31: The Siege
'You know, I don't think I've seen you this upset.' Lyssa stood before him, looking down at a seated Sevarn as she stirred a small spoon in her mug of steaming coffee. The pair had settled into the safehouse's kitchen, which was little more than a dressed-up basement storage room that had been furnished and adorned with kitchen appliances. It was, like most of the underground space, still very much a drab, grey concrete room that was dustier than Lyssa would have preferred.
Seated at the small, circular table that took up one half of the room, Sevarn appeared somewhat dour. He had barely touched his plate of food, which in this case was only a handful of dextro biscuits that passed as rations where Hierarchy Military Intelligence was concerned. Lyssa could only feel worry for him, especially as he had been in a much better mood this morning.
'Its just…' He trailed off. Lyssa took a sip from the hot coffee, wincing at the bitter taste. The ground coffee beans available here had evidently been long past their use by date, buried and forgotten at the back of cabinet amongst a whole lot of dextro-based foodstuffs.
'A man like Venarus can't be allowed to get away with what he did,' Sevarn managed to say, after a pause. He looked up at Lyssa then, his blue eyes offering a window into his conflicted thought on the matter. 'He's a traitor. We already had Saren Arterius to make my people look bad.'
'Yeah, well, Saren was an isolated case. Besides, your people are full of as many assholes as the human race is. Let's not kid ourselves, Sev. Venarus is simply a successful asshole, one who managed to hide his assholery for long enough to do some serious damage.' Lyssa frowned slightly as she said all this, thinking then that it had sounded a lot better in her head.
'Assholery?' Sevarn looked a little bemused by the word. Lyssa smiled at him in turn.
'Yeah, that's a real human word. I think.' She put aside her still piping hot coffee, before she leaned in such as to put her head almost level with Sevarn's. It felt wonderful to finally be close to someone again, to have found someone she could touch and hold and caress after so long without that kind of intimacy. Sure, Sevarn was a turian, but for some reason Lyssa found this only added to his appeal.
'He'll get what's coming to him,' she told him, and she put a hand to his chin. She drew his eyes to her own, taking a moment to admire the cool blue colour of them, like the oceans of Elysium. 'You can mark my words on that.'
'How many people died because of him, Lyssa?'
'Too many.' She certainly held a desire to see Venarus suffer, but she was realistic enough to know that here there was little the Colonel could do. He was at the mercy of his own people's authorities now, and as she and Sevarn spoke in here the Colonel was being subjected to an unimaginable level of pain. He was suffering plenty, and chances are he would face the death penalty when he was sent back to Palaven. The turians did not mess around when it came to traitors.
'I lost a lot of good people in the facility,' Lyssa said.
'To my team,' Sevarn remarked. Lyssa's smile faded slightly, but not out of any contempt for the turian seated in front of her.
'You were following orders,' she told him. 'As was I. And now we're both in the same boat. If anything, I'd say we've done pretty well. I mean, we first met trying to kill each other and now look at us.' She leaned forwards and kissed him on the lips, or rather what passed as lips on a turian. Sevarn's features noticeably lit up. After a good twenty seconds worth of kissing, Lyssa pulled back and stood upright again whilst keeping one of his hands clasped in her own.
'How's that for a whirlwind romance?' She remarked.
'What happens next, though?' Sevarn stood up in turn. He took both her hands in his own, seemingly engrossed in the many more digits she bore on hers compared to the three per hand when it came to his species.
'I enter Hierarchy protection,' Lyssa explained. 'And I tell your people everything I know about Cerberus in exchange for that protection.'
'Is that what you want?'
Lyssa had to take a moment to mull this over. Sure, it was not what she had wanted, but it was the best option available to her right now.
'Not entirely, but it'll do. Better than being chased around the Terminus Systems by Cerberus.' She sighed, more out of resignation than anything else. 'Thing is, if I'm with your people then that means we can see more of each other. Or rather, that's what Malleus told me.'
'Even so, that seems unlikely.'
'It's what I'm hoping for, Sev. I wouldn't want this cross-species liaison to end too soon.'
'What of your sister?' Sevarn asked her. 'Won't they come for her?'
'They might.' Lyssa had certainly pondered this possibility. Cerberus could go for her sister in an attempt to get to her. 'I may have to drag her into all this, but I don't want to. She has her own life, and I haven't the right to go and screw it all up with my own problems.'
Before either of them could speak further, there sounded a distant, if muffled thump. The whole room about them shook noticeably, and a thin trail of dust fell from one small crack in the concrete ceiling. Immediately, the pair had released one another, their postures alert, their eyes keenly searching their surroundings for any sign of the cause of the noise.
That thump was simply a precursor to the thunderous rush of noise that suddenly filled the safehouse, complete with the grinding of metal upon metal, the crumbling of concrete and the concussive wave of force one could expect from an explosive detonation. Lyssa felt Sevarn throw her aside, landing on top of her as part of the ceiling above them and a sizeable portion of the wall simply exploded inwards. Dust and noise and smoke filled the air, and through the ringing in her ears Lyssa could hear panicked shouts from out in the operations centre.
'Sev, Sev, are you all right?' The turian was a heavy weight atop her. Some ceiling rubble had landed on his back, and she felt him shift slightly. He let out a pained groan, before he slowly climbed off of her. She sat up, coughing on the smoke and dust that filled the room. Sev rose to his feet, dust falling away from his armour. His silvery-grey features looked even greyer now, covered in dust.
'I'm fine,' he rasped, before coughing himself. He held out a gloved hand, and Lyssa took hold of it. He helped her to her feet, more panicked shouts sounding from the neighbouring rooms.
'I don't think this place is as secret as Malleus thought it was,' Lyssa remarked. Sevarn narrowed his brow slightly, but otherwise gave her a nod. Now, all they had to do was contend with whatever this explosion had been intended to precede.
The plans of the underground bunker and the labyrinth of old tunnels were clear and had made the placement of the explosive charges all the easier. Sergeant Vakarn Kern had led the operation, a retrieval that had been ordered by Chief Taft in response to a transponder signal being activated. The gruff batarian Sergeant, a mercenary and law enforcer for the city of New Thebes, was uncertain of the details save that it involved a turian who required assistance and who had paid the Chief very well to guarantee he got it. Kern would also be seeing a sizeable portion of that money soon enough, he simply had to contend with the bunch of turian black ops who had been operating right under their noses for far too long.
The batarian, kitted out in the deep blue and black armor of a CED trooper, stood back from the haze of smoke and dust that filled the tunnel. At least one critical support had been taken out by the charges, collapsing one tunnel exit and thereby guaranteeing that any survivors would end up funnelled to two other exits, both of which were covered by his troops. Here in this tunnel, he had about half a dozen armoured CED troopers with him, and as the dust cleared and the opening in the tunnel ahead became apparent he signalled them forwards. It was to be a quick and clean assignment, and they each had been given an image of the man they were supposed to find. Chances are, most of the turians within would likely have been caught in the blast, but one could never be too careful when it came to this sort of thing.
'Kill everyone left standing,' he ordered the squad, as they started filing past him. He readied his own rifle, his gaze fixed to the corridor ahead that was now visible through the sizeable hole that had been blasted through the concrete wall. 'Don't take any chances.'
Booker came to with a pounding headache and some rubble pinning his legs. Thankfully, it was nothing too heavy, and he was able to put both hands to the largest chunk and slide it off of his aching limbs. Looking about, he rubbed the dust from his eyes and attempted to get a bearing on just what had happened and the status of everyone else in here. Part of the ceiling had fallen in, bringing down with it one sizeable metal strut that had landed on an unfortunate turian, specifically one of the analysts who worked here. Their bloodied, broken body lay several paces from Booker. At least two other mangled turian corpses were sprawled a short way ahead. As he sat up, he became aware of someone standing over him.
'Are you all right?' It was Chas. The drell was covered in dust, but otherwise in one piece. He held out a hand to Booker, and the human took it, keeping his appreciation for the assistance unvoiced. He rose to his feet, a little unsteady, but he was in no significant pain. Nothing was broken, thankfully, although bruises would be springing up in short order in multiple places.
'What the hell happened?' It was Chas who asked this. Booker looked at him, frowning.
'You're asking me?' He shook his head. 'Someone bombed us. We better get this place locked down, before whoever it was decides to move in.'
Chas nodded his head in understanding. He looked about the wrecked operations centre, rubble strewn all over with exposed power conduits shooting sparks from the ceiling and damaged walls. He sighted a functional computer terminal nearby, and it was to there he hurried. Booker sighted one living turian some paces away, another of the analysts who had been working at a computer not far from where he had been standing. He walked over and helped the young male to his feet.
There had been multiple blasts within quick succession. No doubt they had been carefully placed to maximise damage to what was supposed to be a hardened bunker. Any number of organizations would have had access to the plans for this place, yet none should have known that it was being occupied by Hierarchy Military Intelligence. Unless, of course, someone inside here had leaked the information. Yet, Booker could not picture any of the turians here selling out. No, it had to be something else.
'Hey, you'll want to see this.' Chas, standing in front of the functioning computer display, motioned for his attention. Booker strode over, feeling a little vulnerable without a gun in reach. He stopped by the drell's side, following his gaze to the image on screen. It was a map, a layout of the bunker safehouse itself from what Booker could surmise. Various points on it were blinking in red.
'One exit tunnel's been collapsed,' Chas said, and he tapped in further commands at the holographic keypad. The picture zoomed in, and a string of surveillance feeds appeared. Most were little more than black screens, the connections severed and the cameras destroyed.
'I'm getting movement on the motion sensors at the eastern approach,' Chas added, and he pointed a finger to the specific part of the layout on the display. Multiple red blinking indicators had appeared, and they seemed to be moving along, heading straight for the main bunker. 'The blasts took out most of the security, but I may be able to access some of the outlying doors from this terminal. There's a chance the connections to those have been affected…'
'See what you can do. Get this place sealed tight.' Booker's eyes searched the operations centre once again. At least two of the turians who had been working out here were still alive and moving about. He sighted one lying dead at the far corner, partially buried under some concrete rubble. This one was carrying a pistol, and it was to this that Booker moved then, wasting no time in plucking the turian-made gun off of the dead operative.
'Okay, I've closed some of the security doors,' Chas declared, sounding a little pleased with himself. 'That will slow them down. Those doors are a recent addition, so if there's anyone out there trying to get in then they likely won't expect them.'
'Good. But I learned a long time ago not to make any assumptions, especially in this game.' Booker's attention shot to the two familiar figures who appeared at the other end of the room, emerging from a nearby corridor. Both Lyssa and Sevarn appeared mostly unharmed, if noticeably dirtied. They approached the group now gathering in the operations room, some confusion evident on the pair's features.
'What the hell just happened?' Lyssa demanded. Booker found that he could admire the woman's blunt, almost unfiltered manner. Sevarn, on the other hand, was almost the opposite and thus far more reserved. Right now, however, the turian biotic's features were set in a grim countenance.
'We were bombed,' Booker told her. The woman's face scrunched up in displeasure.
'Yeah, I could gather that.' She folded her arms over her chest, her annoyance obvious. 'But how? By who?'
'No idea.'
'I'm trying to find that out,' Chas interjected, still working at the computer. 'But most of the outlying cameras are down. It's only backup power that's keeping us going, and that's probably because the generator for that is another recent addition to this place. Whoever hit us knew just where to put those bombs.'
'How did they get close enough without us knowing?'
'There's a labyrinth of tunnels out there, Lyssa,' the drell explained. 'Old maintenance tunnels, unused metro tunnels, tunnels dug out during the Rebellions, all kinds. A map to all those isn't too difficult to come by on Anhur since the Rebellions, not if you know the right people.'
'CED records, you mean.' It was Sevarn who said this, and the implication was clear. Those who had struck were most likely local in origin, and although a group such as Cerberus might have been capable of such an attack, odds were that this time it was someone else.
'We know why this happened, don't we?' Booker asked aloud, looking about at those now assembling around him. Malleus had entered the room only a moment ago, seemingly unscathed if more than a little angry given the look his weathered features portrayed.
'They're after Venarus,' Malleus finished, and everyone turned his way. 'And under no circumstances are we to give him up.' He regarded the group before him with a measured gaze, trying to get a read on each of those still standing. In all, there were two turian analysts, Booker, Chas, Sevarn and Lyssa. Hardly the makings of a sizeable defensive force, but it would have to be enough.
'I got some of the outer security doors working,' Chas told him. Malleus nodded his head in approval.
'That might buy us time.'
'Could we call for help?' It was Sevarn who suggested this. Malleus appeared about to reply, but it was Chas who spoke up then.
'Who are we going to call?' He asked aloud, inviting a response. None was forthcoming. 'Because we certainly can't call the cops.' He motioned to the computer display before him, and specifically to the camera feed that now filled the screen. He had found one working camera on the boundary of the turian safehouse, and all those gathered here could see that the few intruders coming to a stop before an unexpected metal security door were outfitted in CED armour and uniform.
'We've got minutes before they bust that open,' Lyssa said, and she looked to Malleus. 'We need guns. I bet you've got plenty of them stored around here, somewhere?'
The voice on the other end of the call was its usual gruff, raspy tone. It was edged with something more, something annoyed that Sergeant Kern did not much like to hear. Certainly not right into his ear, and certainly not over something that was outside of his control.
'The inner bunker's been shut off,' he said. He stood before one of the unexpected security doors now, a bulky metal thing that was very clearly a recent addition. It certainly had been absent from the plans they had been provided, and now Chief Taft was making his aggravation over the delay very clear through the comm channel.
'We'll be held up several minutes at most,' Kern added. It was usually futile attempting to placate Taft when he was in one of his sour moods. He could picture the human sitting at his desk, ageing features somewhat puffy and eyes concealed behind an expensive set of orange tinted specs. Whilst Kern stood in the dusty, concrete tunnel attempting to explain to his superior the situation, a CED trooper walked by him equipped with an incendiary charge. It was the best thing they had on hand to take care of a large, metal bulkhead door, yet there was no guarantee as to how successful it would prove to be.
'They have no way out,' Kern stated. He sometimes had trouble hearing Taft over such a connection, if only because the man's voice was raspy and very much low in volume on top of that. Sometimes he found himself having to increase the volume on his communicator, just so he could hear the man clearly. 'Once we're in, they'll be easy pickings. We'll get the turian out of there, you have my word.'
Some doubt did creep into Kern's voice, if only because this latest snag had been wholly unexpected. What else awaited them inside that bunker? An entire platoon of turian black ops? That seemed unlikely, but this was Anhur: often, it was what one deemed "unlikely" that seemed all the more likely to occur. Nonetheless, Kern and his team had little choice but to sit back and wait whilst attempts were made to bypass these security doors. As for how long that would take, it would simply prove too long on what was supposed to be a "quick" and "clean" operation.
The bunker's armoury was little more than a small storeroom that had been crammed full of weapons, many of them locally sourced as to better keep the presence of the turian operatives hidden from any potential enemies here on Anhur. Some turian-made pistols were present; state of the art models with the sleek, sharp angled lines and utilitarian flair those of the Hierarchy were known for. Most of the stockpile, however, was strictly mercenary gear from all corners of the civilised galaxy, among them human and batarian rifles and shotguns that were all too common in the Terminus Systems.
Nonetheless, they all suited Lyssa just fine. She equipped an M-22 Eviscerator model shotgun, as well as a Carnifex pistol. Sevarn took up a Vindicator rifle, and at a glance Lyssa realised it was the particular rifle he had had with him in the motel room when Malleus and the others had showed up. With the operatives all arming themselves, something of a defensive plan started to take shape, with one approach under watch by half of those still standing within the bunker, whereas the other half went to the opposite end of the safehouse and kept watch on the other approach. Both entrances had been secured with the newer doors, yet it was clear that in both cases those on the opposite side were working to force their way through.
Lyssa and Sevarn dragged desks and crates and whatever else they could to form a barricade at the end of the corridor, joined there by one of the analysts. Despite being a glorified technician, this turian had the same basic military training as all other citizens of the Hierarchy, and as such handled his weapon with the finesse expected from a professional. Booker, Chas and another of the operatives were at the other barricade, whilst Malleus attempted to organize things from the functioning computer in the operations room. For now, they could do little but wait, all while Malleus tried to get more of the outlying computers working.
'They're trying to burn their way inside,' Malleus announced. He took a pistol up from where he had left it on the desk next to him. 'We've got a few minutes.'
'How many hostiles are we talking?' Booker called, from the far end of the operations centre.
'Half a dozen one way,' Malleus replied. 'I can't get a line of sight on the other tunnel, so I've no idea how many there are. Expect a similar force.'
'Damned CED,' Lyssa muttered, and she glanced to Sevarn who was crouched to her left. He had since replaced his biotic amp in preparation for the fight. Nonetheless, he did appear distracted. It was no doubt Venarus who weighed on his mind, but he was controlled enough to place his focus on the fight at hand.
Even now, it was apparent that someone on the other side of the door was attempting to cut their way inside. A glowing point of red had appeared at the middle of the security door, gradually becoming wider and wider as the potent flame burned deeper and deeper into the metal.
The CED were a pack of mercenaries mainly, hardly a proper police force but in the case of Anhur that was exactly what they had become after the Anhur Rebellions. They were a direct offshoot of the Eclipse mercenaries who had fought in that conflict, and many of its ranks were formed with those who had previously been a part of that organisation. As such, the CED's ranks were filled with a mix of species, their officers in particular being veterans of the Rebellions. With this in mind, one could not underestimate them, and certainly not in the face of how easily they had been able to find this safehouse.
Lyssa turned to Sevarn, who returned the glance. She offered the turian a small smile, once again trying to find the humour in what was an increasingly dire situation.
'You know, maybe one of these days we'll be able to go somewhere without someone trying to kill us?' She remarked. Sevarn, his silvery face lighting up noticeably, gave his turian equivalent of a smile. It pleased her to see him so, no matter the circumstances.
'I'm not going to hold my breath on that,' he told her. His raised himself over the top of the barricade then, levelling his rifle down the corridor and towards the door. Whatever tool was being used to cut through it had started to burn a hole clean through that door, a hole that began to gradually increase in size. Slowly but surely, that space started to widen, and something of the tunnel beyond became visible through it, bordered by the searing edges of the freshly burned hole.
'You ready?' Sevarn asked her. Lyssa raised herself up such that she could aim over the top of the barricade.
'Always,' she told him.
As they both looked to the doors, a pair of fragmentation grenades came sailing through the hole. Both struck the floor ahead before bouncing once, twice, and then rolling slowly in their direction. Sevarn and Lyssa ducked behind the barricade as the pair of grenades detonated, filling the corridor with a rush of noise, complemented by a concussive wave of air that shot over the barricade and ruffled Lyssa's hair. Her ears ringing, she rose over the barricade again with her shotgun at the ready. She peered through the haze of smoke and dust that had filled the corridor, and she was then joined by Sevarn who's visor allowed him something of an advantage when it came to catching sight of someone through the smoke.
The security door simply fell from its housing then, or rather a large portion of it was shoved aside as the cutting torch finished its work. A pair of CED troopers ducked through it, weapons raised. They were met with a rapid volley of rifle fire from Sevarn, that was in turn joined by the bark of Lyssa's shotgun. Bullets and armour-piercing flechettes zipped through the corridor, striking first the kinetic barriers of those troopers now storming in before those barriers failed by the time those troopers were properly inside the tunnel.
Lyssa put a shotgun blast into the chest of one of the troopers, the armour-piercing shot making short work of the man's chest piece. He fell backwards into a lifeless heap, blood streaming down his front. Sevarn sent rifle fire tearing through the second man, sending him falling just as another pair of CED troopers began to pour through the destroyed security door. Across the bunker, a similar scene had begun to play out at the other entrance, where Booker and Malleus and Chas attempted to hold off an attack from that direction.
The turian analyst with Lyssa and Sevarn had joined in on the shooting, rifle thundering as more of the CED troopers came pouring inside. Another fell, and then another; Lyssa was almost starting to enjoy herself when she sighted a grenade launcher in the hands of one. This trooper had it raised and primed to fire as soon as he was in the tunnel, and Lyssa threw herself against Sevarn as soon as she saw the shot about to come their way.
The weapon sent its payload darting forwards, whereupon it connected with the front of the barricade and once again Lyssa's world was filled with a deafening, if brief, roar. She felt the wind get knocked out of her from the sheer impact of the explosive round on the other side of the barricade. Sevarn, who had fallen beneath her, had been taken off-guard and as such could only muster a low, surprised grunt. Debris showered all over them, and Lyssa felt something cut into her left cheek that made her wince but otherwise she kept her mouth shut.
The turian operative who had been with the pair at the barricade lay motionless nearby, a sizeable portion of jagged metal shrapnel protruding from the side of his head. Lyssa's ears were ringing, yet as it started to fade, she became aware of footsteps nearby, multiple sets that grew in volume. More of the CED troopers were coming their way, moving ahead quickly now that their path had been apparently cleared.
Lyssa rose to her feet, her shotgun still clenched in her hands. As she looked over what remained of the barricade, she sighted at least four of the CED troopers coming her way. She did not hesitate to let them have it, blasting one down before any of the others could react. This first shot took the arm from one trooper, severing it just past the elbow, before the follow-up caught him in the face and blasted away a sizeable portion of his head. The helmet he wore did little to stop the armour-piercing rounds, visor shattering and flesh and bone being cut to ribbons before his mind could even register the pain and shock of having one arm partially blown off. The trooper crumpled unceremoniously where he stood.
His startled compatriots were only taken off-guard for a few seconds, but it was enough for Lyssa to continue firing. Her features were fixed in a look of grim determination as she continued working the shotgun, blasting away down what was essentially a glorified shooting gallery given the straight nature of the tunnel. Rifle fire clipped the wall behind her, and she felt something of the return fire skirt past her side. And then she was being pulled back by a powerful arm, taken away from the frontline much to her surprise. Yet, as she went, she noticed that the few CED troopers still in the tunnel had begun to fall back.
'We've got them on the run!' Booker's voice was loud and firm, somehow making itself heard over the gunfire. Sevarn pulled Lyssa along after him, although it took her a few seconds to get the hint before she actually started to run in the direction he wanted her to go. They crossed into the operations room again, and this time Sevarn was able to shut a door behind them. It was not a sturdy security door like those that had been broken through, but it was a barrier nonetheless that could buy them a half minute more.
Malleus, Chas and Booker were out here, seemingly having fought off the attack from their end of the safehouse. There was another turian operative with them, still alive and well. It was Malleus who jogged over to the functioning terminal then, and there he began to key in various commands in an effort to find a particular piece of information.
'We've got to leave,' he told the others. Sevarn released Lyssa from his grasp then, and the woman offered the turian a grateful nod.
'We didn't set this place up without contingencies,' Malleus added. He brought up the camera feeds from those cameras still working, with at least one of them showing a group of CED troopers now loitering uncertainly by one of the broken-down security doors. There was a batarian there in CED armour seemingly talking to himself, although it was apparent that he was simply speaking through his communicator. That was the one in charge, Lyssa surmised. From the expression Booker gave, it seemed he knew this batarian.
'Sergeant Kern,' he stated, when he noticed that Lyssa was watching him. 'He's a close associate of Chief Frederic Taft, the one in charge of the CED contingent doing security in the administrative complex. He's the one who led the team who snatched Vok from us after we apprehended him.'
'So, Taft's in with the Colonel?' Lyssa did not know who this "Frederic Taft" was, yet it was clear even to her that he was high up within the CED. Booker, standing nearby with a firm expression on his face, turned to her and gave a nod.
'It's more than likely,' he said. 'Venarus is the kind of man to strike me as having more than one contingency in place. He's probably got some kind of transmitter hidden on him, a means for his friends in the CED or elsewhere to find him in case of trouble.'
'We scanned him when we brought him in,' Malleus said, glancing at Booker.
'Evidently, you didn't do a good enough job.' Booker's tone was somewhat dismissive, and this visibly annoyed the ageing turian.
'If we're going to leave, then we better do it fast,' Chas said, and he nodded for the surveillance feed. 'They're probably calling for help.'
'We should just kill Venarus and be done with it,' Booker said. Lyssa could only agree, yet it was Malleus who shook his head in refusal.
'No, no, he has more to tell.' His features perked up at something that appeared upon the computer's display. 'There, that's what I thought.'
Malleus picked up his rifle from where he had left it leaning against the desk. His attention went to the large screen upon the wall ahead, which was currently no longer functioning. Nonetheless, the turian readied his rifle and without warning anyone, simply opened fire in the screen's direction. Rifle rounds tore through the thin glass-like material, shattering the large screen into hundreds of smaller slivers. The wall behind it was covered in neatly fixed blue square panels. Malleus ceased fire and lowered the gun, all while the others watched him with uncertainty or outright bemusement.
Malleus strode over to the wall, and there he turned his rifle around and began to use it to tap against each of the panels, specifically those at about his waist level. He tried a few, shaking his head after each one, before the next set of knocks about five panels along delivered a much hollower sound. He looked back to the others, offering them a satisfied smile.
'This is it,' he told them. Again, he put his rifle aside before he worked his fingers around the edges of the panel. Giving it a pull, the whole thing came away with surprising ease, indicating that it had been explicitly designed to be removed. Behind it was a metal hatch, one secured with a simple keypad.
'I might need some help here,' he said, and he turned to the others. Chas walked over, all too keen to put this place behind him.
'What about Venarus?' Sevarn asked him.
'We'll have to take him with us,' the older turian replied. 'Kassia's still with him, she may need some help.'
'I'll go.' Sevarn was quick to volunteer. As he began to head for the distant corridor that would take him to the interrogation room, Lyssa instead stepped in front of him. At the wall, both Malleus and Chas toyed with the hatch, with the turian attempting more than one code at the lock, none of which seemed to work.
'I'll come with you,' she told him, feeling all too worried as to her turian's state of mind. Sevarn frowned, but otherwise shook his head.
'Please, Lyssa, I'm simply going to give Kassia the help she needs.' His voice was filled with his familiar sincerity, and he put a tender hand upon her shoulder then. After everything that had just happened, and with the threat of more hostiles bearing down upon them, feeling his touch was all too welcome.
'Get back quick,' she told him. At the wall, the hatch finally opened, revealing a darkened space beyond. A more recent addition, no doubt placed there by the turians who had commandeered this bunker.
'I'll wait here and keep the way clear,' she added. Sevarn nodded. He turned on his heels and hurried down the corridor, towards the interrogation room. Lyssa watched him go, before she turned her attention to the tunnels at both flanks and the hostile soldiers who waited behind their respective doors. Sooner or later, they would launch another attack. She could only hope it happened after Sevarn had come back with Venarus in tow.
Kassia had been prepping Venarus for transport as soon as the attack had started. In this section of the bunker, the explosive damage was minimal, and when Sevarn entered the interrogation room he found that Venarus was already lying on a wheeled gurney. The turian Colonel appeared immobile, his eyes closed. If anything, he looked to be fast asleep.
Kassia looked up as Sevarn entered. She appeared a little on edge, understandably so given the trouble from outside. Sevarn put aside his rifle and approached, hands held up to show that he meant nothing untoward.
'I'm here to assist,' he told her. 'We've got to make this quick, though.'
'Sounds about right.' Kassia sighed, and with a tug she disconnected the Colonel from the room's medical computer. At her back was the trolley upon which various implements and vials had been situated. Sevarn made his way to the other side of the gurney, looking over Venarus with some curiosity.
'Is he dead?' He asked her. Kassia shook her head.
'No, not at all. His nervous system shut down after the last injection.'
'He's unconscious?'
'More of a coma. Not what I intended for him, but it makes it easier for us to transport him.'
Sevarn's gaze flitted past the female turian and to the trolley near her. Whilst she fussed over the comatose Colonel, Sevarn took a step towards the trolley, more out of curiosity than anything else. He recognized a few of the names printed upon the vials: one was of the neural inflammatory that had left the Colonel in his current state. Another was of a potent sedative, and upon seeing it an idea entered Sevarn's head that was not likely to let itself go anytime soon. He pondered it a few seconds more, wondering if it was truly the right thing to do or not.
Out in the operations centre, he heard gunfire. Kassia perked up, her gaze going to the door and the corridor beyond. The CED strike team had likely called in for backup, and it seemed that some of that support had just arrived. That left the pair in here with little time to make their move, and dragging along an unconscious Colonel Venarus would likely slow them down anyway. He had already said enough, had already made his intentions clear. The man was a traitor, and he was responsible for the deaths of so many good people that simply thinking about it filled Sevarn with a deep-seated fury.
'We need to get out of here,' Kassia said, and she turned around to face him again. As soon as she did, Sevarn struck her in the face. It was a sharp and sudden punch, and it sent her reeling. Before she could recover, he had grabbed hold of her, spinning her about such that she had her back against him and his arms were tight about her. One was firmly upon her neck, and as Sevarn pushed harder and harder he could feel the turian woman squirming in his grasp.
'Don't fight it,' he muttered, and after several seconds more he felt her fall limp in his arms. He laid the unconscious woman gently upon the floor, figuring he could carry her out if he was to leave Venarus behind. Of course, he did not intend on leaving Venarus behind for his CED friends to take him off to safety.
He had to act quickly. Sevarn snatched a syringe from its place upon the trolley, before he stuck it into the vial of sedative and filled it. He filled it to such a point that no one taking the injection was ever going to wake up again, and then he turned his attention to where Venarus lay. The Colonel looked peaceful in his unconscious state, hardly the visage of a ruthless traitor and rather that of a tired, ageing soldier.
Sevarn stood over him, syringe in hand. And as he continued to look down at Venarus, he realised then that he could not do it. Not like this, not when it simply did not strike him as necessary. The man was a traitor and deserved to be punished, but to be murdered like this? He was defenceless. Sevarn had certainly killed in the past, but always in the line of duty and always when defending himself against aggressors. Never had he slain someone who did not need to be slain, and never had he harmed an unarmed man.
He sighed. He could not dawdle here. Kassia would be an added load now, unless she came to. Somehow, he doubted as much would happen within the minutes he needed it to. As he relaxed, he thought of Lyssa and of the unlikely relationship he had formed with her. Whatever the future held, he found that he wanted her to be there for it, no matter what.
He was taken off-guard completely when Venarus' eyes suddenly shot open. The ageing soldier seemingly snapped out of his fugue with little in the way of outright disorientation, and he was suddenly sitting up with his hands going for Sevarn. The younger turian would have jumped back in fright, were it not for the older male's hands grabbing his own. Looking him in the eyes, fury filling them, Venarus saw the overfilled syringe and as such put his own hand about the wrist of the hand in which Sevarn held the implement. Sevarn pushed back, suddenly finding himself caught in a grappling match. And yet, the older male had pushed his arm such and twisted it so that the point of the syringe found a home in Sevarn's neck, piercing through the leathery hide at the side of it before finding a home within the muscle there.
The small pinprick sting that occurred at the needle's entrance was quickly overshadowed by the strangely warm, soothing sensation that began flooding into his body. It took Sevarn a few seconds to realise what had happened, but by then it was far too late for him. Venarus pulled the mostly empty syringe out of his neck, letting it fall to the floor whereupon it shattered into a multitude of small glass slivers.
Sevarn's grasp fell away and all desire to fight went with it. Control of his limbs escaped him all at once, and he simply collapsed to the floor. Venarus slid off of the bed and hobbled for the exit, making sure to pick up Sevarn's rifle from where it had been leaning up against the wall. He offered one last look back at the young, immobilised turian before he went on into the corridor. His ageing features were inscrutable, betraying nothing of whatever he happened to be feeling at that moment.
Sevarn, meanwhile, lay paralysed on the floor. He found he could not move at all, save for the occasional blink, and the more he lay there the more tired he became.
Sevarn was taking too long. The others were already through the hatch, and there were more CED goons trying to break into the operations centre. Lyssa glanced back into the open hatch, catching sight of Booker crouched in the dark space beyond.
'I'm going for Sev,' she told him. The man narrowed his eyes, but before he could muster a reply, she simply shut the hatch in front of him. If the CED guys broke in, it would hardly be fitting to leave the escape tunnel wide open. With this in mind, she set the wall panel that had previously concealed the tunnel's entrance back in place. She would come back, and with Sevarn in tow.
She rushed across the operations room, hearing a rattle of weapons fire from her far left-hand side. The goons beyond were shooting into the reinforced frosted glass over the inner doors, leaving cracks through it but otherwise none of the rounds penetrated. Eventually those windows would give way. This thought spurred Lyssa into a sprint. She headed for the far corridor, hurrying down its length and around a corner, before she came upon the interrogation room and its neighbouring observation room.
As soon as she came upon the interrogation room, she knew something was wrong. Venarus was gone, with little more than an empty medial gurney providing some hint that he had been there previously. Kassia was lying on the floor only a few steps from it, and as Lyssa rushed inside she took a quick check of the turian woman's pulse. She was alive and breathing, simply unconscious. Had Venarus done this?
It was then her attention shot to Sevarn, who was lying spread-eagled on his back nearby. He was wide-eyed and breathing, yet Lyssa knew then that there was something so very dreadfully wrong just from the overall look of him. She put her shotgun aside and instead knelt by Sevarn, feeling some deep, sinking feeling forming in the pit of her stomach as her eyes met his.
'I'm sorry, Lyssa.' Sevarn's voice was little more than a dual-flanged croak, and Lyssa knew then that her turian had made a critical, uncharacteristic mistake. She saw the broken syringe next to him. This was enough of a hint for her to form a picture in her mind of what had happened.
'No, no, no, Sev…' She put her arms about him. He felt so heavy, so limp, listless even; paralysis had set in, a result of whatever concoction had been in that needle. Nonetheless, she lifted him to a seated position, pulling him in close. There, she could feel the dull thump of his heartbeat, already slow and only getting slower.
'Just stay awake,' she told him, and it was then she found she had to choke back the first sob she had felt come on in a very long time. Sevarn leaned into her embrace. His breathing hitched in his throat then, as his lungs finally began to give out.
'Stay with me, Sev,' Lyssa croaked, and she wrapped her arms tight about him. With her head in the crook of his neck, she simply held him, as if this simple act of holding onto him would keep him awake and alive. It was futile in the end, and within moments she could feel the last vestiges of his life fading from him. The turian fell completely limp in her arms, eyes closed, head drooped. And still she kept holding him tight, blinking back the tears that had started to well up in her eyes.
She was still there when the first of the CED thugs entered the infirmary. When they went to pull her off of him, she screamed and shouted and flailed and struck. At some point, someone hit her in the back of the head with something heavy and her entire world went dark.
