6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  The following was a collaboration between RedBelle, Shotgun Julia and myself)

 

This is a terrible idea, Morgan said to himself. Of course, that was the problem.

 

The one where he didn’t talk.

 

Morgan knew Jess wanted to leave. He had been trying to tell her he didn’t want her to, but if she had to go, then she should go. Maybe he could have told her directly, but there was Dahlia, now blasting huge violet sympathy eyes at him. The only silver lining Morgan saw coming out of the conversation was that he was very clear that not all asari could read minds.

 

Maybe Jess didn’t want Dahlia along, and wanted Morgan. Maybe she didn’t want either of them along. What would she do with Anika? Would Anika want to stay? Would Naleena be invited to come along like Morgan had?

 

“Too much,” Morgan unintentionally blurted aloud in frustration. When he saw Jess and Dahlia look at him, he did his best to cover up. “These are mines, with only a few ways in and out. We’re looking for Thresher Maw spores. Do we really need to go all the way in? To see everything that’s deep down in there?”

 

Jess nodded. "G7 West. A level's at the top. So what we want is deep...... Which actually benefit's us since they need to pump air down there so spores could get down that far". Jess walked on, feeling like there was something in the air between her and Morgan. flicking her eye's over to him she asked. "Everything alright luv? If your having second thoughts it alright. I'm having second thoughts. But this job isn't done till it's done".

 

"I'm not having second thoughts," Morgan said, shifting his glance from the door to Jess, "If you want to see what's deep down there, then let's go."

 

A voice from the com spoke through faulty speakers, "One minute sirs and ma'ams. Your guide is coming to meet you."

 

"Guide?" Dahlia said, "Uh, guys, we're not going to be free to wander like we wanted, now. Jess, are you sure you want to do this?"

 

At that moment the door in front of them opened and an old man in robes emerged. Unmasked and skin like sandpaper that had seen to much sun. He paused and looked up at them in confusion. "So your the expert's on Thresher Maws I assume? Goodness! I was expecting older. Like me. Not that I'm disappointed". He said, eye's running from Jess's head to her boots before inclinging his head towards Dahlia. "It's good to see you young folk getting out and about. And all to aid our little community? It does the heart glad to see you so concerned".

 

His gaze flickered to Morgan. "And their load bearer I assume? Well if you have any equipment best get it now. But heavens I'm ill mannered. My name is Jebidiah. Though people around here seem to like calling me Old man Jeb. Ol'Jeb like I'm some honest to goodness grandfather figure. I've heard all about you from Samacen. Good boy that one. Little wound up and rough around the edges but a good boy. Well anyway. You want to see the mines? I've worked those mines longer than anyone here. I'll be happy to oblige your request for a tour.......". He paused. "I'm sorry, what were you going down there for again? Minds not what it used to be".

 

Morgan looked at Old Man Jeb hard. "We're here to make sure there are no Thresher Maw spores buried down in your mines. I'm Morgan. Not the resident expert, but the...load bearer. Like you said."

 

Wondering whether Jess was picking up on what he was trying to actually communicate was out of Morgan's mind now. An outwardly friendly cult leader was something that set Morgan off. He'd have rather heard some resistance to outsiders. A bit of fear, or concern. Jeb was confident, if anything. And sure enough, Morgan was walking into a mine with Jess and Dahlia.

 

Stepping foot first into a tomb wasn't exactly how Morgan thought he'd go.

 

"After you, Mister Jebidiah."

 

Dahlia kept turning her head around and checking the rear. She didn't trust the situation. As soon as they passed the first junction she knew it was going to be dangerous.

 

"These mines used to belong to the council you know". Ol'Jeb rambled as they walked. The mine entrace was within the ship and Jeb led them down to an elevator. "Bypassed alot of safety protocols in the day. Still for what they were digging for I siuppose some overexuberance was to be expected".

 

Jess felt her curiousty pique. "What were you digging for"?

 

Jeb's eye's lit up in amusement. "Why? Eezo.... I'm surprised that little nugget of information hasn't hit the extranet yet..... Then again, the council censer extranet information. Have done since the start of their galatic empire. Saves on the lies I suppose. No need to do so when no one knows enought to ask the right questions. I lost alot of friends down some of the shafts in this place".

 

He went quiet as they all boarded an elevator and Jess asked the question everyone was thinking. "How does Eezo find it's way onto a planet? That stuff's created through supernova events. It's found on asteroids.... shattered remains of worlds....".

 

"The experts seem to agree this planet was almost shattered in a way". Jeb interrupted with a grin. "But no one can seem to agree why".

 

"That doesn't explain why there's Eezo on world".

 

"No it does not. But the Eezo was pure".

 

A few miners in work clothes passed the group on their way to the surface with friendly greetings for Old Man Jeb. They looked dirty and tired, but happy. Jeb led them around a corner, and one tunnel intersected another. Morgan saw Dahlia was alert. He was ready as well, but as they came and passed the juncture without event, Morgan wondered if Jeb didn’t simply want them to get as far down as he could.

 

“If there’s Eezo here, pure Eezo like you say, some sort of cosmic event must have occurred on Duellos,” Morgan speculated aloud. “And are you saying you are mining it? I thought only a few major corporations had the technology to extract element zero.”

 

Jeb came to the end of the mining tunnel where a large cage elevator was waiting. He opened the elevator door and stepped in, gesturing for everyone to follow.

 

Morgan glanced at Jess and Dahlia. Descending deeper into the mine was against every bit of his common sense, but if they wanted to have played it safe, they shouldn’t have entered the mines in the first place. Morgan stepped in next to Jeb, followed by Jess and Dahlia. The old man hit a hard light switch and the elevator lowered.

 

“I didn’t say we were mining element zero,” Jeb continued. “But we did find something, we who are the Drowned. It is better if you experience it for yourself, and while I am not a betting man, I’d wager you will be impressed.”

 

The elevator descended rapidly, and when it stopped, it certainly felt to Morgan as if they had gone a long way down. One of the first sounds Morgan noticed was that of industrial sized machines blowing air. Jeb opened the door and stepped out, motioning to his right where a one meter tall machine worked away pumping cool air.

 

Old Man Jeb explained. “It isn’t true that all mines work the same way with temperature, as some people think. Location and geological formation makes some mines cool, but we have a hot mine. This device next to me is a small air conditioning unit. Most of the cool air is actually being forced down into the mine from above. We’d be at just over 43 degrees Celcius, but you’ll find it a pleasant 27 degrees; a good temperature to work in 600 meters down without needing an envirosuit.”

 

Six-hundred meters? Morgan noticed several corridors branching off, unlike the tunnels near the surface which were simple. The rock walls were cut clean with heavy machinery, and supports were frequent and, thankfully, modern. Light was a commodity, however, as overhead illumination was just enough to walk by. Further on several of the corridors, the lighting seemed to improve, while others seemed to be dark. There was a moment when Morgan thought he saw the dimmest, far off lamp move rapidly through one of the tunnels and then vanished, but it was fast enough that he couldn’t be sure.

 

Dahlia saw the moving lights too, and she tapped Morgan's shoulder and pointed with her head. She made a motion with her hand for her shotgun. It was more of a be ready motion. Having worked for Aria, she had been taught to be more than simply cautious.  Something about the place made her head tentacles tingle.

 

“This way,” Jeb directed and pointed down one of the darker corridors. “Mind your step. It might be hard to see at first but you’ll adjust.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina turned in Naleena's direction. "Hey, Asari, come over here, will ya?"

 

Anika and Naleena were about twenty meters from her trying to act like they were still doing something normal with the survey.

 

"I hate that b*tch," Anika said, "Listen to the way she talks. The rudeness in her manner."

 

"Settle down, Anika. Now is not the time," Naleena said.
 

"I know."

 

"Let's see what she wants," Naleena said and she and Anika walked over to her.

 

"Naleena, I'd like you to meet Zenon. Zenon told me she remembers you from Omega," Irina said.

 

Zenon looked up at Naleena and over at Anika, then back to Naleena. "You let me out of the cold. I remember you, too, with the blonde hair. You wore blue but helped us."

 

"I remember you, too. Zenon, although I didn't know your name at the time," Naleena said.

 

"You're going to help me get away from here, right? " Zenon asked. "I don't want to go back to the cold... or the glowy eyes."

 

Irina was standing a bit behind Zenon and started nodding at Naleena. Naleena got the message. "Yes, we are."

 

"What's taking Jess and Morgan so long?" Irina asked, "They should have been back by now. Be on alert. We may have to go in and get them."

 

Anika's hackles raised. "Wait a minute, Red. No one wants to listen to you."

 

"Vayne, if we have to go in, I was a gunnery chief in the Alliance Marines. I served on Elysium. You need someone who can command through experience." Irina said.

 

"What about her?" Vayne said pointing to Zenon.

 

"She'll stay with me. Do you know how to use a gun, Zenon?" Irina asked.

 

"Not really." Zenon said.

 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Vayne asked.

 

"I'm not going to leave her defenseless," Irina said, " Zenon, if we have to go in, Stay by my side. I'll give you my sidearm. It's like taking a picture: point and shoot. So, Vayne, if the worst comes about, who do you want leading?"

[Redbelle]

Aelias groaned. Deidrus had just gotten off the comm and he was in a bad mood. The meeting with the Asari had not gone well. Apparently they were adament that they knew nothing of Silas armour production in their facility......

 

.... and the facility manager was an Asari SPECTRE.

 

..... Sure..... Nothing going on in that place.

 

He was on his way back and Eteon was likewise returning. Only with a human male who had crashed out in the desert. Send that girl out to kill a cult member and she'd gone and picked up a stray instead. This crew was getting crazy. Whoever had directed them all to come together should be.......

 

Her comm chimed again and she picked it up. Seeing it was coming from the Aspire compound. "Port Authority. State your business". She droned.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina turned to Zenon. "I'll be there. You just stay next to me, and do what I do."

 

Naleena turned to Vayne. "I can make contact with the Audron." Naleena tapped her omni-tool. "VERA, open a channel to Androkan."

 

"Androkan. Is everything alright?"

 

"It's a bit worrisome. Stone, Morgan, and my Asari protege have gone into the main structure and have been gone quite a while. They should have been back by now. We're preparing a plan to enter and bring them out. From the description a teen whom we rescued on Omega has given us it sounds like the Collectors are involved here." she said.

 

"You're going to take the word of a single traumatized teen?" Deidrus asked.

 

Irina leaned over. "I don't know who in the bloody hell you are, but I am."

 

"Who in the Spirits are you?" Deidrus asked.

 

Great! A Turian who's about as handy as sh*t on a stick. "Irina Sloane, former Alliance gunnery chief...."

 

"Sorry, Deidrus, she's new. We met her in the town. You're the Spectre. What are your orders?"

 

Deidrus paused, shook his head and sighed. He had other problems right now. He was getting stonewalled by another Spectre, and now this. "You were supposed to be on an information gathering mission."

 

"It got complicated."

 

"How?"

 

"You know that teen? Irina wants to take her out of the compound, and you know how cults are about people leaving who know things." Naleena said.

 

"Then leave the teen there." Deidrus said.

 

Irina pulled Naleena's omni-tool over to her. "And you can go to bloody hell."

 

Naleena gave Irina the don't ever do that again look. "Like I said, it's complicated."

 

Deidrus paused for a few seconds. "Give them another 15 minutes, and then go in. In the meantime prepare a plan."

[Cknarf]

Frank followed Eteon through town, taking in the sights on the way back to the ship.  Dingy shops, prostitutes, and vagrants lined the streets.  It reminded him of Omega, except he hadn't been beaten or mugged, yet.  Maybe it was because it was still some light in the sky, something Omega didn't exactly have... or maybe it was his well-equipped companion.

 

They approached a tavern, 'Normal atmosphere for all.' Frank liked the sound of that.  Eteon received something over comms, as Frank stopped in front of the doors.  He pushed them open, and removed his helmet.  He took in a deep breath, and held it in.  The walls were scarred, some of the markings more recent than others.   'Gullet's' was definitely one of those bars.  

 

The doors behind Frank quickly flung open, and he was yanked back outside.  Before he knew it, he was up against the wall, arm across his throat.  Helmetless, and his feet off the ground, he was face to face with Eteon.

 

"If you plan on coming with me, you're going to need to be on your best behavior."  Her eyes barely visible through her visor.  "Androkan is pissed, and he will not hesitate to toss your ass right off his ship.  You stay on me, and no more questions. Understand?" Frank nodded, and she released him.

 

"Yes ma'am." Frank wheezed.

 

"Not much farther, now."  Eteon plopped Frank's helmet back on. "Come on."

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

 

...best damn engineer in the galaxy.  Upon seeing the Audron for the first time, Frank began to regret that statement.  It was much larger than he expected.  Still, he was excited to see the interior of a Turian vessel.  The ramp lowered slowly, revealing a massive shuttle bay.  He followed Eteon up the ramp in silence.  Turian engineers paused for a moment, their watchful eyes made Frank uneasy. He looked at the floor as they grumbled.

 

Great.  Eteon's brought home another human.

 

Ugh. Surely he can't be much worse than that pirate we picked up.

 

At least it's not another Krogan...

 

Frank stepped onto the elevator with Eteon.  He removed his helmet.  It was arid and warm, around 30 C, but it was much better than being on the surface.

 

"Krogan, huh?" 

 

Eteon remained silent.

 

"Right. Sorry."

 

Stepping off the elevator, Frank was led to a small room.  Inside was a small table, and a single guard.  

 

"Have a seat.  Androkan will be here shortly."  Eteon turned to leave

 

"Hey, I--"  The door closed in his face.  With a shrug, Frank pulled out the chair and sat at the table.  He turned to the guard.  "Hi."

[Redbelle]

The following was written in collaberation with Kel Riever and Shot Gun Julia.

 

Dahlia saw the moving lights too, and she tapped Morgan's shoulder and pointed with her head. She made a motion with her hand for her shotgun. It was more of a be ready motion. Having worked for Aria, she had been taught to be more than simply cautious. Something about the place made her head tentacles tingle.

 

Jess's brow was furrowed as she considered what Jeb had told them. "If the Eezo here was pure, then it must have been refined.....".

 

"Yep". Was the response.

 

"Refined implies industry..... and space capability to reach the sources of Eezo out there".

 

Jeb turned his eye's to Jess and looked at her.

 

"But this planet's only just been discovered recently. And there's no sign that life ever existed on this planet".

 

"More interesting than Thresher's wouldn't you say? Guess how long those cores were down here for".

 

"Core's"?

 

"Just guess".

 

"I..... don't know".

 

Jeb shrugged. "Somewhere in the range of fifty thousand years, give or take. The council's good fortune. Easily grabbed cores made to run ships. Not big ones. But ones that could still power a mass effect field. Back in the day us grunts would do the serious digging. Then stop before we hit what we were told the mother load would be. Then they brought in other's. People who hadn't seen a full days digging in their lives. I got curious though and when they ordered us out I stayed in and saw everything. I even managed to snag a piece of whatever was down here...... And then I began to look at what we were doing and realised that it was all pointless. Working our finger's to the bone to support a council who would happily steal a planet of refined Eezo cores to fuel their own ship building programs. Our people don't know about this. Not even the council member. Equality my foot".

 

Jeb sighed. "I began to see a different way and took off in a ship with what I'd found down here. That's when I met a group of ancient being's called the Collectors.....".

 

Jess bristled but walking just behind and off to his side she was sure he wouldn't notice. She was still reeling from the implication that they were standing on a planet that had once been home to a space faring society. Only..... there was nothing to suggest that there had ever been a society. And the ruined atmosphere..... the experts belief something had occured that had ruined the atmosphere that was only just starting to become viable for life again......

 

Jeb inclined his head away from Jess and towards Dahlia. "You asked about the dark times before young miss? Tell me.... Have you ever seen..... it. That thing you've devoted your whole life towards. As the pinnacle of all you aspire towards".

 

As he spoke they were walking into a widening corridor that grew and grew. Ahead was a larger than life set of rolling doors. Jeb took them up to them and pressed a button in a panel that stood up on a metal podium in front of them.

 

"What if you reached it? What would your life be turned towards then? Not a new goal. I'm talking about something so unique and profound that anything else is lesser". He paused. "And then what if you found that the thing you spent your life trying to acquire, wasn't the ultimate thing after all. That their was something behind it even greater that it made you weep and beat your chest in revelry and adoration. But could never come close to it..... for you'd spent everything you had getting to where you thought you wanted to be......".

 

The door's opened and he walked inside. "That is the time my people call the dark times. We both yearn and fear that time when we are called upon to act. In service to another. Another that we have never met but know as surely as blood flows in our veins and the air we breath floods our lungs that our time of uplifting and servitude is upon us".

 

He stopped and looked at the others. Looking at their faces. "Hmmph. Seems I've lost you. Better to show you perhaps".

 

Jess carefully drawled. "I'm not sure if your preaching to the right choir here Mr.....".

 

"Jeb.... Jeb,.... Just Jeb. Go and have a look". He gestured around and lights sprung up. Jess looked around and saw tables upon tables lining incesses cut into the walls. Walkways and gantry's allowed access to those higher above them. Jess looked at one on their level and turned back to Jeb. "Jeb..... what's under the blankets"?

 

Jeb smiled. "If you still want to know the answer to that question, come and meet me over there". He pointed to something that gleamed black with mottled brown specks in the light. It looked like a cocoon It was separated from them in a large transparent boxlike structure and Jess wondered why she felt a chill looking at it".

 

"Alot more interesting than Threshers". Jeb repeated as he walked off.

 

If Dahlia's crest tentacles could stand up they would. They'd be arcing electricity. Her right hand was on the stock of her shotgun and ready to draw. She took a defensive stance.

 

Morgan paced slowly around towards the right, keeping his back to the wall.  He kept his shooting hand near his guns, though he wondered if guns would be of much use getting out.  There was nobody from the cult visible except for Jeb and what was under the blankets, which gave Morgan a very bad feeling about where things were headed.

 

The tables stretched on, too many to count.  They reached as far as Morgan could see, further on into caves.  Some seemed to be grouped together, for whatever reason, though what was disturbing is Morgan thought he could hear sounds from certain groups.  And if his ears didn’t mistake him, he could swear some of those sounds were of shallow breathing.

 

Jeb peaked behind him to Morgan as he walked.  “You look a little uncertain there, brother.”

 

Morgan kept his voice steady.  “I’m surprised that you put so much meaning into the discovery of Prothean ruins.”

 

A chuckle escaped Jeb.  “Oh, these are more than Prothean ruins.  Their civilization came and went.  But they did serve their purpose in the lifting up of others.  We all will.  Even such as yourselves.”

 

Jeb was almost at the boxlike structure, and he held his arms up to it, as if he wanted to be pulled into it.

 

Jess narrowed her eye's and her artificial one worked to compensate for the gloom. Jeb was walking away and approaching the cocoon in something approaching reverence. Morgan and Dahlia were picking up on the unsettled feeling she herself was feeling. She hid it better though. Years of dealing had taught her to never reveal your feeling's to the other party and with Jebidiah distracted, Jess took the opportunity he had offered them.

 

She strode over to the side where a batch of tables lay. Approaching one she saw the form of a figure under the cloth. The torso part was moving up, and down, slowly. As if the figure underneath was sleeping. Looking around she saw all the figures chest area's lightly rising and falling. Annoyed by the trepidation she felt in uncovering the subject before her she reached out, grabbed the hem covering the head of the person beneath and pulled it back so sharply that the whole blanket came up and away.

 

Jess looked down and saw before her the first of what she assumed was many of what she had seen on the video display in the Drowned Aspires ship.

 

The figure was humanoid..... but that was where the similarity ended.

 

The figure was covered from head to foot in a seamless, chitinous armoured carapace that covered the individual from head to foot. The face..... if that was what you could call what she saw now, was a shiny mottled wedge that was all mandibles and four sets of dark, unseeing eye's that glinted as they stared open and unblinking at the ceiling. Like dark glasses Jess saw nothing to suggest a person had once existed where this......

 

And then it hit her..... this was real.

 

It was happening.

 

The video file hadn't been a lie or a prank. Outside of these cavern walls the Drowned Aspire were convincing people to come with them.... And at the end of their initiation and conditioning.... they did this to them.

 

It was a Human mixed with a Collector's form. The video had said, the human was the base upon which it was modified and subject to agonising and debilitating practices.... and then the Collector was mixed into the ruined form of the person and practically melted itself to the unfortunate individual while their body was further mutated and conditioned.

 

A horror mixed with fury threatened to overwhelm her calm when she heard a moan coming from further into the side cavern she was standing in. Turning away from the body of the she walked further in and found a section further in and off to the side.

 

There was a furnace near the back. The door was closed. The moaning was coming from inside. Jess grabbed the handle, turned it with the sound of metal rubbing on metal and hauled herself backwards. The door slowly opened and she looked inside. The smell of rotting flesh and putrification knocked her back with the stench and she recoiled.

 

"Let's get the f*** out of here!" Dahlia yelled.

 

Morgan had also had enough.  He activated the video feed on his omni-tool to record what was happening, drew his Phalanx, and ran for Jess.

 

Smoke rolled out and up from the opened furnace.  Morgan saw the expression on Jess’ face if he needed any confirmation that he was doing the proper thing.  He grabbed her around the waist with his free arm, picked her up, and hauled her away.

 

Jeb’s voice caused Morgan to point and aim in the cult leader’s direction.  The old man had opened the structure and was climbing in.  “It’s time we all got to lift up!  Ain’t we ready!  All you brothers and sisters arise!  Welcome these folk with open arms!”

 

The door on the structure closed with Jeb inside, and then the bodies under the blankets began to stir.

"Morgan! What the flying!.......". Jess shrieked as she was unceremoniously hoisted over his shoulder and carried like a sack of spuds when she looked up at Jeb. The Cocoon was glowing from the inside and as Jeb was trying to climb in, tendrils snaked out and wrapped themselves around his arms and torso and legs. She could hear him cry out.

 

"Imma coming boys! We're all in this together! Let's make ourselves and take the chosen to the promisAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH"!

 

The cocoon pulled him in and Jess stared as she was jostled as the tendrils stripped him bare even as other's flayed the skin from him. Other's stabbed into his body with tubes of something black oozing into him.

 

Then the screaming really started.

 

Jess wapped Morgan on his back. "Who said to dawdle! Quick quick! What's the delay"?

 

As she said that she saw the blanket's move as the forms began to rise up, the blanket's slipping down to reveal more of the collectorfied human cultists.

 

Oh my....... we got a problem. Jess thought in her head.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Colony of Cyrene - Planet Idmon - Somewhere near Titan System

 

The colony of Cyrene was a small one, even by most human standards. It consisted of 2 dozen fabricated housing units, stacked next to each other rather then one atop the other, its layout was similar to a maze. It had been founded as a trading town, between the gas giant in the titan system and the terminus system, a rest stop colony for those in the Helium business. The planet itself seemed a lot like mars, only it had been so close to habitable, that the humans didn't have much of a problem to terraform the planet to produce oxygen in foreign introduced plant life. Was it the best colony humanity had ever made? By no small stretch of the imagination, it really wasn't. But certainly it wasn't the worst place they had decided to set up shop at, and throughout the track record the alliance had, this colony had been doing pretty alright for itself.

 

And now it lay completely abandoned, not a single soul to be found at all on the boarder colony.

 

Essul Ran'perah looked about the empty street from behind his environmentally sealed helmet, golden visor reflecting off the orange sunlight as he stepped out of yet another abandoned house, this one like the others with a rather off putting addition of having a meal on the table, now old and beginning to go bad. He walked with a heavy footed and easy pace, feet crunching against the light colored dirt that made up this human rock, as he was beginning to see why the hegemony had been so concerned over these recent misfortunes for humanity.

 

'5 homes searched, 5 signs of abductions without struggles...' Essul thought to himself, his footsteps echoing off the walls of the colony world as he continued his pace, his Cazador smg drawn as he continued his sweep of the area. 'Worse yet, they didn't just leave without a fight. They left without any belongings being disturbed...' This was not the work of some unauthorized band of slavers, as the hegemony claimed. It couldn't be, not with this level of efficiency, this lack of destruction, the signs of life still all around. As he walked to the next prefab house, he stopped, whipping around quickly as he backed into the homes entrance, bracing himself against a wall.

 

'Is it my imagination? Or did I really hear a sound?' The batarian operative thought to himself as he waited in tense silence, listening with his helmets HUD set to detect any sonic activity, and after a full minute, finding none. 'This place is making me too damn jumpy...' he thought with a well shielded scowl as he turned around to inspect the room 'Pretty soon I'll be jumping at the shadows that-'

 

This house wasn't orderly. The batarian blinked as he took in the scene of the living room he had walked into, his shadow casting onto an overturned table and split cut of unknown liquid from a colorful plastic cup. Essul took a cautious step forward into the house, looking at the angle of the furniture, the spilled drink, then beyond that, any tracts or scuffs, any other disheveled signs, the general state of the room, to see if this might truly be a sign of progress in this creepy investigation. Essul could see the scene, given the way things were framed and left as they were.

 

Someone or something had come from the doorway, whoever was sitting there at the table had panicked, kicking it up and spilling the contents as they scrambled away. His eyes went to the opposite side of the table, but any sign of a struggle wasn't to be found, just a find layer of dust. His eyes went back then to the stain, bending down as he followed the stains droplet pattern. It had rolled when it fell, but if the initial point of contact matched the stain, then the person had scrambled ahead, towards the wall of the home. Essul looked forward as he saw up ahead, something rather chilling.

 

To the untrained eye, it was nothing, just a simple bed that had been sleeping accommodations built into this three room pre-fab home. To essul however, what he was seeing was a crime scene, where a single handprint could be seen. He walked towards it carefully and bent down, looking as he saw the sheet of the bed, pulled up towards the ceiling before being released. He reached out, holding his own hand above the sheet, seeing the difference in size and the angle it had to be. Someone had been scrambling to reach here, had gotten one hand onto this spot...and then nothing else. No other part of this bed had been disturbed at all.

 

The hand print was also troubling, so small in comparison to his own that there was little doubt in essuls mind of what it belonged to. 'Either a malformed short human...or a child...' his hand tightened into a vicelike grip as it rested on his knee, and he spoke for the first time. "What kind of monster could have done something like this?" he asked, looking down a moment as something caught his eye. His hand reached down, below where the handprint was, and spotted under the bed, something he couldn't believe.

 

It was a datapad, a simple datapad, and by the angle it had been at, it had been put there in a hurry, or possibly by accident, and had been sitting there for some time. When the hegemony had first given Essul this matter, they had claimed that slavers could be stirring trouble between the alliance and hegemony unnecessarily, and to bring the culprits in line. But one thing essul knew from this trip, from his first arrival here just one hour ago, was that this was not the work of a slaver, could not possibly be the work of a slaver.

 

Something else had done this, something that had to be stopped. And as he turned on the datapad to check its memory, he hoped it'd shed some light on what had done this.

[Kel Riever]

The horrors under the blankets moved slowly at first, and for that Morgan was thankful, but the sheer numbers of them were threat enough alone.  Without waiting to see what they would do, Morgan used his Kuwashii visor to help him target one in the head, fired his Phalanx and put one down.  Several more cut him off from the entrance to the cavern where Dahlia was waiting. 

 

A series of biotic explosions were unleashed along the ground, clearing the group that was blocking Morgan and Jess.  Dahlia had shockwaved them.  “Come on,” she shouted, “We gotta move!”

 

Morgan jumped over the bodies and put Jess down near the entrance.  He switched from his Phalanx to his assault rifle and saw Dahlia draw her Claymore.  Behind, an insect like droning grew, and Morgan saw the risen monstrosities had eyes that glowed. 

 

Worse, the hybrid Collector-human Morgan thought he’d killed and the few that Dahlia shockwaved were getting up again.

 

Dahlia fired, Morgan let loose a controlled burst, and with Jess, they retreated from the cavern.  Morgan activated his com, to raise either the Audron itself or anyone from the group that he’d come with to the compound.

 

“This is Morgan, we need assistance immediately!  We’re down in the mines at the Drowned Aspire compound.  Numerous enemies…” A beam of golden light lanced out from the gathering of monsters, narrowly missing Morgan’s head, “Armed.  It’s the Collectors.”

 

Morgan’s omni-tool blinked a warning for a bad com connection.  They were deep down in the mines, but basic communication should have been working.  He didn’t know what the interference was.

 

“Again, this is Morgan.  We need an immediate evac,”  Morgan then got off his com and called out, “Which way out?”

 

Jess was moving ahead with her omni-tool approaching the intersection which looked like the one Jeb had turned down.  The corridors looked confusing to Morgan.  From one of the better lit corridors, three mine workers looked in surprise.  They were armed.

 

Aiming his gun at one, Morgan decided to ask them the same question.  “Which way out?”

 

Dahlia shot at the lead hybrid, which ran at full speed towards her until it was hit in the chest by the claymore and fell.

 

When the three workers saw what had happened, they reacted chaotically.  One screamed and ran, another aimed his gun down the corridor and added his fire to fend off the horde.  The third threw down his weapon, threw up his arms, went to his knees and yelled, “Those are the true brothers and sisters!  Be saved!”

 

Jess pointed to the cultist who ran.  Morgan, Dahlia and Jess went after him, leaving the other two cultists to their fate, with one surrendering and the other frozen in place firing. 

 

Morgan activated his tech armor and brought up the rear.  Golden beams were lancing out now, occasionally.  Morgan didn’t think the newly awakened monsters were all armed, but clearly some were.  One shot meant for Dahlia caught Morgan in a tech plate instead, collapsing it, but failing to pierce further into Morgan’s armor.  He sent another burst from his assault rifle behind him, caring little for what he hit, as long as it was something chasing them.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Morgan? Morgan, repeat your transmission..." Vayne said as his comms had blared to life, the messaged garbled and filled with static as it had come through. By the general tone however, it didn't sound good, "Morgan, this is the surface team. What are you engaged with?"

 

"...Armed.  It’s ---- collect--s....Ag-in, this i- -organ.  We ne-- -- imm----e eva-,”

 

"Morgan...MORGAN!?" vayne said, getting off his comms as a snarled anger, his outburst reflected at the anger on his face. Zenon meanwhile had moved closer towards Irina then ever before, shaking and trembling as she kept her eyes closed, "No no no ...not here not here not here not here..." she said as tears began to well in his eyes, "Their in the mines...they have to be....they're coming to take us all to the cold." she said, whispering with panic in her voice as she spoke.

 

Vayne moved his steed towards her, grunting as he bent down to near her position and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped in surprise and looked up at the old krogan as he looked down to her, his face deathly seriosu as he spoke, "We've killed them once...." he said to her, looking her in the eyes, "And we'll kill them again. They won't be taking anyone..."

 

With that he looked up to the others, hand going as he drew his shotgun pistol, "There's no way the Audron would have gotten their message if their singal was screwed up so bad on our end. Tell Deidrus our team's encountered hostiles and we're all engaging." he said as he took in a breath, seemingly like a different krogan from the one who'd been talking moments ago, much more anger and authority in his voice as he spoke.

 

"and when you're done, we ride to the mines. All of us as a team. Understand?" He asked as he looked about the group, hand clenched on his reign ready to go, "Our own are in danger. Lets show what happens when someone decides to **** with our crew."

[Redbelle]

Jess followed the fleeing cultist, arms and legs pumping as blood pumped as she pushed herself to keep up with the cultist whose feet seemed to have grown wings, he was moving so fast.

 

Her breath coming hard in her own ears Jess spied the lift up ahead and saw the cultist flee inside in terror. Jess ignored the fewar that he would activate it and kept running as the cultist grabbed the grating and tried to close it. It got caught. His frantic efforts causing the mesh to jam as Jess flew at him and threw a punch at his jaw.

 

The cultist went down hard as he was thrown backwards and bounced off the panel behind him so hard it cracked. Cursing Jess turned to see where the other two were. Spying Dahlia she searched vainly for Morgan but couldn't see him before she turned away. She ran a diagnostic and found the panel damage was serious enough that she pulled out a tool and stripped the cover off before looking inside. A few wires had burst loose of their housings and a few twists and screws later the panel was working again.

 

"C'mon guy's"! She shouted over her sholder. "The way up's waiting here"!

[Kel Riever]

Morgan was backing up as he fired. A sharp bend provided momentary cover where he braced and blasted a steady stream of rounds. His rifle didn’t use the modern thermal clip system that had become so popular. Morgan’s Kovalyov would fire indefinitely, as long as the heat buildup was controlled. Where those rounds were landing was a mystery for the most part, though; the black swarm moving forward in the dark with glowing eyes seemed to spread steadily forward.

For the miners who had been left behind, Morgan thought he heard their screams, but it was more likely that he imagined them as the droning sound of Collector wings now filled the tunnels.

A shadowy shape moved upwards, and Morgan let off a three-round burst at it. Then another shape leapt out ahead of the pack and was on him. A claw clipped Morgan in the shoulder and he spun out of cover. Retreating again, Morgan discharged his tech armor in an energy pulse. The chitinous creature was staggered, giving Morgan the space to scramble away and shoot it, but the rounds seemed to do little.

Dahlia shouted out in anger and a biotic field encased the Collector, but it pushed forward through the field. The asari cursed, “It’s going right through the stasis!” The creature crouched to spring, this time at Dahlia.

Morgan pushed off and threw his shoulder hard into the flank of the armored horror. He knocked it off balance, but it was heavy, and the solid chitin felt like it was stabbing right through Morgan’s Predator armor. Although unsteady, the creature then swung its arm backwards and caught Morgan across the chest, sending him reeling towards Dahlia and off his feet.

Fighting to keep his senses about him, Morgan shot from the ground. Above him, Dahlia yelled, “Grenade,” before unfastening an orb from her belt and tossing it towards their enemy. It detonated in another field that the creature pushed its way through. But this time, Dahlia unleashed her shockwave again, just passed Morgan, to hit the hybrid while still in the field and the combined effects detonated.

Deafened momentarily, Morgan scrambled to his feet next to Dahlia. “The elevator is near,” Dahlia encouraged and guided Morgan with a hand. Morgan aimed his assault rifle to their pursuers, letting off a few more bursts when he saw the creature hit by the biotic explosion. It still stood, bleeding black ichors from under its plates, but it reached out its clawed arms and shambled forward.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina handed Zenon her sidearm. Zenon took Irina's hand and led them to the elevator. Naleena grabbed one of the guards and probed his mind for the access code. The guard screamed, and she snapped his neck. She entered the code, and the group entered the elevator.

 

***

 

Dahlia ran to the elevator and hit the button, but the control panel was locked. "S***! S***! S***!" she swore, "Jess here!" She tossed Jess her Claymore. "Hold them off. They have this panel locked with a security code!" She went to work hacking it frantically. Jess fired the claymore several times at the thing that was approaching and it fell dead. Dahlia finished hacking the panel, and the elevator began to descend to their level.

 

There were some large support columns near the elevator, along with raised platforms, and ladders up to them. The platforms were about 8 feet higher than the floor making a choke point about 8 feet wide. Dahlia pointed to them. Morgan and Jess nodded, and Dahlia ran to the center and put up a barrier between the platforms.

 

"Get up on the platforms and keep them off the barrier until the elevator arrives. The barrier will stop them from overrunning us!" Dahlia shouted.

[Cknarf]

"A man of few words, huh?" Frank asks.  The guard has yet to acknowledge him, despite is incessant questioning.

 

"Are you sure there's nothing you wanna talk about?"  

 

"How bout music? Surely you guys like music.  You know that one that goes like: Buh, duh duh duhduhduh... No? Here, I'll show you."  Frank reaches into his bag, and pulls out a couple of his tools and begins drumming on his helmet. Tap tap tap tapata tapata tap tapata tap tap  "Solo time!"  Tapatatapatatapata TAP TAP TAPATA TA--

 

The guard grabbed Frank's helmet, and returned to his spot.

 

"Alright then.  At least I know you're listening now."

 

"So this 'Androkan'.  I figure he's the boss, right?  Captain of this fine vessel?  Eteon said he was angry.  She also said something about cults.  And Armor.  That's why I'm here."  Frank stopped. 

 

"Wait, was she not supposed to talk?  Is she gonna be in trouble? Don't say anything, alright?" Frank laughed.  ".Pffft. Yeah right. Like you're going to say anything.  Seriously, though, don't tell Androkan."

 

"So where is Eteon, anyway?  She was waaaay better at conversation.  Well, kinda.  A bit awkward.  Is she coming back?"

 

"I like your gun.  Phaeston, is it?"  Frank reaches into the bag.  "Here's mine."  He removes his rifle, and expands it.  "It's old, but it gets the job done.  It doesn't use thermal clips, just an internal heat sink. Soooo much better that way, I think, but what do I know?  I've never actually seen comb-"

The guard snatched the rifle from Frank's hands.

 

"You're a gun guy then?  Cool.  I like guns too.  I'm pretty sure humans used gunpowder weapons up until the First Contact War.  I've only seen one, like EVER."

 

"The First Contact War.  I'm so glad that your people didn't annihilate my people.  If they did, then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now..."

[Kel Riever]

The roar of the Claymore filled the mines, and Morgan counted at least five blasts before the armored hybrid was ripped open finally and fell, not to move again.  Although it gave Morgan room to fall back, in the scheme of what was coming, killing the one didn’t matter.  There were so many creatures coming, it looked like the tunnel was flooding with black liquid. 

 

It was only the haphazard and strung out way the edge of the flood proceeded that gave Morgan, Dahlia and Jess any chance at all.  With more fire from his Kovalyov, Morgan kept back those that moved fastest.  Dahlia was communicating her idea about using the raised platforms and her barrier to hold off the onslaught until the elevator arrived.  Morgan thought the elevator had already arrived, but he could have been wrong.  The chaos of the fight was too much to take everything in so he concentrated on his job, which was holding off as much of the attack as he could.

 

Morgan made his way up onto a platform.  Of course, these things can mostly fly, Morgan thought to himself, but height was better.  If Dahlia was raising the barrier and he was shooting, someone could yell when the elevator was ready.  And hopefully the Drowned Aspire doesn’t cut the power.

 

There had been no answer yet on Morgan’s com.  He called again, but it was hard to imagine what anyone on the surface could do.  At least they would be warned if no one made it out.  Morgan aimed his rifle as he saw the shimmering of Dahlia’s biotic barrier raise and cover the tunnel.  Going to his knee, Morgan kept suppressing with his Kovalyov, wounding two of the enemy and forcing their retreat.  But another of the heavily armored creatures lumbered onward, approaching the barrier.  No amount of fire from the three was going to stop it before it hit Dahlia’s defense.  And for some reason if it was stopped, more would soon take its place.    

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Inside the elevator they could hear gunfire coming from below.

 

“Sounds like all hell has broken loose,” Vayne said.

 

Zenon moved closer to Irina, and Irina turned to face her and put both her hands on her shoulders. “Listen to me. Stay close to me, and don’t leave my side for a second. And remember point and shoot. It’s going to make a lot of noise. Grip it with both hands so that it doesn’t fly out of them. It’s going to kick back at you like this when you fire it. Are you okay?”

 

“I think so.” Zenon replied.

 

“You’re going to do fine,” Irina said as she readied her Mattock.

 

“Could this elevator be any slower?” Anika asked.

 

“It’s just a long way down,” Naleena said.

 

“Be ready as soon as the doors open,” Vayne said, “Look below! I can barely make them out. Looks like Dahlia is holding a barrier and Morgan and Jess are fending off the heavies.”

 

“I’m going to shore up that barrier when we get there,” Naleena said, “Anika, you hold the elevator. Make sure this thing doesn’t leave. The rest of you provide covering fire. As soon as everyone is on the elevator I’ll release the barrier and join you.”

 

“Sounds like a plan. When did you learn unit tactics?” Vayne asked.

 

“I didn’t. It just made sense.” Naleena replied.

 

The elevator arrived and the door opened.

 

“It’s here!” Jess shouted.

 

Dahlia’s barrier was starting to collapse. Naleena sprinted out of the elevator and put up another barrier. Her barrier was solid.

 

“Dahlia! Go now!” Naleena shouted.

 

“Everyone out!” Vayne shouted.

 

Some of the smaller hybrids climbed over the platforms. Irina and Vayne shot several of them. Jess, Morgan and Dahlia retreated into the elevator. Jess handed Dahlia back her Claymore. Then a Collector landed on top of the left platform as others were pouring over the right. Heavies were coming up the middle. No one saw the Collector as it jumped down.

 

Glowy eyes… No! No more glowy eyes. Zenon pointed Irina’s Phalanx at it and fired…. Again….and again… and again…. And again…..The Collector dropped and disintegrated.

 

“Is everyone on board?” Naleena shouted

 

“Yes!” Jess replied.

 

Naleena’s forehead wrinkled as she focused her biotic energy and sent the barrier forward in a blast, knocking over everything in its path. She ran into the elevator and the door closed. Anika hit the up button. Two armored hybrids grabbed onto the chain link elevator door and were trying to tear it open.

 

Dahlia put her claymore to their faces and fired. That was all of them. The elevator was returning to the main level of the compound.

[Redbelle]

Jess turned to the group who had come after them. "Nice to see you...... Here's the plan. We. Get. Out. Don't assume the Audron can come get us, by the time they get here those things will have overrun this place. We need to leave fast".

 

She paused as she consdered their options. "Okay, the steeds are the best bet. Baldy's got a boat load of data in him. We need to get him back to town. I hope no one's got any unfinished business because.....".

 

A primal scream came up from the shaft that was heard over the rattle of the lift's motor above them. Straining her ears, Jess thought she heard something like the sounds of something hard clanging on metal.

 

They were climbing the shaft.

 

"Doesn't this thing move faster"? She bashed the panel and for a moment the rig shuddered before surging on again as Jess looked between the group. "That wasn't me".

 

Finally the lift came up and out of the pit shaft and emerged in the bowels of the mining ship from where Morgan, Dahlia and Jess had begun their trip. No-one was around, but their was a keening wail of a siren from deeper within the ship. "Guess they've heard from the mine". Jess quipped as she pulled open the cage and made off to the left where a raised panel on a pedestal waited. She quickly scanned the panel and then hit a switch that caused a klaxon to sound as yellow lights came on and spun as a large metal plate started to move across the shaft's entrance. Metal grated on metal showing sign's that the door had not been maintained or operated in quite some time.

 

Not waiting to see if would close she hurried after the group. "There are other exit's so all that'll do is slow them down for a time. Let's get the.....".

 

At that point the door ahead opened and a group of men with weapons rushed in. Guns in hand and pointed towards them. Samacen walked in with them. His robes swirling about him.

 

"What in de hell's is going on? All of you, keep the hands away from de weapons. No sudden move's Asari! We know how the biotics work. Anything you try, we cut you down. Now what happened? Where's Brudda Jeb"? Samacen's eye's narrowed. "What dah hell have you done"!

[Cainhurst Crow]

Colony of Cyrene - Planet Idmon - Somewhere near Titan System

 

Essul was surprised at how intact the data was on the datapad. He searched through the entries, file after file of video and audio logs had been stored on here, making it clear this datapad was most likely this persons personal device.

 

He checked the recent entry, seeing it was from 2 days ago and, more troubling that it said there had been an error in recording. He checked its file properties and was shocked to see it had actually stopped recording because the maximum video space available had been used up.

 

'This thing was left running this whole time!?' Essul thought as he looked the datapad over, whoever had done this was either sloppy, which he doubted, cocky, which seemed likely, or was trying to **** with investigators heads, which he didn't rule out as he played the entry.

 

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

 

As the video loaded, it showed the face of a human, blinking in surprise that is was someone who looked so young was the owner of this device. He smiled as he brought the pad out to look at its camera, getting a wide shot of the room and his face, "Hello followers. Takebackthechit here with another post of "Life on a Colony".

 

The pad swung suddenly, facing the table as a older women was setting out plates, obviously for dinner, "As you can see, mom's setting up plates for our dinner. I'll give you a hint, its Rehyd Rations again."

 

"Dan, turn that thing off..." the boys "mother" said as she let out an exhauserbated sigh, rubbing her temple as she placed a cup of juice on the table, the filmers hand reaching into frame to pick it up and move it out of shot. "But I gotta make these mom. My followers and I have a well worked out schedule for these logs. And I-"

 

"And I've told you, I don't mind you using the datapad as long as you use it responsibly. That means not when we're having a family dinner together, okay?" she said as she shock her head, the camera moving again as it now was placed to face down on the table, "Honestly, sometimes its like your addicted to that stuff."

 

"Come on mom, that's low." the boy said disappointingly, "So when is dad getting back?"

 

"Shouldn't be long now. His shift ended just a little while ago, so he should be making it back soo-" suddenly there was a thunderous noise from outside, the camera shaking as it was picked up and aimed for the door.

 

"W-what was that?" "I don't know. There wasn't any thunder predicted by the weather systems..." the camera turned to the mother as she rose, the son moving up when his mother motioned for him to stay down. "Stay there dan. Just...just stay there while I take a look." she said, the camera shaking from obvious fear.

 

"I'm scared..." was all dan could say in response, fear in his voice as the lighting seemed to get darker in the colony, his mother making it to the door as she opened it, looking outside. She stared up in the doorway, looking transfixed on something outside the building.

 

"Mom?...what is it?....Mom?"  Dan asked, but his mother remained silent, then slowly began to back away, her face looking horrified before she let out a scream, and something came in from the doorway at her. The visuals were a series of jostles, the audio filled with screams and cries for help as young dan ran up with the datapad, the device dropping to the ground ahead as the sound of a crash was heard, coming to a stop where essul had found it as the young boy came into view, scrambling as he reached forward and grabbed a handful of bedsheet, trying to pull himself up before he cried in pain and then....froze.

 

---------

 

Essul blinked as he brought up the runtime, seeing a full 4 hours of recorded data left. He fast forwarded a bit, trying to see any change, but for 30 whole seconds the same shot held, before nothing. It was like the kid was frozen, literally stuck in the position he was in as essul scanned through the 30 minutes of footage, stopping when he saw something off in one fo the frames. He brought it back, and his eyes went wide at the sight of something crawling on the kids face. It was some kind of bug, some kind of massive bug that crawled on the kids forzen features, the only sign the video wasn't just stuck on a frame at all.

 

Essul shuddered as he fast forwarded to the last minute of video with the kid in frame, playing it as the sound of silence overwhelmed the log. Then, something changed. The sound of the door opening, a series of clicks and footsteps audible coming from the room. He leaned in closer to the screen, wanting to see if there might be a chance to catch a glimpse of whoever had done this in the video, and catch one he did. A figure with 4 eyes came into frame, but it was no kind of batarian to ever have existed. It was covered in what appeared to be armor, large plates of the stuff, and it bent down to the kid as, for the first time since the kid froze, essul could see his eyes, moving about rapidly, as his own widened in shock and horror.

 

'He's still conscious. Paralyzed and left aware...' The armored entity lifted the boy off the sheet, turning to carry him away as silence returned to the video. The door opened and closed once more, and then nothing. The rest of the video was nothing but silence and a single shot of the ceiling and some sheets.

 

Essul shock his head as he took the datapad, bringing up his omnitool and telling it to copy the last recorded message, as well as as much data from the datapad as could be recorded. Essul wanted a name, an age, a birthdate, a homeworld, anything he could to remember this child and his family by. Whatever did this, they'd destroyed many families just like this humans, an entire generation of people wiped off the face of the galaxy. And now he had something to personify that loss, and the stakes of his mission for himself.

 

As he was busy copying data, he heard something from behind him, yet again. This time it wasn't something as simple as a imagined tap, but a sound he recognized all too well.

 

Someone was outside this place, talking. Essul activated his tactical cloak, moving swiftly and silently to press himself against the front wall, listening in on the conversation as it grew louder and louder.

 

"I'm tellin ya, I heard something come from this way. Yellin and stuffs while I was searching da other house."

 

"And I'm telling ya to stow it with that kind of talk. Its giving me the goddamn creeps. This place is so ****** creepy."

 

"Whatever. We've looked through plenty of old mining colonies before, same old story. Mines go dry, everyone leaves. We get their leftovers."

 

"Yeah. But when have ya seen a colony emptied this fast? And with this much stuff left? I'm tellin the two of ya, this is one of dem ghost colonies."

 

"Then forfeit your haul and wait on the ****** ship. I'm checking this house. You get the next one over."

 

Essul kept silent as a ghost as footsteps got louder and louder up the steps of the home, a shadow in the doorway as someone looked inside. After a few seconds, a woman stepped in, wearing what looked like light armor, looking over the color scheme and design as he recognized the armor.

 

'Elkos Combine brand. So that means they're either cheap, putting on a front, or can't afford any better...' As she looked about, she walked towards the kitchen, looking through the cabinets, "Come on, where do they keep their ****** food?"

 

'Scavenging for food. Definitely can't afford any better.' He'd seen enough, and as swift and silent as he'd pressed against the wall, essul passed through the open doorway, pressing the close button as he leaped forward and landed in a crouch in the dirt ground. As his cloak began to disengage, he sprinted forward, around the house as he came around the backside, enough space between these buildings to let him weave in between them easily. These vultures weren't worth the trouble of killing. If they wanted to pick apart a carcass, they could have it. And high above, he prayed they got a graverobbers justice in the end.

 

So as the female scavanger opened the door and ran out, weapons drawn and barking like a madwomen, getting her cohorts attention to go to her location, essul slipped out of the colony, heading towards the outskirts where he'd hidden his small vessel, a personal aircraft just bigger then a kodiak and looking like a beefed up and more curvy mantis gunship with . He entered his ship, activating its systems as he warmed it up, getting ready to go.

 

Essul looked at the datapad and his own omnitool, telling him the data was 60% backed up. When it reached a hundred percent, he would contact the shadow broker and give him the payment for the tabs he'd provided on colonies going dark in the terminus system, a copy of the relevant data he'd found, and a sizable amount of credits, as per their arrangement.

 

"Maybe I'll even get a solid lead after the drop." he thought to himself as he took off, speeding out into space before the bone picking vultures below could even alert anyone in their ship that someone had just left the planets atmosphere. A ST-55 Jegulza Gunship was the fastest vessel the batarians had invented for space to atmosphere engagements, and its speed was well valued by essul as he piloted the ship out of the system and towards the fueling station. He'd get fueled, head into the relay, and go to the designated drop zone for his intel drop.

 

And find someone worth killing to shoot, maybe some illegal slavers or kidnappers would be nice.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

At the Drowned Aspire:

 

Scraping noises of the hybrids scaling the walls of the shaft could be heard as the elevator stopped on the main level, and the door opened. The bodies of the two guards Naleena killed lay dead on the floor.

 

“Everyone out!” Jess shouted and shut the elevator door.

 

“Alright, follow me!” Vayne led the team up the corridor of the freighter with Irina and Zenon close behind. They went past two bulkheads then were about to go to the port side airlock where they entered the ship.

 

“No! This way!” Zenon said, tugging on Vayne. “There’s another way out.”

 

“She’s right. They could be waiting for us there.” Naleena said.

 

“But won’t that put us further away from the steeds?” Dahlia asked.

 

“Would you rather be pinned down in here or have room to maneuver?” Irina asked, “I say we go to the starboard airlock. We’ll probably have to fight more, but they’ll be taking on more than one or two of us at a time.”

 

“Better to get out with no fighting luv”. Jess remarked. “Fighting's delaying. We don't profit from delaying our escape”.

 

“We might not be given the opportunity Captain”. Anika remarked dryly. “Starting to wish you'd listened to me about the armour”?

 

“Your the bloody bodyguard. Why didn't you insist”?

 

“Insis.....”. Anika choked off the last of what she was saying as she was struck speechless.

 

“Besides.... The stripes would have clashed with the coat. Though I like the spurs..... Maybe I can put them on the armour”?

 

“Don't even think about it”!

 

“Alright alright.... You can have a set on yours too. Wouldn't want you feeling left out”.

 

“You..... Are..... Impossible”! Anika ground out.

 

“Yeah but if we get out of this you can handcuff me to the bed rails and do unspeakable things to me as an 'I told you so'!

 

Anika's eyelid twitched and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “Impossible”. She repeated.

 

“Luv, it's only impossible till we get it done. We're going to be alright. You'll see”.

 

Vayne nodded his head, looking to the others, "The portside's a bottleneck, too easy for them to cover and pick us off. Better to catch them off guard and at least stand a chance." With that, Vayne took the lead and began to lead the group to the starboard airlock to exit. Outside, two guards watched the exit. When the team emerged, Morgan knocked out one. The other one started to alert Samacen, and Dahlia put him in stasis. Irina hit him with the butt end of her Mattock and knocked him unconscious. There were heavy metal crates stacked and scattered throughout this area. What was in them was anyone’s guess.

 

“That takes care of that,” Irina said, and then she saw an oncoming platoon of armed guards. Samacen was among them. “Oh crap!”

 

“Everyone, take cover!” Vayne shouted, and the team took cover behind the crates. Vayne picked a stack of crates in the middle of the area, tall and wide enough to cover him as he kept his bakara pistol readied and elbowed a crate off the top of the stack, creating a armored stand he could use to steady his aim. The crate topped over and hit the ground with a crash and the lid popped off causing the content's to spill out. A once carefully packed stack of carapaced weaponry, much like the weapons Anika was using, spilled out and across the floor.

 

Seeing this as she was moving behind her own crate, with Morgan shadowing her close behind, Jess stopped behind the cover of a crate and leaned across to pop the release. It opened and inside she saw inside, armoured carapace's. The kind that would fit a human. The kind that she had seen in the cocoon with Jeb. She pulled back and looked at Morgan. “This place is twisted. All sorts of twisted. What happened to these people? This...... this is not normal”!

 

The Drowned Aspire guards took cover as well. Samacen walked forward. “What in de hell's is going on? All of you, keep the hands away from de weapons. Where's Brudda Jeb? What dah hell have you done?”

 

Zenon was hiding behind Irina and she spoke. “Those things…, those things in the mine are not saved,” she said pointing her pistol at Samacen. “I won’t let them get me. I won’t let the glowing eyes get me, I won’t!”

 

Samacen cocked his head. “What do you mean child? You are the one chosen by the Harbinger to lead us after the dark times. We surrender ourselves, and we are spared.”

 

“No. They… change us.”

 

“Of course they change us. Brudda Jeb says they help us ascend,” Samacen said.

 

“Ascend, my arse,” Irina said, “They look like… like zombies with hard shells.”

 

“Jeb’s wrong!” Dahlia said, “They’re monsters, the likes of which I’ve never seen.”

 

“You blaspheme?”

 

“They change us into things that don’t think, and put us into cold,” Zenon said, "and they're coming after us."

 

“Listen to her, ya bloody galah!” Irina said, “They’re in the elevator shaft trying to get out. As soon as they do, they’re going to kill us all, including you and everyone in this compound. If you had any brains about ya, you’d join us and save your people by getting them the hell out of here ahead of that horde. And you’d use any defenses you have against it.”

 

Jess stepped forward and several of the guns trained themselves on where she stood. "Samacen.... your Samacen right? Sam..... we need to leave. Jeb climbed into a cocoon and...... he's becoming one of those.... things now".

 

"Deh are your salvation! All of us.... it..... it is not a choice for us".

 

"You always have a choice Sam". Jess's voice took on a harsh tone. "What are you working towards? What your goal"?

 

Samacen's face darkened, yet through his anger at her questions, Jess sensed a little doubt beginning to emerge.

 

She could use doubt.

 

"Sam.... If Jeb was the leader then right now he's not able to give you leadership. That means your in charge right? What did Jeb tell you about us? What did he want us to see when he took us down there? What was it that 'He' wanted".

 

"Too.... see your faces". Samacen grudgingly let out.

 

"And to see our faces..... we had to see his. He wanted witnesses Samacen. But he and you have lost control haven't you? Those things want to kill us. Jeb can't stop them. Those guns you have tell's me you have no idea what to expect now those things have awoken. You never had to deal with them when they were awake.... right"?

 

Jess took a deep breath. "Samacen.... Let us go. We are Jeb's witnesses to what he wanted us to see. You don't need us in the way while you try to get this situation under control. Those things are nigh on unstoppable so it looks like Jeb was right. You people will be......".

 

Samacen stepped aside and motioned his men to lower their weapons. "You talk to much".

 

"Your letting us go"?

 

His lip curled. "Your time will come. We after all, are here to save you. Not destroy you".

 

Jess blinked and began to walk forward, through the men who melted back, hands still on weapons. Looking back she heard metal screeching as it began to tear.

 

"Let's go gang". She told the crew behind her. Moving out slowly the guards made no move to block them or even stop them. Trepidly, they all moved out and away with Irina and Zenon bringing up the rear running toward the steeds. Zenon got on Irina's steed in front of Irina.

 

As they rode out the gate the horde burst out of the ship and into the main part of the compound. Screams and gunfire erupted behind the fleeing riders as they rode at a gallop back to town.

[Redbelle]

As they rode Anika called out to Jess. "Do you think they'll live"?

 

"What"? Jess called out, the pounding of the Mecha-Steeds hydraulic feet making it difficult to hear.

 

Anika nudged her's over till they were riding side by side. "Do you think those people we left behind.... Do you think they'll be any survivors"?

 

"Probably".

 

"Probably"? Anika sounded put out by Jess's bluntness. "Captain.... those things.... the gun fire..... We need to organise the town to go get any suriv.....".

 

"Luv..... They created them. They were conditioned to create them. The low atmosphere and manual labour gave those people a good level of fitness. I saw how they turn people into those things I think. It's bloody and brutal. Probably hard on the heart. Skin was removed so the armour could bind to the muscle and....". Jess petered off as she recalled Jeb's screaming as he was flayed alive. His screams intersperced with his shout's of encouragment? Adoration? Jess shook the memory from her mind. "The DA made them. If those things kill the DA then they lose the human face of their endevour.... Hell. We should hope they kill them all. No more human faces means just monster's to fight. But I plan for the worst. And my gut tells me we'll be facing more monster's in human skins......".

 

She grunted. "I just..... Zenon..... Sounds like brainwashing? We need to tell Deidrus. We need more information and I'll bet he has it. Or he can get it".

 

"What happened to getting back to our ship"?

 

Jess was quiet for a moment. "Still going to happen. Only now we get the message out our way. The ship's systems has everything I need to put out a warning. Attach the logs we gathered. Show the vid files. Medusa can bypass the censor programs. Maybe for half an hour? By then the info will be viral and no one will be able to surpress it".

 

Anika nodded. "I'll start packing when we get back".

 

"You'll tell Naleena"?

 

"......I'm..... not sure how to tell her yet".

 

"Figure it out luv. Time's against us. If you have anything to say to her, just say it".

 

Anika didn't respond but nudged her mount away from Jess's. Jess glanced over at her, her eye's ahead. She looked like someone unprepared, whose future was rushing up to meet her.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Zenon, you're awful quiet. Are you alright?" Irina asked as they rode.

 

"It was just... not... what I expected to find," she replied, "I thought that Brother Jeb was going to help us. He kept promising salvation in his sermons." She paused for a moment, and Irina just waited. "Those poor people back there.... They really believed, too. But they went into the mines and never came out, and they were always replaced by newcomers."

 

They rode on past hills, rock outcroppings, and succulents. Irina watched out for any surprises. "So you went in, and came out. Why did you come out? Why weren't you taken right then?"

 

"They screened us and sorted us. The Harbinger observed us. I saw the glowing eyes like in the dream before," Zenon said, "Like when I was on Omega. After the Harbinger screened and sorted our group I slipped away in the shadows and hid in the corner of the elevator. It was dark and the guards didn't see me. When we got to the surface I slipped out and found the other exit from the ship. The one no one uses except to bring the crates in."

 

"And that's when I found you wandering around," Irina said, "You weren't supposed to be there. Smart girl. My offer still stands. Consider me a friend."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne was silent as he rode along with the others back to the town, silently contemplating things. And as he did so, began unknowingly speaking out loud.

 

"I should have brought grenades...or maybe some more omnigel, make it into a bomb..." he muttered to himself, grip tightening on the reigns, "Collapsed the elevator, maybe caved in he mine somehow...kept those things from pouring up....poor dumb fools." His eyes continued to look dumbcast as he mumbled, blinking as he looked to zenon.

 

"So...you still got reservations, about your father and all?" Vayne asked as zenon looked to the krogan, nodding as she looked down.

 

"My dads a bad man...even with my head messed up like it is, I remember that much..." she said as she looked to Irina, smiling a bit as she nodded, "A friend....I think I'd like that a lot." she said, closing her eyes a moment as she rode in silence again.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  The following was a collaboration between Shotgun Julia and myself):

 

Morgan saw Jess talking to Anika.  He had a feeling he knew what the topic of the discussion was, and he knew why.  It was difficult to sort out what was about to happen with what just had. 

 

Adrenalin was subsiding and internally, Morgan felt himself coming down.  As was the usual case, outwardly he was able to hide it.  But his heart felt like it wanted to leap out of his chest and his stomach was turning.  He leaned into his mecha-steed, driving it harder and racing ahead of the others before he had the sense to pull back.

 

Dahlia caught up to Morgan, and he looked at the young asari who had become comfortable in the saddle of the artificial beast she rode.  “You handled yourself well back there,” Morgan told her.  “You held your own.”

 

Dahlia smiled at him. "Thanks. I'd read about Asari Commandos doing that sort of thing in story books when I was young. I thought I'd try it. It was either that or we were dead. I'm just glad Naleena showed up when she did. I couldn't hold it much longer." She turned to face Morgan and she had a look that she was having difficulty reconciling things. "That was really creepy in there. People voluntarily doing that? It doesn't make any sense to me."

 

"They wanted a better life.  Its a strong temptation, when someone looks like they have all the answers."  Morgan looked sideways at Dahlia.  "I've made my fair share of mistakes following bad people."  He then motioned with his head towards her, "The way you took care of yourself, you aren't fooling me.  You don't pick that up from reading books.

 

"But I don't need to know where you learned how to fight.  All that matters is you can.  And I'm glad we're on the same side."

 

"Okay, Morgan, I'll level with you because I.... I'll cut the act around you. Aria had me doing a bit more than she told Naleena. And I was freelancing on Omega, and I didn't tell Aria about it. Nothing that competed with her. I paid Anto to cover for me," she sidled up to Morgan. "That's what got me in trouble with Aria, and led to the discipline problems. My 'drug use' was a cover. I don't have a drug problem. Just... don't tell Naleena. I had to learn to think on my feet. Thank the Goddess Aria taught me how to harden my barrier."

 

Morgan paused.  Dahlia didn't seem like the kind of person who would need to hide anything, but he didn't know her well enough to be certain about anything with her.  He shrugged.  "I hope whatever past you may have had that causes issue can be put behind you."

 

Dahlia had a look of sincerity in her eyes. "Morgan, I respect you too much to let my past interfere with anything."

 

"All right.  You just keep those mushy violet eyes to yourself, though," Morgan replied with a bit of levity.  "And I wouldn't be alive if I was in the habit of sharing secrets."  The hours back to the Audron would pass quickly, he guessed.  Things looked to Morgan like they would get harder, sooner, and the anxiety of his family's well being gnawed at him. 

 

"If you ever want to talk about anything... I know not secrets...,  you know where you can find me." Dahlia smiled and rode in silence next to him.

[Cainhurst Crow]

((The following is a collaboration between myself and Shotgun Julia.))

 

Irina turned to Vayne. "Well, this time you're under no obligation to return her to him, so don't. And besides, she'll only run away from him again. I think she's had enough trauma for a lifetime. What she needs now is some stability. You may think I'm a bit crazy, but a couple of things are for certain: I'll never mistreat her, and I'll teach her things so she won't have to be afraid anymore. Would you like that?"

Zenon looked up at Irina, and smiled approvingly.

 

Vayne looked to irina a moment, expressing unreadable as he looked back ahead, "I think some stability would be good for her...do you really think you can give her that?"

 

The question was genuine, voice laced with concern and worry as he looked Irina in the eye. The old krogans amber eyes glinted with something as he stared into her own.

 

"If you've got something to say, Vayne, say it." Irina said.

 

Vayne let out a sigh, looking tired as he looked to the human.

 

"Well...you're going this far out of your way to take care of her...you might as well know the full story..." he said as he took in a breath, ready to begin his story. "I can't attest to the others, like I told you before, I was a private detective paid to find her, and found out more then I bargained for..." he began, recalling the conversation they had had in the compound when he'd first spotted zenon.

 

"The part I left out...was who it was who kidnapped zenon...." he said as he looked to the girl with pity in his eyes, "The blue suns were being paid and supplied by the collectors...Crazy as that sounds, they put her in some sort of stasis pod along with over 300 other humans. Whatever she went through in their custody, its messed her up bad. That's obvious to anyone..."

 

"I don't know what the collectors are capable of, but those monsters back at the compound? They looked like collectors as well, only less bug like and more...human..." he tightened his grip on the reigns as he looked to Irina in the eyes. "But what I do know is if I went through something similar, I'd need help. Not a trip out to go hunting or lessons on how to use a gun...I'm talking about help."

 

"Professional help. From folks who know how to treat someone whose been through hell no one else could understand..." he spoke his piece solemly, trying not to look at zenon as he spoke, and it clear in his voice what his meaning was.

 

"I'm not sending her back to her father. And give me a little credit, Vayne! I'm not stupid! You don't think I know what PTSD looks like? Trust me. I've been there. You don't know what Haliat and his Batarian pirate friends unleashed on us in the Skyllian Blitz. We were lucky to get out alive." Irina said, "There is one place I do trust, and I don't know if the name Shepard still pulls any weight with the Systems Alliance, seeing as she's been dead for two years, but I served with her on Elysium. That place would be Grissom Academy. Any other place might just treat her like a lab rat after they find out what she's been through.

 

"No, sorry Vayne. If she goes there, it's only with her consent, and I'm dropping her off personally."

 

Vayne listened paitently, his face contemplating before he nodded, "Then its settled..." he said looking to her again, "We'll get her to Grissom. Somehow or way, we'll do it...maybe she won't have to live with what's she's had to endure on her own..." he said as he looked to Irina in the eye, sympathy and understanding in the old krogans gaze, "Bear the burden of life, if you know what I mean."

 

Vayne had his own demons he'd had to contend with his entire life, centuries worth of guilt and regret, and he'd had just as long to deal with it in the way he saw he could. Zenon wouldn't have that kind of time, and getting her the help she needed to at least come to terms and accept what happened to her. Well, it was the least he thought he could do.

 

"So you'll have me on this ship of yours? You'll take me off this rock?" Irina asked. "But if you do, she stays with me. We'll need quarters big enough for the two of us. If and when she goes to Grissom has to be her choice." She mouthed "you can't pressure her to go," to Vayne. "Does that work for you, Zenon?" Irina stroked her hair.

 

"Okay." Zenon smiled.

 

Two damaged people were forming a bond with each other. Irina was an unknown except that she'd been a soldier, a security guard, and now a gun for hire. Zenon, just a kid had endured hell. It was a risk.

 

"It's not my call...but I got my own ship. So even if they say no...well, I've been meaning to get ride of it anyway." he said as he looked to Irina, "Either way, you won't be staying on this rock when this is done...neither of you will."

[Kel Riever]

Previously...( http://forum.bioware...res/?p=16840620 )

 

Earth, New York City

 

Keeping an eye on the Severn’s place was monotonous, and it had been only a couple of days for Detective Molly Hagen.  The apartment hadn’t been the center of eventfulness that she anticipated it would, but as far as stakeouts went, it was early in the game. 

 

Officer Richards couldn’t bother Hagen at all hours of the day, and she was thankful for the alleviation of that nuisance.  NYPD officers had plenty to do and it hadn’t taken long for Richards to be pressured back to his regular beat.  He had warned her not to do anything without him knowing, and Pete seemed to check in every chance he got, but the department didn’t need cops to follow other cops around ‘if there wasn’t any danger.’

 

And sometimes when there was, Molly thought.

 

New York City simply wasn’t the same as the Citadel.  Maybe it had been back before the first uses of the Charon Relay, but humanity had spread out.  The Citadel was the hub of the galaxy, and Hagen was used to getting whatever resources she needed, eventually.  Certainly, she hadn’t expected the pushback she received from Captain Ganis and the local police. 

 

Hagen used a laptop interface for comfort, instead of her omni-tool, and did some research in the meantime.  She had updated her own senior officer on her progress, plus downloaded a number of files with supposed links to The Shadow Broker’s known dealings on Omega; the amount of information was paper thin.  Molly burned through it again, and again, in an attempt to discover anything she hadn’t seen before.

 

After a while, Hagen skipped to updates on current Omega events that had managed to make the intergalactic news.  The most notably odd occurrence was the arrival of an asari fleet to obtain some sort of newly discovered alien technology.  It was an article linked through two news sources and didn’t provide much in the way of details.  More was available, in general, about the disappearances of human colonies than there was about Omega, and that was saying a lot.

 

Nevertheless, something had to tie in with the amount of money involved.  Hundreds of millions of credits were not transferred for anything but colossal transactions.  There was always the possibility of a red sand cartel being involved, or a major mercenary organization.  But those things had the habit of operating over an extended period.  This amount of money, sent so quickly, made Hagen suspect that a government had been involved, or a major corporation.  And that meant it would have had to happen through Omega’s self-appointed ruler.  Molly explored it further.

 

What was purchased, Hagen wondered, The alien technology?  With Aria’s approval?  And why would a Shadow Broker operative be involved? 

 

It was worth finding out more.  Hagen contacted C-Sec to see if there was any possible way to do exactly that.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Dalatrass Linron sat at the desk in her chambers. She had received a message from Councilor Valern regarding a Spectre mission in the Terminus. It was a low priority for her until she received a second message from her Tasks Group leader, Dorot Telin. She summoned him to her chamber. It was a highly ornate chamber that had dark green walls, and golden draperies on the large windows that were behind the Dalatrass’ desk. The desk was a heavy wooden desk that had been there for centuries, but had been well cared for. Linron sat in her oversized chair behind it reading papers when Telin arrived. She hardly looked up at him.

 

“You state your message is urgent in your memo, Telin,” she said, “So what is it?”

 

“Your Excellency, the Council has assigned a Turian Spectre Deidrus Androkan to look into the disappearances of human colonies in the Terminus and other strange dealings that may involve a race of beings called the Collectors,” Telin said.

 

“I’m quite aware of this. I read Valern’s report. Is this all you had to tell me?”

 

“No, Your Excellency. The Council also gave Spectre Androkan a list of people to recruit for the mission. Among them is a criminal we have been after for the past two centuries: an Asari named Naleena T’sarius,” Telin said, “She is wanted for assassinating the head of the Special Tasks Group 200 years ago.”

 

Linron looked up with a scowl on her face. “And the Council is okay with this? Why didn’t Valern mention this in his report?”

 

“Apparently Valern doesn’t know or the other three members don’t care. We tried to apprehend her on Illium recently and almost had her, but she ended up killing five more agents and two contractors,” Telin said, “Since they fired first in a public establishment, the Council is considering it self-defense.”

 

“So she’s running around free under the protection of a Spectre?”

 

“Yes, Your Excellency. There is also a request for immunity for her activities as payment for her services on this mission.”

 

Linron paused a moment. “Hmmm… grant it. Tell that idiot Valern that the mission is too important to let her past compromise it. T’sarius will let her guard down. Then follow her and kill her.”

 

“But won’t that…”

 

“Use a contractor, you fool!”

 

"Yes, Your Excellency."

 

"Now get out of here. I have work to do." Linron dismissed her STG Chief with a wave of her hand.