Chapter 72 - Runaround
0824, April 13th, 2211 — Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega
SSV Excalibur, Deck 2, Flight Deck
Commander Jane Shepard
"Shepard, another battle-group has exited the relay. Two cruisers, six frigates… and the SSV Gasherbrum…"
Jane cursed under her breath. Octavian had done exactly as EDI had predicted and fielded all three of his Dreadnoughts first. It was like playing chess with a VI.
The hologram of the system projected above the navigator's console was cluttered with blue lights. Each represented a mercenary ship. Red lights were clustered deceptively close around an icon that marked the Sahrabarik relay, though Shepard knew that those lights represented ships that were thousands if not tens of thousands of kilometers apart. Though fewer than the blue, the number of red lights grew with each passing minute.
One of the blue lights suddenly winked out. Shepard cursed again. "EDI, which one was that?"
"The BSV Lucky Strikes. A frigate from battlegroup Alpha."
Jane cursed a third time.
EDI turned around from the navigator's console and looked at her. "It could have been a lot worse, Shepard.
"—Yes, yes," Jane waved a hand. "If I'd kept us all grouped up those Dreadnoughts would have caused a lot more casualties. I don't need an 'I told you so' right now."
"Just making sure you don't forget," EDI sniffed. Jane bit her lip. She felt a part of herself flinch every time another one of those lights disappeared. The mercenaries weren't soldiers. They didn't have to fight for them. They had volunteered for a war that wasn't theirs.
She caught EDI turning away, head slightly bowed. "Sorry Shepard, I…. That was uncalled for."
A half-a-dozen blue lights had gone out in the three or so minutes that had passed since the Project first started to arrive, compared to three of the red ones. Hundreds dead. Red and blue danced around the hologram as ships remained on the move, hunting one another. So far, the mercenary ships had done a decent job bottling up the Ninth and keeping them from making a break for the Omega-4 relay, but more and more of the Ninth was arriving with each passing moment.
Eventually, the Ninth would counterattack. Jane had half a mind to ask EDI to calculate their odds of holding out for the next four days until the turians arrived, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear that answer.
Flight Lieutenant Fyordinarova looked over her shoulder at her. "Commander, your orders?"
"Hold position," Jane replied. As the order left her lips, for a brief moment she was flooded with this instinctual urge to just leave. Leave the ship, the system – whatever. Despite all of the military miracles that she'd pulled off during the Reaper War she barely had any space naval experience. She was just a glorified ground-pounder. EDI could coordinate the fight in space and the Spectres were already doing a fine job of fighting the Project before she came along.
She was just so tired.
But there was no one else right now. There was no one else to get the job done here if she ran. She wasn't going to hide like she did all those years ago.
"EDI, alert—,"
"Alert you as soon as the Exeter is detected? Of course, Shepard." EDI said.
"Thank you. What's the status of the strike teams?"
"You just called them back not too long ago." EDI's tone was reproachful now. Her friend had made it clear what she had thought of Jane's instincts to keep the team altogether on the ship. Though Jane had agreed with her, when the first of the Ninth showed up all rational thought went out the window and Jane defaulted to her old instincts. Now her instincts were telling her to maintain the recall. "They won't be here for a while."
"Right," Jane muttered. She had half a mind to scrub that order. Jane busied herself over the next few moments with reviewing the status of the Excalibur's mass effect drive and the latest reports from engineering on stealth duration.
Then EDI said the words that Jane had been waiting for, a wait that had been equal parts anticipation and dread. "Shepard, the Exeter has arrived."
EDI sent her the sensor data and Jane immediately pulled up a hologram of their target. There she was.
Jane sucked in a breath. "That's her alright." She opened up a channel to the strike teams. "Excalibur strike teams, what's your ETA?" she barked. "We've got a positive ID on the Exeter."
The red lights on the hologram suddenly all began moving at once. "Shepard, the Ninth is shifting formation! They've formed a tight cluster around the Exeter with the Dreadnoughts in the lead, and are heading for the Omega-4 relay at near-flank speed!" EDI reported.
Several of the lights winked out as the Ninth began to pull together, making them easier to hit, but the icon representing the Exeter was soon snugly situated at the center of a mass of red. Octavian's Dreadnoughts were front and center. Anything that got in front of those Dreadnoughts would be toast.
Her and EDI exchanged alarmed looks. They had gotten it all wrong. Octavian wasn't going to fight a war of attrition for control of the system. He was going to opt for an old-school cavalry charge and punch his way through to the relay.
"EDI, we were wrong."
"I know." EDI cursed as well. "The probability of Admiral Octavian opting for a frontal charge was low. He'd be leaving his flanks open, and without control of the system he'd be vulnerable to any reinforcements." The synthetic paused her movements. "Shepard I…. I miscalculated. There must be variables that I am not aware of."
Shepard placed a hand on EDI's shoulder. "It's okay EDI."
Her friend nodded and then sprung back into acton. "All ships, this is the SSV Excalibur," EDI broadcasted over the ad hoc fleet-wide channel. "Battlegroups Alpha through Foxtrot, formation three. Battlegroups Gamma, Hotel, and India formation four. Battlegroups Juliet through Romeo, formation six."
EDI repeated the instructions. The first part of the strategy had been to form a large perimeter around the Sahrabarik relay and try and pin down the incoming ships, but that was always going to be a temporary measure. The latter part of the plan had the mercenaries forming a perimeter around the Omega-4 relay, facing the Ninth head-on. Additionally, EDI had a third of their ships positioning themselves "above" the enemy fleet, to establish incoming fire from two angles.
The number of disappearing red lights dwindled as the Ninth sped towards the relay. Blue ones situated around the Omega-4 relay in started to blink out as the Dreadnoughts brought their weapons to bear. At their current speed they could be in range of the relay in no time at all.
Another icon suddenly popped up. "Shepard!" EDI stiffened in her seat. "There's a vessel leaving Omega station and headed straight for the Ninth. The scans show it is a Ninth fleet shuttle."
"The hell?" Shepard looked at the scan. Was it a retreating shuttle? "Just one? Have the strike teams reported anything?"
"Nothing at all. Do you want to intercept it?"
Shepard was about ten seconds into weighing her options when EDI decided to drop another operational development into her lap.
"Shepard, the Ninth fleet is slowing down. They're holding position. I expect that they're waiting to receive the ship. It… looks like it's headed towards the lead Dreadnought."
"Orders, Commander?" The flight lieutenant asked one more time.
Jane screwed her eyes shut. A familiar weight had been dropped back into in her hands, and she found herself holding on for dear life once more. The picture of a young boy's face, smiling, welled up behind her eyelids. She wasn't going to let go. She'd never let go before and she wasn't going to start now. She wasn't going to hide.
She opened her eyes and keyed up the ship-wide com. "Engineer Martell, Dr. Veers, and Dr. T'Lana. get down to an escape pod ASAP and wait for further instructions," she barked. EDI turned to her, her eyes wide behind her data visor.
Then she opened up a personal channel. "Liara, meet them at the escape pod. Actually, find the quarian first and tell her she should probably get the hell off as well," Jane added after a moment's thought. "Give them the tag. We're going with contingency plan A."
There was a long pause, but Jane knew that her friend had heard her. "We're not leaving you, Shepard. Not one of us."
"Who said anything about abandoning me? I wasn't going to ask you guys to go with them or anything," Jane chuckled, though if they had more time to argue over it she would have absolutely done so. She'd settle for the three individuals who had been on the Hippocrates and who would follow her orders without question. "I'm just hedging our bets."
"Of course you are. Together to the end."
"Hopefully an end that is still some ways off," Shepard replied cheerfully. She opened up a new channel. "Garrus, honey, what's the status on the cannons?"
"Calibrated to perfection and ready to do some real damage," her partner replied in that smooth, measured tone that she'd never grow tired of. "EDI filled me in, Shepard. I'm game."
Jane supposed she was nothing if not predictable. "Of course you are. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, right?"
"No Shepard without Vakarian."
A short while later a notification popped up indicating that an escape pod had been launched. "Shepard." That was Liara again. "They have the tag. They're a bit confused but they didn't protest. They're on their way to Omega now."
"Great." Shepard let out a relieved sigh. "Flight Lieutenant, take us within optimal weapons range of the Exeter."
To the pilot's credit she didn't even flinch. She placed the SSV Excalibur on an intercept course with the enemy flagship.
"So, you're going to end this with one, well-placed shot, Shepard? Just like the holo-films?" EDI asked.
"Just like the holo-films," Shepard agreed. "Well? Is it a bad idea? We come up from behind them. The Dreadnoughts are pointed the other way and the Excalibur's stealth systems can get us within spitting range of any ship that doesn't have a bunch of crew looking out the windows. The XM-25 Thanix is more than enough to take her out. Even if it takes more than one shot, the Exeter's probably not going to get out of range before we can charge up and land a second one."
"Oh, I'm not concerned with our ability to take out the ship." EDI pointed at the tight mass of red lights surrounding the Exeter. "I'm concerned with our ability to get out."
The thought had crossed Jane's mind. Weighed on it even. But, she would deal with that later. "We've got some of the X-38's left. That should be enough to cover our escape."
EDI's eyes narrowed. To Jane's relief, she didn't provide her with their chances of escape down to the decimal point, which Jane knew she could do. "The shuttle has docked with the lead Dreadnought," EDI merely reported.
The flight lieutenant – Val, if Jane recalled correctly – steered the ship towards the rear of the Ninth at flank speed. They had started moving again, headed towards the Omega-4 relay at a slower pace than before. Perhaps the Dreadnoughts were tied up with something?
Jane held her breath as the Ninth came into view. There were hundreds of ships visible outside the viewport, even asari and salarian ones. Garrus had told her that his forces had inflicted heavy losses on the renegade fleet during their fight above Anhur, but there were still more than Jane could have believed.
Two thoughts crossed Jane's mind, though both inconsequential in the immediate situation. The first was that this was the largest naval battle to ever occur in the Terminus Systems, replacing the recent battle over Anhur. The second was that Jane could hardly believe that so many people believed in what the Project was doing. That so many people were still grieving more than twenty-five years after the Reaper War ended. There were more too, if Miranda's reports could be believed.
Val slowed her speed as she entered the swarm of ships, trusting the stealth systems to keep them off of their scans and sensors.
Jane placed a hand on the back of the flight lieutenant's seat. "You're doing a great job, Val. Keep her steady." They began passing ships from the Ninth, gliding past standard frigate wolf-packs and sliding beneath the shadow of cruisers nearly three times their length. What were the chances that an eagle-eyed pilot might eyeball them outside their viewport and recognize them for what they were?
"Shepard, we're about two hundred kilometers from the Exeter," EDI reported. "There's too many ships between us and them. If we want a clean target lock we're going to need to get up right behind them."
Jane swallowed and squeezed the pilot's headrest. "I hear you EDI. You hear the nav, Val. We're here to stab them in the back. Get us there nice and slow,"
The Flight Lieutenant was a good pilot. Jane hadn't seen her in a fight yet, but she was keeping a level head and doing a good job of blending in with the rest of the Ninth.
"A hundred kilometers, Shepard."
Jane opened up a link to Garrus. "Garrus, it's almost show-time."
"More like curtain call. Let's take these bastards out and go home."
"Fifty."
"I'd like that," Jane smiled. "We could summer at your villa and then maybe spend the winter on Thessia with Liara, or visit Jack and the kids."
"Anything you want. Wherever you want to go, I'll go."
"Ten."
The rear of the Exeter appeared on the viewport, her massive thrusters emitting a soft, blue light as the cruiser waited for the Dreadnoughts to finish up whatever it was they were doing. Somewhere on that ship, her old friend Alice was probably planning for the next phase of the Project. Somewhere on that ship, Tom was probably looking at that picture of Martha that he carried around everywhere he went, counting down the seconds until he could see her again.
Then Jane did something she hadn't done in a long time. Something she used to do before every fight where she was not certain that she'd make it back. She said a silent prayer. Not to any higher entity – no, she was not religious – but to old, departed friends. Kaiden, Mordin, Anderson… even her old squad that died on Akuze. Like she did every other time, she told them she was doing okay, thanked them for their sacrifice, and promised that she'd see them again one day.
She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed everything else aside – every stray thought, fear, and worry. Until there were only two things left. The image of her departed friends in her mind's eye and the familiar weight of the galaxy's future in her hands.
When she opened them again, Jane felt reborn.
"Garrus, fire."
A brilliant beam of golden light shot out from the Excalibur's bow and slammed into the Exeter's thrusters. The kinetic barriers evaporated after a second or two, and then a massive detonation rocked the cruiser's rear.
Then the remainder of the Exeter's thrusters began glowing brighter and brighter as the engines powered up to full strength. Shepard cursed.
"Garrus, I need a second shot!"
"Ten more seconds!"
The Exeter began to rabbit away, tucking itself between two other cruisers and speeding towards the front of the fleet away from her attacker.
That shot had taken them out of their stealth protocol and now they were lit up like a Christmas tree. Every ship in the Ninth could now find out exactly where they were. It wouldn't be long before the Exeter's kinetic barriers were restored and the Ninth could mount an effective counter-offensive. "Val, you stay on that ship! Don't let her out of your sight!"
"Yes, Commander!" Val shouted. She upped the power to the thrusters and took off after their quarry.
The Exeter continued to weave in and around her sister-ships but Val kept her in view. The Exeter was running away at a fraction of her maximum speed so the shot had likely done some major damage. The difficulty came from the ships that were positioning themselves between the Excalibur and the Exeter, doing their best to buy their flagship the time they needed to run away. Despite their best efforts, Val was managing to stay on her tail. She was almost as good as Joker had been.
"Shepard, we're getting painted by multiple weapons systems!" EDI shouted.
"Roger that," Jane spat through gritted teeth. "Get us that second shot, Val!" The pilot said nothing in reply, and instead the Exeter grew larger and larger on their viewport with each passing second. The Ninth was on the move now, headed straight for the Omega-4 relay. The Dreadnoughts and the ships in the vanguard were now exchanging shots with the mercenary ships, trying their best to punch a hole for the Exeter to get in range of the relay.
"Shepard, the gun is ready!"
They were running out of time. Soon the Exeter's kinetic barriers would be back to full strength and they'd need a third shot—a third shot that they weren't going to get.
"I'm detecting energy spikes from some ships in our immediate proximity. Their weapons are powering up!"
"We'll be out of here before they can get a hard lock on us!" Jane said.
"I'm not sure if that's an accurate prediction," EDI pointed out. "I'm detecting asari corvettes on a fast intercept course. They're close. Real close."
The Excalibur suddenly rocked and Jane was almost thrown off her feet. "Status report!"
EDI's fingers danced across her console. Ribbons of information cascaded down her display "Kinetic barriers at sixty percent. We just took a round from one of the asari corvettes. They already have us in weapons lock."
"We can do this," Jane urged. "Come on, Val!"
Another hit rocked the hull. Jane could hear the panicked gasps behind her from the rest of the bridge crew. "Shields at ten percent," EDI reported.
Each second seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Val struggled to get a clear line of sight on the Exeter. Alarms rang non-stop as they began being painted by more and more enemy warships. It was now or never.
"Take the shot!" Jane shouted.
A second beam of golden light lanced out from the Excalibur and slammed into the Exeter's stern. There was an intense flash of blue light as the cruiser's drive core went critical, and then a series of smaller explosions erupted along its hull.
And then the Exeter was in pieces.
"Target destroyed!" EDI announced. Jane could hear cheers coming from the bridge crew behind her, but neither her, EDI, or Val deigned to join them. They weren't out of the woods yet.
"Fire the XM-38's!" Jane ordered.
"We can't!" Val said. "That last shot took out our missile systems!"
The Flight Lieutenant began to steer them out of the cloud of ships. A third blow caused the entire ship to shudder violently. Metal screeched from somewhere behind them. The lights flickered and sparks flew out from a few of the panels.
"Shepard, we've lost comms and one of our thrusters. I recommend we evacuate immediately."
Jane cursed. She immediately opened up a private channel. "Garrus, get to the escape pod!"
"I'm not leaving you, Jane."
Another curse flew past her lips. Why did she even bother asking? She knew better than anyone how stubborn Garrus could be.
What were her options? The XM-38's were off the table. She had to sound for a general evacuation, maybe call for a surrender. Octavian would honor it, unless he'd died on the Exeter. If she had to try to run could they use the Ninth ships for cover just like the Exeter had?
Jane screwed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. Bit by bit, she began filtering out all of the noise and the chaos. The raised voices of the crew behind her, the overlapping alarms, and the klaxon that meant that there was a fire happening somewhere on the ship – all of it dropped away. Her hands began to tremble from as she remembered the last time she'd been on a critically-wounded ship.
"Shepard…"
EDI's voice tore her back to into the present. The synthetic's tone sent a shiver up her spine.
"What is it, EDI?"
"The SSV Gasherbrum…" EDI began. "The Dreadnought… it just passed through the Omega-4 relay..."
Icy cold filled Jane's chest as she realized what had happened. Val turned to the both of them, with a look that was equal parts confusion and fear. The displays in the flight deck lit up as they were painted by hundreds of ships.
Jane let out a sigh. The weight in her hands disappeared. She ran a hand through her hair, rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. She wished so badly that she could be with Garrus in the Excalibur's main battery right now, wrapped in each other's arms and reliving the old days where they had to content themselves with brief, stolen moments together.
She'd done her best.
0922, April 13th, 2211 — Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega
Afterlife Plaza
(Spectre Operative Cade Kitiarian)
"I still can't raise the Excalibur," Percival said. "Hey, Cade? You hear me?"
Cade finally tore his eyes away from the sky. His friend was gone. "Yeah, I did. At least one of the shuttles should have returned for us by now."
The other members of the strike team milled around the plaza, looking uncertain. Cade was sure that what weighed on him was the same thing weighing on them all.
What was Cloud doing?
"Get back into Afterlife, we're sitting ducks out here people!" Percival ordered. The Jaegers and Galen jumped into action right away, and though Garm and Rayla were a bit more slow with it they too heeded the Spectre. As usual, his friend took charge and began to steer them all back onto the right course. There was a bit of steel in Percival's voice now, diluting the joviality that it was usually laced with. "Any injuries? I want an ammunition count as well."
"Specialist Croft's got a shoulder-wound. We patched it with medigel and she should be a T-3. She can still fight," Accer said.
"Good to hear, Lieutenant," Percival nodded. Hearing Percival reply like that, Cade realized that his friend was just as shaken and left uncertain by their friend's actions as he was. Defaulting to his military roots was his way of weathering it.
They piled back into the long tunnel that served as the entrance to Afterlife. Aria met them inside, her daughter and four of her guards beside her.
"Where did they go?" Aria asked. She had a Carnifex pistol in one hand and a shotgun strapped to her lower back.
"The Project retreated. We've won," Percival replied, picking his words cautiously.
Aria's brows contracted. "They retreated? Why would they retreat?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" The venom in her tone was thick. "My club is in ruins and half my people are dead. The Project tried to kill me – tried really, really, hard – and now suddenly they're gone?"
Aria jammed a finger into Percival's chest. "I need a better answer than 'I don't know'!"
Cade grabbed Aria's wrist and pushed her aside. Her guards raised their weapons at him and the Jaegers did the same at them. "Touch him again. Do it!" Cade snapped at her.
Percival raised his hands to both sides and shot him a reproachful glance. Cade couldn't help himself. Aria narrowed her eyes at him but otherwise didn't reply. The asari was welcome to try him if she wanted.
"Well, the civilians have all been evacuated," Aria's daughter jumped in. Where she inherited her diplomacy from, Cade had no idea. "We have time now to organize more of my mother's guards, in case they do come back."
"Cade? Cade, are you there?" a voice suddenly came up in a private link to Cade's omni-tool.
Cade jumped. "Cam, is that you? Where are you?"
"We're on Omega. We docked at… ay… I have no idea. I've never been here before."
"Are you alone?"
"No… I've got Jaelen, Rentea, and that quarian with me. Kel'Raynea. And her robot cat."
"Why aren't you on the Excalibur?"
"It's… I don't know, but I can't raise them right now. The situation was so confusing. We were ordered off the ship. I'll tell you everything when we meet up. Where are you?"
"We're at the Afterlife," Cade answered. "Send me your coordinates, I'll come get you."
Percival shook his head. "No, tell them to come here."
Cade whirled towards him. "What? Why? The Project could be anywhere on this station!"
His friend placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "Hey, relax. She's probably at one of the main docking bays, close to where we first landed. The Project can't hold all of those bays. We need to be here, in case the Project attacks again and the other strike teams come looking for us. It'll be more efficient if she comes to us."
Cade's plates tightened. Percival's hand felt like an anchor, keeping Cade firmly tethered amidst a sea of turmoil. He let out a shaky breath that he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Fine," he eventually sighed. "Cam? Baby? Change of plans. Can you make your way to us? Here are our coordinates."
"Yeah, no problem. You're not too far."
"Be safe, okay?"
"No worries on that front, mijo. I snagged my shotgun before we left. And have you seen this robo-cat? I… I think she has a rotary turret mod."
They exchanged a few more words and then Cam closed the channel. Cade pulled his Black Widow off of his back and extended it, resting its butt on the ground and his forearms over the muzzle. He could almost hear Cloud's voice in the back of his mind asking him if he wanted to blow his arms off or something. Aria's guards watched him warily, as if they were sizing him up in case he decided that they weren't on the same side after all. That made Cade want to laugh.
"Hear that?" Galen suddenly said.
Cade strained to listen and then heard it as well a moment later. "Incoming shuttles, Perc."
Percival activated his armor and opened the door. Five shuttles with Blue Suns markings on them descended on the Plaza outside.
Two familiar shapes stepped out of the first shuttle that touched down. It was Revak and Elektra. Captain Murgen stepped out of the second one, followed by his Jaegers.
"Percival, Cade, have you two been able to contact the Excalibur?" Murgen asked.
Percival shook his head and looked around. "No. Any idea what's going on?"
"No. No word from Shepard or Vakarian."
"Damn it," his friend cursed. "How did your mission go?"
Murgen began to give Percival an account of what happened. Revak and Elektra joined in mid-way and once the captain was done they began to do the same. Not a single word made it into Cade's head. He resumed his pose. He set the butt of his sniper rifle down between his feet, wrapped his hands around the barrel and directed his gaze back up into the Omega sky.
"Cade!" a voice said.
Cade's head whirled in the direction of her voice. "Cam?"
His girlfriend dashed into the plaza, followed by Jaelen, Rentea, the quarian and her geth companion. Cade put his weapon away and ran to meet her.
He pulled her into a tight hug. Cade took a deep breath, breathing in as much of her as he could. "Ow, you're hurting me!" Cam squirmed beneath him.
"Sorry." He loosened his grip on her. "What happened? Why are you guys here?" Having her here with him and in his arms felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Ninth arrived, Exeter arrived, ships fighting, Shepard ordered us off," Jaelen answered. "Why? I'm not sure."
"Wait slow down, what happened?" Cade was confused. What was happening up there?
Percival and the others caught up. "Jaelen, Rentea, Camilla, it's good to see you. What can you tell us?"
"Shepard ordered us off once the fighting started. Just the four of us though," Rentea repeated. "I…think she took the Excalibur after the Exeter. But for some reason she wanted us out of the way."
Percival and Cade shared a glance. "But why would she not evacuate all of the other non-essential personnel?" Percival asked. "And why go after the Exeter with just the Excalibur? She has a whole fleet to work with, and there's no way the Exeter doesn't have an escort."
Cade supposed it was possible though. The Excalibur was a stealth frigate after all, meant for deep recon and the naval equivalent of ship assassinations.
"All great questions," Rentea shrugged. "I don't know. I'm less of a naval strategist than you two are. One moment we were all at our battle stations and the next moment we were being told by Shepard's asari friend that we had to evacuate the ship."
The doctor tipped her head at Camilla. "Before we left though, her friend gave us something. Told us to take it to Captain Murgen."
"Right," Camilla nodded. She fished something out of the pocket of her overalls and held it up. It was a small, black box, maybe about the size of a deck of playing cards. Thin, violet cables snaked in and out of it, with no rhyme or reason for their placement. Cade had never seen anything like it before.
"Any idea what this is?"
0841, April 13th, 2211 — Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Omega
Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…
(Field Commander Thomas Locke – Project Transcendence)
Aboard the SSV Gasherbrum, Bridge
"Marcus, why are we slowing down?"
His old friend turned from the massive holo-table in the centre of the bridge. He looked confused, or maybe conflicted. It wasn't a look that often found its way onto Admiral Marcus Octavian's face.
"It's…" he began, hesitation in his voice. Marcus then looked over at the massive, blue alien standing beside him. Achimundé was standing with his arms crossed, starring ponderously at the model of the shuttle displayed on the holo-table. The Cris'pai looked like he was just another member of the crew, maybe a member of a lost or new species. Certainly he did not look something that had been dead for the past hundreds of thousands of years.
Whatever his friend was going to say died in his throat. "Tom, you should get down to the hangar bay and welcome our new guest. Severus, go with him."
"Sure," Tom replied. He trusted Marcus. "Sev, let's go."
The quiet turian nodded and together they left the bridge. At some point between their first and seventh step off of the bridge a trio of turian commandos had fallen into formation behind their leader. Tom marveled at their silence and quickness. He had to admit that they were probably better than any team of N7's he could put together.
They'd lost a fair amount of them over the last few weeks though. Severus had lost two full squads on Anhur, including his second-in-command, Darken Krystos. His death had made the young turian even more withdrawn and sullen. They'd lost another half-dozen on Omega trying to re-capture the Spectre that Achimundé had said they needed. When Tom has asked him why he was so important, the Cris'paii simply cited some mystical calling or something nonsensical like that.
The Spectre. Martha's son. No... our son.
The though streaked across his mind and Tom was suddenly filled with sorrow. He'd done his best to supress all thoughts of his son ever since Jane had delivered that revelation. The man who had been hunting them so relentlessly, dogging at their heels, and who had killed so many of Tom's comrades was Tom's very own flesh and blood. Any attempt to comprehend or make peace with the irony was futile.
Tom shook his head. He could feel Severus' eyes on him. The N7 gave him a reassuring look which seemed to satisfy the commando, and together they continued their wordless journey down to the hangar bay to meet the newcomer.
The SSV Gasherbrum was stuffed to the gunwales with equipment, supplies, and crew. There was no telling what they'd need once they hit Erebus, —or Mürabann— as the Cris'paii themselves called it. The last time Tom had visited that dead planet was more than twenty years ago. Back then, its surface had been nothing but ruin and glass from the heat of weapons beyond Tom's imagining.
Back on Anhur, Achimundé had said that the Index of someone called the Supreme Architect was stored on Mürabann. Apparently he would be able to adapt the Cerberus revival strain with the Index to restore everyone that the Reapers had harvested. It was a nonsensical shot in the dark but it was all they had to go on after more than twenty years and the deaths of millions on their conscience. They'd stolen the Reaper IFF tag back from Jane so they could go through the Omega-4 Relay and now they were moments away from entering. The Ninth may have taken a beating from the turians above Anhur, but there was nothing that could stand beneath the might of three Dreadnoughts. Their passage through to Mürabann seemed all but inevitable.
Which was why Tom was so surprised when Marcus called for the Ninth to stop. They were now sitting ducks for the haphazard fleet that the Council Spectres had cobbled together out of Omega's mercenary factions. With each passing moment the chance of them discovering Marcus' ruse grew larger and larger.
Still, Tom decided to leave the naval skullduggery to his old friend.
The hangar bay was crowded. Crates taller than Tom were stacked five or six high and were triple-secured against the deck. There were a few squadrons of shuttles parked in the center and even some fighters off to the side. Ninth crewmembers hurried about like ants performing their duties. There were even some crew from the other species' ships present.
Morder and a group whom Tom and Severus had taken to calling "the Zealots" were already waiting by an open landing pad that had been cleared for the newcomer. As he walked over, the N7 undid the strap that secured his pistol inside his holster. Beside him, Severus unholstered his Phaeston. Morder turned and greeted his two fellow field commanders with a wide, toothy smile that was too large for his face. A few of the other Zealots mimicked their leader. Tom would have happily spaced them all if they weren't such effective fighters.
"Locke, Tyrannus," Morder greeted. The salarian twitched as he suffered through a series of small seizures.
"Morder," Tom nodded back. Severus didn't greet their colleague at all. "Any idea what we're expecting here? Did one of the teams come across something?"
The salarian slapped the painkiller trigger on his armor, stilling himself. "If only I could see the future, eh?" Morder replied. Then he began to cackle like he'd just told the funniest joke in the galaxy. Some of the other Zealots began to chuckle or giggle to themselves as well.
A single shuttle flying the Ninth's insignia passed through the shimmering mass effect fields that kept the atmosphere inside of the hangar bay and settled on the pad. The doors opened with a hiss. A figure in black armor stepped out, flanked by a number of wounded Project troopers. Morder let out an ecstatic gasp. Severus and his commandos immediately aimed their rifles at the newcomer.
But Tom's heart nearly stopped. It was his son. His son looked around the hangar bay, a neutral expression on his face.
"You came…" Morder whispered. He dropped to his knees and bowed his head. The rest of the Zealots followed suit.
The Spectre looked down at the salarian. A look of disgust flashed over his icy features.
"Get up," he ordered.
Morder and the rest of the Zealots obeyed, though they kept their heads bent. "We are in your service, Tar'Elessar. With you at the Prophet's side, our journey to Transcendence is inevitable!"
The disgust faded, to be replaced with a wry, thin-lipped smile. Tom's heart ached as he realized he'd seen that smile before. It was the same smile that Martha had.
"I'll hold you to that, Morder. You shall be my right hand then, as we pursue the promise of immortality."
The Spectre's sarcasm was completely lost on the salarian. Morder let out another ecstatic sigh. "Yes! I am yours to command!"
And then his son turned to look straight at him. Tom stared back, right at the ghostly, blue light that was still pouring from his son's eyes and at the charcoal skin surrounding them.
The smile disappeared. Worse, he seemed to stare straight through Tom like he wasn't even there. He felt invisible beneath his son's gaze.
The N7 inwardly pulled himself together. "What are you doing here?" Tom asked him.
The Spectre tilted his head. He looked like he was surprised that Tom would even dare try to speak to him.
"Something that I should have done a long time ago," he said coolly. His gaze flicked around the bay. "This isn't the Exeter."
"Why are you here?" Tom repeated. Beside him Severus took a step forward, his rifle still trained on his son's chest.
"I can save everyone," the Spectre said. "No one else has to die."
Mystified, Tom opened a channel back to the bridge. "Marcus, the shuttle. The Spectre's here. My… son is here."
"I know."
He knew? "What's going on, Marcus?"
"He wants to join us."
Tom froze. Severus looked at him, confusion in his red eyes. Had they heard right?
"Achimundé needs him, Tom. Bring him up here."
He shook his doubts away, casting one last look at his son. "Acknowledged," Tom finally said. He glanced at Severus and then looked at his son and jerked his head towards the bridge. "Come with me. The rest of you help those men!" He ordered at the Zealots.
The Spectre stepped towards them. Severus' commandos materialized behind him, weapons at the ready, but he paid them no heed. A few of the Zealots hissed at the turians but his son stilled them with a raised hand.
A chill ran down Tom's spine. A trill of primal, inexplicable fear locked fingers with the sorrow and guilt in Tom's stomach. He was his and Martha's son, yes, but he was a stranger. More than that, something about him didn't feel right to the N7. The Spectre was acting normal – or normal as far as Tom knew —but those eyes were as unnatural as anything Tom had ever seen. He had the same eyes that the Corpsers had. The same ones that Achimundé had as well.
The bridge was alight with activity. Junior officers were working furiously at their consoles. Ribbons of input data and telemetry reports were cascading down the displays that ringed the holo-table.
"Marcus, what's going on?" Tom asked.
Marcus hadn't moved an inch since Tom and Severus had left the bridge. He was still standing in front of the holo-table with his arms clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the holo-table. The table now showed the positions of both the Ninth and the mercenary fleet. The Cris'paii however was nowhere to be seen.
An alert popped up. "Sir, the Exeter's been hit!" One of the radar lieutenants suddenly reported. "Thruster four is down!"
"Checkmate…" Marcus said.
"That must be the Excalibur," Tom breathed. He looked at his friend. "Marcus, they took the decoy just like you said they would."
Marcus didn't look away from the table. "And exactly when as well. I knew our stopping would draw her out. You know Jane. Straight for the throat every time."
His friend made a few calculations on his omni-tool. "It makes her rather predictable and easy to counter. Ensign Khapoor, tell the fleet to break for the relay at full speed and for the kill team to take out the Excalibur. They should be able to pick up her up on their scans now that she's fired her gun. And tell Captain Carter to get the hell out of there."
"Yes sir," the crewman acknowledged. "The kill team is finalizing their targeting solutions now. Captain Carter trying to disengage, but it looks like the Excalibur's on his tail."
Tom watched as a small symbol denoting the Exeter began to move away from the Excalibur towards the front of the Ninth. Without a thruster it was hamstrung.
"Were picking up increasing energy emissions from the Excalibur. She's almost ready to fire again!"
"Carter can make it," Marcus muttered under his breath. He turned to Tom. "We should be able to take out the Excalibur before she can fire another shot."
"The Kurinth's Wrath has scored a hit!" Ensign Khapoor called out. "The Excalibur's still in pursuit!"
"Damn it!" Marcus cursed. "Take out that ship!"
Ensign Khapoor let out a little gasp. "Another hit! She's wounded sir!"
Tom turned to Marcus. Marcus dug his fingers into both fists and pressed them into the holo-table. "Come on… come on…", he muttered quietly.
Suddenly his friend was enveloped in blue light. He was dragged up towards the ceiling, dangling helplessly while he clawed at his throat.
Severus was at the Spectre's side in a blink of an eye, the barrel of his Phaeston pointed squarely at his temple. The other commandos fanned out behind him and trained their weapons on his back. Some of the bridge crew screamed. Tom found himself uncharacteristically frozen in place.
"Let the Excalibur go," his son said. He had one arm outstretched above him and he was wreathed in biotic fire. His eyes blazed with unnatural light.
Tom should have raised his weapon too, but for some reason he couldn't. Marcus writhed in the air, his eyes bulging as he struggled to draw breath.
"Severus, wait!" Tom ordered. He tried to pull the turian away. "Let him go!"
The Spectre didn't even look at him. "Let the Excalibur go," he repeated. "You don't need to destroy it. I know you have the IFF tag here. Just take this ship through the relay."
His son turned to look at him then. "No one else has to die."
Tom met his friend Marcus' eyes. His friend was pleading with him, but to do what? Uncertainty wracked Tom's body. He was the XO of the ship, and everyone was looking at him now. Dozens of souls were hanging onto his next word. He was no stranger to hard choices, but suddenly he found himself unable to tolerate the weight of his responsibility. Unable to breathe. What should he do?
Then an icon disappeared from the holo-table.
"Sir…" Ensign Khapoor started. "The Excalibur… she fired. The Exeter's gone."
A hand wrapped around Tom's arm. "We need to take out that ship, Tom. It's too big of a threat," Severus said. "Ensign, tell them to keep firing."
The Spectre pulled out his pistol with his other hand and shot three times at Ensign Khapoor. The man yelped as the rounds sizzled into the deck between his feet. More shouts of fear erupted.
"Don't do it," his son warned the crewman.
Ensign Khapoor looked as if he were on the verge of tears from the fear, but the man stayed in his chair. He glanced back at the console. "Lieutenant Commander, someone's fired a third shot! The Excalibur's shields are gone and we've crippled one of her thrusters!"
"What is the matter?" a new voice rumbled. Achimundé stepped onto the bridge with Alice standing just behind him. The scientist looked at the Spectre and then at Tom, alarm in her eyes.
His son looked over his shoulder. "Hey Blue, tell these guys to let the Excalibur go. I'm not going to ask a fourth time."
Achimundé let out a deep chuckle that sounded more like a growl. He crossed his arms. "The gods have blessed us with this opportunity to remove the greatest threat to our plans. Why would we give up that chance?"
In reply the Spectre simply pointed his pistol at his own head. "Think I won't?"
"I believe that you believe that you would."
"It's the same thing."
Achimundé smiled, revealing his two enlarged incisors. "You're not old enough nor wise enough to understand that it is not."
His son began to tighten his finger, but then he stopped. "If you shoot down the Excalibur, I'll kill your admiral."
As if on cue, Marcus began to choke as the blue light surrounding him grew brighter. The man's face was now beet-red.
"Then, I'll do my best to kill every last person on this bridge," he said. His unsettling gaze swept over the Cris'Paii's shoulder. "Starting with that scientist over there, and then you." He then jerked his head at Severus. "Little Cade-light and his pals over there might stop me eventually, but once I'm done there's no way you'll be able to complete your mission."
The two stared wordlessly at one another.
"Tell the captains to stand down, and then take us through the relay immediately," the Cris'paii finally ordered.
The biotic flames receded and Marcus fell to the floor, coughing. Tom rushed to his side.
Marcus was shaking. Tom slid beneath him and helped him as he pulled himself up using the holo-table. "Did any lifeboats launch from the Exeter?" he rasped. His throat was bright-red and covered with biotic burns. "Can you raise Captain Carter?"
"Trying sir…" Ensign Khapoor's hands flew over his console. "…Nothing. No lifeboats…"
Marcus swore and slammed his fist into the holo-table again and again. Tom had only ever seen him lose his composure once like that before, and that was when they were both young, fresh-faced recruits in the Systems Alliance military. Marcus' squadron leader had intercepted a torpedo meant for Marcus' fighter during an anti-piracy raid. Marcus Octavian had ordered captains to their deaths before, but the one thing Marcus couldn't do was have someone else die in his place.
The Spectre had moved to stand in the corner, half-shrouded in darkness and where he had a clear view of the entire bridge. Ribbons of blue light began to snake their way across the viewport as the Omega-4 Relay came to life. Tom thought their color matched his son's eyes.
The massive, concentric rings that sat at the center of the ancient machine began to spin around its shining, element zero core, causing shadows to pass over the bridge again and again and again. Another chill ran down his spine as his son began looking straight at him once more.
Then there was a flash of light, and they were gone.
The Delivery Boy
Five and a half years ago
October 24th, 2205, 0121 hours - Aurora Nebula, Erendel System, Twilight Station
04272182-Cloud
We'd been waiting in the private dining room for more than an hour before Valter came to give us our next set of instructions. He glided in, dressed in his expensive-looking suit and flanked by two similarly-suited men. One of them was holding a briefcase. He placed it on the dining table and unlocked it with a wave from his omni-tool.
Jessa let out a gasp. Biggs grabbed Wedge's arm.
Inside the briefcase were rows upon rows of neatly-stacked credits. It was more money than any of us ever thought we'd see.
Valter tipped his head at the case. "The first part of your payment." His calculating gaze swept across our group, lingering just a bit too long on me.
Charles reached out towards the case, maybe to count the credits, but he was stopped by Zack. My friend stepped between Valter and I, breaking his line of sight to me. I craned to peer over his shoulder. Zack gently closed the briefcase and pushed it aside. "What else do you need us to do?"
The leader of the Black Dawn gave him an appreciative nod. "A crate has been placed on your ship. Deliver it to the Citadel tonight, to the coordinates we're sending you. Protect it until we say otherwise."
"Protect it?" The faintest hint of uncertainty dropped into Zack's voice.
"Is that going to be a problem?"
His uncertainty wasn't his alone. I could feel all of us tensing up. Dozens of thoughts raced past my mind.
"No problem at all."
"Good," he said with a thin-lipped smile. "It will be a couple of weeks at most. I hope that settles your concerns."
Valter turned on his heels and slid out of the room, followed by his two bodyguards. Charles looked like he wanted to say something to him, but his father was already gone.
Elektra looked at him. "Who exactly are we going to be protecting it from?" she demanded.
Charles bounced back instantly. He flipped open the briefcase and took a huge sniff. He sighed like he was in love. "How am I supposed to know? You think he even gives me the time of day?"
"Zack…" I started.
"I know." My friend reached over and closed the briefcase. "Sorry guys. We're not touching any of this money until the full job is done. It's going right into our trust account."
Everyone let out a groan. Even I joined in. We were all broke and none of us had had a good meal in weeks. The newest expansion for Galaxy of Fantasy was also out and I'd been really hoping that I'd be able to get it early so I could get a head start on the content.
Charles let out a disbelieving scoff, but it was just for dramatic flair. He mimed a good cry and then set his face down on the briefcase and began to stroke it lovingly. "Fine."
"Something the matter, Zack?" Wedgo asked.
Zack's gaze flicked oddly around the room, then my friend set his hands on his hips and beamed at us. "Nope, just our new corporate policy. In case we can't finish the job, we return the money! We're on the straight and narrow now ladies and gentlemen. We've got a reputation to build."
We all groaned again. The others began taking verbal jabs at Zack that were getting progressively meaner. Eventually I stepped in. I scowled at Elektra after she made a few choice comments about Zack's parentage and that seemed to cause the rest of them to back off. Zack took it all with that same, goofy smile on his face.
"Alright enough chatter ladies and gentlemen. Back to the Midgar!"
The rest of the gang filed out. Charles pointed at the briefcase and Zack nodded. He gathered it up in his arms, holding it like it was his newborn child, and trailed after the others.
I walked over to Zack and gave him a look that told him exactly what I thought about the instructions left to us by our newfound benefactors. "I know, I know," he said. His smile was gone.
Once we were all back on the Midgar's bridge, Zack settled into the captain's chair as we all went to our stations. "Cloud, pre-flight. Wedge, auto-pilot course. Biggs, can you do a systems check? See if all of our software is supposed to be there. Jessa, can you sweep the ship for any bugs?"
"Your paranoia's kind of peeking out there Zack," the Elektra said, as Jessa began to run a physical scan of the bridge with her omni-tool. "Are you telling me you don't trust our new boss? He's like, totally not sinister at all." She looked over at Charles who was seated in a chair still holding the briefcase. "Your dad is cartoonishly evil."
"I'm… sorry?" Charles said, while stroking the briefcase. "If his money's good then why's it matter?"
"The ship was powered off the entire time Zack, how exactly could they have installed spyware?" Biggs asked him, though I noticed him doing it anyways.
"If someone or something's out there looking for whatever we're holding, then it doesn't hurt to start being careful now," Zack said. "We can do this guys. No one knows the Citadel better than us duct rats. We can deal with whoever they send after us. It isn't the first time we've given law enforcement or even the military the runaround. It's just a delivery job."
I finished our pre-flight and cleared through the rest of the Black Dawn's departure protocol. The rest of the gang reported their tasks completed and settled in for the short ride to the Citadel.
"What are you going to do with your share of the money, Wedge?" Elektra asked.
"Going into the electronics store."
"Very forward thinking. Biggs?"
"Same thing. Electronics store with Wedgo on the Citadel."
"You guys are boring," Jessa laughed. "I'm going to blow it all on Bekenstein. I'll plan for the future later. How about you, Ellie?"
"Nice dinner at the nicest restaurant on the Citadel," Elektra said. She shot me a look and I was taken back to those times where we would scrounge around the back alleys in the lower districts, looking up in the direction of the Presidium and wondering what it'd be like to actually sit down at a restaurant one day. "Then, maybe just save up. I don't know what I want to do. I kind of want to do everything."
"Very Elektra. Cloud, how about you?"
"Jess you did just hear what Elektra said, right?" Wedge jumped in. Biggs snickered. I looked to Zack for support. Why did everyone think that her and I were attached at the hip?
"Zack? You?" I asked.
Zack thought about it for a while. We all waited on him. "Spruce up the Midgar, I think. Jess, you wanted better bathrooms. Elektra said she wanted better food. Biggs wanted new sensors. Wedge—gaming system in the living quarters, yeah? I think it'd all be a good investment you know? In case we end up spending a lot more time on this ship together."
He turned back at me. "Cloud, I assume you're good?"
I flashed him a thumbs up. "Got everything I need."
October 27th, 2205, 1331 hours -
(Spectre Candidate Second Lieutenant Cade Kitiarian)
The conversation was short and one-sided. A voice on the other end of the Percival's communicator rattled off a report that Cade couldn't hear, which the Spectre replied to with a clipped "Got it, we're on our way."
Percival's hands tightened around the hovercar's steering wheel and his smile disappeared. Next he eyed Cade's dress uniform. "You got kinetic barriers?".
"Of course." Cade suddenly found it hard to breath. He was no stranger to combat, but he'd never fought under the watchful eye of a Council Spectre before. "What happened?"
"The squad guarding Tollen missed their check-in."
Cade cursed. "How often is the check-in supposed to be?"
"Every twelve hours."
"Twelve?"
Percival yanked the steering wheel, and taking them out of the stream of traffic and down towards a group of apartments. "Trust me, I know."
Cade shook his head. A lot could happen in twelve hours. The Hierarchy would have had the unit check in every hour or two.
They landed in the parking lot. The apartments were maybe forty stories tall and looked like any other. There were no balconies and no open windows facing the parking lot. Cade likely wouldn't see a sniper until it was too late.
He discreetly checked the heatsink and ammunition blocks on both of his Carnifex pistols and followed behind Percival towards the entrance. No signs of fighting. He tipped his head and grinned at the civilians in the lobby. They were mostly too busy staring at the Spectre in a mixture of surprise and awe. The human was a good half a foot taller than Cade and looked nearly twice as wide in his N7 armor.
Percival was all business now. Once they got in the elevator he pulled out his own pistol – an M-5 Phalanx – and checked it as well. "Try and stay behind me. We'll grab your gear after," he said.
"Don't need to tell me twice," Cade replied immediately, but then he hesitated. He wasn't scared – quite the opposite. "Or is this part of the test? You want me to take point?"
Percival shook his head. "No, I'm not testing you. You're unarmored and I am."
That earned the man even more respect from Cade. "You're expecting the worst then?"
The Spectre cocked an eyebrow, and a bit of his good humor slipped back in. "Wouldn't you? Murphy's Law."
"I don't know what a 'Murphy' is, but you're thinking the team's dead."
"Murphy's law," the human repeated with a shrug and a sigh. Cade could guess from the context what this 'Murphy's Law' was. He took an odd sort of comfort from the knowledge that humans could be just as pessimistic as turians.
Cade drew in a steady breath, pairing it with and equally-steady exhale. He was ready for the enemy – ready to show this Spectre what he could do. Fighting was in his blood. In every Kitiarian's blood. Cade had pedigree and a lifetime of training and combat. All of it felt like it had lead up to this one moment.
The elevator doors opened up to a floor that looked like it was still under construction. Plastic, translucent tarping coated the skeletal frames of half-finished rooms. Polysteel beams lay stacked in neat piles tucked against the walls of a roughly-constructed hallway. A few that were of different lengths were sitting by a cutting table, though the saw was nowhere in sight. There were also tools everywhere. Most of them neatly stowed on racks or looked like they'd been tied down, but Cade spotted a hammer missing from a rack of them.
There was something in the air. Cade took a deep breath, but he couldn't recognize it. Percival did the same, and followed it up by bringing his pistol up to his chest in a two-handed grip, ready to fire. Cade pulled out his second Carnifex and readied both of them. Percival cocked an eyebrow at his choice of weapons. Cade wondered if Percival had ever seen what twelve rounds from a Carnifex could do to a person.
Percival headed down one end of the hallway. Cade followed behind him, carefully-checking the unfinished rooms they passed by.
Eventually the Spectre cursed. "Damn."
They found the source of the scent. Cade was pretty sure that he'd never again forget the smell of human blood. Four humans in Systems Alliance armor, all lying dead around a small plastic table and a few chairs that had been positioned beside a splintered door. Gunshots, by the looks of it.
Cade looked around, and then took a closer look at the bodies. "They don't look like they were attacked by trained military personnel," he gestured with his Carnifex. There were bullet wounds everywhere and not just around the center-mass. "They didn't even get to draw their weapons. Looks like they were ambushed. Maybe the attackers were dressed as Systems Alliance marines?"
"Probably," Percival agreed. He looked around the carnage and shook his head. "Goddamn it. The Systems Alliance really fumbled this one hard."
Cade had wanted to say something about it, but had kept his mandibles shut out of respect for the human. If this had been the Hierarchy and the higher-ups had decided not to immediately deliver Tollen to the Veridicus for interrogation, then they would have probably put a full platoon on guard and there would have been check-in's every hour. Cade's old instructors had once told him that the humans, like the asari or the salarians, often too-heavily favoured secrecy and small, flexible teams. A group like this would have drawn less attention, but it also left them vulnerable to attack.
That was also the second time his mentor had criticized the Systems Alliance in front of him. Regardless of how he might have felt, Percival still took the time to grab a set of identifying tags off of each of the bodies and shut their eyes. The Spectre was certainly not what Cade had expected. "What do you think has happened to Tollen?" Cade jerked his head at the splintered door. "Dead or missing?"
Percival opened the door and stepped into the apartment. Cade heard him suck in a breath, and then followed him in. In the middle of the room was a body strapped to a chair.
It took a few seconds for Cade's brain to register exactly what he was looking at. Once his eyes got the message, his stomach did too. The noodles he'd had earlier with the human male he'd met outside the video game store came hurtling out of his mouth.
Percival gave him a sympathetic glance. Cade wiped his mouth. The missing hammer lay discarded on a couch a few feet away from the victim, surrounded by small, white flecks. Teeth. A saw lay in a pool of blood beside a severed limb. He was no stranger to gore but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen.
"You okay, Cade?"
Cade hurled once more and wiped his mouth angrily. "Yeah…. I just wish I had something to shoot."
"You were a soldier in the Hierarchy. In the Spectres, you'll need to be more." There was the slightest hint of an edge in the Spectre's words. Cade felt as if the real test was finally starting. "Well Candidate, what do you think?"
Cade forced himself to look around again, then paused to think. Spirits – was that even Tollen? It was hard to tell looking at that red ruin. It must have been him though. "I… I'm not entirely sure. Either Tollen was found by whoever stole the stealth plating and they killed him to keep him quiet, or he was found by someone else looking to find the stealth plating and they killed him after interrogating him."
He gestured around. "But… this is brutal. Neither group would have needed to do… this" Cade pointed at what was left of Tollen's face. "Were they sending a message or something? Did he snitch to someone?"
The Spectre stepped up to the body and began to search him. He came up empty. "Humans can sometimes be identified using their dental records, so that might have been why they destroyed his mouth. Doesn't explain the fingers or the leg though. I've seen gangs do some pretty bad stuff to each other, so maybe it could be that. But, I find it hard to believe that a gang could take out Systems Alliance marines like that."
For the first time since he'd met the Spectre, Cade felt as if he were now in unfamiliar territory. He was most certainly out of his depth now. He was a sniper – a commando. He wasn't a cop or an investigator, which was what the situation called for. "What's your theory?"
"For now? Exactly what you said. Either someone shut him up or someone shut him up after getting what they wanted out of him. Either way, whoever did this is dangerous," Percival said. He began to take photos with his omni-tool as well. Cade did the same. The Spectre was right though. Whoever did this was dangerous – possibly deranged.
"We need a lead. I'll check the security cameras before we leave. Maybe we can get a positive hit."
"Good idea. Next we're going to hit up the Citadel's more shadier information brokers. Maybe someone's heard something?"
"Shadier?" Cade echoed.
Understanding dawned on Percival's face. "Like, the ones more likely to have information on the criminal element on the Citadel. The ones that dabble outside of the law."
"Ah," Cade nodded. He'd picked up a fair amount of human slang playing Galaxy of Fantasy, but there were still gaps in his vocabulary.
Cade checked around the apartment one more time, thinking maybe the killer had left a calling card or something like in the holo-films. But, there was nothing peculiar about anything else in the apartment. Someone had, however, drawn a smiley face on the blade of the saw using Tollen's blood.
It didn't feel like a calling card to Cade, but he snapped a photo of that nonetheless.