Dale was patched directly into Commander Shepard’s com. She tried to maintain her professionalism, but the desperation could be heard in her voice. “Commander. We tried to hold them off, but they destroyed our trucks. Overwhelmed our position. Your left flank is gone. They’re headed your way! Sorry, sir…”
“Hang in there, soldier,” Shepard encouraged before he quickly cut the link.
The screaming of eezo turbines overhead caused Dale to look up. Two A-61 Mantis gunships sped past at low altitude, taking evasive maneuvers. They were pursued by one Oculus drone. The other drone which had strafed the trucks then joined the chase.
Dale knew it was Farzam and Rhys in the gunships, fighting for their lives.
~ ~ ~ ~
Farzam’s mind was in survival mode. Every movement of his craft meant life or death. Reflexes took over as he attempted to avoid the beams of the drones that pursued him and Tempest 2. The Oculus drones were as nimble as the gunships, faster, more heavily armored and had greater firepower. But the odds didn’t enter his mind. Farzam knew every second he was alive was one more second that the Conduit could be reached. And he always had his luck.
A blinding beam shot past his cockpit from behind. Farzam jerked away and then downward as another beam shot through where he was. Rhys was close, so close they could collide. But something had happened between Farzam and Rhys; a connection from the time they had spent in combat together. Tempest 2 stayed unpredictable to the enemy, but within the same range always to Farzam’s gunship. Rhys flew like a veteran wingman, though he had never seen the inside of a gunship before the war.
As the two gunships dodged, they didn’t spare the enemy on the ground. Wherever there was a flash, or a moment that the Reapers were visible, Farzam and Rhys let loose their guns. Systems showed strain, but the two pilots pushed their machines. They spoke in quick bursts to each other, warning when they saw the drones lining up for a shot. There was the briefest glimpse of hope, if only for the tiniest fraction of a second. And the occasional feeling of a small victory, at every beam that missed.
But then the understanding would return that there was no help coming. No one to get the drones off their tail. And unless Farzam or Rhys could trick the drones into some sort of mistake, they were doomed.
Sadly, that doom crept close for Farzam as a beam came close enough to cook part of his stabilizer. It wasn’t enough to send him crashing, but it took the dexterity out of his gunship. Farzam fought with the aircraft, trying to make up in speed for what he now lacked in maneuverability. As he turned a corner between two buildings, however, he realized that the path ahead was narrow and too long to turn again.
“I’ve got you,” Rhys shouted to Farzam through the com. His gunship dropped back.
“No!” Farzam’s warning to Rhys fell on deaf ears, as Rhys covered Farzam’s rear with his craft.
“Sir, you’ve got to keep flying,” Rhys argued. “You’re the better pilot. Even if it’s just…”
A beam found Rhys’ gunship and hit it dead center.
The explosion vaulted Farzam’s craft forward. He looked in his rear camera display to see the wreckage of Rhys’ Mantis spinning through the air, being consumed by a fireball. One of the Oculus drones smashed headlong into Tempest 2. It veered from the impact, fell back, but then recovered. The drone was damaged, but still pursued. And its partner, who remained unscathed, accompanied the drone.
“Farzam, cut right now!” The woman’s voice was familiar, but Farzam didn’t have time to worry about placing it, as he instinctively followed. Farzam pitched his gunship to the right.
There was a burst of auto fire, and then a series of explosions from behind and to the left of Farzam’s gunships. Peering again to the rear, Farzam saw the face of the left building had seemed to explode in multiple detonations over the drones. And as the cloud of metal and rock enveloped his pursuers, he noticed neither of the drones exited to continue the chase.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Nice job, Rothan!”
The quarian recovered from using his biotic shockwave. Glancing down at his readout, he warned Rea. “We got one. The other made it, though and it’s paying attention now. It’s coming for us.”
“Hold onto your suit, handsome. This is going to be a ride to shame the Goddess!”
Mass Effect RPG: The Battle at London
Débuté par
favoritehookeronthecitadel
, juin 24 2013 08:14
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#452
Posté 22 janvier 2014 - 04:17
Redbelle
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Rob turned his eye's back to the Marauder's as he felt Pike's frame tremble. For a moment he had to smirk. Here he was, bleeding and unable to walk with the Private supporting him, and Pike was the one going to pieces.
Without turning he spoke to him. “Chin up kid. The worst that happens is they kill us”.
Pike's voice was up an octave as he said. “Or turn us into Husks”!
Rob groaned. And after he'd killed so many, not half an hour earlier.
He saw safeties being flicked on the weapons. “Not a problem anymore”. He said as he looked down to see dog looking up at him. “Sorry boy. Guess you'll have to find someone else to follow around”.
Despite his words Rob could feel his heart hammering in his chest. He looked up again and glared defiantly at the Marauder's. All the resistance he could offer as his ear's were drowned by the sound of blood rushing through them.
It was loud.
And getting louder.
As the lead Marauder brought his rifle to focus on him, Rob saw a flash of white dart out from between some rubble off to the side. The sound of merry laughter?
And a sound like a 'twhip'?
The Marauder at the back of the group was suddenly without a head. It was falling to the ground even as a geyser of black ichor erupted from where it used to be showering his compatriots. They all turned in surprise and the one aiming for Rob half turned as well. Rob and Pike turned also.
The sight they beheld stood out from among the destroyed landscape.
A man with a bushy moustache and a beret that sparkled sat atop a milk white charger that glinted in the fire light. Rob realised, it was a mecha-steed. Something built to resemble a horse, powered by an engine. The man himself looked like he had gone through hell and back as his olive uniform was torn and scorched, while around his neck lay a gleaming black metal rod. But it was his weapon of choice that struck Rob as the most outrageous of all.
A long, curved, sabre. Dripping with the black blood of a Reaper the man had just beheaded.
The man twirled the point of the sabre he held aloft. “Swine”! He roared. “Come test your steel on me if you dare”!
In repsonse, the Reapers aimed, and fired.
Without turning he spoke to him. “Chin up kid. The worst that happens is they kill us”.
Pike's voice was up an octave as he said. “Or turn us into Husks”!
Rob groaned. And after he'd killed so many, not half an hour earlier.
He saw safeties being flicked on the weapons. “Not a problem anymore”. He said as he looked down to see dog looking up at him. “Sorry boy. Guess you'll have to find someone else to follow around”.
Despite his words Rob could feel his heart hammering in his chest. He looked up again and glared defiantly at the Marauder's. All the resistance he could offer as his ear's were drowned by the sound of blood rushing through them.
It was loud.
And getting louder.
As the lead Marauder brought his rifle to focus on him, Rob saw a flash of white dart out from between some rubble off to the side. The sound of merry laughter?
And a sound like a 'twhip'?
The Marauder at the back of the group was suddenly without a head. It was falling to the ground even as a geyser of black ichor erupted from where it used to be showering his compatriots. They all turned in surprise and the one aiming for Rob half turned as well. Rob and Pike turned also.
The sight they beheld stood out from among the destroyed landscape.
A man with a bushy moustache and a beret that sparkled sat atop a milk white charger that glinted in the fire light. Rob realised, it was a mecha-steed. Something built to resemble a horse, powered by an engine. The man himself looked like he had gone through hell and back as his olive uniform was torn and scorched, while around his neck lay a gleaming black metal rod. But it was his weapon of choice that struck Rob as the most outrageous of all.
A long, curved, sabre. Dripping with the black blood of a Reaper the man had just beheaded.
The man twirled the point of the sabre he held aloft. “Swine”! He roared. “Come test your steel on me if you dare”!
In repsonse, the Reapers aimed, and fired.
Modifié par Redbelle, 23 janvier 2014 - 11:32 .
#453
Posté 23 janvier 2014 - 08:47
Kel Riever
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“You know we were supposed to keep clear of the gunships, right?” Rothan’s question belayed his sarcasm.
“Right,” Rea answered. “Do you regret us coming in to try to save them?”
“Not a bit,” Rothan answered confidently.
Rea’s heads up display had been modified by Rothan and it conveyed a blizzard of information. But he had been brilliant in assimilating the interface so that, somehow, Rea could take it all in. She had never been so tactically aware, and with Rothan backing her up at every moment as the two flew, it was hard not to feel invincible.
That didn’t mean what the two were doing was easy. Rea needed every possible option to keep them alive. The Oculus drone which chased them was soon joined by another, which had replaced the one that had crashed into Rhys’ fiery wreck. While the Starscreamer was much faster than a gunship, the drones were meant to chase fighters in space. Still, Rea had learned something about the enemy; the Reapers made mistakes. She even imagined that each Oculus drone was piloted by some, at least partially, organic mind. While that mind was accompanied by a calculating logic, the Reapers were not the Geth. And though the Reapers might think of themselves as more advanced than other beings of the galaxy, they were prone to making errors, as small as they might be.
So she teased the Oculus drones, not only dodging their beams, but staying just within range to keep them interested in pursuit. The machine gun installed on the Starscreamer had an effect, but it took more than a few bursts to down a drone. That wasn’t going to be worth the risk of a head-on fight, so Rea and Rothan had resorted to a creative use of biotics on their pursuers. As Rea lured an Oculus near a building she flew past, Rothan would hit the building with a shockwave, raining hard debris onto the drone. It was precarious and the drones were beginning to learn. But for the drones to cleanly avoid the rubble meant they compromised their accuracy.
The chase brought the Starscreamer over several local theatres of the battlefield. At one point, the conduit was close enough to cast everything in its cold light. Rea was sure that they had passed over Shepard and his team. It looked bleak below at that point; the devastation near where the main group was located made the desperate situation of the Camp Bastion forces seem optimistic. Her job was the same, though, and that was to keep the drones occupied.
A low-ceilinged air car parking deck was coming up ahead, inserted into one of London’s more modern skyscrapers. “Rothan! Give me a shockwave after we pass through that air car deck!”
“Isn’t that a bit of a narrow fit,” Rothan asked with trepidation. “Even for us?”
Rea hesitated in her response, even as she veered towards the thin opening between roof and floor where the air cars were stored. “Yes. Trust me?”
“I do,” Rothan replied.
The music of the Starscreamer’s flight was less angelic and more filled with shrill anger when Rea pushed the machine to its full. Both drones followed, trying to gain a clear shot, and attempting to capitalize on the unforgiving margin of error the jet bike’s trajectory allowed. For a second, darkness surrounded the Starscreamer as Rea entered the deck. Only the aquamarine glow of the jet-bikes hard light emissions illuminated the black, like a shooting star in the void. Rea dropped a stasis field while the bike soared through, ceiling and floor too close to even think about. The drones pursued, confident in their own ability to navigate the space.
Rea shouted, “Now!”
Rothan unleashed a shockwave aft of the Starscreamer, across the deck. Neither Oculus drone feared being affected by the small stasis field and so sped through it. But when they did, the shockwave detonated against the field, and the resulting biotic explosion caused the roof to cave in and both drones to be buried under the rubble.
The Starscreamer exited the deck on the other side of the building, rising as Rea pulled up and escaped the destruction left behind. Rothan exclaimed in triumph, “Keelah!”
Then the two drones burst through the external walls of the building, damaged and wavering. They steadied themselves and continued the chase.
“We’re going to need help,” Rea said anxiously.
“Right,” Rea answered. “Do you regret us coming in to try to save them?”
“Not a bit,” Rothan answered confidently.
Rea’s heads up display had been modified by Rothan and it conveyed a blizzard of information. But he had been brilliant in assimilating the interface so that, somehow, Rea could take it all in. She had never been so tactically aware, and with Rothan backing her up at every moment as the two flew, it was hard not to feel invincible.
That didn’t mean what the two were doing was easy. Rea needed every possible option to keep them alive. The Oculus drone which chased them was soon joined by another, which had replaced the one that had crashed into Rhys’ fiery wreck. While the Starscreamer was much faster than a gunship, the drones were meant to chase fighters in space. Still, Rea had learned something about the enemy; the Reapers made mistakes. She even imagined that each Oculus drone was piloted by some, at least partially, organic mind. While that mind was accompanied by a calculating logic, the Reapers were not the Geth. And though the Reapers might think of themselves as more advanced than other beings of the galaxy, they were prone to making errors, as small as they might be.
So she teased the Oculus drones, not only dodging their beams, but staying just within range to keep them interested in pursuit. The machine gun installed on the Starscreamer had an effect, but it took more than a few bursts to down a drone. That wasn’t going to be worth the risk of a head-on fight, so Rea and Rothan had resorted to a creative use of biotics on their pursuers. As Rea lured an Oculus near a building she flew past, Rothan would hit the building with a shockwave, raining hard debris onto the drone. It was precarious and the drones were beginning to learn. But for the drones to cleanly avoid the rubble meant they compromised their accuracy.
The chase brought the Starscreamer over several local theatres of the battlefield. At one point, the conduit was close enough to cast everything in its cold light. Rea was sure that they had passed over Shepard and his team. It looked bleak below at that point; the devastation near where the main group was located made the desperate situation of the Camp Bastion forces seem optimistic. Her job was the same, though, and that was to keep the drones occupied.
A low-ceilinged air car parking deck was coming up ahead, inserted into one of London’s more modern skyscrapers. “Rothan! Give me a shockwave after we pass through that air car deck!”
“Isn’t that a bit of a narrow fit,” Rothan asked with trepidation. “Even for us?”
Rea hesitated in her response, even as she veered towards the thin opening between roof and floor where the air cars were stored. “Yes. Trust me?”
“I do,” Rothan replied.
The music of the Starscreamer’s flight was less angelic and more filled with shrill anger when Rea pushed the machine to its full. Both drones followed, trying to gain a clear shot, and attempting to capitalize on the unforgiving margin of error the jet bike’s trajectory allowed. For a second, darkness surrounded the Starscreamer as Rea entered the deck. Only the aquamarine glow of the jet-bikes hard light emissions illuminated the black, like a shooting star in the void. Rea dropped a stasis field while the bike soared through, ceiling and floor too close to even think about. The drones pursued, confident in their own ability to navigate the space.
Rea shouted, “Now!”
Rothan unleashed a shockwave aft of the Starscreamer, across the deck. Neither Oculus drone feared being affected by the small stasis field and so sped through it. But when they did, the shockwave detonated against the field, and the resulting biotic explosion caused the roof to cave in and both drones to be buried under the rubble.
The Starscreamer exited the deck on the other side of the building, rising as Rea pulled up and escaped the destruction left behind. Rothan exclaimed in triumph, “Keelah!”
Then the two drones burst through the external walls of the building, damaged and wavering. They steadied themselves and continued the chase.
“We’re going to need help,” Rea said anxiously.
#454
Posté 24 janvier 2014 - 01:48
sH0tgUn jUliA
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LXXVII
Marisa looked around the office. "Where is the duct? Naleena, you said there'd be a duct in here."
Naleena pulled up the plans on her omni-tool again. "It's supposed to be right here. Tap on the wall. Maybe they put some sheet rock over it."
"Or maybe the Keepers modified the configuration and we didn't update the plans," Kuril said.
"****! It's solid," Marisa commented, "It seems that Kuril is right. This area must have taken damage during the Battle of the Citadel in 2183. We never updated our drawings. We have to find another way."
"I hate frontal assaults," Naleena said with disgust, and they left the office.
"Shh," Marisa said.
Off in the distance two Salarians could be heard talking very quietly and approaching. Naleena motioned Kuril and Marisa back inside. She cloaked. One sounded like the lieutenant, and another agent she hadn't heard before. There was a support column nearby and she hid and remained cloaked. Her power cell was at 70%.
The Salarians were being cautious. Naleena was getting antsy, but she couldn't let her hatred of them get the better of her. She drew her suppressed .22 cal. This was going to have to be done up close and personal. They shut up.
The lieutenant sent the sergeant around to the support column on the opposite side of Naleena. The lieutenant waited by the corner. The corridor made a zig-zag. He waved the sergeant to the corner to check the corridor, and then he moved to the column 90 degrees from Naleena. Her power cell read 40%.
The sergeant looked back at the lieutenant and gave him the "clear" sign, then moved to the doorway to the office. The lieutenant moved to the other side of the door. Naleena grabbed him around the neck overpowering the struggling Salarian. He groaned. The sergeant was about six feet away and turned to face Naleena. She kept moving in and was now three feet from the Salarian, and fired three times in his head, then shoved the gun against the lieutenant's head and marched him into the next office with the others.
"Open up, it's me," Naleena said, "and I've brought our friend with me."
Marisa opened the door. "Kuril, see if there are any tie wraps in that cabinet in the back, would you?"
"Your days are numbered, Asari," the lieutenant said.
"Your seconds are numbered if you don't shut the **** up," Naleena replied then noticed Kuril held up some long tie wraps.
There was a side chair with a metal frame and arms. Naleena sat the Salarian in the chair and had Kuril tie his arms to each of the arms and his legs to the frame of the chair. "Make them tight."
"That's too tight," the Salarian protested.
"Honestly, I don't care. You and I are going to have a nice little chat," Naleena said, "And we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. I can inflict horrors on you that you cannot even imagine."
"You won't get any information," the lieutenant said.
"Why don't we start with something simple, like your name."
The Salarian was silent.
"Okay, so you want to play that way," Naleena said, and her eyes blackened as she invaded the mind of the Salarian, and he screamed. "Bel Jaroth. See, I can get it anyway, so wouldn't it be easier to simply tell me what I want to know? I don't even have to probe deeply. The answer to the question is going to be right on the surface. The pain was just for fun."
"Yes, but I can lie, too."
"I suppose you could now that you mention it, and then I should probe deeper and rip it from your mind. I don't think you'd like that very much, would you? How many more STG are there on the station, Jaroth?"
"Asari don't do that."
"I wasn't trained only by Asari."
"Seven."
"You know, I believe you. Now what is the access code to the STG database, and for the current and planned Salarian Operations Database?"
"I... only have limited clearance."
"Then give me what you have. Marisa, are you ready?"
Marisa nodded and flipped open her omni-tool.
"8554-4dd23-%%49z-t^*g@-~236*"
"Who has access to the full database?"
Jaroth was silent. What he'd given her was not classified, and she knew it. It came out too easily.
Naleena looked at him deeply in the eyes. "Listen to me very carefully. This is going to hurt a lot. It is going to feel like your head is going to explode. You are going to wish it would. Kuril, hold him down."
"Are you sure this is necessary?" Kuril asked. He was feeling uneasy about this.
"It is necessary." Naleena closed her eyes, they went black and she opened them and began her probe. The Salarian's body went rigid then he struggled against the Turian's grip, then he passed out.
Marisa looked on with horror. "Is he alive?"
"He's alive," Kuril replied.
"Did you get it?" Marisa asked.
"Major Sallan Anoern, and he's on this station. Something is in motion right now or has already happened," Naleena said, "We have to move."
"What are we going to do with him?" Kuril asked.
"What do you think?" Naleena shot him three times in the head. "Take his weapon and any spare ammo. Oh, and Marisa, take his communications device. Monitor it, and let me know what these toads are up to.
"Kuril, grab a garbage bag. This is going to get a little gross, but some of these security systems use a palm print and retinal scan in addition to passcode," Naleena ordered.
"You're kidding me. You're not going to...," Kuril complained.
"Look, I'm not asking you to do it, am I? So quit complaining," Naleena said, "And Marisa, I'll just remind you that this is for The Republics." She took the Salarian's power cells.
Marisa looked around the office. "Where is the duct? Naleena, you said there'd be a duct in here."
Naleena pulled up the plans on her omni-tool again. "It's supposed to be right here. Tap on the wall. Maybe they put some sheet rock over it."
"Or maybe the Keepers modified the configuration and we didn't update the plans," Kuril said.
"****! It's solid," Marisa commented, "It seems that Kuril is right. This area must have taken damage during the Battle of the Citadel in 2183. We never updated our drawings. We have to find another way."
"I hate frontal assaults," Naleena said with disgust, and they left the office.
"Shh," Marisa said.
Off in the distance two Salarians could be heard talking very quietly and approaching. Naleena motioned Kuril and Marisa back inside. She cloaked. One sounded like the lieutenant, and another agent she hadn't heard before. There was a support column nearby and she hid and remained cloaked. Her power cell was at 70%.
The Salarians were being cautious. Naleena was getting antsy, but she couldn't let her hatred of them get the better of her. She drew her suppressed .22 cal. This was going to have to be done up close and personal. They shut up.
The lieutenant sent the sergeant around to the support column on the opposite side of Naleena. The lieutenant waited by the corner. The corridor made a zig-zag. He waved the sergeant to the corner to check the corridor, and then he moved to the column 90 degrees from Naleena. Her power cell read 40%.
The sergeant looked back at the lieutenant and gave him the "clear" sign, then moved to the doorway to the office. The lieutenant moved to the other side of the door. Naleena grabbed him around the neck overpowering the struggling Salarian. He groaned. The sergeant was about six feet away and turned to face Naleena. She kept moving in and was now three feet from the Salarian, and fired three times in his head, then shoved the gun against the lieutenant's head and marched him into the next office with the others.
"Open up, it's me," Naleena said, "and I've brought our friend with me."
Marisa opened the door. "Kuril, see if there are any tie wraps in that cabinet in the back, would you?"
"Your days are numbered, Asari," the lieutenant said.
"Your seconds are numbered if you don't shut the **** up," Naleena replied then noticed Kuril held up some long tie wraps.
There was a side chair with a metal frame and arms. Naleena sat the Salarian in the chair and had Kuril tie his arms to each of the arms and his legs to the frame of the chair. "Make them tight."
"That's too tight," the Salarian protested.
"Honestly, I don't care. You and I are going to have a nice little chat," Naleena said, "And we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. I can inflict horrors on you that you cannot even imagine."
"You won't get any information," the lieutenant said.
"Why don't we start with something simple, like your name."
The Salarian was silent.
"Okay, so you want to play that way," Naleena said, and her eyes blackened as she invaded the mind of the Salarian, and he screamed. "Bel Jaroth. See, I can get it anyway, so wouldn't it be easier to simply tell me what I want to know? I don't even have to probe deeply. The answer to the question is going to be right on the surface. The pain was just for fun."
"Yes, but I can lie, too."
"I suppose you could now that you mention it, and then I should probe deeper and rip it from your mind. I don't think you'd like that very much, would you? How many more STG are there on the station, Jaroth?"
"Asari don't do that."
"I wasn't trained only by Asari."
"Seven."
"You know, I believe you. Now what is the access code to the STG database, and for the current and planned Salarian Operations Database?"
"I... only have limited clearance."
"Then give me what you have. Marisa, are you ready?"
Marisa nodded and flipped open her omni-tool.
"8554-4dd23-%%49z-t^*g@-~236*"
"Who has access to the full database?"
Jaroth was silent. What he'd given her was not classified, and she knew it. It came out too easily.
Naleena looked at him deeply in the eyes. "Listen to me very carefully. This is going to hurt a lot. It is going to feel like your head is going to explode. You are going to wish it would. Kuril, hold him down."
"Are you sure this is necessary?" Kuril asked. He was feeling uneasy about this.
"It is necessary." Naleena closed her eyes, they went black and she opened them and began her probe. The Salarian's body went rigid then he struggled against the Turian's grip, then he passed out.
Marisa looked on with horror. "Is he alive?"
"He's alive," Kuril replied.
"Did you get it?" Marisa asked.
"Major Sallan Anoern, and he's on this station. Something is in motion right now or has already happened," Naleena said, "We have to move."
"What are we going to do with him?" Kuril asked.
"What do you think?" Naleena shot him three times in the head. "Take his weapon and any spare ammo. Oh, and Marisa, take his communications device. Monitor it, and let me know what these toads are up to.
"Kuril, grab a garbage bag. This is going to get a little gross, but some of these security systems use a palm print and retinal scan in addition to passcode," Naleena ordered.
"You're kidding me. You're not going to...," Kuril complained.
"Look, I'm not asking you to do it, am I? So quit complaining," Naleena said, "And Marisa, I'll just remind you that this is for The Republics." She took the Salarian's power cells.
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 09 février 2014 - 09:01 .
#455
Posté 24 janvier 2014 - 06:32
Redbelle
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- Members
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Shavings of ceramic block, sliced off through mass effect fields and propelled at hypersonic speeds, raced towards Baldurjack as Rob looked on.
The poor fool was a goner. His initial attack had been audacious in it's success but had only felled one of the group of Marauders. With surprise now gone the advantage lay with the Reapers. The distance between the man on mechanical horseback was to great to cover half the distance before the Reapers had opened fire.
And he'd wasted that opportunity to bellow a challenge.
The man was mad.
As the Maurader weapons fire chattered Rob tried to gauge the distance he and Pike had to go to get to cover and gave up. Soon, the Maurader's would turn on them and finish what the madman had interrupted. Pike might get a few extra seconds of life if he dropped him and ran. But Pike was rooted to the spot. Supporting Robs wounded body.
Well, he wouldn't die alone at least.
Rob closed his eye's and waited......
….. and waited.
Then Pike whispered next to him. “That's impossible”!
Raising an eyebrow Rob opened his left eye and saw what had Pike was referring to.
The man on horseback was unscathed.
He maintained his pose. One hand on the handlebar that came out of the Mecha-steed's neck while the other held the point of his sabre up to the sky. The Reapers were firing at him inside of their weapons effective lethal range and the man was...... untouched.
Rob saw the metal cylinder around his neck glow as a heat shimmer appeared.
Son of a gun. He's got a barrier!
Only his barrier wasn't stopping the bullet's in their tracks. His was slapping them to the side, changing their angle. It was the same tech they used in the most modern day of space vessels.
Only no one had ever miniturised one that a foot soldier could carry.
Who was this man?
“Sharlatens”! The man on the charger roared once more. “Brigends! Come at me”! With that he twisted the throttle on the Mechamount's controller and the machine leaped forward once more. The Maruader's tried to get out the way, but one was to slow. The mount trampled him under it's weight while the Man sat atop rained down slash after slash atop the others. Rob watched open mouthed as the return fire flew harmlessly to the side's of the man as he called out. “Come to Blighty will you?!?! Think you can desecrate the Queen's land while thumbing the nose at Saint George?!?! Taste Space Beret steel you impundant whelps! I'll slay the lotta yah if my name is not Brigidier Baldurjack Baldwin the fooooooorth”!
As he was speaking the mount turned to suddenly before Baldurjack could adjust his balnce. He went flying off and to the side where he landed with a loud oomph and rolled to a stop. His sabre clattering further ahead of him.
Pulling himself up he saw a Marauder the last one standing, fix him in his weapons sights once more.
Balduerjack pulled himself up off his knee's “Ere now”. He said patting his chest where the cylinder hung. “It's useless lad. You'll.....”. He said as his palm struck the front of his tunic. “......never......”. He went on as his hand groped the front of his uniform for the cylinder. “.....Beat me......” Both hands were now frantically running over his front till they reached up and found the cord he had hung the cylinder on was gone. “......With that”? He said, his voice a clean octave higher than when he'd started.
The Maruder began pulling the trigger.
A sound. A swish through the air. A large metal rod just over six foot tall came down on the rifle, shattering it's casing.
Rob had seen it lying to the side as Baldurjack had fallen and, despite the pain, let go of Pike to reach and grab it. Standing up again nearly caused him to black out but he held his gaze on the Maruader and, using the bar as a makeshift staff to lean on, hobbled over as fast as he could. When he was within striking distance he brought the bar down on the rifle as hard as he could. He saw the casing shatter and fall to the ground, where he to fell a moment later. His abdomen utterly aflame with pain as the world recided to a pin ******.
The Marauder stared at the broken rifle for a moment before looking back up, just in time for Baldurjacks knckles to crack it across the face. Taking up a traditional boxing stance he cycled his hands through the air. “Ha-HAAAA”! He crowed. “Weren't expecting that were you? The playing field is even! Except I boxed at Cambridge don't you know! Now stand to sir for you are due a sound thrashing to within an inch.......”.
Baldurjack never got to finish as the Mauder pounced on him. His calws and fangs out for blood as Baldurjack found himself fending off the clawing and biting. Finally, the Marausder's hands found themselves around his neck and Baldurjack found an impossibly strong pressure being brought to bear. He flailed wildly. His blows seeming as gnat bites to this monster that stared down at him. He heard the sound of something wet. As if something had just pierced flesh.
That's it. He thought. My glorious existence, cut off in it's prime outside the theater of war. What shall the Alliance do now I am slain by this wretched creature........
He paused as air flooded into his lungs. The weight of the Maruader as it fell on him. He looked up.
Pike stood with the Rebar in his hands. The point of which was now firmly lodged in the back of the Maruader's skull. He grinned. “Yeeeeeaah”! He shouted. “First...... Kill...... Ever! I'm a soldier now, dammit”!
Baldurjack closed his eye's and sucked in rich, deep lungfuls of air. When he felt ready he rolled the Maruader's body off his own and stood. Looked about and saw the cylinder and his sabre resting not to far from each other.
Walking over to pick up both he spotted something under the rubble. “Now what do we have......”. He muttered as he took up a piece of cloth jutting from under the debris and tugged. Fortunaetly it was not deeply buried and he found himself an Alliance flag in his hands. His eye's lit up.
It was a sign!
His time was now!
Not much further to go.
Turning he saw Pike knealt over Rob's body. His earlier jubliance replaced with worry as Rob lay on the ground grunting in pain. Pike looked up in Baldurjank's direction. “Please.....sir..... Can't you help him”?
Baldurjack chewed his lip. Then strode over to where his Meachasteed lay dormant. Walking past and pulling the rebar out of the Maruaduer's head as he went. Leaning it and draping the flag over his mount he pulled off a shoulder satchel and tossed it to Pike. “Here you go lad. No tears now son. Your first ever kill marks you as a man. And Men don't cry on the battle field till the bally war is done and over with, what”!
Pike caught the satchel and opened it as Baldurjack reached up and remounted his charger, even as Pike looked inside the satchel. Reaching in he pulled out a medigel dispencer. Then turned the bag over and deposited over twenty used and empty ones, along with a few that still seemed to have a little in them. Pike looked up as Baldurjack was tying his flag to the bar.
“You used all these”?
“”To bloody right I did”! Was his response. “I have to tell you. That stuff really get's you going after you've had ten! Now then”! He brought up the bar, the flag now fluttered in the breeze. “Which way did my army go son? I've some catching up to do, don't you know”
Pike pointed South.
“Right then. Godspeed young man. And to victory”! He turned the throttle on the Mechasteed.
The machine coughed once and fell silent.
Baldurjack blinked, and cursed under his breath as he hit the ignition switch on the base of the charger. The engine inside coughed and spluttered violently enough to shake the steed's entire frame till it settled down to a clattering riot of noise. Pike saw a few bullet holes in the steed's flank. Most likely the cause of it's difficulty.
Baldurjack kicked his heels against those flanks and jutted his flag out once more. "To victory"! He called out once more and the steed moved into a quick gallop, taking the bushy mustached man away towards the horizon where the beam could be seen, piercing the sky like a needle.
Rob squinted and grabbed the medigel out of Pike's hand. "Gimme that". He groaned as he twised the end and jabbed it into his abdoman. The relief in the sigh he let out told Pike it was working even as Pike picked up one of the used dispensers.
Rob eye'd him. "What's wrong".
"He said he took alot of these.....". Pike said. "You ever hear of gel high"?
Rob snorted. "Yeah. When you use so much medigel you start to lose.....". He stopped, and looked in Baldurjacks direction. "Your telling me that guy was high"?
Pike nodded. "Yeah. I doubt he'd feel a nuke go off in his face right now. Do you know who that was"?
Rob shook his head. "Either a madman or someone whose lost everything..... and doens't care anymore". He paused. "Either way, it looks like he's getting along better than us". He waved Pike closer. "C'mon kid. Let's see if there's anything on those Reapers we can use",
The poor fool was a goner. His initial attack had been audacious in it's success but had only felled one of the group of Marauders. With surprise now gone the advantage lay with the Reapers. The distance between the man on mechanical horseback was to great to cover half the distance before the Reapers had opened fire.
And he'd wasted that opportunity to bellow a challenge.
The man was mad.
As the Maurader weapons fire chattered Rob tried to gauge the distance he and Pike had to go to get to cover and gave up. Soon, the Maurader's would turn on them and finish what the madman had interrupted. Pike might get a few extra seconds of life if he dropped him and ran. But Pike was rooted to the spot. Supporting Robs wounded body.
Well, he wouldn't die alone at least.
Rob closed his eye's and waited......
….. and waited.
Then Pike whispered next to him. “That's impossible”!
Raising an eyebrow Rob opened his left eye and saw what had Pike was referring to.
The man on horseback was unscathed.
He maintained his pose. One hand on the handlebar that came out of the Mecha-steed's neck while the other held the point of his sabre up to the sky. The Reapers were firing at him inside of their weapons effective lethal range and the man was...... untouched.
Rob saw the metal cylinder around his neck glow as a heat shimmer appeared.
Son of a gun. He's got a barrier!
Only his barrier wasn't stopping the bullet's in their tracks. His was slapping them to the side, changing their angle. It was the same tech they used in the most modern day of space vessels.
Only no one had ever miniturised one that a foot soldier could carry.
Who was this man?
“Sharlatens”! The man on the charger roared once more. “Brigends! Come at me”! With that he twisted the throttle on the Mechamount's controller and the machine leaped forward once more. The Maruader's tried to get out the way, but one was to slow. The mount trampled him under it's weight while the Man sat atop rained down slash after slash atop the others. Rob watched open mouthed as the return fire flew harmlessly to the side's of the man as he called out. “Come to Blighty will you?!?! Think you can desecrate the Queen's land while thumbing the nose at Saint George?!?! Taste Space Beret steel you impundant whelps! I'll slay the lotta yah if my name is not Brigidier Baldurjack Baldwin the fooooooorth”!
As he was speaking the mount turned to suddenly before Baldurjack could adjust his balnce. He went flying off and to the side where he landed with a loud oomph and rolled to a stop. His sabre clattering further ahead of him.
Pulling himself up he saw a Marauder the last one standing, fix him in his weapons sights once more.
Balduerjack pulled himself up off his knee's “Ere now”. He said patting his chest where the cylinder hung. “It's useless lad. You'll.....”. He said as his palm struck the front of his tunic. “......never......”. He went on as his hand groped the front of his uniform for the cylinder. “.....Beat me......” Both hands were now frantically running over his front till they reached up and found the cord he had hung the cylinder on was gone. “......With that”? He said, his voice a clean octave higher than when he'd started.
The Maruder began pulling the trigger.
A sound. A swish through the air. A large metal rod just over six foot tall came down on the rifle, shattering it's casing.
Rob had seen it lying to the side as Baldurjack had fallen and, despite the pain, let go of Pike to reach and grab it. Standing up again nearly caused him to black out but he held his gaze on the Maruader and, using the bar as a makeshift staff to lean on, hobbled over as fast as he could. When he was within striking distance he brought the bar down on the rifle as hard as he could. He saw the casing shatter and fall to the ground, where he to fell a moment later. His abdomen utterly aflame with pain as the world recided to a pin ******.
The Marauder stared at the broken rifle for a moment before looking back up, just in time for Baldurjacks knckles to crack it across the face. Taking up a traditional boxing stance he cycled his hands through the air. “Ha-HAAAA”! He crowed. “Weren't expecting that were you? The playing field is even! Except I boxed at Cambridge don't you know! Now stand to sir for you are due a sound thrashing to within an inch.......”.
Baldurjack never got to finish as the Mauder pounced on him. His calws and fangs out for blood as Baldurjack found himself fending off the clawing and biting. Finally, the Marausder's hands found themselves around his neck and Baldurjack found an impossibly strong pressure being brought to bear. He flailed wildly. His blows seeming as gnat bites to this monster that stared down at him. He heard the sound of something wet. As if something had just pierced flesh.
That's it. He thought. My glorious existence, cut off in it's prime outside the theater of war. What shall the Alliance do now I am slain by this wretched creature........
He paused as air flooded into his lungs. The weight of the Maruader as it fell on him. He looked up.
Pike stood with the Rebar in his hands. The point of which was now firmly lodged in the back of the Maruader's skull. He grinned. “Yeeeeeaah”! He shouted. “First...... Kill...... Ever! I'm a soldier now, dammit”!
Baldurjack closed his eye's and sucked in rich, deep lungfuls of air. When he felt ready he rolled the Maruader's body off his own and stood. Looked about and saw the cylinder and his sabre resting not to far from each other.
Walking over to pick up both he spotted something under the rubble. “Now what do we have......”. He muttered as he took up a piece of cloth jutting from under the debris and tugged. Fortunaetly it was not deeply buried and he found himself an Alliance flag in his hands. His eye's lit up.
It was a sign!
His time was now!
Not much further to go.
Turning he saw Pike knealt over Rob's body. His earlier jubliance replaced with worry as Rob lay on the ground grunting in pain. Pike looked up in Baldurjank's direction. “Please.....sir..... Can't you help him”?
Baldurjack chewed his lip. Then strode over to where his Meachasteed lay dormant. Walking past and pulling the rebar out of the Maruaduer's head as he went. Leaning it and draping the flag over his mount he pulled off a shoulder satchel and tossed it to Pike. “Here you go lad. No tears now son. Your first ever kill marks you as a man. And Men don't cry on the battle field till the bally war is done and over with, what”!
Pike caught the satchel and opened it as Baldurjack reached up and remounted his charger, even as Pike looked inside the satchel. Reaching in he pulled out a medigel dispencer. Then turned the bag over and deposited over twenty used and empty ones, along with a few that still seemed to have a little in them. Pike looked up as Baldurjack was tying his flag to the bar.
“You used all these”?
“”To bloody right I did”! Was his response. “I have to tell you. That stuff really get's you going after you've had ten! Now then”! He brought up the bar, the flag now fluttered in the breeze. “Which way did my army go son? I've some catching up to do, don't you know”
Pike pointed South.
“Right then. Godspeed young man. And to victory”! He turned the throttle on the Mechasteed.
The machine coughed once and fell silent.
Baldurjack blinked, and cursed under his breath as he hit the ignition switch on the base of the charger. The engine inside coughed and spluttered violently enough to shake the steed's entire frame till it settled down to a clattering riot of noise. Pike saw a few bullet holes in the steed's flank. Most likely the cause of it's difficulty.
Baldurjack kicked his heels against those flanks and jutted his flag out once more. "To victory"! He called out once more and the steed moved into a quick gallop, taking the bushy mustached man away towards the horizon where the beam could be seen, piercing the sky like a needle.
Rob squinted and grabbed the medigel out of Pike's hand. "Gimme that". He groaned as he twised the end and jabbed it into his abdoman. The relief in the sigh he let out told Pike it was working even as Pike picked up one of the used dispensers.
Rob eye'd him. "What's wrong".
"He said he took alot of these.....". Pike said. "You ever hear of gel high"?
Rob snorted. "Yeah. When you use so much medigel you start to lose.....". He stopped, and looked in Baldurjacks direction. "Your telling me that guy was high"?
Pike nodded. "Yeah. I doubt he'd feel a nuke go off in his face right now. Do you know who that was"?
Rob shook his head. "Either a madman or someone whose lost everything..... and doens't care anymore". He paused. "Either way, it looks like he's getting along better than us". He waved Pike closer. "C'mon kid. Let's see if there's anything on those Reapers we can use",
Modifié par Redbelle, 30 janvier 2014 - 01:59 .
#456
Posté 25 janvier 2014 - 01:14
sH0tgUn jUliA
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LXXVIII
T monitored the Flight Control panel. Ranassa sat on a table near the door. Jack looked out the window into space at the arms of the Citadel; it was a beautiful sight, but she knew what it was now: a trap. It had always been a trap.
Jack was getting angry. "****! What the hell is taking Shepard so long? Goddamn brass and their hairbrained plans. We got up here. The Crucible is on its way, and we don't know **** about how to use it."
"What's so special about Shepard? How come we can't use it?" Ranassa asked.
Jack paced around and shook her head. "I don't know. He's got this Prothean thing embedded in his brain. A cipher, Liara called it, and those ****s went and sent his squad the worst way they could.... ****ing idiots!"
"So if he doesn't make it? Then what?" Pierce asked.
"How the **** do I know? We push buttons until something happens," Jack replied with obvious frustration. "I just want this entire ****ing war over!"
Ereba put her hand on Jack's shoulder and she shrugged it off. "Hey, easy. You aren't the only one, but you know we're where we need to be."
"That's easy for you to say, Ereba. I've got three remaining out of my ten."
"Five. Rodriguez and Reilley made it to Alpha."
"How do I know Alpha is still standing?"
"We don't. But you see the four of us, plus the Sarge? We're all that's left out of 25, and I haven't heard from the Sarge in quite a while either. What do you think, Shay?"
Shay was seated in a corner and looked up at Ereba. "I say we give her another ten minutes to check in. If we don't hear from her by then, you and I go look for her."
"Wait a minute," Jack said, "You're going to leave me here in a weakened position?"
"No, Jack, we're leaving you with the two heavy hitters of the squad," Shayrana replied, "If 'Nassa and T can't handle it with you and your biotic squad adding the two of us wouldn't make any difference. And you two will follow Jack's orders, got it?"
"Yeah, I got her back," Ranassa said, "Don't you worry about a thing. T and I have it covered."
"Check for movement outside." Jack ordered.
Ranassa hopped down from the table and activated her motion tracker. "Well it's quiet out there, but that doesn't mean it's clear."
"You're going to make me go crawling up in the vents, aren't you?" Ereba said.
T monitored the Flight Control panel. Ranassa sat on a table near the door. Jack looked out the window into space at the arms of the Citadel; it was a beautiful sight, but she knew what it was now: a trap. It had always been a trap.
Jack was getting angry. "****! What the hell is taking Shepard so long? Goddamn brass and their hairbrained plans. We got up here. The Crucible is on its way, and we don't know **** about how to use it."
"What's so special about Shepard? How come we can't use it?" Ranassa asked.
Jack paced around and shook her head. "I don't know. He's got this Prothean thing embedded in his brain. A cipher, Liara called it, and those ****s went and sent his squad the worst way they could.... ****ing idiots!"
"So if he doesn't make it? Then what?" Pierce asked.
"How the **** do I know? We push buttons until something happens," Jack replied with obvious frustration. "I just want this entire ****ing war over!"
Ereba put her hand on Jack's shoulder and she shrugged it off. "Hey, easy. You aren't the only one, but you know we're where we need to be."
"That's easy for you to say, Ereba. I've got three remaining out of my ten."
"Five. Rodriguez and Reilley made it to Alpha."
"How do I know Alpha is still standing?"
"We don't. But you see the four of us, plus the Sarge? We're all that's left out of 25, and I haven't heard from the Sarge in quite a while either. What do you think, Shay?"
Shay was seated in a corner and looked up at Ereba. "I say we give her another ten minutes to check in. If we don't hear from her by then, you and I go look for her."
"Wait a minute," Jack said, "You're going to leave me here in a weakened position?"
"No, Jack, we're leaving you with the two heavy hitters of the squad," Shayrana replied, "If 'Nassa and T can't handle it with you and your biotic squad adding the two of us wouldn't make any difference. And you two will follow Jack's orders, got it?"
"Yeah, I got her back," Ranassa said, "Don't you worry about a thing. T and I have it covered."
"Check for movement outside." Jack ordered.
Ranassa hopped down from the table and activated her motion tracker. "Well it's quiet out there, but that doesn't mean it's clear."
"You're going to make me go crawling up in the vents, aren't you?" Ereba said.
#457
Posté 25 janvier 2014 - 05:41
Redbelle
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The troops at the bridge looked on in forlorn hope.
The bridge was destroyed. They had moved a sizeable number of troops over but many were on the wrong side of a mangled wreck of twisted, rapidly cooling, iron and steel.
Mako’s that should have gone on to screen the foot assault troops with their armoured hides were even now ferrying people from one side of the Thames to the other. They’re activities now focused on a stretch of river between two banks.
Sitting ducks.
So they hurried. Even as the Terra Firma member Joe Jenkins Jr looked up at the remains of the bridge above them as he stood underneath on the shore, he knew they’d be lucky if they all made the crossing. There were no battle lines in this fight. Reapers could appear behind them as well as in front.
As he looked up he had to marvel. Hit by a Reaper attack that had come from nowhere, the bridge still stood. Albeit, significantly worse for wear. It had survived wars in the past. Maybe it would survive this one to. It’s survival was probably down to it’s simplicity. Two stretches of metal on which roads were constructed, counter weighted at either end where the towers still stood. It was partly the counter weights that were the problem. Something had caused them to fall resulting in both ends of the bridge to swing up. Had the bridge span simply been cut while it was level the Mako’s could have simply used their vertical mounted Eezo cores and thrusters to jump the gap. A process that would have been faster than the river fording they were reduced to.
He’d asked a Mako driver if the jump was still possible earlier. The driver just gave him an exasperated look.
“Son”. He had said. “The Mako’s good for two things. Climbing anything on a gradient and moving fast along a flat surface. It can’t do those two things at the same time. To much armour. The Eezo core’s can’t reduce the mass down far enough for a Mako to make that jump. Why would anyone build one that could do that? It’s a tank”!
As Jr shook off the memory and waited his turn to cross, he thought he heard the whine of an engine emanating from above. His Omni-tools radio sprung to life.
“We got incoming”.
“Friendly”?
“Maybe”.
“Can’t you tell”?
“To far away. It’ll be here soon though it’s moving fast”.
“Is it Reaper”?
There was a pause. “Do Reaper’s come in pink”?
Another pause on the other end of the comm.. “Pink”?
“It’s not slowing down”. Came another voice on top of another. “Wave it off! The bridge is out”! “They can see that dumb nuts”! “Isn’t that the.....”. “Warn the guys under.....”. “It’s going to jump”!
“Holy.....”. Came a voice as the other’s ceased. At the same time Jr heard, what sounded like a giant roar, with a throat full of nails. “That’s.....”.
Jr looked up just in time to see something leap off the end of one of the destroyed bridge sections. It was moving so fast that he almost missed seeing....... “Wyld”!
The Valkyr landed on the other side of the bridge, it’s massive wheels finding a place to alight as it’s light frame disappeared from view.
There and gone again in the blink of an eye.
Jr was startled by an alliance gunnery Sargent slapping him on the shoulder. “Quit gawking”! She yelled as she pointed to the Mako emerging from the water. “It’s your turn”.
Jr looked at the Mako as it came to a halt and the hatch popped open. The crushing weight of realism now on him. Standing under the bridge he had to admit, he felt sheltered.
Secure.
Safe.
Now he was off to war. Both with those standing beside him. And those above him who simply flung themselves across great distances to reach the battlefield.
He wondered as he looked up at the span of sky between the two ruined bridge sections Wyld’s Valkyr had jumped. Which side did he want to be?
The bridge was destroyed. They had moved a sizeable number of troops over but many were on the wrong side of a mangled wreck of twisted, rapidly cooling, iron and steel.
Mako’s that should have gone on to screen the foot assault troops with their armoured hides were even now ferrying people from one side of the Thames to the other. They’re activities now focused on a stretch of river between two banks.
Sitting ducks.
So they hurried. Even as the Terra Firma member Joe Jenkins Jr looked up at the remains of the bridge above them as he stood underneath on the shore, he knew they’d be lucky if they all made the crossing. There were no battle lines in this fight. Reapers could appear behind them as well as in front.
As he looked up he had to marvel. Hit by a Reaper attack that had come from nowhere, the bridge still stood. Albeit, significantly worse for wear. It had survived wars in the past. Maybe it would survive this one to. It’s survival was probably down to it’s simplicity. Two stretches of metal on which roads were constructed, counter weighted at either end where the towers still stood. It was partly the counter weights that were the problem. Something had caused them to fall resulting in both ends of the bridge to swing up. Had the bridge span simply been cut while it was level the Mako’s could have simply used their vertical mounted Eezo cores and thrusters to jump the gap. A process that would have been faster than the river fording they were reduced to.
He’d asked a Mako driver if the jump was still possible earlier. The driver just gave him an exasperated look.
“Son”. He had said. “The Mako’s good for two things. Climbing anything on a gradient and moving fast along a flat surface. It can’t do those two things at the same time. To much armour. The Eezo core’s can’t reduce the mass down far enough for a Mako to make that jump. Why would anyone build one that could do that? It’s a tank”!
As Jr shook off the memory and waited his turn to cross, he thought he heard the whine of an engine emanating from above. His Omni-tools radio sprung to life.
“We got incoming”.
“Friendly”?
“Maybe”.
“Can’t you tell”?
“To far away. It’ll be here soon though it’s moving fast”.
“Is it Reaper”?
There was a pause. “Do Reaper’s come in pink”?
Another pause on the other end of the comm.. “Pink”?
“It’s not slowing down”. Came another voice on top of another. “Wave it off! The bridge is out”! “They can see that dumb nuts”! “Isn’t that the.....”. “Warn the guys under.....”. “It’s going to jump”!
“Holy.....”. Came a voice as the other’s ceased. At the same time Jr heard, what sounded like a giant roar, with a throat full of nails. “That’s.....”.
Jr looked up just in time to see something leap off the end of one of the destroyed bridge sections. It was moving so fast that he almost missed seeing....... “Wyld”!
The Valkyr landed on the other side of the bridge, it’s massive wheels finding a place to alight as it’s light frame disappeared from view.
There and gone again in the blink of an eye.
Jr was startled by an alliance gunnery Sargent slapping him on the shoulder. “Quit gawking”! She yelled as she pointed to the Mako emerging from the water. “It’s your turn”.
Jr looked at the Mako as it came to a halt and the hatch popped open. The crushing weight of realism now on him. Standing under the bridge he had to admit, he felt sheltered.
Secure.
Safe.
Now he was off to war. Both with those standing beside him. And those above him who simply flung themselves across great distances to reach the battlefield.
He wondered as he looked up at the span of sky between the two ruined bridge sections Wyld’s Valkyr had jumped. Which side did he want to be?
Modifié par Redbelle, 25 janvier 2014 - 05:46 .
#458
Posté 25 janvier 2014 - 06:05
Redbelle
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- 5 399 messages
The Kodiak shuddered once more, then settled. The jolt was enough to startle Zia out of her temporary silence as Naomi turned onto her side, hoisted herself up with one arm as her other hand reached up and massaged the inner corner’s of her eyes.
“Eugh”. She muttered. “Did anyone get the number of that Hammerhead”? Zia laughed, causing Naomi to look up and see her. “Zia! You came for me”!
Naomi swung her legs around to stand, and nearly fell over. Zia darted forward and caught her. “Easy now”. She told her as she gently helped her back into a sitting position. “You’ve been through alot”.
Naomi closed her eyes and inhaled in Zia proximity. The scent of her. Naomi gagged slightly and opened her eye’s. “What have you been doing? You smell like a sewer”.
“Well..... actually”.
“Please tell me. You haven’t been crawling through sewers”.
“......... I walked most of it”.
Naomi shook her head, then looked up at her once more with a coy smile playing on her lips. “You came for me though. I knew you would. A woman in red said she knew you. We went off to talk. Something...... pricked me, I remember, then everything started to get fuzzy....... then”. Her voice began to harden as the memories came flooding out. “It happened again. It happened again Zia! Someone took me against my will and I couldn’t stop it! I didn’t even know till I woke up and then that....... other woman...... in green. She was there”!
Zia nodded as she reached out and touched the side of Naomi’s face. “Naomi. Those were my sisters. We were...... an enforcer group on Omega. The Sisters of Fury and they used you to get to me. The one in green? That was my sister Lucy. The one in Red who took you was Disdain. She started all this but she’s.......”. Zia felt her throat catch. “Disdains dead now”.
Naomi looked into Zia’s eye’s. A hard to read look fleetingly passing through her own. “Did she suffer”?
“No”.
Naomi gave a disappointed grunt. “To bad”.
Zia was taken aback, so much that she didn’t even try to stop Naomi from getting up again. Her hand catching the long red coat as she went stood on her own two feet once more. She held up the coat as it unfurled. Red leather falling till it hit the decking under their feet. She looked up at Zia with grin. “I love it”.
Zia stood. “It’s from Lucy”.
“Haha”. Naomi replied as she hugged the coat under one arm, with her other she ran a finger over the cuts in her armour where blood had crusted over. “Looks like someone tried to peel me out of this thing”.
“Banchee’s”. Was all Zia said.
Naomi looked over. “No one get’s to go inside my armour but you”. She said coyly. With a half turn she tossed the coat onto the opposite bench and turned back to Zia. “In fact..... I think now’s as good a time as any. Don’t you think”?
With that, she reached up for her zipper and as she took slowly took the two steps towards Zia, she slowly dragged it down to her naval. Zia suddenly found herself nose to nose with a Naomi who was practically spilling out of her armour. Her soft body seemingly wanting to escape it's leather clad confinement.
Zia head was practically swimming at the unexpectedness of Naomi’s approach as she cleared her throat. “I don’t think, that’s a good ide.....”.
The corner of Naomi’s lip curled upwards. “It’s coming off Zia”. She said huskily as she drew back and said in all seriousness. “I can’t reach all these cuts. They need disinfecting. Yes”?
Manipulative little...... Zia thought as she moved to the first aid box on the wall. Still she had a point. Who knew what would happen if they didn’t deal with those injuries the banchee’s had inflicted on her. As she pulled the box off the wall she heard the scrape of material and turned to see Naomi, her Cerberus sniper uniform now hanging down past her waist, sat on the troop bench with her back facing her.
........
What a back.
Naomi looked over her shoulder. “Zia”?
“Coming”. Zia said huskily. As she sat behind Naomi she tried to steady her breathing.
What the hell was going on here?
Naomi was not acting..... well, like Naomi. Instead, this person in front of her was acting......
......well, acting like herself. A predator circling it’s prey while she......
Zia looked down at the swab and the bottle of disinfectant in her hands.
Goddess. I’m turning into Wyld. She thought as she popped the cap and upturned the bottle onto the swab. She started rubbing down the cuts, that fortunately, didn’t run to deep.
“Your lucky”. Zia told Naomi as she moved over the cuts on her body. “Your barrier’s took the brunt of those banchee claws. If you hadn’t had them up you’d have been impaled. Or cut in half”.
Naomi giggled. “Turns out I’m good at impaling too”. She said over her shoulder. “Those banchee’s didn’t know what hit them”.
“You remember”? Naomi went quiet as Zia prodded her wound. “Naomi. Do you remember what happened”?
“Piece's”. Came the response. Then before Zia could react she turned, putting one knee down on the bench. “But the thing I remember most”?
Naomi’s lips were on Zia’s before Zia knew what hit her. The bottle and swab fell out of her hands and she found them wrapping around Naomi’s body as Naomi pressed herself into Zia’s embrace. Hungry lips smacked against each other till Naomi pulled back.
“Who needs Wild”. She breathed. “When we’ve got this”.
The fog in Zia’s mind lifted and she looked Naomi in the eye’s. Really......looked.
They were tinged with red. Around the iris. But there was something more........
Anger.
Deep seated anger. Zia was square in Naomi’s sights. And now that she had begun pushing her back, she could see it clearly.
Naomi was about to press the issue.
Naomi took Zia’s chin between her thumb and forefinger. “Don’t go all jelly belly on me Zia”. She said in a breathless whisper. “We’re meant to be. And I can be so much more now. I felt the power. I used the power. I can be a biotic like you. Wyld can’t. I won’t need you to rescue me anymore. I can look after myself, and you. You know. You’ve seen how much potential is inside me. We can explore it together. I can make a difference. I can feel it. I made my decision. No more people telling me what to do. What to think. How to feel”. She paused.
“I’m definitely not going to ever...... ever...... be kidnapped and held against my will while some madman makes clones out of me while some ditzy sister of yours makes me take sand”.
Zia looked into her eye’s one last time, then pulled herself out from under Naomi as Naomi looked on, confusion etched in her face. “Zia? We’re made for each other. We were meant to be together. Don’t you see? It’s perfect”.
Zia crossed the cabin, looking down at the red coat lying on the other bench. She picked it up.
“I can’t do this again”. She said to no one in particular.
“What”?
Zia turned. “I can’t do this again”. She said to Naomi. “I can’t watch someone I care about turn into......”.
“I’m becoming stronger”. Naomi said hotly, hooking her arms into the sleeves of her leather armoured suit and pulling it back over her shoulders. “If you could have seen me outside the centre.....”.
“So you do remember”.
“Piece's”. Naomi said flatly.
Zia watched as Naomi pulled her top back on and bring the zip perhaps a qauter of the way up before she stopped. Zia meanwhile seethed. She tossed the coat to Naomi.
"Piece's....". Zia repeated. "And Wyld"?
Naomi's eye's flickered up to meet Zia's before they turned away, and Zia knew......
Naomi remembered.
“Eugh”. She muttered. “Did anyone get the number of that Hammerhead”? Zia laughed, causing Naomi to look up and see her. “Zia! You came for me”!
Naomi swung her legs around to stand, and nearly fell over. Zia darted forward and caught her. “Easy now”. She told her as she gently helped her back into a sitting position. “You’ve been through alot”.
Naomi closed her eyes and inhaled in Zia proximity. The scent of her. Naomi gagged slightly and opened her eye’s. “What have you been doing? You smell like a sewer”.
“Well..... actually”.
“Please tell me. You haven’t been crawling through sewers”.
“......... I walked most of it”.
Naomi shook her head, then looked up at her once more with a coy smile playing on her lips. “You came for me though. I knew you would. A woman in red said she knew you. We went off to talk. Something...... pricked me, I remember, then everything started to get fuzzy....... then”. Her voice began to harden as the memories came flooding out. “It happened again. It happened again Zia! Someone took me against my will and I couldn’t stop it! I didn’t even know till I woke up and then that....... other woman...... in green. She was there”!
Zia nodded as she reached out and touched the side of Naomi’s face. “Naomi. Those were my sisters. We were...... an enforcer group on Omega. The Sisters of Fury and they used you to get to me. The one in green? That was my sister Lucy. The one in Red who took you was Disdain. She started all this but she’s.......”. Zia felt her throat catch. “Disdains dead now”.
Naomi looked into Zia’s eye’s. A hard to read look fleetingly passing through her own. “Did she suffer”?
“No”.
Naomi gave a disappointed grunt. “To bad”.
Zia was taken aback, so much that she didn’t even try to stop Naomi from getting up again. Her hand catching the long red coat as she went stood on her own two feet once more. She held up the coat as it unfurled. Red leather falling till it hit the decking under their feet. She looked up at Zia with grin. “I love it”.
Zia stood. “It’s from Lucy”.
“Haha”. Naomi replied as she hugged the coat under one arm, with her other she ran a finger over the cuts in her armour where blood had crusted over. “Looks like someone tried to peel me out of this thing”.
“Banchee’s”. Was all Zia said.
Naomi looked over. “No one get’s to go inside my armour but you”. She said coyly. With a half turn she tossed the coat onto the opposite bench and turned back to Zia. “In fact..... I think now’s as good a time as any. Don’t you think”?
With that, she reached up for her zipper and as she took slowly took the two steps towards Zia, she slowly dragged it down to her naval. Zia suddenly found herself nose to nose with a Naomi who was practically spilling out of her armour. Her soft body seemingly wanting to escape it's leather clad confinement.
Zia head was practically swimming at the unexpectedness of Naomi’s approach as she cleared her throat. “I don’t think, that’s a good ide.....”.
The corner of Naomi’s lip curled upwards. “It’s coming off Zia”. She said huskily as she drew back and said in all seriousness. “I can’t reach all these cuts. They need disinfecting. Yes”?
Manipulative little...... Zia thought as she moved to the first aid box on the wall. Still she had a point. Who knew what would happen if they didn’t deal with those injuries the banchee’s had inflicted on her. As she pulled the box off the wall she heard the scrape of material and turned to see Naomi, her Cerberus sniper uniform now hanging down past her waist, sat on the troop bench with her back facing her.
........
What a back.
Naomi looked over her shoulder. “Zia”?
“Coming”. Zia said huskily. As she sat behind Naomi she tried to steady her breathing.
What the hell was going on here?
Naomi was not acting..... well, like Naomi. Instead, this person in front of her was acting......
......well, acting like herself. A predator circling it’s prey while she......
Zia looked down at the swab and the bottle of disinfectant in her hands.
Goddess. I’m turning into Wyld. She thought as she popped the cap and upturned the bottle onto the swab. She started rubbing down the cuts, that fortunately, didn’t run to deep.
“Your lucky”. Zia told Naomi as she moved over the cuts on her body. “Your barrier’s took the brunt of those banchee claws. If you hadn’t had them up you’d have been impaled. Or cut in half”.
Naomi giggled. “Turns out I’m good at impaling too”. She said over her shoulder. “Those banchee’s didn’t know what hit them”.
“You remember”? Naomi went quiet as Zia prodded her wound. “Naomi. Do you remember what happened”?
“Piece's”. Came the response. Then before Zia could react she turned, putting one knee down on the bench. “But the thing I remember most”?
Naomi’s lips were on Zia’s before Zia knew what hit her. The bottle and swab fell out of her hands and she found them wrapping around Naomi’s body as Naomi pressed herself into Zia’s embrace. Hungry lips smacked against each other till Naomi pulled back.
“Who needs Wild”. She breathed. “When we’ve got this”.
The fog in Zia’s mind lifted and she looked Naomi in the eye’s. Really......looked.
They were tinged with red. Around the iris. But there was something more........
Anger.
Deep seated anger. Zia was square in Naomi’s sights. And now that she had begun pushing her back, she could see it clearly.
Naomi was about to press the issue.
Naomi took Zia’s chin between her thumb and forefinger. “Don’t go all jelly belly on me Zia”. She said in a breathless whisper. “We’re meant to be. And I can be so much more now. I felt the power. I used the power. I can be a biotic like you. Wyld can’t. I won’t need you to rescue me anymore. I can look after myself, and you. You know. You’ve seen how much potential is inside me. We can explore it together. I can make a difference. I can feel it. I made my decision. No more people telling me what to do. What to think. How to feel”. She paused.
“I’m definitely not going to ever...... ever...... be kidnapped and held against my will while some madman makes clones out of me while some ditzy sister of yours makes me take sand”.
Zia looked into her eye’s one last time, then pulled herself out from under Naomi as Naomi looked on, confusion etched in her face. “Zia? We’re made for each other. We were meant to be together. Don’t you see? It’s perfect”.
Zia crossed the cabin, looking down at the red coat lying on the other bench. She picked it up.
“I can’t do this again”. She said to no one in particular.
“What”?
Zia turned. “I can’t do this again”. She said to Naomi. “I can’t watch someone I care about turn into......”.
“I’m becoming stronger”. Naomi said hotly, hooking her arms into the sleeves of her leather armoured suit and pulling it back over her shoulders. “If you could have seen me outside the centre.....”.
“So you do remember”.
“Piece's”. Naomi said flatly.
Zia watched as Naomi pulled her top back on and bring the zip perhaps a qauter of the way up before she stopped. Zia meanwhile seethed. She tossed the coat to Naomi.
"Piece's....". Zia repeated. "And Wyld"?
Naomi's eye's flickered up to meet Zia's before they turned away, and Zia knew......
Naomi remembered.
Modifié par Redbelle, 26 janvier 2014 - 09:19 .
#459
Posté 26 janvier 2014 - 09:02
sH0tgUn jUliA
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Meanwhile back at Camp Alpha (a forgotten mini plot)
“Has anyone seen Dr. Silon?” Corporal Lazo asked. “Patients are beginning to back up again.”
“I haven’t seen him for over an hour,” the orderly said.
“I’ll have to page him over the intercom system,” Lazo said, and then flipped the switch for the building’s old intercom system. “Dr. Silon, please report to the front desk. Dr. Silon, please report to the front desk.”
Ten minutes passed and there was no response.
‘Strange that there’s no response. Silon is usually prompt.’ Lazo thought. ‘We did have those Outcasts in the building, and they ended up dead, and there’s these allegations now of missing hospital equipment, and now Silon’s missing….’
Then there was a scream from the offices down the hall.
“Has anyone seen Dr. Silon?” Corporal Lazo asked. “Patients are beginning to back up again.”
“I haven’t seen him for over an hour,” the orderly said.
“I’ll have to page him over the intercom system,” Lazo said, and then flipped the switch for the building’s old intercom system. “Dr. Silon, please report to the front desk. Dr. Silon, please report to the front desk.”
Ten minutes passed and there was no response.
‘Strange that there’s no response. Silon is usually prompt.’ Lazo thought. ‘We did have those Outcasts in the building, and they ended up dead, and there’s these allegations now of missing hospital equipment, and now Silon’s missing….’
Then there was a scream from the offices down the hall.
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 26 janvier 2014 - 09:02 .
#460
Posté 27 janvier 2014 - 06:19
Kel Riever
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The most technologically advanced species in the galaxy had designed a starship that eclipsed those who stood against it. Nevertheless, to lift off of any planetary body took some effort and with the damage Maelstrom had received, much of its capacity was now devoted to keeping itself safe from the organics’ attacks while ascending from Earth’s gravitational pull. Maelstrom, however, needed to place itself directly in the path of the organic advance. Why only a destroyer had been left to fend off Shepard or any other who moved on to the beam was an astounding error, now that Maelstrom looked at it in hindsight.
The eldest one, the Harbinger, had declared that the threats in space were greater than those on the ground, even if the enemy stood no chance over the long run of victory. Reducing the effect the organics had on the Reapers was Harbingers priority. Surely, it had its point as the ship which had destroyed the Maw was clearly the apex of the organics’ advancement when it came to one, single star craft. But Harbinger’s reliance on only itself to back the destroyer was foolish in the conglomerate of thoughts that were Maelstrom’s. Later, Harbinger would realize its folly.
Oculus drones swarmed to protect Maelstrom, and it did not cease its attacks while it lifted. All was a perfect calculation of movement, defense and offense. Below, another column of organics was swept away as the Sovereign class vessels unleashed its main cannon again. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Maelstrom became aware that a large group of its ground troops were moving away from the assault against those crossing the river. The ground troops were moving towards Shepard. The control of the troops had been usurped by another Reaper.
How?! Maelstrom was distressed, and infuriated. Harbinger! The eldest had used some superior method of control, no doubt bestowed upon it by the centralized Intelligence that was now deceased. Surely, Harbinger would know that this action could not be tolerated by Maelstrom.
And then, Maelstrom realized how vulnerable it was.
Not a millisecond later, a Reaper cannon shot across London, striking Maelstrom full across the hull. A massive tear ripped open the shell that was the Sovereign class vessel.
Harbinger had struck Maelstrom when it was most vulnerable. With its power devoted to the liftoff and defending itself from the organics, Maelstrom could not possibly withstand the assault of another Reaper. Maelstrom descended rapidly, and it devoted all its resources to prevent itself from crashing. But then another cannon shot fired from Harbinger, amputating three of Maelstrom’s appendages. Critical systems gave way and a series of internal explosions began. There would be no way to prevent the chain reaction that would occur next.
Maelstrom had never planned for this. All it was would soon be over. It could not face its own destruction and protocols which were never meant to be used took over. Those protocols, however, would not save Maelstrom as it was, though. The Maelstrom that had travelled the galaxy for millennia, and all that it had become, would end.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the entire course of the war, Clark never thought he would see what he now observed. And though the invasion of the Reapers had him witness events beyond his imagination, the unfolding of what happened now simply left him and those he was with speechless.
Clark had crossed, along with Zursuous and the group they commanded, barely in time before the bridge had been wrecked by a Reaper cannon. Two of the Geth Primes behind, and scores of soldiers, had been destroyed. Though the crossing was mostly complete, there were others stranded on the shore behind, now being ferried by Makos. It was impossible for Clark to ignore the events to his rear so he had turned around to observe them momentarily.
What Clark then saw, was a Reaper – a Sovereign Class Reaper – lifting off from the battlefield. It was clear its trajectory was to take it over the river, and likely down upon the troops that had crossed. It attacked as it went, invulnerable, unstoppable, wreaking death before it. Yet in its greatest moment of terror, the Reaper had been struck…by another Reaper cannon! The greatest threat to the galaxy had turned on itself.
As the sundered Reaper descended, everyone took cover. It was sure to crash upon the north bank. But the impact was sure to leave its mark. Clark wondered if it would be the last thing he ever saw.
The eldest one, the Harbinger, had declared that the threats in space were greater than those on the ground, even if the enemy stood no chance over the long run of victory. Reducing the effect the organics had on the Reapers was Harbingers priority. Surely, it had its point as the ship which had destroyed the Maw was clearly the apex of the organics’ advancement when it came to one, single star craft. But Harbinger’s reliance on only itself to back the destroyer was foolish in the conglomerate of thoughts that were Maelstrom’s. Later, Harbinger would realize its folly.
Oculus drones swarmed to protect Maelstrom, and it did not cease its attacks while it lifted. All was a perfect calculation of movement, defense and offense. Below, another column of organics was swept away as the Sovereign class vessels unleashed its main cannon again. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Maelstrom became aware that a large group of its ground troops were moving away from the assault against those crossing the river. The ground troops were moving towards Shepard. The control of the troops had been usurped by another Reaper.
How?! Maelstrom was distressed, and infuriated. Harbinger! The eldest had used some superior method of control, no doubt bestowed upon it by the centralized Intelligence that was now deceased. Surely, Harbinger would know that this action could not be tolerated by Maelstrom.
And then, Maelstrom realized how vulnerable it was.
Not a millisecond later, a Reaper cannon shot across London, striking Maelstrom full across the hull. A massive tear ripped open the shell that was the Sovereign class vessel.
Harbinger had struck Maelstrom when it was most vulnerable. With its power devoted to the liftoff and defending itself from the organics, Maelstrom could not possibly withstand the assault of another Reaper. Maelstrom descended rapidly, and it devoted all its resources to prevent itself from crashing. But then another cannon shot fired from Harbinger, amputating three of Maelstrom’s appendages. Critical systems gave way and a series of internal explosions began. There would be no way to prevent the chain reaction that would occur next.
Maelstrom had never planned for this. All it was would soon be over. It could not face its own destruction and protocols which were never meant to be used took over. Those protocols, however, would not save Maelstrom as it was, though. The Maelstrom that had travelled the galaxy for millennia, and all that it had become, would end.
~ ~ ~ ~
In the entire course of the war, Clark never thought he would see what he now observed. And though the invasion of the Reapers had him witness events beyond his imagination, the unfolding of what happened now simply left him and those he was with speechless.
Clark had crossed, along with Zursuous and the group they commanded, barely in time before the bridge had been wrecked by a Reaper cannon. Two of the Geth Primes behind, and scores of soldiers, had been destroyed. Though the crossing was mostly complete, there were others stranded on the shore behind, now being ferried by Makos. It was impossible for Clark to ignore the events to his rear so he had turned around to observe them momentarily.
What Clark then saw, was a Reaper – a Sovereign Class Reaper – lifting off from the battlefield. It was clear its trajectory was to take it over the river, and likely down upon the troops that had crossed. It attacked as it went, invulnerable, unstoppable, wreaking death before it. Yet in its greatest moment of terror, the Reaper had been struck…by another Reaper cannon! The greatest threat to the galaxy had turned on itself.
As the sundered Reaper descended, everyone took cover. It was sure to crash upon the north bank. But the impact was sure to leave its mark. Clark wondered if it would be the last thing he ever saw.
#461
Posté 29 janvier 2014 - 06:28
Kel Riever
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- Members
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Captain Radcliffe’s voice came through all coms, on emergency override, “All units take cover.”
Riptide was frozen, despite the order, until the hardened warrior, Dale, who had taken her on, pulled her down behind a concrete, wedge-shaped barrier. Still, Riptide could not avert her eyes as she watched the Sovereign-class Reaper fall from the sky. It was only when the Reaper impacted that Riptide turned away, covered her head, and pushed her face against the barrier’s cold surface.
As with the orbital bombardment, there was a flash, but this flash was a brilliant, bright orange that seeped through Riptide’s closed eyelids. The ground trembled and a blast of heat washed over her. Riptide groaned as she felt the exposed skin on her face get singed. The tremendous sound of the explosion followed, and Riptide’s ears rang.
When Riptide opened her eyes again, the sky was gone, replaced by a black cloud that started to rain ash down upon all she could see. There was still illumination, from fires that burned and lights from the troops and vehicles. One of those lights came from Dale’s suit of armor. Dale reached over to grab Riptide’s arm and pull her up steadily, while pointing above the barrier. Riptide followed Dale’s gesture, only to find the horde of Cannibals, and now other Reaper troops, picking themselves up from the ground to renew their attack. Riptide fired her Avenger, and Dale joined in with her Revenant. Other troops began recognizing they were still under threat and followed suit. Arkeer passed Riptide on her left, charging to close range with his Claymore.
Dale’s voice came through Riptide’s com, barely audible through the slowly subsiding ringing, “They never stop. We’ve got to fight until every last one of them is dead.”
“What kind of chance is that?” Riptide felt her morale begin to slip.
“It’s all the chance we’re going to get,” Dale responded. “We’re not going to live running.”
The words sunk in. “I know about running. I suppose if we are going to die, we might as well die on our feet, facing them.”
Dale’s head turned to Riptide and nodded. “Give them hell!”
~ ~ ~ ~
Captain Radcliffe was helped to his feet by David, one of the two battlefield tech operators in his command Mako. The tank had been rolled onto its side when the Reaper vessel crashed and exploded. Its driver had righted the vehicle, but the interior was in disarray. Mila, the other tech operator, was quickly putting gear back in its place.
“You’d think they’d have fastened everything down,” Radcliffe grumbled, even though he knew the Mako’s command infrastructure was installed on the go.
“Here’s your basic readout, sir,” David said while Radcliffe straightened his uniform jacket. The operator handed Radcliffe his display headset, displaced in the tumble.
Radcliffe placed the headset back on, and barked, “Give me unit status.”
David quickly scanned his station display. “We’ve lost a number of people this side of the river who weren’t able to shield themselves from the detonation. I’m counting…” The young man cleared his throat as the casualties sunk in, “twenty to thirty.”
“Kid, tell all units they are to roll out, under the river, on boats, however they get there doesn’t matter. Just tell them I said to get there! Mila, what’s going on with the front line?”
Mila put her hand to her headpiece to make sure it was functioning, took a seat at her own station, and reported, “Grelk’s holding, Dale’s unable to make headway, but the mob they are pulling is letting Steiner progress. He’s pushing to the conduit.”
“What about the krogan team with the missiles?”
“No word since we lost contact, sir. Major Coates has reported that guidance systems for the missiles are running afoul, anyway. I’m not sure they are pertinent anymore, sir.”
Radcliffe cursed under his breath. “We’re getting short on troops and equipment, not that I’m looking that destroyed Reaper in the mouth. Any more reports of Reaper on Reaper fighting?”
Mila shook her head, “Impossible to determine right now, sir, from our position.”
“Fine,” Radcliffe grumbled. “Get a message out to fleet and see if they can spare someone to answer. In the meantime, I’m still missing a few key personnel for this fight. Has Commander Wyld reported in?”
“Negative, sir,” Mila answered before nervously adding, “Though there were reports of a customized Mako jumping across the Thames already, headed in the direction of the fight. Someone said it looks like a…”
“…Cadillac.” The Captain grimaced as Mila shook her head in agreement. “Wyld, I swear, will kill me with a heart attack before any Reaper ends my life.”
Riptide was frozen, despite the order, until the hardened warrior, Dale, who had taken her on, pulled her down behind a concrete, wedge-shaped barrier. Still, Riptide could not avert her eyes as she watched the Sovereign-class Reaper fall from the sky. It was only when the Reaper impacted that Riptide turned away, covered her head, and pushed her face against the barrier’s cold surface.
As with the orbital bombardment, there was a flash, but this flash was a brilliant, bright orange that seeped through Riptide’s closed eyelids. The ground trembled and a blast of heat washed over her. Riptide groaned as she felt the exposed skin on her face get singed. The tremendous sound of the explosion followed, and Riptide’s ears rang.
When Riptide opened her eyes again, the sky was gone, replaced by a black cloud that started to rain ash down upon all she could see. There was still illumination, from fires that burned and lights from the troops and vehicles. One of those lights came from Dale’s suit of armor. Dale reached over to grab Riptide’s arm and pull her up steadily, while pointing above the barrier. Riptide followed Dale’s gesture, only to find the horde of Cannibals, and now other Reaper troops, picking themselves up from the ground to renew their attack. Riptide fired her Avenger, and Dale joined in with her Revenant. Other troops began recognizing they were still under threat and followed suit. Arkeer passed Riptide on her left, charging to close range with his Claymore.
Dale’s voice came through Riptide’s com, barely audible through the slowly subsiding ringing, “They never stop. We’ve got to fight until every last one of them is dead.”
“What kind of chance is that?” Riptide felt her morale begin to slip.
“It’s all the chance we’re going to get,” Dale responded. “We’re not going to live running.”
The words sunk in. “I know about running. I suppose if we are going to die, we might as well die on our feet, facing them.”
Dale’s head turned to Riptide and nodded. “Give them hell!”
~ ~ ~ ~
Captain Radcliffe was helped to his feet by David, one of the two battlefield tech operators in his command Mako. The tank had been rolled onto its side when the Reaper vessel crashed and exploded. Its driver had righted the vehicle, but the interior was in disarray. Mila, the other tech operator, was quickly putting gear back in its place.
“You’d think they’d have fastened everything down,” Radcliffe grumbled, even though he knew the Mako’s command infrastructure was installed on the go.
“Here’s your basic readout, sir,” David said while Radcliffe straightened his uniform jacket. The operator handed Radcliffe his display headset, displaced in the tumble.
Radcliffe placed the headset back on, and barked, “Give me unit status.”
David quickly scanned his station display. “We’ve lost a number of people this side of the river who weren’t able to shield themselves from the detonation. I’m counting…” The young man cleared his throat as the casualties sunk in, “twenty to thirty.”
“Kid, tell all units they are to roll out, under the river, on boats, however they get there doesn’t matter. Just tell them I said to get there! Mila, what’s going on with the front line?”
Mila put her hand to her headpiece to make sure it was functioning, took a seat at her own station, and reported, “Grelk’s holding, Dale’s unable to make headway, but the mob they are pulling is letting Steiner progress. He’s pushing to the conduit.”
“What about the krogan team with the missiles?”
“No word since we lost contact, sir. Major Coates has reported that guidance systems for the missiles are running afoul, anyway. I’m not sure they are pertinent anymore, sir.”
Radcliffe cursed under his breath. “We’re getting short on troops and equipment, not that I’m looking that destroyed Reaper in the mouth. Any more reports of Reaper on Reaper fighting?”
Mila shook her head, “Impossible to determine right now, sir, from our position.”
“Fine,” Radcliffe grumbled. “Get a message out to fleet and see if they can spare someone to answer. In the meantime, I’m still missing a few key personnel for this fight. Has Commander Wyld reported in?”
“Negative, sir,” Mila answered before nervously adding, “Though there were reports of a customized Mako jumping across the Thames already, headed in the direction of the fight. Someone said it looks like a…”
“…Cadillac.” The Captain grimaced as Mila shook her head in agreement. “Wyld, I swear, will kill me with a heart attack before any Reaper ends my life.”
#462
Posté 30 janvier 2014 - 10:25
Kel Riever
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Rea’s jaw dropped when she rounded the corner of a tall building and saw the Sovereign-class Reaper, huge despite its distance away, falling towards the city.
“That’s going to leave more than a mark,” Rothan said in surprise.
As the Reaper crashed, Rea veered the Starscreamer down another street, where buildings and connecting walls shielded the jet bike. The effects of the shockwave from the explosion were avoided, aside from the deafening sound. But the ash that rose into the sky forced Rea to fly strictly by her tactical readouts. Scanning, she had lost track of her chasers.
“Where are the drones?”
“They dropped back,” Rothan answered. “After that Reaper vessel impacted, they seemed to have gotten distracted. But they haven’t given up. Look at the tac.”
Rea saw on her heads-up display that the two indicator lights for the Oculus drones showed them further behind, but rejoining the pursuit. She desperately thought about who she could pull in to help and opened a channel to the gunship squadron leader. "Commander Jahangir, this is Lieutenant Iallis. Do you think I could get you to help me with the Oculus drones? There are still two on my tail! I need to set up a trap."
Farzam came back, "I'll do what I can. You saved me and I owe you. But my Mantis is damaged. I’m flying a brick."
Rea remembered what she had seen when she had used the Starscreamer to pull the attack off of Farzam's gunship. The aircraft had firepower, but there was a chance that it would simply be destroyed even if it could be moved into position for what she had in mind.
A better plan was needed. Attrition wasn't going to defeat the Reapers. And what would have been the point of saving Farzam anyway? Rea needed something more radical. Rea needed something...
..."Wyld! Commander Wyld, do you read me? There are two unfriendlies chasing me down and I need some assistance."
There was a pause, then Wyld’s familiar, optimistic tone answered Rea’s call. "Rea? Hey girl! I'm over the bridge and heading in. Shoot me your location.......oh". Another pause, and then, "Okay.....This is going to sound weird. Momma just dropped a satellite copy of herself into Rothan's suit. She's going to co-ordinate. I see you now. I'm sending you the location where we'll provide covering fire.”
It took a moment for Wyld’s last statements to sink in for Rea. They did, just as Rothan murmured oddly.
Rea scowled. "Seriously! Momma! Rothan's suit? I mean.....really?”
“Don’t change that setting, Momma,” Rothan said, concerned.
“Wouldn’t it optimize the effect of the gravitational pull on your physiology?...”
“Momma, I have worn this suit for longer than your existence. Trust a quarian to know his suit.”
“It simply would…”
“Momma!” Rea found herself flustered, “If you are going to be along for the ride, we need your input, not your control. You are not to override anything without checking with Rothan or myself. Is that clear?”
“Yes. I find the contents of Rothan’s suit quite remarkable.”
“That’s fine,” Rea steamed. “Just keep the remarks on those remarkable contents to yourself.”
“Shall I warn you of impending danger?”
Rothan shouted, “Rea break left!”
Rea inverted the Starscreamer and barely avoided a beam from one of the Oculus drones.
“Your job is to enhance our capabilities, Momma. Not distract from them.”
“Affirmative Miss Rea. Enhancing.”
Rea felt the blood flowing through her temples and inadvertently, momentarily, rolled her eyes. Her tactical display was updating with a flood of information from Momma. “Bring it down, some, Momma. That’s too much to read. Consider my ability to process the data as you put it on my screens and compensate accordingly.”
“Yes Miss Rea.”
“Also, I want you to give me a trajectory, and check it with Rothan. Do a calculation that puts me through 5230 point oh-eight and gets me to Jerry-Ann’s position. Make sure it accounts for the Starscreamer travelling at maximum velocity. I need that trajectory on my heads-up.”
“Calculating,” Momma responded. Then, “Miss Rea, I am picking up an error with your coordinates. That places us…”
“It isn’t an error, Momma.”
Rothan questioned, “I think Momma may be right, Rea. The air car deck was one thing, but this is not a narrow space. This is no space at all.”
“It isn’t an error,” Rea said steadily. “It’s a risk we are going to have to take.”
“That’s going to leave more than a mark,” Rothan said in surprise.
As the Reaper crashed, Rea veered the Starscreamer down another street, where buildings and connecting walls shielded the jet bike. The effects of the shockwave from the explosion were avoided, aside from the deafening sound. But the ash that rose into the sky forced Rea to fly strictly by her tactical readouts. Scanning, she had lost track of her chasers.
“Where are the drones?”
“They dropped back,” Rothan answered. “After that Reaper vessel impacted, they seemed to have gotten distracted. But they haven’t given up. Look at the tac.”
Rea saw on her heads-up display that the two indicator lights for the Oculus drones showed them further behind, but rejoining the pursuit. She desperately thought about who she could pull in to help and opened a channel to the gunship squadron leader. "Commander Jahangir, this is Lieutenant Iallis. Do you think I could get you to help me with the Oculus drones? There are still two on my tail! I need to set up a trap."
Farzam came back, "I'll do what I can. You saved me and I owe you. But my Mantis is damaged. I’m flying a brick."
Rea remembered what she had seen when she had used the Starscreamer to pull the attack off of Farzam's gunship. The aircraft had firepower, but there was a chance that it would simply be destroyed even if it could be moved into position for what she had in mind.
A better plan was needed. Attrition wasn't going to defeat the Reapers. And what would have been the point of saving Farzam anyway? Rea needed something more radical. Rea needed something...
..."Wyld! Commander Wyld, do you read me? There are two unfriendlies chasing me down and I need some assistance."
There was a pause, then Wyld’s familiar, optimistic tone answered Rea’s call. "Rea? Hey girl! I'm over the bridge and heading in. Shoot me your location.......oh". Another pause, and then, "Okay.....This is going to sound weird. Momma just dropped a satellite copy of herself into Rothan's suit. She's going to co-ordinate. I see you now. I'm sending you the location where we'll provide covering fire.”
It took a moment for Wyld’s last statements to sink in for Rea. They did, just as Rothan murmured oddly.
Rea scowled. "Seriously! Momma! Rothan's suit? I mean.....really?”
“Don’t change that setting, Momma,” Rothan said, concerned.
“Wouldn’t it optimize the effect of the gravitational pull on your physiology?...”
“Momma, I have worn this suit for longer than your existence. Trust a quarian to know his suit.”
“It simply would…”
“Momma!” Rea found herself flustered, “If you are going to be along for the ride, we need your input, not your control. You are not to override anything without checking with Rothan or myself. Is that clear?”
“Yes. I find the contents of Rothan’s suit quite remarkable.”
“That’s fine,” Rea steamed. “Just keep the remarks on those remarkable contents to yourself.”
“Shall I warn you of impending danger?”
Rothan shouted, “Rea break left!”
Rea inverted the Starscreamer and barely avoided a beam from one of the Oculus drones.
“Your job is to enhance our capabilities, Momma. Not distract from them.”
“Affirmative Miss Rea. Enhancing.”
Rea felt the blood flowing through her temples and inadvertently, momentarily, rolled her eyes. Her tactical display was updating with a flood of information from Momma. “Bring it down, some, Momma. That’s too much to read. Consider my ability to process the data as you put it on my screens and compensate accordingly.”
“Yes Miss Rea.”
“Also, I want you to give me a trajectory, and check it with Rothan. Do a calculation that puts me through 5230 point oh-eight and gets me to Jerry-Ann’s position. Make sure it accounts for the Starscreamer travelling at maximum velocity. I need that trajectory on my heads-up.”
“Calculating,” Momma responded. Then, “Miss Rea, I am picking up an error with your coordinates. That places us…”
“It isn’t an error, Momma.”
Rothan questioned, “I think Momma may be right, Rea. The air car deck was one thing, but this is not a narrow space. This is no space at all.”
“It isn’t an error,” Rea said steadily. “It’s a risk we are going to have to take.”
Modifié par Kel Riever, 30 janvier 2014 - 10:31 .
#463
Posté 30 janvier 2014 - 10:30
Kel Riever
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- Members
- 7 065 messages
Consciousness.
The download was instantaneous, but the loss of knowledge was immeasurable, despite the exceptional capacities of the vessel. The protocols imparted the greatest possible increase of information storage upon the vessel, but there simply was no comparison to the being that once had travelled the galaxy for eons.
Maelstrom awoke.
The Reaper felt the constraints of its new form, and although the loss of so much of its knowledge left it incapable of comprehending the entire scope of what had gone missing, the impact of being severed in such a way was devastating. Maelstrom was aware that faced with its imminent destruction, as much of its collective cognizance…the ‘self’ that defined it...was transferred.
Only the modified, indoctrinated mind and form of a human were able to handle even a fraction of the transfer. The species’ malleability was what made them so valuable. Of the other organics that had the potential, all were far too fixed or resistant to allow what the humans did. And so Maelstrom now dwelled within the paltry confines of a husk, though what that husk became when the Reaper entered it far surpassed anything of its kind ever seen before.
Maelstrom’s form had grown physically to more than half a size larger than an ordinary husk. The massive energy that coursed through it caused the synthetic components of the husk to glow with orange light. A protective barrier rose around Maelstrom, shimmering like a burning flame. And though the Reaper was only a fragment of its former magnitude, the eyes of the husk glowed white, filled with an energy that far surpassed any other Earth-bound creature.
Harbinger. The eldest one who had nearly ended the existence of Maelstrom was first on its mind. Surely it had known that there would be emergency procedures to spare what could be. Was Maelstrom’s current form what Harbinger desired? Or, did Harbinger actually know at all? Maelstrom considered there would be time to determine later. For now, Maelstrom knew regardless of its survival, and regardless of what abilities had been maintained, it was no longer able to communicate with the others; no longer able to control another, inferior, Reaper. However, as long as the cognizance had been saved, and preserved, there would be a chance to replace it within a greater vessel again. There would always be time.
Maelstrom began to walk, towards where it knew the organics that were its enemy would be; towards the Conduit.
The download was instantaneous, but the loss of knowledge was immeasurable, despite the exceptional capacities of the vessel. The protocols imparted the greatest possible increase of information storage upon the vessel, but there simply was no comparison to the being that once had travelled the galaxy for eons.
Maelstrom awoke.
The Reaper felt the constraints of its new form, and although the loss of so much of its knowledge left it incapable of comprehending the entire scope of what had gone missing, the impact of being severed in such a way was devastating. Maelstrom was aware that faced with its imminent destruction, as much of its collective cognizance…the ‘self’ that defined it...was transferred.
Only the modified, indoctrinated mind and form of a human were able to handle even a fraction of the transfer. The species’ malleability was what made them so valuable. Of the other organics that had the potential, all were far too fixed or resistant to allow what the humans did. And so Maelstrom now dwelled within the paltry confines of a husk, though what that husk became when the Reaper entered it far surpassed anything of its kind ever seen before.
Maelstrom’s form had grown physically to more than half a size larger than an ordinary husk. The massive energy that coursed through it caused the synthetic components of the husk to glow with orange light. A protective barrier rose around Maelstrom, shimmering like a burning flame. And though the Reaper was only a fragment of its former magnitude, the eyes of the husk glowed white, filled with an energy that far surpassed any other Earth-bound creature.
Harbinger. The eldest one who had nearly ended the existence of Maelstrom was first on its mind. Surely it had known that there would be emergency procedures to spare what could be. Was Maelstrom’s current form what Harbinger desired? Or, did Harbinger actually know at all? Maelstrom considered there would be time to determine later. For now, Maelstrom knew regardless of its survival, and regardless of what abilities had been maintained, it was no longer able to communicate with the others; no longer able to control another, inferior, Reaper. However, as long as the cognizance had been saved, and preserved, there would be a chance to replace it within a greater vessel again. There would always be time.
Maelstrom began to walk, towards where it knew the organics that were its enemy would be; towards the Conduit.
Modifié par Kel Riever, 31 janvier 2014 - 08:51 .
#464
Posté 01 février 2014 - 09:49
Redbelle
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- Members
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Naomi found herself boiling under Zia's scrutiny. She couldn't seem to help the well of anger inside of her.
Zia had used her. Gone behind her back. The unspoken promise of a brighter future for them both now seemed to taste like ash in her mouth. Whereas a moment ago she had been convinced that Zia would fall to her knee's and admit that Wyld had been a mistake...... She would have forgiven her. Everything was crazy. Zia was someone who sometimes let her passion get in the way of clear thinking.
But most of all.
Naomi felt entitled. Like the galaxy had played with her enough.
First it had given her a little bit of biotic potential. Just enough, that she was the weakest one in humanities galactic recorded history.
Then her parents, who had been proud of their little girl for being born special. And her constant battle to live up to their expectations.
And the lying that she had done to make sure everyone knew how special she was. And the fear for when they found out she had no more ability in biotics than to make water boil. A simple trick every first grade student could muster.
And then Zia had stepped into a Kodiak with her in it. They'd gone off to war together. Her and a bunch of others. Who knew where they were now. Dead most likely. As she should have been several times over. She'd done her best but her best was never good enough.
Zia had sheltered her. Stood in front of her and used her own awesome powers to protect her while she destroyed those who would seek to do her harm. Naomi had followed her from then on.
Then between the fighting, the kidnapping, the drugging, the dying, her cloning and the realisation that her Zia was not 'her' Zia......
She'd had enough. She'd all but thrown herself at Zia. Half naked and sultry. She pictured the Zia she had come to adore. Tried to emulate her as an admirer would their favourite celbrety
And Zia had responded.
For a moment.
Then the walls had closed around her and Naomi had found that Zia was pushing her away. The woman who had shown her such sweet extacy in her arms as they wrapped around her, reaching place's..... soft skin......
…....
How could Zia not see that this was how her story was meant to go?
Sat on the troop bench in the back of the Kodiak with the scarlet coat, Zia had thrown at her, in her lap. She looked down. The coat was a brilliant hue. Redder than anything she had seen before. An impulse struck her as she looked up and echoed Zia's words.
“You can't do this anymore”? Naomi said to her. “What does that even mean”?
Zia regarded her. “On Omega......”. She started.
Naomi interrupted. “Oh C'mon! How long are you going to keep using Omega as an excuse”?
Zia's eye's narrowed. “On Omega, everything was simple. Then we started getting older. And with age, came a better understanding as to what our actions meant. We started to understand the consequences of what we did enforcing Aria's will. Disdain felt like she was giving back what she had been dished out all her life when she put the hurt on others. Like she was evening a karmic scoreboard. Lucy started withdrawing into herself! Using sand to replace the world she lived in, with one the sand gave her! And me.......”!
With this Zia knealt in front of Naomi and placed her hands on her knee's. “I saw the two people I grew up in the Sister's of Fury program. People I grew to love like real sisters...... I saw them turned into warped reflections of themselves. Like someone or something had taken all that was good in them. And replaced it with dark reflections of themselves. And I was afraid. I worried that I'd turn end up like them if I stayed”.
“I never wanted to be a leader Nay. I wanted to sit back and enjoy everything life had to offer. I had a narrow escape when a Vorcha pack set on me. I was clinically dead when they were done. I lost the ability to mother children for all time because of what they did to me. Being brought back meant a second chance at life and I'd be damned if I was going to spend it, not living my life to the fullest”!
Naomi reached down and placed her hands atop Zia's. “Zia....”. She said quietly as she took them and dropped them down awa y to Zia's sides. “....your selfish”. She leaned away as she crossed her arms across her chest. “I'm done with the past. We have a future! You and me! And I want it...... You want a future too. Well here it is! You and me....... But instead you choose her? Why? What does she have that I haven't! And how do you think you can just pick me up like a bit on the side and drop me when your done using me”!
Naomi leaned forward and grabbed Zia's head in her hands. Zia's hands came up to grab her's but didn't try to pull free as Naomi leaned forward. “I love you. I've loved you since you saved from the Bruite in the crashed Kodiak. I saw who you were. And all I could think was that I wanted to be close to you. You kept me safe, so many times and now I can do the same for you! We're equals now. You and I. What does Wyld have that I don't”?
Zia stayed silent as she looked into Naomis eye's. Then said.
“She has passion. Commitment. Devotion. She reads me like a book! She's always thinking about someone other than herself! She's strong enough to admit when she's weak. She wants to know how I'm feeling. She get's these worry lines when she has to send us into harms way but doesn't hesitate when she has too. She respects us. She's always there with us. She's the kind of person I wish I had been on Omega. Maybe if I'd been stronger and more firm. Or just more involved with my sisters they be.....”. Zia stopped as she closed her eye's and shook her head lightly causing Naomi's hands to fall away. “She's just like Aria. But not like her at all. She fills a hole in me. Something that's always been there that I could never fill by myself”. Zia opened her eye's then and saw Naomi's chin trembling in barely surspressed emotion. “And I'm sorry. But that's not a hole you can fill. With you it's like having another Sister from Omega. And deep down I believe that eventually...... I'll ruin you! It happened once already.......”! Zia went on. “I killed you. The original you. And before that I nearly killed you when that Brute came after us”.
Naomi at last found her voice, albeit with a stiffness to it. “What..... are you talking about”.
“I didn't take down the Brute Nay. Wyld did. You were lying across me, remember? I was pinned under your weight. All I could do was throw a shockwave at it. And you were in the line of fire”. Zia paused as she took a breath. “And I nearly did too. It was a brutal decision, but at the time..... it was the only thing I could do. The math was simple back then. We both die. Or one of us dies. And I chose one. And I was building up too! Then Wyld dropped from the sky and lopped the things head off with an axe”. She looked up. “I mean, who does that? Who looks at a Brute and thinks, yeah! An Axe will cover that”!
Naomi's hands were shaking as Zia finished talking. She looked down at them with barely contained fury. “Are you telling me..... the only reason you took me under your wing...... was guilt”?
Zia looked at the trembling in Naomi's hands that ran up her arms, causing her to tremble. “Partly..... the other part was that I missed the ones I left behind..... And you were so helpless back then...... I just, couldn't let that be. And then I got to know you......”.
Whatever Zia was saying was lost underneath a bellow of rage and anger as Naomi launched herself at Zia, who, caught as she was kneeling in front of her, was floored almost at once with Naomi's weight on top of her.
Naomi bunched her hands up in the coller of Zia's uniform and Zia felt the stiches of Wyld repair's tear once more as Naomi roared. “I'M NOTHING BUT A JOKE TO YOU?!? YOU SAW ME!!! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME BACK”!!! Naomi drew back her hand and Zia saw a biotic field flare into existance around her hand. It crackled and warped around her fist as Naomi barely contained the energy. “I'M NOT SOME THROWAWAY ****!!! I MATTER!!! I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS TO ME”!!!
Naomi's fist came down.
Zia's hand intercepted it by the bicep, near the elbow and she held on for dear life as Naomi tried to press down harder. “NAOMI”! Zia cried out. “CHECK YOUR FIELD! YOUR LOSING IT”!!!
“I CAN HANDLE MY DAMN FIELDS”!
“LOOK”!
Naomi twisted her head and if anything, seemed to get madder. Her eye's widened as she saw the unstable field around her fist and grit her teeth as she tried to stablise it, all the while, contuning to push down.
It was proving to much Zia saw.
She hoped there was nothing important underneath the Kodiaks floor plates.
She let go of the bicep and pulled her head to one side even as her legs scissored around to Naomi for grip. She rolled her other arm around and barely grabbed hold of Naomi's descending arm before it made contact with the deck. Her own hastily formed containment field feeding into Naomi's. Finding the resonance. Merging and forming, becoming one.
Naomi's fist went through the deck plate. Then Naomi found it coming out as Zia rolled her over onto her back and, grabbing her hands, pinned them to the floor.
Zia looked down at Naomi.
Naomi looked up at Zia. Then her eye's seemed to pool as hot tears sprung forth. She tried not to cry. Zia could see the muscles in her jaw twitch to resist the sobs and Zia suddenly found herself thinking of Wyld. She'd know what to do. How to handle this situation that was swinging between lethal and domestic at the drop of a hat.
Thinking back, she remembered what Wyld had told her aboout how she'd been prepared for command. “I learned how to give orders by learning how to take orders”. She had said once. “Just keep in mind, everyone wants a resolution. A way out so they can move on”.
Well that was all very well for Wyld who seemed to make leadership look as easy as pulling on a pair of shoes.. Zia wanted to scream into Naomi's face! Her biotic field could have torn the entire bottom of the craft out and dropped them down to Earth if Zia hadn't stablised it!
“I get angry all the time Zee”. Came Wylds voice in the back of her head. “Getting angry is power. And if everyone get's angry..... and there's to much power..... well, what happens to a warp field that can't be contained?”
“It flares..... out of control”. Zia had replied.
“So how do you stop flare-ups Zee”?
Zia looked down at Naomi who face was twisted between rage, despair, confusion and.......
Fear?
Zia relaxed her hold on Naomi's wrists, not much. Just enough that Naomi could feel the lessening grip and brought her face down to hers. “I never meant to hurt you”. She told her. “But I know..... I did. And I'm sorry for that. I can't undo what's been been done. I can't deny who I am, what my feelings are and who their for. But you were never nothing Naomi. You were.....”. She stopped as she felt her throat close. She forced out the word. “You were like a sister to me..... Your not the one to blame for all this. It's me. It's all me. And if you want to talk about it....”. Zia released her grip on Naomi's wrist completely and rolled back on her knees. “......then I'll listen”.
Naomi struggled to control her breathing, then said with a shudder. "It's...... gone! It's gone again". She held a hand up in front of her face. The one with which she'd generated the field. "I couldn't hold it! Why couldn't I......."!
"Your bodies burned through the Red Sand". Zia stated simply. "You never had control by yourself Nay. The sand just put you in touch with the Eezo in you and let you feel out how to bring out that power".
Naomi blinked back the moisture in her eye's as she listened. As she did, she flexed her hand and it balled into a fist. She sat up slowly, not looking at Zia. "Then.....I want to find your sister. I'm not nothing Zia. I'm worth something now! But I need biotics to be all I can be".
She looked up at Zia who wore a worried look. "I want Red Sand Zia. And that means we need to find your sister again"!
Zia had used her. Gone behind her back. The unspoken promise of a brighter future for them both now seemed to taste like ash in her mouth. Whereas a moment ago she had been convinced that Zia would fall to her knee's and admit that Wyld had been a mistake...... She would have forgiven her. Everything was crazy. Zia was someone who sometimes let her passion get in the way of clear thinking.
But most of all.
Naomi felt entitled. Like the galaxy had played with her enough.
First it had given her a little bit of biotic potential. Just enough, that she was the weakest one in humanities galactic recorded history.
Then her parents, who had been proud of their little girl for being born special. And her constant battle to live up to their expectations.
And the lying that she had done to make sure everyone knew how special she was. And the fear for when they found out she had no more ability in biotics than to make water boil. A simple trick every first grade student could muster.
And then Zia had stepped into a Kodiak with her in it. They'd gone off to war together. Her and a bunch of others. Who knew where they were now. Dead most likely. As she should have been several times over. She'd done her best but her best was never good enough.
Zia had sheltered her. Stood in front of her and used her own awesome powers to protect her while she destroyed those who would seek to do her harm. Naomi had followed her from then on.
Then between the fighting, the kidnapping, the drugging, the dying, her cloning and the realisation that her Zia was not 'her' Zia......
She'd had enough. She'd all but thrown herself at Zia. Half naked and sultry. She pictured the Zia she had come to adore. Tried to emulate her as an admirer would their favourite celbrety
And Zia had responded.
For a moment.
Then the walls had closed around her and Naomi had found that Zia was pushing her away. The woman who had shown her such sweet extacy in her arms as they wrapped around her, reaching place's..... soft skin......
…....
How could Zia not see that this was how her story was meant to go?
Sat on the troop bench in the back of the Kodiak with the scarlet coat, Zia had thrown at her, in her lap. She looked down. The coat was a brilliant hue. Redder than anything she had seen before. An impulse struck her as she looked up and echoed Zia's words.
“You can't do this anymore”? Naomi said to her. “What does that even mean”?
Zia regarded her. “On Omega......”. She started.
Naomi interrupted. “Oh C'mon! How long are you going to keep using Omega as an excuse”?
Zia's eye's narrowed. “On Omega, everything was simple. Then we started getting older. And with age, came a better understanding as to what our actions meant. We started to understand the consequences of what we did enforcing Aria's will. Disdain felt like she was giving back what she had been dished out all her life when she put the hurt on others. Like she was evening a karmic scoreboard. Lucy started withdrawing into herself! Using sand to replace the world she lived in, with one the sand gave her! And me.......”!
With this Zia knealt in front of Naomi and placed her hands on her knee's. “I saw the two people I grew up in the Sister's of Fury program. People I grew to love like real sisters...... I saw them turned into warped reflections of themselves. Like someone or something had taken all that was good in them. And replaced it with dark reflections of themselves. And I was afraid. I worried that I'd turn end up like them if I stayed”.
“I never wanted to be a leader Nay. I wanted to sit back and enjoy everything life had to offer. I had a narrow escape when a Vorcha pack set on me. I was clinically dead when they were done. I lost the ability to mother children for all time because of what they did to me. Being brought back meant a second chance at life and I'd be damned if I was going to spend it, not living my life to the fullest”!
Naomi reached down and placed her hands atop Zia's. “Zia....”. She said quietly as she took them and dropped them down awa y to Zia's sides. “....your selfish”. She leaned away as she crossed her arms across her chest. “I'm done with the past. We have a future! You and me! And I want it...... You want a future too. Well here it is! You and me....... But instead you choose her? Why? What does she have that I haven't! And how do you think you can just pick me up like a bit on the side and drop me when your done using me”!
Naomi leaned forward and grabbed Zia's head in her hands. Zia's hands came up to grab her's but didn't try to pull free as Naomi leaned forward. “I love you. I've loved you since you saved from the Bruite in the crashed Kodiak. I saw who you were. And all I could think was that I wanted to be close to you. You kept me safe, so many times and now I can do the same for you! We're equals now. You and I. What does Wyld have that I don't”?
Zia stayed silent as she looked into Naomis eye's. Then said.
“She has passion. Commitment. Devotion. She reads me like a book! She's always thinking about someone other than herself! She's strong enough to admit when she's weak. She wants to know how I'm feeling. She get's these worry lines when she has to send us into harms way but doesn't hesitate when she has too. She respects us. She's always there with us. She's the kind of person I wish I had been on Omega. Maybe if I'd been stronger and more firm. Or just more involved with my sisters they be.....”. Zia stopped as she closed her eye's and shook her head lightly causing Naomi's hands to fall away. “She's just like Aria. But not like her at all. She fills a hole in me. Something that's always been there that I could never fill by myself”. Zia opened her eye's then and saw Naomi's chin trembling in barely surspressed emotion. “And I'm sorry. But that's not a hole you can fill. With you it's like having another Sister from Omega. And deep down I believe that eventually...... I'll ruin you! It happened once already.......”! Zia went on. “I killed you. The original you. And before that I nearly killed you when that Brute came after us”.
Naomi at last found her voice, albeit with a stiffness to it. “What..... are you talking about”.
“I didn't take down the Brute Nay. Wyld did. You were lying across me, remember? I was pinned under your weight. All I could do was throw a shockwave at it. And you were in the line of fire”. Zia paused as she took a breath. “And I nearly did too. It was a brutal decision, but at the time..... it was the only thing I could do. The math was simple back then. We both die. Or one of us dies. And I chose one. And I was building up too! Then Wyld dropped from the sky and lopped the things head off with an axe”. She looked up. “I mean, who does that? Who looks at a Brute and thinks, yeah! An Axe will cover that”!
Naomi's hands were shaking as Zia finished talking. She looked down at them with barely contained fury. “Are you telling me..... the only reason you took me under your wing...... was guilt”?
Zia looked at the trembling in Naomi's hands that ran up her arms, causing her to tremble. “Partly..... the other part was that I missed the ones I left behind..... And you were so helpless back then...... I just, couldn't let that be. And then I got to know you......”.
Whatever Zia was saying was lost underneath a bellow of rage and anger as Naomi launched herself at Zia, who, caught as she was kneeling in front of her, was floored almost at once with Naomi's weight on top of her.
Naomi bunched her hands up in the coller of Zia's uniform and Zia felt the stiches of Wyld repair's tear once more as Naomi roared. “I'M NOTHING BUT A JOKE TO YOU?!? YOU SAW ME!!! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME BACK”!!! Naomi drew back her hand and Zia saw a biotic field flare into existance around her hand. It crackled and warped around her fist as Naomi barely contained the energy. “I'M NOT SOME THROWAWAY ****!!! I MATTER!!! I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS TO ME”!!!
Naomi's fist came down.
Zia's hand intercepted it by the bicep, near the elbow and she held on for dear life as Naomi tried to press down harder. “NAOMI”! Zia cried out. “CHECK YOUR FIELD! YOUR LOSING IT”!!!
“I CAN HANDLE MY DAMN FIELDS”!
“LOOK”!
Naomi twisted her head and if anything, seemed to get madder. Her eye's widened as she saw the unstable field around her fist and grit her teeth as she tried to stablise it, all the while, contuning to push down.
It was proving to much Zia saw.
She hoped there was nothing important underneath the Kodiaks floor plates.
She let go of the bicep and pulled her head to one side even as her legs scissored around to Naomi for grip. She rolled her other arm around and barely grabbed hold of Naomi's descending arm before it made contact with the deck. Her own hastily formed containment field feeding into Naomi's. Finding the resonance. Merging and forming, becoming one.
Naomi's fist went through the deck plate. Then Naomi found it coming out as Zia rolled her over onto her back and, grabbing her hands, pinned them to the floor.
Zia looked down at Naomi.
Naomi looked up at Zia. Then her eye's seemed to pool as hot tears sprung forth. She tried not to cry. Zia could see the muscles in her jaw twitch to resist the sobs and Zia suddenly found herself thinking of Wyld. She'd know what to do. How to handle this situation that was swinging between lethal and domestic at the drop of a hat.
Thinking back, she remembered what Wyld had told her aboout how she'd been prepared for command. “I learned how to give orders by learning how to take orders”. She had said once. “Just keep in mind, everyone wants a resolution. A way out so they can move on”.
Well that was all very well for Wyld who seemed to make leadership look as easy as pulling on a pair of shoes.. Zia wanted to scream into Naomi's face! Her biotic field could have torn the entire bottom of the craft out and dropped them down to Earth if Zia hadn't stablised it!
“I get angry all the time Zee”. Came Wylds voice in the back of her head. “Getting angry is power. And if everyone get's angry..... and there's to much power..... well, what happens to a warp field that can't be contained?”
“It flares..... out of control”. Zia had replied.
“So how do you stop flare-ups Zee”?
Zia looked down at Naomi who face was twisted between rage, despair, confusion and.......
Fear?
Zia relaxed her hold on Naomi's wrists, not much. Just enough that Naomi could feel the lessening grip and brought her face down to hers. “I never meant to hurt you”. She told her. “But I know..... I did. And I'm sorry for that. I can't undo what's been been done. I can't deny who I am, what my feelings are and who their for. But you were never nothing Naomi. You were.....”. She stopped as she felt her throat close. She forced out the word. “You were like a sister to me..... Your not the one to blame for all this. It's me. It's all me. And if you want to talk about it....”. Zia released her grip on Naomi's wrist completely and rolled back on her knees. “......then I'll listen”.
Naomi struggled to control her breathing, then said with a shudder. "It's...... gone! It's gone again". She held a hand up in front of her face. The one with which she'd generated the field. "I couldn't hold it! Why couldn't I......."!
"Your bodies burned through the Red Sand". Zia stated simply. "You never had control by yourself Nay. The sand just put you in touch with the Eezo in you and let you feel out how to bring out that power".
Naomi blinked back the moisture in her eye's as she listened. As she did, she flexed her hand and it balled into a fist. She sat up slowly, not looking at Zia. "Then.....I want to find your sister. I'm not nothing Zia. I'm worth something now! But I need biotics to be all I can be".
She looked up at Zia who wore a worried look. "I want Red Sand Zia. And that means we need to find your sister again"!
Modifié par Redbelle, 01 février 2014 - 10:02 .
#465
Posté 05 février 2014 - 09:44
sH0tgUn jUliA
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“Okay, let’s move. We’ve got to find the stairs. Marisa, remember your cloak. You’ve got 30 seconds per use,” Naleena said.
“And me?” Kuril asked.
“Sorry, you don’t have armor with a cloak option. Now stay low and quiet,” Naleena opened the door and motioned to follow her to the left.
Marisa took up the rear, and kept looking over her shoulder. They reached the Asari Ambassador’s office. Naleena smiled at Marisa and went to the lock. Marisa gave her a dirty look, but Naleena motioned for her to help with the hack.
“Why our own offices?” Marisa whispered.
“Why not? Don’t you want to find out what we knew before we make asses of ourselves?” Naleena replied. “Now, hmmm, green or white? Or orange?”
“Why three?”
“I’m giving you another step.”
“White.”
“White to….”
“I’ll say green.”
“Sorry. It’s orange this time. Do you see that little circuit down below the green wire? That’s an alarm circuit that we bypass by routing to orange. Now closing the panel. And opening the door,” Naleena opened the door. Two Asari security guards held their guns on Naleena.
“Thank the Goddess!” One of them said, and lowered her weapon.
Naleena, Marisa, and the Turian slipped in and closed the door.
Another Asari approached. “When you were hacking the door, we thought the Reapers were finally going to get us. Good to see you, Kuril, Sergeant, and you too, Spectre. I’m Liselle, Adminstrative Assistant to the Ambassador. Wait, Marisa? I almost didn’t recognize you in commando leathers, and the sergeant stripes threw me. They even have your name on them. Is there something I should know about?”
Marisa started to speak, “Liselle, the situation is rather complicated….”
“Yes, it is,” Naleena interrupted. “You see, those are her daughter’s leathers. Her daughter was KIA, and I am on a mission to save The Council. She needed to go with me, and needed something appropriate to wear, and well…, her daughter’s leathers. My name’s Naleena.”
Marisa glared at Naleena, but decided to go along with the program. “So how have you managed to stay safe?”
Liselle put her hand to her head. “It hasn’t been easy. It’s been scary actually. The Salarians have been doing an admirable job of keeping the area relatively Reaper-free. I guess the Salarians sent extra forces to protect the embas-sies and Council.”
Liselle was nervous with what she thought was a Spectre in the office. Naleena’s web suit bore The Council logo, and the way she carried herself could only mean one thing: Spectre. Liselle’s dark purple, deep set eyes noticed Marisa’s glare. She brushed it off since she knew Marisa hated to be interrupted. She stood and smoothed her long deep purple dress.
“Liselle, would you mind opening your diplomatic files?” Naleena asked.
“That’s all Asari government business, Naleena.”
“I know, but I was Asari before I was a Spectre. I just need to know just how much ASIA (pronounced ah-SIGH-ya) knows about some-thing.”
“Uh, I don’t know about that,” Liselle was hesitant.
Naleena approached Liselle and took her off to the side. “Look Liselle, things aren’t exactly what they seem. What do you know about the Salarians?”
Liselle looked over at the Turian, then back at Naleena.
“It’s okay. He’s working with us.”
“Well, nothing much, really. They’ve been helping us out against the Reapers is all,” Liselle said.
Naleena could read she was stalling. “You’d better check the files, Liselle. You really need to see what’s in them.”
“They’d be in the ambassador’s office. I….”
“Let’s go in there, shall we?” Naleena guided her to the door to the ambassador’s office. “Marisa, Kuril, you two will be okay here?”
“Yes,” Marisa said.
The Asari ambassador’s office was quite well decorated with artwork, not like the Turian’s Spartan office. Her desk was oval shaped and had a glass top. It had a single computer terminal.
“Liselle, can you get into the ambassador’s computer and open the ASIA files on the Salarians.”
“I’ll try. This is highly irregular of The Council.”
“I’m not on a mission for The Council. I’m trying to save The Council.”
“I see. Okay, here’s some correspondence between the ambassador and the Salarians, and quite recent.”
“Hmmm. It’s quite friendly, interesting,” Naleena said, “but this still doesn’t tell me much. Can you access anything deeper, like the ASIA files I asked you about?”
Liselle tried her password on them. “I’m sorry, it’s saying ‘ambassadorial or higher clearance required.’”
“Do you know where the ambassador keeps any per-sonal stuff? Like her favorite books, family information, and stuff like that? Perhaps in the roll cabinet under the desk?” Naleena asked. “People tend to use things that are familiar as passwords, even though they are the easiest things compromised. You’d think they’d learn by this time, but they don’t, because anything else is too difficult to remember.”
“I don’t have a key,” Liselle replied.
“Don’t worry. I never let that stop me,” Naleena moved to the cabinet and opened it with ease and started rifling through the ambassador’s personal belongings.
“Why are you so interested in this?”
“What did the Salarians tell you to do when the Citadel was taken?”
“They told us to stay in our offices and lock our doors.”
“Where was the ambassador?”
“She left to meet with the Council.”
“Hmmm…,” Naleena said, “We can assume one of two things, then. The ambassador is with The Council, or dead. But she left after the warning.”
“Yes.”
“It must have been important,” Naleena said, and then moved back to the terminal. “Let’s try this one. No, that’s not it. Did she have anything she was particularly fond of?”
“There was a particular flower she grew in her green-house back on Thessia. It is rare: flrasristri iridesia,” Liselle said while leaning over the terminal next to Naleena.
“We’re in. Interesting. Liselle, don’t move.” Naleena began scanning the room for listening devices and cameras, then looked around. “It’s clean. Call me paranoid, but I think this could mean that Asari encryption codes had been compromised at some point.”
“You found something.”
“Yes, and you’re not going to like it. ASIA had just un-covered the same thing I’ve found elsewhere,” Naleena told Liselle about the Salarians, “My guess is that your ambas-sador was on her way to inform the Council and those little toads killed her.”
Liselle was stunned by the news. Her eyes began filling. It wasn’t bad enough that the Reapers invaded Thessia, but those they thought were their friends had stabbed them in the back. And her ambassador was probably dead.
Naleena held her. “I’m sorry about the ambassador. I’m sure she was a friend. Believe it or not the war isn’t going that badly right now. The only thing that matters now is stopping those toads.”
“And me?” Kuril asked.
“Sorry, you don’t have armor with a cloak option. Now stay low and quiet,” Naleena opened the door and motioned to follow her to the left.
Marisa took up the rear, and kept looking over her shoulder. They reached the Asari Ambassador’s office. Naleena smiled at Marisa and went to the lock. Marisa gave her a dirty look, but Naleena motioned for her to help with the hack.
“Why our own offices?” Marisa whispered.
“Why not? Don’t you want to find out what we knew before we make asses of ourselves?” Naleena replied. “Now, hmmm, green or white? Or orange?”
“Why three?”
“I’m giving you another step.”
“White.”
“White to….”
“I’ll say green.”
“Sorry. It’s orange this time. Do you see that little circuit down below the green wire? That’s an alarm circuit that we bypass by routing to orange. Now closing the panel. And opening the door,” Naleena opened the door. Two Asari security guards held their guns on Naleena.
“Thank the Goddess!” One of them said, and lowered her weapon.
Naleena, Marisa, and the Turian slipped in and closed the door.
Another Asari approached. “When you were hacking the door, we thought the Reapers were finally going to get us. Good to see you, Kuril, Sergeant, and you too, Spectre. I’m Liselle, Adminstrative Assistant to the Ambassador. Wait, Marisa? I almost didn’t recognize you in commando leathers, and the sergeant stripes threw me. They even have your name on them. Is there something I should know about?”
Marisa started to speak, “Liselle, the situation is rather complicated….”
“Yes, it is,” Naleena interrupted. “You see, those are her daughter’s leathers. Her daughter was KIA, and I am on a mission to save The Council. She needed to go with me, and needed something appropriate to wear, and well…, her daughter’s leathers. My name’s Naleena.”
Marisa glared at Naleena, but decided to go along with the program. “So how have you managed to stay safe?”
Liselle put her hand to her head. “It hasn’t been easy. It’s been scary actually. The Salarians have been doing an admirable job of keeping the area relatively Reaper-free. I guess the Salarians sent extra forces to protect the embas-sies and Council.”
Liselle was nervous with what she thought was a Spectre in the office. Naleena’s web suit bore The Council logo, and the way she carried herself could only mean one thing: Spectre. Liselle’s dark purple, deep set eyes noticed Marisa’s glare. She brushed it off since she knew Marisa hated to be interrupted. She stood and smoothed her long deep purple dress.
“Liselle, would you mind opening your diplomatic files?” Naleena asked.
“That’s all Asari government business, Naleena.”
“I know, but I was Asari before I was a Spectre. I just need to know just how much ASIA (pronounced ah-SIGH-ya) knows about some-thing.”
“Uh, I don’t know about that,” Liselle was hesitant.
Naleena approached Liselle and took her off to the side. “Look Liselle, things aren’t exactly what they seem. What do you know about the Salarians?”
Liselle looked over at the Turian, then back at Naleena.
“It’s okay. He’s working with us.”
“Well, nothing much, really. They’ve been helping us out against the Reapers is all,” Liselle said.
Naleena could read she was stalling. “You’d better check the files, Liselle. You really need to see what’s in them.”
“They’d be in the ambassador’s office. I….”
“Let’s go in there, shall we?” Naleena guided her to the door to the ambassador’s office. “Marisa, Kuril, you two will be okay here?”
“Yes,” Marisa said.
The Asari ambassador’s office was quite well decorated with artwork, not like the Turian’s Spartan office. Her desk was oval shaped and had a glass top. It had a single computer terminal.
“Liselle, can you get into the ambassador’s computer and open the ASIA files on the Salarians.”
“I’ll try. This is highly irregular of The Council.”
“I’m not on a mission for The Council. I’m trying to save The Council.”
“I see. Okay, here’s some correspondence between the ambassador and the Salarians, and quite recent.”
“Hmmm. It’s quite friendly, interesting,” Naleena said, “but this still doesn’t tell me much. Can you access anything deeper, like the ASIA files I asked you about?”
Liselle tried her password on them. “I’m sorry, it’s saying ‘ambassadorial or higher clearance required.’”
“Do you know where the ambassador keeps any per-sonal stuff? Like her favorite books, family information, and stuff like that? Perhaps in the roll cabinet under the desk?” Naleena asked. “People tend to use things that are familiar as passwords, even though they are the easiest things compromised. You’d think they’d learn by this time, but they don’t, because anything else is too difficult to remember.”
“I don’t have a key,” Liselle replied.
“Don’t worry. I never let that stop me,” Naleena moved to the cabinet and opened it with ease and started rifling through the ambassador’s personal belongings.
“Why are you so interested in this?”
“What did the Salarians tell you to do when the Citadel was taken?”
“They told us to stay in our offices and lock our doors.”
“Where was the ambassador?”
“She left to meet with the Council.”
“Hmmm…,” Naleena said, “We can assume one of two things, then. The ambassador is with The Council, or dead. But she left after the warning.”
“Yes.”
“It must have been important,” Naleena said, and then moved back to the terminal. “Let’s try this one. No, that’s not it. Did she have anything she was particularly fond of?”
“There was a particular flower she grew in her green-house back on Thessia. It is rare: flrasristri iridesia,” Liselle said while leaning over the terminal next to Naleena.
“We’re in. Interesting. Liselle, don’t move.” Naleena began scanning the room for listening devices and cameras, then looked around. “It’s clean. Call me paranoid, but I think this could mean that Asari encryption codes had been compromised at some point.”
“You found something.”
“Yes, and you’re not going to like it. ASIA had just un-covered the same thing I’ve found elsewhere,” Naleena told Liselle about the Salarians, “My guess is that your ambas-sador was on her way to inform the Council and those little toads killed her.”
Liselle was stunned by the news. Her eyes began filling. It wasn’t bad enough that the Reapers invaded Thessia, but those they thought were their friends had stabbed them in the back. And her ambassador was probably dead.
Naleena held her. “I’m sorry about the ambassador. I’m sure she was a friend. Believe it or not the war isn’t going that badly right now. The only thing that matters now is stopping those toads.”
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 05 février 2014 - 09:52 .
#466
Posté 05 février 2014 - 09:45
Redbelle
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Naomi ignored Zia's worried expression as she dragged herself out from under her body. Zia didn't struggle to hold her. She was stunned by what she had just heard Naomi say. As Naomi got up from beside her Zia tried.....
“Don't use Sand”. She said to the air in front of her as Naomi moved back to the bench behind her back. “It's a downward spiral. It claimed Lucy. She thought she could handle it and she was wrong. Lucy had an expert administering her doses for goodness sake”.
“What makes you think your expert was giving her the right doses”? Naomi said acidly from behind her.
Zia opened her mouth. But before she could respond, she wondered......
Come to think of it, she didn't know. She simply had faith in her teacher.
The teacher who had brought up the three sisters. And ultimately failed two of them.
Lucy was an addict because of the sand their teacher had introduced her too. And Disdain was now a body that would lay in a morgue until victory or defeat was achieved.
She turned where she sat, looking over her shoulder at Naomi and saw her pick up the red coat. The leather fabric rolled down to her feet before Naomi threw one side over her shoulder, her arm extended, it found the sleeve and slipped in with a rustle of leather on leather. Then red obscured the black of her armour as she brought her other arm back, and thrust. The other arm disappearing like the first as she shrugged on the garment.
Turning around Naomi brought the hem around at the waist before taking the belt and buckled up the material. Her black armour was still open at the front displaying the V of skin, bordered by black leather which in turn, was now bordered in red. Naomi thrust her hands into her pockets, not bothering to buckle up the rest of the buckles which dangled with faint, discernible clinks. Naomi tilted her face up till she was almost looking down her nose.
“For someone who thinks they know a lot. You sure are clueless sometimes. Your forgetting I met both your sister's. I've met all three of you Fury’s. And out of them, your the only one whose even remotely stable. And then there's the fact you all went through a program. Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe..... The program Aria began did exactly what it was supposed to do”?
Zia turned away from her. “Your wrong”.
“I mean, Aria wanted Fury’s. Strong biotics. She wanted you trained. Enhanced. Loyal and able to compete with the best the galaxy has to offer”. Naomi paused. “So why didn't she take Asari into the program instead? It would be easier.... yes? Asari already have natural biotic potential. Enhancing biotics in Asari wouldn't be hard if they can do the same in another species. Yet Aria took three young girls from a species whose biotic R and D is in it's infancy. Didn't you ever think? That maybe..... Aria's using you all as guinea pigs”.
“That..... not..... true”.
Naomi laughed, then swept the coat back so she could alight on the bench. “Face it Zia. Aria knew what she wanted. You were an investment to her. It sounds like you got all the preferential treatment to ensure that you came out of the program stable. Disdain was a small girl like you. She could have been guided out of being such a **** if Aria had seen it in her...... Maybe she did though. Maybe Aria thought that Disdain's attitude was one to encourage”?
Zia's head swivelled around. “That's not true”!
Naomi leaned back and crossed her arms. “And maybe..... since Eezo's effects on humans aren't so well documented..... maybe Lucy was used to document the effects. What happens when Eezo is used on a biotic human? The more I think about it..... the more it becomes obvious. Aria used you all as test subjects to document how human biotics develop”.
Zia stood slowly and turned to face her. Her voice trembled slightly as rage gripped her. “Nice Nay.... but you said it yourself..... I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. So if we were test subjects..... how do I factor into your little theory”?
Naomi's eye's slid up to Zia's. “Control subject”. Was all she said.
Zia eye's unfocused as Naomi's words wormed their way into her recollections of her Omegian upbringing. She shook her head lightly. Naomi was getting to her. She looked down at where Naomi was sat, leant back on the Kodiak's troops bench. Looking smug as Zia shifted uncomfortably.
Zia felt like she'd lost control of the situation. She'd gone into the cabin with Naomi, fearful that she might flare. As she was now however, she looked calm. A faint trace of sneer on her lips as she regarded her.
Well..... Zia could wipe that off her face easily enough.
“Don't use Sand”. She said to the air in front of her as Naomi moved back to the bench behind her back. “It's a downward spiral. It claimed Lucy. She thought she could handle it and she was wrong. Lucy had an expert administering her doses for goodness sake”.
“What makes you think your expert was giving her the right doses”? Naomi said acidly from behind her.
Zia opened her mouth. But before she could respond, she wondered......
Come to think of it, she didn't know. She simply had faith in her teacher.
The teacher who had brought up the three sisters. And ultimately failed two of them.
Lucy was an addict because of the sand their teacher had introduced her too. And Disdain was now a body that would lay in a morgue until victory or defeat was achieved.
She turned where she sat, looking over her shoulder at Naomi and saw her pick up the red coat. The leather fabric rolled down to her feet before Naomi threw one side over her shoulder, her arm extended, it found the sleeve and slipped in with a rustle of leather on leather. Then red obscured the black of her armour as she brought her other arm back, and thrust. The other arm disappearing like the first as she shrugged on the garment.
Turning around Naomi brought the hem around at the waist before taking the belt and buckled up the material. Her black armour was still open at the front displaying the V of skin, bordered by black leather which in turn, was now bordered in red. Naomi thrust her hands into her pockets, not bothering to buckle up the rest of the buckles which dangled with faint, discernible clinks. Naomi tilted her face up till she was almost looking down her nose.
“For someone who thinks they know a lot. You sure are clueless sometimes. Your forgetting I met both your sister's. I've met all three of you Fury’s. And out of them, your the only one whose even remotely stable. And then there's the fact you all went through a program. Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe..... The program Aria began did exactly what it was supposed to do”?
Zia turned away from her. “Your wrong”.
“I mean, Aria wanted Fury’s. Strong biotics. She wanted you trained. Enhanced. Loyal and able to compete with the best the galaxy has to offer”. Naomi paused. “So why didn't she take Asari into the program instead? It would be easier.... yes? Asari already have natural biotic potential. Enhancing biotics in Asari wouldn't be hard if they can do the same in another species. Yet Aria took three young girls from a species whose biotic R and D is in it's infancy. Didn't you ever think? That maybe..... Aria's using you all as guinea pigs”.
“That..... not..... true”.
Naomi laughed, then swept the coat back so she could alight on the bench. “Face it Zia. Aria knew what she wanted. You were an investment to her. It sounds like you got all the preferential treatment to ensure that you came out of the program stable. Disdain was a small girl like you. She could have been guided out of being such a **** if Aria had seen it in her...... Maybe she did though. Maybe Aria thought that Disdain's attitude was one to encourage”?
Zia's head swivelled around. “That's not true”!
Naomi leaned back and crossed her arms. “And maybe..... since Eezo's effects on humans aren't so well documented..... maybe Lucy was used to document the effects. What happens when Eezo is used on a biotic human? The more I think about it..... the more it becomes obvious. Aria used you all as test subjects to document how human biotics develop”.
Zia stood slowly and turned to face her. Her voice trembled slightly as rage gripped her. “Nice Nay.... but you said it yourself..... I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. So if we were test subjects..... how do I factor into your little theory”?
Naomi's eye's slid up to Zia's. “Control subject”. Was all she said.
Zia eye's unfocused as Naomi's words wormed their way into her recollections of her Omegian upbringing. She shook her head lightly. Naomi was getting to her. She looked down at where Naomi was sat, leant back on the Kodiak's troops bench. Looking smug as Zia shifted uncomfortably.
Zia felt like she'd lost control of the situation. She'd gone into the cabin with Naomi, fearful that she might flare. As she was now however, she looked calm. A faint trace of sneer on her lips as she regarded her.
Well..... Zia could wipe that off her face easily enough.
Modifié par Redbelle, 05 février 2014 - 09:53 .
#467
Posté 06 février 2014 - 05:08
Kel Riever
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The Air and Space Museum of London was a marvel of architecture, spanning a kilometer in length with not one pillar, column, or support structure that interrupted its ten story height. It was a combination of specialized materials and science that made its construction possible, and the ASML stood as a testament not only to the accomplishments of mankind, but what could be done when humanity’s knowledge was combined with that of other sentient species throughout the galaxy.
Of course, that space within was hardly empty, and though the architecture was the result of combined knowledge, the displays within were keenly dedicated to favor the achievements of man. More specifically, to favor the achievements of those who came from Great Britain. Among the myriad of hanging trophies and suspended under the ASML’s roof were Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic pioneer vessels SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo, as well as John Conroy’s prototype frigate, the SSV Lowestoft, which was never commissioned due to coil emission problems that could never be rectified. The frigate dominated the interior and was visible, in part, from any point inside the museum. Still, there was talk of expanding the ASML to allow the decommissioned SSV London to dwell under its roof, or as part of it due to the cruiser’s size. That was all, of course, before the Reapers had invaded.
Rea knew little of that as the Starscreamer hurtled towards the building. What she did know is that in her scans of London, and her preliminary study of the battlefield she would fight upon before she landed, the ASML had the single, largest interior space of any building in London, and that was what she needed to execute her plan. Momma was passing what she didn’t know along to her, about what lay within and how it was arranged. Rea contacted Jerry-Ann Wyld with only enough time to relay the end point of her trajectory and to tell the Commander to be ready to shoot down what was chasing her. As the Oculus drones closed, Rea could say little else as her concentration went to her flying, and she trusted her human friend to figure out the rest.
“You are going through that building, aren’t you?” Rothan’s voice was tight.
“I need those drones to be occupied, so there is as little chance as possible for them to figure out what is going on,” Rea responded as she let out a controlled breath. “Our only defense to the rear is going to be my flying and whatever shockwaves you can use to bring down anything on top of those drones. You’ll need to keep your barrier up as well, because the air is going to be full of shrapnel.”
Rothan wondered, “Anything else?” He saw the expanse of the museum coming towards them at high speed.
“Actually, yes,” Rea added. “Keep the gun straight, fire steady bursts without overheating the barrels, and clear a path for this jet bike.”
The quarian shook his head, but fixed the Starscreamer’s gun forward. “I really mistook you for a level-headed asari, Rea.”
“Momma,” Rea went on, “You are going to concentrate all hard-light emitters forward. Every plate available is to be moved to the fore, to protect us from anything directly in our path. Any other available power beyond that is for the engines. Can you comply?”
“Affirmative Miss Rea, though as you mentioned, there should be a minimum level left to protect you and the bike from the shrapnel…”
“No, Momma. Every plate to the fore.”
There was a hesitation, then Momma agreed, “As you ask, Miss Rea.”
The tall, grey wall of the museum loomed. Its surface was damaged but intact. As Momma redirected leftover power from the plates to the engines and Rea maxed out the throttle, the Starscreamer’s sound lost all its music, transforming into a piercing shriek.
Of course, that space within was hardly empty, and though the architecture was the result of combined knowledge, the displays within were keenly dedicated to favor the achievements of man. More specifically, to favor the achievements of those who came from Great Britain. Among the myriad of hanging trophies and suspended under the ASML’s roof were Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic pioneer vessels SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo, as well as John Conroy’s prototype frigate, the SSV Lowestoft, which was never commissioned due to coil emission problems that could never be rectified. The frigate dominated the interior and was visible, in part, from any point inside the museum. Still, there was talk of expanding the ASML to allow the decommissioned SSV London to dwell under its roof, or as part of it due to the cruiser’s size. That was all, of course, before the Reapers had invaded.
Rea knew little of that as the Starscreamer hurtled towards the building. What she did know is that in her scans of London, and her preliminary study of the battlefield she would fight upon before she landed, the ASML had the single, largest interior space of any building in London, and that was what she needed to execute her plan. Momma was passing what she didn’t know along to her, about what lay within and how it was arranged. Rea contacted Jerry-Ann Wyld with only enough time to relay the end point of her trajectory and to tell the Commander to be ready to shoot down what was chasing her. As the Oculus drones closed, Rea could say little else as her concentration went to her flying, and she trusted her human friend to figure out the rest.
“You are going through that building, aren’t you?” Rothan’s voice was tight.
“I need those drones to be occupied, so there is as little chance as possible for them to figure out what is going on,” Rea responded as she let out a controlled breath. “Our only defense to the rear is going to be my flying and whatever shockwaves you can use to bring down anything on top of those drones. You’ll need to keep your barrier up as well, because the air is going to be full of shrapnel.”
Rothan wondered, “Anything else?” He saw the expanse of the museum coming towards them at high speed.
“Actually, yes,” Rea added. “Keep the gun straight, fire steady bursts without overheating the barrels, and clear a path for this jet bike.”
The quarian shook his head, but fixed the Starscreamer’s gun forward. “I really mistook you for a level-headed asari, Rea.”
“Momma,” Rea went on, “You are going to concentrate all hard-light emitters forward. Every plate available is to be moved to the fore, to protect us from anything directly in our path. Any other available power beyond that is for the engines. Can you comply?”
“Affirmative Miss Rea, though as you mentioned, there should be a minimum level left to protect you and the bike from the shrapnel…”
“No, Momma. Every plate to the fore.”
There was a hesitation, then Momma agreed, “As you ask, Miss Rea.”
The tall, grey wall of the museum loomed. Its surface was damaged but intact. As Momma redirected leftover power from the plates to the engines and Rea maxed out the throttle, the Starscreamer’s sound lost all its music, transforming into a piercing shriek.
#468
Posté 07 février 2014 - 06:58
Kel Riever
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Both Oculus drones incorrectly anticipated the Starscreamer would pull up, short of the Air and Space Museum of London, and so released their beams above the jet bike, to incinerate it when it went vertical. Alternatively, the drones predicted, the Starscreamer would be forced to pull off in another direction, for which its speed would cause a crash into a nearby building, the ground, or in fact, have the jet bike drive straight into the wall it was headed for. What the Oculus drones failed to anticipate was that driving at the wall was exactly the plan.
“Locking in and firing,” Rothan said as he sent forth a steady stream of gunfire from the Starscreamer’s main weapon. The shots impacted on the outer wall of the museum, and began to form a breach.
Momma stacked the hard light emission plates on the jetbike to maximize protection to the front of the bike, foregoing defense in all other areas. The aquamarine plates glowed and formed aerodynamic shells around the nose of the Starscreamer.
Rea handled the rest. She pressed one hand forward, focusing as much as she could. Though unable to master other areas of biotics, such as barriers, what Rea was imminently proficient in was the ability to use her mass effect fields to hurl targets away from her. Throwing, which was what the power was commonly known as, was usually used on a single target. But as Rea guided the Starscreamer with one hand, she used her other to cast forth a constant cone-shaped field, to launch as many obstructions as possible away from the path of the jet bike.
With its path blazed by gunfire, the larger degree of fragments and rubble cast aside by the biotic cone, and the remaining particles deflected off the hard light plates, the Starscreamer blasted through the wall of the museum like a fire-breathing aquamarine dragon. The objects and displays within the Air and Space Museum came at them so fast, that Rea and Rothan’s reactions occurred before they had time to think. It was as if they were outside of themselves, watching their bodies perform. The Oculus drones followed, creating their own trail with their beams. But, in tandem, Rea and Rothan found an edge over their adversaries. While Rea skimmed within arms reach of the hanging frigate, or another display, decorations or monument at blinding speed, Rothan kept the gun firing and repeated shockwaves to the aft - an exploding wake across floor and ceiling. A vortex of shrapnel caught the pursuers, who took constant damage from the chase. At one point, SpaceShipTwo was broken from its suspension cables and one of the drones careened headlong into it. A fire ignited on that Oculus, but it continued, impaired as it was.
Rea sensed her exit point before she could even see it. Her only communication during the entire flight through the building came at that moment, on a channel directly open to Jerry-Ann Wyld.
“Don’t let me down, you wing-eared angel!”
“Locking in and firing,” Rothan said as he sent forth a steady stream of gunfire from the Starscreamer’s main weapon. The shots impacted on the outer wall of the museum, and began to form a breach.
Momma stacked the hard light emission plates on the jetbike to maximize protection to the front of the bike, foregoing defense in all other areas. The aquamarine plates glowed and formed aerodynamic shells around the nose of the Starscreamer.
Rea handled the rest. She pressed one hand forward, focusing as much as she could. Though unable to master other areas of biotics, such as barriers, what Rea was imminently proficient in was the ability to use her mass effect fields to hurl targets away from her. Throwing, which was what the power was commonly known as, was usually used on a single target. But as Rea guided the Starscreamer with one hand, she used her other to cast forth a constant cone-shaped field, to launch as many obstructions as possible away from the path of the jet bike.
With its path blazed by gunfire, the larger degree of fragments and rubble cast aside by the biotic cone, and the remaining particles deflected off the hard light plates, the Starscreamer blasted through the wall of the museum like a fire-breathing aquamarine dragon. The objects and displays within the Air and Space Museum came at them so fast, that Rea and Rothan’s reactions occurred before they had time to think. It was as if they were outside of themselves, watching their bodies perform. The Oculus drones followed, creating their own trail with their beams. But, in tandem, Rea and Rothan found an edge over their adversaries. While Rea skimmed within arms reach of the hanging frigate, or another display, decorations or monument at blinding speed, Rothan kept the gun firing and repeated shockwaves to the aft - an exploding wake across floor and ceiling. A vortex of shrapnel caught the pursuers, who took constant damage from the chase. At one point, SpaceShipTwo was broken from its suspension cables and one of the drones careened headlong into it. A fire ignited on that Oculus, but it continued, impaired as it was.
Rea sensed her exit point before she could even see it. Her only communication during the entire flight through the building came at that moment, on a channel directly open to Jerry-Ann Wyld.
“Don’t let me down, you wing-eared angel!”
Modifié par Kel Riever, 07 février 2014 - 07:14 .
#469
Posté 09 février 2014 - 08:59
sH0tgUn jUliA
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Everything had been planned in advance, and it had been going so smoothly. The operatives were in place, but then the Reapers attacked the Citadel. Even that was anticipated. He stood looking at the display on the wall of his command center, his left hand against the smooth delicate very dark green skin of his forehead. Sallan Anoern’s mind was fixed on one thing: making this plan work. There was a knock on his door.
“Enter,” he said.
“Major Anoern, sir. We’re down to nine operatives,” the lieutenant reported.
Anoern turned and faced him. “I remind you that you are supposed to be elite STG operatives? We had eighteen operatives. Granted there were Reapers, but eighteen of you can’t handle a single Asari?”
“This Asari is Naleena…,”
“I know who she is, Lieutenant! Just kill her, and kill anyone she’s spoken with on the station,” Anoern was furious. “She must not reach The Council bunker. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Use what’s left of C-sec as a resource if you have to. Now get out of here.”
“Enter,” he said.
“Major Anoern, sir. We’re down to nine operatives,” the lieutenant reported.
Anoern turned and faced him. “I remind you that you are supposed to be elite STG operatives? We had eighteen operatives. Granted there were Reapers, but eighteen of you can’t handle a single Asari?”
“This Asari is Naleena…,”
“I know who she is, Lieutenant! Just kill her, and kill anyone she’s spoken with on the station,” Anoern was furious. “She must not reach The Council bunker. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Use what’s left of C-sec as a resource if you have to. Now get out of here.”
#470
Posté 09 février 2014 - 09:55
sH0tgUn jUliA
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Ereba quietly crawled in the duct took a look out of a vent screen into the area outside the Flight Control Center. She closed her eyes and shook her head, but then noticed the ductwork continued over to the other side into the tramway. She crawled back to her squad.
“Psst. Shay, help me down,” Ereba said.
“So, what did you see?” Jack asked.
Shay finished helping Ereba down from the duct. Ereba walked over to Jack. “It’s not good out there. You guys aren’t going anywhere, but that duct goes across to the tramway.”
“And that affects us how?” Jack asked.
“Ereba and I are going to go look for the Sarge and the Captain,” Shay said, “Ranassa and T will stay here under your command.”
“And if we have to fight Reapers?”
“Jack, those two are the two heavy hitters in the squad. Next to the Sarge, T has the most offensive biotic power.”
“And I’ve got the biggest gun,” Ranassa interrupted, “you can let them go, Jack. We’ve got you covered.”
“I’m getting a bit worried about them, too,” T said, “They haven’t checked in like they said they were going to.”
Jack didn’t like it. “And what if the two of you run into trouble? What do we do then? Send two more? The Reapers will pick us off like ****ing flies.”
“We’re just going to do a little recon, and we’ll be back,” Ereba said.
Prangley held back Jack. “Let them go, Jack. We’ll be alright.”
“****!” Jack said, “Okay, go. But you’d better be back here or check in.”
Ereba gave Jack and informal salute, and disappeared into the duct, followed by Shayrana. Ereba motioned for Shay to be very quiet and pointed down. They crawled past the sealed door and into the tramway. Ereba popped the vent screen and dropped down. There was a second tram car.
“We’re below the main level. These must be the maintenance cars,” Ereba said.
Shay opened the door and got in. Ereba hit the button, and the tram started moving toward the Presidium Ring.
“So what’s the plan once we get there?” Shay asked.
“I’m guessing there still might be some C-sec personnel alive. Perhaps they saw her.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Ereba kissed Shay on the crest and the two sat together on the tram. About three minutes passed and the tram ar-rived at the Ring station. Ereba and Shayrana exited with their weapons drawn. There were a couple of C-sec officers in the area and they saw them. The officers seemed to be guarding one of the entrances to the station lobby. Ereba and Shay stayed low and moved up slowly and quietly until they met up with them. There was a Turian sergeant lying dead on the floor.
“Hey, it’s good to see a friendly face around here,” Shayrana said, “What’s the situation?”
The Turian officer turned and acknowledged her. “What do you think? The place is crawling with Reapers, and….”
“And what?”
“And we’ve got a traitor.”
“What’s going on?” Ereba asked.
“There’s an Asari running around trying to kill The Council.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ereba replied.
“I wish I were,” the Turian opened his omni-tool and showed her picture.
Shay was alarmed and mouthed to Ereba, “That’s the Sarge.”
“Are you sure?” Ereba asked.
“She shot a Spectre to gain access to the Spectre Armory on the next level up. Then she’s killed several officers.”
“Who gave you this information?”
“Salarian Special Tasks Group sent a couple of squads to the Citadel to help secure the place in case of a Reaper attack. They gave us the information.”
“Who is the Asari?” Shayrana asked.
“They identified her as Naleena T’sarius. She’s been wanted by STG for the past 200 years. She’s a professional assassin. She’s extremely dangerous.”
“Do you have any proof, like a video feed, that she actually killed the Spectre and that she did what they say she did?” Ereba asked.
“Sadly, no. Our surveillance cameras were taken out when the Reapers attacked. Speaking of which, here come some more.”
“We’d better fall back behind that barrier near the tram. That way we can help you,” Shay said.
“Good idea.”
The four of them fell back behind the barrier as the Reaper troops attacked. It was a small group this time: a half-dozen husks and a couple of marauders.
“We’ve got this, you two focus on the marauders,” Ereba said, “We’ve got the husks. Throwing singularity.”
Ereba’s singularity caught all six of them. Shayrana fired off a biotic warp and detonated the singularity sending pieces of husk flying all over the place. Ereba drew her Carnifex, and Shay her Paladin and they took down the marauders. The C-sec officers weren’t up to the task.
“Thanks for the help,” the Human C-sec officer was grateful.
“Anytime,” Ereba replied.
“Wait,” the Human C-sec officer said, and opened his omni-tool. “I remember that STG sent us a picture just after she shot the Turian Spectre.”
“Did they say who that was with her?” Ereba asked.
“No. They said they didn’t have identification. They said the identification didn’t make any sense. They said she had the name of a dead Human officer. She’s obviously an accomplice.”
“Hmmm….”
“Thanks officer,” Shayrana replied, “We’ll be careful, and if we see her, we’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Let me give you Commander Bailey’s frequency. He’s coordinating C-sec.”
“Thanks again.”
“Say, who are you anyway? And what are you doing here?”
“Specialist Ereba Danri and Corporal Shayrana T’sonoptis, Artemis Platoon. We’re part of the team that opened The Citadel for Admiral Hackett. He has The Crucible on the way. All that we need is for Commander Shepard to get here,” Shayrana said. "Unlike the other two, we're actually going to save The Council. Trust me, we're up to the task."
“Great! Be careful out there. The way up to the next level is the stairwell at the end of the corridor.”
Ereba and Shay walked off in that direction. The corridor was covered in Reaper muck. Apparently they’d made several assaults down that way which were answered by C-sec, however C-sec was down to two. It was doubtful they’d be able to hold out. The two rounded a corner about 20 yards away from the station lobby and stopped.
“What’s this Naleena crap about the Sarge?” Shay asked.
“I don’t know. All I do know is that she came to our squad with some crazy skills. I don’t know what she did in the past, but what she did in the past six months was teach us how to stay alive in this war.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. That’s a picture of Marisa. She works for The Council. Why would she be a party to killing them?”
“You’re right. It's ****ing crazy. They left to save The Council, and now they’re being charged with trying to kill them?”
“This means that STG is either indoctrinated or there’s something else going on. One thing is for sure, I’m not going to start shooting at our Sarge or the Captain without talking to them first.”
“Agreed.”
"Just be ready to back me up if things go south."
"Ereba, in this situation we're commandos. The Republics come first."
"So what are the ROE, Corporal?"
"Given what we've seen, don't trust anyone. If they act peculiar, kill them."
“Psst. Shay, help me down,” Ereba said.
“So, what did you see?” Jack asked.
Shay finished helping Ereba down from the duct. Ereba walked over to Jack. “It’s not good out there. You guys aren’t going anywhere, but that duct goes across to the tramway.”
“And that affects us how?” Jack asked.
“Ereba and I are going to go look for the Sarge and the Captain,” Shay said, “Ranassa and T will stay here under your command.”
“And if we have to fight Reapers?”
“Jack, those two are the two heavy hitters in the squad. Next to the Sarge, T has the most offensive biotic power.”
“And I’ve got the biggest gun,” Ranassa interrupted, “you can let them go, Jack. We’ve got you covered.”
“I’m getting a bit worried about them, too,” T said, “They haven’t checked in like they said they were going to.”
Jack didn’t like it. “And what if the two of you run into trouble? What do we do then? Send two more? The Reapers will pick us off like ****ing flies.”
“We’re just going to do a little recon, and we’ll be back,” Ereba said.
Prangley held back Jack. “Let them go, Jack. We’ll be alright.”
“****!” Jack said, “Okay, go. But you’d better be back here or check in.”
Ereba gave Jack and informal salute, and disappeared into the duct, followed by Shayrana. Ereba motioned for Shay to be very quiet and pointed down. They crawled past the sealed door and into the tramway. Ereba popped the vent screen and dropped down. There was a second tram car.
“We’re below the main level. These must be the maintenance cars,” Ereba said.
Shay opened the door and got in. Ereba hit the button, and the tram started moving toward the Presidium Ring.
“So what’s the plan once we get there?” Shay asked.
“I’m guessing there still might be some C-sec personnel alive. Perhaps they saw her.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Ereba kissed Shay on the crest and the two sat together on the tram. About three minutes passed and the tram ar-rived at the Ring station. Ereba and Shayrana exited with their weapons drawn. There were a couple of C-sec officers in the area and they saw them. The officers seemed to be guarding one of the entrances to the station lobby. Ereba and Shay stayed low and moved up slowly and quietly until they met up with them. There was a Turian sergeant lying dead on the floor.
“Hey, it’s good to see a friendly face around here,” Shayrana said, “What’s the situation?”
The Turian officer turned and acknowledged her. “What do you think? The place is crawling with Reapers, and….”
“And what?”
“And we’ve got a traitor.”
“What’s going on?” Ereba asked.
“There’s an Asari running around trying to kill The Council.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ereba replied.
“I wish I were,” the Turian opened his omni-tool and showed her picture.
Shay was alarmed and mouthed to Ereba, “That’s the Sarge.”
“Are you sure?” Ereba asked.
“She shot a Spectre to gain access to the Spectre Armory on the next level up. Then she’s killed several officers.”
“Who gave you this information?”
“Salarian Special Tasks Group sent a couple of squads to the Citadel to help secure the place in case of a Reaper attack. They gave us the information.”
“Who is the Asari?” Shayrana asked.
“They identified her as Naleena T’sarius. She’s been wanted by STG for the past 200 years. She’s a professional assassin. She’s extremely dangerous.”
“Do you have any proof, like a video feed, that she actually killed the Spectre and that she did what they say she did?” Ereba asked.
“Sadly, no. Our surveillance cameras were taken out when the Reapers attacked. Speaking of which, here come some more.”
“We’d better fall back behind that barrier near the tram. That way we can help you,” Shay said.
“Good idea.”
The four of them fell back behind the barrier as the Reaper troops attacked. It was a small group this time: a half-dozen husks and a couple of marauders.
“We’ve got this, you two focus on the marauders,” Ereba said, “We’ve got the husks. Throwing singularity.”
Ereba’s singularity caught all six of them. Shayrana fired off a biotic warp and detonated the singularity sending pieces of husk flying all over the place. Ereba drew her Carnifex, and Shay her Paladin and they took down the marauders. The C-sec officers weren’t up to the task.
“Thanks for the help,” the Human C-sec officer was grateful.
“Anytime,” Ereba replied.
“Wait,” the Human C-sec officer said, and opened his omni-tool. “I remember that STG sent us a picture just after she shot the Turian Spectre.”
“Did they say who that was with her?” Ereba asked.
“No. They said they didn’t have identification. They said the identification didn’t make any sense. They said she had the name of a dead Human officer. She’s obviously an accomplice.”
“Hmmm….”
“Thanks officer,” Shayrana replied, “We’ll be careful, and if we see her, we’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Let me give you Commander Bailey’s frequency. He’s coordinating C-sec.”
“Thanks again.”
“Say, who are you anyway? And what are you doing here?”
“Specialist Ereba Danri and Corporal Shayrana T’sonoptis, Artemis Platoon. We’re part of the team that opened The Citadel for Admiral Hackett. He has The Crucible on the way. All that we need is for Commander Shepard to get here,” Shayrana said. "Unlike the other two, we're actually going to save The Council. Trust me, we're up to the task."
“Great! Be careful out there. The way up to the next level is the stairwell at the end of the corridor.”
Ereba and Shay walked off in that direction. The corridor was covered in Reaper muck. Apparently they’d made several assaults down that way which were answered by C-sec, however C-sec was down to two. It was doubtful they’d be able to hold out. The two rounded a corner about 20 yards away from the station lobby and stopped.
“What’s this Naleena crap about the Sarge?” Shay asked.
“I don’t know. All I do know is that she came to our squad with some crazy skills. I don’t know what she did in the past, but what she did in the past six months was teach us how to stay alive in this war.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. That’s a picture of Marisa. She works for The Council. Why would she be a party to killing them?”
“You’re right. It's ****ing crazy. They left to save The Council, and now they’re being charged with trying to kill them?”
“This means that STG is either indoctrinated or there’s something else going on. One thing is for sure, I’m not going to start shooting at our Sarge or the Captain without talking to them first.”
“Agreed.”
"Just be ready to back me up if things go south."
"Ereba, in this situation we're commandos. The Republics come first."
"So what are the ROE, Corporal?"
"Given what we've seen, don't trust anyone. If they act peculiar, kill them."
#471
Posté 11 février 2014 - 08:50
Kel Riever
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Dale kept her cool as she fought side to side with Riptide. The girl in the Terra Firma uniform was keeping Dale’s blind spots covered as she used her Revenant to put down Cannibal after Cannibal. With the cloud of ash blocking out even the ambient light from the moon, flood lights from armored personel carriers and Makos covered the area. Still, visibility was at a minimum, as heavy ash rained down.
“We can barely move ahead,” a marine called out to Dale.
It was true. While she had heard on her com about Steiner’s unit advancing towards the conduit, all that Dale’s group could do was make sure their guns didn’t overheat and keep firing. All the work had finally cut into the Cannibal numbers, but other Reaper threats were arriving on the scene. Dale had directed fire against three Brutes making their way among the Cannibals and a Ravager had destroyed a Mako before it was brought down by grenades hurled from Arkeer.
A detonation with a strange sound reached Dale’s ears. When it repeated itself, she tried to place what it could be. It reminded her of a charge going off underwater. Spotting nothing that made it from nearby, she peered forward as far as she could, until through the thick ashes, she spotted what she thought was a hemisphere of faint, bluish energy radiating with each detonation.
“Somebody get me an ID on that explosion,” Dale instructed her troops.
After unloading his claymore into a Reaper, Arkeer called back, “I know what that is. It is the sound of a Warlord’s hammer! Seldom heard, even on Tuchanka. But you never forget it once you hear it.”
It took Dale a minute to remember back to Camp Bastion when she took a look at the unit roster. “Do you think those are the Urdnot krogan?”
“Has to be,” Arkeer answered, cocking and firing his Claymore again.
“Okay, we are moving ahead! We’ll try to link up with them.”
There was another muffled sound, but this one seemed to get closer, unlike the hammer. It was as if there was a rushing wind, and then a slight pop.
And then, came the sound of a distant wailing.
Cries of, “Banshee,” came from Dale’s far right. She saw troops on that side breaking and running towards her. An APC that was slowly rolling forward took an uncontrolled lurch and slammed into a building. Dale had no doubt that the Banshee had entered the vehicle and was making short work of its crew.
One of the soldiers near Dale and Riptide stepped backwards. Riptide grabbed his shoulder. “It won’t help,” she said. The soldier stared at her blankly.
“She’s right,” Dale confirmed. “We’re going to take this Banshee down. Concentrate fire and someone is going to have to bait it. Otherwise it will slaughter all of us.”
“I’ll coax it out,” Arkeer said. “Besides, I want some payback for what happened in the Underground…”
“We can barely move ahead,” a marine called out to Dale.
It was true. While she had heard on her com about Steiner’s unit advancing towards the conduit, all that Dale’s group could do was make sure their guns didn’t overheat and keep firing. All the work had finally cut into the Cannibal numbers, but other Reaper threats were arriving on the scene. Dale had directed fire against three Brutes making their way among the Cannibals and a Ravager had destroyed a Mako before it was brought down by grenades hurled from Arkeer.
A detonation with a strange sound reached Dale’s ears. When it repeated itself, she tried to place what it could be. It reminded her of a charge going off underwater. Spotting nothing that made it from nearby, she peered forward as far as she could, until through the thick ashes, she spotted what she thought was a hemisphere of faint, bluish energy radiating with each detonation.
“Somebody get me an ID on that explosion,” Dale instructed her troops.
After unloading his claymore into a Reaper, Arkeer called back, “I know what that is. It is the sound of a Warlord’s hammer! Seldom heard, even on Tuchanka. But you never forget it once you hear it.”
It took Dale a minute to remember back to Camp Bastion when she took a look at the unit roster. “Do you think those are the Urdnot krogan?”
“Has to be,” Arkeer answered, cocking and firing his Claymore again.
“Okay, we are moving ahead! We’ll try to link up with them.”
There was another muffled sound, but this one seemed to get closer, unlike the hammer. It was as if there was a rushing wind, and then a slight pop.
And then, came the sound of a distant wailing.
Cries of, “Banshee,” came from Dale’s far right. She saw troops on that side breaking and running towards her. An APC that was slowly rolling forward took an uncontrolled lurch and slammed into a building. Dale had no doubt that the Banshee had entered the vehicle and was making short work of its crew.
One of the soldiers near Dale and Riptide stepped backwards. Riptide grabbed his shoulder. “It won’t help,” she said. The soldier stared at her blankly.
“She’s right,” Dale confirmed. “We’re going to take this Banshee down. Concentrate fire and someone is going to have to bait it. Otherwise it will slaughter all of us.”
“I’ll coax it out,” Arkeer said. “Besides, I want some payback for what happened in the Underground…”
#472
Posté 12 février 2014 - 04:00
sH0tgUn jUliA
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Naleena emerged from the ambassador’s office with Liselle. Marisa had been studying her omni-tool with Kuril while they were in the office, and they were still looking at it.
“Naleena, did you find anything?” Marisa asked.
“The usual, but the ambassador went to see The Council just after the lockdown.”
“It must have been important.”
“It was. I’ll give you a guess.”
“Our green friends?”
“Yes. What are you two looking at?”
Kuril motioned for Naleena to approach. “You should see this. I think we may have found another access through this office. As you can see there’s a junction right here in the ductwork. We’ll have to move those cabinets, though. We’ve already asked these two guards, and they had no objection.”
The cabinets were against the wall opposite the entrance. The wall extended evenly for the width of the room. Both rooms had ceiling vents. What Kuril had pointed out was that there was a gap between the walls equal to the width of the storage closet between the ambassador’s office and the front administrative offices, but the closet wasn’t as deep as the full length of the wall. There was still a possibility of ventilation ducts behind it. Naleena knew this was their only chance to get into the STG office without a frontal assault. According to Liselle, the ambassador had a cabinet in front of his floor vent as well. The Asari ambassador felt that the floor vents were security risks and was going to request having them boarded over. Liselle suggested just putting heavy furniture in front since the maintenance request would take weeks to process.
“Liselle, can you give me a hand with this cabinet?” Naleena asked.
“Of course, but it’s pretty heavy. Arista, can you help out?” Liselle asked one of the guards.
Between the three of them they were able to move the heavy cabinet. Naleena pulled the vent screen off the wall and she, Marisa and Kuril climbed in. Liselle and the two guards moved the cabinet back against the wall.
“Well it looks like we’re committed now,” Marisa said, “What did you really find?”
“Asari intelligence was lackadaisical and too trusting of the Salarians. They didn’t really find out anything until just after the Reapers hit The Citadel.”
“That late?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I’d be quite embarrassed,” Naleena commented. “If your directions are right, we should be able to do the same thing as last time, except we’ll have an executive office that’s probably occupied. We’ll have to be very quiet.”
Naleena spider crawled again through the duct, and then she stopped suddenly, and waived Marisa and Kuril back. She blew up some dust and there it was: a laser trip for a detonator. She flipped on her night vision. The sneaky bastards. Now how do we disarm this? Very carefully. They’re using thread-wire and matching the surroundings, but it shows up on night vision because it’s warmer. I’ll cut this one. Good. Then this wire. Good, and this should turn off the laser. I’ll take that.
Naleena gave the all clear and they moved forward, and she saw the wad of plastic. Those toads don’t **** around. She motioned for Marisa and Kuril to stop again and she moved up to the vent and peered into the office.
“Yes, set up a defense. Mine the area if you have to. They must not reach The Council’s bunker,” the Captain ordered.
“It’s still clear out in the hall, Sir,” a sergeant said.
“Good, they may be headed straight there,” the Captain said, “Get me a cup of tea.”
“Right away, sir.”
Naleena checked the air flow again, and she backed up very quietly. Then she put her re-breather on cracked open another sleep gas capsule. In a few moments she heard a tea mug drop to the floor. She quietly moved back to the vent and removed the grid and dropped down into the room. It was just the captain and a sergeant. No time to interrogate. She just snapped their necks. She helped Marisa and Kuril down. Kuril made a bit of noise fitting through the vent, but Marisa was getting the hang of moving quietly. All of them had their weapons drawn.
Naleena motioned to them to get to either side of the double doors to the main office. Naleena cloaked slipped to one side and opened the door then rolled into the room behind a heavy planter. Marisa hit her cloak and followed her. The Major was waiting for them, and saw Kuril and moved behind his desk. Kuril took cover.
“I know you’re there, T’sarius. You’re good, but not as good as you think.”
“Your dead operatives think otherwise.”
“Acceptable losses especially now that you’re here, reinforcements are on the way,” Anoern fired a couple rounds.
“What’s the matter, Anoern? Not good enough to handle me yourself?”
“That’s not the point. Only point is to get the job done.”
Naleena took three shots at him. “Nothing like trying to take over The Council States after the war is over.”
Anoern answered with a couple more rounds. “It’s a done deal. Thank you for re-establishing communications with the outside. Colonel Kreegen reported that Earth elected a new Prime Minister: Terra Firma’s Armitage. Once T-F’s isolationist and human supremacist policies go into place after the war, they’ll pull out or be asked to leave any alliance. And with the weakened positions of the Turians and the Asari, we’ll be able to march right in and take over.”
“Is that why you held back your fleet? Is that why you’re uplifting the Yahg?” Naleena returned fire.
“Absolutely. With Krogan nearly wiped out and under control of that sniveling Urdnot Wrex, we needed a race that is intelligent and strong, and that will appreciate being uplifted. They’ll patrol the streets of Earth, Palaven, and Thessia. We’ve had enough of the idiocy of other races running the show. If we’d been in charge three years ago the Reapers wouldn’t have been a problem.”
Naleena positioned herself at the end of the planter. Marisa moved to the other end. Anoern moved to the end of his desk opposite Naleena. Naleena was cloaked and rounded the corner to take a couple of shots; Anoern fired and hit Naleena twice in the abdomen. Kuril fired and missed. Anoern shot Kuril in the head and approached Naleena for the kill. Marisa cloaked and circled behind Anoern’s desk. She knelt behind Anoern’s desk and steadied her aim at Anoern with the desktop.
Anoern looked down on Naleena, and pointed at her own eyes. “I told you. You’re good, but not that good. Can see you. Know what to look for. Now, kill you. Goodbye, Naleena.”
“Anoern!” Marisa shouted.
Anoern turned. Marisa fired the Scorpion and hit the Salarian in the between his left eye and nostril with one round.
Anoern moved around and struggled to remove the mini-grenade stuck to his face, but it had burned its way in and he screamed in pain. Then it exploded splattering his head on the nearby wall and across the room.
Marisa ran over to Naleena, and she took out the pack of Medi-gel, and tried to stop the bleeding. Naleena was hurt badly. Naleena coughed.
“Hey, nice shot, but what about the data? You needed the data from his terminal and get it to The Council,” Naleena said.
“Not without you, Spectre.”
“Silly woman.”
“I checked first. His terminal is unlocked.”
Naleena smiled. “You cold-hearted ****. Good work. Now, do you know any first-aid?”
“Actually I do and more than that,” Marisa said as she worked on Naleena and kept trying to stop the bleeding. She was injecting the Medi-gel deep inside. “He used hollow points on you. This is going to be difficult. I know we didn’t get off on the best footing, but things have changed. I’d like to know more about you. I’m going to guess you didn’t suddenly wake up one morning and decide you were going to kill people for a living. So what started it?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m listening.”
“You sure you want to hear this?”
“If you want anyone to know, you’d better get it out because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to save you. I’ll do my best.”
“Ow. My older sister was a dancer. She wasn’t that much older than me, maybe twenty years, but she was more interested in the arts and and dancing. Normal Asari maiden stuff. Me? I was into petty theft, and I did some drug running and stuff like that. I had a lot of biotic training and got to master level, and not just Asari training. My father was Drell and taught me when I was very young. I was only 100.”
“Interesting.”
“My sister used to do these extra things for customers, but nothing too crazy, if you know what I mean. Usually high class stuff with high class high paying customers. Well, one night she had this customer offered extra, so she figured, what the hell, right? Turned out the guy was a real sadistic bastard. He tortured her to death. The authorities never really investigated the case because apparently it was some high up government official.”
“I’m sorry, Naleena. You don’t have to….”
“No, I’ve got to tell someone. You’re right. Someone has to know the truth. I figure we’ve been playing mother and daughter for about eight hours so that’s good enough,” Naleena laughed and coughed blood.
“Hold still, let me get that,” Marisa shot some Medi-gel in the affected area.
“Thanks. So I contacted the people my sister worked for, and went through a few other people and eventually got to these people who made promises. They promised me I’d get my revenge. They knew who did it. I got an experimental procedure done that increased the eezo per cell in my body by 100 parts per million. Yeah, it’s going to cost me in the end about 100 years, and then they gave me the top of the line Savant Biotic amp implant from Serrice Technology. That’s why I can do what I can do, and I haven’t even peaked in my biotic ability yet.
“But I had to do all these other jobs for them first before they’d give me the name and how to get to him. See, that’s how they get you in. There’s no free ride. Then I got the guy. He was the head of Salarian STG. I read the dossier on him, and he was a sadistic bastard. I made that bastard suffer. I flayed him with my mind. Then I pumped three rounds in him with my .22. Killing someone never felt so good. But it didn’t bring back my sister. They got me on camera. I thought I’d gotten them all, but I missed one, and you know the STG. You can outlive a toad, but you can’t outlive their bookkeeping. How am I doing?”
“We’re getting there. It’s about 50-50 right now which is quite a bit better than it was a few minutes ago,” Marisa said.
“I knew it was bad. You’ve done very well,” Naleena stroked Marisa’s crest, and Marisa smiled, “but I’m not done.
“A few years later, I’d outlived my ‘benefactors’ and I was free, so I thought. My mother had a new bondmate, and she was pregnant with my new sister. We went out to dinner. That evening, my mother was shot, but the bullet was meant for me. My mother lived, but she lost the baby. Ballistics showed it came from an unidentified weapon, but I recognized the signature of the slug. It was STG.”
“I’m sorry again. I understand things more clearly.”
“Marisa, I hate toads. I especially hate STG. Something died inside of me that day. I stopped caring about life. I got back in the business because killing and thieving were things I was good at, and I made a good living doing them. I made a code. I don’t kill innocents.
“Then this war…, these girls in my squad. Sorry about stealing your daughter’s ID. I didn’t really have any choice. But I started caring again….”
“I believe you,” Marisa said, “I forgive you….”
The office door opened, and they heard footsteps.
“Naleena, did you find anything?” Marisa asked.
“The usual, but the ambassador went to see The Council just after the lockdown.”
“It must have been important.”
“It was. I’ll give you a guess.”
“Our green friends?”
“Yes. What are you two looking at?”
Kuril motioned for Naleena to approach. “You should see this. I think we may have found another access through this office. As you can see there’s a junction right here in the ductwork. We’ll have to move those cabinets, though. We’ve already asked these two guards, and they had no objection.”
The cabinets were against the wall opposite the entrance. The wall extended evenly for the width of the room. Both rooms had ceiling vents. What Kuril had pointed out was that there was a gap between the walls equal to the width of the storage closet between the ambassador’s office and the front administrative offices, but the closet wasn’t as deep as the full length of the wall. There was still a possibility of ventilation ducts behind it. Naleena knew this was their only chance to get into the STG office without a frontal assault. According to Liselle, the ambassador had a cabinet in front of his floor vent as well. The Asari ambassador felt that the floor vents were security risks and was going to request having them boarded over. Liselle suggested just putting heavy furniture in front since the maintenance request would take weeks to process.
“Liselle, can you give me a hand with this cabinet?” Naleena asked.
“Of course, but it’s pretty heavy. Arista, can you help out?” Liselle asked one of the guards.
Between the three of them they were able to move the heavy cabinet. Naleena pulled the vent screen off the wall and she, Marisa and Kuril climbed in. Liselle and the two guards moved the cabinet back against the wall.
“Well it looks like we’re committed now,” Marisa said, “What did you really find?”
“Asari intelligence was lackadaisical and too trusting of the Salarians. They didn’t really find out anything until just after the Reapers hit The Citadel.”
“That late?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I’d be quite embarrassed,” Naleena commented. “If your directions are right, we should be able to do the same thing as last time, except we’ll have an executive office that’s probably occupied. We’ll have to be very quiet.”
Naleena spider crawled again through the duct, and then she stopped suddenly, and waived Marisa and Kuril back. She blew up some dust and there it was: a laser trip for a detonator. She flipped on her night vision. The sneaky bastards. Now how do we disarm this? Very carefully. They’re using thread-wire and matching the surroundings, but it shows up on night vision because it’s warmer. I’ll cut this one. Good. Then this wire. Good, and this should turn off the laser. I’ll take that.
Naleena gave the all clear and they moved forward, and she saw the wad of plastic. Those toads don’t **** around. She motioned for Marisa and Kuril to stop again and she moved up to the vent and peered into the office.
“Yes, set up a defense. Mine the area if you have to. They must not reach The Council’s bunker,” the Captain ordered.
“It’s still clear out in the hall, Sir,” a sergeant said.
“Good, they may be headed straight there,” the Captain said, “Get me a cup of tea.”
“Right away, sir.”
Naleena checked the air flow again, and she backed up very quietly. Then she put her re-breather on cracked open another sleep gas capsule. In a few moments she heard a tea mug drop to the floor. She quietly moved back to the vent and removed the grid and dropped down into the room. It was just the captain and a sergeant. No time to interrogate. She just snapped their necks. She helped Marisa and Kuril down. Kuril made a bit of noise fitting through the vent, but Marisa was getting the hang of moving quietly. All of them had their weapons drawn.
Naleena motioned to them to get to either side of the double doors to the main office. Naleena cloaked slipped to one side and opened the door then rolled into the room behind a heavy planter. Marisa hit her cloak and followed her. The Major was waiting for them, and saw Kuril and moved behind his desk. Kuril took cover.
“I know you’re there, T’sarius. You’re good, but not as good as you think.”
“Your dead operatives think otherwise.”
“Acceptable losses especially now that you’re here, reinforcements are on the way,” Anoern fired a couple rounds.
“What’s the matter, Anoern? Not good enough to handle me yourself?”
“That’s not the point. Only point is to get the job done.”
Naleena took three shots at him. “Nothing like trying to take over The Council States after the war is over.”
Anoern answered with a couple more rounds. “It’s a done deal. Thank you for re-establishing communications with the outside. Colonel Kreegen reported that Earth elected a new Prime Minister: Terra Firma’s Armitage. Once T-F’s isolationist and human supremacist policies go into place after the war, they’ll pull out or be asked to leave any alliance. And with the weakened positions of the Turians and the Asari, we’ll be able to march right in and take over.”
“Is that why you held back your fleet? Is that why you’re uplifting the Yahg?” Naleena returned fire.
“Absolutely. With Krogan nearly wiped out and under control of that sniveling Urdnot Wrex, we needed a race that is intelligent and strong, and that will appreciate being uplifted. They’ll patrol the streets of Earth, Palaven, and Thessia. We’ve had enough of the idiocy of other races running the show. If we’d been in charge three years ago the Reapers wouldn’t have been a problem.”
Naleena positioned herself at the end of the planter. Marisa moved to the other end. Anoern moved to the end of his desk opposite Naleena. Naleena was cloaked and rounded the corner to take a couple of shots; Anoern fired and hit Naleena twice in the abdomen. Kuril fired and missed. Anoern shot Kuril in the head and approached Naleena for the kill. Marisa cloaked and circled behind Anoern’s desk. She knelt behind Anoern’s desk and steadied her aim at Anoern with the desktop.
Anoern looked down on Naleena, and pointed at her own eyes. “I told you. You’re good, but not that good. Can see you. Know what to look for. Now, kill you. Goodbye, Naleena.”
“Anoern!” Marisa shouted.
Anoern turned. Marisa fired the Scorpion and hit the Salarian in the between his left eye and nostril with one round.
Anoern moved around and struggled to remove the mini-grenade stuck to his face, but it had burned its way in and he screamed in pain. Then it exploded splattering his head on the nearby wall and across the room.
Marisa ran over to Naleena, and she took out the pack of Medi-gel, and tried to stop the bleeding. Naleena was hurt badly. Naleena coughed.
“Hey, nice shot, but what about the data? You needed the data from his terminal and get it to The Council,” Naleena said.
“Not without you, Spectre.”
“Silly woman.”
“I checked first. His terminal is unlocked.”
Naleena smiled. “You cold-hearted ****. Good work. Now, do you know any first-aid?”
“Actually I do and more than that,” Marisa said as she worked on Naleena and kept trying to stop the bleeding. She was injecting the Medi-gel deep inside. “He used hollow points on you. This is going to be difficult. I know we didn’t get off on the best footing, but things have changed. I’d like to know more about you. I’m going to guess you didn’t suddenly wake up one morning and decide you were going to kill people for a living. So what started it?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m listening.”
“You sure you want to hear this?”
“If you want anyone to know, you’d better get it out because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to save you. I’ll do my best.”
“Ow. My older sister was a dancer. She wasn’t that much older than me, maybe twenty years, but she was more interested in the arts and and dancing. Normal Asari maiden stuff. Me? I was into petty theft, and I did some drug running and stuff like that. I had a lot of biotic training and got to master level, and not just Asari training. My father was Drell and taught me when I was very young. I was only 100.”
“Interesting.”
“My sister used to do these extra things for customers, but nothing too crazy, if you know what I mean. Usually high class stuff with high class high paying customers. Well, one night she had this customer offered extra, so she figured, what the hell, right? Turned out the guy was a real sadistic bastard. He tortured her to death. The authorities never really investigated the case because apparently it was some high up government official.”
“I’m sorry, Naleena. You don’t have to….”
“No, I’ve got to tell someone. You’re right. Someone has to know the truth. I figure we’ve been playing mother and daughter for about eight hours so that’s good enough,” Naleena laughed and coughed blood.
“Hold still, let me get that,” Marisa shot some Medi-gel in the affected area.
“Thanks. So I contacted the people my sister worked for, and went through a few other people and eventually got to these people who made promises. They promised me I’d get my revenge. They knew who did it. I got an experimental procedure done that increased the eezo per cell in my body by 100 parts per million. Yeah, it’s going to cost me in the end about 100 years, and then they gave me the top of the line Savant Biotic amp implant from Serrice Technology. That’s why I can do what I can do, and I haven’t even peaked in my biotic ability yet.
“But I had to do all these other jobs for them first before they’d give me the name and how to get to him. See, that’s how they get you in. There’s no free ride. Then I got the guy. He was the head of Salarian STG. I read the dossier on him, and he was a sadistic bastard. I made that bastard suffer. I flayed him with my mind. Then I pumped three rounds in him with my .22. Killing someone never felt so good. But it didn’t bring back my sister. They got me on camera. I thought I’d gotten them all, but I missed one, and you know the STG. You can outlive a toad, but you can’t outlive their bookkeeping. How am I doing?”
“We’re getting there. It’s about 50-50 right now which is quite a bit better than it was a few minutes ago,” Marisa said.
“I knew it was bad. You’ve done very well,” Naleena stroked Marisa’s crest, and Marisa smiled, “but I’m not done.
“A few years later, I’d outlived my ‘benefactors’ and I was free, so I thought. My mother had a new bondmate, and she was pregnant with my new sister. We went out to dinner. That evening, my mother was shot, but the bullet was meant for me. My mother lived, but she lost the baby. Ballistics showed it came from an unidentified weapon, but I recognized the signature of the slug. It was STG.”
“I’m sorry again. I understand things more clearly.”
“Marisa, I hate toads. I especially hate STG. Something died inside of me that day. I stopped caring about life. I got back in the business because killing and thieving were things I was good at, and I made a good living doing them. I made a code. I don’t kill innocents.
“Then this war…, these girls in my squad. Sorry about stealing your daughter’s ID. I didn’t really have any choice. But I started caring again….”
“I believe you,” Marisa said, “I forgive you….”
The office door opened, and they heard footsteps.
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 12 février 2014 - 09:38 .
#473
Posté 12 février 2014 - 09:02
sH0tgUn jUliA
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Marisa grabbed her pistol. Naleena held hers but the room appeared fuzzy to her.
Two Asari entered the room with their weapons drawn.
“Sarge?”
“Ereba?” Marisa replied.
“What the **** happened? Sorry Ma’am.” Ereba said as she stepped over the dead Turian near the door.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you, but first you need to go to that desk, grab a blank data disk, and copy every single file you can off that terminal that has to do with Colonel Kreegen, Terra Firma, The Council, The Yahg, and every major power in the galaxy,” Naleena said, “It’s imperative we get that to The Council.”
“Yes, Sarge,” Ereba headed to the desk, “but C-sec said that you were trying to kill The Council.”
“I’ll bet they got the information from STG, right?” Marisa asked.
“That’s true,” Shayrana said, “Here, let me help with that.”
“Shay, Marisa is doing fine. Keep an eye on the door,” Naleena said.
Shay reluctantly watched the door.
“Sarge, what’s this Naleena T’sarius crap we heard about you from C-sec? And Captain, why are you wearing the Sarge’s commando armor.”
Naleena was about to answer and Marisa put her finger on Naleena’s lips and continued to work on the wound. “I’ll handle this. Corporal, Specialist, first, I want you to know that things aren’t like you’ve been told. This is Naleena T’sarius. Naleena is a Council Spectre working undercover as a commando. Her assignment….”
Naleena interrupted. “Marisa, please, I know you mean well. No more lies. These girls earned the truth. Shay, Ereba, you’ve known me for six months. I’ve always been there for you. The situation is very complicated, and it’s a very long story. Some of what you’ve heard about me is true, but one thing you heard that I’m trying to kill The Council is an outright lie. The evidence will speak for itself. I’m over 300 years old. I’ve been on the run from STG for over 200 years. I’ll tell you the details later, but there’s not enough time right now. When the war started things changed and … survival of our race became more important."
“So you lied to us? All this time we trusted you, our Sarge. And you, Marisa, played along with it?” Shayrana asked.
“Let me finish, please. When I got to know you guys, all eleven of you in my squad I started caring about you. Damn, I’d forced myself to stop caring about anyone for nearly 200 years. Everyone I cared about became a target for STG. Then you guys became my family. Marisa played along with it for unit cohesion. She played the long game, and it hurt her to do so because I stole her deceased daughter’s identification,” Naleena said, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t have another choice at the time. I thought using my skills to defend The Republics was the best choice at the start of the war. But you’ll see what the Salarians are up to, and you’ll see the bigger picture. It’s important that we keep working together and reach The Council.”
“I don’t know,” Shayrana replied, “I understand this bigger picture, but I don’t know if I can trust you like I once did.”
“Get over it, Corporal,” Marisa said, “She didn’t have any choice. I’ve forgiven her. She saved my life here at least a dozen times. How many times did she save yours? What did you learn from her to help you get this far? There’s bigger things at stake. I’m going to make sure she’s made a Spectre after all of this. She’s earned it. You’ve heard the expression ‘the end justifies the means?’ This is one of those times.”
Ereba had been looking at the files and downloading them onto a data disk. “Goddess! Shay, you’ve got to see this! I’ve got the download in progress, but these files. Everything you heard about the Salarians is true. I’ll watch the door. Just forget that emotional stuff right now and look at this. It’ll blow your mind.”
“What did you find?” Shayrana asked.
“Just get over here and see for yourself. Sarge is right.”
“Stop calling her Sarge.”
“Naleena, whatever, just look at this,” Ereba said, and Shayrana started walking to the terminal on the desk. “Ma’am, is the Sarge going to be okay?”
Marisa had just finished. “I think so. I’ve stopped all the bleeding.”
“I’ve got to get hold of Commander Bailey in C-sec,” Ereba said, and she hit Bailey’s com channel on her omni-tool. “Commander Bailey?”
“Bailey here.”
“This is Specialist Ereba Danri, Asari Artemis Squad. First you should know we’re the ones who opened the Citadel for Admiral Hackett, and second we have some **** you are not going to believe.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. This place has been chaos since the Reaper attack. Go ahead.”
“Salarian Special Tasks Group has been feeding you false information. They’re the ones trying to stage a coup on The Council, and they’re waiting until after the war to do it. Naleena T’sarius and an Asari Captain are trying to stop them. I’m with them right now. They have vital intel that must reach The Council. I’ve seen it. Get your computer ready to receive a download. I’m sending it to you now,” Ereba punched her omni-tool. “Are you receiving this.”
“Yes, and you just made my day a whole lot more complicated. They even rigged our election? Son of a …,” Bailey said, “Thanks, I’ll send word. I owe you one, Specialist. Bailey out.”
***
Bailey was seated at his desk in his dark office. He was monitoring his remaining C-sec officers. He had a cup of coffee, black, with sugar, and was eating a donut. He was about to hit the communications button to notify his officers when his door opened and a Salarian STG lieutenant and sergeant entered with their guns drawn.
The lieutenant spoke first. “No, you won’t send word, Commander. Take his omni-tool, wipe his computer, and cut his communications, Sergeant.”
The STG sergeant followed his orders.
“What’s going on here?” Bailey asked.
“You should never have spoken with them, but now you will sound like a fool. Here, a bottle of your favorite whiskey, drink it,” the lieutenant held a gun on Bailey. “You like whiskey, don’t you, Commander?”
“I quit drinking a year ago.”
“But you’re just a drunk and you fell off the wagon. Drink it or a bullet, your choice.”
Bailey took a drink.
“That’s it, good. Now keep drinking. You like it, don’t you?”
Bailey drank until he passed out. The Salarians knocked over the bottle and left.
***
Naleena was sitting up against the wall of Anoern’s office. She was feeling a better and was smoking a cigarette. Ereba noticed a first aid kit on the wall and went to see what was in it.
“Hey, Captain, Ma’am, they’ve got some stims and more Medi-gel in here if we need them. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, it might help the Sarge,” Ereba said.
“Good thinking.”
“And do you think you could watch the door for a minute?”
“Sure.”
Ereba approached Naleena and sat down next to her. “So you’re really a dangerous criminal?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Professional assassin, thief, industrial spy, spy, all in all general contractor,” Naleena said. “And now you know where I got that ‘crazy skill set’ you kept talking about behind my back, but you kept trying to copy it. I’m flattered.”
“Yeah, but your biotic skills are wild.”
“You don’t want to go there, trust me.”
“So how did you get wind of this scheme?”
“We left the group to make contact with The Council and see if they were alright. I’d made a deal with the Captain, Marisa, to be a Spectre after the war. We ran into Lorik Tarsus who was a Spectre and a friend of Marisa’s in the corridor and he was going to help us. He was letting us into the Spectre Armory. Apparently there were some STG agents at the other end of the corridor who made me. They shot at me and instead hit Tarsus. I used Tarsus’ palm to get us into the Armory and tried to save him, but he died….” Naleena related the story about how after that she just wanted to see what everyone was up to by breaking into the different embassy offices, then some intel on the Salarians fell in her lap in the Turian embassy. It was confirmed in all of the embassies. She mentioned that she thought all the ambassadors were probably dead, killed by STG or by the Reapers. She mentioned the master plan is in this office.
Shayrana replaced the data disk with a new one, and brought the first one over to Naleena. “You’re right. This has to get to The Council. Promise me first: no more lies.”
“No more lies, and I’ll come clean to the others after this is over. Deal?”
“Deal. And there’s more data in there. We could get the Salarian Union expelled for what they’re doing. I’m copying that to another disk.”
“Good work.”
Ereba stood up and motioned to the two of them. “I’m going to check-in with Jack. I don’t want her getting all pissy over there,” then she walked away from them.
“Why didn’t you contact us? We were worried.”
“My communicator must have fallen out in the Spectre Armory. And Marisa didn’t have one with her N7 suit that was on our frequency,” Naleena cocked her head to her right and looked up at Shayrana which in Asari body language revealed a more private side. “And we changed armor in there.”
Shayrana’s expression softened. “Naleena, Sarge, I don’t know what to call you now. Thanks for coming clean. It meant something hearing it from you. When this is over, we’d like to hear the whole story.”
“So we’re good?”
“We’re good.”
“Call me whatever you feel comfortable calling me.”
“It’s just after all this time… You know what? **** it, Sarge.”
Two Asari entered the room with their weapons drawn.
“Sarge?”
“Ereba?” Marisa replied.
“What the **** happened? Sorry Ma’am.” Ereba said as she stepped over the dead Turian near the door.
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you, but first you need to go to that desk, grab a blank data disk, and copy every single file you can off that terminal that has to do with Colonel Kreegen, Terra Firma, The Council, The Yahg, and every major power in the galaxy,” Naleena said, “It’s imperative we get that to The Council.”
“Yes, Sarge,” Ereba headed to the desk, “but C-sec said that you were trying to kill The Council.”
“I’ll bet they got the information from STG, right?” Marisa asked.
“That’s true,” Shayrana said, “Here, let me help with that.”
“Shay, Marisa is doing fine. Keep an eye on the door,” Naleena said.
Shay reluctantly watched the door.
“Sarge, what’s this Naleena T’sarius crap we heard about you from C-sec? And Captain, why are you wearing the Sarge’s commando armor.”
Naleena was about to answer and Marisa put her finger on Naleena’s lips and continued to work on the wound. “I’ll handle this. Corporal, Specialist, first, I want you to know that things aren’t like you’ve been told. This is Naleena T’sarius. Naleena is a Council Spectre working undercover as a commando. Her assignment….”
Naleena interrupted. “Marisa, please, I know you mean well. No more lies. These girls earned the truth. Shay, Ereba, you’ve known me for six months. I’ve always been there for you. The situation is very complicated, and it’s a very long story. Some of what you’ve heard about me is true, but one thing you heard that I’m trying to kill The Council is an outright lie. The evidence will speak for itself. I’m over 300 years old. I’ve been on the run from STG for over 200 years. I’ll tell you the details later, but there’s not enough time right now. When the war started things changed and … survival of our race became more important."
“So you lied to us? All this time we trusted you, our Sarge. And you, Marisa, played along with it?” Shayrana asked.
“Let me finish, please. When I got to know you guys, all eleven of you in my squad I started caring about you. Damn, I’d forced myself to stop caring about anyone for nearly 200 years. Everyone I cared about became a target for STG. Then you guys became my family. Marisa played along with it for unit cohesion. She played the long game, and it hurt her to do so because I stole her deceased daughter’s identification,” Naleena said, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t have another choice at the time. I thought using my skills to defend The Republics was the best choice at the start of the war. But you’ll see what the Salarians are up to, and you’ll see the bigger picture. It’s important that we keep working together and reach The Council.”
“I don’t know,” Shayrana replied, “I understand this bigger picture, but I don’t know if I can trust you like I once did.”
“Get over it, Corporal,” Marisa said, “She didn’t have any choice. I’ve forgiven her. She saved my life here at least a dozen times. How many times did she save yours? What did you learn from her to help you get this far? There’s bigger things at stake. I’m going to make sure she’s made a Spectre after all of this. She’s earned it. You’ve heard the expression ‘the end justifies the means?’ This is one of those times.”
Ereba had been looking at the files and downloading them onto a data disk. “Goddess! Shay, you’ve got to see this! I’ve got the download in progress, but these files. Everything you heard about the Salarians is true. I’ll watch the door. Just forget that emotional stuff right now and look at this. It’ll blow your mind.”
“What did you find?” Shayrana asked.
“Just get over here and see for yourself. Sarge is right.”
“Stop calling her Sarge.”
“Naleena, whatever, just look at this,” Ereba said, and Shayrana started walking to the terminal on the desk. “Ma’am, is the Sarge going to be okay?”
Marisa had just finished. “I think so. I’ve stopped all the bleeding.”
“I’ve got to get hold of Commander Bailey in C-sec,” Ereba said, and she hit Bailey’s com channel on her omni-tool. “Commander Bailey?”
“Bailey here.”
“This is Specialist Ereba Danri, Asari Artemis Squad. First you should know we’re the ones who opened the Citadel for Admiral Hackett, and second we have some **** you are not going to believe.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me. This place has been chaos since the Reaper attack. Go ahead.”
“Salarian Special Tasks Group has been feeding you false information. They’re the ones trying to stage a coup on The Council, and they’re waiting until after the war to do it. Naleena T’sarius and an Asari Captain are trying to stop them. I’m with them right now. They have vital intel that must reach The Council. I’ve seen it. Get your computer ready to receive a download. I’m sending it to you now,” Ereba punched her omni-tool. “Are you receiving this.”
“Yes, and you just made my day a whole lot more complicated. They even rigged our election? Son of a …,” Bailey said, “Thanks, I’ll send word. I owe you one, Specialist. Bailey out.”
***
Bailey was seated at his desk in his dark office. He was monitoring his remaining C-sec officers. He had a cup of coffee, black, with sugar, and was eating a donut. He was about to hit the communications button to notify his officers when his door opened and a Salarian STG lieutenant and sergeant entered with their guns drawn.
The lieutenant spoke first. “No, you won’t send word, Commander. Take his omni-tool, wipe his computer, and cut his communications, Sergeant.”
The STG sergeant followed his orders.
“What’s going on here?” Bailey asked.
“You should never have spoken with them, but now you will sound like a fool. Here, a bottle of your favorite whiskey, drink it,” the lieutenant held a gun on Bailey. “You like whiskey, don’t you, Commander?”
“I quit drinking a year ago.”
“But you’re just a drunk and you fell off the wagon. Drink it or a bullet, your choice.”
Bailey took a drink.
“That’s it, good. Now keep drinking. You like it, don’t you?”
Bailey drank until he passed out. The Salarians knocked over the bottle and left.
***
Naleena was sitting up against the wall of Anoern’s office. She was feeling a better and was smoking a cigarette. Ereba noticed a first aid kit on the wall and went to see what was in it.
“Hey, Captain, Ma’am, they’ve got some stims and more Medi-gel in here if we need them. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, it might help the Sarge,” Ereba said.
“Good thinking.”
“And do you think you could watch the door for a minute?”
“Sure.”
Ereba approached Naleena and sat down next to her. “So you’re really a dangerous criminal?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Professional assassin, thief, industrial spy, spy, all in all general contractor,” Naleena said. “And now you know where I got that ‘crazy skill set’ you kept talking about behind my back, but you kept trying to copy it. I’m flattered.”
“Yeah, but your biotic skills are wild.”
“You don’t want to go there, trust me.”
“So how did you get wind of this scheme?”
“We left the group to make contact with The Council and see if they were alright. I’d made a deal with the Captain, Marisa, to be a Spectre after the war. We ran into Lorik Tarsus who was a Spectre and a friend of Marisa’s in the corridor and he was going to help us. He was letting us into the Spectre Armory. Apparently there were some STG agents at the other end of the corridor who made me. They shot at me and instead hit Tarsus. I used Tarsus’ palm to get us into the Armory and tried to save him, but he died….” Naleena related the story about how after that she just wanted to see what everyone was up to by breaking into the different embassy offices, then some intel on the Salarians fell in her lap in the Turian embassy. It was confirmed in all of the embassies. She mentioned that she thought all the ambassadors were probably dead, killed by STG or by the Reapers. She mentioned the master plan is in this office.
Shayrana replaced the data disk with a new one, and brought the first one over to Naleena. “You’re right. This has to get to The Council. Promise me first: no more lies.”
“No more lies, and I’ll come clean to the others after this is over. Deal?”
“Deal. And there’s more data in there. We could get the Salarian Union expelled for what they’re doing. I’m copying that to another disk.”
“Good work.”
Ereba stood up and motioned to the two of them. “I’m going to check-in with Jack. I don’t want her getting all pissy over there,” then she walked away from them.
“Why didn’t you contact us? We were worried.”
“My communicator must have fallen out in the Spectre Armory. And Marisa didn’t have one with her N7 suit that was on our frequency,” Naleena cocked her head to her right and looked up at Shayrana which in Asari body language revealed a more private side. “And we changed armor in there.”
Shayrana’s expression softened. “Naleena, Sarge, I don’t know what to call you now. Thanks for coming clean. It meant something hearing it from you. When this is over, we’d like to hear the whole story.”
“So we’re good?”
“We’re good.”
“Call me whatever you feel comfortable calling me.”
“It’s just after all this time… You know what? **** it, Sarge.”
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 12 février 2014 - 09:03 .
#474
Posté 15 février 2014 - 07:07
Redbelle
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- Members
- 5 399 messages
Lucy was playing with the Valkyr's radio settings when Rea's voice came in over the static."Ear-wigged bagel?” Wyld asked as she slapped Lucy's hands away, leaving her pouting as Wyld set the frequency search back to automatic scan. “Rea? Rea I can barely hear you.... What's that noise?........ Rea? Re......"? Wyld grit her teeth as loud noises came in over the comm line. "Momma? Tell me you know what's happening over there"!
"Rea and Rothan have evaded pursuit of pursuing Oculus drone by flying into the side of a building".
Lucy chuckled. “Rea? She called you a beer slicked Waggel”.
“No she didn't..... Momma, where are they”?
“Adding destination to your HUD now. Incidentally, it is unlikely Rea referred to you as a Waggel, as environmental protection laws would not incline the possibility of alcohol entering the nest of a great black backed gull”.
Wyld's HUD updated and she spun the wheel in the direction that Momma indicated. Once they were on track she asked. “What..... are you two, talking about”?
“Waggels”! Lucy said brightly.
“The young chicks of the black backed gull”. Momma added helpfully.
Wyld turned to Lucy. “How do you know that”?
“How do you not”?!? Lucy shot back
“Not...... Helping”! Wyld growled between gritted teeth. Her foot pushed the pedal to the floor as the road ahead cleared. “Momma, How's Rea, is she alright? Is Rothan with her”?
“They are both unharmed as of my counterparts last update. She indicated they would evade pursuit and await your arrival. Though the Star-screamer’s speed and handling puts it on par with the performance of the Oculus in atmosphere, in a two on one engagement the odds are against them. The Star-screamer’s lack of heavy weaponry also factor's into.....”.
“I get it”. Wyld interrupted. “What do we have that can down them”?
“The Big Widow”. Momma referred to the vehicle mounted black widow on the Valkyr's central weapons mount. “It's fire power will easily punch through the armour. However, the hit ratio falls the faster we go. To hit a small fast moving target we require the Valkyr to be motionless.......”.
“Which makes us a sitting duck......”. Wyld interjected.
“Precisely. If we destroy one, if the other has pinpointed our location it is likely it will lock and attack us before the Big Widows reload time is complete”.
Wyld nodded. “Ambush then. If we achieve surprise then the reaction time of the counter attack will increase”.
“Surprise is preferable”. Momma admitted.
The Valkyr sped through streets towards it's destination. It was not far to travel, but the journey was taking longer due to entire streets being obstructed. Momma though seemed to know where paths were closed off and those that still lay open.
“Aerial flyby's of friendly units and orbital spotter's have allowed me to construct a map of London's streets as they currently are”. She explained when Wyld asked. “It is not complete and is shifting as more infrastructure is demolished from combat, but we now have a greater chance of not running into dead ends that are beyond the Valkyr's ability to traverse”.
True to her word, Momma's route soon took them close to the building where the Valkyr's engine soon joined the high pitched whine of fighter craft in the distance.
Wyld slowed as she spoke to those around her. “Keep your eye's peeled. We're going against fighters, that doesn't mean ground forces aren't still around”.
Muted affirmations came as Rockwood and the two soldier's hefted their weapons. Lucy however stared around them with wide eyes as the whine in the air grew.
“Eye's in the sky”. She said softly. “Watching from above ready to judge us, if we are found wanting. Red fire and burning if we are not worthy......”.
Wyld said sharply. “Lucy”!
Lucy appeared to snap out of her trance and looked at Wyld. Wyld gestured forward with her chin. “Keep your eye's peeled”.
Without waiting to see if Lucy would comply Wyld looked up in time too see two more Oculus craft fly overhead. “Momma”?
“Drone numbers are increasing. But I cannot give you a count. The buildings around us obstruct the Valkyr's sensors”. The Big Widow swung upward then and swung a slow pattern across the sky. “IR detects four vapour trails. Two are old and head in the direction of Rea and Rothan's location. The other two are the one's we just saw”.
Wyld nodded. “There hunting for them”.
“I would agree”. Momma affirmed. “With additional drones called in it is likely that Rea and Rothan are alive and have evaded pursuit, and crucially, are still alive”.
At that point the road opened up and Wyld saw the building ahead. Six stories high and made of glass, metal, and red brick. Wyld juked the wheel and swerved into another road that obscured the building again.
Rockwood leaned forward. “What's the big idea”?
“The Valkyr's vulnerable to air assault. We need a plan. We've got the fire power but we can only take our shots one at a time with to long a reload to kill those fighters in one go”.
“Silly AI”. Lucy chuckled. “To slow to destroy an Oculi”.
Momma actually sounded defensive. “My computing power is more than up to the task. However the manner by which the Valkyr's weaponry is deployed in this environment is the crucial factor. The Big Widows fire-power remains our best option for a one shot, one kill approach”.
Rockwood jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Just bring the Gatlings to bear. They’ll shred the armour on those things”.
“In time”. Agreed Momma. “But out in the open the enemy craft can quickly accelerate and evade fire. The Gatling's are not flack canons. Once the Oculi begins evasion it will be next to impossible to hold the cone of fire on them to guarantee a quick kill”.
Wyld raised her helmets visor and rubbed her eyes. “Okay. The problem is essentially lock on time and cool down time. Is that right”?
“Essentially yes”.
“Why is the lock-on a problem”?
“The Valkyr's Big Window only has one sensor mount by which to detect and target the object in question. Ground forces rarely get up to a speed where this is an issue. With a fast moving aerial target the faster the fighter moves, the greater the miss percentile chance increases”.
“Because of only one sensor mount”?
“Yes”.
Wyld chewed her lip. “The weapons crate has line of sight spotters for guiding bombing runs. If we used them, could we link you up? Give you more than one set of eye's”?
“Triangulation would allow for faster lock on and accuracy”. Momma admitted.
Five minutes after the three men had disappeared a signal came from them that they were ready and in position. Rockwood and a soldier were up on the roof of the building were they had hidden the Valkyr, from the Oculus, inside.
The other soldier was stationed on a rooftop several buildings away.
Wyld suddenly started. She hadn't stopped to ask their names...... that wasn't like her at all. Soon as they were done, she resolved, she find out who they were.
Both building the soldiers and Rockwood were stationed on gave good vantage points at the building where Rea and Rothan had gone to ground in. Wyld had taken the time to look at it and saw the sign on the side identifying it as the museum of space. Wyld had heard of it in passing. But had never been herself. This was not how she'd envisaged her first trip to see humanity's history of space exploration.
Lucy fidgeted by her side causing Wyld to look over at her. “Nervous”?
Lucy nodded.
“There's still time to get out”. Wyld told her again. “You don't have to come. Momma can handle the targeting. I need to be behind the wheel. You won't be able to do much if you come with us”.
Lucy looked over at Wyld with uncertainty warring with determination. “Zia left and never came back. I made a mistake letting her go. I won't do that again...... And you said you'd look after me and you can't do that if I stay behind..... and......”. Her voice trailed off as she looked towards the hole in the side of the building where they were supposed to emerge. “I don't want to be alone in here”.
Wyld listened. Then reached over and brought her hand to rest on Lucy's. She smiled causing Lucy to smile back. “That's okay”. She said. “I don't want to be alone out there”.
“So nice to be appreciated”. Came Mommas voice from the Valkyr.
Wyld winced. “You know I didn't mean it like that”.
“I was teasing”.
Just then Wyld's helmet HUD flickered to life as new targeting data began to transmit. Wyld took her hand off Lucy's and brought her hands to the wheel. “Look sharp you two, we're on”. Wyld looked over at Lucy. “Strap in”. She told her. Then when Lucy had done so, Wyld inched the Valkyr towards to torn exit in the side of the building.
As they got closer the world outside grew until Wyld could see the space museum in it's entirety. Wyld stopped then and checked the Valkyr's sensors. “Anything”?
“Two trails”, was Momma's reply. “Outside, running in a pattern”.
“What does that mean”? Lucy asked.
Wylds HUD marked the heat trails through the air as she said. “They have a patrol on the outside of the building. We know there are four Oculi in total. Two inside, trying to flush out Rea and Rothan. Two outside ready to pursue for when they break cover, in case they make it past the other two”. Wyld grinned. “Only they weren't suspecting that help would arrive”.
“Jerry-Ann. It should be noted that the longer we wait, the likelihood of more Reaper forces entering the area becomes greater”.
Wyld's grin disappeared. “Right. Momma, do you see a pattern in the patrol laps”?
“Affirmative”.
“Think you can bag one without the spotters”?
Lucy turned her head. “Why”?
“If we hold back on using the spotters in the first instance, then when the Reapers power up their detection suite they won't know that we have three people on aim assist. The fact we have three spotter beams on them now and they haven't reacted suggests they have them switched off”.
“Why”?
“Power drain”. Momma replied. “Even the Valkyr has a power management system. In order to keep battery and generator power at high levels of efficiency for combat many of the systems are kept on hot standby. Only drawing power once combat situations have presented themselves. Otherwise the Valkyr could not maintain long term operations without constant regular maintenance”.
Just then Wyld's ear's picked up the sound of a high pitched whine. “Momma. Standby to fire as soon as you think you can get a shot. Take your time. I want the first shot to be a kill”.
"Rea and Rothan have evaded pursuit of pursuing Oculus drone by flying into the side of a building".
Lucy chuckled. “Rea? She called you a beer slicked Waggel”.
“No she didn't..... Momma, where are they”?
“Adding destination to your HUD now. Incidentally, it is unlikely Rea referred to you as a Waggel, as environmental protection laws would not incline the possibility of alcohol entering the nest of a great black backed gull”.
Wyld's HUD updated and she spun the wheel in the direction that Momma indicated. Once they were on track she asked. “What..... are you two, talking about”?
“Waggels”! Lucy said brightly.
“The young chicks of the black backed gull”. Momma added helpfully.
Wyld turned to Lucy. “How do you know that”?
“How do you not”?!? Lucy shot back
“Not...... Helping”! Wyld growled between gritted teeth. Her foot pushed the pedal to the floor as the road ahead cleared. “Momma, How's Rea, is she alright? Is Rothan with her”?
“They are both unharmed as of my counterparts last update. She indicated they would evade pursuit and await your arrival. Though the Star-screamer’s speed and handling puts it on par with the performance of the Oculus in atmosphere, in a two on one engagement the odds are against them. The Star-screamer’s lack of heavy weaponry also factor's into.....”.
“I get it”. Wyld interrupted. “What do we have that can down them”?
“The Big Widow”. Momma referred to the vehicle mounted black widow on the Valkyr's central weapons mount. “It's fire power will easily punch through the armour. However, the hit ratio falls the faster we go. To hit a small fast moving target we require the Valkyr to be motionless.......”.
“Which makes us a sitting duck......”. Wyld interjected.
“Precisely. If we destroy one, if the other has pinpointed our location it is likely it will lock and attack us before the Big Widows reload time is complete”.
Wyld nodded. “Ambush then. If we achieve surprise then the reaction time of the counter attack will increase”.
“Surprise is preferable”. Momma admitted.
The Valkyr sped through streets towards it's destination. It was not far to travel, but the journey was taking longer due to entire streets being obstructed. Momma though seemed to know where paths were closed off and those that still lay open.
“Aerial flyby's of friendly units and orbital spotter's have allowed me to construct a map of London's streets as they currently are”. She explained when Wyld asked. “It is not complete and is shifting as more infrastructure is demolished from combat, but we now have a greater chance of not running into dead ends that are beyond the Valkyr's ability to traverse”.
True to her word, Momma's route soon took them close to the building where the Valkyr's engine soon joined the high pitched whine of fighter craft in the distance.
Wyld slowed as she spoke to those around her. “Keep your eye's peeled. We're going against fighters, that doesn't mean ground forces aren't still around”.
Muted affirmations came as Rockwood and the two soldier's hefted their weapons. Lucy however stared around them with wide eyes as the whine in the air grew.
“Eye's in the sky”. She said softly. “Watching from above ready to judge us, if we are found wanting. Red fire and burning if we are not worthy......”.
Wyld said sharply. “Lucy”!
Lucy appeared to snap out of her trance and looked at Wyld. Wyld gestured forward with her chin. “Keep your eye's peeled”.
Without waiting to see if Lucy would comply Wyld looked up in time too see two more Oculus craft fly overhead. “Momma”?
“Drone numbers are increasing. But I cannot give you a count. The buildings around us obstruct the Valkyr's sensors”. The Big Widow swung upward then and swung a slow pattern across the sky. “IR detects four vapour trails. Two are old and head in the direction of Rea and Rothan's location. The other two are the one's we just saw”.
Wyld nodded. “There hunting for them”.
“I would agree”. Momma affirmed. “With additional drones called in it is likely that Rea and Rothan are alive and have evaded pursuit, and crucially, are still alive”.
At that point the road opened up and Wyld saw the building ahead. Six stories high and made of glass, metal, and red brick. Wyld juked the wheel and swerved into another road that obscured the building again.
Rockwood leaned forward. “What's the big idea”?
“The Valkyr's vulnerable to air assault. We need a plan. We've got the fire power but we can only take our shots one at a time with to long a reload to kill those fighters in one go”.
“Silly AI”. Lucy chuckled. “To slow to destroy an Oculi”.
Momma actually sounded defensive. “My computing power is more than up to the task. However the manner by which the Valkyr's weaponry is deployed in this environment is the crucial factor. The Big Widows fire-power remains our best option for a one shot, one kill approach”.
Rockwood jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Just bring the Gatlings to bear. They’ll shred the armour on those things”.
“In time”. Agreed Momma. “But out in the open the enemy craft can quickly accelerate and evade fire. The Gatling's are not flack canons. Once the Oculi begins evasion it will be next to impossible to hold the cone of fire on them to guarantee a quick kill”.
Wyld raised her helmets visor and rubbed her eyes. “Okay. The problem is essentially lock on time and cool down time. Is that right”?
“Essentially yes”.
“Why is the lock-on a problem”?
“The Valkyr's Big Window only has one sensor mount by which to detect and target the object in question. Ground forces rarely get up to a speed where this is an issue. With a fast moving aerial target the faster the fighter moves, the greater the miss percentile chance increases”.
“Because of only one sensor mount”?
“Yes”.
Wyld chewed her lip. “The weapons crate has line of sight spotters for guiding bombing runs. If we used them, could we link you up? Give you more than one set of eye's”?
“Triangulation would allow for faster lock on and accuracy”. Momma admitted.
Five minutes after the three men had disappeared a signal came from them that they were ready and in position. Rockwood and a soldier were up on the roof of the building were they had hidden the Valkyr, from the Oculus, inside.
The other soldier was stationed on a rooftop several buildings away.
Wyld suddenly started. She hadn't stopped to ask their names...... that wasn't like her at all. Soon as they were done, she resolved, she find out who they were.
Both building the soldiers and Rockwood were stationed on gave good vantage points at the building where Rea and Rothan had gone to ground in. Wyld had taken the time to look at it and saw the sign on the side identifying it as the museum of space. Wyld had heard of it in passing. But had never been herself. This was not how she'd envisaged her first trip to see humanity's history of space exploration.
Lucy fidgeted by her side causing Wyld to look over at her. “Nervous”?
Lucy nodded.
“There's still time to get out”. Wyld told her again. “You don't have to come. Momma can handle the targeting. I need to be behind the wheel. You won't be able to do much if you come with us”.
Lucy looked over at Wyld with uncertainty warring with determination. “Zia left and never came back. I made a mistake letting her go. I won't do that again...... And you said you'd look after me and you can't do that if I stay behind..... and......”. Her voice trailed off as she looked towards the hole in the side of the building where they were supposed to emerge. “I don't want to be alone in here”.
Wyld listened. Then reached over and brought her hand to rest on Lucy's. She smiled causing Lucy to smile back. “That's okay”. She said. “I don't want to be alone out there”.
“So nice to be appreciated”. Came Mommas voice from the Valkyr.
Wyld winced. “You know I didn't mean it like that”.
“I was teasing”.
Just then Wyld's helmet HUD flickered to life as new targeting data began to transmit. Wyld took her hand off Lucy's and brought her hands to the wheel. “Look sharp you two, we're on”. Wyld looked over at Lucy. “Strap in”. She told her. Then when Lucy had done so, Wyld inched the Valkyr towards to torn exit in the side of the building.
As they got closer the world outside grew until Wyld could see the space museum in it's entirety. Wyld stopped then and checked the Valkyr's sensors. “Anything”?
“Two trails”, was Momma's reply. “Outside, running in a pattern”.
“What does that mean”? Lucy asked.
Wylds HUD marked the heat trails through the air as she said. “They have a patrol on the outside of the building. We know there are four Oculi in total. Two inside, trying to flush out Rea and Rothan. Two outside ready to pursue for when they break cover, in case they make it past the other two”. Wyld grinned. “Only they weren't suspecting that help would arrive”.
“Jerry-Ann. It should be noted that the longer we wait, the likelihood of more Reaper forces entering the area becomes greater”.
Wyld's grin disappeared. “Right. Momma, do you see a pattern in the patrol laps”?
“Affirmative”.
“Think you can bag one without the spotters”?
Lucy turned her head. “Why”?
“If we hold back on using the spotters in the first instance, then when the Reapers power up their detection suite they won't know that we have three people on aim assist. The fact we have three spotter beams on them now and they haven't reacted suggests they have them switched off”.
“Why”?
“Power drain”. Momma replied. “Even the Valkyr has a power management system. In order to keep battery and generator power at high levels of efficiency for combat many of the systems are kept on hot standby. Only drawing power once combat situations have presented themselves. Otherwise the Valkyr could not maintain long term operations without constant regular maintenance”.
Just then Wyld's ear's picked up the sound of a high pitched whine. “Momma. Standby to fire as soon as you think you can get a shot. Take your time. I want the first shot to be a kill”.
Modifié par Redbelle, 15 février 2014 - 07:11 .
#475
Posté 19 février 2014 - 10:09
sH0tgUn jUliA
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“How many STG did you see out there?” Naleena asked.
Ereba thought for a minute. “I saw three and they were heading to the Council bunker.”
“Jaroth said seven. We just killed two, plus the Major. That means there’s five left.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Ereba, we had the drop on them. Every single STG we’ve killed we’ve had the drop on. Do not underestimate them. Be careful of their tech attacks. What they lack in biotics, they more than make up for in tech attacks.”
“We’ll try to stay out of range, then.”
“Nice idea. Did I ever tell you what happened to me on Sanves? I was staying out of range. Next thing I knew a toad was pointing a gun at my head. Luckily I had biotics. Today, the Major was overconfident and forgot about Marisa. Just… be careful and check over your shoulder once in a while.”
Shayrana was listening closely. “I’ve got your back, Ereba. My map shows the bunker down one more level just above the Citadel Archives, Sarge. I’d expect the Salarians will be guarding the elevator and stairwell.”
“Any alternatives?”
“Not really.”
“So it’s going to be open the doors and smoke out, and a flashbang just to be sure,” Ereba suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. Everyone ready?” Naleena asked, “Let’s move.”
They exited the office and went to their right toward a stairwell. Ereba and Shay had point. Naleena wanted to avoid elevators and the stairwells nearby them as much as possible, but it didn’t look like that was going to be an option. STG had done a great job of clearing Reaper troops out of the area. So there are three that we know of, and I’m expecting seven. Where are the other four?
They walked by several abandoned shops. The store front windows were broken and Naleena looked over at Marisa and smiled when they passed the Estania Boutique. She shot Naleena a dirty look.
“Shay, Ereba, could you keep watch for just a couple of minutes, please?” Naleena asked, “Marisa, they’re insured, and it’s a Reaper invasion. Who is going to care?”
“I will.”
“Marisa! I’m just going to look. Do you know when the last time I was in a boutique?”
“No, and I don’t care.”
“I’m going in,” Naleena said, and walked in. It was a typical boutique. Racks of clothes along the walls, with some knocked over racks in the middle of the shop. Apparently with the panic of the Reapers attacking the Citadel, there wasn’t any looting. There was a heavy unbreakable glass counter with jewelry in it, but it wasn’t Naleena proof. The shop was very dark due to a power outage in the area. A husk raised its head from behind the counter. Naleena splattered it with a warp. There were two bloated and well-dressed bodies on the floor. “And it looks like the shop owners are dead anyway, so it’s not exactly stealing. Let’s call it re-appropriating. See that wasn’t so bad. Now let’s see what they have.”
Naleena headed straight to the coat rack, and she found a full length black leather coat that buttoned from the waist up and left access for her to get to her sidearm. She tried it on. It was a perfect fit. She set the color of her web to match the coat.
“Doesn’t this look fantastic? Ordinarily it would cost 3000 CR. Today’s sale price: free. Do you see anything you like? Seriously, I’d grab something to cover that armor,” Naleena said.
“Doesn’t that defeat your stealth?”
“Look, I’ve got a large hole in this web I’m wearing, so it’s not exactly stealth anymore, and your tearing it more didn’t help it any.”
“Would you rather I let you bleed to death?”
“No. I’m not complaining. You did the right thing. I just need something to cover it up. And looking a bit stylish doesn’t hurt either.”
“Perhaps you’re right. Unfortunately, I don’t see anything I want.”
Naleena started taking her drab looking commando boots off. She pulled a box down from a shelf that matched the description of the ones on the display mannequin. They went with the coat perfectly. They were real black leather, not the composite material of her boots, and they had a stacked 1.5” heel and were in her size.
“What do you think?” She walked around in them.
Marisa raised a brow. She admitted to herself that they looked great, but she wouldn’t give Naleena the satisfaction. Naleena didn’t need this stuff. To Marisa this was just fluff, and she knew it was fluff to Naleena as well, although she was visualizing Naleena’s pre-war wardrobe.
Naleena headed over to the counter with the jewelry. “Do you know what is really unfair, Marisa? Humans have ears. Do you see this case? It’s jewelry. Those are ear rings. Very expensive ear rings. They put them in their ear lobes, and they look fantastic,” and then she turned to the case behind the counter with dark glasses and smashed it, to grab a pair. “And these things on the sides of them are made to fit right over their ears. See how good these look with this coat? But no ears. I tried the elastic things before like they told me once, but it slipped right down my neck. The reason? No ears, and they hurt my hearing flaps.”
“Naleena!”
“It’s just not fair. What’s the name of this company? Bahooskhhh and Lahmb. The style is… Ahveeahtor. Strange sounding words for Human Standard. They should learn how to spell. I’m sending them a letter that they should make a version for Asari after the war,” Naleena entered it into her omni-tool. “Oh well. I guess that’s going to do it in here. You sure you don’t want anything?”
Marisa saw another pair that didn’t have temples on them. “What about these? Try them.”
“Are you aiding and abetting a criminal?” Naleena smiled, and tried them on. They fit perfectly over the bridge of her nose. “But how secure are they? Will they stay on say through a backflip? Or a quick head motion?”
“Try and find out.”
Naleena did a couple of backflips, forward flips, and made a couple of rapid movements with her head. They stayed in place. The glasses were roughly the shape of the aviators, but the lenses were smaller for balance. They were lighter and thinner so they would stay in place.
“Hmm… They stay in place, are comfortable and look positively bad ass with this outfit. Thanks.”
“You’ll scare the crap out of the Reapers. Can we go?” Marisa couldn’t believe they just stopped to loot a shop. Ereba and Shay had been watching for STG and Reapers.
Naleena stepped out of the boutique. “So what do you think?”
“Sarge, turn around,” Ereba said, “Sarge looks killer.”
“We stopped for that?” Shayrana asked.
“You don’t like it?”
“It looks great, but did we really have to stop for that? Like you needed that stuff.”
Naleena sighed with disappointment. “Shay, you’re no fun.”
Shayrana turned and slapped Ereba on the shoulder and held back a laugh. “Come on, let’s go.”
They continued down the darkened corridor, and heard a snort. Ereba cussed under her breath. A brute was coming around the corner at the end of the corridor toward them. They hid in the abandoned stores on either side. It stopped in front of them and sniffed the air. It was confused and having difficulty figuring out what the smell was. Some of the fighting earlier had broken some perfume bottles in the boutiques, and this was covering up the scent of the Asari. The brute continued its patrol. The Asari waited until it appeared safe, then left their cover and continued to the end of the corridor and around the corner. A dead Salarian STG lay on the floor.
“Make that four.” Naleena mouthed and smiled.
An elevator lobby loomed in front of them. This meant one of two things. It was time to go downstairs or there was an ambush. Naleena was betting on the latter. Lobbies were kill zones and she knew it. The presence of the brute, however changed it from STG to Reaper, and Reapers haven’t been too intelligent as of late. Naleena sent Ereba in cloaked to assess the situation. She checked the room nd access points on her IR. Ereba found a seriously wounded STG sergeant on the floor in the corner and she disarmed him, took his communicator, and then she dragged him over to her unit.
“Here you go, Sarge.”
“Help me, please,” the Salarian asked. He had a serious gash across the right side of his abdomen. There were a lot of dead Reapers troops in the area.
“He’s hurt pretty bad,” Ereba said.
The Sarge looked him over, and spoke quietly in Lusian dialect to Ereba. “I’ve seen worse, but he doesn’t need to know that.”
“What’s your name?” Ereba asked.
“Vison. Sergeant Vison.”
Naleena reached into her pack. “Sergeant Vison, you know what I have, right? Medi-gel. Now, tell me how many of you are left and where they’re guarding.”
“They’re downstairs. There’s four left. They’re guarding watching the near stair entrance to the Council Bunker.”
“Is there another entrance?
“Yes, but it’s on the other side of this….”
Sergeant Vison’s radio went off. The Sarge handed him his radio, but heard the conversation.
“Sergeant Vison, this is Captain Adus. What’s your status?”
Naleena glared at him and dangled the Medi-gel. Then she mouthed. “Tell him you saw us.”
“We took down a Reaper Squad, sir. We saw T’sarius.”
“Good. So what is her status?”
Naleena whispered. “You heard him. He needs direction.”
“They’ll get slaughtered. That place is crawling with Reapers.”
Naleena dangled the Medi-gel in front of his face.
The Salarian hit talk on his communicator. “Sir, she used the Reapers as a diversion and slipped behind them. She’s coming the other way.”
“Good work, Sergeant.”
Naleena grabbed the communicator. “Thanks for your help. Have fun.”
“But my wound. You said I’d get Medi-gel.”
“And I thought we were on the same side all this time, too. If I were you, I’d get into one of those shops and bleed out there. There’s a brute on patrol.”
“I hope they get you for this!” the Salarian said as Naleena and the squad left him.
Across the lobby were some steps up. Naleena was wondering what was up there. She asked Shayrana to check her omni-tool.
“That’s the C-sec Commander’s office,” Shayrana said.
“Shall we?” Naleena said, “It’ll give the toads time to get over to those Reapers. I’m curious as to what C-sec is up to.”
The door was locked and Ereba went to work on it while the others stood watch. When she got it open, Ereba cautiously entered the room. A Human was passed out at his desk and the place had the stench of whiskey.
“It’s clear,” Ereba said, and she walked over to the desk and checked the man. “I think this might be Commander Bailey, and he’s alive. Shay, give him a stim.”
Bailey slowly came to and fell back in his chair. “What the…, Jesus Christ. My head. Who the hell are you?”
“You spoke with us earlier on the radio. I’m Corporal Shayrana T’sonoptis, and this is Specialist Ereba Danri of Artemis Squad.” Then Marisa stepped closer.
“Marisa Soniri? I thought you were on the Destiny Ascension,” Bailey said.
“I was, until I got a call that my daughter was on Earth in a hospital. A shuttle was going to London, so I hitched a ride. Then things got complicated,” Marisa said, “This is Naleena T’sarius, and no matter what you’ve heard, we’re on the same side.”
“What happened? You seemed to be fine when we spoke,” Ereba asked.
“I was, then a couple of Salarians came in. They were STG. One was a sergeant andthe other a lieutenant. That information you sent me…, they wiped it from my computer, and made me drink the whiskey until I passed out, and took my communicator. It was either that or a bullet.”
“Well, I think one of the toads is dead, and the other is slowly bleeding out in a shop,” Naleena strutted into view. “You seem to be coming around. We’re heading to the Council Bunker. We could use your help if you’re feeling up to it.”
With those words, Bailey got his gun out of his desk drawer, and slowly walked to his locker. “I might move a bit slowly for a bit, but that stim seems to be working. Let me grab my vest and helmet. You’ll need me to counter the orders we gave my officers earlier. I’m ready when you are.”
Ereba thought for a minute. “I saw three and they were heading to the Council bunker.”
“Jaroth said seven. We just killed two, plus the Major. That means there’s five left.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Ereba, we had the drop on them. Every single STG we’ve killed we’ve had the drop on. Do not underestimate them. Be careful of their tech attacks. What they lack in biotics, they more than make up for in tech attacks.”
“We’ll try to stay out of range, then.”
“Nice idea. Did I ever tell you what happened to me on Sanves? I was staying out of range. Next thing I knew a toad was pointing a gun at my head. Luckily I had biotics. Today, the Major was overconfident and forgot about Marisa. Just… be careful and check over your shoulder once in a while.”
Shayrana was listening closely. “I’ve got your back, Ereba. My map shows the bunker down one more level just above the Citadel Archives, Sarge. I’d expect the Salarians will be guarding the elevator and stairwell.”
“Any alternatives?”
“Not really.”
“So it’s going to be open the doors and smoke out, and a flashbang just to be sure,” Ereba suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. Everyone ready?” Naleena asked, “Let’s move.”
They exited the office and went to their right toward a stairwell. Ereba and Shay had point. Naleena wanted to avoid elevators and the stairwells nearby them as much as possible, but it didn’t look like that was going to be an option. STG had done a great job of clearing Reaper troops out of the area. So there are three that we know of, and I’m expecting seven. Where are the other four?
They walked by several abandoned shops. The store front windows were broken and Naleena looked over at Marisa and smiled when they passed the Estania Boutique. She shot Naleena a dirty look.
“Shay, Ereba, could you keep watch for just a couple of minutes, please?” Naleena asked, “Marisa, they’re insured, and it’s a Reaper invasion. Who is going to care?”
“I will.”
“Marisa! I’m just going to look. Do you know when the last time I was in a boutique?”
“No, and I don’t care.”
“I’m going in,” Naleena said, and walked in. It was a typical boutique. Racks of clothes along the walls, with some knocked over racks in the middle of the shop. Apparently with the panic of the Reapers attacking the Citadel, there wasn’t any looting. There was a heavy unbreakable glass counter with jewelry in it, but it wasn’t Naleena proof. The shop was very dark due to a power outage in the area. A husk raised its head from behind the counter. Naleena splattered it with a warp. There were two bloated and well-dressed bodies on the floor. “And it looks like the shop owners are dead anyway, so it’s not exactly stealing. Let’s call it re-appropriating. See that wasn’t so bad. Now let’s see what they have.”
Naleena headed straight to the coat rack, and she found a full length black leather coat that buttoned from the waist up and left access for her to get to her sidearm. She tried it on. It was a perfect fit. She set the color of her web to match the coat.
“Doesn’t this look fantastic? Ordinarily it would cost 3000 CR. Today’s sale price: free. Do you see anything you like? Seriously, I’d grab something to cover that armor,” Naleena said.
“Doesn’t that defeat your stealth?”
“Look, I’ve got a large hole in this web I’m wearing, so it’s not exactly stealth anymore, and your tearing it more didn’t help it any.”
“Would you rather I let you bleed to death?”
“No. I’m not complaining. You did the right thing. I just need something to cover it up. And looking a bit stylish doesn’t hurt either.”
“Perhaps you’re right. Unfortunately, I don’t see anything I want.”
Naleena started taking her drab looking commando boots off. She pulled a box down from a shelf that matched the description of the ones on the display mannequin. They went with the coat perfectly. They were real black leather, not the composite material of her boots, and they had a stacked 1.5” heel and were in her size.
“What do you think?” She walked around in them.
Marisa raised a brow. She admitted to herself that they looked great, but she wouldn’t give Naleena the satisfaction. Naleena didn’t need this stuff. To Marisa this was just fluff, and she knew it was fluff to Naleena as well, although she was visualizing Naleena’s pre-war wardrobe.
Naleena headed over to the counter with the jewelry. “Do you know what is really unfair, Marisa? Humans have ears. Do you see this case? It’s jewelry. Those are ear rings. Very expensive ear rings. They put them in their ear lobes, and they look fantastic,” and then she turned to the case behind the counter with dark glasses and smashed it, to grab a pair. “And these things on the sides of them are made to fit right over their ears. See how good these look with this coat? But no ears. I tried the elastic things before like they told me once, but it slipped right down my neck. The reason? No ears, and they hurt my hearing flaps.”
“Naleena!”
“It’s just not fair. What’s the name of this company? Bahooskhhh and Lahmb. The style is… Ahveeahtor. Strange sounding words for Human Standard. They should learn how to spell. I’m sending them a letter that they should make a version for Asari after the war,” Naleena entered it into her omni-tool. “Oh well. I guess that’s going to do it in here. You sure you don’t want anything?”
Marisa saw another pair that didn’t have temples on them. “What about these? Try them.”
“Are you aiding and abetting a criminal?” Naleena smiled, and tried them on. They fit perfectly over the bridge of her nose. “But how secure are they? Will they stay on say through a backflip? Or a quick head motion?”
“Try and find out.”
Naleena did a couple of backflips, forward flips, and made a couple of rapid movements with her head. They stayed in place. The glasses were roughly the shape of the aviators, but the lenses were smaller for balance. They were lighter and thinner so they would stay in place.
“Hmm… They stay in place, are comfortable and look positively bad ass with this outfit. Thanks.”
“You’ll scare the crap out of the Reapers. Can we go?” Marisa couldn’t believe they just stopped to loot a shop. Ereba and Shay had been watching for STG and Reapers.
Naleena stepped out of the boutique. “So what do you think?”
“Sarge, turn around,” Ereba said, “Sarge looks killer.”
“We stopped for that?” Shayrana asked.
“You don’t like it?”
“It looks great, but did we really have to stop for that? Like you needed that stuff.”
Naleena sighed with disappointment. “Shay, you’re no fun.”
Shayrana turned and slapped Ereba on the shoulder and held back a laugh. “Come on, let’s go.”
They continued down the darkened corridor, and heard a snort. Ereba cussed under her breath. A brute was coming around the corner at the end of the corridor toward them. They hid in the abandoned stores on either side. It stopped in front of them and sniffed the air. It was confused and having difficulty figuring out what the smell was. Some of the fighting earlier had broken some perfume bottles in the boutiques, and this was covering up the scent of the Asari. The brute continued its patrol. The Asari waited until it appeared safe, then left their cover and continued to the end of the corridor and around the corner. A dead Salarian STG lay on the floor.
“Make that four.” Naleena mouthed and smiled.
An elevator lobby loomed in front of them. This meant one of two things. It was time to go downstairs or there was an ambush. Naleena was betting on the latter. Lobbies were kill zones and she knew it. The presence of the brute, however changed it from STG to Reaper, and Reapers haven’t been too intelligent as of late. Naleena sent Ereba in cloaked to assess the situation. She checked the room nd access points on her IR. Ereba found a seriously wounded STG sergeant on the floor in the corner and she disarmed him, took his communicator, and then she dragged him over to her unit.
“Here you go, Sarge.”
“Help me, please,” the Salarian asked. He had a serious gash across the right side of his abdomen. There were a lot of dead Reapers troops in the area.
“He’s hurt pretty bad,” Ereba said.
The Sarge looked him over, and spoke quietly in Lusian dialect to Ereba. “I’ve seen worse, but he doesn’t need to know that.”
“What’s your name?” Ereba asked.
“Vison. Sergeant Vison.”
Naleena reached into her pack. “Sergeant Vison, you know what I have, right? Medi-gel. Now, tell me how many of you are left and where they’re guarding.”
“They’re downstairs. There’s four left. They’re guarding watching the near stair entrance to the Council Bunker.”
“Is there another entrance?
“Yes, but it’s on the other side of this….”
Sergeant Vison’s radio went off. The Sarge handed him his radio, but heard the conversation.
“Sergeant Vison, this is Captain Adus. What’s your status?”
Naleena glared at him and dangled the Medi-gel. Then she mouthed. “Tell him you saw us.”
“We took down a Reaper Squad, sir. We saw T’sarius.”
“Good. So what is her status?”
Naleena whispered. “You heard him. He needs direction.”
“They’ll get slaughtered. That place is crawling with Reapers.”
Naleena dangled the Medi-gel in front of his face.
The Salarian hit talk on his communicator. “Sir, she used the Reapers as a diversion and slipped behind them. She’s coming the other way.”
“Good work, Sergeant.”
Naleena grabbed the communicator. “Thanks for your help. Have fun.”
“But my wound. You said I’d get Medi-gel.”
“And I thought we were on the same side all this time, too. If I were you, I’d get into one of those shops and bleed out there. There’s a brute on patrol.”
“I hope they get you for this!” the Salarian said as Naleena and the squad left him.
Across the lobby were some steps up. Naleena was wondering what was up there. She asked Shayrana to check her omni-tool.
“That’s the C-sec Commander’s office,” Shayrana said.
“Shall we?” Naleena said, “It’ll give the toads time to get over to those Reapers. I’m curious as to what C-sec is up to.”
The door was locked and Ereba went to work on it while the others stood watch. When she got it open, Ereba cautiously entered the room. A Human was passed out at his desk and the place had the stench of whiskey.
“It’s clear,” Ereba said, and she walked over to the desk and checked the man. “I think this might be Commander Bailey, and he’s alive. Shay, give him a stim.”
Bailey slowly came to and fell back in his chair. “What the…, Jesus Christ. My head. Who the hell are you?”
“You spoke with us earlier on the radio. I’m Corporal Shayrana T’sonoptis, and this is Specialist Ereba Danri of Artemis Squad.” Then Marisa stepped closer.
“Marisa Soniri? I thought you were on the Destiny Ascension,” Bailey said.
“I was, until I got a call that my daughter was on Earth in a hospital. A shuttle was going to London, so I hitched a ride. Then things got complicated,” Marisa said, “This is Naleena T’sarius, and no matter what you’ve heard, we’re on the same side.”
“What happened? You seemed to be fine when we spoke,” Ereba asked.
“I was, then a couple of Salarians came in. They were STG. One was a sergeant andthe other a lieutenant. That information you sent me…, they wiped it from my computer, and made me drink the whiskey until I passed out, and took my communicator. It was either that or a bullet.”
“Well, I think one of the toads is dead, and the other is slowly bleeding out in a shop,” Naleena strutted into view. “You seem to be coming around. We’re heading to the Council Bunker. We could use your help if you’re feeling up to it.”
With those words, Bailey got his gun out of his desk drawer, and slowly walked to his locker. “I might move a bit slowly for a bit, but that stim seems to be working. Let me grab my vest and helmet. You’ll need me to counter the orders we gave my officers earlier. I’m ready when you are.”
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 23 février 2014 - 10:13 .
