-04:57:38

…

If there was one thing Soka was happy about as James and her ran through the deserted, burnt-out remains of New Esperance, it was that the two bastards Lee and Abboud followed the plan to a letter and had abandoned the truck at the predetermined insertion point. It was still running, as though they were in a rush to make it into the remains of Fort Girard.

As the Reaper shook the city as it continued its march, Soka carefully led the two of them into the outer perimeter of the base. She glanced at the walls and noticed the yellow and black diamonds that had been partially scraped off or had graffiti overlapping them. It appeared as though the base itself was first set up by the Cerberus occupation force before it was captured and repurposed for Alliance use. It would have made sense to repurpose the base. Eden Prime as a whole was a world that served as a model to other species about human expansion. They had likely only maintained a small militia until the Saren incident three years ago…

Saren… the vanguard of the Reaper invasion… She hoped that the disgrace of a turian suffered in his last days and into his afterlife.

The sound of Reaper ground forces brought them to a standstill as they entered through a gaping hole left by an artillery shell. As they climbed through they paused and took in their new surroundings. Stunned and silent, Soka could feel nothing as they moved through the open mass grave that was the remains of the 58th Marine Division. There must have been hundreds… thousands of bodies strewn across the yard, even more were in the process of being dumped into piles by husk workers, paying no attention to anything but the task of collecting the dead. She doubted they would have reacted even if they noticed them, even in self-defence. The Reapers could always process more slave labour.

As for the men of James' unit, they did not go down without a fight. For every human that fell it seemed like the enemy lost times three. If these humans had held fast against a turian attack, she would have been humbled by the courageousness of this last stand. But the Reapers were inexhaustible in their ground assets. They would have ruthlessly and unemotionally thrown wave after wave against the division just to silence these souls. They would not pause, they would not mourn. They would simply repurpose the dead into more shock troops and press onward on their campaign.

She could not look at James. Even if they were both wearing helmets, she could only imagine the agony of roaming through hundreds, likely thousands of his comrades who defended their post until the very end. The silence was a deafening one, only broken by the sounds of the open Alliance radios and the endless shrieking of Reapers over the frequency as the dead who wore those communication links were being processed into more drones for the Reaper Dreadnought.

Soka turned her attention away from the horrifying mental image and hunched over as she heard the familiar shuffling she did not want to hear. Glancing round the corner stood a dozen or so humans. Some of them were in military-grade armour, some civilians. All of them were armed and commingling with the Reapers like they were in sleepwalking.

So… it appeared that the Reaper Dreadnought was in the process of having drones transport victims to the ship for indoctrination. Well… it was to be expected. She tried not to think about her greatest unspoken fear about the indoctrination process: that the victim was still in there somewhere, a prisoner in his own body which answered the will of the Reaper master.

Killing them… it would be a kindness.

As the two of them took cover behind a shrapnel shrapnel-riddled wall protecting Fort Girard, Soka held her hand up to keep James from moving forward. If they were going to do this, James would be providing her cover fire from here while she flanked them and drew the attention of the Reaper drones left guarding Fort Girard.

She bolted out of cover, her movement immediately noticed by a pack of sentry marauders. As they fired on her, James swung his rifle through one of the blast points in the wall and fired on them, catching them outright exposed. One rounded back and fired on him as it fell. Making sure he was OK with a glance back in his direction, she shifted her fire onto the former comrades of James'. They shrieked at her in a way she never heard a human sound like before in her life as her rifle rounds overwhelmed their shields.

They did not even fire. They just stood there screaming at the two of them as bullets broke through their body armour and cut them down. It was as though the Reaper controlling these poor bastards was engaging on a whole other level of psychological warfare with them.

With the immediate area pacified for the time being, Soka gestured to James to come. He did, but he was in a sort of daze as got out of his cover and approached him. This last stand had shaken him in a way that surprised her.

In the short time that she had known the human, she found that his greatest strength was not physical, or even martial. He could compartmentalize what impressed her the most. He would try to lighten the mood or say something off-balanced to mask his fear. He could hide the cracks in his motivation and carry on with the task at hand. But this was different altogether. Perhaps there was more to it. His wounds were serious and his health was deteriorating. The drugs he was using stopped being a benefit and were now likely making it worse for him in the long run. It was affecting his thinking, leaving him a frayed mess.

James remained silent and watched in horror as the Reaper Labour continued to pile the bodies, uninterested in the firefight behind them that took place. James raised his rifle and shot one down carrying the body of a female NCO. The creature made no noise; its compatriots paid it no mind. Soka reached out and touched his riffle, lowering it back to the ground.

"James," she softly spoke to the human. "Now is not the time for this… When this is over…"

Soka trailed off as she noticed the misery in his eyes. She wished she hadn't said that. She wished instead she had the right words she could use to comfort her partner… her friend… but she didn't. All they could do was stare at each other a moment longer before James turned away and shuffled towards the entrance to the base.

Someway, somehow, the base interior was worse than the perimeter it loomed over. The walls were blasted with light rifle and grenade fire and painted in place of murky dead human blood. Bodies were not simply shot like those outside but instead were mutilated by close-quarter combat. As they moved through the decimation, it just kept getting worse to look at. The Alliance had led a desperate defence to keep command and control active for as long as possible. So many lives were sacrificed to keep field units updated with the latest Reaper intelligence.

All these lives were lost… and in the end, it just was not enough. The Reaper intelligence that led this ground campaign had done this all before. It was like an old shoe to it, if she remembered the human idiom correctly.

Stepping over the corpse of an officer, Soka swept through the corridors, James remained five steps behind her. James' back was turned to her to cover their rear. Through their communication channel, she could hear the sound of James' ragged breathing. He sounded like he was close to physical and mental collapse as they moved through yet another pile of bodies.

They needed to get out of here. Find Lee and Abboud, deal with them and just leave. As she noticed a dead human marine hanging from a ventilation shaft she found herself wondering if the Reapers just swarmed in like a great wave and washed out the resistance with fire and their blood.

Without warning, she was caught in the side with a shotgun blast. Her shield died and the pellets collided with her armour, kicking her off her feet and dropping her into a pile of corpses. She heard James say something expletive and the sound of boots running away, but it didn't matter. James dropped down and started to examine her, his hands searching her armour for signs of penetration.

"I'm okay…" she mumbled as looked up at him, dazed. "I'm fine…"

The sound of something metal hit the wall nearby. They looked and found an armed grenade sitting there far too close for comfort. Yowling in pain, James reached out and dragged the dazed Soka out of the blast range with little effectiveness. The grenade exploded and showered the two of them with debris and shrapnel flaring the shields.

Abboud and Lee… they were trying to stop them.

Ignoring the pain in her side, Soka stood up and clasped James on the shoulder out of gratitude. Both of them stood up and followed the footsteps, their rifles back up. Another shotgun blast entered the wall behind them and Soka had enough of it already. She pushed her back against the wall and shot through the opposite wall as she heard footsteps on the other side. James hunched over and checked the corner. He turned back to look at her.

"It's Lee…" he spoke over their channel. "He's bleeding hard, but he's gone to the command centre."

Soka did not reply, and instead stood up and followed after James. Sure enough blood splatter was on the opposite side of the wall, but she paid it no mind. The two of them followed the trail right back to the centre. Nothing was on their minds but one thing: stopping this from going any further. Lee was wounded but there was still a way out of this for them if only the constables saw things their way.

"-Keep still, let the medi-gel set…" they heard Abboud say as they reached the doorway leading to the centre. "Once we broadcast, we'll get out of here."

That was all the confirmation they needed to hear. Soka stood up and charged into the room, James right next to her. They moved up the stairs leading to the command and control over-watch station and found Abboud in the middle of treating Lee's wound.

"Stop what you're doing and step away from the terminal!" she called out to them, her rifle raised at the pair of them.

The pair of them looked up to face down the two rifles aiming at them. Neither of them was scared by the sight. Lee sat there in the puddle of his blood, clutching his wounds and looking up at the turian with nothing short of hatred in his eyes. Abboud's hands were raised in front of her. She took a step back from her partner and moved towards the communication relay. In front of the two of them were their weapons. They were unarmed and had no tactical advantage.

With James' rifle still aimed at the pair of them, Soka lowered hers and reached up to pull off her helmet. Wearily she stared at the pair of them and took a step forward.

"I know you think you're doing the right thing. But doing this means we lose the element of surprise," she spoke directly to Abboud. "We lose the chance to turn that Reaper into a pile of rubble. We can't just ignore this opportunity."

"Exactly," Abboud snapped back at the turian. "If we broadcast the message, we can bluff the Reaper into leaving, buy us time to go and evacuate more people out of the city. What is more important to you? A chance… a mere goddamn chance, or a certainty at saving lives?"

Bluff the Reapers? These two had to have been delusional…

"Are you two mad?"James shouted back at her. "It would just land somewhere else on the planet. You're not saving lives; you're shifting the pile of shit onto others."

"Better them than us." Lee managed to get out through the blood streaming off his lips.

Giving him a sharp glare, Abboud turned back to face Soka.

"We agreed to help Nascimento because once we got his civilians out safely, we could return and keep smuggling people out of New Esperance," she explained herself to Soka, her voice raising out of her bubbling fury. "But then you two bastards show up, offering an escape off the planet in exchange for nuking this city and every inhabitant it for a chance to kill that thing... and it's not a surefire thing, but a chance."

Soka remained silent. Abboud was not wrong in her assessment of the situation. She had no idea how much firepower it would take to kill the Reaper slowly encroaching on them. What she did know was that they had to try and that the wheels had already been set in motion over an hour ago. If these two got their way, there was no way for them to save the amount of lives they were hoping to.

"This argument is pointless," Soka spoke in a low tone as she took another step forward towards the human female. "The bomb is in place with three fail-safes to ensure the bomb goes off within a few short hours. You won't even have time to gather any sizable civilian population and escape the bomb radius which is going to be upwards to seventy-five kilometres outside the city limit factoring in the fusion core explosion. The only way that bomb gets disabled is by me… and I'm not backing down from it."

The devastation in Abboud's demeanour was palpable. Soka was no expert in human body language for the time being, but she watched as the human stared at her as though she had been betrayed. Soka could not help but understand the reaction. Soka hated herself as much as the woman hated her… but the decision was final.

"You bastards, you absolute bastards!" she screamed at the two of them. "Those are our families you just killed! I have a husband and children still out there. All of this is for them, and you went ahead and killed them?!"

Next to her, Lee attempted to push himself up off the table. Ignoring Soka and James, Abboud moved to her part and wrapped her arm around Lee's waist to keep her friend from collapsing right on the spot.

"Farah… Farah, they still have a chance… Leave me here and go find them…" Lee breathed to her, attempting to settle his partner down. "I -I can still sound a general evacuation notice… a few hours could clear most of the city out…"

Like Soka before her, James pulled the helmet off his head. His sickly pale visage startled her; it startled Abboud and Lee as well.

"With the Reaper forces slaughtering them as they run!" he shouted down at the two of them. "Don't you fucking get it!? There is no good ending to any of this. At least with us, we get to damage... probably even destroy a goddamn Reaper! We don't like doing this any more than you liked hearing what we're doing, but there is no turning back from this!"

Abboud was still glaring at Soka, rightfully glaring into the face that condemned her family unilaterally.

"I won't let you stop us…" she whispered to Soka. "Not when some can still survive this. Even if it's one more person, it's worth it."

Noticing the two of them were inching towards the console once again, Soka raised her rifle back up at the two of them. This conversation was over. She had only one final ultimatum to offer before she was forced to do something she never wanted to do in her life.

"You're leaving me with no options," Soka spoke as commandingly as she could while looking down her rifle sights at the two of them. "I'm asking you one more time… step away from the console-"

Lee and Abboud did not have a chance to react. Not to send the message out, not to surrender, not even to go for their guns. From behind Soka, the deafening roar of the M-97 Mattock in close quarters deafened her and she watched in horror as the two constables were torn apart by heavy rifle fire, spattering her with projectile blood. The two of them collapsed in place.

Soka rounded back and with wide eyes looked at James; his rifle was still aimed at Abboud and Lee. His eyes were as wide as hers were. He looked like he was in a state of shock by his action. Slowly, he stepped forward as a cough caught their attention.

Sure enough, it was Abboud. Her chest was bleeding profusely as she attempted to pull herself up. She reached up and pulled Lee into her arms, her breathing was wheezing, like a lung was filling up with blood. She sat there slumped over, cradling her fallen partner.

"You… killed my best friend… I knew him since we were children… and you killed him," she warbled out, her hand pushing through his hair.

James remained silent to the remark; he swung his rifle at the communication relay and shot it up until everyone in the room was certain that it was not working. As the rifle fire ceased a low coughing chuckle emitted from the constable darkly.

"Doesn't matter," she wheezed out to the two of them, not looking at James or Soka as she continued to cradle Lee. "…I messaged everyone I knew about… it. It'll spread… I had to do it. Slaughtering our own to stop them… makes us no better…"

The silence remained thick between Soka, James and the dying woman. James exhaled and raised his rifle again. This time it was directed at Abboud. She did not look up. She did not even seem to mind her life was drawing to a close. Her attention remained locked on her deceased friend.

James fired one more single round, shooting the woman through the head. She fell back, her burdens gone. James and Soka were now alone to stew in what had happened and the knowledge that Abboud had already partially got her message out. Soka remained locked in place for a moment as she felt the warm human blood dripping down the front of her face.

Remembering their actual objective of being here, Soka forced herself back to reality stepped over the bodies of Lee and Abboud and made her way to the command and control table. Silently she activated the defence network and attempted not to get any more sick sat what they had to do.

There was no option left. It was bound to happen, and Soka would have been the one to shoot the well-intentioned people dead. But she didn't. James took that burden from her, and she was so unbelievably grateful to him for that kindness from him. He killed people of his species for her… It was… touching.

"I synced New Esperance air defence network to the Gola," she murmured as she stepped back to join James once again. "Let's go… before more Reapers come."

James did not reply. He just stood there staring at the two people he killed on her behalf. Soka's mandibles flapped open slightly and she stepped forward, reaching out to grab her friend by his wrist. It forced his attention away from the bodies and he tilted his head down to look at her. He looked so lost, so helpless, so unbelievably guilty for what he had to do…

"Thank you for doing that, James… you couldn't know how much I appreciate this…" she whispered up to him. "I don't know if I could have done it myself…. I was worried you might change your mind. Side with them…"

Soka closed her eyes as she felt James's hand reach up, gently rubbing blood off the side of her mandible.

"You know me, Soka… we might have known each other for a few short hours… but you know me well enough," he spoke finally. "I could never do that to you..."

Soka nodded, unable to look the human in the eyes. She knew that now.

...

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