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[Redbelle]

Steiner reached up and grabbed his helmet. There was a hiss as seals released and he twisted it off to reveal a bristling patch of hair so blond it was nearly white. Steiner looked up with eye's whose natural expression seemed to be a bull stare that existed on a face that looked to have been punched with an iron. It was all but flattened. The jaw, nose and cheeks in line with the rest of his face. He tucked the helmet under one arm as he pointed at Wyld with the other. “Get down here. That's an order soldier”.

Wyld crossed her arms as Babylon crossed to Steiner's side. “Um, Sir? She's a commander too”.

Steiner looked up and sneered. “A commander driving this hunk of scrap? You nearly got my people and yourself killed with that stunt”.

Wyld felt her mouth twitch. She was already developing an irrational dislike of the man. “It was her idea Commander. And how did you end up in no man's land, Commander”?

“None of your business commander. Now do I have to tell you one more time to get down, or do I have to get my people to pull you out of there”?

Wyld felt her arms fall to her side as her gun hand itched. Not a good idea girl. We're on the same side and you have a mission. Just get the big lunk head to co-operate

It was Babylon who stepped in. “Sir's”. She stressed. We need to move. We have wounded and she's a medic. We can use the transport to move our people quickly”. She turned to Steiner. “And Commander Wyld couldn't have come here by accident sir. She must be here in response to our broadcast. Maybe we should find out what order's she's under”.

Steiner looked at Babylon as if she'd grown another head. “A medic commander”? He scoffed and looked up at Wyld who simply tapped her HM-1 insignia etched over the same spot where Steiner's N7 was etched. “Fine”. He said. “What's the news”?

“A lot has happened. Right now I'm under order's from Captain Radcliffe. Any and all troops are to gather at Camp Bastion for the coming assault on the beam”. She stopped as Steiner waved a dismissive hand and started walking away. “Hey”.

“An assault won't work”. He said. “You saw that Harvester. The kind of fire power it had. Well go after a Reaper POI and times that harvester by ten. Twenty. Forty.....” He went on. “That beams important and the Reapers will throw everything they have at us to stop us getting to it. And unless you haven't noticed. For every Reaper you kill five more pop up to replace it”. He suddenly came back and banged his fist against the Valkyr's side. “I've seen it happen time and again. They are to many to meet head on. They have number's and superior fire power at their disposal. And you want us to run into a zone that can just as easily turn into a Reaper meat grinder”? He stepped away again. “Tell your captain thanks but no thanks. The Ensfield Rifle's are fighting this war smarter. We've survived longer than any organised resistance cell out here. We refuse”.

Wyld's hands came down on the sill of the Valkyr as she listened. She wanted to yell at him. Shake her head. Denounce him as a coward. “You right”. She said instead. “It's a long shot. But it's the best we've got. We have to find a way to make it to the beam and get on the Citadel. Maybe you can help us? Maybe you can sit out here and pretend that what your doing is worth a damn to the larger war”. She saw his face turn red with rage. “But I'll tell you this Commander. I've been out in the field and held my own. And I've seen enough to know that the one's who are surviving are surviving because they are the lucky ones. All of us here, just now? We were all lucky. Lucky I came along when I did. Lucky Babylon gave me an escape route and a plan to save you. Lucky you were still alive to take the shot that downed the Harvester. Lucky the Reaper's didn't send more unit's after us”.

She paused as she remembered Radcliffe's words to her. “But most of that luck, is luck we engineered by being prepared and willing to fight at all. We got extra lucky by being prepared to fight together. Bastion will soon field the largest army we can gather to make the beam run”. I hope. She thought. “And that army will be stronger with you than without you. And who knows? We might find a way to rely less on luck, and more on fighting a war on our terms”.

Steiner sneered. Then looked to Babylon who just nodded. His mouth set in a grim line as he nodded back. “Brief her”. He stalked off as Babylon moved close.

“Sorry”. She said. “He's a bit rough, but his heart's in the right place”.

Wyld jumped out the Valkyr and landed near Babylon who stared at her. “Oh my god”. She exclaimed. “What happened to your legs”?

Wyld sighed. “One day I happened across a Krogan who didn't have any legs who was trying to cross the road. Only he couldn't because he had no leg's. So I gave him mine and he crossed the road to get to the other side. There is now a Krogan walking the Earth with human legs. Then I tried to cross the road. But I couldn't because I had no leg's. Then a Geth came along and was kind enough to give me his leg's”.

Babylon was nodding along until she realised that Wyld was joking. “Well”. She said uncertainly. “At least you have leg's, right”?

“And I'm eternally grateful”. Wyld said with a smile. “Imagine if a Rachni had tried to cross the road instead of a Geth”. Wyld saw Babylon's eye's slide to the side as she thought about it. Then realised that Wyld was joking with her again.

“I'd better just tell you what we're trying to do out here”.

“You mentioned faction's and your message mentioned a civilian militia”.

Babylon nodded. “The resistance heard of two groups of people who could really help us. We don't know how they came about. But one's apparently been gathering people with skills and training them to fight. Have you heard of The Misfit's”?

Wyld shook her head.

“They're civilian's mostly. People who couldn't get out during the evacuation. Or just didn't want to leave. They live in tunnel's though some live in other area's of the city”.

Wyld thought back. “I remember. Radcliffe kept talking about Civilian's popping up in zones that were supposed to have been evacuated”.

“Chances are they were Misfit's, scavenging”. Babylon noted. “Anyway. According to information there are cells of them with no organised structure or leadership pattern to bind them together. They just pop up and die back. Except for one. And it's growing”. She took a breath. “Apparently it's led by someone who called the MisQueen”.

Wyld nodded. “So your trying to recruit them”?

“Yes and no. It's complicated”. Babylon blew out a sigh. “These Misfit's have been laying low so we could never find them. Then they started fighting with Terra Firma”.

“Wait, hold on a minute”. Wyld held up a hand as she shook her head incredulously. “Terra Firma the political party? How are they still around”?

“Ever hear of the Mountain men”?

Wyld nodded. “Yesssss”. She said as she struggled to remember her history. “Weren't they trappers and explorer's”?

“And people who equipped themselves with the knowledge and skills to survive no matter what life threw at them”.

Wyld's eyebrows shot up. “Terra Firma anticipated the Reaper's”?

But Babylon shook her head. “They anticipated an alien invasion from other council races when they entered the political arena. They were a small party but gaining support. They figured it was a matter of time before Terra Firma became a major power. They started stockpiling weapons, vehicles, mechs”. She gave a tight smile. “Terra Firma thought that one day alien's would attack Earth. Turns out we were right. We knew one day the possibility might arise and we'd need the weapons and people to defend ourselves”.

Wyld folded her arms as she regarded Babylon. “Amy..... you said, 'we' just now. Spill it”.

Babylon eye's crinkled as she recognised her slip. “Fine. I'm a member of Terra Firma. I'm their strategist if you want to know. And no.....”. She went on as Wyld tried to interject. “We're not all a bunch of racist chest thumping Neanderthals! Look around you. We're being invaded and we were the only political party that's managed to survive! That's because we took defence seriously”. She tailored off. “And I know. We need to pool our resources with the alien's. It's not about purity of humanity by keeping the alien's out. Never should have been. It's about making sure that no matter what happens, humanity survives even if all other's don't”. She shook her head. “But this war's brought out all the radicals. Terra Firma took in everyone who could hold a gun and trained them to defend themselves. Now the radicals outnumber us and it's starting to affect the leadership”.

Wyld stopped her. “Okay. Terra Firma, not so bad. But I'm sensing some thing’s gone wrong. What's happened”?

Babylon took a deep breath. “Terra Firma has a bunker underneath the old Winston Churchill Memorial bunker. It's deep down and the Reapers don't seem to know it's there. We figured we could last out the war. But we needed supplies. We sent out scavenging parties who made contact with these militant Misfit's.

She paused. “They took our people and tortured the information out of them. Now they see our bunker as a place they can ride the war out in. Only they have to clear out the current occupant's first”. She gave Wyld a frank look. “It's come down to, 'what's the best chance of survival for our group'. No one's thinking about working together right now”.

“Except the militarise of the council races”. Jan pointed out.

“Exactly”. Babylon agreed. “The Misfit's somehow managed to sneak people into the bunker and contaminate our food stockpiles. Whatever they did is reversible. But to get the antidote Terra Firma has to deal with the Misfit's. And when I say deal......”. She trailed. “Look. The Misfit's are a group of people who are an assorted bunch. This group has humans..... and alien's. And we think the Queen is an alien too. And they've set up a siege outside our bunker. Waiting for us to become desperate enough to come out. And all this is just galvanising Terra Firma into the party people are afraid it was. There are literally alien's knocking at our front door trying to kill us and it's having a radicalising effect thanks to the new blood who joined for the wrong reasons”.

She sighed and looked down at the floor. “I managed to get out and blended in with the Misfit's. They have enough tactical knowledge to make any fight a bloody massacre against our mechs and state of the art armour's and weapons. And when the smoke clears we'll have lost one group. Or worse, both groups”. She looked up. “And as a strategist all I see is a bloody waste of resources we could spend better elsewhere. I came up to the surface to find help and found Steiner”.

Wyld looked over to where Steiner was organising his troops. She saw wounded among them. Felt the urge to go, but knew she had to finish listening to Babylon's story. “How does Steiner fit in”?

Babylon held up her hands and scrunched them into ball's. “Imagine both faction's with the same problem”. She indicated her left hand. “Both faction's refuse to communicate. Focused only on their needs. Prepared to do whatever it takes to meet those needs. We need someone who can command enough respect to meet with both groups and convince them of changing their ways”. She held up her right hand. “That's where Steiner comes in. He's a hero who everybody knows in one way or another. On the one hand, he's a human who is fighting alien's. On the other, he's personally led and rescued scores of non-humans. I've seen to it that everything he's done has been broadcast. I needed news of his exploit's to travel so that when I present him in front of both faction's..... they might listen to us”.

“That's your plan”?

Babylon's nodded. Looking older than her years. “I know. It's filled with holes. It probably won't work. But what's the alternative? Allow these groups of people to kill each other? I want my party to survive so we can help sort out the mess this planet's in if we win this war. Maybe even take over as the political leader until we can organise the opposition and get election's going again...... What”?

Wyld couldn't help but smile. “That's pretty long term planning”.

“I'm a strategist”. Babylon insisted. “We have to think ahead. And we have to think of how to deal with all the futures that could be. I'd be pretty poor at my job if didn't.....”.

Wyld interrupted. “What kind of strategist are you again”? She needled Babylon by holding her gaze until she crumpled and mumbled something. “I'm sorry..... what was that”?

“I'm an election strategist”! She said quickly. “There! You happy? I try to figure out how to make people popular enough that other's vote for them! And this is no different”! She argued forcibly. “I need to stop a war brewing and Steiner's the leader I've positioned to have the best chance of doing that. And think about it! If he does.... you'll have access to two groups who can fight back against the Reapers”.

“Civilian's”. Wyld gnawed her bottom lip. “Putting them in harms way just feels wrong”.

“We're all in harms way right now”! Babylon insisted. “If the Reaper's don't kill us we'll kill each other at this rate. We're becoming reduced to tribe mentality. We only look out for those who we're attached to. We never win if we waste time and manpower fighting each other. And right now, only a strong leader can pull us together”.

Wyld nodded. Radcliffe had told her as much when he mentioned that discipline was slipping in the ranks. Now Wyld was hearing the same message from another. She looked up and saw Steiner approaching them with wounded in tow.

Modifié par Redbelle, 22 août 2013 - 11:46 .

[FuriousFelicia]

Camp Bastion finaly started to live up to its name as Zia and Naomi watched the site of troops roaming the streets, pulling cables and supplies. A ghost town just an hour ago started to look more and more like a real military base. Strolling towards the motor pool, Zia and Naomi watched a site of three A-61 gunships parked in front of the armory. A couple of Makos were missing, no doubt on an inteligence gathering duties. Zia thought of Wyld. She was with them out there somewhere. Is she safe? Is she alright? Does she need help? Questions ran through Zia's head. A great part of her wanted to be out there with Jan. She was eager to get in to a fight, a thing she was so efficiently deprived of ever since she set foot on this scorched land that meny of these people called home, but she was not one of them. The only thing she had seen of Earth was two years in Rio at Vila Militar where she had her training. This was her second visit to Earth but even though she never considered it her home, still she felt a connection to it. After all she was human.

The armory gate was now fully open. Captain Radcliffe's Mako was being removed to make room for the gunships that were being redied for repairs and resupply. Zia and Naomi halted by the gunships and took some time to check out the crafts.

"They look mean." Said Naomi, admiring the Mantises, "I wish we had that instead of that poor Kodiak. Maybe then those ravagers would have a different tale to tell." She added with a giggle.

"Talking ravagers, aha. I picture them more like screaming in agony while taking a shower under this baby's barrage, melting in their own goo." Zia replied. "Come, let's get you dressed. And also I've got a surprise for you." She smiled and winked at Naomi. "Something that might be very useful to us for your training." Zia smiled mysteriously but Naomi didnt seem very enthusiastic at the mention of training. Just as they were about to enter the armory, Naomi felt a gentle poke on her back as she turned to see a familiar face smiling at her. It was Pepper, wrapped in a bundle of telephone cable aroun him.

"Pepper! " Naomi joyfully exclaimed as she leaned to hug their long lost friend. Zia folowed. They chatted for a moment while Pepper explained them how they managed to get to Bastion. He explained he was very busy at the moment setting up communications, but suggested to meet up at the pub later when they get the time, so they can have a proper reunion. Pepper went about his business leaving the girls at the armory entrance. When they entered, Zia was suprised. The first time she walked in, the place was deserted, and now they were looking at the sight of troops moving ammo crates, and equipment about. The crane was being pulled back to make room for the gunships. Zia's old acquaintance Sully Petersen was directing the traffic in the hold as he was giving instructions to the men to prepare the first gunship to be rolled in for repairs.

"Careful now, mind the fin, that gate is not as high as it looks!" Sully yelled at the crew that was towing in the first craft. The place was busy and quite noisy.

"Yo, Sully!" Shouted Zia as he turned his head towards them. "Oh, hi miss Zia!" Sully shouted back, "Just a sec till we get this bird in the nest." He gested at the first Mantis at the gate that was half way in already. When the crew got it in, Sully directed them to start resupplying the craft with ammo, and then turned his attention to Zia and Naomi.

"Hello again my fabulous fury." He said, smiling at Zia. Zia just curved her lip as she extended her arm to great him. Sully removed his dirty work gloves to shake Zia's hand, and when he noticed Naomi standing behing Zia, he startled a bit, and then assumed a stiff pose, fixing his greasy uniform.

"Oh, this is my friend Naomi Brooks." Said Zia as she steped aside revealing Naomi that stood behind her. She was in overalls and blushing. But so was Sully.

"Naomi, nice to meet you." She introduced herself with a smile, extending her arm to Sully. Sully semed a bit smitten as he took Naomi's hand, and instead of shaking it, he bows his head and lands a kiss on her knuckles.

"My pleasure miss Brooks" He said with a smile. "Private Sully Petersen at your service mam. What can I do for you?" He cheerfully asked looking at Naomi. Zia jumped in.

"Remember that piece of armor you mentioned earlier when we met? Is it still available?"

"What? Oh, yeah it's somewhere there with the rest of the junk. You need it?" Sully asked, but as he was talking to Zia, his eyes were still fixed on Naomi.

"Yes well, miss Naomi here is in dire need of some scales. Do you think it will fit her?" Asked Zia.

"For her? That old piece of junk. Oh no. No, no, no. To violate such beauty with that old bucket of nuts and bolts. No, I've got just the thing for you my dear." Sully was addressing Naomi while he answered Zia's question. Zia just pulled a half smile on as she realised that she was no longer the star of this show.

"Folow me please." Said Sully as he grabbed Naomi's hand and took her back to his workroom. Zia didn't receive a direct invite but she taged along as well. Sully went behind his workbench and pulled a piece of armor from behind. It was black and looked really sophisticated. It didn't seem rigid like standard issue trooper armors, apart from its chest plate piece. It resembled more a diving suit than armor.

"What's that?" Asked Naomi intriguingly looking at the suit displayed to her.

"This my dear is something I've managed to salvage while I was on a mission a few months ago on Noveria. It's an armor used by Cerberus snipers. Very slim looking, yet incredibly durable and hard. Sadly I don't have a helmet to go along with it, but hiding such a beautiful face would be a sin." He smiled at Naomi. She was blushing again.

"Where can I try it on?" She asked. "Oh you can use the utility room back there. Just be careful, a lot of fragile stuff." Sully pointed to a door behind the bench. Naomi took the armor and went to change. She discreetly gested to Zia to accompany her to help her dress. Zia folowed up leaving Sully alone. When they entered, they found themselves in a small room filled with all sorts of boxes, and mechanical parts from various thech equipment and gadgets. It was very cramped. Naomi took her clothes off. She was totally naked, and quite a sight for Zia's lustful eyes. Naomi smiled at her seductively while her arms wraped around Zia's neck, folowed by her mouth that started gorging on Zia's chin. Naomi pressed Zia to the wall and Zia's back hit the switch that turned the room pitch black as the light went out. They were at it again. Like they were somewhere far away from this wretched place, forgetting for a moment about the war, the reapers, the _it_, Bastion and all the rest unpleasant things that they were in to. Zia quickly infected Naomi with her ways of dealing with stress. Wyld was also infected, but she was not there now. Not in flesh anyway.
While Naomi's played a game of fencing with Zia's tounge,  Zia thought if Naomi tasted strawberries as well. She opened one eye in intention to brake the silence and ask her but instead of dark, her vision was stabed by a pale blue luminescence radiating from Naomi, and it was growing in intensity. Naomi didn't notice anything as her eyes were still shut, her mind lost in sweet ignorance as she blindly feasted on Zia's neck.

"Naomi concentrate!" Abruptly Zia starts to shout as she pushed Naomi  off. "You're having a flare again!" She shouted. Naomi twiched when she realized, but seeing herself lid up again made her nervous, and she starts to flap her hands hysterically.

"Make it stop, make it stop!" She screamed in panic.

"Calm down, relax, you're making it worse." Zia jelled but she saw there was no use as Naomi was going past the no return point. Zia charged her barrier, and grabbing Naomi firmly in embrace, she sinks her teeth in Naomi's neck, drawing a tear off blood. A muffled blow, and a slight tremor is all Sully heard before the utility room door came flying past him, and blasted in to a wall across revealing the sight of Zia and Naomi in a tight hug, covered in dust and stuff that exploded around the room. They stepped out coughing, Naomi still bare naked. Sully hastly rushes to them.

"Dear lord, are you alright.  What to hell just happened in there?" He jelled. But Naomi pops behind Zia's back and lashes him straight away. "Hey! Go away! Can't you see I'm naked." She barked at Sully. His face turned red when he realized. " Oh! Apologies my lady." Is all he could muster before he turned away his gaze. He waited for Naomi to get her new armor on. It looked a lot less complicated on the outside than it was to get inside, as Naomi and Zia both worked on it. It took them a few minutes. When they were done, Naomi took her sidearm to chek the hoder mechanism on the suit, but there was just one on the back. Well it was a sniper's outfit after all. She held on to the gun.

"You can look now." Said Naomi when she was done. "So? How do I look?" She asked as she twirled in place, hands spred, showing of her new attire. The suit fitted her perfectly, and it accented her curves like a corset.

"Pull a black stocking over your head and you're a genuine little Nemesis." Teased Zia laughing.

"Yea, yea, could someone please explain to me what the devil just happened in there?" Sully anxiously demanded as he looked over to his demolished utility room that now looked like a frag granade just exploded inside.

"She had a slight flare." Said Zia.

"Sorry." Naomi shrugged her shoulders. "It was an accident." She added.

"Well, you're all ok it seems." Said Sully scratching his head. Which couldn't be said for his utility room that was totaly demolished.

"Yea, but something tells me we won't be practicing in the camp again." Zia concluded.

"Hey, why did you bite me?" Asked Naomi feeling a sore wound on her neck that revealed two cresent marks of Zia's teeth.

"If I hadn't, we probably wouldn't be having this discussion now as you would have gone nuclear on us. You need to learn to control your emotions girl. That's it. No more kissing or groping of any kind for you missy until we get you in sync with your power."

"Kissing? What kissing?" Muttered Sully curiously looking at them but all he got was a dull stare from both.

"Well, at least the armor fits." He remarked. Naomi looked satisfied with her new outfit. She was exactly the shape of a Cerberus nemesis so the armor fitted perfectly. The Cerberus logos have been brushed out and replaced by Alliance standard but it still had its original paint.

"Ok ladies, if you can just promise you won't be blowing up my shop any more so I can go back to those mantises. There's a lot of work to be done, and the captain is not a patient man when it comes to war assets. Got to get that main gun recalibrated now."

"Yes we are done here. Oh speeking of guns." Said Zia, and reached to her side arms. She pulled her old Tempest that she had before Sully gave her the Hurricane, and tossed it on the bench.

"Here." She said to Sully, "Can't exactly say we're even now but it's still a good gun. Definitely more useful mid to long range than this baby." She said, reaching for her hurricane. "I would give it to Naomi but she's probably better off with her Phalanx."

"Phalanx?" Snapped Sally. "Give me that." He said addressing Naomi. Naomi hands the gun to Sully. He quickly unloads the thermal clip from its magazine, and in a dexterous fashion, he disassembles the gun.

"Yes, firing mechanism looks ok, the barel needs a bit of a cleanup...also, I see some modifications made to its heat sink...yup, all in all,  this is quite a nice piece. For shooting swarmers." He grined, and turned to his 'toy compartment' looking for something.
Naomi watched confusedly at him, throwing some parts out over his head while he was searching for something. Zia already had an idea.

"Ah, there it is." Exclaimed Sully as he pulled out a Carniflex heavy pistol, and gave it the same treatment as the Phalanx. A quick check, just like a proper soldier only quicker, he reassembled it, cocked it and took a quick glance over its sights before he handed it to Naomi. She took it and thanked him.

"Now this will get you much further. Slap some AP rounds on it, and it will slash through brutes like a hot knife through butter. And that beauty has a range, and a kick of a rifle."

"Aw Sully, you naughty boy. And I thought I was your special one. C'mon admit it, which girl got the Talon." Zia teased laughing.

"Oh...no..you..I mean.." Sully was steaming in discomfort as he tried to pull himself together, "I mean, there was no Talon, and I'm just trying to get our troops the best possible equipment available. Besides, no point in having good guns collecting dust in some cupboard."

"Relax, I'm just teasing you a little." Zia calmed him with a smile. Naomi suddenly remembered that she had no clamps on her sut for the gun, so Sully had to search his toy box again. And with a mission successful, his mind turns to the mess that was happening in the hold.

"Yes well, if you're done here, I should really be getting back to my duties."

"Actually,  two more things." Zia hastly remembered, "First.." She took her Hurricane and detached the power module that Sully gave to her earlier, "Clamp this on her Carny, and show us how to use it."

"Oh, right." Sully quickly attached the module to Naomi's gun, "Now you see these two nobs..." The girls nodded in affirmation. "The top one is for bandwidth toggle, and the lower one is for power output amplification. Here take the gun." He handed the gun back to Naomi. "Good. Now grip it firmly. Good. Basically the module will link to whatever wetware the current carrier has installed. So if you'll observe the upper nob, it flashes blue if it recognised any biotic amps as you can see." As Naomi held the gun, the nob began to flash blue while Sully continued, "Now all you need is to find the rigt frequency, and it will permanently link to your implants' calibration controler. There." He said satisfyingly as the nob stopped flashing while Naomi carefully watched, "It's now set to match your amp's controler frequency, and the nob on the bottom regulates the power of amp's output signal. You see the gauge on the lower nob?"

"Yes." Replied Naomi. "It glows yellow.  That means the module is idle, and your amps are at their normal working capacity." Now he turned the nob counterclockwise and the nob changed colour to green. Naomi could feel the difference right away as she felt a slight tingling sensation arcing across her spine.

"Now the module is set to lower the amp's output frequency, and with it, it weakens your biotic potential." But Naomi felt anything but weak as her face began to glow blue again. Realising the problem quickly, Zia quickly turns the nob all the way clockwise as the nob flashed red now. Suddenly Naomi falls to her knees like she just lost her legs as her biotic aura dispersed like cigarette smoke around her.

"What are you doing?!" Outbreaks Sully, "You'll overload her amps." He quickly restores the module to its idle state. Naomi shook her head and with Zia helping her, she slowly staggered up.

"What was that? I just had a feeling like..." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "Firs I felt a slight pain in the back of my head, and when you turned it up, it was like suddenly all the life had been drained from me."

"Yeah, why did you do that? You could have really hurt her. If those implants popped, they would have caused severe internal injuries. You are crazy!" Screamed Sully at Zia. But Zia was serious. It was no laughing matter. She immediately recognised the problem.

"You said green means less power from the amps?" Zia asked calmly.

"Yes, but you turned it full throttle in red!" Screams out Sully.

"Thank you Sully, I get it now." Zia confidently replies, "Which brings us to second: is there a place here where we can practice without endangering the troops?" Sully brushed his hand through his hair in confusion, and cleared his throat before he answered with uncertainty.

"Well...there is the courtyard...but you better check with the captain first. I ain't digging no latrines." He sighed as he finished.

"Thanks Sully. See ya later." Waved off Zia as she smiled. The girls left to find Radcliffe leaving poor Sully to his trouble. He was so excited with the new arrivals, especially the gunships. And then he met miss Brooks. The only thing missing was announcement that the war is over, folowed by rough rolling on the workbench with a beautiful blond, who turned out to be a ticking self repeating biotic bomb, and by the way smashed his utility room to bits, adding more toil. Nevertheless, Sully took it like a man, though his chear went down just as quickly as it got up a moment ago. He continued his work on the gunships, that was a priority, the cleaning duty would have to wait.

Zia and Naomi were back at the gunships that was still out, waiting their turn to be tuned and cared for by Sully. Naomi was a bit taken by her outbrakes, but she was still curious why did Zia turn the nob to max.

"Did you just try to kill me again back there?" Part in jest, part serious, Naomi pops a question.

"Ok, first lesson. You control your power with your brain. If you keep your brain in check, you can learn to keep your power in check as well. Check?" Zia requested affirmation.

"How do you mean, in check?"

"I mean, when you start to flare, don't begin to panick and flap around like some freaked out, crazy bat. You have to focus girl. Feel the energy that flows through your body, and make those lazy neurons moove."

Naomi crossed her arms, taking it as a slight insult. "You still haven't answered my question." She mutters. Zia sighed disappointingly at her jabber.

"You really are blond, you know that. Your implants are the very thing that's keeping your flares controllable. And the higher the frequency, the more power from the amps, therefore more control. Didn't you notice how you began to flare when Sully actually lowered the power, and how it shut you down instantly when I turned it to full throttle? That's becouse he shut down your amps, thus leaving your brain powerless against your power. Ten more seconds and you would be screaming in agony, and we would be jojning the fleet up in the orbit. So the more juice we can squeeze from those amps, the more control you get over your power. Now come on, let's go find the captain, and get ourselves ungrounded. And then get this thing over with already."

Zia finished and swooped Naomi around her waste as they headed back to Radcliffe's office. Naomi was still a bit unsure what Zia had just explained to her, but she took the first advice and used her brain to figure out on her own. There are certainly gonna be more lessons, she figured.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

BoL - The Lost Asari XXXI

Since reaching the surface, the Asari and Jack were getting occasional looks from the others when the wind drifted the wrong direction. Prangley was trying to make contact with the outpost. Erikka was pulling up the rear watching out for anything nasty, but she was also trying to pick crap out of her armor and from under her nails. T and Ranassa were jawing it up as usual. Jack was quiet, and Ereba had dropped back next to Shayrana. Rothan had caught up to Rea, and thought he'd finally had her to himself.

Ranassa dropped back to Rea wanting to check out both her and the Quarian. "Hey L-T. I gotta say you look like hell, and look like you've been through hell. Damn, I've never seen s*** like that before in my life. I hope I never see it again."

"Please, no rank talk. My name is Rea." Rea said.

"I like that. Our old L-T was like that, too, but I still called her L-T anyway, not to give her **** or anything. It's just that there was someone else with the same name." Ranassa said. "Did you see that ****? BAWOOM!" 'Nassa laughed. "I'd like to do that to one of those big ones before I die for what they did to Thessia. I know it's not much, but I'd feel better."

"You all look like you've seen a lot of action." Rea said. Rea seemed to be conflicted about how desensitized these Asari had become to what the enemy once were. To them they were just something that needed killing.

"Yeah, we have. We were formed on Sanves when the war started. T and I were stationed there. I'd just joined. It's a long story." Ranassa said. "Our sarge was from an outpost that had gotten leveled from an orbital strike. We shipped out to Cyone to help protect one of the fuel depots. Then we saw action in my home planet of Lusia. That's where T is from, too."

“Lusia,” Rea reflected, “I remember it from a stay. Cooler, and it took getting used to how long a day was.” She was cautious of Ranassa, but refused to show it. “I heard the defense grid their helped us put up a fight. Not that anyone put up a fight that matched anything like you did today.”

"Yeah, Rea, but what you saw today isn't anything. You should have seen some of the stuff we pulled when we were a full platoon." T said. "We're what's left of alpha squad led by Sgt. Soniri. You want to talk about someone who was bad ass? She made everyone look like a bunch of rookies. I don't know where she got her training, but it wasn't like anything I'd ever seen.

"Our mission on Cyone, the Reapers had taken a fuel depot, and we had to take it back. The reapers had Marauders guarding the outside, and she just told the L-T to hold the entire platoon back, and she got herself into this position with a sniper rifle with a silencer on it." T continued. "She picked off every single one of them. Then we assaulted the depot, took it back, and didn't lose anyone. And her biotics? Wow. I haven't seen anything like them. There were these brutes charging up on us. Erikka threw a dark channel on them and the sarge threw this thing looked like a ball of blackness at them and they just blew apart. She saved a lot of lives that day."

"You really miss your sergeant, don't you?" Rea asked. There was enthusiasm in the Artemis members, and though it wasn’t catching on to her, Rea could feel how it was contagious.

"Goddess, yes." T replied. "She really cared about us. She treated us like her family. There was something strange about her. She was only 160, but she acted a lot older. She got like three commendations during the six months before she broke her leg."

"Then we were shipped to Nevos, and pulled out when the local authorities decided to surrender to the Reapers outright. That made me sick." Ranassa said.

Rea agreed, “I heard Nevos was where Shepard recovered the Rings of Alune. It took a human commander to rescue one of our most treasured artifacts. We could have saved them ourselves if they let us defend the planet.”

"They went down without even a fight. I'm never going to roll over and die. No ma'am. I will kill every ****ing reaper I ****ing can until I can't ****ing shoot anymore. And T will be right there with me." Ranassa was getting angry and puffing a blue aura.

"There's no 'Nassa without T, and no T without 'Nassa!" T said. "Then we were on Thessia. Then here." T rushed through it seein Ranassa just starting to fume with anger. She knew it could get a lot worse, and she had to keep an eye on her. Ranassa was one of their best fighters and her friend. If they lost Ranassa they were all dead. 'Nassa was their heavy hitter.

"Sorry, Rea. **** like that just gets me angry." Ranassa said. "I would lay down my life for any one of these girls, and that goes for anyone who fights with us. But don't worry, I've got 60 yrs combat experience. I won't do anything stupid."

Now that piqued Rea's interest. '60 years experience, and only a private?' She thought. 'She does have some unorthodox tactics more like a merc. Eclipse? Should I ask? Maybe later. Or maybe not.' She thought.

"Now this Quarian. I've never seen a Quarian biotic before, and you've got some skill... Rothan?" T said. "And you seem to be pretty tight with Rea, otherwise you wouldn't have rescued her ass..., well, I don't know she is cute and all that so that might be enough of a reason right there."

"Alright, T." Shayrana said. "Easy on the new people, but Rothan where did you learn how to use your biotics like that?"

[Redbelle]

Steiner approached with the wounded being helped along by other's in his unit. “Good news. I got called by what's left of the left flank. Four managed to elude and are making their way to a rendouzous. Our Doc survived so we won't need your survices for long”.

Way to make a girl feel wanted. Wyld thought. Wondering just how this man was meant to inspire others to follow. She began running her med scanner over the wounded and found that, though serious enough to pull them off the front line, known were life threatening. All in all, their injuries weren't to bad as they were loaded into the Valkyr.

“Bad news”. Steiner went on. “We're under two thirds of our strength. That harvester didn't leave many wounded behind. And the left got torn up pretty bad. Unless we got more people coming in I'm scrubbing the mission”.

Babylon was on her feet and in his face the moment the words passed his lips. “You can't! We don't need firepower. We need reputation! Faith! Belief! We can go in and do this without firing a shot”.

“And if we can't what's our fallback”? Steiner demanded. “Not to mention that we could run into another Reaper patrol and have our number's cut down even more. And apparently your command....”. He pointed at Wyld as the last of the injured were loaded on. “.... Didn't think to send a battalion of tanks to backup a hero of the resistance”. His lip curled as the word hero appeared on his lips. “So how do we do this people? Because from I can see we're spending a lot of live's for no appreciable gain right now”!

Wyld had to admit. He had a point. Without knowing number's of the Misfit's and Terra Firma, as well as their combat potential. Or even their willingness to fight.... Without knowing pretty much anything they were essentially stumbling in the dark.

Well first thing's first.

“I'm sending the Valkyr to rendezous with our Mako's”. She declared. “They'll take the wounded back to Bastion”.

“So you have Mako's to ferry, but none to fight”? Steiner shook his head. “Gimme the ass who made that decision and I'll.....”.

“The Valkyr will then come back to us”. She held a hand up to her helmet. “That okay with you”?

“No”. Steiner said. “I'm not leaving my wounded in your hands”.

“I wasn't talking to you”. Wyld said as she took her hand away from the helmet. “And Momma say's she can do it”. She turned and talked to the Valkyr. “Get going. I'll call ahead. Stay safe”.

Steiner opened his mouth to ask what she was doing when the Valkyr's engine revved and began pulling away from them. “Hey! Where's that thing going”? He pulled his Typhoon from his back and was about to aim when Wyld slapped the muzzle down to the ground.

“Do not. Shoot. My Bucky”. She said firmly as the Valkyr gained distance and disappeared. “And don't worry about your people. Momma will get them to safety”.

“What the hell....”. Steiner was staring dagger's at Wyld who ignored him and began recording a message for a burst transmission.

“Michael's. If your out there I'm sending the Valkyr to your position. Find her. She's got wounded on board. And get this message back to Bastion. We've got two potential armies at each other's throats out here. Location, Winston Churchill Memorial Bunker. We may need the Mako's after all, if we can't convince them to play ball with us”. She paused. Gathering her thoughts. “I'm with Commander Steiner and an Amy Babylon. We may need extra help since we've been hit by Reaper forces and are down to two thirds man power. If the Mako's can pull Reaper forces away along the line to the Memorial then it'll go better for our forces. We have to hot foot it over there. Tell Captain Radcliffe this situation is largely unknown and fluid. I'll send more information when I have it”. She paused as she looked up a smile crossing her lips. “And if you happen to see Zia and Naomi. Tell them I said hi. And I'm looking forward to seeing how Nay's been doing. And tell Zia I hope she's ready for round two”.

She triggered her Omni-tool for burst transmission. That ought to keep Reapers from pinpointing us, she thought. Not that it would matter. They'd be moving out again in due course. She looked up and saw Steiner's glower directed at her. “As senior medic on the field, commander. Those wounded come under my authority. Not yours. Sending them to Michael's in the Valkyr will get them the help they need. Keep them from slowing us down. And the Valkyr's fast and defensible. She's the best chance they have without sending more of your people with her. And not to put to finer point on it”. She added. “But you were right when you said we need more people. But we might not get them. So we'll have to go with what we have”.

Steiner chewed his lip, then shook his head. “It's a waste of time. Getting civie's to fight for us? It goes against everything we've trained for”.

Wyld was starting to grow impatient as she struggled to keep the heat out of her voice. “If you don't want to go then go somewhere else. I'm going. And I'm taking Babylon with me”.

Steiner raised himself up to object when Babylon moved to Wyld's side. “She's right. I have to go back. I need to try and stop my people and their people from killing each other. Only..... Please Klaus”. She begged Steiner. “Say you'll come. I need you. I can't stop what's happening without you”.

Steiner looked between the two of them. Then turned and pointed. “The Memorial bunker's in that direction. He said flatly. If you two want to get killed, that's the way to go. Screw Radcliffe and screw Bastion”. He said darkly. “If you want to survive out here. You rely on each other to watch your back. You....”. He pointed at Wyld. “I wouldn't trust you to strap up my boot's and you.....”. He pointed at Babylon. “I figured you had at least half a brain”. He backed up as he retreated from them. “Getting there's only the half the job though. Good luck getting what you want without the firepower to back it up. Cause I'm not taking my boy's into that turkey shoot”.

Steiner turned and walked back to his unit. Waving his arm to signal they were moving out. He looked back over his shoulder and was downcast to see Babylon disappearing into the distance with Wyld. He shook his head. He'd been out here since the invasion began. Everything in his gut told him what they were doing was a bad idea. Yet he was helpless in stopping anyone not attached to him from making their own mistakes. Short of knocking them out and dragging them along with him, he couldn't afford to spend the energy looking after those two strays. Even if Babylon had shown a lot of promise on the front lines.

Steiner pulled up in front of his troops who were looking at at Babylon and Wyld as they disappeared from view. Then looked at Steiner with expression's he didn't like.

“What”? He said as he sealed his helmet over his face again. “I know what I'm doing”.

Modifié par Redbelle, 23 août 2013 - 03:39 .

[FuriousFelicia]

Zia and Naomi strolled towards captain's office leaving the armory and Sully behind. Zia didn't seem to have taken Radcliffe's advice about army etiquette too seriously, since they walked like two dedicated lovers. Zia, being almost head shorter than Naomi, held her hand tight around Naomi's waist, and Naomi wrapped hers around Zia's shoulder. They were walking like two drunks, leaning and holding each other. Some soldiers couldn't help turning their heads as they were baffled by the sight. The girls didn't seem bothered with that. On the contrary, they would giggle and laugh, making jokes as they go. Zia noticed that Naomi was suddenly quiet again, lost in her thoughts no doubt. Zia took this opportunity to deal with her own.

"And I thought I was the daydreamer." Naomi joked but seeing Zia didn't respond on the first, she switched to her own thoughts.  She figured she might show a bit of good will by opening up, and maybe that would inspire Zia as well.

"Zee...you know, I'm not daydreaming. I'm actually dreaming." Her voice carried a slight notion of concern. It made Zia snap out of her own brainstorm.

"What are you talking about?" Zia only heard the word 'dreaming'.

"Ever since I was cloned, I have a repeating dream that's always the same." Naomi talked while Zia sharpened her ears as she listened. For some reason she was very intrigued by this.

"What happens in this dream?" She asked.

"Well, first it feals like flying, and when I open my eyes, I find my self high up in the air, clouds all over me, and then I close my eyes again but when I open them, the clouds are gone and I find my self riding on top of a reaper. And not just any reaper, there are others like it around us but mine is the biggest. I can see the city burning below as his beam scorches the land. And hen I trip and start falling.  Do you supose it could mean something?"

Naomi's question fel unanswered as Zia dropped back to her own thoughts. "Zee. What's wrong?" Naomi asked concerned. Zia took a few seconds to reply. She shook her head and sighed.
"It's just something Radcliffe asked me, and I'm having a repeating dream too." Zia replied but stopped there. Naomi's curiosity was checked by this, and after all, she only knew little about Zia.

"What about?" Impatiently asks Naomi. Zia hesitated but figured she owed Naomi hat much. So she slowly started to open up.

"Back at the office, when captain and I were waiting for you and the toad, he asked me a question. A question even I don't have an answer to yet."

"What did he ask you." Naomi was all ears. To hear more about her beloved Zia was way more interesting than hearing about eezo nodes and stasis bubbles or flares.

"He asked me about my life before I joined Alliance, and particularly why I abandoned it." Zia stopped again. But Naomi wouldn't let this go so easily. She was eager to get more out of Zia.

"And? What did you tell him?"

"I told him..." She paused, "I told him what he wanted to hear." The punctuation at the end was clear. That was all Zia would say, but Naomi wouldn't let it go so likely.

"Well how about your dream then? You said you too have a repeating dream, so what is it?" Naomi was persistent. Zia realized she had no oher choice now so she started to talk.

"Oh baby.." Zia stopped in place and turned to face Naomi. She took her by her arms and leaned her head against Naomi's forehead. "There are so much things you should know about me. About who I really am...or who I was..." The words came slowly through Zia's mouth. This was really hard for her. Seeing her so troubled, Naomi hugged her tight and stroked her back in comfort. This was the first time she felt she needed to be there for Zia as it was normally the other way around. Zia quickly pulled her self together and with determination, she started to talk again.

"I promise I will tell you more, but for now, let's just pretend that you really know me. Ok?" Naomi nodded and smiled. She already considered it was a great progress. Zia continued.

"I have a dream that first happened some five years ago. Did I mention I lived on Omega?" Naomi just shook her head in negation. She said nothing. She didn't want to interrupt Zia now when she was warmed up.

"Yes well I did. I dream of chasing this girl through the slums of Omega. I usually don't chase after people, well, not for long." She smirked. "But this one...every time I get close, she eludes me somehow. It's like she can read my mind. Always one step ahead of me. I chase her through the streets, the docks, the werhoses and apartments, but I can't catch her. Finally I loose my patience and go for the kill. I pull my gun and pow! She drops to the ground. I feel so excited and good. Finally I've got her. But when I go and see who my prey is, I turn her and...it's me. I kill myself in my dream. And then I hear someone calling me from behind. I turn and see a woman. She's calling my name. I don't know her but it feals strange, familiar...I cannot describe it. She looks sad. When I start walking to her, suddenly her face changes and turns to Aria. She applauds me for a job well done. That's when I wake up." Everything Zia just said was a mystery to Naomi. Nothing made sense.

"What were you doing on Omega?" Asks Naomi, curiously looking at Zia. Zia smiled and winked at her as they were standing in front of the office door.

"Saved by the bell." She smiled at Naomi, and knocked on the door.
From inside, a familiar firm voice of captain Radcliffe invited them to come in. The captain was surprised to see them so soon as they saluted him.

"Back so soon? I'm guessing, since we're all still here and in one piece, the training went well? And I see that Cerberus left a good impression on miss Brooks." He said with a slight provocative tone refering to Naomi's new armor.

"It never happened. In fact she had a flare again." Zia answered in the same manner. Radcliffe seemed puzzled as he coched his head.

"She had a flare again? When did this happen, and how come we're still breathing then?"

"That's why you put me in charge. I managed to stop it in time. That's the reason we're here sir. We want to ask your permission if we can use the courtyard to train. I'm not sure how this will work, but it would be better if we did this away from the rest."

"Who told you about that?" Radcliffe was refering to the courtyard. Just as Naomi was about to open her mouth, Zia fired off.

"We heard some soldiers talking about it." Naomi made a silly face but Zia didn't want to cause any trouble for already troubled Sully so she lied.

"Look lieutenant, we had four days of peace and quiet here. We're running silent, comms are down becouse of that, and the troops have done a good job so far by not making unnecessary noise and revealing our position by parading outside the camp. For some reason the reapers have avoided this camp, and I'd like it to stay that way." Radcliffe had a good point. Ever since they came to Bastion, the camp's atmosphere was a poor indicator that they were at war. The only thing giving a faint hint was muffled sounds of explosions and gunfire coming from outside. Nevertheless, Zia believed that Naomi's training was a thing that needed to be done.

"Sir, with all due respect, she really needs this. We already made some progress, and if you allow us, we can have her ready to do some real damage, and I'm thinking about the enemy." Radcliffe sat silent for a while, thinking as he stroked his chin, looking at them. If their exercises alerted the reapers and gave away their position, this whole operation could end up in disaster before it even began. The camp was well fortified, yet if the reapers identified the camp as a major threat, they could easily blow them to dust from orbit. A lot was at stake here acordig to Radcliffe. He was reluctant to give them a green light but Zia had a point to.

"Alright lieutenant. You may use the courtyard but I advise you, no I insist that you take a couple of sharpshooters to watch over you."

"Thank you sir." Zia replied. "Oh and just one more thing sir. Where can we find this courtyard?" She asked as they were getting ready to leave. Radcliffe just waved his hand towards the door as he answered.
"Talk to Sully Petersen at the armory." Zia just smiled as she saluted. It was back to the armory again. Maybe a bit to soon for Sully, Zia thought.

They found themselves on the streets again. They were now laced with old telephone cables as Pepper was busy managing connections in the camp. Zia decided to listen to Radcliffe's request to find some guardian angels for their training.  She looked to the main barricade at the camp entrance. There were a few soldiers there so they headed to the gate to find some help. One soldier was up on the baricade. He seemed occupied greasing up the turret. The three other soldiers were down by the main gate, chatting, and as the girls  approached, they turned to face them. They grined as they commented the two girls approaching them.

"Hey, check this out guys." Said one of the soldiers as he pointed to Zia and Naomi. They were laughing while commenting their appearance.

"You know, I always wondered what those Nemeses looked like under their masks." Said one of the soldiers as others laughed. Naomi's ususal cheerful expression was now replaced by a cross stare. She was not amused with the greeting, but the soldiers weren't intimidated as they continued to tease.

"And this must be her friend, the furious phantom." They laughed at their joke's. Naomi's face turned red as her brow dropped, forming a furious stare. She barks at them.

"She's a lieutenant, and you better show some respect or she will turn you all in a pile of goo with her biotics." Naomi jelled at them. Soldiers stopped with their teasing at Naomi's outbreak and the mention of Zia's rank. Zia just gently pulled her aside and addressed them.

"At ease boys. We're just looking for a couple of grunts to watch over us while we train at the courtyard." Zia said calmly. The soldiers stopped laughing and saluted her.

"Beginning your pardon ma'am, but we're waiting for our ride that should be here shortly." The soldier pointed at a Mako that was rolling from the motor pool towards them. "We are inbound for intelligence gathering. It's our shift." He said while other two nodded in confirmation. "But those gunships' crew is free, you can probably find some help there, that is if they are not at the pub already." The soldier explained.

"Thanks boys, carry on." Zia waved off as she took Naomi's hand and headed towards the armory again. Naomi was still angry with the way those soldiers behaved.

"You should have fried them with warp or something, did you see the way they were looking at us?" Naomi muttered as they walked. Zia just gave her a horny look.

"Like this?" She said looking at her like she was going to jump her, and tear her clothes off. Zia smiled. "Did you take a look at your self in the mirror? Honestly, if they didn't behave like they did, I would think there's something wrong with them. They are men and men do that when presented with such a sight. You are all ******, and ass, just look at you girl." Zia laughed while Naomi turned her head about, checking her own curves.

"And in the future, let me worry about the rankings, ok." Zia added. Naomi was confused why Zia would rather hide her rank.

"Why don't you want them to know you're a lieutenant? You can boss them around, and swipe their pompous smiles off their faces." She implied.

"You will find soldiers more prone to talk and help you out if they think of you as their equal." Replied Zia. "And you are far better of without me in charge. Trust me." Indeed, if Zia was in charge they would have already probably charged the beam. She wouldn't care if she had a dozen of soldiers or thousands.

Once more, the girls found themselves in the armory. It looked like the last gunship was just being redied for rearmament. Couple of soldiers were towing missiles and ammo and loading it on to the craft. There was no sign of Sully. Zia looked to the crew manning the Mantis and shouted at them, asking where can they find Sully. One of the soldiers waved his hand towards the back of the hold. Zia waved back in affirmation. Sully was in the back, cleaning up his utility room. The door was still bashed in the oposite wall. Sully was busy sorting out bits and parts that were laying all over the floor. He didn't notice the girls standing behind him so Zia coughed. Sully turned but his face was missing that enthusiasm from their first visit as he stroked the back of his neck.

"Oh, it's you again." He said but there was no chear in his voice like before. Naomi was a bit embarest so she apologised once more for the mess she caused. It seemed to have softened Sully a bit as he was smiling again. He assured them it was no trouble and offered his assistance once more.

"We got the permission from Radcliffe that we can use the courtyard." Said Zia. "He said to talk to you."

"Alright. Folow me then." He said, but Zia remembered they had to find someone to watch over them. She wasn't going to give the captain the reason to doubt her.

"Wait a second." She said to Sully as she turned back and looked to the armory entrance. There was a couple of soldiers standing there by one of the Manises so she walked over to ask for assistance. A man and a Drell stood by the gunship. They were talking about the Mantis that was in front of them. Something about its kinetic barriers as Zia approached them to introduced herself.

"Howdy!" She said with a smile. The two looked at each other first, then waved off and replied with a simple 'Hi'. Zia extended her arm to them as she introduced herself.

"My name is Zia, and that blonde nemesis over there is Naomi." She joked, pointing to Naomi at the back. The man shook hands with Zia.

"Nice to meet you Zia, I'm Farzam, and this is my good friend Arok." The Drell gave Zia a hand. "Arok Lahiras, nice to meet you." He said. Farzam took a measure of Zia, and had an inquiry.

"You're a fury." He said confidently, "But where's your N7 tag?" He asked referencing Zia's hoody that was missing its N7 designation.

"Oh, I was just on my way back to Rio to get branded, but then this happened." Said Zia refering to the invasion. Farzam just nodded his head. "Yes well, I don't like giving people the bad news, but I heard that Rio was leveled to the ground. Apparently a reaper landed right on Vila Militar." Sad Farzam as he put his arm on Zia's shoulder. Zia lowered her chin at the news. She had a few friends back in Rio. The thought of their demise made her sad but she didn't dwel on it for long.

"Thank you." She said, "Now if you gentlemen don't have anything to do right now, I was wondering if you would be willing to assist me and my friend." Farzam and Arok looked at each other and then back at Zia.

"Well I told Dale I'd be jojning her for a drink as soon as we get the birds loaded." Said Arok.

"It won't take a lot of your time. We just need a couple of guns to watch over us. Just for a half an hour or so." Zia explained.

"Alright Arok, we can grab that beer later, what do you say." Arok agreed to Farzam's suggestion with a nod. "Lead the way Zia." Said Farzam, and Zia led hem back to Sully and Naomi. After the introduction, Sully took them back through a thick steel door that led to a short corridor. They reached the end and Sully pointed to stairs that led to upper levels of the building. He instructed Arok and Farzam to a window on second floor that had a good view on the courtyard. They went up to position themselves while Sully opened the back door for Zia and Naomi.

When they stepped outside, they found themselves in a smal erea enclosed by a tall wooden fence. They couldn't see what was on the other side but the inside was almost empty apart from a couple of improvised targets made out of dead husks that were hanging on the fence. There was even an old basketball hoop hanging above the door. Zia looked up and waved to Fazam and Arok that positioned themselves on the second floor window. Arok poped his recon mine behind the fence just in case.They waved back giving them a signal that all is clear.

"Alright!" Excitedly said Zia, "Let's get this show on the road, shall we." But Naomi didn't share Zia's enthusiasm, and she had a question.

"Um..Zee.. Could we quickly go through that part about the brain again." Naomi was uncertain, and she would use any opportunity to escape her training. Zia sighed in frustration.

"Ok, listen up. I hope I don't have to explain about eezo nodes and mass effect fields?" As much as Naomi would have liked to add more time before they get down to business, she shook her head in negation as she knew that. One of the few things she remembered from the academy. Zia continued.

"Ok, so your eezo nodes use your brain impulses as power to create mass effect fields. The more nodes you have, the more brain activity is required to power them, which in your case, you would need at least two more heads to manage it on your own." She smiled. "That's where your amps cut in. They stimulate your brain in producing enough charge for your nods. Now if you had only your amps, I'm not sure I would be able to teach you how to control your flare, but luckily, Sully gave us that power module. Now c'mon, get that gun out and sharpen up." Zia was eager to get started as Naomi reluctantly pulled her gun. Zia instructed her to leave the power module at idle. She wanted to see how Naomi can perform without its help first. She went back a few steps from Naomi who semed ready to start.

"Ok, now I want you to let it out, and don't panic at the first blue spark. Focus, and try to feel the energy. Do it now." Zia commanded. Naomi closed her eyes firmly as she tightened her fists, and suddenly she started to glow. Pale blue at first, and then brighter as a field of biotic energy slowly expanded around her body. She felt its volume slowly grow as she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see it, but for the first time, she wasn't panicking. Her face revealed a slight smile. The field was now expanding roughly a meter in radius around Naomi, and it was still growing. Naomi was excited as she looked over to Zia and started laughing proudly at her achievement.

"Look! I did it, I did it Zee!" She jelled joyfully but Zia's face was serious. In fact it was concerned as she jelled back. "Naomi focus, you're loosing it!" Suddenly the sphere of blue energy started to expand even more as dark purple tendrils started to burst from Naomi's body.

"She's gonna blow!" Arok yelled from the window as Zia rushed to Naomi, but just as she got to hands length, Naomi bursted in a flash of blue haze, knocking Zia back in to a wall before she could react. The courtyard was covered in a cloud of dust so Arok and Farzam couldn't see what was going on down there. Finally when the dust began to settle down, they saw Naomi on her knees. Zia was laying lifelessly on the floor on the opposite side of courtyard. The fence around Naomi was gone, blasted to bits by her flare. She was rubbing her head and just as she remembered about Zia, and turned her head around to see where she was, she heard Arok and Farzam shouting from the window.

"Naomi run!" They shouted. Naomi turned her head behind her and then she saw it. A whole river of husks were coming down the aly, rushing towards her. There were dozens of them. They were clawing their way to Naomi, stepping over their own as the aly was wide roughly as a line of five husks, and there were more than twenty husks comming her way.

Imidiatly, Arok and Farzam opend fire on them. Farzam from his Harrier, and Arok from his trusty Valiant sniper rifle. Heads popped, limbs were flying, but the husks were just too fast and too close to Naomi, and Arok's mine was on the opposite side, closer to Zia that was now laying by the door, unconscious.
Arok rushed down the stairs while Farzam continued to unload on the husks that were now just a few meters from Naomi, and Farzam's Harrier was beginning to reveal its only mayor flaw as his last thermal clip was running low on rounds. Naomi was petrified, part from her flare, part from the sight of these raving monsters hurling her way. She just curled up like a hedgehog and covered her head.
The shooting stopped with seven more husks rushing to Naomi. Then suddenly, the door opens, and Arok comes out, instantly dropping in a crouch, he assumes a firing position and fires off a round. One husk head popped like a watermelon as it fel down to its knees, headless, and toppled over to the ground. But it was too late. They were already on Naomi, but Arok's gun was silent. He was baffled by the sight. The husks were going around Naomi, totally ignoring her and focusing their charge towards him and Zia who layed in range of his recon mine. He rushed to Zia just in time to meet Farzam storming through the door with just a rusty crowbar in his hand. He looked to the right towards Naomi and the husks, but Arok pulled him back, hinting that he has a plan.

The husks were at the door now, leaving Naomi behind. Arok and Farzam reached Zia, and Farzam lifted her off the flor when Arok pointed to a nearby garbage container. His plan was obvious to Farzam. Get in the container and blow the mine. They were just at the container but there was no time. The husks were on them so Farzam threw Zia in and turned to greet them. Naomi suddenly realised what was happening, and turns to see six raving monsters getting ready to dismember and devour her friends. She screams out with all her voice.

"S T O P!"
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The most unthinkable folowed....

[Redbelle]

Wyld looked over her shoulder as Steiner and what was left of his platoon began to move out. Then they were gone as Wyld rounded an obstruction.

Babylon led the way. She was hugging herself and seemed to be muttering. Wyld took the opportunity to look her over, to assess who she might be fighting beside, as she figured they'd have a long journey ahead of them. At least she was dressed for the occasion.

Babylon's yellow and black horizontal striped armour reminded her of bands on a bee body. It was a substantial set too. Perhaps a little to heavy to keep up a fast pace, Wyld thought. She'd have to keep that in mind if they came across Reapers. Unlike Alliance forces, Babylon might not have the stamina to keep running for long if the situation warranted. At least she'd be able to take a few hits.

Speaking of hits, Wyld thought. Babylon's shot with the rocket had been text book. And would have worked had the Reaper Harvester not intercepted it with it's face.

Never thought I'd say those words in the same sentence, she thought.

Wyld drew her eye's over the gear Babylon now had. She had a rifle slung on her back, an old but well maintained M-96 Mattock, if she guessed rightly. Though she'd never seen one before, she knew of their reputation. A decades old design. But one that kept delivering results as the stopping power was much higher than Wyld's own standard issue M-8 Avenger. Wyld drew her eye's down Babylon's back and raised an eyebrow as she noted the M-22 Eviscerator she carried. Deadly at close quarter. Dangerous to whoever was on the wrong end of one. And illegal as hell. Wyld had joined a team who had moved in to arrest a smuggler group who were trafficking guns like the one Babylon carried. The smuggler's had been armed with them too. When the fighting ceased and the smuggler's were apprehended, Wyld had been trying to stem the bleeding of one unfortunate soldier who had been hit. The shot had gone straight through his armour. Reducing the damage to her patient, but who still had barbs of metal in him that she had to pluck out before she could move him.


Ordinarily she would arrest Babylon on the spot for carrying a weapon like that. Now she just hoped Babylon knew how to use it. In case Reaper forces appeared.

She moved a little quicker to catch up and placed a hand on Babylon's shoulder. She could still hear her muttering something that sounded like she was inventing, then discarding plans as she turned.

“What”? Asked Babylon pointedly.

Wyld was taken aback. “Just wanted to go over some rules about getting to the bunker. I assume you know the way”?

“Yes I know the way it's just......” Babylon stopped talking and held a hand to her forehead. “Sorry.....”. She said. “Didn't mean to snap it's just....”.

Wyld watched as Babylon opened a pocket on her harness and drew out a pack of cigarette's and a lighter. She drew one out the pack. And lit up as the pack went back. She took a long draw and let it out slowly. “Sorry. Did you want one”?

Wyld shook her head as Babylon drew another breath in.

“I needed that. This is a disaster”. Babylon said as she began to pace. Staring at the ground while she held her cigarette up in the air. “I really needed Steiner. I needed him to get in with the alien's. It's all about the alien's first you see. If we can't get past them we can't get into the bunker. There are a lot of variables. Thing's that could go wrong. But making a good first impression is the first step. And now that Steiner's.......”. She stopped talking and drew another breath on the cigarette. She shook her head. “After all the effort I put into that idiot! Doesn't he know what I could have made him? He could have been a general of an army! Someone who could have led us on the path to victory and then..... he could have been promoted to admiral. Or even gone into politics and become the next president! Maybe a seat on the council”!

Wyld held up a finger to interject.

“I turned that man into a hero in the eye's of everybody. Having to play the little goody two shoes”. Her manner abruptly changed as she took on a more girly personae. “Commander, if you intervene here you can save all these people! Commander your amazing! Oh I've never met a bigger hero than you commander. Maybe you were meant for greater things in this war”. She changed back with another draw of her cigarette. “Give me strength, but that man doesn't know the first thing about hearts and minds. It was all......”. She abruptly changed again as she stood taller and adopted a deeper voice. “Troop strength in this region is too high. The enemy outnumber us. They have air unit's and we don't.....”.

Wyld's finger remained poised. Her observation about what a single harvester had done to them and the notion that Steiner had been right.

Babylon's abruptly sagged and finished her cigarette before she stamped it out. “Well now he's gone. And all the work into raising his profile too”. She clenched her jaw. “Bastard”. She hissed as she turned to Wyld and started looking her up and down. “Well he's gone and your here now. So what have you done”?

“Excuse me”? Wyld asked as Babylon walked up to, and began what Wyld could only describe, as inspecting her.

“Hmmm. Leg's are the most stand-out feature. Obviously not human. Could play well with the Alien's. The T.F. might be harder to sell on. We'll get you behind a rostrum maybe”? She began saying as she walked round the back of Wyld and tugged off her helmet.

“Hey”!

Babylon gripped her jaw and held her gaze up. “Now that's a face the T.F. will adore”. She said smiling. “Little medigel on the cut to cheek maybe? Or maybe leave it to let people know there really is a war going on? How long will a cut like that heal with medigel”?

“Five minutes”. Wyld said crossly as she batted Babylon's hand away. “What are you doing”.

“Work with me”. Babylon said. “I need a hero of the Alliance. Steiner had the allure of the resistance going for him. A rebel factor. Someone who was Alliance and not Alliance. You'll be a tougher sell but since we're heading that way anyway I need to get you ready. And we don't have a lot of time so I need you to do what I say”.

“Stop”! Wyld said bluntly. “Your going to coach me? We have to cover possible enemy terrain and your going to be talking the whole trip”? She shook her head. “Let me tell you what we're going to do. We're going to sneak to the bunker. Evade all possible enemy contacts. And maybe, if we're lucky. Not get killed”.

“Now you sound like Steiner”. Babylon threw her hands in the air. “Do you know how impossible this task is going to be? I'm asking you to unite two groups who have more reason than not to kill each other. And you want to go into that little party unprepared”? She started to pace again. “I appreciate that there's you way of doing things. And there's my way. But say we get to the bunker and what then? What's the plan? I can't be stood there by your side whispering in your ear the whole time. It looks bad. People will think your a puppet”.

“So you do it”.

“I'm Terra Firma. If I put myself across people will be invested into finding out about me and then I'll be stood in the middle of a group of alien's who, when they last had member's of the T.F. in their hands. Tortured them to death. No, it's got to be someone who they look up to. Someone who they will ask for autographs and ask to come for dinner. Someone like the person I can make you into”.

Babylon shook her head. “Look. I'm not saying any of this will be easy. But this idea of getting to the bunker first and go from there is a non starter. We need to plan out the option's. Construct scenario's. How good are you under pressure”? She asked.

Wyld shrugged. “I can hold my lunch down while I crack open breastbone and massage a heart”.

Babylon stared at her, in dismay. “That's..... Disgusting. Don't say stuff like that. People like the idea of doctor's and nurses and recovery and resting on white linen sheet's while the doctor's joke around. That's the image you need to paint for these people, okay”?

“We don't have a lot of white linen these days”. Wyld noted. “And what your saying is, lie to these people”.

“No..... no, no, no”. Babylon shook her head. “If you lie and they catch you, your reputation will be stained forever. Only lie if it's something you know you can't be picked up on later. Like... if it's something that can be argued a certain way. The key point is that you have to argue that, not fighting each other is better than fighting each other. And above all. Make it sound convincing”!

“So....”. Babylon went on. “......Anyway. The reason we're going to go over this, later, is that politics is a major battleground. It's so much more fluid and flexible and it's killed more career's and assassinated more character's more effectively than any war I know of. And your a rank amateur..... no offence”.

“None taken”. Wyld dead panned.

“So we need to get you up to speed. And the first lesson. Is that you do not go into the political battle zone with one plan. You go in with ten. The more strategies the better. Your opponent's can.....”.

Wyld held up a hand. “Babylon.....”.

“Call me Amy”.

“Amy....”. Wyld amended. “Just who do you think I'm going to meet, that I'll need to know all of this”?

“The Queen for one. And if you get past that person.... There's......”.

“There's......”? Wyld prompted.

But Amy shook her head. “We get past the Queen and I can help you. I'm Terra Firma. I can talk their language. Your right. I'm over thinking this. You just have to get us past the Queen. The rest I'll handle. I'm sure it'll be fine”. She added. “So if we get to the Queen, don't let that person play the race's card. Your not normal yourself”.

Wyld wondered if Terra Firma could talk to her cold dead corpse. The mental image made her smile.

“So remember to show some leg”. Amy went on. “Don't get caught with them under a table if we come to a table, that sort of thing. And mention your a medic. That'll go down well I'm sure. Especially if you've treated non humans”.

“Didn't you say the Misfit's also had humans with them too”?

“They'll take anyone”? Amy agreed. “But the leadership is who we have to aim at. But yes. You could remind the Queen that Humans are part of the Misfit's. That should help her realise that this isn't a Human versus Alien fight their gearing up for”.

Wyld nodded. Then sighed. “This is a lot to keep in mind”.

Amy held up a finger. “One plan. And people in my line of work drop out fast, as being ineffective. And if that rumour gets out your life is over”. She held up all her finger. “Ten plan's. And you can decide the future before it's even written. We're going to make history. We have to...... You have to believe that. We're going to the bunker to get a result. We have to stay focused on that and plan it all out ahead of time. Because while I was in the Misfit camp, I heard about the Queen”. Amy shuddered. “I wouldn't want to mess with that Queen. Sharp as a razor. I've been in the business of convincing people to do things along time. The Queen, I hear, could give me a run for my money”.

“Don't worry. I'm a soldier. Their civilian's. If nothing else they should have some respect for the uniform, right”?

Amy's answer was somehow both sarcastic and mournful. “Have you won the war for them yet”?

Wyld sucked her teeth as she conceded the point. Then took back her helmet and put it back on. “Put yours back on to”. She ordered as Babylon obeyed. “And weapon out but keep it down. Safety on. You'll lead since you know the way. If we make contact don't make a sound or attract attention and we'll withdraw”.

“And if they do see us”?

“Then we do one of two things”. Wyld said grimly. “We shoot first and keep on shooting. Or hope we can run faster than the enemy”.

Modifié par Redbelle, 26 août 2013 - 07:10 .

[Kel Riever]

Dale was half way through her cigarette when she found the pub. From the outside, all the charm was gone. The windows were covered in reinforced ceramics, the awning was ripped to shreds, and a thick coating of dust covered most of what was must once have been an enchanting exterior. But the grim façade stood in contrast to the soldiers who came and went from its doorway. They were cheerful, bemused and talkative as the toll of warfare was forgotten for a few, precious moments.

It was when Dale passed through the doorway that the setting matched the gaiety of the soldiers. Preserved from the war’s worst fallout, the interior had been cleaned and polished to a finish that certainly hadn’t been seen in London since the Reapers invaded. Dale had to stop in the entranceway just to take it all in. Lit brass lamps hung from the ceiling, a wooden bar gleamed from the brightness of its varnish, the smell of burning tobacco filled her nostrils and the low murmuring chatter shrouded the senses in comfort. The pub was still lightly populated, with the few inhabitants already sitting with a friend or two. The sight was such for sore eyes, however, that for all it mattered to Dale, the place could have been packed with standing room only on a Saturday night before the war.

A lone woman in a green hood moved past Dale for the exit. The hooded woman looked like a Fury, and Dale had half a mind to ask her about the place, when the bartender called over, “Hey there, newcomer. Pull up a seat and get yourself something to drink!”

The voice was an old man’s. Not a soldier, either, but a civilian certainly in his twilight years. Dale couldn’t resist the friendly welcome and headed over to the man. Resting her Revenant against the bar, she hopped up on a stool, and asked, “What’s a lady have to do to get a drink in this place?”

“Sign the ledger,” the bartender answered. “Name’s Sid, and I’m a regular guy, so that’s just Sid. Captain Radcliffe’s orders are every gun toting trooper for the cause gets 3 pints, which we keep track of here on the ledger.” Sid pushed a datapad across the bar top to Dale while he poured a lager into a mug. The head on the lager seemed to last forever and the light behind made Dale practically think the brew was glowing gold. She burned her fingers slightly before she realized her long stare at the mug caused her to drag down her cigarette. “Thing of beauty, isn’t it,” Sid commented. “Still, it works best if you drink it.”

Dale picked up the mug, placed it to her lips, and took a long sip. After a moment of appreciation, she pulled the mug away, looked Sid straight in the eye, and said, “You better stay open after this is all done. Because I’m coming back.”

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Sid smiled widely, “At the very least, we’ll have a good memory or two if it doesn’t all work out in the end. Don’t get me wrong; point is, I’m happy to make this the best damn drink you ever put in your gullet, no matter what happens!”

A couple of shouts of, “Here, here,” went up from some nearby soldiers.

Sid waved at them, “Besides, this place isn’t owned by me one lick, so don’t let my casual demeanor fool you. I’m a simple survivor who knows how to pour. My job’s just to keep the tap flowing.”

Dale took another sip and felt the last remnants of tension disappear. “Well, Sid, thank you. And you’ve got some personality. Makes me feel like I’m right back home.”

“Enjoy. I hear it all the….” A thundering boom from outside shook the walls and stopped Sid mid-sentence.

Dale sighed, put down her mug, and picked up her Revenant. “It never fails, Sid.” She just knew that somehow, whatever had happened, it involved Farzam.

Modifié par Kel Riever, 27 août 2013 - 03:03 .

[Redbelle]

Silence. There was nothing except silence.

The wind had long stopped blowing ashes and smoke leaving the air stale and arid. Sometimes a slight rasp and knocking together of masonry interrupted the silence as, brick work, no longer able to cling to it's mortar, fell and tumbled down the facing it had once been a part of. Coming to rest at the foot of a wall. Apart from the whole that had once seemed so strong. Then the silence would return and reign once more.

A doorway. It's steel frame still holding some semblance of structure as brickwork lay either side of it. Stood in defiance of the ravages of war. Still standing and allowing everything around it to hold. It to however, would one day fall. The silence could wait. It would all come down sooner or later.

Silence was nothing if not patient.

From far away. A faint 'pock pock' sound disturbed the empty air. Then fell silent again before the sound of chatter seemingly answered back. Silence was steadily broken and fell away as the noise came closer and closer. Something hit the brickwork and erupted, leaving behind a small crater in the surface.

Wyld and Babylon ran through the door and stopped either side of it. Wyld hefted her rifle, leant out and a three burst chatter which erupted in the space they occupied. Babylon's wheezed where they had stopped, gasping for breath. Wyld ducked back in as weapon's fire lashed back at them. She looked over at Babylon.

“See! This is why they don't allow smoking in the military”!

Babylon shook her head and raised herself up. Her rifle appearing in her hands. “It's the armour. It's heavy”!

Wyld shook her head and ducked out to fire a few more rounds before she had to duck back in. “What part of, evade contact, did you not understand”?

Babylon had led. Wyld followed. Wyld knew Amy would be looking forward. That left the sides and rear to her. Ideally a three or four man task, moving through enemy terrain. One forward. One rear. Two covering either side. Wyld knew they were trusting more to luck than she liked. Wyld looked back from the rear at Amy who had just turned a corner. Gritting her teeth she hurried after her. Angry she hadn't waited before she'd caught up when a bang, followed by a flash and then the sound of several explosion's erupted from around the corner. Wyld's eye's went wide and for a moment she feared the worst until Amy sprinted back around the corner and ran past her. “Ruuuuuuun”!!! She screamed as bullet's whizzed past the corner and Wyld needed no more encouragement. She bolted after Babylon and only after she had drawn level did she look over her shoulder.

The whole Reaper army seemed to be appearing behind them.

Modifié par Redbelle, 27 août 2013 - 07:14 .

[Kel Riever]

 

Modifié par Kel Riever, 27 août 2013 - 03:03 .

[Redbelle]

Wyld popped out once more and triggered off another three burst round when her rifle suddenly hissed. Wyld's eye's narrowed as she swung and checked her Avenger. Babylon remained completely behind their shelter as she pointed her rifle out and blind-fired while Wyld crouched and checked her weapon.

The status lights on the side flickered and then held steady once more. Clenching her teeth as she knelt she peered around and seeing a husk running at them swung out once more and pulled the trigger.

The side of her rifle sparked and it went dead. Cursing Wyld let the rifle fall to the side as she drew her pistol and managed to land a shot in the husks stomach. Doubling it over as she ducked back into cover. Holstering the pistol she turned the rifle over on it's side and banged it. The light's stayed dead and a thin wisp of smoke wafted out of the casing.

Well that's not good.

Wyld tried to collapse the Avenger but found it was completely unresponsive. She threw it behind her and the weapon grip adhered it to her back as she drew her pistol again. “Amy”! Wyld yelled as she drew a grenade. “Dump a clip into them and then run”!

“Run? Run where”?

“Anywhere but here”!

Babylon nodded. Her rifle tightly gripped in her hands as she stepped out. Pulled the trigger once. Twice. On the third pull the weapon chimed as the thermal clip's capacity was exceeded and the weapon refused to fire. Babylon ejected the clip and drew another from her pouch.

Weapon's fire ripped through the door while Babylon stood there and her barrier's flared for a moment, until Wyld's tackle drove her to the ground out of sight of their attackers. She scrambled up and threw the grenade through the doorway before grabbing Babylon's arm. She yanked her to her feet and together they ran through crumbling buildings as behind them, an explosion echoed through the air.

The only thing they had going for them for was that the building's were preventing the Reaper's from gaining a clear line of sight on them. But every so often their pursuer's would come into range and their barrier's would flare. Wyld actually felt her barrier's drop and something slammed into her back. She stumbled. But felt no pain. Her broken rifle was acting as a makeshift shield she realised.

Off to the side she saw a tall building with it's wall's still intact. A frame where large double doors had once stood opened into blackness and she shoved Babylon towards the entrance. Pistol in hand she span and fired off a few rounds as, from the building's they had ran through, a host of Marauder’s and Cannibal's began to emerge. Her shot's found some of their target's but at the distance she was at, the pistol's accuracy not as good as her rifle. The Reaper's were given pause however and Wyld used it to dive after Babylon. She caught up to her as she got to the entrance and Wyld grabbed her again and dragged her to the side of the door's. She was not quick enough however as bullet's flew at them and one pierced her barrier. Hit the side of her armour. Pain flared through her side as the bullet creased her rib and she fell.

Pushing herself up against the wall she grabbed a medigel dispenser and jabbed it against her side, even as she pushed a concerned Babylon back to the door. “Shoot the bastards, dammit”!

As Babylon took position at the door, she replaced her slagged thermal clip, and began firing as Wyld took the time to allow her eye's to adjust to where they had taken refuge.

It had probably been a supermarket, or something like it at one time. Shelving arranged in aisle's stood in silent witness as bullet's flew back and forth. As Wyld looked up, Babylon recoiled as a flurry of fire forced her backwards. “To many”! She yelled.

Wyld grabbed her side which protested as she pulled herself up. “Grenade's! Everything you have! Throw them then follow me”!

Babylon stowed her rifle as she drew a couple of grenade's from her belt. As she began lobbing them out Wyld took her broken rifle from her back. Far down the large room she saw a doorway leading further into the building. She flung the useless rifle down the aisle and it hit the ground and skidded past the doorway as she turned and began to climb the shelves.

Babylon threw her last grenade and turned from the outside world which was now a haze of smoke and dust. Looked up at Wyld who was climbing. “What the hell”?

“Up”! Wyld ordered as she reached up and pushed against the ceiling. The false ceiling was made of tiles fixed to frames which popped out as she pushed against them. Against all odds the vast majority of them had remained in place. Babylon was climbing up behind her as Wyld pushed enough aside to make a hole she could get through.

Babylon hauled herself up and looked down at the doorway to the building. The sound of running footfall was coming from outside as she looked back up at Wyld.

Wyld was gone. She looked around but could not see her anywhere. She heard a hiss above her head and she looked up to see the gloved hand of Wyld poking out of the hole in the false ceiling.

“C'mon”!

Amy grabbed her hand and jumped as Wyld dragged her up. Wyld Sucked in a deep intake of breath as her side erupted in pain.

Wyld dragged Babylon up through the ceiling and dumped her on a beam that ran the length of the building. Air condition unit's were suspended in between the false ceiling and the real one. As Babylon looked over at Wyld she saw her standing upside down. Her feet simply resting on the ceiling as casually as she might have stood on the floor. Wyld moved tiles back quickly. Then taking careful steps. Positioned herself to climb onto the beam that Babylon now sat upon.

Babylon looked at Wyld who sat clutching her side, grimacing. Wyld looked up at Babylon and held a finger to her lips. Babylon nodded and hugged her knee's to her chest as underneath, they heard the sounds of running footstep's beneath them.

The Reaper's were in the building.

All they could do was wait.

Modifié par Redbelle, 27 août 2013 - 10:53 .

[Khambilo]

Rothan stared at the Asari. It almost was surreal, being out of trouble for the moment.

He cleared his throat. “Thessia. My people brokered a deal with the Asari government as a part of my pilgrimage.”

T narrowed her eyes a little. “Yeah, but how long ago?”

Rothan shrugged. “Almost four years.”

“Damn,” T muttered.

He was not exactly sure what to make of that. Was she upset with him? Did he mess something up? Was his lack of experience showing?

“What?” He quickly asked.

“You’re pretty good,” Shayrana smiled. “T doesn’t want to admit it, considering how long it took her to hone her biotics. How did you end up here on Earth? I didn’t think the Quarians were doing all that much in terms of ground deployment.”

“I enlisted with the Asari before this all started,” Rothan explained. “Asari Special Operations.”

“Spec ops!” T gasped. “Really?”

“When the war started,” he continued to explain, “my instructor at the academy was given free reign to put together a squad out of any current students.”

“Promote all the kiddos to be grunts, sure,” Shayrana said. “But Spec ops… Who was you’re instructor?”

Rothan let his head fall trying not to think of Reiza or the squad, trying not to show them that this was not a subject he wanted to visit. “Reiza T’Lirum.”

“Makes sense,” Shayrana said excitedly. Then she turned back to her companion. “Didn’t Soniri serve with her?”

T nodded. “Two tours of duty. T’Lirum’s a bloody war hero if you ask me.” Then she focused back on Rothan. “Where is she now?”

Rothan caught Rea’s gaze from across the way then buried his own gaze further into the ground to avoid the Asari. “She’s dead.”

An eerie calm fell over them. It was unclear to Rothan what these new Asari were thinking, but for Rothan the loss of Reiza only caused his memories to resurface. Protecting the missiles, or fighting their way through the underground, or finding Rea had allowed his mind to drift away from the loss of his companions and focus on more pressing matters. Now that they were safe, he had time to think. Time to mourn.

And something about Shayrana and T reminded him far too much of Celis and Lenaia. Knowing that his two dearest friends were gone… it didn’t seem real. After all, Rea had only told him about it because Niria had witnessed it. Some part of Rothan wanted desperately not to believe it until he had seen their bodies.

“You mind giving us a moment,” Rea said to the others while looking to Rothan.

“Sure,” Shayrana nodded.

Rea stepped forward as they cleared out. She was covered from head to toe in grime. Rothan realized he probably looked the same.

“Are you okay?” Rea asked, placing her hand on Rothan’s shoulder. Though he was comforted by the gesture, Rothan immediately realized how obvious his sorrow had become. It wasn’t right for him to rely on Rea this way, especially after her ordeal in the underground.

“Am I okay?” Rothan asked. There was a small scratch on her face, likely from when the tunnel collapsed. Rothan carefully placed his hand on her check, using his thumb to deftly clear the dirt from the area around the scrape. “Are you okay?”

Rea bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “I’m okay. Really, I am.”

Her voice quavered only slightly, but it was enough to tell Rothan that something was wrong.

“Thank you,” Rea said with a smile.

“For what?”

“For coming for me,” she said.

Rothan looked to the ground again. “I couldn’t leave you behind.”

“Yes, you could have,” she said, squeezing his arm just a little tighter. It was enough to call his attention from the ground to her face again. “We had a mission. The missiles. You came anyway.” Then it was her turn to look away. “Why?”

Rothan took a moment to consider that. At the time he made the decision because losing someone else after losing everyone he ever cared about was unbearable. But something inside Rothan told him that this went deeper. That something about Rea was the reason… Perhaps it was their brief joining, their minds connecting for a brief moment. Rea showed him some of her memories, but she also showed Rothan who she was as a person. Rothan reminded himself that he only met Rea a several hours ago, but he felt like he knew Rea like an old friend and the thought of losing someone like that...  It had to be the joining, and for a moment Rothan wondered it Rea felt the same way about Rothan.

Slowly he looked up to her, looking into her glassy eyes. “I don’t know. I just had to.”

A smile slipped onto her face, telling him that regardless of how inconclusive his answer was, she was content. She drew him close, wrapping her arms around him in a comforting embrace. “Thank you,” she whispered.

They stayed embraced for a moment, a moment in which everything around them seemed to disappear. The distant fighting, the groan of the Reapers, the shuffling of soldiers. Everything was still.

And yet Rothan could tell something was wrong. It was in the way Rea was holding him, as if she were clutching on to him for dear life.

“You know if there was anything wrong you could tell me Rea,” Rothan said while they were still embraced.

Slowly, their embrace ended and Rea peeled back to look directly through his visor. She looked troubled for a moment, but then she held back whatever she was hiding and nodded.

“I suppose we have to find Arkeer and the others now,” Rea said. “Where are they?”

“Heading for the rendezvous point with the missiles,” Rothan said. “If we hurry we might be able to reach them in time.”

“Will they work?” She asked. “Last I checked, you were working on a solution.”

“I gave Arkeer and OSD with a firing sequence,” he said with a nod. “Though there’s no telling if it will actually do the trick.”

“I suppose then we should let our friends know that we’re moving out,” Rea said.

“I’ll handle it. See if you can get yourself cleaned up and I’ll meet you back here in five,” Rothan said.

Rea nodded again. Rothan looked to her again before moving out. There was definitely something troubling her. Something that had happened to her while she was alone. He only wished there was something that he could do for her. Something to return the kindess that she has shown him.

But that would have to wait until after he spoke with Ereba and her squad.

Modifié par Khambilo, 28 août 2013 - 06:29 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

BoL - The Lost Asari XXXII

Now that the sarge was gone, Ereba had become the constant observer of everyone and everything. She was watching the newcomers to the group and was paying attention to the conversation. T and Ranassa were up in the front watching out for bad guys. Ereba gave a head motion to Shayrana to check on Erikka since she looked like she was feeling left out. The checkpoint was getting closer, and it was only a few more blocks. Ereba turned to talk to Rothan.

"Hey, that was quite a cluster**** back there underground. I guess none of us were expecting to run into anyone else in there." She said. "I just had this feeling I should trust you. I don't get that very often. And sorry for your loss. I know you lost a friend back there." She showed genuine concern in her eyes.

"Thanks. A.Q. gave her life to save us. She was a good friend." Rothan said. "And thanks for being there, too. We probably would have been killed as well."

"Rothan, would you mind if I had a word alone with Rea? She still seems a bit out of it, and I think I might know why. I'm a little worried." Ereba said quietly. "I'd like to talk to her about it. It's not something you'd understand unless you felt it. I don't think you did. I don't see it in your eyes. I felt it, briefly."

Rothan studied Ereba a second, then said. "Okay, go ahead if you think it will help."

"Just... take over my observing spot." Ereba said, then smiled. "You've got a good eye." And patted him on the shoulder.

Rea heard the conversation, and she shuddered. She didn't want to go there. Not again. She was trying to get it out of her head, but she just couldn't.

"Hey, Rea." Ereba said to her.

"Hey." Rea said.

"You just keep walking, and I'll just talk for a bit." Ereba said. "I'm not really good at this soft stuff. My dad is Krogan. Feel free to stop me anytime if I'm wrong. You entered that cavern pretty much the same as we did. It was disgusting in there wasn't it? That started breaking down your mental barriers. I know it started to get to mine, but we fought it the best we could, didn't we? I had my group to lean on. You, however were alone. You were afraid, yet you somehow remained concealed. I did it with a cloak. Someday, you'll have to show me your trick.

"You left that cavern, and walked up into that old bricked area then you were looking down, staring into that hideous eye. It looked back at you. Then something, perhaps a reaper sensed your fear. I'm saying it was a reaper because it was like nothing you ever felt before, and you felt a crushing sensation inside your head like something was trying to take control of your thoughts, your mind, and your essence. It was more powerful than even when the Matron instructors messed with us when teaching us how to harden our mental barriers to keep people out when we were kids. It felt like teeth gnawing inside your brain. Then it spoke inside your head. You tried to shake it off, but you couldn't. You felt like you were losing control. I shook it off briefly, but it hit again.

"'Asari, what is this primitive asari doing here alone?' Yours went on and on and kept talking to you, right? Mine said 'Another Asari, this one is strong. The other one weakens, but now this one hides.' Then the bomb went off."

Rea looked at Ereba, her eyes were filled with tears. "It was horrible. It was even worse. It never stopped. It just kept going on and on. And that gnawing. The pain inside my head. I'm so exhausted."

"But you know what? You kept it distracted long enough for me to set that bomb. Then it got interested in me, and you started shaking it off just enough so you could get out of there. In a way, we worked as a team. Ironic, isn't it?" Ereba said. "And in a few minutes It looks like we're going to get this crap off of us."

Rea started to smile a bit. 
 
"You're basically in shock and suffering from mental exhaustion, hon. Any voices you're hearing that are other than your own, or ours are simply an echo of it. It isn't real. I'm going to make an amateur psych diagnosis here of acute traumatic stress syndrome." Ereba said to her. "Go easy on yourself."

"You know you're not bad at this 'soft stuff' as you called it." Rea said and was finally smiling. "You're actually quite good at it."

"Thanks. I learned it from my dad, actually. He's on the north flank fighting. Goddess, I hope he survives this. My mother is fighting somewhere in a Commando unit, too. I hope she survives this, too." Ereba said. "If you've got any family anywhere I hope the Goddess is watching out for them, too. I'll let you get back with Rothan. It looks like you two missed each other a lot." Ereba winked.

"Yeah, we did." Rea said. "Thanks for talking to me."

"If you need anyone to talk to, Shay and I are here, okay?" Ereba said as she walked away and tapped Rothan on the shoulder. "Rothan, that goes for you, too."

"What?" Rothan asked.

"Sorry. If you need anyone to talk to, Shay and I are here." She told him. "And we're a team, all of us. We support each other, because that's how we survive this ****! Right?" She said loudly trying to pump up morale.

"**** yeah!" Ranassa shouted.

"I'll leave you with Rothan. Take care, hon." Ereba said and she walked up with Jack.

The base camp was in sight. The guard shined a light on them.

"Friendlies incoming!" The guard shouted.

"Showers!!!" Jack shouted. "**** yeah!!!"

The Commandos started getting excited about the prospect of getting cleaned up. The guards opened the gate and let them inside. One of the guards gagged when he caught a whiff of the Commandos.

"What the hell have you been in?" he asked.

"You don't want to know." Jack replied.

"But did you hear those big ****ing explosions?" Ranassa asked. "That was us."

"We saw a big flash, and a mushroom cloud, then about a click away one of those big reapers was stunned for a bit and fell over." The lieutenant said as he came out of the barracks to greet them. "Too bad we didn't have more warning otherwise they might have been able to take it out, but intel reports are that a processing unit was taken out and that reaper took some serious damage, so congratulations. I'm Lieutenant Bradley."

"That was us! You see that lanky one there with the sniper rifle? She's the one! Took out a husk factory, too!" Ranassa shouted. "I didn't know about the reaper, but we'll take credit for it."

"So can we get some ****ing showers, something to drink and some food? A shot of antibiotics probably wouldn't hurt either." Jack asked. "I still have someone's guts in my hair."

"Showers? Well, we can hose you off. It'll probably work better on your armor." Bradley said. "Just kidding. We jury rigged some showers. We'll fire up the pumps and you can get cleaned up."

"She's serious about the antibiotics. We were in the outflow of the processing unit for quite a while." Shayrana said. "There is no telling what was in that muck."

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 29 août 2013 - 03:03 .

[FuriousFelicia]

Farzam and Arok stood baffled at the sight of six abominations, just in reach of a hand shake from them. The husks were standing still, petrified like statues with their hands down, motionless, but still alive as their blue eyes were lifelessly staring at them. It was as if they were suddenly put in a stasis bubble, but there was no bubble. The air around them was clear. It was as if some invisible barriers was raised between the husks and the container, making the husks suddenly unaware of the welcoming party at the other side.
Naomi had but half a minute to witnesses this unexplainable phenomenon as it didn't take long for Farzam and Arok to respond to such an unprecedented blessing.
Farzam swung his hand holding a crowbar at the nearest husk, and as the tip went straight through the top of husk's head, Farzam followed up with is left arm, his omni blade ready, and in one swing, a second head goes flying through the air. Seeing that the husks didn't react, Arok folowed up with his omni blade. There was no point in raising any more noise or wasting bullets since the husks were like dummies.
The whole thing was over in just a few seconds. At that moment, a quiet moan from the container reminded Farzam at its content as Zia's hands popped outside. Arok and Farzam helped her out as Naomi rushed to them leaving a road of dead husks behind her. Zia barely managed to sweep the trash off her hood before Naomi stormed into her arms and hugged her, totaly ignoring Arok and Farzam.

"Are you alright?" Zia rubbed her head at Naomi's question.

"I'm fine." She answers bluntly frowning at her.

"Are you sure. You're not hurt?" Naomi was still concerned.

"Only my pride." Zia muttered. She turns her head to Arok. "You!" She barks out. "You saw she's gonna burst. You should have put a bullet in her foot or something." She bleated in anger. Arok just wached her with confusion. Naomi was taken back with Zia's frustrated response.

"Zee...I'm sory."

"Put up your barriers!" Zia screams out manically.

"What?"

"Do it!" She shouts out fiercely at Naomi. As Naomi's barriers went up, Arok and Farzam couldn't react in time as Zia flashed blue and hurled a biotic throw right in Naomi's confused face. Naomi flew a few steps backwards, and landed on her behind. Arok and Farzam jumped and seized Zia by her hands, holding her back in her rage, but she brakes free and steps to Naomi laying on the floor. Zia extended her arm to her.

"See, now luckily you had your barriers up, and I just hit you with ten percent of what I could have. Far more courtesy than what you showed me. Lucky I had my barriers up or you could have shattered all of my bones." Naomi looked at Zia's arm extending to her, but rather than excepting help offered, she smacks Zia's hand in protest and staggers up on her own. Arok and Farzam just grined at each other as a responce to the show they were witnessing. Zia's temper began to cool down when she took a look around, and just as she opened her mouth, her words were stolen from her as a thunderous shout came from the courtyard door. The party looked over to see Radcliffe bargin through, folowed by Sully and a couple of more soldiers, weapons at the ready.
Radcliffe yelled like a mad man.

"What to hell is going on in here!" Zia looked around and saw a carpet of dead husks filling the aly behind the courtyard. One headless husk layed just at the place where once stood the wooden fence but now replaced by a big hole as shattered planks layed around like pieces of shrapnel. A few meters away, six more beheaded husks layed by the container. Zia scratched her head in confusion. She was just as suprised by the sight as Radcliffe. Abruptly, Farzam stepped in front and turned to captin.

"Sir, she doesn't know, she was unconscious for the most part." Said Farzam. One of the soldiers approached them. She was holding a Revenant as she steped towards Farzam and smiled at him.

"Everything alright chief? Thought it might be you when I heard a bang." She said with a smile. Frazam smiled back. "Just a nother day in reaper heaven, but this time it wasn't me." He replied while Arok defused his recon mine. Radcliffe looked at them with his hands on his hips.

"And who are you two?" He asked looking at Arok and Farzam. Farzam and Arok stood in salute as Farzam spoke back.

" Lieutenant Commander Farzam Jahangir, sir. I'm the pilot, and squadron leader of those three Mantises, and these two are members of my crew. Arok and this charming woman here is Dale." Said Farzam pointing at Arok and the woman with the Revenant. Radcliffe held his frustration back as he saluted them.

"I was meaning to speak with you commander, but can you please explain to me just what the hell happened here?" Before Farzam coud answer, Naomi jumped in.

"Sir, it was my fault..." But Radcliffe cut her off with a cross stare.

"I'll deal with you two later miss Brooks." Zia rolled her eyes in responce. Fortunately for her, Radcliffe didn't notice.

"Sir, I think we should talk." Said Farzam. Radcliffe waved his hand in roundabout pointing at Zia, Naomi, Farzam and Arok.

"Alright, the four of you, folow me. The rest of you are dismissed. Barge that door, and secure the perimeter. I want a sentry set up on that window 24/7 in three shifts. You work the clock on the shifts." He said addressing Sully who was still taken by the sight of dead husks and demolished courtyard.

"What about the fence and the cadavers sir?" He asked. "Leave it. The courtyard is off limits for now." Said Radcliffe as he turned to leave while the rest folowed. They were headed for his office while few soldiers stayed at the armory to stand guard as Radcliffe instructed. While they folowed Radcliffe submissively, Naomi and Zia were silent. Naomi threw an occasional glance of disapproval at Zia, like a child that's been denied of a candy stick by her parents in a store. She was not happy with Zia's teaching methods. Zia, however, didn't show any signs of regret as she walked proudly, paying no attention to Naomi's cross looks. Arok, Farzam and Dale were cheerfully chatting along the way. Dale was delighted by Bastion's pub. When they reached the office, Radcliffe instructed four of them to step inside. Farzam told Dale to wait for them outside.

When the door closed, silence enveloped the room. The four lined up before Radcliffe as he assumed a casual pose in front of his desk. He looked at them with his hands crossed. He started with Zia.

"Lieutenant you assured me that miss Brooks will be safe in your hands." Zia was about to say something but Radcliffe just raised a finger, suggesting that he wasn't over yet. "Now these flares, not only that they endanger every man, woman and alien in this camp, but hey are also very loud, thus alerting enemy to our presence and revealing our position. So far lieutenant, I'm not impressed." Zia gave him an under the brow look as she responded.

"With all due respect sir, but teaching biotics is not the same as teaching someone to spell. Especially in Naomi's case." She emphasised her last statement, which made Naomi bow her head in embarrassment as her cheeks blushed. She was afraid that Zia was refering to her past academic mischief.

"The woman is a top graduate at Grissom academy for crying out loud, how hard can it be to remember the stuff she mastered just six months ago?" Radcliffe was confused. Even thoug what he just said made perfect sense, he really didn't have a clue about biotics except the common knowledge that everyone knew. Just as Zia was about to answer his question, Naomi felt the cold sweat on her back. This is it, she thought. She's gonna rat me out like we never even met before. But indeed she knew nothing about Zia.

"Sir, all of that would be perfectly sound conclusions but in Naomi's case, the things are a bit different. She had her eezo nodes multiplied exponentially from a few dozen to several hundred in roughly few hours. Even I don't know how that must feal." Zia stated as she subtlety winked at Naomi. Naomi could again breathe as she felt like a big stone has been lifted off her chest. Zia didn't betray her after all.

"Lieutenant you knew very well about miss Brooks' state, and still you assured me that you can handle it. Now it seems like you yourself doubt your ability to tame her. What am I supposed to do now, tell me." A recognisable hoarse voice of a Drell unexpectedly folowed up as Arok cleared his throat.

"If I may sir, she's right." He said calmly. Radcliffe switched his attention to Arok, taking a good measure of his slim figure. "Go on." Radcliffe requested with a lighter volume as he seemed a bit more relaxed than a moment ago. Arok continued in his same distinctive hoarse yet calm, and audible tone.

"Sir I saw the whole thing. She began to flare, and lost her focus half way. She let it burst out of control. I've seen it many times back on Kahje. It's actually good that it happened so early in the process becouse I believe it could have been much worse. The lieutenant here with best efforts couldn't have reacted in time, it was simply impossible."

"Exactly. Besides, at least now we know she can do it. We need to do it one more time, and I'm sure she will be able to contain it." Zia was eager to try again. But Radcliffe was not about to risk a nother incident. He shook his head.

"Out of the question. You had your chance. What's done is done, and I don't want any more explosions, flares or any unnecessary noise for that matter. And you miss Brooks, you better get a grip. I intend to use every asset available in this damn war, and that includes you as well as every other soldier in this camp and wider. Is that understood?" Said Radcliffe addressing Naomi. Naomi felt scared, and full of doubt in her own capabilities, but seeing all eyes turned to her, she firmly said 'yes sir'.
Radcliffe seemed pleased as his face suddenly got a wide smile.

"Good. Now that we got that settled, there's something you wanted to discuss with me commander." Said Radcliffe as he looked to Farzam. Farzam nodded.

"Yes sir, I was wondering if we may exclude miss Brooks here from that discussion, if you don't mind." Everyone except Arok looked at him curiously. It was an unusual request, but Radcliffe approved. He dismissed confused Naomi, and told her to wait outside, while he, Arok and Zia stayed. Zia was just as confused and curious as Radcliffe at Farzam's request.

"Alright commander, I'm all ears." Said Radcliffe as he finally sat down behind his desk.

"Sir..what happened back there...it was not just a flare."

"Yes commander, I know. There were also husks, lots of husks." Radclife interrupted.

"Yes, and there were husks. But I swear, when I emptied my last clip on them, they were right on Naomi. There was no way she was going to make it, or so I thought. I came down, and she was still alive. The husks ignored her like she wasn't there."

"Not only that sir, but they were going around her. It looked ****** they were actually being careful not to step on her." Arok stepped in as he was there all along, and saw the whole thing from the beginning. Radcliffe's brow came down as he was puzzled by this new information. He seemed distant at moments, and Zia noticed. She was determined to confirm her suspicions, and now seemed like a good time.

"Sir." She said firmly. Radcliffe twiched as he looked at her. "What are you and the doctor holding out on Naomi?" Radcliffe sharpened his eyes at her. A little supprised as well. He pinched his nose as he turned sideways in his chair and briefly pausing, he started to speak.

"She's got reaper DNA in her system. The doctor so far hasn't been able to determine the cause or purpose of this. But if it's reaper, it can't be good."

"Beginning your pardon sir, but it felt pretty good down there. If this is not just some random coincidence, we might have a powerful tool at our disposal." Farzam enthusiastically pointed out, but Zia lashed him with her eyes.

"She's a human being, and not a tool." She muttered through her teeth. Farzam raised his hands in pardon but added. "I didn't mean to disrespect your friend. I'm just saying, if the reapers don't consider her a threat, we can definitely use it to our advantage. And you were out throughout the whole thing.." Farzam halted for a moment, and then continued to speak to Zia but he was looking at Radcliffe.
"..and something else happened also." Farzam and Arok looked at each other significantly. Radcliffe was impatient as well as curious.

"What happened commander?" He asked. Farzam bit his lip. "Sir, the husks were just on us when they suddenly stopped in place. They just stood there like dummies." Both Zia and Radcliffe were confused.

"Why would the husks just stop, that doesn't make any sense?"

"Becouse sir, miss Brooks shouted out 'stop'." Farzam was serious in his words as his face confirmed the same. Arok also nodded in affirmation. Radclife suddenly breaks out laughing but when he saw no one else was, he calmed himself.

"Now hold on a second commander, you are not suggesting that miss Brooks can actually command the reapers, are you?" Radcliffe's face was still smiling. But Farzam and Arok were dead serious. Farzam replied amenably.

"I don't know sir, that's why I'd like your permission to find out." Farzam looked determined as did Arok and Zia. They all looked at Radcliffe as if they all expressed the same request. Radcliffe tapped his fingers on the desk and then stroked his chin before he gave his reply.

"Alright commander, set it up, but this time I want to see this for myself. Inform me when you're ready. Dismissed."Radcliffe finished as they all saluted him and left. When they got outside, Farzam instructed Arok what to do.

"You go and find us some easy bogies, and report back so we can set it up. I'll get Dale and Zia here to help us out." Arok quickly nodded and ran off in a flash. Farzam turned to Zia. "I'll need you down there with her just in case we need to improvise." He said as Zia confirmed. Naomi listened from the back and was unsure what was happening.

"Zee...what's going on?" She asked suspiciously. "We got a mission." Zia replied with a smile. Naomi cocked her head. "Who got a mission?" She asked with uncertainty. Zia grabed her face and pulled it closer as she replied smiling mysteriously. "You and I honey. We've got a mission."

[Redbelle]

Wyld felt herself nodding off and jerked awake to look at Babylon, who in turn just looked back at Wyld, who had removed her helmet from before. It had felt to hot with it on.

It felt like hours had passed. Then again, Wyld's injured side was playing hell with her sense of time. Her eye lid's felt heavy as she reached down and touched the hole the bullet had made in her armour. She had felt for the exit hole but found nothing. She had to entertain the possibility that it was still inside her. Or had emerged out the other side of her and hit the inside of her armour. Her eyelid's drooped and she forced them open once more.

This was not good. She was in shock, she knew. And not fixing herself up was costing her.

Then again. Had she done so, it would have raised the possibility of Reaper forces hearing her as she worked and shooting up into the false ceiling. The flimsy tiles were no protection. Only a shield to keep Reaper's from looking at them. Wyld remembered talking to a sniper on a mission a long time back who was bragging about evading capture one time. “Why didn't they find you”? She had asked.

“Because people tend to see walls as walls. They don't think about the crawl-ways behind them. Or the spaces in-between. Just lumps of something solid”. The sniper had smiled. “And no one thinks to look for someone behind something they view as solid. Have you ever looked at a tiled ceiling and asked yourself, what's behind there? It's only the bone's of the building”.

This building's bone's had saved them, it seemed, as she sat on a steel girder, listening intently. Whereas earlier the floor beneath them had thundered with the sounds of Reaper footsteps. Now it was quiet. They had heard sounds before, which went away, only to return. And so they had waited even longer. Wyld's head bumped on her knee's. She couldn't wait any longer she knew. She needed help. She knew how. And only Babylon was around to be talked through how to give it to her.

Wyld motioned for Amy to come closer and she crawled over as Wyld unhooked the fastening's on the damaged armour section. “Stay quiet. And do exactly as I say”. Babylon nodded and Wyld took off the armour and set it down further down away from her on the girder. “I've been shot”. She explained in a hushed whisper. “I think the bullet might still be in there. But I need you to check”.

“Okay. She whispered back. “We had to learn stuff like this at Terra Firma. Don't worry. You'll be okay”.

“Leave the consoling to the real medic”. Wyld hissed between her teeth as she felt for the hole in the underlay of her outfit. “Just look for an exit wound”. She found the hole and used a scalpel to open it wider as Babylon leaned in and felt around her back at her side. “Found the entrance”.

“And the exit”?

There was a pause. “Nothing”.

“Damn”. The bullet was still inside her. She let out a snort of derision. Guess I should be grateful it was just one, she thought. “Okay.....”. She said closing her eye's. She ordered her thought's. The procedure that she needed to talk Babylon through. “....Okay. The bullet's still in me. It hasn't hit anything vital or I'd be dead by now”. She said bluntly. “But if we don't get it out..... The medigel I used should have kept it from becoming contaminated. But the gel's just a stop gap. The bullet needs to come out”.

Babylon nodded throughout. “We did a course......”.

“At Terra Firma”?

“Yes”. Babylon said, still nodding. “I can use more medigel and go outside and call for help and.....”.

Wyld let out a sigh. “Babylon.... your taking out the bullet. Right now”.

Babylon stopped nodding. “What”?

Wyld was busy pulling out the equipment she needed. “This is doable. Trust me. I've yanked foreign objects out of people before. It's easy”. She offered a slim sachet to Amy who took it. “Rip that open and pour the powder on the wound”.

Babylon took the sachet but just held it I front of her. “Look, I think we need to wait for help. The course I did said never take out the bullet”.

“That's what people like you need to do when there's a nice clean hospital you can be taken to”. Wyld said as she looked over to her. “And that was before medigel was invented. And we could be out here for days. Or maybe even weeks”.

“Week's”? Babylon did not look happy at that prospect.

“Week's”. Wyld affirmed. “And having this thing in me for that long..... It's a lot of antibiotics. It's a lot of medigel to keep the wound from going septic. Ammo blocks may fire off hot but if we are out here for weeks I'm looking at inflammation. Maybe pus build up. It's not going to be pretty. So your going to go in with these....”. She held up a device. A tube with a small pressure switch on one end and an open hollow on the other. Babylon took it and peered inside to see what looked like two set's of forceps inside.

“Now pour the powder on the wound and place that over it”. Wyld said as she removed a sheet of plastic/gauze material with a gel like substance on the back of it. “Once we've gotten the bullet out. I need you to reapply fresh medigel on the wound. Then slap the gauze over the top of it. It'll keep the gel fresh and keep everything else out”.

Babylon nodded and tore open the sachet and began sprinkling it over the hole in Wyld's side. Wyld meanwhile pulled out a a small piece of rope from a pouch. Wrapped around itself to form an elongated bar the length of her index finger. “Listen.....”. She said. “That device will follow the entry wound and clamp around any foreign object. It'll use ultrasound so I can watch where it goes. You may need to change the angle. So don't press the top button until I say”.

“Okay”. Babylon said as she finished sprinkling and pulled back the sachet to replace it with the device.

Wyld brought her arm up. “Let's hurry. We don't want to be to long”. She activated her Omni tool and the space they were in was suddenly bathed in orange light. Wyld's omni tool displayed a cylinder above the form of her body. Other views came up as Wyld flicked through the offered views, then looked back at Babylon. “Tilt it back.....”. She said as Babylon made the adjustment. “....Stop! Now, Push the button down to the first resistance and wait”.

Babylon pushed the button and found it went down till she hit a point of resistance. She sensed it could go down further but held off as she felt a small vibration through the cylinder.

Wyld grunted and curled her hands into fist's as she watched on her screen as the forceps began to descend into the wound. Finally, they came at rest at a small solid object and the button under Babylon’s thumb lit up. “Okay”. Said Wyld in a strained voice. She deactivated her Omni tool and the roof space went dark again. Only the light under Babylon's thumb provided any illumination. “Now listen. When you press that button down the forceps will seize over the bullet. When the light goes out. I need you to pull. Firmly and hard. You can lose the bullet if you pull to hard. When it's out. Gel and patch. And one last thing”. She mentioned as she brought the bit up to her mouth. “This is going to hurt. Alot. So don't screw up getting it out, pretty please”. She added. Taking the bit between her teeth she bit down and took several deep breaths. Then looked over at Babylon and nodded.

Amy pushed the button down and Wyld made a garbled groan as the forceps extended once more. They touched the end of the foreign object and began to extend outwards. Wyld's eye's narrowed to slit's as she tried to keep quiet while she felt her side flare up as the forceps extended once more and closed over the object inside her. Wyld felt the sensation's of movement stop and inhaled several deep steadying breath's. Waiting for what was to come.

Babylon gripped the cylinder tightly. And began to mentally count.

One.

The cylinder was firm in her grasp she was sure. She knew pulling it up and out wouldn't be a problem.

Two.

But what if there was a problem. What if she didn't pull hard enough? Or the bullet came loose while still inside Wyld? Her Terra Firma course had been about emergency care. Not this seemingly emergency surgery Wyld had her doing.

She stopped counting. Looked over at Wyld to ask for her advice. The expression she saw stopped her as she saw's eye's closed. The bit firmly clasped in her mouth. Her whole face was scrunched up as if waiting for something awful to happen.

Three.

Babylon pulled hard and the cylinder came up and out trailing the forceps and the bullet, still firmly clasped between them. At the same time Wyld's eye's flew open and she would have howled had she not been biting down on the bit. She kept screaming, pausing only to sharply inhale before her muffled cries began anew. They slowly died down as her nostrils flared as she fell into a rhythm of shallow breathing before her eye's rolled up in their socket's and she went limp. The bit falling out of her mouth and fell onto the tiles beneath them.

Babylon held the cylinder aloft even as she looked down and saw Wyld go slack. The bit falling and coming to rest.

“Jan”? She whispered.

Nothing. Amy put down the cylinder and shook her. “Jan”? She hissed, with no response forthcoming. She felt panic set in and she looked down at Wyld's side. She saw blood leaking out of her and she remembered what Wyld had said before. She used Medigel on the wound and then applied the patch. With that done she leaned back over her body and shook her shoulder. “Jan”! She hissed in her ear as she felt her neck for a pulse. She found it. Strong and steady. She was still alive at least, but unconscious.

Babylon fell back and sat with her knee's to her chest, hugging herself. Thing's were not going according to the plan. The plan where they got back to the bunker and made everything alright again. Now she was in hiding with a prone medic who had fainted on her.

She wished Steiner and his platoon were with her when, in the distance, she heard a faint scream. It sounded like a howl and anguish and despair. Though she had never heard the like before, something inside her whispered, Reaper.

She really wished she'd gone with Steiner.

Modifié par Redbelle, 29 août 2013 - 11:58 .

[Redbelle]

Wyld groaned as she felt her mind start to register the ache's and pain's in her body. Mostly minor she felt. Nothing more than if she'd run a long distance carrying a heavy pack. All except one pain she didn't recognise. Something in her side.

She opened her eye's and the golden morning sunlight streamed past the open curtain's of her apartment. She was lying in bed with the suns rays falling down on her. She looked down and ran a hand down her side. Her movement's were slow. Her body felt heavy. Her night slip allowed her fingers to probe where it hurt without impediment. She felt nothing, but it still hurt.

Movement from under the sheet's disturbed her probing as she saw something begin to move up and towards her. Zia's head popped out of the sheet's and ran up to where she lay. Zia's hands ran up Wylds body and came to rest on her chest as Zia stretched her neck up to hover her lips over Wylds.

“Get up”. Zia whispered as Wyld's lip's parted slightly under hers. But still.....

Everything around her felt disjointed. Unconnected. Somehow, seeing Zia was not igniting her passion. Indeed, this Zia didn't seem interested in pushing further ahead. She simply hovered where she was. “Get up”. Zia repeated and moved her hand to grasp her chin. She tilted Wyld's head over to the side and Wyld gulped as she saw Naomi striding across the room to her, dressed in full Alliance armour. Her face was a mask of rage and fury. She stopped at the side of the bed and drove her fist down on the bedside table. The sound of something splintering filled Wyld's ear's as Naomi filled her entire vision.

“Get up now”. Naomi said. She spoke no louder than Zia but her words seemed more insistent. More demanding. The anger pouring off her seemed to sap the strength out of Wyld who simply shook her head and lay back in the soft warm bed with Zia atop her. She rolled her head to the other side of the bed to escape Naomi's hate filled glare.

And came face to face with the visage of her diminutive and withered inner crone. “Three in the bed....”. Her crone sang. “....and the little one said. Gis us a kiss, or roll over”! She laughed and puckered her lips as she mashed them together making soft popping noises as she moved closer and closer to Wyld.

Wyld's reaction was near instantaneous. She shrieked and rolled away. Her body finding the will and energy to move against whatever force in the room held her down. She rolled into Naomi's leg's and seemed to pass through them as she fell out of the bed.

Which was about the time she realised she was about to wake up.


Silence was suddenly broken as Wyld came crashing through the ceiling tiles that made up the roof as she fell. She hit the top of one of the shelving unit's and bounced off. The waterfall shelving under her gave her room to bounce off another shelf beneath her, and then one more after that. All of which helped break up a major fall into several smaller ones before she landed and rolled across the floor before coming to a halt.

She lay there for a moment. Feeling dull aches and pains. Still groggy from the surgery and the fall. She looked up and around.

“Ow”. She croaked.

Modifié par Redbelle, 29 août 2013 - 04:56 .

[Kel Riever]

Time appeared to moved in strange patterns for Rea, as Camp Bastion was suddenly upon them. Her moments talking to Rothan, and then Ereba, had taken Rea away from the world around her. Not so much as a distraction, but as if in a dream when the focus was strictly on one object or person. Ereba’s words had begun to sink in, but it was more that the Artemis commando was reaching out to Rea that had its impact. When Rea had started to cry, she actually didn’t even know why. The things she had gone through were awful enough. But Ereba had tapped into something that was trying to escape.
 
Still, whatever it was, Rea couldn’t seem to get it out. The shrouded spectre on the beach that was so much like Tizzy felt ever present. Rea couldn’t forget about the gray crab either, and how it gorged itself on those other, smaller crabs. She had wondered if that would be the last thing she would remember, and as the spectre had evaporated in the wind of her dream, so she had worried too that she would simply vanish in those tunnels beneath London. 
 
Now Rea was walking outside again because she had been found. The real wind blew, steady and cold, across the shoulder and thigh where her armor had been removed. Rea examined her ruined suit, not good for much else other than wearing. When she looked up she saw Rothan checking in on her. It was surprising at how astute he could be. Rea wanted to tell him about the dream, but couldn’t.
 
“I might need a new suit,” Rea quickly tried to drive away any conversation that would get deeper into her own thoughts.
 
Rothan nodded, though it was impossible to figure his expression. “You might want to find the infirmary first.” He pointed to the Brute’s gash in her exposed thigh.  The medigel had done its job but it was an ugly wound and still covered in muck.
 
“Oh, that. Right. Well, I’ve had worse.”
 
“I need to check in myself. Suit vulnerabilities and all that.” Rothan joked by rapping his helmet lightly with his knuckles.
 
“We all probably can’t hit the showers at once, anyway,” Jack commented. “I’ll tell you what, Artemis, how about you get cleaned up and I’ll go with these two to grab some antibiotics. I’ll meet you over there.”
 
“Sounds good,” Shayrana agreed.
 
The students complained. Jack groaned, “Well, I don’t know. Go find something useful to do without getting yourself into trouble. And make sure I can find you!”
 
Ereba glanced over to Rea. Rea made a quick play gun motion with her hand, to let the sniper know she’d be all right.
 
“Let’s go,” Jack hurriedly said. “I want to grab those pills, report in, and get this garbage off me.”
 
Bradley pointed out the direction of the showers and medical facilities. While the students talked amongst themselves, Rea, Rothan and Jack headed in the opposite direction of Artemis towards a series of low buildings. On their way, they saw what looked like an armory further to the interior of the base. Two engineers were working on a gunship in front of it. Rea motioned towards the gunship, “There. If this works out, Rothan, maybe we can get someone to pick up Arkeer and those missiles.”
 
Jack inquired, “What missiles?”
 
Rothan explained, “Some missiles were modified to be able to fire at Reapers vessels, and there’s one guarding the conduit. We had been moving them with a krogan and some other troops. They’re pretty important.”

“I had heard about that,” Jack acknowledged. “Not my area of expertise but some of the people I know had gotten wind that extra firepower would be needed at the conduit.”
 
“It could be the best way to reach them, Rothan.” Rea added, “Neither Arkeer or Grelk has tried to reach me. How about you?”
 
Rothan shook his head. “No. But you’re right. We need to regroup and then see what we can do.”
 
When the three reached the low buildings, a guard waived them through into the medical facilities. Inside it was pristine, even for a field hospital. A drone floated lazily towards them and spoke in a gentle, but artificial, voice, “Welcome. Please be seated. The doctor will be with you shortly.”
 
“Do. Not. Move.” The high toned voice came from a salarian who had peeked his head through the doorway of an interior room. “What happened to the lot of you?”
 
“Long story,” Jack sighed. “I need some preventives for myself and a squad. These two probably need to be looked at.”
 
“Fine. You, human. Come here. Do not step in the room. Let me talk to you and see what you need. You, asari, and you, quarian. Wait.” Then the salarian pointed to the drone, “Bob, run sterilization protocols on those two.”
 
The drone floated over and ran what looked like a set of scanning lights over Rothan and Rea. They looked at each other, and Rothan laughed a little, “I bet this is the fastest checkup we’ll ever have.” Rea smirked. As the lights crossed over the forms of the asari and quarian, the slurry of gore they were covered in began to either evaporate or slough off. When revealed, Rothan’s armor began to look as its old self, a bit worse for the wear. Rea’s, on the other hand, looked like it had been through a trash compactor.
 
Several minutes later, Jack was on her way out the door carrying a case and a datapad with instructions. “Check in with command after you leave. Nobody is going to want us wandering around here without knowing what we’re up to.” 
 
Before either Rothan or Rea could nod to agree, the salarian called to them, “You two, in here. Up on examination tables.”
 
Inside, the doctor’s room was filled with a surprising array of medical equipment. The salarian pointed Rothan to one table and had him lie down. “I haven’t had to take care of a quarian yet, but we’re fully equipped. The monitor over there will begin to check for suit punctures, seal them, and then you will be administered the full array of dextro-based immuno boosters. The works. I’m not holding anything back because I might not even see another quarian by the time this war is done. When the monitor is complete, I will check in.”
 
“You,” the doctor pointed accusingly at Rea, “You’re a wreck. Take off that armor and hop up here on the table.” Rea began to unbuckle the fasteners for her commando suit. Rothan shifted a bit uncomfortably and the salarian noticed, “No time for modesty here. If you must, look away. Now, if you don’t mind, activate your omni-tool please so I may have your medical information transferred.”
 
Rea did as she was told and tilted her head towards Rothan, “You really don’t have to be concerned. I’m used to places without any privacy...you know how we live.”
 
Rothan cleared his throat and shifted for a second time.
 
“Ah, Lieutenant Iallis. Commando medical data is always appreciatively extensive.” The doctor synced his own omni-tool to read the information from Rea’s. The drone chirped and the doctor was distracted. “Not now, Bob. Can’t you see I am busy?”
 
“It is an incoming communication from Captain Radcliffe. He wishes to speak to you alone.”
 
The salarian snorted. “Fine, I’ll be right there. Keep getting yourself out of that armor, Lieutenant. And eyes towards the ceiling, quarian.” The doctor headed out of the room.
 
Rothan looked straight up and for a while, he watched the monitor as it moved over him, doing its work. But then he couldn’t help but let his eyes slip sideways, as guilty as he felt about it. Rea, whose armor was too damaged to take off normally, peeled each piece away, revealing her form underneath. She had her back to Rothan. As was to be expected, Rea’s body displayed nothing short of the full physical prowess one would expect any commando who spent decades in the field to have. Her form was wide hipped, with ferociously powerful legs and corded back muscles. The overhead light emphasized every curve of those muscles, and the shadows were so dark, they looked like midnight colored valleys roaming through a cerulean dune desert. Even with Rea’s swollen shoulder, her figure was elegant, and though some of her movements caused her to slow from pain, her motions were balletic. Only one feature broke the perfection of her form; a brutal, wide scar ran diagonally from the shoulder she had wounded, across her spine, and to her opposite hip. Nothing could make a mark like that except a large whip.

Modifié par Kel Riever, 29 août 2013 - 08:24 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

BoL - The Lost Asari XXXIII

The Artemis Squad had hit the showers, or rather Ranassa had the hose and was washing the gore off the others with vigor. The Commandos were also bowing their heads so she could hose the inside of their crests.

"Alright you ****es, it's my turn." Ranassa said and handed the hose to T. "Damn, this feels good doesn't it?"

They all stripped out of their armor thinking nothing of the show they were putting on for the guys in the camp. T hooked the hose up to the showers, and they got all cleaned up.

A couple of the guys walked and were watching the show.

"Hey, Sarge, check this out. We got us some dancers here." Corporal Banes said and spit. Banes was about 6'4" and beefy. He was wearing a muscle shirt and was ripped.

Ranassa shot him a look. Aside from her blue skin coloring, crest, and her breasts, she was built like a middle-weight boxer with hips. The muscles were built up from lugging around that heavy LMG and its ammo box. Most used light weapons, but then there was Ranassa.

"Oh ****." T said. "Now it begins."

"What's your name ass hole?" Ranassa asked and hocked a loogey. Erikka tossed her a towel.

"Ooooo!! I don't think that one's a dancer, Banes." Private Smith said to Banes and elbowed him.

"I don't know. They all look like dancers to me. Even this one." Banes said.

Erikka tossed Ranassa her clean armor, and Ranassa began getting into it.

"Uh uh." Banes said waving his finger. "I haven't seen you dance yet."

"Oh, I can dance." Ranassa said and she put her armor down. "The question is, can you?" She leaped into the air and did a spinning kick and landed the ball of her foot right against Bane's jaw. Banes fell to the ground, and got up slowly shaking his head. When she landed she just motioned with her left hand for him to bring it. The squad was cheering. Banes' sergeant walked over for a closer look.

Banes moved forward leery of her kick and made a kick of his own, which Ranassa easily blocked and used the momentum of it to throw him on the ground again.

"Had enough yet, ass hole? I can keep this up all day." She taunted him. "Come on. One more time."

Their sarge was standing back enjoying the show. Banes got up, slowly and tried another tactic: punching. Ranassa was quick, too. She was dodging with her head, then Banes missed wide, and she landed a counterpunch square in the middle of his face. Banes' knees buckled and he fell to the ground. His buddies helped him to his feet and they walked off.

"Nice one." Their Sergeant said. He was about 5'10" with red hair and blue eyes. "I'm Sergeant Clark. Tell your squad that drinks are on me."

"You didn't stop it. Why?" Ranassa asked.

"Banes needed that. Have you ever gotten a good look at yourself?" Clark asked. "And you're a Commando. Poetry in motion. Only an idiot would pull a stunt like he did." Clark extended his hand for a handshake. Ranassa took it.

"Get dressed and I'll see you in our little pub." Clark said. "It's not much, but your drinks are free, and we've got some hot food." Clark walked off to the makeshift temporary building in the middle of the compound with the cardboard sign on it that said "Pub".

The rest of the squad were leaning against the Mako parked across the road inside the compound. T handed Ranassa her armor and helped her into it.

"You gave him hell, 'Nassa. I knew it." T said.

"Nice going 'Nassa!" Erikka said. "You kicked his ass!"

"Nice fight!" Ereba said.

"Great fight, 'Nassa!" Shayrana said.

"Their sarge is buying us drinks. But what did he mean by 'Have you ever gotten a good look at yourself?'" Ranassa asked.

"I know you don't pay much attention to these things, 'Nassa." T said. "But look at the rest of us. Now look at your shoulders, your pecs, and your arms. You've gone through two sets of armor since this war started just because you wanted to lug that damned gun around. Just saying."

"But I knew it would save our lives. I want to survive this war." 'Nassa replied.

"I know." T said. "And I think because of you we will."

"Oh, and there's hot food in there." 'Nassa said.

"Food?" Erikka said. "You said HOT food? Goddess! I'm starving."

[Kel Riever]

Rea began to turn around and Rothan averted his eyes, staring at the monitor above him. He heard her move onto the examination table, and then she was quiet for a while, before she said, “Like racers.”
 
Confused, Rothan spun to face Rea. She lay on the table, on her left side, nude except for a black bikini underwear bottom. Her left arm propped her head up, but she was focused down and away from Rothan. He stammered, “Pardon?”
 
“Oh, I was just thinking about the things I tried to do before I ended up becoming a commando.” Rea’s gaze flickered to Rothan. Embarrassed, he immediately found the monitor to be the most interesting thing in the room again. “Are you still avoiding looking at me?”
 
“It’s just, we, I,…”
 
“You said you were assigned with asari spec ops, didn’t you?”
 
“Yes, uh, well, I never really got used to….”
 
“Rothan, look at me.” Rothan felt as if one part of his mind was trying not to listen, but the muscles in his neck slowly rotated him so he looked at Rea fully. Her bright blue, silver flecked eyes seemed to pierce through his visor. The white facial markings she had been born with were like two, high angled eyebrows, and a circle was centered between them like a moon or a third eye. Her cheekbones were sharp, but her features softened as they moved down towards her chin and purple lips. Rothan couldn’t figure out Rea’s expression but it seemed to calm him. “Why didn’t you return to the migrant fleet?”
 
Taken by surprise with the question, Rothan couldn’t help do anything but ask his own, “How do you know about that?”
 
“I didn’t. But I can’t imagine that your Admirals wouldn’t have tried to get you back given the rarity of quarian biotics. They must have at least asked you.”
 
“They did, well, they more than asked. But I had someone on my side speaking for me.”
 
“So, you chose not to go back?”
 
Rothan realized he had never told any of his friends about his choice. Only Reiza had known, and that’s because she had offered him his options. “Yes,” he answered in a subdued tone, “The war was coming. I wanted to be with my…”
 
The sound of the door opening interrupted Rothan. The salarian doctor entered, walking briskly. “No more time to chatter. Sorry, feel free to catch up when I’m done. I need to take a look at you, lieutenant. Since you are up on the table, please do me the favor of lying flat.” 
 
Silently cursing his own luck for getting cut off, Rothan returned to staring at the monitor while he listened to the doctor reviewing Rea’s vitals. He was impatiently wondering when they would be done so he could continue the conversation, when he noted a tinge of hesitation in the doctor’s voice. Shortly after, the salarian became quiet as he worked on his omni-tool. The monitor above Rothan buzzed.
 
“You are all done,” the doctor confirmed. “If you would like, please wait outside for your friend.”
 
Rothan lifted himself off the table and checked the readouts in his suit. Everything was normal and he could only imagine the field monitor was a device that had quarian input when it was designed. The bizarre thought crossed his mind that he wished everything hadn’t been repaired so perfectly so he could stay and hear what was about to happen. Instead he agreed, telling Rea he would, in fact, wait for her.
 
Walking out the examination room, he saw the entrance he had come through was once again pristine. The drone had taken care of whatever remnants had been removed when Rea and he had come in. That drone would also be able to inform the doctor if Rothan decided to do anything like stand close enough to the door to listen in. It wasn’t as if Rothan preferred to spy on people, but he knew something important was going to be said and he found his concern for Rea was beginning to overcome his fears of interfering. Activating a panel on his suit, Rothan began changing one of his settings while walking a fair distance from the examination room. What the drone wouldn’t be able to detect was Rothan’s ability to modify the audio setting on his suit to pick up the conversation from further away. He fiddled with the settings until he could hear the discussion clearly.
 
“You’re fit as can be, lieutenant. Maybe you could run a 100-meter dash in a fraction of a second less if you were only one-hundred forty years old, but that’s about it. Your leg wound is fine and all your scarring is now cosmetic, something that can wait until after the war to clean up. Your EEGs came back without any abnormality; in fact, I’d say you have a very active mind. So tell me about the headaches.”
 
“They are that obvious?”
 
“To me. I can see them occurring from some of my readings. Are they interfering with your performance?”
 
“I can push through it, doctor, if I need to. You know how it is…I wouldn’t be in uniform if I couldn’t, but,” Rea nervously inquired, “It doesn’t make sense to ask this then…I need to though…do you think there’s any sign of…exposure to the Reapers?”
 
The doctor calmed his inflection, “Dear no. And if anyone would be aware of that, I would. There was a patient in here…well, never you mind. The point is, yes, while Reaper technology is beyond our ability to comprehend in many ways, if what you are worried about is indoctrination, there are no signs of that.” The salarian paused. “You don’t look like you believe me.”
 
“Another commando I was with thought it might be acute traumatic stress syndrome. She admitted to not being a professional but she seemed to be spot on about a lot of things and she cared.”
 
The doctor contemplated, “Hmmn, she could be right. But I’m as much an amateur in psychiatry. You’ll need to trust yourself if you think something is wrong and try to find a way to solve it. I could give you medicine, but nothing that doesn’t inhibit your combat abilities. And besides, it wouldn’t solve the problem, either. The good news is this whole war won’t last much longer one way or the other, so you aren’t going have to deal with it for long.”
 
“If you think I’m fine to get back to my job, doctor, that’s what I’d prefer to do.”
 
“You’re clear from my end. But I want you to tell me about is if those headaches get to be more of a problem. If they do, come see me.” There were some sounds of rummaging. “All I have here for you to wear, lieutenant, is a human scientist outfit…a nurse’s specifically. Go ahead and tear off the medical insignia so no one bothers you for anything they shouldn’t, and put your rank pins on the collar. Head over to the armory when you can and speak to a man named Sully. He’ll get you geared up properly again. Oh, and here’s your Mattock.”
 
Rothan adjusted his audio settings to their regular mode. Rea came out in ivory and indigo colored medical attire. She glanced once at Rothan and then away. “Let’s go,” she said softly.

Modifié par Kel Riever, 30 août 2013 - 07:26 .

[Redbelle]

As Wyld brought her hands underneath her, she paused. Straining her ear's for the sounds of incoming Reaper forces drawn to the noise of her descent through the ceiling.

She heard nothing. It was quiet and still inside the open space she lay in.

She pushed herself up and was glad to find the twinge in her side only mildly protested. It itched intensely. That was a good sign. If she had been able to feel anything, or had been immobilised by rolling waves of pain she'd be worried. As it stood it was healing, she thought and a wave of her med scanner confirmed the diagnosis. She still had a hole that had not knit itself together. But inside the worst of the damage had been treated and healing. The pain relief of the medigel was keeping her from collapsing.

The muscle around the wound however, was protesting to every movement of that area of her body she made. It was to be expected. She'd essentially been hit with the force of a sledge hammer. Much reduced thanks to her armour. But upon a high speed impact, muscles locked up as they attempted to absorb more energy than they could handle. The medigel was attempting to lubricate the muscle fibre's directly around the wound but the rest of it was having to try and make do with what nature naturally gave the body to cope.

Wyld pulled herself up and grunted as her side muscles told her not to move. She ignored them. As the muscle moved, so to would it naturally lubricate and loosen up of it's own accord. It was going to hurt. But to make herself better, she had to move. And since the Reapers weren't around, now was the time to go.

She looked up at the hole she'd made as she'd fallen off the beam, above the tiles. “Amy”. She said softly. “We have to go now”. No response came from above. Wyld tried again. Still no response.

Wyld sighed. She really didn't want to climb back up. But it was that or start yelling, which was, she thought, the first most stupid thing she could do under the circumstances. Maybe Babylon had fallen asleep. Wyld wondered just how long they'd been up there. Putting afoot on the bottom of the shelves she was about to reach up and start climbing when she became aware of a tiny buzz. It sounded like someone very small was yelling from not so far away. She looked down and saw the Kestrel helmet attached to her harness. The sound was coming from there.

Reaching for the helmet she placed it just over her head as the sound was so loud close up that it hurt her ears. “Settle down....”. She said as the sound dropped off and she pulled the helmet on. “I'm here”.

“Welcome back Jerry-Ann. I am pleased to see you are still alive”.

“Likewise”. Wyld said as she resumed her climbing stance on the shelves. “What were you yelling back there”?

“Ms Babylon has gone”.

“What”?!? Wyld barely managed to keep her voice down as she let go of the shelving and dropped back down to the floor. Suddenly yelling at the top of her lungs in Reaper occupied territory had dropped to the second stupidest thing she could think of.

“Ms Babylon became agitated when she could not rouse you. And when the Reaper's departed the area. She left of her own accord. She told you while you slept she was going to bring you help”.

“Dammit”. Wyld drew her pistol and started for the doorway they'd entered in by. “Babylon's going to be the death of me at this rate”!

“She does appear to lack certain qualities that you, and other's I have observed, have in abundance. I thought that it may be something to do with her lack of formal training as a soldier”.

Wyld came to the door. Peeked around and saw no one. “All those courses she did. They may have taught her what to do. Just not how to go about doing it”. Wyld shook her head. “That reload of hers in the doorway, before. She was overwhelmed and alone with me. When her clip slagged she should have dropped back into cover and replaced it. I've seen soldier's in basic training make the same mistake. They panic and take several rounds of paint. I was drilled for weeks how to reload a weapon with the instructor's throwing all kinds of circumstance's at us. Babylon doesn't have that. Probably just a course on gun handling”.

“And you wish to bring these people into the fight”?

That stopped Wyld in her tracks. If Babylon was any indication of what she'd find at the bunker then The Alliance would be better off without them. Extra fire power, after all, meant nothing if those with the gun's didn't know how to use it. Babylon may have hit a Harvester with a rocket. But now Wyld wondered if that had been down, more to luck than training. Well first thing's first.

“We need to find her”. She said. “Can you help”?

Momma was quiet for a moment. “Ms Babylon left through the same door as you did and headed in the direction you are now travelling before she moved out of the helmet's ability to detect her. A burst transmission might be the best method of contacting and arranging a rendezvous”.

“What's the catch? C'mon. There's a catch right. There's always a catch”.

“Reaper's in proximity may be able to trace the signal to both yourself and Ms Babylon. As we do not know how far away she may be, the burst would have to be high power”.

Wyld shook her head. “That's no good. We nearly got killed the last time the Reapers found us. I'm not bringing them down on us again if I can help it”. She considered her options. “Babylon was there when I sent a burst to Michael's. She knows the Mako's are out there. Mako's will try to follow any road system's with good access into and out of certain area's. Are there any major roads nearby”?

“All transport infrastructure is damaged, but yes. There is a major road network to the West of us”. Momma said.

“I'll try that. Maybe I can call up the Mako's and get them doing SAR”. Wyld sighed as she felt her stomach sinking. Given everything she knew of Babylon, Wyld didn't rate her chances. “I really screwed up this time”.

“Had Ms Babylon remained with you, she would not be in this position”.

“I'm the soldier, not her. I should have told her to stay no matter what. Before she removed the bullet”.

“Is having been shot not reason enough to excuse a lapse in judgement”?

“If she dies it's on me”. Wyld said as she began moving West.

“Perhaps you should focus on the positives of the situation”.

“Amy is the only way I'll find that bunker. When I took her away from Steiner she came under my care. I walked off into Reaper territory with her without support and now I've lost her. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not seeing the positives here”.

“Steiner refused order's to help”. Momma pointed out. “His platoon would have aided your endeavour to reach the armies you decided would aid the war effort, in accordance with your orders. The fault is not solely your own”.

“Yeah? Well I'm the only one here”. Wyld broke into a jog and headed West.

Modifié par Redbelle, 30 août 2013 - 08:21 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

BoL - The Lost Asari XXXV

Sergeant Major Clark was waiting at the bar. Clark was in his 40s. He was SAS, then moved into the Systems Alliance counter-terrorist unit, basically he was a tough bastard, and he'd seen a lot of action. The Commandos walked in and were joking it up. Their armor still had a bit of the stink from the gore on it. That stuff got absorbed into the leather. Clark winced.

"You guys just cleaned up. What the hell is that... smell?" He asked.

"It's a long story, but if you're up for it, it's a hell of a story." Ereba said to him. "I need a new set of armor and this stuff isn't cheap."

Jack walked in and saw them sitting at the bar. "Hey, guys! I brought you some anti-biotics. Preventive just in case, and if you want to get rid of that stink head over to the infirmary. The doc has some gadget that will decontaminate it. Hey!" She shot a look at one of the soldiers. "What the **** are you looking at?"

"Don't mind him. That's Banes. He just got his arse kicked by one of them Asari." Pvt. Smith said. "He's just admiring your ink, aren't you, Banes?"

"Uh, yeah. Just admiring your ink, ma'am." Banes said while nursing his nose.

Jack headed to the bar trying to hold back a laugh. She was guessing who it was he picked on.

"I can stand the stink until they finish this." The sarge said. "Pull up a stool, if your with this group the drinks are on me. Sid, set 'em up with the best."

"Aye, but that's a very old bottle of Scotch I've been saving." Sid said.

"We could all be dead tomorrow. It's either that, ****** warm ale, or some rot gut whiskey." Clark said. "Gather around, soldiers, you might learn something. I did some cross training with a Turian platoon once. Damn tough it was, and I was talking with the DI afterward. I'm special forces. I thought I'd been through hell. It was nothing. Turians put you through a meat grinder. The DI told me. 'You think this is tough? The Asari Commandos are the toughest warriors in the galaxy. Fortunately there aren't a lot of them.' In this war I wish there were. Now let's hear about this."

Sid poured the drinks. Erikka took a sip and made a face. T smacked her. Ranassa sipped hers. Jack? She knew what to expect and just drank it. Ereba started talking.

"We ran into Jack, the one with all the ink, and her group when we were really low on thermal clips. We were about to start fighting using biotics and rocks." Ereba said. "Our sarge had gotten hurt trying to take on a brute, and she broke her leg. Shay over here, who was going to go art school but then the war broke out, made a temporary cast from some medical supplies we found in an abandoned clinic. Two members of Jack's biotic squad were totally exhausted, and she sent them back as an escort for our sarge to the hospital.

"She told us about a downed shuttle. We cut a deal. Her team escorted us to the shuttle, and we would escort them here. Fair enough, right?" Ereba went on and finished her drink. Clark signaled for a refill. "So we were just about at the shuttle and a ****storm broke loose. T over here kept noticing the husks were coming up from underground. Jack's team was providing artillery and 'Nassa over here, was on her LMG." 'Nassa raised it up with one arm. It wasn't the fancy new Typhoon model either. It was an older belt fed model.

Someone brought some hot stew out and biscuits out from the kitchen, and Ereba continued.

"So then the heavies came, and we cut loose. 'Nassa emptied her LMG. Threw it on the ground and we did our biotic combos on them. There wasn't a single reaper standing when we finished." Ereba said.

"Wait, I thought you said you were low on thermals, and 'Nassa is going nuts with her LMG?" Clark asked.

"That's because she took all of mine." Prangley complained. "All of mine."

"Quit your belly aching, Prangley!" Jack shouted.

"Then we got to the shuttle and loaded up, and there was a Cain in there, plastics, detonators, so we took them, and were on our way. You never know, right? Met this little girl, Lisa, who is with Bellarmine, and these Harvesters flew over and started bombarding us. We took one out and it knocked over a column that had been part of a building into the road which collapsed and we fell into an underground cavern filled with this gore." Ereba continued.

"We followed where the gore was coming from, and well you know what it smells like, and it led to a large open cavern filled with what you humans call Dragon's Teeth." She continued. "The cavern was supported by a bunch of columns. I'm an infiltrator so I took Erikka's power cell since all she uses her omni-tool for is playing video games." The soldiers laughed. "Mine was only at 60% and well hers obviously was almost new. So I cloaked and planted the charges, then saw the processing unit where they were making the gore out of people. I remained cloaked and went inside down a ladder and found a plasma conduit. The Cain had two charges, so I set it on overload then got the hell out of there.

"It turned out I wasn't alone. There were others in the area as well. A Quarian, another Commando, and a human. The Reaper or whatever it was controlling the processing unit tried to get inside my head. The Cain detonated sooner than I'd expected. And the human saved our lives by killing the banshee. Unfortunately she didn't make it out." She finished her drink. Clark motioned to Stu for a refill.

"So that big explosion we saw and the other one we felt was you guys?" Pvt. Smith asked.

"Yeah, that was us." Erikka said trying not to make a big deal out of it.

"Well, it really pissed off the reapers." Clark said. "They were herding people down there like cattle, and they just beam killed them afterward."

"Then we did them a favor. Being ground up into mush is no way to die." Jack said.

"You're not feeling those at all are you?" Clark asked Ereba.

"Just a little buzz, that's all. I'll even stand up and walk around. See?" Ereba said. "I didn't mention. My dad is Krogan. He's fighting down here. I've had Ryncol with him. Now that stuff is strong. Our biotics give us a natural immunity to alcohol. Try an Asari gel drink sometime. Don't let the little umbrella fool you. They kick like a mule. If we survive this, come drinking with us. My mom is fighting down here, too. She's in another unit. Damn, I hope they're both still alive." Ereba got this worried look on her face.

Shay put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you can't think like that. You've got to think positive."

"I know, hon. I know." Ereba replied. "We all do."

"Hey, 'Nassa. What the hell was that?" Banes asked. "And sorry for giving you **** out there."

"You've got to be careful about who you talk **** to." 'Nassa said. "Asari get disrespected a lot, and I don't like it. We get it in the Earth media. It's like all you see is pole dancers. Well now you've seen some bad asses. And if you met our sarge, she puts us all to shame, and you know what? She pole dances to keep in shape. She's the best infiltrator I've ever seen."

"No. I wasn't talking about that. You made your point. I'm not going to be able breathe for a month. We will be looking at Asari with a whole new light. ****!" Banes said rubbing his nose and smiled. "I was talking about that friend of yours you picked up.

"Oh that." She lifted her LMG with pride. "This is an older Asari design. It's called the NAA Hellbringer. It's based on a Gatling gun, but we found a way of making it lighter. It still weighs about 14 kg, straps around the shoulder with quick release clips. Nos Astra Armory did a sweet job of adjusting the balance with mass effect fields to minimize kick, and it fires 2000 rounds per minute of high velocity armor piercing 7.62 mm rounds. They also solved the speed ramp problem. It kicks right in. It uses liquid eezo dichloride in addition to thermal clips for cooling. It also has a built in motion tracker. Not too many Commandos carry one because it tends to slow biotic recharge time. But trust me, against the reapers while biotics are nice, the girls here don't mind having this baby backing them up. Take it from me. If you see one on the market, buy it. They're worth the 100000 CR for the base model."

"Holy ****!" Banes said. "100000 CR"

"Yeah, I earned it. 60 years in Eclipse. I was a commander. One of Jona Sederis' go to people." Ranassa said. "That was nice and all that, but these girls? These are my ****ing buds."

"Plus she went through two sets of armor during the war just carrying it." T said.

"Yeah, but you give good back rubs." 'Nassa said.

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 31 août 2013 - 07:29 .

[favoritehookeronthecitadel]

Arkeer woke up. He was alone, stranded. Now above ground. He winced, before using his might to stand up. He could hear shots in the distance, but no bodies or anything else was around him. He coughed for a bit, and felt several massive wounds on his chest and stomach. Oh well. He wasn't dead yet. He started walking and staggered a bit, but managed to keep his footing. He looked around. "****."

The missiles were gone. He felt this draining feeling, as if he failed. Is..his mother safe? Then he shook it off and kept walking forward, though with a limp. And then he fainted again. He felt this wince and white hot pain in his head, pain too much, even for a Krogan, that he started to scream. And then he remembered. What he was dreaming about before the explosion.

The images of Rea. Trapped. Screaming. She screamed help, over and over again. "No." the Krogan mumble, grinding his teeth in pain. She's ok. She can take care of herself. But Rea's screams and cries made Arkeer's headache worsen. Flashing colors, and images of him and Rothan standing still casually. Then Rothan dissapeard, his voice in Arkeer's head. "I've got it. You keep going." Rothan was walking backwards in slow motion as Arkeer watched on. He wanted to go. He reached out his hand said "Wait. You'll die."

"I have to go."

"Wait."

Rothan was gone.

"Wait!"

Rothan reappeared. But now he was covered in blood. His insides were hanging out. No suit at all. With a knife, he started cutting his own face. Blood dripping down his horrible disfigured smile. "I have to keep it clean."

"No!"

"You left her to die"

"I had to!"

"You'll ALWAYS leave her to die!"

"Shut up!"

"No! You will never save her!"

"Shut UP!"

And then, the image of a Reaper. "We are not your enemy. We are not what you believe."

Arkeer was now standing in the presence of a Reaper.

"What the ****! Why? Do you want to kill me? Do it already!"

"We are not your enemy. You can't save her. It's not who you are. Krogans are a different breed."

"Now you're just being racist."

"You can't save her."

"She didn't NEED to be saved. She can protect herself! Either that, or she was already dead."

"We can save her."

"No, you can't. You want to kill her. And him. And us."

"You misunderstand. We are your salvation. Without us, the galaxy is doomed to the same cycle. Again and again. They will not stop."

"No!" Arkeer barked. "You're a lying computer! Nothing less."

"Look at what happened to your race. The Salarians and Turians created the Genophage. Your mother....almost died."

"No!"

"Giving birth."

"NO!"

"To a dead fet-"

"SHUT UP!"

"She was never the same."

"**** YOURSELF." Arkeer screamed. His rage at the Reaper, even if it was in his head, was more overfilled than anything else. "Yeah, they created the Genophage. They hurt my mother. It was a mistake. But they helped fix it."

"No. They needed you."

"NO, that's not it!"

"WE are the reason it was cured."

"That's not true"

"It is!"

Then his head started to feel worst again. And he had images of his mother when he was a kid. Of them playing together. Her kindness and sweetness, and her warm smile. Arkeer playing on a remote controlled swing set. Flashing images of him lying on the floor. Salarian, turian, and asari kids, throwing rocks, all laughing. He was trying to hide his tears as he laid there. A few minutes after they left, he walked him with his head down. He was alone, but he should've fought back. And then he heard his mom say, "Only fight back if you feel like you need to."

He was back in his house. Feeling comfort against his mom's arm as she wrapped hers around him and smiled. She put some bandaids on him and made him cookies. And then suddenly, she was asleep. Lying in a hospital on the Citadel, permanently. He walked over to her and gave her flowers, though she was unconscious as usual. Sometimes that was better than being awake. He would lie the flowers beside her, and walked over to the window. Looking out at all the ships, wishing that he could take his mom with him in one.

And then running. Through the smoke and the blur. The warn wind brushing against him, trying to shoot everything in sight. Ammo nearing empty. Brutes surrounded him. This was the end. His mother always told him not to fight until he needed to, and he was resigned, knowing that he would go out fighting.

And then there was a soft voice. Beautiful, even. "Come on! Over here!" Arkeer saw a figure in the distance. Surprised, but he started running to it! "Come on!" He ran to the screaming, and then stopped. It was Niria. Her fatal wounds that she had before, face pale and oozing blood.

"Come on Arkeer!"

"No!"

"We are your salvation."

Arkeer noticed the bodies of Rothan and Rea on the ground in front of her.

"Join us."

"NOOOO!"

He woke up. Clenching his still aching head, and wondering what that was.

Modifié par favoritehookeronthecitadel, 31 août 2013 - 10:58 .

[Redbelle]

Babylon ran till she couldn't run any more. Then she stopped, and wheezed. Wyld was resting on a support beam in a dark corner of some building hidden in a ceiling somewhere. For all she knew she could be dying. She didn't know and not knowing had resulted in her mind thinking through the possibilities of what the future could hold.

Out of all the scenario's she could imagine, the majority of them painted a bleak picture for her own future prospect's. Wyld was not proving reliable enough to hang her long term ambition's on.

It was typical, she thought. On one hand, Steiner, the lead candidate for pacifying the Tee-eff and the Misfit's was unwilling to commit to that goal. And on the other hand, Wyld, was demonstrating all the will necessary to drive them forward, but was proving to have a knack for landing them in position's that she had trouble dealing with.

It was Wylds fault she was out here by herself. Getting shot and ignoring her advice not to remove the bullet had resulted in her being where she was. Now it was up to Babylon to call in the cavalry, like she'd wanted before. The army had to be out there right? That was their job. To be there when you needed them? All she had to do was call out for help.

She'd done a course on use of a radio. She knew she had to get somewhere high up and away from the injured. The concept of high up was relative though. It just meant away from obstruction's. There was a road network, not far from where she was. She could go there. Call for help. Then wait to be picked up.

Or maybe she could call now, she thought as she looked around. There was nothing so high that could bounce a signal. Why not? She could meet the Mako's at the road that way and save some time.

She'd be stupid not to do it.

She set down her rifle, dropped to one knee and activated her Omni-tool.

“This is Amy Babylon to all Alliance forces.”. She began. “I'm a civilian and alone and the Alliance woman I was with is wounded and unconscious. I need someone to come get me..... Steiner.....”. She added. “I need you back. Wyld's not working out. I'm going to a road and if anyone can.....”.

Her comm abruptly squawked as another voice she didn't recognise came over the comm. “Babylon right? Stop broadcasting”.

Amy's heart leapt with joy at hearing another voice. “Please. If your military I need your help”.

“Your on an open channel”. The voice all but yelled. “The Reaper's can hear you”!

“But I need help! Wyld needs help”!

A new voice came over the comm. “This is Mako commander Patterson. I hear you. We're en route to the zone. We'll find you but you need to stop broadcasting and get away from where you are now. Reapers may be converging on your position”.

“But what about Wyld? She was shot and we need to get to her and.....”. She stopped and looked up. Suddenly realising that she'd been so focused on running away, that she hadn't been paying attention to where she'd been going. “Oh no. I don't know where she is..... How am I supposed to find her now.....”?

“Get off this channel”!

“But what are we....”?

Another voice. Calm and intense came over the Comm. “Amy....”. Said Wyld. “Here's what your going to do. Head for that road. I'm right behind you. But I need you to stop broadcasting and start running again, And I mean yesterday sister! Wyld out”. The comm line went dead and Babylon blinked.

Wyld was alright? She was dying and now she was magically alright? She picked up her rifle and fumed. Thanks to Wyld she'd been scared out of her mind, tried to help her and now she was messing up her carefully laid plan of rescuing her and saving her! Wyld really was a loose cannon, she thought as she picked up her rifle and began running. From somewhere, not so far away, a wailing shriek echoed down the street. Babylon ran, trying to ignore the stitch in her side.

Modifié par Redbelle, 31 août 2013 - 04:28 .

[Redbelle]

Despite her wound healing, she was still feeling the effects as she ran as fast as her wound allowed her. Ahead, Momma told her, was the remains of a road network. One that filtered main traffic into, and out of, this part of the city. Though she could not see the network she could see a tall, large high rise parking facility that was supposed to be near it. Like the rest of the surrounding building's it bore the ravages of war. Brick facing was torn off in places and the Kestrel zoomed in on section's where Wyld could see bullet holes high up. The only reason she could think of was at some past time, people had used it to fire down onto the roads below. An large section of the high rise had collapsed into the next level with carbon scoring surrounding the outer edge's. Thinking of the Harvester's attack she'd survived, it didn't take much to imagine what response the Reaper's had made to that tactic. The high rise still stood despite it's scar's however. Wyld used it as a landmark to approach her target.

Babylon. Wyld hoped she was still alright. The open broadcast had been bone head stupid. But it had allowed Momma to detect and angle her towards Babylon's position. Her own response to Babylon's transmission had been equally risky. But since Babylon had let the cat out the bag as to where she was, she'd had to take the risk. If only to get her moving so Babylon was now a moving target.

At the very least, she'd got her to stay off the comm.

Eventually, Wyld came to the foot of the High Rise and she paused to place a hand against the wall and take a breather. Her wound was making a simple journey through the city into a lengthy affair. Had she not been in such a hurry, she'd have taken it much slower. Or just gone to a hospital and had her wound properly treated. Speed heal drugs existed that could have taken care of and healed the wound in no time. As it was, the medigel was simply allowing her to put off proper treatment while allowing her to remain effective on the field.

Pulling herself upright and pushing off from the wall she took a step forward.

Gunfire suddenly erupted from above her, inside the high rise. Followed by a blood curdling scream of something that did not sound human, coming from the direction of the shooting. Wyld looked up and started looking for a way in. “Momma”. She said urgently. “If a Mako comes, direct them to us if you can. I'm going to be busy”.

“Do you think we have located Ms Babylon”?

Wyld pulled out her pistol. “At this point, does it matter who”? She asked. She couldn't see a way in and the clock was ticking. She placed a foot against the wall and, digging her toes in, caused her prosthetic to adhere to the surface. She climbed up the wall.

Modifié par Redbelle, 01 septembre 2013 - 07:30 .

[Kel Riever]

“So,” Rothan began, “you checked out? I mean, I don’t want to pry…”

“In a manner of speaking,” Rea answered. She looked up at Earth’s moon as the two exited the medical facility and slowed her pace. “We didn’t get into some things, like the laterals I tore from the fall, because the medigel took care of those, sore as they are. Or the shoulder…that’s something to work through also.”

“But, you’ll be all right?”

Rea stopped and kept taking in the sight of the moon. Lost in her own contemplation, she said, “You know, most of the asari worlds I’ve been to don’t have any moons. Including Thessia.”

Rothan stared up, himself. “I like it. There’s something beautiful about it and eerie at the same time. If it wasn’t for the war, this would be an incredible night.”

While Rothan was captivated, Rea’s eyes slipped towards him. She couldn’t read him with his body language or through his visor. Rea had the primal feeling of wanting to embrace him again, and yet she waited. “You have someone back at the fleet. Someone you care about?”

“My parents.” Rothan rested his hands on his head and wrapped his fingers together. “And a sister. But I don’t know if my home is up there anymore.”

Rea stepped closer, “What do you mean?”

Shrugging, Rothan answered, “I think I was closer to my friends from the academy.” He dropped his hands. “Some of them I was very close to.”

“And you miss them.”

“Terribly.” This time, Rea could hear the sorrow in Rothan’s voice. “How could I not? You must understand how it is. To have someone so close to you, next to you, that you feel is just a part of you and then they are taken away, without a single chance to say anything, or do anything before they are gone.”

“You want to have that last moment with them.”

Rothan lowered his head. “Yes.”

Rea reached out her hand to touch Rothan, but before she could, he turned away, not noticing. “We should go get your gear at the armory.” Rothan started walking once more, missing her gesture.

Pulling back her hand, Rea clenched it in frustration. Then she realized the meaning of the last words Rothan had just said and squinted suspiciously at him.

Modifié par Kel Riever, 01 septembre 2013 - 05:22 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

BoL - The Lost Asari XXXVI

Ereba took one more shot of Scotch, stood up and took a look at Sgt Clark, and said to him. "Hey, while I can still stand up and walk, I'm going to head to the infirmary and get this stink taken off of me. Hey Shay, come on. I don't think 'Nassa's going to cause any trouble." She made a gun finger at 'Nassa and 'Nassa returned it and winked.

Ereba started singing an Asari drinking song on the way out of the pub, and she turned and saluted them. The marines started applauding and laughing. When they got outside they saw Rothan heading over to the armory and Rea standing alone looking frustrated.

"Hey Rea! Lovely night isn't it? We're getting the stink cleaned off us. Then we're headed back into the pub for a few more drinks." Ereba said.

"I think you've had enough." Shayrana said to her.

"Nah. You heard what the sarge said, hon. 'We could all be dead tomorrow.'" Ereba said. "So like my dad said. '**** it!' So Rea, why don't you join us?"

"If he's not going to get the hint, I think I will." Rea said, motioning at Rothan.

"Could you show us where that device is in the infirmary, hon?" Ereba asked.

"How many drinks have you had?" Rea asked as they entered the infirmary.

"I don't know. How many, Shay? Four, five?" Ereba asked.

"It was about five." Shayrana said.

"I think I forgot to eat." Ereba said. "That's the problem."

The Salarian saw them enter.

"I said you were okay, what are you doing back?" The Salarian asked. "And you two stink. Bob, disinfect these two."

"Yes, doctor." the drone replied.

"That's what we came in for." Shayrana said. "The other three in my squad will be in for disinfecting as well. We were in that gore and the leather absorbed the stuff. We hosed it off the best we could."

The doctors sighed. "Then you put it right back on. You could get skin infection. Disgusting. Get behind curtain and take off your armor. Might as well run scans. Bob disinfect inside of armor. And you! Out."

"No, she's with us." Shayrana said. "She's a Commando."

The Salarian grumbled. Rea laughed. Rothan was probably looking for her, Rea thought, but let him look right now. He can't seem to get the hint.

The doctor looked at Ereba and said. "You should be out cold. Blood alcohol level way too high. You need to eat. Bad. Bob is finished with your armor. Get dressed and go eat."

Then he turned to Shayrana. "You, on the other hand have not been taking your medication. Very dangerous not to."

"It's gone. Lost in the underground." Shayrana told the doctor, and that was the truth. Besides if she still had it, it would have been contaminated.

"Special medication. I don't think I have any." He sighed and put his hands on hers. "Promise if you get to an Asari ship you'll tell them, yes?"

"I promise. I promised Ereba." Shayrana told the doctor.

"Now everyone get dressed and out!" The doctor said.

"I've got to get some new armor." Rea said.

"They probably have that N7 crap over there, but it's better than nothing." Ereba said. "There's no balance in that stuff, and it's not tuned to your biotics either."

"About all it's good for is protection from bullets." Shayrana said.

"If they've got Commando leathers there, I'll buy you a round." Ereba said.

"What about me?" Shayrana said.

"I'll buy you... two rounds." Ereba said. "Lovely moon out tonight, isn't it, hon?"

"That's better." Shayrana laughed and they staggered over to the armory.... well Ereba did anyway. Sully was putting stuff back up on shelves when they got there.

"Sully!" Ereba yelled.

"What do you want?" Sully asked. "And quit yelling."

"Do you have any Commando Leathers?" Rea asked.

"Do I have any Commando Leathers?" Sully replied. "If I do they're not new, you know that, right? I'm sorry to have to say that. I've patched them up the best I can. I'm working on a set that came in today that might fit you, but it's going to take me a while. Or you can take a set of this N7 stuff."

"Those leathers are mine." Rea said. "When could you have them ready?"

"If no one interrupts me again, probably in an hour." Sully said. "I was a leatherworker before the war. But is there anything else these others want before I go back to work?"

"Do you have another bottle of that fancy scotch that Sgt Clark likes?" Ereba asked.

Sully sighed. "Yeah, but I can't sell it. It's his private reserve."

"But I'm buying it for him." Ereba said.

"Well, alright then. That'll be 300 CR." Sully said and rang up Ereba's credits.

"So let's go to the pub and get some drink and food, Rea." Shayrana said. "Your armor will be ready in about an hour."

"What about Rothan?" Rea asked.

"He'll find us in the pub." Ereba said. "You need a break after what you went through."

The three of them entered the pub. Ereba held up the bottle of scotch and handed it to Sgt Clark.

"Where did you get that? Did Sully?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, I told him I was buying it for you, and it cost me 300 CR. So start pouring." Ereba said.

"That son of a b****! And he ripped you off." Clark said.

"So what? I'm 138. I would normally live to 1000. I could be dead tomorrow. This war could **** me out of almost 900 years." Ereba said. "Do I care about 300 CR?"

"Point taken." Clark said.

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 01 septembre 2013 - 07:55 .