Journal Entry #8
I just don’t know if I can do this anymore. Something is awakening in me. I’m starting to…”feel” maybe for the first time. It would be better if I remained numb. I just don’t know if I can continue in this line of work like this.
Kaiden, Garrus and I dropped in the Mako on Klensal, the location of the first of two bases of operations for the crime syndicate that Helen Blake hired us to take out (Red Sand dealing, slaving scum). I was in a very foul mood and looking forward to whipping some Merc ass. As we approached our destination, we stopped the Mako to survey the situation with high powered field glasses. There was a “compound” that looked more like a mine, with two sniper towers and several guards patrolling on foot. “How do you want to tackle this Commander?” Garrus asked as he manned the cannon. I was in the driver’s seat, as usual, and Kaiden had the guns. Kaiden suggested we try going in stealthy and try to take out the snipers first. Garrus wanted a more direct approach and a debate ensued as I sat there stewing. I’m not going to lie, I was in total b*tch mode, not really listening. I was both distracted and unprofessional if I’m being honest.
My give a f*ck was out of order.
Both Kaiden and Garrus were startled out of their difference of opinion as the Mako suddenly shook from a very significant impact (I didn’t react at all, not even a blink. Still just…..stewing). Kaiden exclaimed “What the hell was that?” Garrus opined that it had to be a mounted anti material rifle (so much for the stealthy approach). Kaiden said something about 40% of our shields being gone and retreating out of range and regrouping. I turned to look at Kaiden and gave him an industrial strength glare. He kind of froze (I don’t know if that’s the right word) and just looked back at me like he was trying to figure out what the hell my problem was. As I finally broke the staring contest to turn my attention back to the compound (which had fully come to life with lots of gunfire), Garrus said in a matter of fact tone “Uh…..Commander, we might want to…..do something”. I muttered “f*ck this” and slammed the Mako into motion (a booming shot passed over our roof just after I did so) hurtling toward the compound, the mercs and their dangerous mystery guns in the towers.
I could see men diving behind cover as we closed, and nasty flashes (?) coming from the sniper towers (WTF are those guns?). The Mako was bouncing around sometimes getting airborne as we raced over the very uneven terrain, the sound of our guns and cannon filled my ears along with small arms fire nibbling at our shields. After another door shaking impact Kaiden yelled over the din “twenty percent shields Commander” to which I replied with a “Shut up Kaiden”. Garrus was trying to take out the closest sniper tower with the cannon but aiming must have been very difficult the way we were bouncing around. In the eye of this total chaos, I felt my first smile of the day coming on.
Just as we breached the perimeter of the compound, Garrus scored a direct hit on one of the towers (I could see a vaguely man shaped ball of flame tumbling out). We hurtled toward the other sniper tower at the far end of the compound, smashing through a small barricade that a couple of mercs were using for cover. They rolled out of the way before I could smash them with the Mako (sh*t biscuits!) but I could tell Kaiden plugged one with the guns by the jubilant cry he let loose (This actually made me not want to hit him quite as much). We were closing on the tower, both Kaiden and Garrus training their fire on it (both missing), as the guards behind us were working on what was left of our shields with small arms. Suddenly, my vision was filled with a strange light, that could only be some kind of laser sighting. “Well”, I thought, “at least I don’t have to worry about the Reapers now”.
CRASH.
We ran into the tower. All three of us quickly rolled out of the Mako. As I got up to my knees, still a little woozy, I could hear Garrus and Kaiden already firing back the way we came. Facing the direction we had been moving, I spotted the man who had come within a nano second of ending me. He had fallen out of the tower and was struggling to sit up about ten meters away.
F*cker.
I got to my feet disregarding the baddies somewhere behind me that were engaged in a firefight with the boys, and ran straight at him pulling my sniper rifle off my back. His eyes widened (and cleared) a bit as he saw me coming at him and he frantically tried to get his side arm unholstered. His panic would cost him. As I approached the slaving assh*le, he still had both hands on his pistol, trying to yank it out (you have to unsnap it f*ckstick) I flipped my rifle to grab it from the barrel end and gave it a mighty golf swing. There was a sickening crack as the rifle butt smashed his teeth out and likely busted some bones. He slumped onto his back. This bad boy outweighed me by a good 75 pounds so I had to make sure he wasn’t getting up. I dropped my knee on his windpipe to further incapacitate him, while unsheathing my Alliance issue knife. I shoved it in up to the hilt while telling him what I thought of his f*cking mystery gun.
I don’t know what got into me. I never show any emotion in battle. Truthfully, I don’t show emotion anywhere. What is wrong with me lately?
I immediately rolled to my right using the tower for cover as I surveyed the battlefield. By the look of the motionless bodies, Garrus and Kaiden were getting the better of these guys but they were using the Mako for cover and it was starting to smoke. From the look of it, none of the baddies knew where I was, which gave one of them the confidence to try flanking the Mako on the left. As he got a bead on Kaiden, I popped out from cover and hit him with Overload which took out his shields and made him stumble. In one continuous move I brought up the rifle “quick scoping” him with a round to the chest. The impact knocked him back and into the air.
I love Hammerhead rounds. My second smile of the day.
The roar of my brand new Spectre issue sniper rifle (I named her BAMF. Bad Ass Mother F*cker), got Kaiden’s attention away from where he had been looking and over to where the dead merc lay on his left flank. He looked behind him where I was crouched low and peeking out at him from behind the tower base. He nodded a thank you and I returned that with a “Pay attention ******” glare. I couldn’t hold the expression and it broke into a smile (Number three!). He reciprocated with one of his own and I felt my heart do something.
Stop it Rhynne!
After cleaning up the outside, we made our way to the mine entrance. Inside the entrance, it was a dank, dim tunnel. We moved low and quiet listening for anything. Could they have not been able to hear that racket outside? Apparently not. The tunnel emptied out onto a landing and another tunnel took us further down into an open area (with a lot of crates and wotnot) where around 7 or 8 mercs were going about their business. A couple of them who were talking spotted us right away; I hit them with an Overload as both of my guys rolled behind a conveniently placed long row of crates and stuff. I followed that up with a blast of Damping followed by some Sabotage which finished the assh*les.
A couple rounds to my chest that took out my shields reminded me to stop playing with my tech toys and get my ginger ass in cover, so I dove to the ground landing right between the boys; Kaiden on my left and Garrus on my right. The fight went on for a good long while with all of us hailing gunfire and tech attacks along with Kaiden’s biotics. I was rocking my pistol with the Polonium rounds as was Kaiden. Garrus was firing the sniper rifle (“SCOPED AND DROPPED!” I love it when he yells that).
Garrus was working on a cluster of baddies on our right, keeping them pinned down pretty good. I was scanning pretty much the whole area, taking out shields with tech and shooting at anything that moved. Just as I was thinking to myself, “I think we’re getting the upper hand, I get hit with an Overload. Sh*t that hurt! I immediately ducked, very aware that I had no shields. Just then I spotted movement on Kaiden’s left. I went to fire at the f*cker that was flanking us, flanking Kaiden really (what’s with him? Is he blind in is f*cking left eye?) But my gun was overheated. I launched myself. Kaiden took a couple of rounds, knocking out his shields just before I knocked him to the ground. A third round caught me in the shoulder. With Kaiden on his back and me on top of him looking face to face, I heard the roar of Garrus’ rifle as he fired over us and dropped the bastard. “SCOPED AND DROPPED!”.
Still laying on Kaiden, I growled at him through clinched teeth, “What the heck are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed? HUH????” I rolled off of him and sat with my back to the cover while I assessed the damage to my shoulder. Kaiden composed himself quickly and rejoined Garrus in the firefight. My armor took most of the impact, I was pretty sure the wound was superficial. Low caliber weapon probably. I peeked back over the cover and started picking targets. At least my shields were back up.
Movement again on the left. F*ck this.
I stood up and raced to the left dodging through crates. I heard Kaiden faintly behind me “Shepard no!” I ran full speed straight at the merc who was trying to flank us, which meant I was also flanking the other 3 or so mercs that were still alive. The flanking ahole I was charging spotted me and looked startled just as I hit him with an Overload and unloaded 10 rounds into his chest (If I said I was in anything less than a rage, I’d be a liar). I could feel my shields go as the other mercs at around 2 o clock fired on me. “SCOPED AND DROPPED”. Only two left over there. I dove over the melting green goo that was left of the flanking merc and somersaulted behind a large crate. As I came to my feet I started frisbeeing every grenade I had to where I figured the remaining mercs would be. About that time, I noticed another gunshot wound. I slumped down on my butt with my back against the crate.
It was quiet.
Then I heard footsteps. Garrus appeared from around my cover and looked at me with what passes for a grin among Turians. “Shepard, that was some crazy sh*t”. I started to chuckle and stopped when I noticed the pain. “Garrus, where’s Kai…” Kaiden walked up beside him. Relief swept over me and then………an eruption.
“Kaiden WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING?”
“Commander I don’t know what you’re tal…..”
I jumped to my feet. “Are you trying to get yourself, get us ALL killed Kaiden?”
“Commander I…….”
“Shut up!!! I don’t have time to baby sit you”
I was practically screaming. I don’t know…something just snapped. Maybe I’ve been holding everything in for too many years.
“Rhynne, please calm down”
That’s when I pulled my glove off and slapped him in the face leaving a big red mark. Kaiden’s eyes narrowed and he started to glow blue, not a positive development when you’re facing a biotic. I just stared at him trembling and breathing heavy as the adrenaline started wearing off. And oh goody the pain was back. As darkness started to rim my vision, I whispered “You bastard”.
That’s when the ground came up and hit me in the face.
I woke up in the Mako. Garrus was sitting next to me. I think I could see concern in those Turian features but he didn’t press the issue, just pretended to be looking out the window. I fell asleep.
Dr Chakwas patched me up pretty easily as it was only a couple of flesh wounds. Although one of them bled quite a bit, Chakwas opined that hysteria contributed just as much as blood loss to my passing out. Me? Hysterical? My face burned with embarrassment. Thankfully, no one other than the doctor, Kaiden and Garrus knows about my little melt down.
I retired to my quarters, sore, tired and more drained than I had ever felt in my life. We were on route to the next merc base and I was cleared for duty. But I had time to sleep and I was thanking the creator profusely for that. There was a knock at the door.
It was Kaiden. I let him in and closed the door behind him.
“Shepard, what the hell was all that? What is going on with you?” He wasn’t harsh, he just sounded concerned. I couldn’t think of anything to say. I don’t know why, maybe it was the delirium of my exhaustion; I just walked up to him, pulled him to me by the front of his shirt and pressed my lips on his. After we parted, he looked at me a bit stunned.
“Kaiden, please go”.
“Rhynne……..”
“Please”. I hated the pleading tone in my voice and was horrified to see that my vision was starting to double as my eyes started swimming. “Okay” he said and quietly left.
I was out before my head hit the pillow.
My name is Commander Shepard.
Spectre, emotional cripple and complicated wreck.
Rhynne Shepard
2183
Modifié par Demonhoopa, 27 février 2012 - 09:57 .
Retour en haut
The other ones are.. well nice romances but it wouldn't break my heart if they "died" or leave so in the end. I mean hey, Krios is already dying, and Gerrus deserves a ravishing Turian lady who can keep up with him.
