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[Kel Riever]

"Who's Forward Command?  This is Savos, I'm moving into the pursuit pattern now."

"This is Sergeant Brooks, I'm FC.  Pursuit level three, deadly force authorized but not recommended at this time.  Stay on them, drive them down, we'll run them out.  If you get a chance at a vehicle intervention technique, take it.  No shooting the engine, no shooting into the passenger compartment.  If you have to fire, watch the line.  We're not interested in civilian casualties here."

"This is Chief MacGowan at Central, taking over from Dispatch, all units in pursuit of suspects in black limo from twenty east eighty one.  There's a change to that, Brooks.  We have reason to believe the hostages are in immanent danger.  Full use of force is authorized but hostages must be unharmed.  However, units in pursuit are ordered to actively engage.  Take these perps down immediately."

Sargeant Brooks looked at his partner and hesitated before calling the chief back.  "This is Brooks.  Confirm again, Chief?  You want us to actively engage?  Risk will be at the highest level."

"You have your orders, Brooks.  Engage and bring them down.  Get those hostages out alive.  The rest are not our concern."

"Affirmative.  All units, you heard the Chief."  As Brooks concentrated on driving, he said to his partner. "Find out how far out S.W.A.T. is.  We need the marksmen."

~ ~ ~ ~

The two riders on jetbikes, all in black, slipped inconspicuously behind the patrol cruisers racing in front of them, then began accelerating towards them.  They spoke through their coms, the conversation in Japanese.

"Ryota," the woman said, "Hideki-sama has approved?"

"Yes, Bingo.  Deploy weapons."

Simultaneously, a cover on the nose of each jetbike slid aside to reveal a gun port, with a recessed machine gun.

"Killing officers can lead to war, Ryota."

"Hideki-sama deems it worth the risk.  He says, in fact, that it is likely inevitable."

"They have not noticed us yet, Ryota.  I suggest we use surprise to our advantage."

"Your advice is sound, Bingo.  We must help the weak and fight the strong."

"As it is always, Ryoto."

 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Vahallan Threshold - Paz System - Garvug (by Jensaarai Brotarian)

 

The Twin-Spirals compound was radically different now that the talks were to occur there. Surrounding the building, protestors had been moved back as a force of Vorcha, Corporate Forces, and Krogan formed their own barrier lines, clearing a wide space for the representatives and their armed forces. Mantis gunships and Tomkah Tanks stood on opposite sides, almost as if to symbolize the air and ground disparity of Garvug’s fight. On the third floor, everyone had been cleared out in order for there to enough room for everyone, and it seemed everyone had indeed showed up.

 

Cervus Venator, commander of the Sonax Forces, stood with an accompaniment of guards, one was an Asari dressed in simple medium armor, who stood stone-faced next to the Turian as he waited for the meeting to begin; the other a fellow Turian, fully enclosed in heavy black armor whose red highlights and angular design was reminiscent of the terminus assault armor. Cervus's yellow eyes were like 2 glowing embers admits his almost black face, with bright yellow markings on both mandibles and under both eyes, as he dressed in what Turians considered formal military attire. All maintained what one would consider military discipline during the event.

 

Byron Gascoigne, the leader of Guanghui's forces, was by contrast seated comfortably, a man who appeared in his 50's with dark blond hair cut short, and a well-trimmed beard, going through a data pad as his 4 guards made themselves known. 2 of them were fellow humans, both wearing onyx medium armor as they chatted with one another, though kept an eye peeled on the others in the room. A Batarian was with him, with a overly-sized looking knife that he took to sharpening now of all times, about the size of a bowie as he wore his deep red mercenary armor. Oddest of all however, was the Krogan who stood right next to Byron’s seat, incredibly large in white and blue armor, with what appeared to be a massive hammer strapped to his back. His arms were crossed, and the Guanghui logo on his humps armor made it clear whose side the behemoth was on. Byron himself wore a full set of Hahne-Kedar Armor, with not a scratch to be found.

 

Payatpri however, seemed to be the oddest of the bunch. The Hanar stood at the meeting table, suspended in the air via the mass effect technology, his dark blue body undulating gently as he waited patiently for the meeting to begin. Standing next to him was a black cloaked figure, his green features beneath the hood making him out to be Drell as he stood, an ever attentive bodyguard in what looked like archaic light armor. There was a Salarian standing on the Payatpri's other side, arms behind his back and eyes glancing towards all in the room. 4 Loki mechs also stood behind, simply in standby mode as they awaited orders to fill out. An odd mix of species, they seemed to give off the oddest feeling in the room.

 

In the center of the room was a table set up, large and rectangular, it seemed design to merely separate the two sides within the room, as well as simply serve a traditional purpose. Isaac Rows stood at one end of the table, Kyll next to him as well as a group of 3 other Vorcha, as they glanced between the newly arriving Spectre and Wrund forces, and the already present corporate cabal.

 

"Well, well..." Wrund began as he walked forward towards the table, "It looks like all the main players are here. A thank you for not just sniping me outside the building," he said with a nod of his head, his own two Krogan bodyguards walking up to join their clan leader. Compared to the others, Wrund’s forces almost seemed light, but followed behind the Krogan was Naleena and Essul who made sure to walk a distance away from the Krogan once inside.

 

"Do not take us for fools, Hailot..." Cervus said with a scowl on his face, "We do not want war, merely to put the resources your planet has to good use." The Turian spoke with animosity, making it clear how he felt about the Krogan before him. "Indeed. And you did propose this peace, did you not? Surely you have to realize exactly what kind of positon you’re in." Byron spoke with arrogance, letting everyone know how beneath him this Krogan was.

 

"This one does not wish to ill feelings. However, this one has not forgotten what you did to the Binary Helix employees and property on this planet..." Payatpri spoke with the tone all Hanar spoke with, but a flash of bright blue across his body, made it clear his feelings on the matter, "This one will expect discussion of compensation, during this meeting."

 

"Now, now. Let's not get carried away this early. These are peace talks, right? Let's talk, first," Wrund said with a smirk on his face, taking his seat at the table.

 

"We've all got things we want in this place. Right? We can work them out here, and now, without the need for violence..." Isaac spoke up, trying to calm down the tension in the room, "Now please, let’s all take a seat and begin."

 

All the big players did so, beginning the peace talks as Essul stood with Naleena, serving as observer. "Everyone’s prepared to spring into action. This kind of atmosphere...I don't think we'll get a good outcome." He made sure to use a closed channel to speak to her, not wanting the others to overhear as the meeting got underway.

 

////////////////////////////////////

 

The cruisers and carrier had been stuck with their attention on the medusa for some time now, and as the ERCS carrier had attempted to spearhead the situation, supplanting the Morgan's authority, tempers had flared. Although comms had gone silent, neither ship had taken any action, the targeting systems of the carrier still on the trading vessel. Captain Chase stood at the helm of his ship in frustration as he discussed things with his Turian counterpart aboard the carrier.

 

"Captain Aulus, I apologize if my actions offended you. But I am in charge of planetary defenses. Your actions were insubordination, plain as day." The human explained as he rubbed his temple, not cut out for this. He should have been on a rotation job, going to his temporary home on whatever colony he was to guard, instead of stuck here in orbit.

 

"For the last time. I am not in your companies employ, therefore your command structure does not mean anything to me. We are joint forces, and as such, have no one leader on this mission." Aulus was getting truly angry with this human, who seemed incapable of seeing reason. He was wrong, simple as that, and the fact he wouldn't admit it was driving the Turian mad. "I swear we should have wiped them out of Shanxi." He muttered under his breath.

 

Both ships kept communication with one another up, their attentions on each other, when 3 new signals seemed to enter the system. The signals came from the opposite side of the planet as the cruisers orbit path, and the carrier’s position made it difficult to line up any shots.

 

"Attention unidentified crafts, this is SSV Kirkwall. You are in a restricted area. Identify yourself," They asked, noticing that the signal seemed to be moving quickly, very quickly, towards Garvug. "Hello? D-does anyone read me? This is Nina'Del Vas Yosefka, of the Yosefka! We've got an injured member of our crew and are in immediate need of medical supplies!" The voice was female, that of a Quarian, who sounded quite panicked. The three vessels continued on their path, as the carrier moved to try and reposition as well as the other vessels.

 

"Damned suit rats..." Aulus muttered as he got on the line, "Negative on that request Yosefka. You and your party are to leave immediately."

 

"Please! We have permission to land. Binary Helix gave us authorization to." The voice said, as Aulus blinked in surprise.

 

"Send this authorization now or prepare to be fired upon..." The Turian commanded as he looked to his men, "Prepare to scramble fighters." He said, as the carrier was hailed. Aulus had the message brought onto main screen, looking it over as his eyes widened. It was authorization from the binary helix ground base, the Turian trying to examine it for evidence of fraud.

 

"Aulus, this is Chase. What is the status of these ships, over?" The Morgan hailed as Aulus composed himself quickly.

 

"Quarian vessels looking to land it seems. They have authorization from Binary Helix...." Aulus said, still not quite believing what he was saying.

 

"What? That can't be right. Sonax would have intercepted something like that..." Captain Chase said before he was interrupted. "Sir, we have an incoming signal. It appears to be from one of the new ships."

 

"Put it on screen..." Captain Chase ordered, not sure what to expect from the Quarian sending the message. As the message was displayed, it seemed to be quite simple at first. Garbage data mixed with legible data, and as captain chase tried to understand what he was looking at, the data script seemed to explode outwards with a flood of the garbage data text. "W-what is this!?" He demanded, before the main screen went black, a panicked reply from the communications room below.

 

"Our systems are being attacked! That hailing message, it appears to have been laced with some sort of virus. Our com systems are shut down!" the officer replied five seconds later, even more panicked, "It's targeting our atmospherics! Someone shut that thing down now!"

 

"Get that virus contained and target those vessels! I want them fired upon immediately!" Captain Chase ordered, outraged as his cruiser was left effectively mute to the rest of the fleet around it.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Vahallan Threshold - Paz System - Garvug (SJ)

 

Emergency generators had been connected to light the room and provide heat to the facility. The room in which the meeting had been set was large and had a crescent shaped table on one end and a rectangular table on the other. It had apparently been used for official gatherings of some sort in less stressful times. The generators supplied power to the stark white overhead lights. Each representative took the seat assigned to them. The Spectre and Essul sat at the rectangular table in the front. The arrangement focused everyone on them.

 

Naleena took the crystal carafe filled with filtered water in front of her and poured it into the glass until it was half-full. Then she took a cigarette out of her case, tapped it, lit it, and blew the first smoke out her nostrils, then stood. “I am Naleena T’sarius. I am a Council Spectre. I am here by request of Hailot Wrund to act as mediator for these talks. My purpose is to prevent a war.

 

“I think first it is best to establish some ground rules. One: Everyone will get a chance to speak and you will have five minutes to state your case because I know that each of you are very busy people. Two: No one will interrupt anyone while they are speaking unless they want to get hit with a stasis field…. I am not bluffing. Too many people have died already. Three: After a person speaks, if there were any accusations made, the accused party will have a chance to answer the accusation or accusations without having it count against their time. Four: All weapons will remain holstered.

 

“Tensions have been building for quite a while. The world is divided. We have corporations with paramilitary forces vying for the planet’s resources and the people who live on this world are caught in the middle of it. Quite honestly I’m disgusted with the entire situation. What is obvious is that no one is leaving, and everyone wants something. So shall we begin. I’ve put the names of each party on pieces of paper and dropped them into this bowl. I will draw them out at random. That’s fair, yes?”

 

Naleena reached into the bowl and drew the first slip of paper. “Payatpri, Binary Helix. What do you want?” Then she sat in her chair and took a drag from her cigarette.

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Dahlia continued monitoring the communications on the bridge of the Medusa. “Holy Athame! It’s chaos out there among the other ships. One of them has gone silent, apparently under a cyber-attack from a new arrival.  Erecting additional firewalls.”

 

Then she got on the hardline to Gunnery. Babe’s line flashed and she hesitated, but picked up. “Gunnery, Babe here.”

 

“Babe, Dahlia here. Sorry about earlier. We have an emergency. I’m sending you firewall code through the hardline. Activate it when you get it to protect your station. Stay frosty down there.”

 

“Gotcha,” she replied. The activity was just what Babe needed to take her mind off the earlier incident. She stuck the receiver into the ancient modem and received the code. When the light turned green she spoke again. “Code received and installed.”

 

“You’re alright, Babe. Dahlia out.”

 

Dahlia contacted Engineering, Life Support and other critical areas and repeated the procedure.

[Redbelle]

Anika reached up and undid the seals on her helmet to reveal her cool as ice persona as she attached the helm to her armours hardpoint. With that one she brought up the comm system while expanding the limo's sensor screen to better see their pursuer's. Inclining her head to Frank she nodded.

 

"Alright. Hedeki might not appreciate his front company being overrun after all.....".

 

Thinking to herself she hit Hedeki's channel and found him on.

 

"Anika-kun! You have hit trouble"?

 

"Hai. Police were infiltrated. One, Pete Richards, seemed agitated before he died".

 

"You are suspicious"?

 

"Hai".

 

"I will investigate this Richards.... But more pressing matters! You are persuaded and my data shows you have seriously injured person aboard! I have my own medical team on standby but we need to know where to meet"!

 

"Any suggestions"?

 

"Go to this address"! The comm screen showed a place, a building with an underground entrance to a underground parking lot. Anika was about to object when she saw it played host to multiple buildings and had several ways in and out. She smiled, but then Hedeki said. "One of these buildings plays host to an old nemesis who has returned, despite my warnings! I was going to have the local street gang take care of it but....! I see a way to kill two birds with one stone as your captain say. I have another car there. Plus medical team in another car. You go, you separate. My men attack my rival. You escape and my men will run interference. Is a good plan"!

 

Anika opened her mouth to protest but realized she didn't have anything better to get the heat off their backs. She looked over to Frank. "Sounds like a good plan"? She asked.

 

Hedeki heard her. "That your pilot? Hey you! Do you prefer car fresh lavender? Or just set of interior gas bomb to kill microbes? I take good care of your shuttle while you are gone! Hope you respect limo! Want it back after police impound it"!

[Cainhurst Crow]

Payatpri tilted forward, the only way hanar could actually bow in any respect, as he took the floor, "As a representative of Binary Helix, this one is interested in restoring garvug to previous habitable conditions. However, this one is also interested in...compensation. And, retribution..." If it were possible for a hanar to sound menacing, Payatpri was certainly trying his best as he turned to face hailot wrund.

 

"This one has lost scientists to your forces initial attacks. Many minds who were very valuable to galactic society as a whole. This one understands that there were key members responsible for the attack. This one would like to request what may pass as krogan justice applied to them. In other words, please execute those who carried out the attacks..."

 

The silence in the room was deafening, even hailot who had been tapping one hand on his knee had stopped and looked at payatpri curiously. Having not expected that out of the jellyfish.

 

"There is another matter, that this one feels need to discuss. During our efforts to restore the ecological system of the habitable belt, this one feels the need to state that Binary Helix reserves the rights for any biological or anthropological discoveries to be examined and claimed by our organization.  Of course, if any relics of significance are discovered, such as those belonging to the enkindlers, Binary Helix will follow all laws regarding their...deportation into council ownership."

 

Cervus and Byron both sent a death glare towards their compatriot, and hailot, true to his word, did not interrupt the hanars speech.

 

"This one trusts that as a representative of the council, that such terms are agreeable?" Payatpri asked as he looked towards naleena, his bright blue streaks along his body shimmering as he spoke. It was clear what Payatpri was talking about, and it seemed he was keen on letting the spectre know as well.

 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Shiagur hospital was much more thinned out in terms of men with the peace talks going on, giving vayne the chance to explore around a bit without much suspicion. As he did so, he managed to spot the young krogan who'd made this all possible, walking up towards him with solemn grin.

 

"Hey...how you holding up?" Vayne asked as he looked down to quill, the later still nursing his black eye and bruises as he winced a bit, looking up towards the grizzled veteran.

 

"I guess I can't call you cyclops now, huh?" Quill asked weakly, trying to laugh at the situation and nothing really coming out but a strained smile, "I'm sorry I roped you all into this. Things were bad, I thought I was gonna die for sure..."

 

"That's why we came. Couldn't let one of my sources go dying on me, right?" Vayne asked as he crossed his arms, taking a seat next to the young scout, "Why don't you tell me what happened. Your version of things?"

 

Quill looked towards vayne with a bit of surprise before he nodded, "Well...it started a couple of weeks ago. Binary Helix showed up wanting to do some environmental work to improve the planet. Hailot Wrund let em do what they wanted, but then..." Quill looked around, as if making sure no one else was around before he spoke up again, "Hailot was digging some expansion tunnels when his men hit the artifact. All the workers down there died, and binary helix took to trying to investigate the tunnels.  Hailot decided to that it was too risky to have binary helix snooping around the place, and dealt with em. That's when **** hit the fan..." Quill said with a shake of his head.

 

"I tried to keep my cool, looking for a chance to make some credits out of the situation. But then hailot started talking about this big plan to drive all the corporate forces off world. I had to tell someone, and I remembered you putting out those feelers a while back for any potential leads on relics or strange events..." Quill brought a hand up to the side of his face, flinching as he touched his bruise, "Guess it backfired on me. Corporate forces had dogged me back to clan hailot territory, but hailot wasn't pleased either....he decided I needed to be punished, even when he heard about a spectre coming and started making plans."

 

"...Guess I'm the one who aught to be sorry..." Vayne said as he looked out towards the large empty ground floor of the base, an occasional vorcha or krogan milling about and still manning the comm station, and a couple guards posted around the tomkah, watching the rest of the group. "All this mess, these damn plots my boss is wrapped up in. And here I went adding her to another one..."

 

"...You actually like this one, don't you?" Quill asked, vayne blinking in surprise as he looked to quill curiously, "The hell do you mean by that?"

 

"You called that asari your boss. And you actually seem to give a damn about her and your team..." Quill said, sounding pretty astonished at the fact, "Usually you're just about that next paycheck. What happened there?"

 

Vayne couldn't help but sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he answered, "...She's...different. Different from a lot of people I've worked for. There's not the usual inflated ego or glory hounding, or adherence to the rules you see with these council types. And she gives a damn about people, which is pretty rare for a spectre..." He said as he looked off towards the distance, eye unfocused as he thought on it, "The boss is a good person, where it counts at least. After so long...it feels good working with that sort of thing again, you know?"

 

Quill chuckled, an actual genuine chuckle as he looked to his old mentor, "When the heck did you get so soft?" he asked jokingly, vanye not helping but laugh along. It felt good, and on this planet, in this whole situation, they both made sure to remember that feeling.

 

"You know...even if this deal goes well...Hailot might not keep his word..." Quill said softly, looking nervous as he did so, "That warlords crazy, crazier then I and a lot of the others thought. Your boss is gonna need some help..."

 

"I know...each of us here's ready to do what it takes. But we're gonna leave here, hopefully with that relic, and take it far away from here..." Vayne said, glancing over towards quill as he spoke, "How'd you feel about coming with? At least until we make a stop off somewhere."

 

Quill blinked in surprise, looking down as he thought on the offer, "......If this boss is as good as you say...than maybe it'd be better for her to win." His mind made up, he glanced up towards the krogan, "Tell me what I need to do. We won't have much time till this meetings over."

[Cknarf]

"Helluva lot better than my plan." Frank replied, squinting at the sudden appearance of two green blips on the HUD. "I might actually survive this one."

 

“I’m gonna try to get closer.”

 

“Affirmative. we're right behind you, Savos.”

 

As the cruiser inched its way alongside the limo, Frank jerked the limo to the left, and gave it a nudge towards the line of buildings, causing it to back off and drop a few car lengths behind

 

“Bastard!”

 

"Savos! 6 'o clock high!"

 

On its second attempt, a strafe of mass accelerator fire began tearing into the rear of the car, and eventually into the passenger compartment.

 

“What the f-- ”

 

Frank looked away as the driver was splattered all over the interior. After glancing off the limo, the crippled car slowed, and began dropping out of the sky in an uncontrolled roll.

 

"Son of a b*tch..."

 

Looking at the feed from the rear camera, Frank saw a jetbike just above the second police car. The rider began unloading into the canopy with an SMG, causing the car to break off into a sharp right turn to avoid any further punishment. Once clear, one of the bikes pulled up next to the limo's window, and gave a nod, before pulling ahead.

 

"This is Mancuso. Savos is down, and my cruiser's trashed, I'm droppin' out. Requesting medical at this location."

 

"Copy. Medic is en route. ETA five minutes."

 

"All units be advised, the limo now has an escort. Two late-model bikes, all black. Both operators are heavily armed, proceed with caution."

[Kel Riever]

Previously...

...on the Janiri

The general alert status update flashed on the monitor in Team Boom's cabin. It was the only source of light in the room.

"What is it?"

"Nothing that we can do anything about. The ship is moving in position to cover the Medusa. Something is happening."

"We better be fast, then."

"Ow! Not too fast."

"Right."

The golden eyed asari clutched the naked, powerful shoulders of her long time teammate as Jenus moved down her body with purpose. When Jenus started went below Iole's waistline with her mouth, Iole groaned, and reached out to clutch whatever she could in her throes of racing pleasure. Through the gasps she asked, "Jenus, this...we're not letting it go past this. We have people we care about."

Jenus stopped for a moment, her breath heavy. "Goddess no we're not. Irina is still who I'm with, and you have Frank."

"When he's ready." Iole had the image of Eli in the shuttle underneath her.

"Then shut up, and let me get to work on you."

Iole had to bite down on her lip to make sure what would have been a loud moan was only a barely restrained whimper when Jenus began. She shuddered and accepted her commander.

[Cknarf]

“This is Viper two-one, I have visual.”

 

“Copy two-one. Weapons free.”

 

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Frank reflexively leaned, as if to avoid the remains of the flaming wreck that smashed off the front of the limo’s windshield.  “Where the f*** did he come from?” He asked, looking back at the stealth-equipped gunship that just shredded one of the bikes.

 

“Ha. Kill confirmed."

 

"Ha?"

[TheMajonese]

Arian walked around the Tomkah as if he was searching for any deficiencies or to make sure that the artifact was properly hidden by the paneling but he was actually trying to figure out whether it would be possible for them to just steal the tank and get out. Before they could even think of moving the Tomkah, they needed to get in it and without someone to hack the vehicle's controls, there was no way to even think of starting the engine. Maybe Frank or Faed would have been able to do that they weren't available right now. And VERA was busy covering Naleena. So the tank was no option.

 

But just grabbing the artifact was no viable option either. It had somehow killed a whole group of Wrund's men and one of them just died by touching it...

 

With a frustrated snort, Arian turned away. The waiting was unbearable and the turian became increasingly nervous. He hated waiting, especially when he didn't know what was going on. At the same time he liked to be prepared for the worst and at the moment, the worst case scenario was an open war between the corporate forces and the krogan warlord. It was unlikely that something like this would happen but...Arian was still nervous.

 

To distract himself a bit, he checked his gear and not for the first time, he realized that his Phaeston, while being a well-rounded weapon, just didn't have the firepower he needed. It was great as a backup weapon but Arian definitely needed something better than that. And heavier. The additional weight wasn't going to be a problem for him anyway.

 

He looked at the metal talons of his armor and wondered how sharp they actually were. Even though he had learned to fight with his own talons during his special training on Omega, Arian had never actually used them in a real combat situation. Using conventional weapons like a knife always felt more effective.

 

Arian activated his omni-tool to check how much time had passed so far. Even though it felt like quite a while since Naleena and Wrund had left the hospital, they probably just got started, so it would take much longer until something happened. The huge turian continued his circles around the tank and still couldn't come up with anything to calm down a bit, so he turned to Irina. "Hey!", he approached the woman and hesitated briefly before he said something. It still felt awkward to speak with other members of the team. "What do you think are the chances that this meeting is going to be successful?", he wanted to know.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina heard the Turian and was quite surprised. She unfastened her helmet, removed it and shook her stringy hair. Having lived on worlds where fresh water was usually in short supply, hygiene was not her strong suit. Life on a ship wasn't much different. All water had to be recycled.

 

She turned to Arian. "I think we'll be in a meat grinder. You know I told the boss. My opinion hasn't changed. I've been in them before: Elysium, Torfan. This doesn't feel any different. Honestly, I'm glad you came over here. I haven't had any chance to talk to you, and I'm getting all in knots inside, ready to explode. I want to shoot something.

 

"I notice you messin' with your rifle, and you were asking about a heavier hitting weapon," she showed him her Mattock and smiled. "Now take this. It came stock semi-automatic, but I did some mod work on it: semi-auto; 3-round burst fire mode; and full auto. Takes a bit to get used to the recoil but once you do, in burst mode it's deadly. And with the scope in semi-auto it's like a sniper rifle. Has a 24 round magazine. It's not one for laying down suppressing fire if that's what you're looking for, but if you want accuracy, range, and stopping power, trust me you'll have to go a long way to find better. It's scanned in the weapons fabricator. Septerax can set you up with one."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Garvug - Twin Spirals Compound - Peace Conference (JB &SJ)

 

Payatpri tilted forward, the only way Hanar could actually bow in any respect, as he took the floor, "As a representative of Binary Helix, this one is interested in restoring garvug to previous habitable conditions. However, this one is also interested in...compensation. And, retribution..." If it were possible for a Hanar to sound menacing, Payatpri was certainly trying his best as he turned to face Hailot Wrund.

 

"This one has lost scientists to your forces initial attacks. Many minds who were very valuable to galactic society as a whole. This one understands that there were key members responsible for the attack. This one would like to request what may pass as krogan justice applied to them. In other words, please execute those who carried out the attacks..."

 

The silence in the room was deafening, even Wrund who had been tapping one hand on his knee had stopped and looked at Payatpri curiously. Having not expected that out of the jellyfish.

 

"There is another matter, that this one feels need to discuss. During our efforts to restore the ecological system of the habitable belt, this one feels the need to state that Binary Helix reserves the rights for any biological or anthropological discoveries to be examined and claimed by our organization.  Of course, if any relics of significance are discovered, such as those belonging to the enkindlers, Binary Helix will follow all laws regarding their...deportation into council ownership."

 

Cervus and Byron both sent a death glare towards their compatriot, and hailot, true to his word, did not interrupt the Hanar’s speech.

 

"This one trusts that as a representative of the council, that such terms are agreeable?" Payatpri asked as he looked towards Naleena, his bright blue streaks along his body shimmering as he spoke. It was clear what Payatpri was talking about, and it seemed he was keen on letting the Spectre know as well.

 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Essul noticed how Cervus and Byron acted when Payatpri mentioned the “relics belonging to The Enkindlers” and turning them over to the Council, and he wrote it down on his data pad and passed it to Naleena.

 

Naleena raised her brow, picked up her glass with her right hand, took a sip of water, and set it down. “As a representative of The Council, such terms are acceptable. Is that a motion Payatpri?”

 

“This one considers that a motion.”

 

“Does anyone second the motion?” Naleena asked.

 

Payatpri turned to face his fellow representatives, looking to see their reactions in silence. Byron had a stern look of disapproval upon his face as he spoke, "As part of Guanghui Solutions and representative on this matter, I think it goes without saying that we will abide by council law, in this matter. However, such matters should be decided together, rather than by one partner. Wouldn't you agree Payatpri?"

 

"This one must insist to the contrary. Both Guanghui and Sonax lack the resources to preserve and properly research such discoveries. This one would hate to see such beneficial resources to the galaxy go to waste...would you not agree?" Payatpri pressed, making it clear he would not have this point under debate.

 

"Let's get this motion over with. The sooner we conclude these affairs, the better..." the Sonax representative said as he looked to the Spectre, "I second the motion." He said, casting the deciding vote amongst the corporations.

 

“All in favor?” Naleena asked and counted hands. “Let the record show that the motion to grant Binary Helix rights to anthropological and biological finds on the planet and that any finds of significance such as Prothean relics be turned over to The Council is passed.

 

“As per the ground rules, Hailot Wrund, you may now reply to the allegations presented by the Binary Helix representative.”

 

Hailot looked impatient as he stood to address the accusations, clearly irritated as he spoke, "I understand Binary Helix's desire to see my clans blood spilt. I can see to getting those responsible rounded up, but most of em's already dead. They tried to kill me during the coup..." Hailot said with a growl, crossing his arms as the Hanar remained unfazed.

 

"Very well. This one is pleased with such news. This one would ask that you send up their bodies as verification, as official property under the necrotic-ownership provision of our donation policy. Once that is done, Binary Helix will consider the matter resolved..." Cervus looked disgusted by the suggestion, evidently not approving of the lengths Binary Helix was going to get its compensation.

 

Hailot growled, but said little else, looking to Naleena as he spoke, "I think it’s the humans turn to make his demands..." He said as he took his seat.

 

"Excellent. We have one resolution passed and one situation resolved," Naleena said dragging her finger across the screen of her data pad. "And let it be known that there is one such archaeological item of Prothean origin awaiting transfer into Council hands at this moment. I'm certain everyone in this room is aware of its existence and its location. That is what initially brought me to Garvug. However, I am a woman of honor and I gave my word that I would seek a peace accord so we will continue."

 

She reached into the bowl and drew the next name. "Cervus Venator, Sonax Corporation. What do you want?" Naleena asked, took a sip of water and sat back in her chair.

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Back at the Hospital ....

 

Irina leaned over to Quill. “How did you get mixed up in this, welp?”

 

“Who’s this?” Quill asked with some aggression.

 

“Don’t mind her. She’s my Krannt. She’s earned her place.”

 

Quill looked at Irina then back to Vayne.

 

“I’ll tell you all about it when we get out of here. Crazy human thinks she’s Krogan.” Vayne said with a laugh. “I think she just has a death wish.”

[Kel Riever]

...New York City

When Morgan saw the one biker blasted out of the sky by the gunship, he got angry.  He looked to his mother and she knew what her son was asking just from the look on his face.

“You do what you have to, Morgan, to protect us.” Rosanne told him.

Morgan nodded and put on his helmet.  He told Keith, “If those cruisers fire on us, you point that gun out the port and you let hell loose.”

Keith hadn’t talked to his brother in a long time, but he didn’t question him now.  With one shake of his head in the affirmative, Keith began finding the gun ports in the limo where he could fire his assault rifle from. 

To his mother and Jen, Morgan said “Cover Molly, it’s going to get windy.”  He looked around and then up at the limousine’s sun roof.  Morgan opened it, only to find the gunship had moved above the limo, keeping pace and descending from above, in an attempt to drive Frank and the car downward.  Morgan closed the sunroof just in time as the gunship made a solid bump on the limo and Frank was forced to descend partially from the collision and fight to maintain control.

Changing what he was doing in an instant, Morgan checked the mag locks built into his armor for vacuum missions.  He threw the left side door open, straight out into the sky above New York, and put some force into the door to keep it agape.  The gunship was wider than the limo and it was coming in for another attempted collision. 

When the gunship bumped the limo this time, Morgan stuck to its surface with his locks and was pulled away with it.  For a split second, he hung in the air below the gunship, under threat of being torn off by the high speed through the air.  Then with a feat of incredible strength, he pulled himself up so that the mag locks on his knees caught, and he was hanging against the gunship’s underbody. 

As rapidly as he could while still being purposeful about where he placed his mag locks, Morgan maneuvered himself onto the side of the gunship.  The gunship made another attempt at the limo in the meantime, unable to contact the vehicle this time, but still close and lining up for another attempt.  The Yakuza jetbike moved alongside the gunship.  Morgan saw the woman rider stare at him.

I bet she has a sword.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a monofilament blade.

Morgan released the mag lock with one hand and made a chopping motion.  The rider understood, and sure enough, she reached back where a small handle was sticking up from the side of the seat behind her.  She took the handle, which was a sword handle, and drew a gleaming katana from its sheath.  Morgan knew he’d have to time it perfectly and as the rider pulled slightly ahead and tossed the sword, Morgan felt the world slow around him.

No one else would have caught the blade.  Morgan did.  By the handle. 

The Yakuza biker peeled off, getting herself clear of the danger of the gunship momentarily.  Morgan was stuck on the port side of the gunship, and the intake was just to his left.  He had brought along the grappling hook launcher that dated back to the train mission on Duellos.  It was comfortably fastened to the outside of his right lower leg.  What he was going to do next was more impossible than catching the katana.

“Frank,” Morgan said over the com, “Make a low pass over a rooftop.  Preferably one that isn’t crowded.”

From his position stuck to the side of the gunship, Morgan both watched and felt the gunship move to pursue the limo as it headed towards the top of a building as Morgan had asked for.  Frank was pretty good and it looked like he was picking one half covered in a landing deck.  Of course, Morgan would need a place to anchor and his mind searched for what he needed, hoping at this distance, he wasn’t misjudging anything;  it was already hard enough as it needed to be.

Morgan reached out in front of the intake with the katana and released the sword.  It was sucked in, ripping through the turbine with enough devastation to have Morgan experience the shudder alongside the fuselage he was attached to.  The gunship lurched and fire poured from the gunship’s exhaust.  As the gunship’s nose dipped, and it started what would be its crash descent, both the gunship and the limo were passing over the rooftop.

There wasn’t even time to have a last thought.  Morgan was all on adrenaline.

The grappling hook was shot from the launcher into what might have been a well-maintained, sheer modern water tower.  Morgan released the mag locks and held onto the grappling hook launcher with all that he had.  Screeching metal was the last, loud sound Morgan heard from the gunship as he was suddenly yanked furiously by the taught rope of the grapple.  He half expected the alloy cable cord to snap, or watch himself be flung from the rope because he was unable to hold on.  Instead, Morgan passed in a shallow arc over the rooftop, the cable nearly lateral.  He came skidding and rolling at incredible speed as he impacted with the landing deck.  Unable to hold onto the launcher Morgan skipped until he slowed and finally came to an abrupt rest against the very low wall that was the rooftop's edge. 

When he finally could recover, Morgan looked up to see the limo speeding away, and the gunship plummeting with the trail of smoke behind it.  Seconds later, the gunship crumpled into the side of one of the razor like buildings.

[Cknarf]

"Kill confirmed biiiiitch! Uh! Yeah!" Frank bounced a little in his seat, as the wreck faded in the display. "F*** that guy!"

 

Oh. Right.

 

"Morgan! You still alive?"

[Cknarf]

Previously...

 

Attican Traverse, Unknown system. Aboard the Vepr II

 

“I can’t take this sh*t anymore.” Quintus sighed, closing the blank window on his omni-tool. “Can’t even watch porn out here…”

 

“How will you ever survive?” Adir laughed, without looking up from his work.

 

“I know how you feel.” Kira began, while twirling a thermal clip around with her biotics. With a flick of her middle finger, she launched it firmly into the hull. There was a hollow metallic sound, followed by a satisfying clack, as It landed in a pile with the others.

 

“Even a matriarch tends to grow bored after awhile…” Without looking, she pulled another clip from a crate across the room, and began twirling again.

 

“I’m half tempted to just take us back to civilization right now...” Quintus leaned over the controls.

 

“Goddess, please do.”

 

“You should speak to your brother first.” Adir recommended.

 

“What for? This ship is just as much mine as it is his. I don’t need his permission.”

 

“Then what are you waiting for? Go on, captain. Get us out of here.” Adir looked over his shoulder.

 

“I… okay. I will. I am.” Quintus nodded. “But I’m gonna go talk to Marius first... Just to see how he's doin'.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Quintus knocked on the door to Marius’ room.

 

“It’s open.”

 

Quintus stepped inside “Hey bro?”

 

“What do you want?”

 

“Nothin’... I was just coming down to see how you were doin’...”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Okay… well I was wonderin’...” Quintus rubbed at the back of his head.

 

Marius stood from his desk, and faced his brother.

 

“And what is it that you are wondering about, my dear brother?”

 

“Well… we were all talkin’... and… I think that maybe,” Quintus held up his hands in a passive gesture. “Maybe, we could… I dunno… quit layin’ low for awhile? At least long enough to make a run…”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

“But we’re all going crazy out here…”

 

“Would you rather be bored for a little while, or dead forever?”

 

“Well… bored, but--”

 

“That’s what I thought. Now get out.” Marius pointed over his brother’s shoulder, before calmly turning around, and pulling his chair back out.

 

“Bro, you’re killin’ me! I need to get out! Breathe some real air! See some real t*ts!”

 

Marius chuckled. “You’re willing to risk all of our lives, just because you need to get laid? Control yourself.”

 

“Easy for you to say! You think we can’t hear you railin’ Kira every other night? I’m sick of your sh*t!”

 

“Say one more word…” Marius dug his talons into the chair. “And I’ll...”

 

“What are you gonna do, a**hole? Kill me?”

 

With a roar, Maruis flung the chair behind him. Quintus barely had time to move, as it smashed into the wall next to him, breaking into several pieces. Marius moved like lightning, pinning his younger brother up against the wall with an arm across his throat, and a pistol in his face.

 

“Only If I have to.”

 

Quintus didn’t struggle. He just stared hard into his brother’s eyes, and waited patiently for him to come down on his own.

 

After a good minute, Marius blinked several times. Looking to the pistol, then back to Quintus, he immediately took a step back.

 

“I’m… sorry.” He shook his head, letting the gun fall to his side.

 

“It’s okay, bro.” Quintus coughed a bit, while rubbing at his throat. He carefully pulled the gun from Marius’ hand, and tossed it aside. “It’s alright...” He gestured for a hug, and embraced his brother.

 

“Quintus?” Marius asked, his voice muffled a bit.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Get us out of here.”

 

------------------------------------------------

 

“How did it go?” Adir asked, as Quintus returned from the lower deck

.

“It went… well?” Quintus shrugged, not really sure if that was the correct answer. “Either way, we’re good to go.” He sat down in the pilot’s seat, and began working the controls.

[Kel Riever]

(Note: Shotgun Julia, musician extraordinaire, has provided this original music for a little atmosphere to the scene.  The Chase )

...New York City

Morgan stat up and examined himself.  His new armor had certainly been broken in now, with white scrape marks over a good portion of its surface.  The flesh would have been torn from his body if he hadn’t been wearing it. 

“Morgan, you still alive?” came Frank’s voice over the com.

“For now,” Morgan answered.  “Frank, get to your destination, keep my family safe.  Anika, I’m counting on you, too.  I’m going to do what I can to get the heat off both your backs.” 

The sound of approaching sirens caught Morgan’s attention.  He stood and looked behind to spy three police cruisers approaching at top speed, to continue the pursuit.  Morgan reached to his back holster for the black, Spectre requisition sniper rifle he’d gotten from Keith.  When he drew and uncollapsed the rifle, Morgan saw it hadn’t been damaged. He checked the ammo, and then rushed to a low ventilation housing, where he braced and took aim at the oncoming vehicles

There was a quiet that came over Morgan.  Not only did the world seem to slow around him this time, but there was a calm that could only be described as a certain kind of sanity.  He experienced a clarity of purpose, the weapon no longer being the rifle but the man himself, distinct from the devil-may-care attitude of Irina or Anika’s unstoppable combat mode.  Morgan became a cold marshal of death.

Which of you are crooked?

The first of Morgan’s shots was placed square on the center of the middle patrol cruiser’s faux, decorative grill.  It penetrated deep, with enough impact to cause the cruiser to lurch as its pilot fought to keep it under control.  Smoke streamed from the vehicle, causing the pilot to pull up from the formation, a full retreat out of the chase.  As the two remaining cruisers closed, Morgan could see a burst of autofire from the gunport on the passenger’s side of each cruiser.  Separated from the limo, he knew he no longer shared any sort of shield he presumed to have been assigned to Jen and those with her, if his sister was indeed a commodity of those employed by Iyana.  The police fire was at long range, with projectiles passing near Morgan but off their mark.  He didn’t flinch as he lined up on the center of the rightmost cruiser in much the same way as he had the center.  Another critically penetrating round punched through the grill, with the same effect, but this time, instead of veering away, the rightmost vehicle’s pilot fought for control.  The cruiser was brought around, despite its damage, to bear down on Morgan.

There you are.

Morgan’s third shot was shifted only slightly, this time to blow through the pilot’s seat on the cruiser.  Through the scope, Morgan could see the explosion of blood fill the windscreen and the cruiser flipped through the air end over end.

Projectiles ripped up the ventilation unit and rooftop surface around Morgan now.  One round went through his shoulder plate, the velocity alone causing his skin to tear beneath the surface, even though it wasn’t directly hit by the block shaving.  Morgan felt the terrible pain, but didn’t let the wound affect him in the least as he targeted the third vehicle.  There was no time left for determining the disposition of the police in the leftmost car, so Morgan aimed at a stabilizer fin.  It was a miniscule target at his angle, not to mention the speed of the cruiser giving the shot little chance.  But Morgan pulled the trigger, and shredded the stabilizer into fragments.

The last cruiser spun sideways and headed at the rooftop with its flank.  Morgan pulled out of his aimed position and sprinted sideways.  When the patrol cruiser hit, it slid across the roof deck with sparks and fire spilling from beneath it.  Morgan was forced to dive to barely clear the oncoming wreckage.  As the mass of shrieking alloy passed by, the smell of countless burning chemicals filling the air, Morgan was able to peer over his shoulder to watch the cruiser smash the low wall at the edge of the roof, then vault over the side, falling in a blaze to the streets far below.

More police were coming, but for the time, those who were chasing close were gone, and important seconds had been bought for the limo.  The threat would be to Morgan himself, soon enough, and he had to make good his escape.  

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Garvug - Negotiations (Mostly JB a couple lines SJ)

 

Cervus stood up as it was his turn to speak, looking around the room as he focused on attention on Wrund. "I'm a man who likes to be direct, so I'll be brief. Hailot Wrund, what I want as a representative of Sonax, is the demilitarization of your forces. No more guns pointed at our cruisers, or soldiers aiming rockets at our ships." Cervus said with a stern look as he turned his attention towards Isaac and Kyll.

 

"As for you, my stance is the same. Disband your protests, and stop harassing our work-site boarders. If you wish for peace, than don't give me reasons to deploy my fleet..." The way he spoke made it almost sound like a threat, and true to his word, he sat down, his demands made.

 

Isaac and Kyll looked to one another, whispering to one another before they seemed to come to a conclusion, "I can see about reducing the protests tone, but I we'd need you to make some consensus as well. Stop giving us a reason to protest so much, you know?" He asked, though really he seemed to be meeting force with force.

 

"Heh. Demilitarize..." Wrund spoke up, looking towards Cervus with a glare before he leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes, "Fine. I can give you your precious breathing room. All in the name of peace, right?" He asked, almost sarcastically, but kept his mouth shut further, Cervus merely nodding at the warlord’s cooperation.

 

Essul however wasn't so likely, writing out another message for her to read, "He's being too agreeable. Something’s wrong." He said. The body language Wrund had ranged from uninterested to anger, yet all times he'd simply nodded and gone along with what was said. Either he really had thrown in the towel as far as demands went, or he was up to something.

 

Concealed by the table but enough so that Essul could see it, Naleena reached down on her side and put her hand on her pistol that was under her coat. She brought her hand up with a fresh pack of cigarettes and put them into her case. Essul knew she was ready.

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

In Orbit over Garvug

 

"SSV Kirkwall to SSV Milgrom, is there any word on what's happened to the Morgan, over?" It had been a few minutes, and hell was still breaking loose. None of these ships had thought that a cyber-attack was a possibility. These were Krogan they were dealing with after all, a glorified race of pirates and barbarians. They hadn't even had a fleet they could call upon, at least not on the ground force. And any they could have brought in shouldn't have had this type of military-grade cyber-warfare capabilities.

 

"There's still silence, sir! We've been trying to raise them but somethings...hang on, We've got a hail back from the Morgan."

 

"Put it on screen, now! I want to know what is going on!" As the Kirkwall brought in the message, the Milgrom sent in an emergency hail first, "Don't accept any communication from the Morgan! It's systems are infected, if you do you'll-"

 

It was too late, the Kirkwall’s communications systems were dead, as they crew scrambled to contain the virus spreading throughout their systems now.

 

"What is happening?" Aulus questioned as he watched the scene unfolding below, "Scramble our fighters. I want this system locked down now! Send word to the ground forces as well, inform them that an enemy force is-"

 

"Sir! The Kirkwall and Morgan are sending massive data traffic towards our systems VI, we're solving the problem but we need to shut down communications first. Estimated time to fix five minutes."

 

"Dammit!" Aulus cursed, how had these Quarian suit-rats managed this? They were a floating junk-heap, not capable of a sophisticated cyber-warfare attack like this, "Get the systems online and scramble our fighters! Have them stick close to our fleet and prepare for engagement. The enemy is obviously planning some form of attack on us!"

 

///////////////////////////////////

 

"Excellent work on the deception there, Ren'Danna..." Machaera said with a smile as their 3 frigates closed in on their target at high speed, the malleus vessels speeding through the area with ease as the quarian next to him smirked beneath her mask.

 

"What can I say? My people have a tendency to have others lower their guard. After all, nobody expects a suit rat to pose a real threat." She commented with a bit of a laugh, "It's so easy to play others that way."

 

"Always the blade you least expect..." The Batarian commander commented as he looked towards captain Vaith. "What's the ETA on our target?"

 

"ETA 2 minutes and closing..." Captain Vaith said, smirking as he did so, "Their forces are scrambling to defend their position. Exactly as planned..." He said as Machaera smiled.

 

"Excellent! Then you may fire when ready." He said as he looked down to the frozen world below, "Let's hope our contacts below have done their job, shall we?" He said with a crazed grin on his face, "Let's see the Spectre or Cerberus handle this one...."

 

////////////////////////////////

 

Garvug - Negotiations

 

Byron Gascoigne Stood to begin his talks, looking disapprovingly at both his comrades before he began. "I would first like to say, that as a representative of Guanghui Solutions, I have done everything in my power to obey the law the council set forth. However, I question whether the council can ensure Hailot Wrund will keep his word." He said simply, staring Naleena down as he spoke, "We've no assurance that this peace will last, and it sounds like the council has gotten all it needs. If there is to be peace, it should be lasting, which means precautions must be taken first..." He said as he turned his attention towards Wrund.

 

"In order to ensure you keep your end of the bargain, I'm going to require something from you: an incentive to prevent such violent actions taken by you and your clan for the remainder of our stay. As I understand it, your clan possess a rather sizable and defensible fortress, an ancestral dwelling of your clans...." Byron said as he narrowed his eyes, "Guanghui will require it, as a temporary base of operations to overseeing mining in this area."

 

There was a mutter from Cervus, Isaac, and Kyll, and Wrund’s eyes narrowed, his fingers stopping their tapping in impatience as he looked Byron in the eyes.

 

"Of course, you need not worry of foreign species desecrating its halls. My associate here, Hroud Crag, can take up management of your clan’s fortress. I believe you are familiar with his clan..." He said.

 

Krogan next to Byron grinned, "Could say that...Hailot drove my family off this rock years ago. Could say this is long overdue."

 

Wrund looked just about ready to explode, his clawed fingers actually digging into the metal table as he gritted his teeth, looking about ready to explode. However, his snarl slowly began to change, turning into a mad looking grin as he began to slowly chuckle to himself.

 

Byron merely raised a brow at this reaction, looking somewhat disappointed it seemed in the Krogan’s reaction. He'd been trying to get a rise out of the warlord, but it seemed he merely found it amusing instead.

 

Essul meanwhile passed his data pad back, a simple message written out, "Be ready." He said, something obviously wrong going on.

 

Naleena leaned over to Essul, covered her mouth and spoke in a low voice. “I am.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Valhallan Threshold - Paz System - Garvug (Jensaarai Brotarian)

 

The Malleus Frigates closed in on their targets quickly, darting forward as they prepared to open fire. “Deploy the Decoys.” Captain Vaith ordered as they closed in, weapon systems synchronizing between the 3 vessels.

 

“Deploying Decoys…” The gunnery answered. The frigates launched a cluster of missile like objects, 10 in total from each ship, which soared in a scattered formation, guided by targeting computers to detonate a certain distance from the ship.

 

The projectiles deployed, opening up as they sent out a bright light. This light however was merely a byproduct of the real decoy, the heat. Each of the missiles burned at a temperature similar to a thrusters output. Scanners would be unable to determine which heat signature was the ships, and which was merely one of these escape pod sized heat generators.

 

Weapon systems worked to try and sort out which of the targets was which, when the frigates opened fire on their target, the small, floating orb like satellite, that served as Garvug’s com buoy. The shots from the frigates ripped it apart, and with that, Garvug itself went dark. The frigates soared down towards the planet, heading towards their targets destination.

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

“I think tensions are getting just a bit high here…” Isaac said as he stood up, trying to calm the situation down. “We can all sit down and talk about this. Nobody has to do anything rash…”

 

“A Krogan, doing something rash. I’m sure the world would be shocked.” Byron replied coldly, still trying to goad Wrund before there was a loud burst of static that went through the com systems of everyone around.

 

“What the hell was that!?” Byron exclaimed as he clutched his earpiece, Cervus standing up as he got on his comms, “This is Cervus, Status Reports…” He heard nothing on his line as he tried again, “Anyone on this frequency, report in…”

 

“Havin some trouble with those comms of yours?” Wrund stood up from his seat as he continued to laugh, cracking his knuckles as he did so. All eyes turned to him as Byron, Cervus, and Payatpri stood up, their guards training their weapons on the Krogan.

 

“What is the meaning of this Wrund!?” Cervus demanded as the Krogan warlord grinned ear to ear, his chuckles turning to laughter as his 2 guards came to his side, “If you’re wondering what’s happening, I’ll tell you. The com buoy over this planets just been destroyed. Garvug’s gone dark, and I’m guessing so has your communication abilities with the rest of your armies…” Wrund said as his mad grin grew wider, bloodlust practically oozing from him, “And here you are, far away from the bulk of your forces.”

 

“This was your plan: to get us here and isolated from the rest of our forces?” Cervus demanded, looking furious as the heavily armored Turian and Asari stepped forth, biotics flaring and weapons training on him.

 

“You’re a bigger fool then I anticipated, Hailot.” Byron said dryly, his own bodyguards getting ready for battle. “Your hopelessly outnumbered…even your friends from the council aren’t on your side.”

 

Essul stood with his gun ready and trained on the Krogan in silence. Naleena as well as the two backed away from the warlord.

 

“This one will enjoy seeing the outcome of this fight,” Payatpri said as his Drell and Salarian joined the groups, the Drell drawing his two revolvers as the Salarian prepared his Omni tool. The LOKI mechs binary helix employed came online and marched forward. “And this one looks forward to adding clan Hailot’s genetic information to the catalog of extinct Krogan bloodlines.”

 

Hailot however seemed unfazed, still smirking as he took a step back from the table. “It took them a while to get the coms down, though. I had to endure each of your bleating demands. You invaders…and your usurper here as well to complete the disrespect. Him…and his Cerberus comrade…” He said as he looked to both Isaac and Kyll.

 

“What!?” Kyll demanded as he looked to Isaac, who looked a considerable shade paler and angrier as he glared at Wrund. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Wrund. I-”

 

“HIGH LORD WRUND!” The Krogan bellowed, his anger from before out at the forefront now, “I am High Lord Wrund. Leader of Clan Hailot! Ruler of Garvug! And I’ve had enough of all of you, on my planet. This com lost is the beginning. Now comes phase two of my plan.”

 

As Hailot spoke, gunfire began to erupt from outside the building, as well as screams heard. Krogan soldiers, previously guarding the buildings, began to open fire on their fellow security forces. Gunships lined up to take their shots, when suddenly 5 of the floating mantis vehicles exploded in the air, crashing to the ground in fiery wrecks as 3 large frigates flew into the airspace, firing on the Sonax air force with their much heavier cannons, tearing them to shreds with ease.

 

Wrund was silent as he backed away from the table, glancing first towards the cloaked Drell next to Payatpri, then towards Byron’s forces, and finally towards Cervus, giving a simple nod.

 

Essul caught the looks, and those returned, eyes widening as he called out, “IT’S A TRAP!” And threw himself in front of Naleena, his heavier armor able to catch more of the rounds about to fly.

 

The Drell was the first to make his move, his body glowing with biotic energy as he tossed out a stasis field, hitting Crag and freezing him before he could even draw his Warhammer. Byron looked towards the Drell in shock, Payatpri backing away as the Salarian looked equally surprised. “What ar-”

 

The Drell raised one of his guns towards the Salarian’s face and fired, cutting him short as he fell to the ground lifeless.

 

Wrund however did not look to this scene; his eyes went instead towards Isaac and Kyll. The Krogan charged forward, Isaac leaping to the left as Kyll dove right, scrambling up and getting out two omni-claws. He charged Wrund, who reared back and brought his head down hard on the Vorcha, a sickening crack heard as his head formed a trickle of blood down his forehead, and a backhand later sent him flying towards Essul and Naleena, striking both full force.

 

Wrund turned his attention to Isaac, who tried to turn and run sideways of Wrund, strafing the large Krogan before being tackled to the ground by one of Wrund’s guards. Wrund looked down to him and smirked, “Oh no. I know someone who wants a word with you…” he said smiling.

 

The Asari commando flared with biotic energy, shimmering out of sight as she charged directly at the Drell, slamming him back as he went flying and hit a wall. She stood up when she was grabbed from behind, turning around to see one of the humans from Byron’s security force, and right before she gasped, looking down as a large combat knife stuck out of her stomach, blood trickling from the wound as the human pulled the blade lengthwise, through muscle, and tissue, and she slid down to the floor. Byron turned to see the other human standing behind his Batarian bodyguard, a thin wire wrapped around the Batarians neck as he was choked to death.

 

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Cervus demanded, drawing a paladin pistol and aiming it square for Wrund, his Turian comrade doing the same when both suddenly began to float through the air, a singularity catching them both as the hooded Drell stood back up, jumping onto the table and casting his singularity.

 

The scene was something out of a tragedy, as Cervus tried and his last bodyguard tried to fire at Wrund, only for their shots to miss, Cervus screaming in rage as his gun overheated at last.

 

“Now that’s just sad…” The Drell spoke up, smirking as he turned to look towards Naleena, Essul, and Kyll, the last ones left as the Drell snapped his fingers. The Loki Mechs walked forward, one going over and shoving Byron onto his knees, the other two going towards Cervus and the Turian, and the final mech aiming its gun at Payatpri.

“This one does not understand. Why would you betray us, Yron?” Payatpri asked the hooded Drell, as he walked over towards the Krogan who was in stasis, aiming both guns at his temple, and simply shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Who knows? Maybe I’ve always been against you, and this is just my way of letting you know…” He said as Wrund’s other Krogan moved forward, shotguns drawn and aimed at their hostages, “Or maybe they offered me a better deal. Maybe I never forgave you for taking me from my mom and dad years ago…” The Krogan dropped out of stasis, roaring in anger as Yron shoved both guns into his mouth. 2 shots from each gun through the roof of his mouth, and the Krogan went silent, falling backwards, dead.

 

“Personally, I like the thrill of the moment…” He said as he turned to look at the others, Wrund turning around to look at Naleena, Essul, and Kyll.

 

“Nothing personal, Spectre. But I don’t’ think I can let you leave now…not after all of this…” He said as he motioned to the scene of carnage he’d unleashed, “Getting all my enemies here, I’m grateful for that. But that hunk of junk bought me all of this comin true…and I can’t have you taking it instead.”

 

“You think you’re going to keep that relic? After everything you’ve done…” Bryon spoke up with a death glare, “It’s a shame you’re already mistaken about that…”

 

“What was that?” Wrund asked sarcastically as he stalked towards Byron, grabbing him by the head as he clutched him in both hands, “I don’t think I heard you…”

 

“This meeting…I never trusted you for a second. Your kind never keep your word…” Byron said as Wrund began to put pressure on the man’s skull, gritting his teeth as he kept his composure.

 

“So what? You predicted the obvious. Good for you…” Wrund replied with a mocking chuckle.

 

“So…I took matters…into my own hands…” Byron said slowly smiling weakly, the pain getting to him, “By now…Lt. Speight is on her way…with a detachment of gunships and forces…to take the relic, and kill everyone who gets in her way…”

 

Wrund’s smile dropped, and Byron groaned out in pain as he pressure became unbearable. Cervus, stuck on the ground, couldn’t help but laugh, “You always knew how to plan ahead Byron…” He knew they were doomed, there was no changing that. But at least they’d stuck it to the Krogan warlord one last time.

 

Wrund screamed bloody murder as he squeezed Byron’s head, cracking and popping heard before the warlord clutched him by his hair and slammed his head into the metal table. Again and again, denting it more and more as the bloody pulp dripped onto the floor below, so focused on killing Byron, and everyone focused on him, most did not notice anything else.

 

Including a crashing gunship as it came barreling down towards the building like a comet. The roof collapsed through half the building, between where Wrund was, and where Naleena and the others were. The window of opportunity made, Kyll, bloody and broken, turned to look to the Spectre.

 

“Go…get out of this place…My comms work. Use tower, not buoy..” Kyll said as he shoved himself away from them, “This Kyll…all units make push…cover Spectre. Protect her team…” He ordered as he looked to Essul and Naleena, one of his eyes bursts from the head butt as his breathing was labored.

 

“Please…tell council what happened…no let him get away with this.”

[Kel Riever]

…New York City

Reflexively, Keith yanked the limo door shut after Morgan had left, lifting with the gunship he was attached to.  His jaw dropped as his brother, the ex-shadow broker agent, took down the NYPD gunship.  And when Morgan’s voice came back over the com in response to Frank’s question if he was alive, Keith was barely able to recover from his stunned state.

“Holy s**t, my brother just action hero destroyed a f**king gunship,” was all that Keith could muster to say.

The one jet cyclist left, escorting the limo, called to Frank and Anika by com, her translator making her Japanese understandable to both.  “Your companion has given us a break.  We must use it to get to the address Hedeki-sama has given you.  More police will come.”

~ ~ ~ ~

“This is Sergeant Brooks, we’re out of the chase!  Montrose is down, Tierno is down.  It looks bad, I think there aren’t any survivors in their cars.  I’ve got to give up FC.”

“Received, Brooks.  This is Chief McGowan, reassigning Forward Command.  Sergeant Cantor…”

“Sergeant Cantor’s dead!  This is Elaine Richter.  Cantor was hit by the roof perp, Chief.  I’ve got control of the vehicle, requesting to go after the dropoff with backup.  Can you reassign FC?”

“Affirmative, Richter.  You are lead on the roof perp, assigning backup under your command.  FC for the limo chase is now assigned to Sergeant Bowen…”

~ ~ ~ ~

Officer Richter ordered her patrol cruiser’s VI to take over as autopilot while she holstered her M-6 Carnifex.  She shoved Sergeant Cantor’s corpse with some effort into the back seat of the Cruiser.  There was blood, but her shot had been clean through Cantor’s temple.  The cleanup would have to be done later, to make everything look good for an investigator, but it all would be worth it.

Once in the pilot’s seat, Richter took over the controls from the VI.  She linked her com in with her command, assigned by Chief MacGowan.  “This is Richter, who’s with me?”

“This is Yount, S.W.A.T. Team Leader.  We’re with you, Richter.  Recommending parallel channel for communication, switching over to eight zero one point four.”

“Affirmative, Yount.  Switching now.  Are you receiving?”

“Yes.  This channel is encrypted my superior.  Direct us as you will, this team is at your disposal for your objectives.”

“Good, Yount.  That roof dropoff has to be Morgan.  Leave the rest of the Severns to the other assets.  We’re getting that traitor back for Iyana, dead or alive.  I can tell you I have my preference as to which…”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Garvug - Escape from the Compound

 

Naleena hit the floor and she tapped her communicator which was active using short range and tight beam with VERA. “Team Bravo: Terminate with extreme prejudice.”

 

“Copy,” Irina acknowledged and Naleena heard gunfire erupt inside the hospital through her hearing implant.

 

“Hailot Wrund you’re a dead man!”

 

“We have to go, now!” Essul shouted.

 

Naleena nodded, and drawing her carnifexes stayed low and made her way to the building exit and out into the confusion.

 

“VERA, stay where you are, and prepare the teams for emergency extraction,” Naleena said.

 

“I’m sor…. I di… get al… tha…” VERA-Geth replied.

 

Naleena ducked into cover. “They must be jamming signals locally. We don’t have time to find it, and we have to get out of here.”

 

Essul nodded. “Follow me.”

 

The Batarian took point and threw a submission net over two of the Sonax guards pinning them to the ground. He and Naleena ran past them and out the gate.

 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Upon exiting the compound they were caught between corporate forces engaging Wrund’s Krogan and Vorcha. When corporate mercs saw them running toward Wrund’s lines, they opened fire on them. VERA and Ereba began providing covering fire for them. A Guanghui gunship flew into position and began strafing Wrund’s flank on the left side of the street, the same side Naleena was on. VERA lined up her sight on the gunship and fired. The round from the Geth rifle slammed into the gunship’s armor and caused it to waver in its flight. However the pilot regained control.

 

“I will have to target a different spot. These rounds do not penetrate the armor protecting the engine,” VERA-Geth said. “Perhaps its main gun.”

 

“If you can hit that, you’re a better shot than I am,” Ereba said.

 

“Watch and learn, organic,” VERA-Geth said, and loaded another round into the chamber and fired, this time hit and part of the Gatling gun on the Mantis Gunship flew off. The gunship retreated from the battle. “Ha!”

 

With the gunship gone, Naleena and Essul continued running toward the Vorcha line, but Kyll’s forces were being shredded and began taking up position inside buildings on the north side of the street. Wrund’s forces had been pushed into the buildings on the south side Guanghui mercs. There was nothing but a few stragglers, Naleena, Essul, and the sniper fire from Ereba and VERA-Geth. Gunships had blown away the facades of buildings and they littered the street, their rubble providing cover.

 

Guanghui soldiers opened fire, and Naleena tried to get into cover, but the nearest was too far away. Tallis threw a warp bomb down at the troopers, and Naleena readied a flare, turned and let loose with it. It detonated into a biotic explosion devastating the far flank of the corporate line. Naleena was breathing heavily and ducked behind a dumpster in the middle of the road to catch her breath. Essul had made it to the rendezvous point. It was not far.

 

“Come on!” he shouted.

 

“VERA, prepare for emergency evac,” Naleena ordered having difficulty catching her breath.

 

“Acknowledged,” VERA said, and began warming up the engines on the shuttle.

 

///////////////////

 

Fighting in the hospital had been intense, but brief. The team took the Hailot guards by surprise, especially since Wrund couldn’t contact them due to the communications blackout. Arian finally got to see Irina go bloodrage with her double barrel shotgun. Being in close quarters they didn’t have to worry about grenades since the blast radius would kill anyone throwing them. Arian found out that enough shavings fired from his Phaeston fired in the face at close range would kill even a Krogan, but he took care of the numerous Vorcha that were in the hospital. Killing felt good. It relieved the tension that had been building.

 

Irina approached Quill with her shotgun and shoved it in his face. “What do we do with him? He was loyal to Wrund and we have our orders.”

 

“Back off, Red. He was helping us, didn’t you see? Now let’s stow it for later,” Vayne said as he moved her shotgun out of Quill’s face, turning to look at the latter. “We’re getting off this iceball. You still with us?”

 

Quill nodded. “Just drop me anywhere but here. I want nothing more to do with Wrund.”

 

Irina let out a sigh, then took up a defensive position with Vayne and Arian near the relic awaiting extraction after eliminating all of Wrund’s forces. It had been touch and go with Quill. Irina wanted to kill him, but Vayne used his position to order her to stand down. Quill agreed to fight alongside them. He picked up one of the Hailot clan’s M7 Lancers and took position.

 

///////////////////

 

(Link) Naleena finally caught her breath, and prepared to strafe-run to Essul’s with both pistols drawn and firing. Corporate forces made another push. Essul was providing suppressing fire the best he could, but there were too many rounds flying for it to be effective. There Naleena sprinted toward the wrecked vehicle parked on the north side of the street firing three rounds as she ran and rolled and slid behind it. Short of breath again from sucking down ice cold air into her lungs she had to take some time before making her next move. This time to a burning Tomkah that exploded from gunship fire not that long ago. The vehicle was out in the center of the street. She hit her cloak and ran for it. A stray round hit her left wrist and her cloak dropped, so she rolled again and slid behind the APC.

 

She tried to do a quick field repair on her cloak, but the activation mechanism was damaged. She’d have to make a run for it again. Two more legs to go before she reached Essul. Essul kept firing.

 

“I’m almost out of thermal clips!” he shouted, “ Hurry!”

 

Wrund forces noticed her as well and a few took started taking potshots at her. She threw a Flare at them and it detonated knocking out the pair of Wrund’s Vorcha. Then she made another strafing move toward a concrete barrier on the north side. She fired one shot, then a round caught Naleena in her right shoulder driving her back, another heavy round hit her in the left calf, and a third round in her solar plexus continued her momentum onto her back. She lay on the ground gasping for air.

 

"Naleena!" Essul exclaimed as he saw her go down, rushing from his spot as a few rounds peppered his shields. Wrund’s forces had regrouped and made a push back out and counterattacked, pushing back the corporate mercs. Essul ran up to drag Naleena out of the street.

 

“The Boss is down. We should provide assistance,” VERA-Geth said. “Her life signs are failing.”

 

“We are. Keep firing,” Ereba said. “Tallis, go down and see if you can help Essul. Meld with her, slow her heart rate.”

 

Tallis’ eyes welled as she looked back at Ereba and shook her head. “No meld. No meld.”

 

“What? You can’t meld?”

 

“No. No.”

 

“Sh*t!” Ereba said, and handed Tallis her Widow. “Okay you use this. Aim and shoot. I’ll go down there.”

 

Tallis was shaking. “Never use. Never use.”

 

“Stop shaking! Pull it together! You can do this.”

 

VERA-Geth noticed an Atlas mech approaching. “Tallis, observe. Line up the crosshairs on your target and squeeze the trigger.” The interior contents of the mech exploded. “There. Like that. Now you try it with your weapon on a smaller target.”

 

Tallis took aim at one of Wrund’s Vorcha and fired. The shot went wide but not by much.

 

Ereba ran down the stairs inside the building nearly losing her footing and falling several times. Six floors. A rocket from the Guanghui line hit the front of the building at about the 5^th floor in an attempt to kill the snipers. VERA-Geth and Tallis ducked for cover.

 

////////

 

Naleena gasped and coughed for air with blood coming out of her mouth and saw Essul looking down at her, trying to apply Medi-gel. “So, this is how it ends, eh friend?”

 

“It’s not over, yet. Just hang on,” Essul replied as he got to work, the wound was bad, and he had to work as fast as he could.

 

Naleena smiled at him. “Take good care the team, and of VERA, will you?

 

Essul nodded.

 

“Promise me… *cough* … you won’t let them dismantle her.”

 

“They won’t. You won't let them...” Essul said fiercely, saying anything to keep her going. She couldn't give up, the last thing she could afford to do was stop fighting for life.

 

She grabbed his arm hard, then released her grip and closed her eyes. Essul's eyes widened, as the medigel was finally ready to be applied.

 

///////

 

Ereba dodged shavings hitting the ground around her as she danced her way toward Essul’s position in cover. When she arrived, Naleena’s complexion was pale, Essul just checked her carotid artery pulse.

 

“How is she?”

 

Essul clenched his fist as he looked up to her. “She’s needs help, Now.”

 

"It looks bad. She' not gonna make it. It'll be a stroke of luck if she does," Ereba put her hands on Naleena’s head. “I’m going to slow her heart rate way down so she doesn’t lose any more blood.” Ereba began her meld with Naleena much like the one Dahlia performed on Morgan.

 

“I’ll get us out of here,” Essul said and tapped his communicator. “Team bravo! Get to the emergency extraction zone, now!”

 

“What about the relic?” Vayne said looking back towards the hospital and tomkah. Even now, they could see incoming enemies from the corporate side.

 

Essul paused as he thought about the mission, the whole reason they'd come here. His eyes wandered down towards Naleena, seeing her current state. He made his decision and gave the call, "Naleena is down. Mission is aborted. Now get your asses moving!"

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

By Jensaarai Brotarian

 

The crashing gunship had done much to destroy former headquarters of twin spirals, the floor caving in to the one below it as the flaming wreck continued to fizzle out. Wrund was below there, somewhere beyond the crumbled floor, no doubt alive and escaping. Those left above were few in number, the traitorous Drell Yron Jipetis and Payatpri were both alive and unscathed, the former having shoved the later against a wall during the initial attack.

 

One of the human traitors lay dead, impaled by roof piping, pinned beneath his Batarian victim as the two were now frozen in panic and death together. Half a Krogan was visible beneath the crushed rubble, and farther away the other human was groaning, his armor scratched and covered in dust, but alive. Cervus was against the opposite wall, one eye closed and half his face covered in blood, his arm and knee bent at odd angles, but alive. Next to him stood a Krogan bodyguard of Wrund’s, who looked down the hole for his clan leader and had somehow managed to emerge unscathed.

 

One of the frigates lowered itself near the cleaved open space of the building, the other two flying interference as they shot down any gunships or firepower that stayed. The whole planet was turning into a warzone, and a majority of protestors were fleeing across the border, towards the corporations side, to try and escape. The ramp of the frigate opened, a walkway deploying as two figures stepped out, Machaera and Vaith, into the building itself.

 

One of the Krogan turned around and saw the two, marching towards them, "Hailot Wrund requires your aid. He's on the lower level, help me get to-" He was cut short as Machaera gave him a simple from and reached down towards the sword on his waist. In a flash of biotic energy, Machaera stood behind the Krogan, his blade drawn as he walked towards the human.

 

Vaith raised a brow as he approached the standing Krogan, pushing him on the chest as he fell back, head detaching and rolling aside from the jawline. "Impressive cut. They teach you those moves on Camala?" Vaith questioned as Machaera stalked towards the wounded human, drawing his Kassa Locust with his left and aiming it square to the man’s temple, firing at point blank before he kept on walking. He passed Cervus, who stared in shock at the new arriving Batarian as he walked towards his target.

 

Isaac Rows was pinned to the floor by a large section of roof, one of his legs obscured below the knee by the debris as he lay helpless, gasping in pain as he clutched his chest, apparently the debris having fallen onto his chest and bruised it badly. Machaera grabbed him by the hair as he pulled him up to look him in the eyes.

 

"Isaac Rows...independent contractor for both Guanghui Solutions and Sonax Industries...and infamous cell leader for Cerberus..." He said as Isaac looked towards the Batarian, glaring as he spat a mix of spit and blood at Machaera’s face. The Batarian was not amused as he wiped the offending fluid from his face, and without saying a word began to pull him up higher, Isaac groaning in pain as his back began to bend the wrong way.

 

"And where is your assistant? The female you worked with...an accomplice of yours, I take it..." Machaera asked as Isaac looked to him, appearing like a broken man as he chuckled a bit, painful as it was to.

 

"Operative Frey...is long gone...." Isaac said as Machaera paused his train of thought, looking down to the man, "Operator Frey?" He questioned as he held Isaac in place.

 

"Not her real name...never knew her real name...but she was my boss. Knew a lot more than I did..." He said as he couldn't help but laugh more, "She was supposed to get the relic...but by now she's probably halfway off this godforsaken planet..." He continued, even as Macheara's grip tightened, captain Vaith holding some Medi gel ready as he too looked quite pissed. "I barely knew anything...compared to her. This was her op...and you missed your chance to get her..." he said with a strained grin, blood coating his teeth as he did so, "Typical Batarian....always 1 step behind us hu-AGHHH!!!!"

 

Machaera had apparently had enough, and with one swing of his sword, sliced through his captives knee, freeing him from the rubble as he cried out in agony, blood gushing from the wound. Machaera swung him and sent him flying, bits of hair and torn skin in his grasp as Issac tumbled to a stop nearby vaith, who applied the Medi gel to the stump, to stop the rapid bleed-out. 

 

"All these dramatics...entirely unnecessary..." Vaith said with a shake of his head, Machaera shaking off his hand as he frowned to the captain, "What's the point of life without a bit of flair?"

 

"Efficient..." The captain said with a glare to the man, "Something you could learn on lesson on, Commander Fay'yar. And something I am sure the general taught you well."

 

Machaera's face twitched at the mention of his father, his mood souring as two figures approached, the Hanar Payatpri and the Drell Yron. Machaera looked towards the two, putting on a smile as he spoke to them, "So...how did your performance go?

 

"This one was most adept and feigning his surprise. Sonax and Guanghui had no inclination that I was aware of this ambush..." The Hanar said, turning to face the Drell with him, "This one was impressed by your actions, Yron. You have certainly sold your disloyalty well..."

 

"What can I say, every good lie needs a grain of truth..." The drell said with a shrug of his shoulder, looking over towards Machaera with a cocky grin, "Nice blade. Your shorter than I thought you'd be..." He said, noticing Machaera's 5'7 height. Machaera stared at the Drell before he grinned, "I think I'm going to like you..." He said simply as he looked towards the Hanar once more.

 

"I trust you've made the arrangements?" He asked, curious if their plan had truly worked as planned.

 

"Correct. As of this moment, Binary Helix is purchasing large shares of Sonax and Guanghui shares and forces of the Garvug Expedition. This one can surmise that we will have a majority share over all resources on this planet, by the next solar cycle...." Payatpri said, sounding proud as he spoke, "Lt. Lira Speight will assume command of the united forces, and per our agreement, receive a considerable increase in her monetary compensation. Strictly off the record, of course..."

 

Machaera simply shook his head at the news, "Such simple manipulations, though efficient! Wouldn't you agree?" he asked as he looked towards captain Vaith, who merely rolled his eyes at the suggestion. He then heard a loud moaning, turning to see Cervus, reaching with his still functional hand towards his pistol, inches away from him.

 

"Tenacious son of a ******, isn't he?" Machaera said as he stalked towards the man, a gunshot cutting him short as Cervus fell limp, Vaith holstering his service pistol with a disapproving look, "He fought until the end, he deserves a quick death..." he said, going over Machaera's command to deliver one himself.

 

"This one will await rescue here, where this one will recount the sabotage of binary helix property by their rogue element..." Payatpri turned to look at Yron, giving him a bow, "It will take time to locate the culprit, but this one knows they will be brought to justice, as you go out in service to our new associate." He said, motioning towards Machaera as the later nodded, "We'll be sure to pay back the alliance and council, for how your company's suffered from them, Payatpri."

 

"This one is pleased to hear that. This now has suffered personal loss of investment with the destruction of Noveria assets. The destruction of Cerberus agents who have smuggled material away from us, or Spectres who have cost us billions in lost research, is greatly appreciated..." Payatpri said, before he spoke next, "You should be informed that the Spectre is still alive. If she is allowed to live, her testimony may end up contradicting our story to the council..."

 

"Very well then...we simply stop this Spectre from leaving..." Machaera said with a grin as he turned around, making his way towards the ramp. Yron watched him leave as he turned to look towards Payatpri, "Enkindlers watch over you, Payatpri..."

 

"You as well, Yron Jipetis..." The Hanar said with a simple bow, going towards a darker corner of the room to away rescue. "

 

"Yes. Let's retreat from this frozen waist..." Vaith said as he began to walk, stopping as he grasped the side of neck and exclaimed in pain, "Agh. What!?" He looked around, seeing nothing.

 

"Something the matter, Captain Vaith?" Machaera asked curiously, the captain shaking his head, "It's nothing, let's move on..." He said, cold feeling just a bit more biting then it had earlier as he made his way towards the ramp quickly. Behind him, small footsteps imprinted in the snowy and dusty ground, unseen by him, and unmentioned by Machaera, as they loaded onto the frigate to blast off.

[Cknarf]

“Looks like this is it.” Frank checked the map of the area, just as their escort pulled ahead, and gestured to follow. “Yeah. We're here.” He lowered the privacy window. “I need everybody ready to go by the time we stop. Ain’t got much time.” He looked again at the HUD. While they were clear for now, it was only a matter of time before more police showed up.

 

The rider led the limo down to ground level, and using her omni-tool, opened an overhead door that led into an underground parking area. After a few turns, they came to an opening where Hedeki’s people were waiting. There were several vehicles, two of which had their doors open and ready to go. One, a plain looking wagon, and the other an equally plain van, with a very ambulance-like interior.

 

“A’ight, Severns. This is where ya’ll get off.” Frank said, pulling up next to the waiting car. “It’s been nice meetin’ ya.” He glanced in the rearview, as Hedeki’s men moved to open the rear doors to let them out.  Two people from the van were heading over with a stretcher.

[Kel Riever]

Frank and Anika watched as Molly was carefully removed first on the stretcher by Hedeki’s people.  Jen was concentrating on doing what she could for the detective, and Rosanne followed closely.  Keith was the last to leave, but he swung back into the car one more time before he took off.

“Listen you two, uh, pilot and uh, hot looking Amazon.  You two are awesome!  I hope you know that.”  Keith’s chubby face was earnest, and his dark eyes were wide with gratitude.  “We aren’t going to forget what you did for us.  Looks like my brother finally picked out some good friends.”  Keith clambered out after that, and gave a goofy salute before heading with the rest of his family, flip-flops slapping on the concrete.

~ ~ ~ ~

The lock on the rooftop door had been another easy one to crack; Morgan had entered ‘January’ followed by the last two digits of the year on his second attempt and the pass code had gotten him in.  User convenience was often the best code breaker.

Moving down the steps, Morgan assessed where he was and it didn’t take him long to realize he was in a newly renovated office building, at least for the top floor that he was on, and he suspected for at least a few more stories down.  That was good news in the sense that there were few, if any, civilians around.  Bad in the sense that the enemy would feel free reign to do what they pleased.  Still, Morgan preferred it as it was. 

Descending the staircase, Morgan quickly determined that workers weren’t even present.  It could be they were on another floor entirely or had the day off.  The rain pelted the windows, and the grey outside provided a bit of light to the rooms on the exterior of the building.  The interior would prove to be dark, an advantage for Morgan.  He went as quickly as he could down, but the building was tall, at least forty stories from his recollection of the view outside.  Chances were slim that the police wouldn’t be on him before he could get to ground level or find another way out.  His best bet was to hope there was a mid level skycar pad with a worker’s vehicle left behind.  But since the roof was a landing deck and had been devoid of vehicles, Morgan guessed he’d have to go down ten levels, maybe twenty, if he even had a chance at that.

Morgan checked himself as he went.  His armor was in better shape than he thought, despite its ragged treatment.  He’d recovered his grapnel and replaced it.  Everything else was in order, and his weapon array now included the high-powered Spectre sniper rifle, as well as his Scimitar, Phalanx, and the Kovalyov in his hands.  Morgan regretted his lack of grenades, but would make due if he needed.

The need seemed to be evident as when Morgan was five stories down, he spotted a police cruiser with flashing lights out a window.  It was passing by, but slowing, and seemed to be searching for a place to put down.  Morgan’s time would be up soon and he was clear he would have no chance of avoiding more officers now.  The hope was that they were honest cops, but Morgan was no fool, and he needed to prepare for the worst.  He got one more story down, before breaking off to search the floor for anything that could help him.  The second room he’d entered was unfinished with building material and several toolboxes lying around.  Morgan began rifling through them.

~ ~ ~ ~

Richter stepped out of her patrol cruiser on the tenth floor landing deck of the building.  The S.W.A.T. skyvan had already landed and the eight-member team was lined up next to the vehicle.  Yount, their commander, was a man well over average height, and he stepped forward to greet the patrolwoman.  He pointed to the blood in Richter’s cruiser and the corpse lying in the back.  “Not one of us, I take it.”

“No,” Richter replied, while waving the S.W.A.T. team towards the building.  “How many snipers do you have?”

“Two, my superior.  I am technically the negotiator but I presume you will do the talking.  Are you sure this is the agent we thought was dead?”

“Richards was not stupid.  When he got the call Hagen had shown up at the Severns, there were only a few reasons.  With the carnage that happened, it isn’t hard to do the math.  We have to assume it is Morgan, and if it is not, the target must die all the same.  Perhaps our adversaries forget that we traffic in deception.  Hard to believe they would underestimate us, after they had the pleasure of meeting Iyana.”

“They may have underestimated her, but we must still secure the assets, my superior.  Or we will suffer worse than Morgan.”

“Understood,” Richter said.  “Let’s all keep that in mind, and get our jobs done.  Morgan won’t have gotten past this level, yet.”

The S.W.A.T. team entered, sweeping the building for the man who once worked amongst them as an agent of the Shadow Broker, and Iyana.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Garvug - The Escape (JB & SJ)

 

Vayne drew his shotgun and turned to the others, the chaos of the battlefield still going on as a few mantis gunships flew overhead and past the group, heading towards the hospital instead.

 

Irina surveyed the street. "We can't fight through all of this sh*t. Not if we're going to make it in time!" she said after ducking into the doorway to avoid the falling debris caused by the artillery shell that landed nearby.

 

"We don't need to! They're tearing each other apart, not us. We move quickly, kill whatever gets in our way, and leave the rest!" Vayne barked to the group, assessing the situation as he spotted an opening through one of the old buildings. He pointed. "There! Now let’s move!"

 

The building was a short sprint, but a chaotic one. The open doorway didn't give a clear view of what was inside, so Vayne charged in and turned to his left. One of the Sonax guards turned to fire but Vayne blasted him with the shotgun. He heard another blast behind him and spun around but saw Irina taking out the one on the right.

 

"Flash and clear next time," she said. “We have one down already, and we don’t need to add another. Besides you’re a bit heavy for me to carry on my shoulders.” The group weaved through the building, coming out on the street as debris and a downed gunship provided them cover. They were getting closer, but had no idea if it'd be enough.

 

"Essul. What's the boss’s status?" Arian asked over the comms.

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

"It's bad..." Essul said, watching Ereba preform her meld as he popped out thermals from his Cazador SMG, loading them into his Kishock, "You need to make it to extraction now. Focus on getting the others out safely...as many as we can." He said, looking down towards Naleena’s near lifeless form.

 

He shook his head, just as a renewed spray of gunfire from Wrund’s side forced him down into cover. Tallis and Ereba, he needed to remember them. They were still here, they could still be saved. They...they could live, even if their boss could not. And he had to make sure they did what they could.
 

"Tallis, VERA, what’s your status?" Essul said through the comms, wanting to make sure they were okay.

 

Tallis recovered slowly, the explosion having rocked the building. She glanced out to see an open drop inches away from her, rising up quickly and backing away, dragging the M-98 with her.

 

"Okay. Okay," Tallis replied. VERA-Geth rose back to its feet with ease as it backed away as well, both making it out of the blast unharmed.

 

"The corporate forces attempted to kill us with rockets. They did not succeed," VERA said, taking aim with the Geth-Widow as she prepared to shoot, "I have their location."

 

"Take them down. We need some covering fire as well," Essul ordered.

 

“Acknowledged.”

 

A second later the loud crack of the Widow sounding off was followed by small explosion. And a few seconds later several large secondary explosions rocked the entire area as a temporary building at the far end of the street blew apart, taking out two APCs that were coming out of the compound.

 

"Their munitions were not properly protected," VERA-Geth said, though Essul frowned, swearing he'd heard something else in her voice, something almost like a hint of glee. VERA continued. “Also, I have alerted Commander Selani of the situation. Med-Bay is standing by. Returning to providing covering fire.”

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Irina flipped open her omni-tool and scanned the building and general area for three blocks. “Here’s where we are on the east side opposite the hospital. Quill what are these?”

 

“Those are utility tunnels. Clan Hailot dug numerous utility tunnels under the buildings as well as a network of roads. There’s and access point in the sub-basement of this building to the utility tunnels,” Quill said pointing at the map. “However, we’ll really have to be quiet.”

 

Irina sighed. “Yeah, they’re narrow and if we’re discovered there’s a downside: no room to maneuver. The upside is that we’ll have them on a narrow front, too. The other downside is that if we run into the Krogan narrow front it could be a problem. What about the roof?”

 

Quill looked at the map. “That might work since all the buildings on this street are five to seven stories we could roof hop. The good thing is that there aren’t any streets coming in from the east otherwise this would be a no go.”

 

“So it’s fine until we get to the building next to the six-story where Naleena stationed the sniper team,” Vayne said nodding while contemplating the options. “Then we just go down the stairs and meet up with the team.”

 

“Can’t count on it,” Irina said. “There’s a skyway running across the street toward the compound, and if we’re seen, they know we have to get down from there. We’re easy pickings for gunships, or we try to go down the stairs…, unless you can jump a two meter gap, Vayne. If you can do that, then we’re at our sniper building and can rendezvous with the team.”

 

“All this for a stupid relic we didn’t even get, and we’re in a sh*tstorm on an ice ball no one gives a varren’s ass about,” Vayne said. "We're taking the tunnels! We don't time to hop rooftop to rooftop." The streets to him automatically out of the question as the chaos kept up.

 

The group entered one of the buildings, heading into the basement and the tunnels below as they pushed towards the destination.

 

There was artificial light in the tunnels, which flickered occasionally as the fighting above echoed or sporadically caused the tunnel below to shake, and dust to fall from the ceiling on occasion. The air itself was stale as well, but as they pushed forward they did not encounter an enemy force as of yet.

 

The tunnels continued to stretch, unoccupied as the occasional tremor continued to be felt. As they came to a door however, Vayne had point as a loud crash was heard on the other side. Acting quickly, Vayne slammed his fist into the doors control, the door sliding open as he spotted something moving and fired.

 

A loud squeak of pain and surprise rang out as the bullets tore through a massive rat-looking creature, half the size of a varren, which fell over twitching as it died.

 

"What the hell is that!?" Vayne asked aloud as he looked at the room they came to, which appeared to be some kind of break room bunker, one of the chairs near a table having been knocked over by the rat creature.

 

"Ice-Rats. They're just vermin..." Quill said as he looked towards the dead ice rat, "Harmless, even makes a good meal if you boil it long enough..." Winters were harsh here on Garvug, and you didn't always get to pick your next meal.

 

“Damn, Vayne. A little jumpy, are we? You splattered its guts all over the wall,” Irina said laughing a bit. “Now if you were with me on another mission on LV426, that would have been another story. Nasty silicon based life forms. I’ll have to tell you about that one sometime.”

 

Vayne grumbled. "Come on."

 

 /////////////////////////

 

Essul saw Vayne’s group emerge from a man-hole about a half-block away. “VERA! Tallis! Get down here, now!”

 

“Acknowledged,” VERA said, and holstered her Geth-Widow and drew her Mattock. Tallis holstered Ereba’s M-98 and drew her modified Claymore.

 

Inside the building entrance, the VERA-Geth platform went limp. Nothing was lit.

 

“VERA! VERA!” Tallis shouted. Tallis tried her communicator. “VERA!”

 

“I am here, Tallis, ” VERA replied. “Keep the street clear.”

 

VERA had assumed control of the team’s shuttle VI and had input the flight plan. The shuttle dusted off from the airfield and was on its approach vector with cloak activated. Tallis shook her head and let loose with as many biotic attacks as she could.

 

Two gunships approached from the west, one operated by Lt. Cmdr Speight who was flying over the north side above Lt. Adams whose gunship flew over the south side of the street.

 

Adams hit is radio. “Bogey incoming at 10 O’clock, Commander.”

 

“Where?” Speight asked. “I can’t get a visual.”

 

“Use your instruments, Ma’am,” Lt. Adams said. “It’s their shuttle. It has a cloak of some sort.”

 

“How the hell do you expect me to fly this thing and target with instruments only?” Speight shouted. “Wait, I’ve got it. Targeting.”

 

Essul looked towards the gunships approaching, Getting on the comms, "Incoming Gunships! Get to cover!" He ordered, prepared for the worst as the groups were on the streets once more, easy picking for the air superior enemies.

 

VERA took control of the shuttle’s main weapon and turned control of the flight over to the VI. “Targeting gunship. Target locked. Firing laser,” VERA said. “Direct hit. UV GARDIAN Laser is very effective against armor.” Essul heard that same tone in VERA’s voice except now that it was in her own natural voice it was more pronounced.

 

Speight heard a warning lock then saw a flash of light hit her gunship and cut through the metal, and she screamed as she watched the beam cut through her right leg and through the rest of the ship in less than a second. Its fuel tank then exploded.

 

The second gunship had opened fire with several rounds ricocheting off the shields of the shuttle, but then Speight’s right leg landed on the canopy of the ship in front of Lt. Adams, and the right side of her gunship crashed atop of his sending it into a death spin slamming into the building next to it, exploding, and showering the area with debris.

 

“Both gunships destroyed,” VERA said. “Landing shuttle. You should board quickly. Frigate inbound. ETA 180 seconds. We need to get the f*ck out of here.”

 

"That was a nice shot, VERA...thank you." Essul said, feeling relief for the first time during this firefight as the gunships went down.

 

VERA fired the turret at the approaching ground enemy, and the mercs scattered into the buildings causing a lull in the fighting.

 

The second team arrived and Vayne was winded.

 

“What’s he doing here?” Essul asked.

 

“He helped us. He wants out of here,” Vayne replied. “I told him he could come with us. Wrund will kill him for what he’s done.”

 

Essul sighed. "Fine. We have an incoming enemy frigate. We have to hurry," He said with a curse and pointed at the entrance to the six story building. “Vayne, grab the Geth platform. Arian, help me with Naleena. Irina, help Tallis with Ereba.” The frigate was most likely the one from earlier, which meant they could see a nasty Krogan airdrop if they delayed too long.

[Kel Riever]

New York City

“Snipers, are you set?” Richter asked on her sub vocal com as Yount and most of his men moved ahead of her.  They were sweeping the level room by room, moving into the darker interior of the building.

“Affirmative, this is One.  Two and I are behind.  We’ve got your back.”

Richter watched as the team went on.  They’d taken of the exits off this level and even caught a glimpse of their target, too fast for a shot.  But it was only a matter of time before they had him cornered.

Yount was closest to Richter, nearly at her side, and he called out “No need to make this hard.  You know who we answer to, and as bad as you might think it can get, you know it can always get worse.”

The S.W.A.T. Team Leader was using basic baiting tactics, something Richter thought had little chance of succeeding.  Nevertheless, it had to be tried. She was scanning left and right with her assault rifle, using the weapons built-in flashlight like the rest of the team.  No need for subtlety, they far outnumbered their opponent.

“Come on,” Yount went on, “Do you really want to suffer?”

Somewhere far behind the S.W.A.T. members and Richter, there was the muffled bang, like a small charge detonating, followed by two gunshots.  Richter and Yount turned around to face the source of the sounds.  There was quiet, then Richter directed the group to head back the way they came. 

“Sniper One, Sniper Two, are you receiving?”  Yount asked.  There was no answer.

Richter looked angrily at Yount, “I thought you said your men were well trained.”

Yount called into his com again, “Snipers, report in.”

A voice unfamiliar to Yount came through the com.  “Put the uniformed officer on the line.”

“Why would I do that?” Yount challenged.

“Because she’s in charge.”

Richter hopped on the com.  “Your mistake coming back for the family.  You know who they belong to now.  Did you really believe you’d avoid Iyana’s watchful eye?  We will retrieve them, it is only a matter of time.  As for you, Morgan, yes?  Once someone came for the other Severns there weren’t too many possible reasons why.  Basic math, even if we did really believe you were dead.”

Returning down the hall from where the S.W.A.T. members had come, Richter was looking for the snipers.  They weren’t where they had last positioned themselves, the only evidence that they’d had even been there was a Mantis rifle that had been shattered, and a large black smudge on the wall.
 
With a disgusted expression, Richter said, “Your attachment to your family was your weakness, Morgan.  You should have thought about what you’d done if you cared about them.”

There was the sickening sound of a wet crumble from behind Richter, where the point team member had been when they were heading in their initial direction.  
 

[Kel Riever]

Richter spun, just in time to watch one of the forward S.W.A.T. members drop.  He had just moved into a hallway intersection with a teammate to his left, who was now covered on his side with gore.  Richter couldn’t tell what was wrong with the falling companion until he impacted with the ground and his torso collapsed unnaturally; a projectile had entered him from the right and evacuated the contents of his rib cage out the opposite flank with the exit wound.

The gore covered teammate turned and opened up with his vindicator, loosing controlled bursts in the direction the fatal shot had come from.  Others were moving up for the fight, covering their angles and focusing in the direction of fire.  There was a ‘Guuurkh!’ sound then from the teammate shooting.  Richter saw a cloud of indeterminate vapor at the back of his neck, coupled with the snapping back of his head, and followed with a blooming spray of blood erupting from his throat. 

Turning to face the new threat, two more teammates shot down the hallway behind what was now their second casualty…not including the snipers whose fates were unknown. 

“Cover both sides!” Yount shouted as he saw a red laser tinge particles that had begun to fill the air. 

It was too late, as one of the two teammates shooting took a round to the back of his head.  His shield collapsed, saving him from the first shot, but the second bore into the rear of his helmet and skull.  He crumpled forward, with whatever was left inside his helm seeping out the hole created by the round.

“Fall back!” Richter ordered, with only Yount and one other teammate left beside herself.  Both of the men retreated, but the one teammate ahead of Yount brushed the wall next to him while moving back.  An instant later, automatic fire punched holes through the thin dividing wall of the interior hall and blasted into him, making his body shake like a rag doll in the hands of a child.

Yount aimed at the wall where the shots were coming through and returned fire.  Each burst from his vindicator ripped back through the wall, fringing fragments of building material into the air.  He dispensed the entirety of his clip in the exchange, and when he was done, he waited to hear if there were any sounds.  There was nothing, but the sound of blood leaking from the head of one of the dead.

“That f**ker has to be finished,” Yount said.  He replaced the thermal clip on his gun.  He also toggled a switch on his Vindicator.

“What are you doing?” Richter asked him.

“Switching to full auto fire mode.  I modified my Vindicator to bypass the three-shot burst mode if I needed.  Just in case.”

“Just in case he’s not finished?”

Yount glanced at Richter, the fear apparent in his expression.

“You’re a S.W.A.T. Team Leader!”  Richter shouted with disdain.  “There’s just one of him.”

“You’re sure.”

“Yes! I’m sure!  Now pull yourself together and take point.”

“You take point.”

Furious, Richter considered wasting Yount herself but she needed his firepower.  “Walk by my side, and keep your angles covered.”

Richter and Yount walked together, rifles at the ready.  The sound of Yount’s panicked breathing disturbed Richter only slightly less than her own grip that was so tight, she had to keep her finger pressed against the trigger guard instead of the trigger itself.