"We've recently contacted them and they said they were be close-by." Lawson stated before the loading dock doors opened revealing a dilapidated-looking corridor that had an opening on the far right-end, which I assumed led to Omega proper. At the end of the section was a person whose back was turned to me, he wore an orange armor adorned with white plates occasionally; it was dusty and worn but it didn't seem broken yet, and there was an oddly large black shoulder-plate on the right with some markings I didn't recognize. The person wearing the armor had an ash-white complexion, was hairless, and the back of his head was a bit bigger than normal. I assumed that this was the mercenary Zaeed Massani.
They were beating a nondescript Batarian on the ground; blood was coming out of every orifice in his nose and he looked limp with how bruised he was. The fact that he wasn't dead likely meant that Massani was fulfilling a 'bring-him-alive' contract right now. From my peripheral vision, I noticed Zorah recoiling in place from the scene and shifting slightly towards me. A defensive response, I figured.
A Krogan leaning on a wall watched. He had red eyes, armor, and head-plate. Large and deep scars ran down from his head-plate all the way to his neck. What would make that sort of injury? Varren? Krogan? Something to ask about for later. Regardless, his skin was the same beige-ish color as the average Krogan but it had wrinkles; especially pronounced around the neck and mouth area. The dossier did say he was a thousand-year-old Krogan battlemaster, so his appearance did make sense.
The two must have heard the doors opening as they both turned around to us. Massani looked at us with four eyes- A Batarian? Cerberus really hired a Batarian mercenary? Odd. Perhaps the Illusive Man was more pragmatic than I thought, though I imagined it must have enraged him to hire a Batarian. Regardless, I noticed that Massani's top right eye was closed and his top left eye was whited out. Blunt trauma to the head could have caused that sort of injury, and given the visible bruises on his head and that a part of his nose was disfigured, that was most likely the cause.
"I didn't know Cerberus were willing to work with a Batarian." Zorah muttered as we approached the two. I turned to her quickly and made eye-contact. "They're working with us, not them." I said in response. She shrugged. "It's a slippery slope. Be wary of it." She replied.
"You must be the Cerberus folk I was told to meet with." Massani said as we turned back to him. His voice wasn't as deep or guttural as the average Batarian, instead it was rough and perhaps a little raspy even. Damaged vocal chords potentially? It wouldn't be too out of place with the rest of his injuries. Nevertheless, Massani's and Wrex's eyes quickly scanned over us, and Massani lingered on me for a moment longer. Wrex got off the wall he was leaning on and stepped towards us. "I didn't know Cerberus had aliens working for them." He said in a deep and aged voice; his tone remained neutral. He wasn't surprised by this.
"These types of organizations claim to stand up for their ideals until they need someone proper for the job, then they come to us." Massani replied before the both of them eyed me over for a second. "Say, you must be Commander Shepard." Massani said in a mildly higher tone. Lawson never said the people I was recruiting knew me or that they were even being sought after. How come?
"You know me?" I asked.
Massani scoffed. "Everyone on Omega knows you. You're half the reason why all the merc gangs boomed in business after your little stunt in Elysium; it's why you see mercs on nearly all pirate ships. Anyone who doesn't know you here is either an idiot or mentally challenged." He said like he was lecturing us.
"So which one were you?" Leng asked sarcastically from the back of the group.
"Real funny." Massani replied maintaining his tone as he crossed his arms. I took a step forward in front of Leng to diffuse the situation.
"Regardless, I take it you two have been briefed about the mission?" I asked.
"Yeah, Collectors and all that. Turns out that your little Illusive Man is more pragmatic when he needs the right man for the job." Massani answered.
"And you?" I gestured to Wrex.
"Same here." He said simply. I internally raised an eyebrow at his response. It wasn't anything abnormal, but to go on a mission (or rather contract for him) like this and have such a non-committal response? It was a bit anomalous, so I kept a mental note of that. "So what's the plan now that we're here?" Massani asked.
I looked back at and spoke. "There two people I'm looking for here on Omega. A Professor Mordin Solus and the vigilante Archangel."
"Archangel?" Massani asked. "Ai, he's holed up somewhere fighting three merc gangs at once. Last I heard, they've started working together and have set up a recruiting station so that anybody with a gun can have a shot at him. They've gotten that desperate." He said before Wrex chimed in.
"He's in over his head. Nobody makes enemies out of the Eclipse, the Blue Suns, and the Blood Pack and expect to walk away alive. He's been at it for long time and it's obvious he can't keep it up for much longer. If exhaustion doesn't get to him, the mercs will. If you ask me, I'd say he's lashing out. Making one final stand before he dies." He said with a bit more vigor in his voice. It got me curious. "And what makes you say that?" I asked.
"I've seen him before." He gestured with a knife-hand. "He had his own small group that liked to hit the gangs where it hurt most. Cargo, drug operations, top agents, and so on. For whatever reason, they've all disappeared. I'd say they were all close and that they got killed in front of him. Would explain why he is doing what he's doing." Wrex explained before Lawson whipped out her omnitool and looked at it whilst she spoke.
"According to our intel, Archangel has set up a sniper's nest in a cornered building. He's made all but one of the pathways leading into his bad inaccessible, and made the last one, an exposed bridge, into a killing ground. The gangs are preparing to launch a three-pronged assault on his base which includes an infiltration team that'll blow up the debris he's used to block the underground tunnels off, mechs, and even a gunship." She explained as we all paid close attention to her.
Massani chuckled. "I like his style. Could have used someone like him before." He said. Right, his dossier did say that he was the former Blue Suns leader.
"This amount of force seems excessive for one individual." Legion said. "He's been holding them off so far. I'd say they're leveling the battlefield." Massani replied. "And I say we withhold our judgement until then." Wrex countered. I looked back at the two mercenaries and asked about Mordin Solus.
"As for the Professor, he set up his own clinic north-east of here. Blue Suns didn't like the fact that someone setup shop without paying protection money, so they sent a couple of boys to rough him up. The next day all of their bodies were hung up outside like they were in a museum." Massani joked, though none of us gave a reaction. He didn't seem to care as he continued. "Right now, he's dealing with a plague that's got a whole section of Omega locked down. I know that Vorcha are immune to it, and so they've started and been in a turf war with the Blue Suns. Crafty, I tell you." Massani said.
"Our intel says that this disease has a near one-hundred-percent mortality rate, is incredibly contagious, and has an incubation period of only a few hours, in other words it's acts quickly upon infection." Lawson said. "This disease matches the qualifications of a bioweapon, we are inclined to believe that it's either an artificially manufactured bacterium or toxin. However, we would require more data to decipher its origin." Legion chimed in
I saw Massani's and Wrex's eyes squint slightly and go over Legion one more time. "Quite an advanced combat drone you have there. You had the Quarian make it for you?" Massani said; I didn't need to see Zorah's face to know she gave him a death stare. "It's too advanced to be home-made. It has to be a commissioned build." Wrex added. Lying to them about what Legion was would only create distrust once they inevitably figured out who they were, so I decided to be honest.
"They're Geth." I said. They immediately turned to me and gave me surprised looks. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later." I added in.
"Anyway. Moreover," Lawson continued. "The disease doesn't affect Humans, Vorcha, Drell, and, curiously enough, Quarians." She said nonchalantly. Everyone turned to her in surprise as soon as she said that. How were Quarians immune to this? "You sure it's not their enviro-suits that's protecting them and skewing the results?" Wrex asked.
"Yes. There are reports of the Quarians being directly exposed to the disease and coming out fine with no symptoms." She said blankly; she must have known this already. Everyone took a moment to parse that information. "I mean, how? Our immune systems are practically non-existent. If it helps, we don't combat a disease as much we adapt to it. At least that was the case before the war." Zorah chimed in and snuck a demeaning glance at Legion, but he didn't notice it. "Now though, we get severe allergic reactions to any foreign material." She added on.
"It is plausible that the supposedly immune species only act as asymptomatic carriers for the disease." Legion proposed. "I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet. We'll have to ask the doctor for more info. Until then, we'll have to work with what we know." Lawson said before she turned to me. "So Commander, who are we going after first?" She asked.
I wanted to say Archangel first as he was in a more dire situation than the Professor, but saving him would mean saving him from Omega's largest three gangs and so they'd chase us. I'd have to flee from Omega. Not that I was worried that I couldn't hold them off with my squad, but that getting to the Professor would be impossible after that. I informed my squad of my decision and of my reasoning, and all of them agreed but not without some hesitancy.
"Wait, are we just going to forget him?" Zorah said pointing at the grounded Batarian Massani was previously beating up just before we left.
"Why, thank you for reminding me, miss." Massani said right before he struck the man on the head with his foot; knocking him out. I and my squad heard a crack coming from his skull, and everyone but I, Wrex, and Massani himself looked away. The mercenary turned on his omnitool and fiddled with it. "Just informing my client of his location. Bastard made me chase him all over the Terminus systems before he fled here. Rookie mistake, Omega is the first place any bounty hunter goes looking at." He said.
"You could have just tied him up. There was no need for this senseless violence." Zorah said. I agreed with her but I didn't voice it to avoid bias. Massani turned to her with a frown.
"And I say he got what was coming to him. You don't lead someone like me around and expect to get away with it." He said sternly. We couldn't have a pointless argument, not now anyway, so I took a step in between them. "Let's just get a move on. We're only wasting time here." I said. Massani grunted and Zorah sighed as we moved out.
Omega was what you imagined a place filled with criminals would be: Scummy, scuffed, and scabby. People in rags walked right by shady businesses covered in obnoxious neon lights, incessant peddlers tried their best to grab the attention of passersby, and alleyways filled to the brim with addicts. And there was so much noise too. Ads, conversations, cars, scammers, all loud and fighting for the chance of my ears hearing them.
The place was surprisingly diverse and not just racially, I saw people decked out in formal-wear, middle-class denizens that would fit into the Citadel, and the utter bottom barrel of poverty that were the beggars that would have been too poor to fine for any reason. The best way I could describe Omega was if anarcho-capitalism had its way with a society.
Something else I noticed was that nobody here gave us 'the look', the 'look' you'd give to someone of a race you didn't like. I supposed it made enough sense. Omega was the place people would go to if they couldn't find a job due to discrimination.
"Omega hasn't changed much from the last time I was here." Zorah said from besides me as we passed by a guns shop. Wait, this is where she got the Geth parts?
"You found your pilgrimage gift here?" I asked. I kept it vague because I didn't want to say what her gift in the middle of a densely populated area like this, in the event that someone was listening in on us and gave the Shadow Broker our locations.
"No, I went here before the Shadow Broker tried to backstabbed me." She said. Massani was walking right by us as he regarded her with a suspicious eye. "No, that can't be right." He objected. "I worked under the Shadow Broker for a stint and they never had me or anyone else stab someone in the back."
Zorah immediately stopped walking, and I saw her putting a hand on her holstered shotgun as she turned to Massani. "You worked for the Shadow Broker?" She asked sternly. I turned around and quickly put a hand on her arm to prevent her from pulling out her weapon. "There's no need for that." I said, but she continued to glare at him. Massani just crossed his arms not the least bit intimidated. "Lady, it's bad business to betray your clients." He said calmly.
Wrex put himself between Massani and Zorah as he gave her a serious look. "Listen. If the Shadow Broker wanted you dead, you wouldn't even be here walking with us. And don't even think you could fight their agents off, that line of thinking will get you killed." Wrex said as I let go of her arm. Wait, why was Wrex against the idea of someone facing overwhelming odds? I thought that Krogan loved a good fight, especially a suicidal one. I kept another mental note of what he said.
Zorah paused for a moment. "If it wasn't the Shadow Broker that backstabbed me, then who was it?" She asked seriously like she caught someone in a lie. It was a good question, but we couldn't sit here and try to answer it.
"We'll figure it out eventually. Now let's get a move on before we waste more time." I said then gestured for the squad to follow me.
We eventually reached one of the doorways leading into the quarantine zone, the guard on it was a lightly-armored Turian who was having an argument with some woman.
"I need to get in there to stop my stuff from being stolen!" She exclaimed at the Turian. He stood high above and glared at her. "And I've already told you that we can't let anyone in! Humans may be immune but we can't risk the disease spreading." He said then began to turn to me and my squad. "And you can't… the fuck?" He said as he bared witness to us. His eyes laid on me first, then on Wrex, and finally on Leng's machinegun. He seemed intimidated, so I decided to play into that.
I stepped forward to speak to him. "We're looking for professor Mordin Solus, and we've heard he's in the area." I asked as I then gestured to my squad with an arm. "Can we get in?" I asked blankly.
"I'd advise against saying no." Wrex added. Him being here alone was enough to add into the intimidation factor, but I supposed his input was appreciated.
"Second that. Unless you want to end up as dead as the people infected." Massani said. What was this? That was too aggressive!
"And all for a guard post too? Be realistic." Leng piled on. Fuck, I couldn't interrupt them now. It'd be awkward and completely remove the intimidation factor. Better to have it than not, even if I didn't ask for it.
"You're going to be stuck here for hours doing nothing anyway, let us through and we'll cut that down by at least half." Zorah said.
"We suggest you listen to our input." Legion added on.
"Don't be stupid." Lawson finished.
"Alright alright! I get it!" The Turian said as he threw his arms up. "I'll let you through and I'll signal the other guards to do so as well. Damn." He said. "Wait, you're letting them through but not me?" The woman asked. He simply just gestured to us. "Lady, look at them. They're practically a small man arm. You're just one person." I tuned out their conversation as I turned around to my squad and put on my helmet.
"All of you, do the same as me. I don't want to take any risks with this disease." I said. "Also, I didn't ask for your comments there." I said in a slightly more authoritative tone.
They all gave me curious looks. "What do you mean? You gave us a lead and we followed it." Leng said. "Besides, have you seen the guy? He's probably pissed himself now." Massani said as he pointed to the Turian, who was leaning besides the door giving my squad cursory glances. I didn't ask them to help me out, but I could see how they could've misinterpreted my 'social cue'.
"Do as I say, not as I do." I said before I turned around to enter the quarantine zone with my squad.
The area we found ourselves in after a few minutes of walking closely resembled a cafeteria, what with the flipped over tables, the ransacked registers, and the food-trays strewn all about. Aside from the cafeteria label and the emergency ceiling lights, the only light source here was a large fire on the far right burning on some grey matter I couldn't identify yet. It had a vile stench that I would have had time to remember were it not for the scene in front of us.
Ahead of us were four Blue Suns mercs smoking as they rested on one of the few right-up chairs. They quickly noticed our presence and got off to draw their guns at us. I heard the clacking of my squads' guns behind me, and yet despite that, the mercs didn't fire for a moment. They gritted their teeth behind and squinted their bloodshot eyes as their bodies twitched once they realized what they were looking at.
"This is Blue Suns territory! Go away before we're forced to shoot at you!" They shouted, but there was a small lilt in their voice. They should have shot at me and my squad, but didn't. I knew what this was; it was fear.
I raised a hand up as fast as I could to stop my squad from firing at them. "Listen." I addressed the mercs. "I know that you're afraid and you're tired. The disease is ravaging your organization and the Vorcha are winning the turf war. You don't want to fight, and neither do we." I said.
"Speak for yourself, Commander. I've got a score to settle." Massani said as he raised his assault rifle again. My hand lunged at it and pushed it down before Wrex grabbed Massani by the chest and pulled him back. I and Wrex shared a glare at the former Blue Suns leader as he retaliated with a scorned face. Everyone else in the squad paid attention to this debacle.
"What the hell are you doing?" I scorned him. "If you can't follow my orders, then-" I had to think on what would affect Massani the most. He was a freelancing merc, so I focused on that. "-we ought to terminate your contract before we even get back to the ship!" I chided him, but he looked indifferent.
"Don't make enemies out of people not worth killing." Wrex quickly said. "It's an insult to your prowess." He sagely added. Massani looked at Wrex after and pondered for a moment. "Tell you what, I think you're right. No point in going after some goons, it'll change nothing." Massani replied then looked back at me with the same indifferent expression.
"Are we going to have a problem from now on?" I asked. Massani just shrugged. "No. My energy is better spent doing something better." He replied calmly. I shook my head and glanced at the rest of my squad. Leng had been smiling the entire time at this exchange, I couldn't discern Zorah's and Legion's emotions, and Lawson had smirk that radiated 'I told you so'.
I sighed and turned back to the mercs who were still holding their guns up. They stood a bit more resolutely now if their unmoving hands and steadiness were anything to go by. They saw this argument as weakness. Damn it Massani. "Listen up." I said sternly as I took a step closer. "All we want is to get to Professor Mordin Solus's clinic, that's all. If you let us pass, I promise you we won't shoot." I added on with a lowered tone.
"Oh yea, and what about the geriatric Zaeed? Can you keep a leash on him?" A Turian from the group said confidently. I clenched my hand.
"Don't make me take back my offer." I scolded him. After a beat of silence, mercs lowered their weapons. I gestured for my squad to do the same. "Alright then. Can we go now?" The same Turian said. "We had a deal." I responded a bit tired. "Human nobility. I didn't know such a thing existed." One of the Batarians muttered as their group took their seats again whilst keeping a watchful eye on us.
Suddenly, the vile odor of the pile on my right reinvaded my nostrils. I remembered the smell now, it was the smell of burning bodies. It came from the east, over the guard railing and on a parking space. Instinctively, I approached the guard railing slowly and little-by-little felt the heat encroaching on me. The light of the fire covered more and more of my vision as the crackles of the flame laughed. A sadomasochistic nostalgia washed over my body as I tried to make out the corpses from behind the flame. I couldn't.
"Depending on the nature of the disease and on how the body was handled beforehand, this method of disposing on the bodies might be ineffective. We suggest you avoid close proximity." Legion said as the rest of my squad followed me.
"It's disgraceful how they died." Wrex said. "Imagine going down to an enemy that you can't fight, can't see, and won't even let you die with dignity. And all for nothing." He added. I found myself slowly nodding to him.
"It is disgraceful." I said, then got off the railing. "But there's time to mourn later. Right now, let's just get to the clinic." I said- ordered before I heard the footsteps of everyone walking away from the scene. All but I and Zorah.
"Commander, are you alright?" She said as I heard her shift towards me. I took a deep breath and exhaled, then drew a cross on my chest. Not for me, but for them.
"Yes." I answered as I turned around to meet the rest of my squad already near an exit. It took a moment for the sound Zorah's footsteps to reach my ears.
We finally managed to find and enter the clinic after trying to avoid conflict with the Blue Suns as much as possible. The place was filled to the brim with sick people, from Batarians to Turians to Asari, mostly all laying down on the ground because every seat was occupied by other people and, given the fact all of them were self-hugging, the pain was likely too much to bear standing up. A lot of people gave us cursory glances from the size of the squad and the fact that we were carrying weapons. However nobody objected to our presence, probably because we didn't wear Blue Suns or Blood Pack colors. I noticed the distinct lack of much medical staff around the area. Not good.
This wasn't the first time I saw a scene like this either. Military hospitals often had too many patients to deal with and many soldiers would usually spend a good portion of time staying in them, adding onto the overcrowding problem the hospitals usually faced. It didn't help that said hospitals were usually about a big tents' size, and the possibility of the place getting hit by artillery or else didn't help either. There was a reason why diseases were the biggest cause of death in nearly all wars.
"It's understaffed and overcrowded here. If the disease ever gets out of control, this place will get hit first and the hardest. We need to hurry." I said as we made our way to where we were told Solus would be by the receptionist. "And with a turf war happening outside, these people's chances of surviving are looking grim." Leng added.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Zorah said, mirroring my thoughts, as we turned the corner to see the professor. He was a Salarian in some bizarre outfit that seemed to be designed both for a medical context and for combat. His skin was of a red tone that transformed into a pale white as got closer to the center of his body. That was a sign of age. I reckoned he was twenty-five to thirty years old.
He was listing off a series of medications to his human co-op tending to a computer as he overlooked a Batarian patient propped up by a table. He turned his head to me as soon as I began walking to him. Despite him having no pupils, I could tell with his erratic eye movement that he looked at me first then pinpointed his eyes towards the rest of my squad individually. He seemed to be in a lot of stress; I didn't want to alarm him further.
"Professor Mordin Solus?" I asked calmly as I stepped forward.
"Sorry. Can't help right now. Please stay in the lobby." He said quickly as he turned back to his patient. Right, we wore masks and so he thought we were infected.
"We don't have any diseases. We're only wearing these helmets because we believe those immune are actually asymptomatic carriers." I said. He then immediately snapped his head towards me again and put a hand on his chin. "Interesting. How did you reach that conclusion?" He asked in a noticeably calmer voice.
"We believe the disease to be a sort of bioweapon." Legion said. "It would be anomalous if it didn't affect certain species at all." Legion said. Solus eyed up for a moment before he walked to and worked on one of the computers in the room. "Presence of weapons suggests use for combat, but presence of voice module and fine fingers imply day-to-day use. Too advanced to be combat drone. Geth perhaps? No. Geth don't require serial numbers or unique appearance for communication-" He was going to go nowhere with this.
"They are Geth." I cut him off. He turned to me quickly again and looked at me blankly as if asking me to continue. "I'll explain later. Regardless, I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance and we're on a mission to wipe out the Collectors. We have a solid lead on the location of their base of operations and we've come here to request your aid."
He got off of his computer and walked back-and-forth as he talked. "Collectors? Interesting. Disease is a manufactured bacterium. Collectors one of few groups with advanced enough tech make it. Annihilation of Collectors too? Our goals may be similar." He said as he came to a stop in front of me. "Who sent you?"
I looked around the room to see if there was anyone else was in it. Upon confirmation of that, I got close to the doctor. "We're working with Cerberus on this mission. They have the necessary resources to fund it." I said in a quieter voice hoping that the doctor wouldn't overreact. He squinted at me and took a step back.
"Cerberus? Surprising. Didn't know they were willing to work with aliens." He said as he looked back at my squad. "A Batarian too? Perhaps Cerberus is more desperate than initially thought."
"You trying to say something, doc?" Massani said in a higher tone as he got off the wall he was leaning on. Solus just smiled at him for a moment. "No." He responded before he went to work on a holographic computer. "Regardless. Already have cure. Need to distribute it at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding it." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "Need to kill them." He said.
"Will killing the Vorcha and distributing the cure get you to join us?" Lawson said near to the entrance of the room. Solus side-stepped to see her. "Yes." He managed to get out before every light in the room went red as the entire area emitted a deep and slow mechanical hum. All of us looked up as if trying to pinpoint the source of the error. "Ventilation systems have been shut Down. Disconnection from the generator power sources is a likely reason. We predict an ET of fifteen minutes before the effects of suffocation occur." Legion explained right after.
The doctor clenched his hand. "Vorcha reached control room. Trying to kill everyone." He quickly and sternly said. "Here, have plague cure." He said before he then handed me a small vial containing a colorless liquid. "Need to act quickly." He added in. I however wanted to know more about this disease before we went as I had some questions myself. "Can you tell me more about this disease?" I asked. Solus raised his hand to do an equivalent of bunny ears.
"'Perfect disease, imperfect design'. Feeds off of white bloods to sustain itself. Lets opportunistic microbes thrive and damage body. Works in affected species because of much higher white blood cell numbers but rapidly self-digests in other species because of lower white blood cell numbers." He said.
"So humans and the other species aren't affected because their immune system is bad enough?" Lawson asked obviously suspicious of Solus's explanation. He immediately turned to her and waved a hand away. "Different environments lead to different evolutionary adaptations. Exclusions only a coincidence, not an intended choice. Bacterium actually attempts to reach nervous system and destroy spinal cord, rendering host paralyzed." He said. I was struck back by this answer.
Those infected weren't dead.
"Wait, so those bodies that were being burnt weren't actually dead, they were…" Zorah said with noticeable worry. Everyone in the room took a moment to parse that information. "An utterly horrid way to die. Only the worst psychopaths I know would do that." Zaeed said. "They didn't even get to die on their feet." Wrex added.
Solus sighed. "Fortunately, not the case." He said. Everyone looked at him as I mentally took a sigh of relief. "Bacterium accidently spreads to brain and rapidly attacks it. Absence of immune system presence ensures digestion of critical brain matter." He took a deep breath. "Destruction of conscious. Hosts suffer ego-death." He said grimly. Still, a horrific death. That sentiment seemed to be shared by everyone else in the room with how somber they looked.
"It sounds like whoever made this bacterium is just incompetent." Leng said and broke the tension in room. "Perhaps. 'Perfect disease. Imperfect design'." Solus repeated.
Legion stepped forward from the group. "Is it possible that the Vorcha made the bacterium?" They asked. Wrex scoffed at that question. "The only difference between Vorcha and Varren is that Vorcha shit on the floor less." He said the sentence like it was obvious.
"No. Vorcha cowardly and opportunistic." Solus sneered. "Not smart enough to manufacture such a complex bacterium." He added. Zorah then turned to Legion with an unreadable expression. "Legion, didn't you say that you downloaded zettabytes worth of information from the extranet? You of all things should know that Vorcha aren't exactly bright." She said in a demeaning manner. "Yea, unless you've got a software error?" Leng unhelpfully chimed in. I was about to break this off but Legion spoke before me.
"We are to consider all possibilities." They replied.
Zorah shrugged as she looked away from them and to Solus. "Doctor, has anyone been giving you trouble at the clinic?" She asked genuinely.
"Nothing major. Blue sun mercs came by for humans. Made a few threats. Killed them all." He said nonchalantly. To be fair, he did look capable for his age, and the gun being holstered on his hip wasn't hard to notice.
"A bit ironic for a doctor to kill people, no?" Leng asked. The doctor turned his head to him. "Wasn't always a doctor. Was a part of Salarian STG." He pulled out his gun as if to display. "Besides, multiple ways to help people. Sometimes need to give them medicine. Sometimes need to kill dangerous people. Focus on big picture." He said before Lawson came to my side.
"Commander," I turned to her after she addressed me. "I believe we've wasted enough time here. We should get a move on." She said. I nodded my head but just before I turned around to leave the area, I got an idea. But firstly, I needed to know something.
"Do the vents here lead to the control center? And can I have a map of them?" I asked as I turned back to Solus. "Yes and yes. Why ask?" He asked slowly (for him) as he brought out his omnitool to send me an image of the vent maps. I turned around to see Legion and gestured towards one of the vents in the walls. "Legion, can you get in these vents and make your way to the control center?" I asked as I sent them a copy of said vents map. Everyone in the room watched Legion with a curious eye, save for Zorah who snapped her head at them and observed them intently.
"Affirmative." Legion said as they approached the vent, and then carefully removed its grating and immobile fan. They then contorted themselves, bending their joints inwards and moving them closer to their chest like a spider as their metal body screeched from the movement. They then crawled on top of the counter below the vent, then into it at an inappropriate speed. The steps they took with their mangled-looking feet emitted worryingly little amount of noise. It did disturb me, but I didn't care about their method as long as they achieved their goal.
I turned back to everyone having wide eyes and agape mouths, save for Lawson and Wrex who stared blankly, and Solus just held his chin. "Commander, I think I've gained a new fear." Leng said. "As if I didn't need more of a reason to sleep with one eye open." Massani added. Wrex looked at him, "You're gonna need to sleep with all four." He said. "I wish I could." Massani replied.
"Let's get moving." I ordered as I exited the room with my squad following. Zorah caught up to me first. "Commander, you didn't need to give me more of a reason to distrust the Geth." She said as she walked next to me. I needed her to grow out of this mindset before she made a bigger problem out of this. "Give them a chance. Legion carried my unconscious body several miles to save me, I want you to show them at least some of the same courtesy." I said as we exited from the other side of the clinic and walked down a long hallway.
She let out a held-in breath. "I'm willing to work with it for the time being, but I'm asking you to be more cautious around it." She said quickly in a higher voice.
"If you can work with them, then that's enough for me." I replied.
We entered a huge room that was dressed in a red by the lights. On the lef0t and right were a set of stairs that led straight downwards into two separate undersections. In the center was a long catwalk adorned with white sleek pillars on the edges, and at the end of it was a large control panel with blue screens. A concentrated set of ten or so Vorcha were just hanging nearby the console. Seven were armed with assault rifles whilst three carried unwieldy flamethrowers with a tank on their backs. Behind the furthest left pillar was a shotgun laying against a thick and somehow bulbous armored leg. Krogan, most likely. I had a moment to think.
I needed to take out the weakest link, the Vorcha, as fast as possible, whilst distracting the Krogan with something before I moved on to them. Zorah and Lawson would be on the stairs as they were the most fragile of the group, and in case any hostiles arrived through the undersections. The rest would then accompany me on my 'spearhead' as I took Vorcha quickly to put in the cure. The combination of Wrex, Massani, and Leng should be enough to grab the Krogan's attention as I did my part.
The Vorcha turned around to us, but just as they did every light turned white and I could hear the whirring of the fans again as they gradually increased in speed and noise. Legion had done their job it seemed, but the cure still needed to be distributed. The Krogan got out of cover to presumably inspect the console as all the Vorcha looked up in confusion and sneered, giving me just enough time to give out my orders.
"Zorah and Lawson: You two cover the stairs." I said just before the Vorcha remembered that we were here and opened fire.
I thrusted my arm towards the Krogan and made him levitate as I dashed and crouched to the nearest left-pillar for cover. Massani ran to behind the right-pillar as he threw a flashbang to the Vorcha side. Wrex and Leng provided covering fire for the two of us.
Just before the flashbang off, I saw everyone look away momentarily. Lawson was already at the top of the right set of stairs next to the right-pillar as I heard Zorah's shotgun go off from behind me. Wrex and Leng were standing in the center uncovered; they had the most armor and shields out of everyone here, so they had more time to find good cover.
An near all-encompassing white popped from the other side. Vorcha screamed and screeched; it filled the room with their sounds. This was my chance.
I whipped out of cover and saw the Vorcha covering their eyes with their bloodied and clawed hands before a biotic aura covered my body. I zeroed into one flamethrower-wielding Vorca with his back turned to me before I crashed into him. My impact bent the tank inwards before my biotic explosion hit it and caused it to explode.
An orange flame engulfed my vision as I heard shrapnel from the tank hit my shields and slash the air besides me. The sounds of shields exploding including my own filled my ears when I jumped up into the air; still covered in a miasma of biotics. I then struck the ground with my fist and made all the Vorcha near me fly away.
I heard the sounds of the bullets piercing the Vorcha bodies, and of the Krogan crashing onto a close-by pillar.
He was to my right. Behind me.
I turned around as fast as I could as I ripped my shotgun from its holster. The fully-armored Krogan was already aiming at me.
There was a shadow over him.
Legion's legs struck the Krogan's head foot first. Both of them fell to the ground but Legion got up first freakishly fast and ran to him. Just as I managed to aim at the Krogan, Legion punched through one of the eye-holes of the Krogan's mask. The blood splatter on his arm and the Korgan's scream didn't leave much for imagination.
Out of fear of harming Legion, I didn't fire. Not like that was a possibility with how quickly Legion ripped off the Korgan's mask, revealing an utterly livid being with a bleeding closed eye, and deflected a punch coming his way. Before the fight went could go on, I lifted my hand and warpped the Krogan. I nearly turned away from the sight of his head and skull being caved in, then his body promptly falling to the ground.
Being shot at was better.
I looked back at Legion and I walked up to them before scanning their body for any damage. Nothing glaring yet, only that their foot and hand were slightly bent. "You didn't need to risk your life for me." I said as I made eye-contact with Legion, then heard my squad's footsteps to my left. "I had it under control." I added on.
"We believed you were at risk of death at that moment and took appropriate action." Legion said before I turned to the sounds of my squad approaching. Wrex and Leng had smiles on their faces though the former only had the end of his lips slightly upturned, Zorah seemed baffled with how wide her eyes were, Massani looked indifferent, and Lawson was just mad. "What were you doing? You charged head-first into an explosive fuel-tank, leaving us behind, and nearly got killed by the Krogan." She chided me. I took a step closer towards her and stood straight. "Everything I did was a risk calculated to avoid uneccesary deaths." I responded.
"You're a Commander, not a soldier. You shouldn't be taking risks in the first place. You're meant to stay back behind and give us orders, not charge head-first into enemy lines." She replied instantly. "Whilst I agree with the Cerberus girl in principle, you're not making my job any easier by trying to blow yourself up." Massani added.
"And he survived despite it all. That's worthy of some respect." Wrex said neutrally as he abandoned his smile and looked at Massani. Lawson turned to Wrex with a suppressed scowl. "It's not respect, it's-" Not now.
"Let's distribute the cure first, then we can have this argument." I said as I made my way back to the console and injected the vial into an open slot on the machine. It was swallowed whole before the console beeped and displayed a notification that said the vial was distributed. I immediately turned back and brushed past my team as I made my way back to Solus's clinic. It took a moment before I heard the footsteps of my squad behind me.
Solus was standing next to one of the computers as we entered his personal part of the clinic. "Airborne bacterium levels dropping, less cases, Vorcha retreating." He listed off before he turned to us with a smile. "Thank you, Commander." He said.
"No need." I replied as I approached him. "Just glad to help; that's all." I said as I shrugged. When can you join us?"
"Only need few minutes to clean up things here. My assistant will take over. Also, update on the bacterium." He said nonchalantly. I raised an eyebrow.
"It's still not gone?"
He waved a hand. "Whilst you distributed cure, the bacterium had undergone severe genetic mutation, leading to new adaptable features. Removal of excess protein structures ensures survivability in all species by avoiding self-digestion, however greatly neutered in doing so. Spreads nowhere as fast as previously across body, and lethality drops. Cure still works fortunately." He said. That's it?
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No problem. However very curious. Quite unprecedented for disease to undergo reductive evolution. And to a great level too." He said. Something surviving because it got worse? That was curious.
"It is." I said sharing some of his fascination. "I'd like to talk more, but I have to go now."
When we first entered the whorehouse that was Afterlife, I wanted to do nothing more than to talk to the recruiter and 'join' the assault on Archangel. Neon lights, loud blaring music, the alcohol and the dancers- it was all nauseating. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, but the music, lights, and sounds all tried to drill their way into my head. I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes when I paused for breather. I was really getting a headache from this.
"Y'know Commander, when all of this is said and done, maybe we can go out for drinks here. Sure beats the Citadel." Leng said jovially to my side. I sighed at his statement.
"I'd have better things to do than be at a whorehouse." I said with a restrained sneer and cranked my neck. Leng seemed surprised at my answer.
"What would you rather do then?" He asked.
"Work." I immediately replied as I opened my eyes and made my way down into the recruiter's office. Out of the periphery of my vision, I saw Zorah looking at me with a weak frown. I wondered what it meant.
"Hey Woodward?"
"Kaiden?" I answered as I turned away from the casualty report. The door behind him had been open and then closed when he took another step. "You've got something to report?" I asked, putting my hand away from my mouth.
He shook his head. "No, I just wanted to talk."
"Take a seat then." I said as I gestured to one of the worn office-chairs opposite of me. Kaiden obliged after he took a short breath. He turned half-way to me and looked to the ground with half-closed eyes as he leaned on his knees. "Listen Woodward, I… About Elysium." He said after mustering up the conviction to look me in the eyes. "I know you feel terrible for what happened. I know you were close to your crew, and that you feel like you're responsible for what happened to them."
I exhaled quickly, and clenched my hands. "I am. It is- was my duty as their commander to ensure that they made out alive in every mission we went on. And I failed that- failed them!" I was standing up and shouting before I knew it. Immediately after that I looked away in shame and sat back down with a fist to my mouth. I heard Kaiden shifting in his seat.
"Woodward, I'll be… honest with you. I don't think it was your fault." I immediately looked back at him with rage in my body, but I barely managed to restrain myself and let him speak. "It was a surprise attack. Nobody could have predicted what would have happened next, and despite the situation you did the best you could."
"Getting my entire team killed in an instant is the 'best' I could have done?" I immediately replied in a high tone.
Kaiden turned his head way from me for a moment. "Woodward… you can't save everyone." He said.
I could have, but I failed. Twice
I scoffed at that, not bothering with a response or even with making eye-contact as I looked to the side.
"Woodward." He called out to me. "I know how you feel."
You did not.
"You feel like crap, and you feel like everything that went wrong was your fault. Then you start thinking what you could have done differently to save them, or wished that you could have spent more time with them. You start beating yourself until you can't take it or drown in… something to ignore it. I know that's how I felt when I lost my mother to cancer."
I looked back at him again. "Kaiden, you told me your mom's condition was hereditary. That it was discovered too late and that the doctors did all they could to extend her life. Despite all of this, she lived to old-age and she had a happy life, both as a person and as your mother. You told me you made your peace with the fact that you couldn't have done anything to make things different." I said quickly before leaning forward on my chair.
"My crew was wiped out in an instant. I could have stationed them elsewhere, gave them different orders, and so much more. They could have all lived if I did my job correctly, but I didn't, and they paid the price." I said with more emotion. Kaiden covered his mouth with his hand and looked away.
He let out a deep breath. "It'll take time. A lot of time. All I can say is that it's not going to do you any good if you keep running away from it."
"Run away from what?"
Kaiden looked back. "You won't believe me if I say it. But you'll realize it sometime."
I exhaled. "Alright, I'll trust you on this. Now, is there anything else you want to say?"
"Yea, they said the funeral's nest week. Twelve days, to be exact."
I immediately grabbed my tablet and checked my timetable.
The same feeling of dread washed over me again. It had never gotten weaker.
"I… I can't come." I said weakly, I didn't need to see Kaiden to know that he was in shock.
"Why not?"
"Horizon. They need me there as a garrison against future pirate raids."
The expression on his face was unreadable. "When are you leaving?"
I looked to Kaiden slowly. "Morning, same day as the funeral."
The wrinkles on his forehead were gone and so was the tension on his face. "That's alright. We can push the funeral by a day or two back.'
I paused for a moment before I waved a hand sloppily. "You don't need to. Not for me anyway."
His mouth was slightly ajar. "Woodward, please don't-"
A voice from the back of the car broke me out of my stance.
"Commander, are you okay?" Zorah said from the passenger seat. Her voice was more concerned, and I heard her shuffling closer behind me. She already asked this question, why repeat it?
"I already told you, Zorah. I'm fine." I replied with a more combative tone than I intended. I was about to remedy it but Zorah already spoke.
"Are you truly?" She said as I turned around, catching a glimpse of Lawson in the driver's seat, to confront her. She was on my left, leaning with her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped together. Her appeared smaller, likely an effect from the mask's glass, and her mouth laid flat on her face. Legion was on my right looking out the car window before they turned their head to me.
"You seem to be really bothered by something. Is there anything wrong?" She said with a voice laced by an ever-growing worry.
"I'm fine." I reiterated, but I knew she wouldn't take that for an answer. "Besides, it's my job to worry about you, not the other way around." I added. She took a moment to respond from that and I saw her eyes drift away for a second.
"So you only help us because it's your job?"
I snapped my head away at that question. I wanted to say yes, but the word just refused to come out of my mouth.
"Why can't it go both ways?" She piled on before I could answer her first question. I soon snapped out of it and shook my head.
"You follow my orders. That's enough for me." I replied hurriedly as the car came to a stop. I quickly got out of the car and noticed the other half of my squad in Leng, Wrex, and Massani getting out of the car they leased. We joined back together before we entered through the gigantic gateway leading into the area where we were told to go for the assault.
The place was wide and long, reminiscent of subway tunnel. It was divided into three areas by three separate lengthy barricades, supposedly for each gang, and each barricade was guarded by a few mercs who occasionally took potshots at Archangel. From then I kept a mental count of every merc I saw as we moved past the first barricade into the Eclipse gang room. I didn't have anything to say to them, but my squad did elicit a decent amount of glimpses to us, probably from our size. We moved past and arrived at intersection that led into the left and right each with doors. One of these rooms could have been housing the mechs, and it was possible they'd be inactive. Otherwise why waste the energy? So I devised a plan.
"There's likely to be a guard protecting the inactive mechs. I'll try talking to them and get as close as I can. As soon as the guard focuses his attention on me, I'll have one of you lift his gun up with biotics and then I'll desl with them. Using our guns will create too much noise and attract attention." I said as I turned around to my group and considered who would take those roles. I choose Lawson because she was the one I had the most experience with. I informed my squad of my decision before we entered the room on the left.
We were immediately greeted by the sight of several inactive security drones and a few mechs guarded by a Salarian Eclipse merc. He donned a frown and waved his hand forwards. "You're not meant to be here! The actual path is just behind you. Now scram!" He ordered as I tried to think of an excuse to stay here longer.
I slowly walked forwards at a slight angle (so that I wouldn't be directly in front of him) with my arms raised up. "Listen. We'd like to know what the mechs are like if they're going to be involved in the assault with us." I said.
"What part of 'Scram' don't you under-" Suddenly, the guard's gun was encased in biotics before it was lifted up and out of his hands. As the guard began to process what happened, I decked him clean in the neck. He made a grunting noise as he fell down to the ground. I ordered Zorah and Legion to hack all the mechs first then the drones (in the event that if someone walked in on us and activated them, we wouldn't have to fight the mechs) as I walked back to my remaining squad, but I did notice that Zorah kept her distance from Legion when they walked by me. I didn't blame her, but she'd have to get over this prejudice someday.
"Seeing you punch that Salarian got me thinking. Who do you think would win in a fight between you and the rest of us individually?" Wrex asked. Leng stepped forwards to him. "We do have a training grounds, shooting range, and a room specifically designed for small squad-like wargames back on the Normandy. So we could find out that way." He chimed in a high tone. Lawson scoffed. "Do you Krogan always have to size someone up for a fight?" She said with a suppressed disdain.
"Yes." Wrex replied like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "Second that, actually. As a merc, you always have to know everyone's weaknesses and strengths, so that in the event they stab you in the back, you can at least go down with them." Massani added. Leng chuckled at that. "Yet I still see Blue Suns hanging about." He said.
"Let me tell you, I don't make the same mistake twice." Massani replied before I heard Zorah and Legion walking back to us. "I and the Geth have overridden the friend-or-foe system of every bot and mech here. If they're ever activated, they'll shoot at anything that moves." Zorah said as she gestured vaguely at them. "We've also programmed them to explode if their destruction is imminent." Legion added.
I thanked them for their work then walked backwards to continue moving through the area. We walked past another barricade, this one seemed more hastily built with how shoddy its foundations were; this time it was used by some Vorcha. I heard a loud sniper shot before the sound of gurgling flesh coming from my side as a Vorcha fell in front of me with a clean hole through its head. I looked back at the building Archangel was holed up at.
The distance between here and the building I reckoned to be thirty-to-fifty meters away. Not an easy shot. And with most of the body covered, a gun in the way, and a headshot too? I started to understand why the merc gangs teamed up to take Archangel down. Nevertheless, we kept walking and entered the Blood Pack encampment which occupied by Vorcha and singular Krogan whom I was told be by Massani to be Garm, apparently leader of the Blood pack. We were about to exit when Garm spoke.
"I know you." He said slowly in a deep voice. I immediately stopped in my tracks and turned to face him. His armor plating was of a deeper color than Wrex's and his skin tone seemed more red. The armor he wore looked garish with the short black pipes sticking out of his shoulders and skulls painted on the shoulder plates. He was sitting on some cargo with his shotgun already out.
"You're the one who wiped out the unit I sent to annihilate the Blue Suns in that diseased neighborhood. At least it was diseased until you came along." He said as if he was talking me down. I pulled out my shotgun as the rest of my squad did so with their weapons, but Garm didn't flinch. I refrained from aiming at him.
"If you want to take me down, then I'm right here." I sternly replied with a scowl. He scoffed. "I have better things to attend to right now. What I want to know is why you-" he turned to Wrex with an exaggerated neck movement. "have decided to serve under the foot of this overgrown Pyjack." He said as he pointed to me with his shotgun.
Wrex stepped forward and stared him down. "I'd rather be drowning in barrel of Varren shit than be a part of your half-assed circus." He replied with a scowl as he aimed at the Garm's skull with his finger.
The Krogan shrugged his shoulders. "It's your funeral. Besides, I wouldn't someone who was willing to work with a suitrat."
I clenched my fist and covered it in an azure aura.
Zorah was already aiming her shotgun at him. "Say that again and-"
I delivered a right hook to Garm's cheek, causing a small biotic pop when the impact occurred. Garm recoiled for a moment, long enough for Legion to knee the Vorcha standing as Garm's guard with one leg and then kick away Garm's shotgun to the left with the other leg, making Garm recoil in the other direction. I pulled up my shotgun to Garm's face as I saw Legion lock down his left arm and heard several Vorcha growl to my side. Garm looked indifferent.
"Listen, I can handle you throwing slurs at me. But do it to my team and I might just have to raise hell." I said through gritted teeth as my finger itched to pull on the trigger. "But I didn't come here to engage in a pointless debacle with your gang, I came here to take down Archangel. And unless you want to die pretending to be a tough guy, you ought to keep your mouth shut." I chastised him as I looked down upon Garm. "Do you understand?" I said.
Garm chuckled. "Heh. You think you're so tough? After we're done with Archangel, you'll see what happens to people like you who think they can play us for fools. Just you wait. Until then, I've got better things to waste my time on" He said as I gestured for his Vorcha to lay down their weapons with his free hand. I did the same with my squad whom I realized have been aiming at the Vorcha this entire exchange. "We have nothing here. Let's get moving." I said when Legion let go of Garm's arm.
We quickly walked out of that encampment and into the Blue Suns section of the area. I attempted to get my mind off the recent encounter by doing a mental count of all the mercs here, but Zorah's voice interrupted me. "Commander, I… Thank you." She said weakly. I felt weak myself for a moment before I shut that feeling off.
"No need." I replied quickly as I took a gander at the area around me. In front of me was what I presumed to be the final barricade. With the amount of metal plating, its size, and overall structural integrity, it was easily the most well-fortified out of the bunch. Only two mercs were on it and they only shot when the other mercs at the back stopped shooting. Even then, the periods they shot for were only a couple of seconds. It made sense: they were the closest to Vakarian and thus the easiest to snipe, so they had to play it conservatively. I then quickly realized that my squad was exposed to Archangel's gunfire and made us all stand behind one of the walls.
Near to the barricade were a lot of Blue Suns mercs hanging about behind walls. I counted seventeen. Definitely the most numerous I had seen compared to the Eclipse and Blood Pack, but they closed that gap with the mechs (originally at least) and the Vorcha likely waiting in the tunnels. There were a couple of freelancers hanging about that avoided staying near the barricade, their armor and weaponry ranged from shoddy to semi-decent at best. I realized they couldn't be anything but cannon fodder for the assault.
To my left was a makeshift hangar housing the gunship Lawson mentioned, a small group of… human Blue Suns mercs stood in front another merc working on it. I was surprised that the Blue Suns, a majority Batarian group, allowed humans in. Something to ask Massani about for later. Speaking of,
"Massani, are you going to have issues with anyone here?" I said neutrally as I turned to him. "I'm not stupid enough to try to wage war right here. Besides, we're going to kill a bunch of Blue Suns soon enough." He replied in an equally neutral manner.
"Is anyone going to have any issues with you?" Leng asked as he stepped forward to Massani. The mercenary was about to open his mouth when I spoke. "If they do, then they can go to hell." I said in his place, then refocused my attention on the gunship.
It alone was going to be a major problem. Anyone going over the bridge could be handled relatively easily with by a few snipers, and if the Eclipse were going underground with their mechs, then that problem should handle itself. The gunship however? There was a reason why infantry needed dedicated anti-air equipment to deal with any airplanes. We could take it down by ourselves, but that'd mean all of us would need to focus on it. And in a three-pronged assault, that was not going to happen. It didn't look as sophisticated or advanced as the gunships I knew of in the Alliance, but I couldn't take any chances.
Biotics perhaps? I, Lawson, and Wrex could warp the gunship to get rid of its shields and maybe even do a bit of damage to its hull. But I noticed that the gunship had both rocket launchers and machineguns. It would easily shut down any attempt at offense we tried via counter-fire, except if it was attacked from two separate angles. But the multi-pronged assault denied that.
An idea popped into my head, and I formulated a plan that I then told to my squad.
I walked over to the small group of mercs and told them I wanted to know when the assault was going to happen. They said to talk to Cathka, the guy repairing the gunship, and dispersed for me to do so. I glanced back to see Zorah following me. Wrex, Legion, and Leng stood right behind the human mercs that were watching me standing next to Catkha, Lawson was facing the previous barricade with a hand over her gun, and Massani watched the center of the encampment as he reached down to his belt.
So good, so far.
I approached Cathka just as he finished melding a metal plate to the vehicle. He got up and turned to me, and I could see through his black vizor that his four eyes were squinting at me.
"The recruiter wasn't kidding, you are Commander Shepard." He said blankly and caught me off guard.
"Let's just say I fell on some tough times." I quickly mustered that response up.
He tilted his head to look over my squad. "Doesn't seem like it. Well, whatever the reason you're here, I take it you want to know when the assault is happening?" He said as he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up. I nodded at him. He took a whiff of his cigarette before he spoke. "The infiltration team is about give us the signal any moment now. All you need to do is keep Archangel busy on that bridge whilst the infiltration team and the gunship him hit from two angles. You lot seem like you can get to Archangel yourselves, if you can than do so. We've been hunting that bastard down for months." He said. I mentally filtered out mostly everything he said.
"When's the gunship going to be ready?"
"It just needs a few more fixes before it gets up and going. From your perspective, it doesn't seem like Archangel nearly disabled it."
"He nearly shot it down himself?" I found myself asking.
"Yea, wasn't even a fair fight. Not to us, at least." He said as I peeked at the gunship. I barely just noticed the smallest of bumps around what ought to be engine area of the gunship. Assuming Archangel took down the gunship effectively and quickly, which was implied by Cathka, it would need to be an extremely precise shot. And not to mention knowing where the engine of a gunship is at that moment. Only experience would lend that sort of skill. Perhaps this Vakarian person was a military man before he went to Omega.
Regardless, I was about to execute my plan.
I took a step closer towards Cathka with an arm slightly raised up.
"You've worked a lot. Take a break." I said the code-phrase before I reached for Cathkha's head and thrusted it onto the nearby terminal. I barely heard the crack of his skull as he fell down.
Zorah ran past me to the back of the gunship and opened its hangar door as I turned around. The human mercs were already on the ground unconscious as I saw Lawson snipe the Vorcha's head on the previous barricade with her pistol whilst the other one was already gone. At the same time Massani threw his flashbang onto the center of the room and I barely managed to look away in time. I pulled out my shotgun just as I heard the flashbangmake a loud pop.
Several groans and shouts of pain erupted as everyone else in my squad tried to gun down as many people as they could to buy time for Zorah. We wouldn't be able to hold this position for long, we were severely outnumbered and likely outgunned as well. We'd have to jump over the barricade and onto the bridge, then make our way to Archangel.
I unloaded two shots onto the nearby freelancers as I heard the footsteps of Zorah approaching. "Everyone! Onto the bridge!" I shouted as I ran to the final barricade with bullets flying past and pelting my shields. I managed to make it over just as my shields broke with the rest of my squad following before we ducked on the other side of the barricade.
"Status report!" I exclaimed over the collage of bullets flying above us. Everyone in my squad said they were fine except that all of their shields were mostly depleted or broken. I turned around to see the rest of my squad and noticed Zorah right behind me. "How much damage did you manage to do?" I asked hurriedly.
"I've managed to make the shielding and targeting systems completely unusable! I've also broken half of the engines but they can be repaired! They'll probably also to try to repair their broken systems!" She shouted over the gunfire as her eyes probably squinted from all the noise.
"Can you give an ET on long they'll spend?" I asked loudly.
"A couple of minutes, but I can't make any promises." She replied and shook her head. I gave the signal and Massani threw his last flashbang over the barricade. We all looked away in instinct save for Legion when it combusted into an explosion of white light. Then we booked it for the building returning fire whenever we could. The area was nice but I couldn't waste time appreciating its beauty when most of the mercs were about to come out of cover. We ran into the building, all high on alert, and took cover wherever we could. This area was good for setting up a defensible position. Lots of cover and we could return fire by just peeking out from the side instead of having to get up.
The collage of bullets returned and it flew past or over us, chipping away at the counters and pillars. It stopped when Archangel took a shot at the mercs. We used this opportunity to run through what appeared to be a kitchen area and a living room as we spotted the stairs. We went up them and through a door to see the sight of Archangel himself in a crouched position as he domed a merc I couldn't see.
He got up with a practiced agility and aimed his sniper rifle at us. I didn't pull up my shotgun at him, and gestured for my squad to do the same. The important part was that nobody fired a shot.
I let out a mental sigh as I looked at what Archagnel wore. He had a blue armor with rubbery parts at the joints, and a helmet with a vizor I could see through. His green eyes squinted, his mouth was shut, and his mandibles flicked up. This was adrenaline and focus combined into one, I figured.
I held up my hands as I took a slow step towards him. His eyes zeroed into each of my squad behind me one-by-one before he refocused his attention to me.
"Archangel." I addressed him.
"Call me Garrus Vakarian, Garrus for short, Commander Shepard." He replied immediately in a flanging voice. I wasn't surprise he knew of me. "I liked your little tactic by the way. I was wondering how you'd get to me." He said in a more tired tone, he was trying to calm himself with the joke.
"Listen. It'll take a couple of moments for the mercs to recuperate. I want to talk." I said lowering my arms.
"You went through all this effort just to talk?" He asked with suspicion- No, it was sarcasm suppressed by adrenaline. It was obvious adrenaline was flowing through me as well.
"We don't have much time so I'll get straight to the point." I took a quick breath. "I'm on a mission to wipe out the Collectors. We have a lead on the location of their base and I'm acquiring a crew composed of the best-of-the-best to help me on this task." I said and then paused for his response. I wanted to know more of his character.
"Well, I'm flattered that I'm considered one of the best, but it's not too shocking. However I doubt your team alone is taking on this mission, and I doubt it's the Alliance who sent you. They don't hire aliens in their navies. Who are you working with?" He asked.
No point in lying now. "I'm working with Cerberus on this. They've given me the necessary resources and crew, and before you ask, they'll cover our tracks whenever we travel."
Archangel straightened his posture as I saw his eyes go wide for a moment, before squinting again. "Cerberus? Since when did they start working with aliens?"
"Since now."
He looked over to Massani. "And a Batarian too? It's too ridiculous to be lying." He said. "And why are you working with them? Is it blackmail? Threats to your family?" He hurriedly listed off.
"I'm working out of my own volition." I said, then realized how wrong that sounded. "I didn't get on to kill aliens or steal their tech. I want to stop the Collectors, and nothing more." I added on. Why did that last part sound wrong to say? No matter now.
Vakarian squinted his eyes as he continued to look at me, but he didn't say anything. I assumed that he was at war with himself, debating on whether or not to join us, but we just didn't have that time. I took a step forward and looked him dead in the eyes. I took a deep breath and quickly prayed that my speech would work.
"This goal, you have, of annihilating all three major merc gangs? It's a very noble cause." I intentionally paused, then took another step. "You'll fail." I said.
He raised his weapon at me and put his eye behind the scope. "That a threat?" He replied sternly.
I tilted my head to the other side. "Say that you achieve your goal. The Eclipse, Blood Pack, and Blue Suns are all wiped out from Omega and you continue hunting down merc gangs. What do you think is going to happen next? Hm?" I said as I shrugged my shoulder and search his face for any sort of reaction. "It'll create a power vacuum which will be filled up by other gangs, some of whom may be even worse than the current ones. In the end, all that happens is that new gangs prop up, continue doing what the previous gangs did, and in the end nothing changes. Hell, you'd have only wiped out the Omega branch of each gang. They'd still be kicking around in the rest of the galaxy." I threw my arm to the side as if gesturing towards them.
"Join us, and you'll help us annihilate a thorn on the galaxy permanently." I slammed my shotgun onto my other hand and cocked it. Wrex stepped forward. "Give it up. You're essentially fighting three armies at once, and you're certainly not a one-man army. At least with us you'd have a chance at doing some good." He said quickly.
Massani chimed in. "Have you even saved a bullet for yourself?" Vakarian scowled at the former Blue Suns leader for that question. "Don't give me that look. The biggest insult you can give them is going out on your terms instead of letting them get you first."
Vakarian opened his mouth to speak but Leng interrupted him. "You want to go out in a bang? Then do it fighting the Collectors instead of just some lowly mercs." He said to Vakarian like he was pitching an idea.
His head turned away from us before he regarded me with a neutral look and turned away his sniper rifle. "Alright. I'll join you, but first we need to deal with the mercs." He pointed them through the window pane. "Despite the size of your group, we can't break out of here. Luckily for us, this is a great defensible position and if we can bleed them dry enough of mercs, then we could find a crack in their defenses and make a run for it. Anything you want to say yourself?" He asked as he lowered his sniper rifle. I took this moment to analyze the situation.
This specific room had a lot of cube-like objects laying about (flipped couches, cargo, crates, and such) which made for good cover. There was a large window that occupied the entire wall at the end of the room, and showed other buildings. If the gunship was going to strike anywhere, it'd definitely be behind that window. To my left was a large broken window-pane, likely shattered for the sniper rifle stand. One could crouch under or switch out of cover with the metal pillars holding the roof. Very good sniper's nest, I deduced.
One thing that I didn't account for was the underground tunnels. I doubted that I had the time to check them out, so I settled on asking Vakarian about them.
"I was told there are tunnels leading to this place. What can you tell me about them?" I said.
"Currently, I've blocked them off so that the mercs can't get to me that way. But since you're asking, I'm assuming that's going to change." He then pointed down with his thumb. "Under the stairs is a door that leads further down into an area that splits into three corridors, each of which open up to a large room filled with crates. Lots of cover to go around, so you can entrench yourselves quite well. I'd say that the Blood Pack are going to try achieve a breakthrough by overwhelming you with Vorcha and Varren, so I suggest you put most of your forces there." He explained. I agreed completely and turned back to my squad to see who'd be sent down there.
Wrex, Massani, Legion, and Leng were obvious picks. They had fully automatic weapons which would be used in full effect to gun down the incoming horde. I had considered for Legion to stay here as a sniper, but having them there with Vakarian already present would be redundant. Besides, the 'underground' team needed all the firepower they could get.
That left Lawson and Zorah. Lawson was a jack-of-all trades in terms of skills, so I tried to think of things my entire squad lacked that she had. The first thing that came to mind was leadership. Massani was the former Blue Suns leader, yes, but he was the former for a reason, and I didn't want to find out why, especially right now. So I played it safe and chose Lawson to lead the underground team. I hoped she knew better than to argue with me on leading a mostly alien team.
As for Zorah: She had the most shields out of everyone, but that was to make up for her physical fragility. Moreover, she was experienced in shotguns and handguns, so she wouldn't do well holding off a horde coming through a large area. This building however is where she'd shine. Close-range, good cover, and the mercs would be exposed trying to enter via the exposed bridge. Her drone would be pivotal acting as at best another shooter, or at worst a distraction.
In the next moment, all of us heard the mumbled sound of an explosion through the floor and walls as the ground was rocked by it. The alarms blared a depressed tone immediately after.
"Explosion. Five-point-three times ten to the sixth power Joules." Legion explained as soon as everyone was about to ask. "A demolition charge." Massani and Wrex quickly realized simultaneously. I quickly composed myself and wasted no in time giving out everyone's orders.
"Leng, Legion, Massani, and Wrex. You four will be going into the tunnels to hold off the Blood Pack." I said turning my head to each one as I addressed them. "Lawson, you'll be acting as their fireteam leader. Don't be afraid to be fall back if things get too much." I added on. She simply nodded without giving off any further reactions before going down the stairs with her team. Good. I then quickly turned to Zorah.
"You and I will be staying at the base level. You," I turned to Vakarian. "Keep doing what you're doing, but stay behind a piece of cover facing the window. That's likely where the gunship will hit you from." I said quickly. Vakarian seemed surprised.
"I thought I took it down already?" He posited.
"They've repaired it." I immediately answered. "But we've managed to sabotage it a good deal. Be prepared to duck as soon as you hear whirring sound." I then tapped a button on my helmet to radio in everyone. "I want all of you to give me status reports every minute-"
I heard a quiet whirring noise coming from the other side of the room- No, through the window. It quickly got louder and louder until I realized what it was.
The gunship.
"TAKE COVER!" I viscerally shouted before everyone jumped to the nearest object they could find. I peeked around the bookshelf I hid behind and I saw the gunship right behind the window. The instant later, its turrets spun like a maelstrom and unleashed a hail of bullets that forced me to put my head back behind the bookshelf. I looked around for Zorah and Vakarian and saw that they hid behind a couch and crate respectively.
"Commander! What's going on?" Lawson inquired through the radio I had forgotten to turn off. "The gunship is already here!" I screamed.
"I thought I had disabled it for long enough!" Zorah said as she hid behind one of the couches, but I heard most of her voice through the radio. "You did! We just wasted too much time talking!" I said. Damn it! Why did I try to win Vakarian over in that moment? I could have just told him everything after we dealt with the mercs-
No point in beating myself up now. I had a gunship to take care of.
"We can send someone back. Who do you need?" Lawson said. At the same time on my right, through the bullets and the ridge that held up an absent window, I saw the Eclipse mechs and bots fighting off their own merc gang on the exposed bridge. That problem was likely to take care of itself, but I didn't want to take any risks.
I assumed the worst-case scenario. That being that the mechs don't deal with the Eclipse on their own, the underground team is forced to flee and got caught by the Eclipse, and the gunship continuously pinned us down. It wouldn't make sense for the gunship to use its rockets as it'd give us at least a little amount of time to retreat or fire back.
Regardless, the most pressing concern was the gunship. It forbade us from dealing with the Eclipse, thus relieving the underground team and allowing us to run away from here. It had to be taken down first.
I peeked around again searching for any weakness. I noticed the gunship was floating in-place flimsily as it was shooting. Moreover it showed a good portion of its side. I then remembered that Zorah said its shielding was nonfunctional. I got an idea.
I put my head back and looked to Zorah crouching on one knee behind a ruined couch. "Zorah! Deploy your drone next to me!" I ordered. She quickly turned on her omnitool and fiddled with it for a moment. A translucent holographic-looking drone manifested right next to me. I lunged for it with my arm, grabbing it by a ridge, and put it in front of me as I dashed out of cover. I ran as fast as I could in the room towards the gunship and used the drone as a shield as it covered my chest area. I jumped over everything smaller than knee height in my way before the drone broke apart. But I was close enough.
My body was covered in a biotic cloud in half a second before I pulled back my arms and lunged to the further side of the gunship, crashing onto its side and quickly latched onto one of its arms. The gunship twisted on my impact and turned to a roughly forty-five-degree angle to the window. I felt the wind pressing on my armor as I suddenly found myself above several- tens- hundreds of stories above the ground. But I had no time to waste looking around.
I quickly regained control of my flinging limbs and climbed to the upper extension of the gunship as I put my legs on one of its arms as fast as I could. Then I covered my fist in a biotic shroud and then jumped, briefly feeling like I was freefalling,before my fist struck the gunship. I felt the pain of punching metal as the gunship crashed onto the building on its side while I held on the other side. Just as it made impact, a flash of white covered my vision before a searing hot explosion and sent me flying across the entire room I was in. I crashed onto the wall, cracking it, and felt the pain sprawl over the back of my body before I fell down face first.
I finally felt the pain of burned flesh all over my body and I heard a head-throbbing whistling in my ears. I tried to get up with my arms but only managed to kneel. I was forced to close my left eye from blood dripping down my eyelids as I used my shotgun as a cane to support myself. My limbs trembled at every move I made and I felt like they were going to give out any moment. My vision grew blurry as I heard several people call out my name both physically and through the radio.
"Commander!" Zorah cried out as I heard her rush towards me. She wrapped an arm around my chest and I felt her other arm snake its way over my back quickly, before it reached around and put a hand on my helmet. "I'm f-fine." I muttered through gritted teeth as her hand made my head turn to her face. I was repulsed by her touch and wanted to wiggle out of her grasp, but I just couldn't muster up the energy to do so. I witnessed her agonized face before I only saw black.
AN: The views and beliefs expressed by my protagonist or the other characters do not reflect my own personal views.