up a contract," he agreed. "It might take awhile for you to get everything you want, specifically the money. But, if your information and expertise does bear fruit, I will make sure the UNSC compensates you for your time and effort."

"That's all I ask," Taq assured. "Thank you."

She bowed her head solemnly for a moment. Meanwhile, Shepard's mind was preoccupied with his own series of concerns. The Covenant were after ancient weapons, both here and back home. Weapons powerful enough that they could change the course of this war. Knowing that the Reapers were pulling the strings of the Covenant, that just made things worse. It seemed they had stumbled into something big, a race against time to get as many of these artifacts as possible. Of course, not everyone saw the dire straits they now found themselves in. Zek, was comparably more excited as he jumped up and exclaimed to the whole room aloud:

"Treasure hunt, ho, boy and girls! We're all fucking pirates now! HA HA HA!"

Retz, seemingly prepared, just handed Zek a bottle of ichor to celebrate the occasion. Taq just looked on embarrassed, her face in her claws.

"Holy fuck, I slept with this idiot," she mumbled, walking away with Holland to hammer out her contract.

Meanwhile, Zek started singing... while drinking.

"Yo ho, yo ho, a Pirate's life for me! We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot, drink up me 'earties, yo ho! Come on everybody!"

Everyone slowly tried to work their way out of the room, while Retz joined his friend in song, going through the next couple of verses at max volume. Shepard somewhat regretted letting the Jackals see those vids. Their species apparently wasn't, to say the least, great singers. He kept his fingers in his ears as the briefing room cleared out, unfortunately, Zek followed after them.

"We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack, drink up me 'earties, yo ho! Maraud and embezzle and even hijack! Drink up me 'earties, yo ho!"

Cortana was left alone with Chief, she also was shaking her head.

"This is going to be a thing, I can tell," she grumbled.

"Best get used to it, I think," Chief warned. "Like he said, we're all pirates now."

"Joy," Cortana groaned. "I'll get my eye patch and parrot out of storage in anticipation."

Even now they could still hear Zek's jubilant carousing, almost mocking in it's tone. Like despite everything, he had somehow still won. And Cortana imagined that really did not help Holland's opinion of him, or anyone's for that matter.

"Yo ho, yo ho," he sang, his voice echoing through the ship. "A pirate's life for me!"

---

AN: So that's chapter five. I'd like to report that we do have a new TV Tropes Page for this story. Everyone please thank Crow for it. He's been having a ton of computer troubles lately, he deserves a lot of credit for getting it up. It's barebones for now, but knowing you guys that won't last long once you get your keyboard on it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and all the crazy antics that Zek got up to. Now we finally have a stated goal for the heroes to strive for, a Forerunner artifact! That's gonna be a big deal, believe me. If you want to learn more, go check out my profile for a link to my blog for a behind the scenes look at this chapter. And do leave a review if you can.

And to get to the TV Tropes page, please paste this next to their address on their main page:

/Fanfic/Remnants

The problem is I apparently share my story's name with another legit book. Whoops. Oh well. Probably should consider changing it, but we'll see.