-02:12:54
…
The ride back to the spaceport was done so in haunted silence.
Sitting with his head propped against the window, James tried not to think of the people he had murdered in cold blood. That was what it had been. Murder. Lee and Abboud were no threat and had no chance to communicate with the outside world. He could have easily gunned the array until it stopped working first, but something in him had snapped. He did not know what it was. Perhaps it was the drugs and blood building up inside of his body that affected his judgment. Maybe it was the amphetamines that left her a mental, paranoid wreck. Perhaps it was just old-fashioned outrage at the pair of them for contradicting everything James and Soka had done up to that point for something that would simply feel good to them.
Whatever it was, two people were shot dead in cold blood and it was he who had done it. He knew that the plan they defended was about to kill thousands, but this… this had felt beyond personal. The absolute worst part was just how much he sympathized with their reasons for their act. They wanted to save lives in the face of everything. He completely disagreed with their decisions, but he could respect them.
Next to him, Soka remained coated in their blood. As she drove, he could see her misery. Between this and the weapon now armed and less than two and a half hours away from detonating on its own, the weight of her decision was starting to get to her.
What neither of them wanted to address out loud was Farah Abboud's gasping dying words. She had contacted people on a private line about what was going down. He did not want to think about it, so he pushed it to the back of his mind until now, when he noticed the first trickling of refugees fleeing in the direction of the spaceport in small groups. It wasn't long before those small groups turned into mobs the closer they got there until they finally reached the parking lot of the port and it was teeming with hundreds of people and vehicles attempting to make their way inside.
Soka stopped the vehicle and quietly, the pair of them watched the flood of people in stunned silence. There was no way that the ship could hold even one per cent of the crowd.
"Didn't I say something about not wanting this to turn into Sophie's Choice?" James growled as he grabbed his gear from out of the back of the cab. "Yes, I said something about not wanting this to happen. So why in the hell did it happen!?"
Soka gripped the wheel of the truck as James pulled her rifle and helmet out for her and handed them off to her.
"Who would have guessed that a warning from law enforcement about New Esperance on the verge of being annihilated and a freighter being prepped would go viral?" she muttered as she leaned back into the seat. "What a genuine surprise. This is a completely shocking turn of events."
Huffing in annoyance and feeling suddenly sick about what was about to happen, James opened the truck door and climbed out, stepping out into the screaming and shouting crowd. Soka followed him and together, they pushed through the crowd with a combination of physical force and brandishing their rifles to force the crowd to part. It was a slow process, but they made it through to the front entrance and stepped inside.
Soka and James paused as they noticed the dozen or so dead civilians who weren't there before they left. Men and women were gunned down by the automated defences Soka and he had reactivated to assist Nascimento in defence of the facility. It was, however, intended for the Reapers…
As they approached the Freighter, its engines humming with life, they noticed Private Nascimento running down the gangplank towards them, his rifle out and ready. He looked like a mess. Blood was streaming down his face from what appeared to have been a bottle thrown at him. He had tried his utmost to reason with the crowd before they attempted to flood onto the Freighter and unknowingly ran into a gruesome fate.
"Lieutenant…" Nascimento snapped out a salute. He glanced past Soka and James and added. "Where are Abboud and Lee? Are they still outside?"
It was a question they both anticipated to have to answer the moment James had executed the pair of them. James was in the camp of standing up and telling the truth to the young soldier. He needed to know that all of this was their fault and ended up paying for this with their lives. Exhaling, James stepped forward, but Soka pushed him back and stood in front of him. Her talon reached out and gripped the Private on his shoulder.
"They fell to the Reapers attempting to clear out a path for us, they died bravely," Soka spoke, her tone steadied as she lied right to Nascimento's face. "They wanted to save people, so we sent a message out to their contacts out of respect for them. We… never anticipated these many would show up."
James watched Nascimento step back from Soka's attempt to comfort him. Silently, he sat down on the gangplank and ran his hand through his bloodied hair. Lee and Abboud appeared to have been more than just people working for a common purpose to him. As Soka had become to him, the war and the terrible uncertainty had made the three of them friends. Now they were dead, killed by his hands.
He looked over to Soka who turned back to look at him as well. Wordlessly, James nodded, grateful that she had stepped up before he did and glorified the two of them. To preserve the memory of those he had fought with for so long. Perhaps this time the lie would be a better service than the truth could ever be.
"Right… okay…" muttered Nascimento as he wiped his eyes and looked up to the turian and human. "Well, I loaded the civilians I brought in first. There's still space to give at least 150 people. It will be cramped, but that's all the ship's VI calculated that we can save. We don't have time to strip out anything to make more room, and I'm guessing there are five times out here waiting on us. We need to prioritize survival. Children first, right?"
Soka and James nodded in unison. Yes, in a war such as this, the children had to be saved first and foremost. If there was any extra room, then they would figure out who could go next. James turned away and silently he activated his omni-tool, hooking the device into the ship's intercom signal and enabling external output, turning the tool on his arm into a microphone.
Silently he stepped back out to the doorway, past the dead bodies and out into the front of the crowd. The crowd was senselessly loud and panicky.
James exhaled and found what strength he had left. He raised the omni-tool to his mouth.
"EVERYONE SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND LISTEN!" he shouted at the crowd.
That was enough to get everyone's attention. A stunned silence fell over the crowd and it seemed as though every face he could make out turned to face him. Ignoring a sudden shyness that washed over him, he stepped forward.
"Here's the deal, people," he continued, certain he had their complete attention."We are prioritizing off-world transportation by age starting with newborns to preteens, following that, anyone between the ages of 13 to 17 years old. If you have children, send them up and we will find a place for them. Reuniting some form of family unit will get next priority seating. If there is room, one parent may accompany them off-world."
There was a low rumbling from the crowd like many of them thought it was unfair. Self-preservation was only natural… but now was the time to suppress that natural urge.
"There's no room for anyone else. I'm sorry," he went on, forcing his tone to be harder than before to drive the seriousness of the situation across to them. "If you fail to heed this order, the automated defences have been activated as you know. Approach the vessel with intent to storm it and they will open fire, along with me and my unit; and the only one to be blamed will be you."
He didn't say any of this lightly. He meant every word and he felt sick to his stomach to say them, but it was all necessary. Many of these people would undoubtedly die in the coming hours and days. But even if they did not get on the freighter, there was still a shot and with any luck, fear of their mortality would motivate them to unify together for the sake of their survival.
"There is still a chance to escape," he pressed onwards, hoping beyond hope they would heed what he said. "I want combatant-aged unmarried or childless males and females between the ages of 18 to 80 who are the lowest priority to prepare your vehicles and whatever abandoned but serviceable transportation left here to move at full haste into the forests as fast as you can. I know you all want to leave this planet, but that isn't happening. This is the only way we're getting all out of here, and it will only be achieved if we all work towards the common purpose of survival. Now send your children up, there is little time left before the launch."
James turned off the microphone and stepped back inside where Nascimento and Soka were awaiting them. Nascimento was working on the Turret control, setting them on manual so that he retained control over the weapons systems. Now it was all up to the mob outside to make their move. Soka and James raised their rifles and waited for the worst.
… But that didn't happen…
Silently the three of them stood there, watching as the crowd outside started to part and dissipate as the single and childless survivors left to prepare for their exodus. They could see parents talking to their children, hugging them, giving them their final farewells before sending them off inside the port. Many of the younger ones were weeping. The preteens held onto their siblings struggling to be grown-ups to the younger children.
James and Soka lowered their rifles and stepped out of their way, allowing the children passage into the freighter. Both of them tried not to count, fearing that moment when they reached the maximum capacity, and most of all fearing the number of children that would have to be turned away…
But despite the number of children they had funnelled into the ship, the load capacity came sooner than Soka and James could have anticipated. Nascimento had been doing the headcount and stepped forward, despair in his eyes as he noticed the next batch of children coming into the port in the thirty to forty range.
"Lieutenant, we don't have enough space left…" Nascimento voiced what James had feared the most. James shook his head. He was not hearing that. They had only just started loading the shuttle. He had not fully appreciated that ninety-three spaces had been occupied by Nascimento's group.
Exhaling and hating himself somehow even more, he rounded back to Nascimento.
"No... No… There has to be more room…" James immediately denied it. "I want all the military-aged men and women that were from your original group out of that ship!"
He watched in suppressed horror at the shock in the Private's expression. It was filled with a flash of betrayal.
"Sir, I-"
"We don't care if you made a promise. We don't get those sorts of luxuries here!" Soka snapped at Nascimento as the next group approached. "Now do it. That's an order, Private!"
As Soka went quiet, leaving her order loaming over the three of them, Nascimento nodded and quietly turned away and trudged up the Gola's gangway and into the ship. From outside James and Soka could hear shouting. Soka turned away and stopped the next group of children from moving any further and silently, everyone watched as men and women left the ship, weeping and cursing.
James lowered his eyes, unable to look at any of them out of personal shame. Silently he tried to justify it, that it was all in the name of giving as many children a chance to escape. It didn't matter. He still felt like shit any way he tried to frame it. He looked up and noticed Nascimento standing there emotionless. He was holding back his tears as he paid his attention to the children that were embarking rather than the people, he probably felt he had smashed all their hopes.
But it wasn't enough. It took two more groups of kids and teenagers before it became clear that there was simply no more room left. Everyone else would have to be left behind now. Looking at Nascimento for the briefest of moments James closed his eyes and exhaled as he came to peace with what had to be done. He chuckled to himself at the sheer absurdity of his delusions. He knew this was going to happen the moment Abboud admitted she had told people. He just spent up until this moment pretending otherwise.
He turned away and opened his eyes, looking at Soka, his expression breaking into a reassuring smile as he reached out to grip her arm. She froze and turned to face him as well.
"I'm not going, Soka," he spoke gently to her. "A few others can take my place. So, I'm staying here."
Incomprehension was locked on Soka's face. Like what he had said was a bad joke. Since the moment they met, all James wanted to do was escape… and here he was now on the precipice of making that wish a reality, and now he decided he was going to stay?
So it didn't come to James as much of a surprise when Soka snapped her talon out and backhanded him as though it would knock his sense back into him. It didn't matter if she gutted him with said talons; he felt he was making more sense than he had been in years. It felt… right.
"You can't do that!" Soka cried out, her talons gripping the sides of his chest plate. "You need to get to a hospital. You promised me you were going to live!"
James smiled as he shook his head.
"I said I would try, and I still can if I'm smart about it," he reassured her. "As for my health, I doubt the Reapers have killed the doctors in small settlements. I'll get treatment… but you have to go now… the mission is yours; your survival is paramount."
Soka remained locked eyes with him, her mandibles flapping open. He wasn't sure if a turian could cry, but she was upset with him. Still holding him, she glanced over his shoulder to face the next group of teenagers. Unsteadily, she exhaled and nodded.
"I am staying as well then, and don't even try to guilt me out of it," she said, snapping at him. "We can go with the trucks. Get as far as we can… I'll find you a doctor. Maybe we'll make it off the world another time, right?"
Not believing her for a second, he nodded, if only to pacify her. As much as he preferred her to leave, to not look back and ensure her life was safe, he knew better than to protest it. He didn't have the energy and there was no time for it. So just like that the decision had been made. They would be staying on Eden Prime after all.
What a shitty deal.
"Sounds like a plan," he muttered to her. He turned to Nascimento and added. "Nascimento, load up as many kids as you can in Soka and I place and get this crate moving!"
Nascimento's eyes widened as he looked from James to Soka to confirm they were indeed staying behind. As she nodded to him, Nascimento rounded back to James.
"I'm… I'm staying as well, then," he protested the order. "The ship has a VI and can map a relay jump. The older kids can keep watch over the rest!"
Pulling gently away from Soka to approach the Private, James stopped in front of the young man and shook his head. The gesture made Nascimento's expression contorted into an expression of rage and outrage for the denial of his request.
"I'm an Alliance soldier!" he all but screamed at James. "With all due respect, I'm standing with my C.O. to the end, sir!"
The loyalty in the face of everything was surprisingly touching. James ignored his guilt and smiled at him. Turning away to look at Soka, the pair of them came to a silent agreement. Soka stepped forward and pulled the omni-tool James had given to her out of her armour, as James did the same for Soka's OSD and holotags.
Taking Nascimento's hand and outstretching it, he placed the tags and OSD into his hand as Soka did the same for the omni-tool.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Private. More than you know. But I can't in good conscience let you stay… not when I have a vital mission for you to complete," he said to the soldier as he removed his omni-tool as well and placed it next to the command one. "I need you to take those omni-tools to command, and tell them what happened here. Tell them that this world is lost… do whatever you have to do to convince them not to stretch our lines thinner by protecting this place. We're going to be just fine, I promise."
James reassured the devastated Private by rubbing his shoulder. He stepped back and watched as Soka approached the Private again, her talon grazing against the tags and OSD still in Nascimento's open hand. Silently, she reached up and pulled her tags off her neck and placed them in his hand as well. Her Talon closed Nascimento's hand into a tight fist.
"I want you to take those tags to the Hierarchy Military Affairs board for causality listing. My OSD and tag should be given to the turian consulate to be transferred to my next of kin." Soka spoke quietly, her voice rough as she struggled to maintain her composure. "Please… do the Lieutenant and I one final favour: Survive, Eduardo Nascimento. Find out the identity of that baby; make sure the children are safe from harm. Fighting for them is your fight now. Understood?"
His eyes were red, but Nascimento still managed to nod despite being close to tears.
"Yes… yes ma'am. I-I'll do just that." He promised the turian as he pocketed their personal effects. "It's been an honour, Sir… Ma'am…"
Nascimento snapped out a salute. James and Soka returned it. They stood there in silence for a moment, before James dropped his hand and watched as Nascimento gathered the last batch of children up and filed them to the Gola. He followed them up the gangway and turned to them once again. His hand waved over the panel he stood next to and the gangway dropped off the ship. Silently he entered the ship, the sliding door closing behind him and sealing itself off.
Soka and James stood there in silence as they watched the freighter come to life and lift off the ground. As it began to make its ascent, the sudden roar of the anti-ship defences had been activated. The city of New Esperance was now officially fighting the Reaper occupier with missiles and point defence guns. The Reaper roared overhead louder than it had since they realized it was there to begin with. It was a deafening scream from the behemoth. Slowly the ship began to pound the ground as it began to move its way.
It was approaching the port…
It was approaching the reactor…
James couldn't help but laugh at the son of a bitch and what was about to unfold.
"The Dreadnought is taking the bait!" he heard Soka shout over her omni-tool channel to Nascimento. "Take off now. Go now dammit!"
With that, the Freighter turned overhead 500 metres above them. It flared its engines to life and took off at a steady ascent; leaving Soka and James behind, simply watching their ship leave them behind.
"Well now…" James murmured to Soka "This didn't go as I thought it would."
Next to him, the tension in the turian finally broke. She exploded into wild laughter which left her breathless as she reached out and clutched onto James for support to keep her from collapsing on the spot. In an insane world, trapped in an insane situation, laughter was the only thing left that they could do. James joined in and together they laughed despite their absolute personal terror.
"Reapers are incoming!"
The call came from the doorway. Standing there was a grimy and mud-covered man with wide eyes. Soka and James recollected themselves and launched themselves in the direction of the man, filing past them to take a position on an observation deck.
Sure enough, they were coming in hard. It looked as though it was a battalion-sized unit. There was nothing tactical in their movement. It seemed like the Reaper had sent them ahead just to pin down as many people as it could. They were expecting unarmed masses to tear apart.
Well… they were about to be in for a surprise. Soka and James gazed at each other, small smiles on their face as they both knew what was left... one last great effort.
"Get going now!" Soka commanded the human on James' behalf. "Between the defences and us, we'll draw their attention. Don't wait for us; just get the hell out of here now!"
As the man nodded and left to go and warn his fellow survivors that they had to leave, Soka and James fired a volley down on the first contact of husks. It was enough to divert their attention away from the unarmed foes and to the armed military personnel shooting at them from a height over them. Half a dozen of the creatures fell, and the rest started moving at them.
James lowered his rifle as they stepped back from the deck together. He turned his attention back to Soka, who joined him once again. Her expression puckered up as she should shoulder to shoulder with James as the screaming of the Reaper drones was directed at them.
"Well, Soka," James murmured to his friend. "I guess this is it… option two is now on the table…"
Next to him, Soka bowed her head and nodded. She shifted her rifle to her left talon and grabbed his hand, lacing her claws into his fingers.
"I... guess it is," she agreed morosely. She looked up to him and added. "I am sorry it has to be this way, James… I wanted more time… with you… I mean... you still owed me all those drinks."
Next to her, James chuckled. Together they stood there hand in hand as they waited for first contact with the hoard.
"Well… for the record, I feel the same," James replied softly as they both tried to ignore the screaming approaching them. "But… you know what though? I'm not as scared as I thought I would be… good company I guess…"
Soka's mandible flapped open as if she wanted to say something. She instead looked up at him, searching his eyes to see if he was just going through the motions. He wasn't. He didn't care to die anymore, and it was all thanks to her. She had given him a purpose beyond anything they ever thought possible. They were about to make a difference in a war between the ants and the pest control.
All of this was her…
"It's an honour that I get to stand next to you," Soka murmured as she reluctantly let go of his hand to raise her rifle as the sound of Reapers entering the port and the automated turrets started firing on them. It was almost time now.
"Likewise…" he started. James paused however and bit his lip, adding. "But Soka… did you give Eduardo the detonator for the bomb by any chance? We were supposed to detonate the bomb in orbit, remember?"
Next to him, Soka froze up. Slowly, she dug into her armour and recovered the detonator. Together the two of them stared at it.
"Well, this is just fucking great…" James was the first one to speak.
Soka, on the other hand, appeared to have been less concerned. She inhaled sharply and seemed to have given the detonator a small smile.
"You know what? It's okay…" was her optimistic response as she pocketed the device. "The Reaper is on schedule to be near the ground zero if I fail to activate it… and if I die before you-"
"You'll be the last one standing. You're the strongest person I've known. You'll see this through…" he cut her off before she could make her request. "But regardless I promise I'll do it, partner. I'm with you until the end."
Behind them, they could hear the husks climbing the observation deck's walls to reach them, in front of them, the Reaper forces were breaking through the turrets, their screaming growing louder and louder each passing second. But none of this mattered to either of them as they watched a fleet of vehicles and an arm of running civilians run in the direction of the forests in which Soka and James first met.
Perhaps… perhaps they had a chance. Not all of them, but enough. That was something James Merrick could happily die for…
Taking a position behind Soka, his back pressed against hers, he kept an eye on the climbing Reapers. Soka raised her own rifle and kept the doorway covered.
"Are you ready for this, Soka?" he asked her, forcing himself to remain in control of his aura of Zen in the face of death.
There wasn't even a pause on Soka's part to consider her answer.
"Yes, James," she softly returned. "I think that I am ready..."
Pulling their helmets back over their heads and placing the first Reapers in their line of sight, Lieutenant James Merrick and Lieutenant Soka Junian stood ready to face their end together.