I would like to thank unholystagepresence (on Tumblr) for providing me permission to use their characters from Good Morning Zakera Ward, a fanmade podcast set during the events of ME1. You can find it on sites like Soundcloud and YouTube. I recommend it!
Chapter Nine: Who Dares, Wins
News of the Reaper's destruction had spread like wildfire. While the Alliance managed to save the Council as well, much of their fleet was decimated by Shepard's order to save the Destiny Ascension at any cost. The geth faced a devastating defeat, yet remnants of their forces remained on the Citadel. And that was where Eric and the others would step in. Bailey had assigned them in pairs, with Eric and Garrett being one such. Unlike the others, though, they were informed that someone would be joining them at Zakera Ward.
"His name's Liam Kosta," Bailey told them earlier. "Don't know much about him, but the group he's a part of, Heavy Urban Search and Crisis Response, is run by good people. You're gonna be in good hands."
Wait at the marketplace for further instructions. That was their mission so far.
The Zakera Ward looked nice before the geth invaded, with holographic signs and advertisements everywhere. The streets would be filled with crows and busy shops, skycars zipping along in traffic. Now, like many other places on the Citadel, it was marred by rubble, some crashed cars that had burst into flames, and some crumbled buildings elsewhere.
It was not something that Eric wanted to be at. Even with his fear of crowds, having it be devoid of life was the last thing he wanted. Some of the denizens managed to evacuate the station before the wings closed, trapping the rest inside before Shepard interfered in the Reapers' plans. It was like a lifetime ago when Eric and Garrett went to the movies in this ward. He knew the Citadel would bounce back eventually, the respite being brief, before the Reapers invaded.
To pass the time, Eric sat down on some rubble while Garrett paced around nearby, his eyes out for Liam. He turned on his omni-tool and looked through the list of casualties tolled by C-Sec and contributed by everyone on the Citadel.
Eric was lucky enough to learn Natalie and her family were fine. He couldn't say the same for everyone else. Garrett's mother was off on another world, thankfully. Ami's father was alive when C-Sec found him in a convenience store, though the same couldn't be said for her mother. Not all of Alban's friends made it. Some of them were converted into husks by the dragon's teeth, the name given to these spikes by Alliance marines out in the field. Everybody else at C-Sec was still searching for Vera's and Bristol's families.
Eric's heart dropped every time he read through the list. He couldn't imagine how much pain they were going through…
He snapped out of his thoughts when Garrett tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, here he is," said Garrett when Eric looked up at him.
Eric nodded. He turned off his omni-tool and stood up. Ahead of him was a man in a navy blue and gray, asymmetrical jacket with matching cargo pants running up to him. His short and dark bushy hair, sepia skin tone, and wide nose and mouth reminded Eric of Childish Gambino for some reason. Well, except for the man's lighter eye color, but he still found it weird.
"Hey, are you the two Sergeant Bailey sent?" the man asked between breaths. It sounded like he had an accent like Garrett's.
"Yeah, that's us," Eric answered. "Are you Liam Kosta?"
"Yeah. A couple of my buddies went missing," Liam explained as he paced a few steps around. "They were looking for people that hunkered down at the Good Morning Zakera Ward radio station. The others were sent to other locations and weren't able to respond in time, so I'm the only one available and, well…"
"Wait, hold on," Garrett interrupted and gestured at Liam. "Did you just say Good Morning Zakera Ward?"
Liam stopped and looked at Garrett. "Damn. Are you a fan, too?"
"Shit yeah. Huge fan of 'em, in fact!" Garrett grinned while Eric looked on in confusion.
This is new, Eric noted. "Sorry, what?" He looked at Garrett, then at Liam, and then back at Garrett. "What are you talking about? How come—how come no one told me about this 'till now?"
"Uh, because you didn't ask. Maybe?" Liam replied. "Anyway, you guys in? Sooner we get over there, the better."
Garrett nodded in agreement, then looked at the guy hanging at Liam's side. "Nice gun you got there. Looks like an SMG."
"Yeah. That's an M-9 Tempest. You guys heard about our weapons being installed with thermal clips?"
"Yeah. We're carrying the latest model," Eric answered. "But we're getting off-track here. Do you know where the station is at?"
"Yeah, I got the coordinates in my omni-tool. Shouldn't be too far from here," Liam answered before setting off. "Let's go." With that, Eric and Garrett quickly caught up to him and followed behind closely.
"There it is!" Liam pointed to what looked like a typical building on the Citadel. If it wasn't for Liam's coordinates, it would be quite easy to miss. The yellow holographic sign next to the door read:
GM
ZE 31.4 EM
ZW
For a moment, the sign shifted to:
GOOD MORNING
ZAKERA WARD!
However, they saw several gray figures gaining upon the entrance before two of them started banging on the door. Another one started climbing on the wall as if its fingers had managed to stick to the wall.
"Shit! Husks!" Garrett called out as he got out his assault rifle, the weapon taking form and adjusting itself to his size.
Eric reflexively looked away for a moment. It was already unsettling when he saw them in the games themselves. It was worse by how lifelike they looked.
Now aware of their presence, the husks turned and groaned. They all left the door alone and charged at the group, wailing all the while.
His omni-tool covering his arms, Liam charged at the husks. Once he got close enough, he leaped into the air and slammed his fists into the ground. The strike created a burst of discharged energy, with enough force to knock two of the zombies off their feet, their legs torn off like leaves in a branch. However, one of them lunged at him at the front. Taken by surprise, Liam held back against it, and a struggle ensued.
"Hey! Little help over here!" Liam called out, gritting through his teeth. He elbowed another husk that tried to grab him in its face.
"On it!" Eric reached for his pistol and aimed it at the husk on Liam.
"Eric, heads up!" Garrett called out while firing at the husks charging at him.
Before Eric could do anything, he glanced to his left and his heart skipped a beat. Two husks, their skeletal faces and their glowing blue cybernetic eyes staring right at him, were coming at him. He let out a high-pitched yep as one of them tackled him to the ground.
"Help! Someone help!" he screamed, the husk swiping at him with its arms. It started to tear through his armor as gunfire landed on the other husk that was about to join in. That one froze for a second before it landed with a thud.
Still gripping his pistol, Eric pulled his arm in, pressed the barrel against the thing's chest, and fired. He fired as many times as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs. Each bullet pierced through the husk, sickly green blood splattering behind it. Thankfully, it was enough to kill the damn thing, its eyes and the glowing lines all over its body going dark and dull as its body landed on top of him.
Eric's eyes were wide with shock and his breathing rapid and shallow. It was one brush of death he would rather not deal with.
With a little help from someone, he pushed the husk's corpse aside and looked up to see Garrett standing over him. Garrett then helped him up to his feet, and Eric looked around, seeing all the husks were on the ground, dead. Well, dead again.
"Dios mios! Thank you so much!" Eric smiled, out of breath as he said it. His body could not stop shaking.
Garrett stared at him with a worrying look. "You don't look so good, man."
All mirth faced from Eric's face. That remark had hit him like a bag of rocks. "Huh? What are you—" A sudden daze hit him as he looked down at himself. "Ow." Some of the plates on his armor were ripped out, and he was bleeding with red scratches all over his chest and shoulders. "Okay. Lemme…" His legs collapsed under him, and Liam was too late as he ran over to him. "Lemme use some medi-gel real quick. Think you can help, Liam?"
"Yeah." Liam nodded and he took off what remained of Eric's breastplate. Eric turned on his omni-tool. With a quick command, he sprayed enough medi-gel to stop the bleeding and sealed the wounds.
That was enough to give Eric a burst of energy, and he hopped up to his feet. He quickly put his armor back on.
Garrett sighed with a smile, relieved that it turned out well. He placed a hand on Eric's shoulders, which was enough to stop his body from shaking any further.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine now. Thanks," said Eric.
"I've seen my fair share of pretty nasty things," Liam remarked. "But I've seen what the geth has done to people. The adults were bad enough. But the kids?" He paused, a sullen yet angry look on his face as he curled his mouth. "You don't ever get used to that. Not while you're sane."
Garret tried putting up a brave, stoic face, but the way his lips curled said otherwise. What Liam told them sent a chill down Eric's spine. He knew these geth the galaxy knew so far were called heretics by the rest of the geth. Still, it wasn't good to hear about children being harmed or killed.
They approached the door. Eric took a look at it and frowned, seeing a red light next to it. "Oh great." He sighed. "I don't wanna find out how good their security is." Placing his hands on his hips, he looked over his shoulder to Garrett and Liam. "Hey, does anybody have some, um, omni-gel?"
The way Garrett looked whenever he was embarrassed was nothing short of amusing to him. Garrett's face squirmed before he brought his hand up to his face. "Shit, I knew we forgot something," he groaned.
"Me neither. Not like any of us saw it coming." Liam shrugged.
Eric glared at Liam. "Seriously?
"Maybe I can try contacting anyone inside, maybe to some of my buddies if they're still around," Liam suggested. "You guys synced in?"
"Should be," Garrett answered.
Eric nodded after a moment of thinking. "Yeah. Worth a try."
"Alright, then." Liam tapped his earpiece. "Hello? Does anybody read me?"
At first, there was no response. Were they too late? Was anybody still around?
Fortunately, the ping in both Eric's and Garrett's earpieces answered those questions. "L-loud and clear. Thank god you're here!" a female voice responded on her end. It sounded like she was shaken up. She wouldn't be the only one on the Citadel. "This is Suraya. Did C-Sec send you?"
"Uh, yeah. Sort of," Liam answered, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm with Heavy Urban Search and Crisis Response. These two are with the Alliance."
"The Alliance? The other guy said that before he killed some of your guys," Suraya replied.
Eric's head jolted as his eyes went wide with fear. Did he hear that right? She did not just say that. Garrett and Liam were just as surprised by the response. "I'm sorry, what did you mean? What are you talking about?" Liam asked. "A-are you safe?"
"I mean that some nutbag, who probably got his weapons and armor off of a marine's corpse, and shot up the place," Suraya answered. The panic in her voice was becoming more palpable. "But yeah. We're safe for now. Jorik, Matriarch Asar, and Mr. Rak are with me. We're all in the storage room."
Garrett's nostrils flared up, an angry look forming on his face as he tightened his grip on his gun. It was obvious he wanted to go in, guns blazing, and save lives. Eric got that. He really did. That was why he came up with this improv operation in the first place. And he knew what he signed up for. He knew they were here to help. He knew that the most they could do would be long and tedious, but someone had to do it. But he was sure as hell he should have expected to fight off those cyber zombies.
But a rampaging gunman? This might be way above any of their pay grades.
"Goddammit. Fuck!" Liam walked a few steps away from Eric and Garrett and slammed his fist against the wall to his left. As he retracted his fist, he didn't leave a dent or a scratch on the wall. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before coming back. "What does this person look like?"
"I think Jorik got a good look at him before we hid," said Suraya. "Jorik? Can you help them?"
The three heard footsteps through their earpieces. "Right, uh…" a male turian said. This must be Jorik. "His skin's pale with what you call dark brown hair and a… shaven chin, I think? He is fairly lanky."
"Yeah. That's what we humans call that," Garrett said.
"Anyway, the man has several guns on his person. If you're coming in to get us, don't let him get you," the turian warned.
There was a heavy wheeze, a telltale sign of a volus. As a species, the volus had to wear pressure suits and breathers outside of their high-pressure planet so they could easily adapt to other environments. "Please hurry!" the volus cried out. "I'm not sure how long we would be safe here. Not with that crazy human or those freaks out there waiting to tear us apart."
"I'll get Bailey on the line. We need help." Eric tapped on his earpiece. "Bailey, you there? We got someone posing as an Alliance marine at the Good Morning Zakera Ward station. And he's armed to the teeth. Think you can give us backup?"
"Armed and dangerous? Ah hell. I'm sending several of my men to your location," Bailey answered through their earpieces. "Just be careful. Don't do anything stupid. Stay out of sight and we'll take care of it."
"You hear that?" Eric asked Suraya.
"Yes, but I'm not sure if C-Sec can make it time," Suraya answered, sounding even more terrified. "That guy is inside the station, looking for us."
"Any idea why?" Liam asked.
"No. I… I don't know why. Jorik?"
A slight pause from Suraya's end. "If I have to hazard a guess, perhaps we're just a convenient target for that human," Jorik answered. "This isn't the first time someone has attacked our station."
"Yes. The hanar terrorist who has taken Mr. Rak and us hostage earlier this year," a different female voice spoke out. That must be Matriarch Asar. "But this man definitely has some form of military training."
Garrett sighed and shook his head. "Fuck it. Suraya's right. We're going in."
Eric jolted and turned to his boyfriend, his face aghast at what he just heard. "What? Are you… are you out of your mind?" he called out.
"Like you bringing us here is any different," Garrett retorted, his voice rising. "Sure, we can wait out here for C-Sec to come, but that asshole's gonna find them and kill them all. But if we go in there, make take him out, maybe distract him long enough for C-Sec to take him away or whatever, that won't happen."
"Or we can all get killed by him," Eric replied. "This isn't what we—"
"Signed up for?" Garrett finished. He scoffed. "C'mon, man! You said it yourself. We're here to save lives, yeah? Can you trust me on this?"
Eric looked down for a moment and sighed, closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He could not believe this. The only form of combat experience hand Garrett had been from taking out some husks just now. Liam had more experience than either of them combined. But he wasn't certain if that was enough.
"I can help with that," Asar offered. "I'm a matriarch, a powerful biotic. Perhaps that could even the odds in our favor."
A matriarch? Things didn't seem so daunting now. Eric looked back up and nodded finally. "I do."
Garrett grinned, letting out a sigh. "Okay. Good." He tapped his earpiece. "Hey, Suraya. Think you can open the door from your position?"
"What? Where do you think I am? It's not like any of this stuff here could do that," Suraya replied sarcastically.
"Guess we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way, then," Liam remarked. "Ready, Eric?"
"I'll meet you three in the recording area," said Asar.
"Be careful, Asar," Jorik replied.
"I will. Thank you. Heading out now," said Asar.
"Keep us posted. Over and out," Eric said, and their earpieces pinged once more. It was time for him to get to work.
He turned to the locked door again and turned on his omni-tool. He issued a command, connected it to the door, thanks to a new hacking program given to the Alliance and other organizations. A screen flashed over the orange light enveloping his arm. On it was a pattern of a circuit board.
Just like the second game, he thought. He looked at a bright green bar at the upper-right of the screen, which was emptying itself tick by tick. The door's security protocol started to fight back, and he didn't have time on his side. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. You can do this.
The others watched as Eric moved the cursor around with his finger. The cursor highlighted one of the nodes, revealing a symbol in the shape of a top. He followed along the line, hoping he would find a node that would match this one. Much to his relief, the other node had the same symbol. As he connected them, the bar continued to tick down.
"Okay, one down. Three to go," Eric stated.
He repeated the same process. As he found another node and connected it, the bar was hallway empty. Connected, the third one had the bar at three-quarters of the way. He swiped the cursor on the last node and connected it. The door beeped, the light next to it now green.
Eric sighed as he dropped his shoulders for a moment.
"Hey, nice job!" Liam exclaimed.
"Thanks," Eric replied, glancing over his shoulder at Liam before he opened the door.
The room they entered was a typical lobby area. Cushion chairs had been laid at the side, the secretary's desk at the other end of the room, with a flat TV hanging on a wall nearby. The walls were rather bare, though, which made it rather stale. Whoever owned this place either couldn't afford the decorations or was too much of a miser.
Why did Eric's stomach churn, like it had tied into knots? He saw so many disaster and zombie movies and shows. He knew the rising tension, which was followed by a jump scare. He hated those. Some part of him still believed that going up against that gunman would not end well.
Their weapons still out, the three made cautious steps toward the hallway next to the desk. They made sure, Garrett especially, to walk slowly to dampen the noise on the marble floor.
In the hallway, Eric backtracked as they walked past one opened door and looked inside for a moment. The office was rather cushy. Behind a rather fancy and decorated desk was a cushioned red chair with a booster on it. Knocked down on the desk was a picture of a volus posing for the camera.
"Whose office is that?" Eric asked after pinging his earpiece while catching up with the others.
"That would be Mr. Rak's," Jorik answered to their earpieces. "He's the volus who's here with us. He's also our boss."
Eric heard a heavy wheeze on his earpiece. "Yes yes, and don't you dare take anything in there." Mr. Rak wheezed again. "Especially my daughter's picture."
"Huh?" Liam asked, confused.
Eric frowned. Someone had to jump to conclusions here. "I'm not gonna steal anything. Jesus!" Eric replied to Mr. Rak. "Though you might wanna—"
Gunshots rang throughout the hallway.
"Shit, we better hurry!" Garrett exclaimed.
"Move! Now!" Liam barked.
This prompted the three to quicken their pace until they reached another door. With little time to spare, Garrett bashed the button and they slipped inside. The room was large enough to fit them and a few more at a time. With all the buttons, the haptic interface, and the two microphones on a wide and plain desk with two chairs, this must be the recording room.
They see two other occupants there. One was an asari that had dark markings and makeup decorating her blue face. Her one hand clutched on a wound hidden by her purple dress while her other hand was holding up a biotic barrier from floor to ceiling. At the other end of the room was a man in Alliance armor. Several metallic blocks latched onto his back, him aiming a large and blocky assault rifle at the asari. His facial features matched what Jorik had described to them. His narrow face had a wicked scowl, with malicious intent in his brown eyes.
The man in Alliance armor turned his eyes toward them. "So they've brought more of you." The gunman pointed his gun at them. "More bodies to the count, wouldn't you say?"
"You're outnumbered. Four against one," Garrett growled as his mouth curling into a frown.
"Doesn't matter. It's all gonna end sooner or later." The man chuckled. A toothy smile appeared on his face as he looked at his gun. "Now… the question is: where am I gonna spend all that ammo?"
Liam aimed his submachine gun and fired. The man ducked in time, the gunfire meeting with the wall above the desk, leaving behind several holes. Asar stood up, raising her hand in front of her as her biotic barrier dissipated. A dark-blue aura surrounded her body as she hurled a biotic projectile at the shooter. Upon impact, the man stumbled back with a grunt.
Unable to keep on standing around for much longer, the matriarch collapsed behind one of the fallen bookshelves.
"I'm goin' in!" Garrett let out a battle cry as he charged in, hailing a spray of gunfire at the gunman to keep him occupied. The gunman fired back in retaliation, shredding much of Garrett's shields in a short amount of time.
"Alright. I'll cover you." Liam lifted the desk and ducked behind it. The devices flew off and landed with a clank. "Eric, help the matriarch!"
"Got it." Eric nodded. He rushed in and help the asari matriarch. "You're gonna be okay. Hold on," he said. He applied some medi-gel to Asar's wounds, closing and disinfecting it, and gave her a dose of painkillers.
"Thank you," said the asari. The amount of blood she lost and the shock from her wounds had left her in no condition to fight. She would need proper medical treatment after this and soon. "I apologize I won't be of much use."
Eric breathed in and out as he stood up. His boyfriend tried to get out of the way of the bullets fired by their assailant. Garrett yelped in surprise as a blue aura bRake down around him like glass.
He had to do something. It was a good thing Eric was trained for messing around with electronics, kinetic barriers included, as much as he hated it. He pointed his omni-tool at the gunman and launched a disk. The expression on the gunman's face faded, replaced with a surprised look. Before he could react, the disk detonated, sending a blue pulse that lingered on his armor and disabled his shields.
Liam recovered and fired at the assailant. Blood spurted from the gunman's body as the bullets landed on him. He stumbled around, his arms quaking as he struggled to even lift his rifle. He blinked several times, his breathing ragged as he tried to stay conscious. Looking at him made Eric cringe. Seeing the man bleeding out all over and mangled up like hamburger meat did not prepare him for this, even after seeing gruesome pictures of injuries back during training.
Garrett recovered finally and stood up. He approached the gunman and shoved his gun aside easily enough. His face had been ruined when he had introduced himself to Garrett's fist, as evidenced by his broken and bloody nose.
The man slumped down, blood trailing on the wall behind him. "Fuck you," he groaned, giving each of them a defiant gaze.
"To be fair, man, you brought this on yourself," Garrett seethed.
Eric shook his head. "Look, you're not gonna make it," he told the gunman. "You need help." He knelt beside the man. Just as he was about to apply some medi-gel on the man's wounds, only for him to swat his hand.
"I don't need it." The gunman scoffed before letting out a dark chuckle. "What difference would that make?" The man rolled his eyes back a little as he let out a long sigh. He dropped his shoulders as his breathing slowed, then stopped. He closed his eyes and his head slumped forward. Eric hesitated at first, but he placed his fingers on the man's neck. There was no pulse and the body started to get cold.
Eric quickly stood up and stepped back. For a moment, he half-expected the man to come back to life somehow, despite knowing how impossible it was. He looked on, haunted by what had transpired, struggling to ignore the wave of nausea washing over him. He couldn't believe it. He helped kill someone.
"It's over. Thank god," Liam remarked as he stood up.
"But… we killed someone…" Eric muttered, as if in a daze. His eyes welled up with tears. He wanted to throw up. The queasy feeling in his stomach did not help him one bit. "We're here to save lives, aren't we? Tell me we are."
"Not everyone can be saved. Ultimately, the choice is theirs to make," Asar said as she struggled to stand up on her feet. Garrett went over to her and offered to help, which she accepted. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "But above all else, take solace in the fact that you have saved our lives here." She looked at them with a knowing smile. "You should be proud of yourself."
Eric nodded. "Yeah. Silver lining," he said softly.
Once they left the station, they all waited before a few skycars with C-Secs' insignia mounted at the side landed. The lights on the roofs of the skycars flashed red and blue. Two C-Sec officers, one human, and the other a turian, got out of one of the cars and entered the building with a stretcher.
Three more people exited through the same door and met with the others by the ambulance. One of them was a female human with light skin and a brown ponytail, an exhausted look on her face. Another was a male turian with blue markings etched on his face, seemingly no worse for wear. And the third was your typical volus, short and stout with glowing eyes from his white gasmask and brown hardsuit.
"You. You there," the volus spoke, followed by a wheeze from his gas mask, which repeated after every sentence he spoke. This must be Mr. Rak. "You have a lot to answer for." He pointed accusingly at Eric and Garrett. "Do you have any idea how much maintaining this damn studio cost?!"
Eric looked down at the volus, with his eyes bloodshot. Garrett glared silently back at the ungrateful volus while another officer placed Asar on another stretcher.
"I'm quite certain you can afford it. After all, we did have a lot of sponsors for our program," the turian, Jorik, responded.
The woman, Suraya, was just fuming, her face red with anger. She stomped as she turned around and stared at the volus in the eyes. "You know what, Mr. Rak? Why don't you try to be grateful for once in your fucking life?!"
Mr. Rak scoffed with a dismissive wave. "Bah. Maybe I'll thank you when I'm in a better mood. I'll take my leave, then."
The volus parted ways, ranting and wheezing all the while as he searched for a rapid transit.
Jorik looked at Eric and the others, a slight twitch in his mandibles. "Oh, I want to say thank you for saving our lives. If you haven't gotten here in time…"
"Hey, don't mention it." Liam smiled. "Maybe we can share a beer sometime, no?"
"Or getting a spot on your show as a guest," Garrett added.
The turian laughed, and Suraya joined in. "We'll see how that goes." His and Suraya's eyes meet. "Look, I better get going. I'll talk to the officers about what happened. Stay safe."
"Likewise," Asar replied.
"You too, Jorik," Suraya added. "Hope your apartment is in one piece."
With that, the turian walked away and met with the other officers. Suraya placed her hand on her chin and leaned against the ambulance. She rubbed her eyes to fight off any signs of exhaustion. "You know, I can't help but wonder if that hanar was right about the keepers."
"What do you mean?" Garrett asked.
"I mean, I wonder if the geth attacking us has anything to do with what that jellyfish is rambling about." She turned and looked at Eric. "You're Eric, right?" He nodded. "What do you think?"
"Well, um…" Eric took a deep breath. Was she into something here? It would be safe to play it dumb for now. "I don't know. Um… Crazier things have happened, I guess." He saw the two officers were back out, this time the gunman's body laid on the stretcher and stuffed in a body bag.
"Well, thanks for helping me out. I gotta report back to my superiors," Liam spoke as he sat up. He took a few steps forward before looking back. "Hey, Suraya. Mind if I drop you off at your place?"
"I'd appreciate it, thanks," Suraya replied.
As Liam and Suraya walked off, both of Eric's and Garrett's earpieces pinged. This time it came from a different source. "Ami here. They've found out about your plan, Eric."
Eric breathed heavily before pressing his earpiece and taking a few steps away from the ambulance. "Who are they?" He knew the answer. He knew this would come to this point one way or another, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to it. Not one bit.
"Alliance brass. You two better hurry. They're already mad at us as it is. I'm sorry."
"No. It's…" Eric sighed, his heart sinking like a bag of rocks underwater. "It's my fault for coming up with this stupid idea." He paused for a moment, not sure of what to say next.
"Gotcha. We'll be on our way ASAP," Garrett replied to Ami.
Their earpieces pinged again, and the line ended.
Garrett took a step forward and, as Eric tried to speak out, dragged him into a gentle hug from behind. Eric blushed, his cheeks turning rose-red. He had to admit, it was nice.
"Don't worry, man. Likely, they'll just transfer us all to some boring outpost in the middle of ass-end nowhere." Garrett rubbed against the back of his neck.
"But what will happen to us? What if they separate us?" Eric asked.
"We'll just leave it up to luck, yeah."
"I hope so," Eric nodded. "And, well, I love you."
"Love ya, too."
It was then that Eric turned around and his lips had pressed against Garrett's. The kiss was always the one he was looking forward to.