Mass Effect Pathways: Black Tides ~ Chapter 6

8/28/2211

"ETA of arrival on Alkimos thirty-three minutes, seven-point-four-eight seconds," Core announced over the ship's Intercoms.

"Tell the crew to meet me in communications," Ria replied, groaning as she rolled out of bed. Yawning she checked the clock at her bedside. Only four hours of rest, brilliant.

Come to think about it, I can't even remember the last time I had a full night of sleep.

Yawning again, she began picking up the pieces of her armor heap she'd tossed them the night before. A few moments later she strapped the last piece into place. Rolling still-sore shoulder, Ria winced as she eyed the exposed section of naked-suit, a reaction only half from the aching pain that followed the movement.

She'd discarded the ruined pauldron when she'd treated her wound the night before, leaving it behind in her haste to reach safety. Until she could procure a replacement, she would have to live with the visible gap in her armor between her arm and shoulder.

Grabbing her gear, Ria made her way quickly to the ship's comms room. A hiss of air sounded as the doors opened for her, Ria glancing around stepped inside. Blinking as her eyes adjusted to the room's brighter light, she saw that her father and most of her team were already waiting for her. They stood around the circular board-room-like table that sat in the center of the room, each of them glancing up to nod in greeting at her entrance. Of her ground team, only Daron was absent.

"Morning," Ria greeted, moving to the front of the table.

"How's your shoulder?" her father asked, the bluntness of his statement hitting jolting. He eyed the hasty repairs she'd done to the damaged section of her suit with obvious concern.

"Keelah, I'm fine Dad. You don't have to worry about me all the time," Ria replied, exasperation creeping into her voice.

"Actually, you'll find that I do. Clearly stated in my contract of fatherhood, 'must worry about daughter's well being at all time'," he countered.

"Section six, subsection C, right?" Tarran laughed. "Its the one my dad quotes whenever I did something idiotic."

Laura brought a hand up to cover her mouth, failing to stifle a snicker. Neither did the gesture doing little to hide the wide smirk Ria saw spreading across her face.

"Yes, yes, we get it, Alenko, I accidentally implied I'm a girl just now," Tarran added. An exasperated sigh escaped his throat. "Spirits, what are you, ten years old?"

"Give her some credit Tarran, I'dsay both of you are at least mentally twelve." Ria grinned behind her mask. "Core, please tell Daron to hurry up so we can get started before we die gruesome, boredom induced deaths."

"Understood. I will inform him that he is instructed to 'hurry up'."

A few minutes later a hiss sounded as the door opened again. Ria watched as Daron entered the room and came to a stop at the room's mouth. Her eyes met his unreadable gaze for an instant, then he turned away. Moving over to an empty corner, he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the bulkhead.

The sound of slow clapping filled the air. Turning to the sound, Ria saw Tarran regarding the mercenary with a sarcastic smirk "Hooray, we can finally begin. Congratulations Daron, you win the award for keeping everyone waiting."

Daron's eyes narrowed into daggers, a hissing growl escaping his lips. warning off any other jokes.

Ria rolled her eyes. Leave it to Tarran to 'poke the bear', so to speak. To be fair, if he's teasing him, he actually considers Daron part of the team. And Daron hasn't tried to kill him yet. It's progress. Still, it was probably best to change the subject now, before either had a chance to prove her wrong. "Right, lets start this shall we?" Ria said, clasping both hands together. "Core, visual aid please."

The holographic emitters at the center of the conference table lit up, a shimmering image of their destination flaring into being. "For those who don't know, we're arriving on a world known as Alkimos. An mercenary group known as the Crimson Ghosts based here were hired by ExoGeni for some purpose related to Project Winter."

Ria paused, staring into the flickering display before she spoke again. "Core, anything you can else about this world?"

"Alkimos is garden world at the edge of the Terminus Systems, discovered in 2189. With repairs to majority of the Mass Relay Network within Terminus Systems' not reaching completion until 2203, Alkimos saw rapid development as a resupply point for ships passing between Illium and the rest of the Terminus." Core explained, speaking so quickly that Ria had to struggle to keep with whenever he had an opportunity to explain something, the geth sounded positively gleeful, in his own overly-logical and emotionless way.

Ria nodded. "Find anything on the Crimson Ghosts?"

"The Crimson Ghosts are a mercenary organization formed two years following Alkimos' colonization efforts. As a direct consequence of the region's high rate of pirate activity the group started with the purpose to provide protection for ships passing through the region, provided they could afford their rates. Over the course of the a decade, the group established a reputation in regards to their abilities in repelling pirate raids. Now the band's very presence has the potential to deter hostile action against the vessels under their protection. The Crimson Ghosts all but controls Alkimos, ruling from their headquarters in the world's main outpost of Ashoria."

"Core, how much of this are you just reading from the damn codex?" Laura asked, speaking up once the geth was finished.

"Eighty-three-point-two-seven-six percent"

"The geth left out that the Crimson Ghosts love to raid ships not under their protection," Daron's voice cut in. All at once the room, turned to look the mercenary's way. A flash of annoyance crossed his face, clearly at the prospect of having to explain in detail. Sighing, he resumed speaking. "Did a job protecting a small transport a few years back. Couldn't afford the Crimson Ghosts' rates, so they hired me. We were hit by what we thought were pirates. Was only after I'd 'dealt' with them all that I discovered that all of them had tattoos of the Crimson Ghost's emblem ."

"Figures, these guys sound no better than the big three mercenary gangs," Shepard replied, distaste clearing in his voice. "If I don't know any better, I'd say there's a fifty-fifty chance they'll just start shooting at us the minute we land on the world."

"To be fair, that might have something to do with the aura you Shepards seem to give off that makes everyone you meet try to kill you," Tarran said with a dry laugh. "If following Ria is an example, it's a common problem with your family.

"Getting ourselves into trouble is a talent of ours." Ria grinned behind her mask.

"That doesn't exactly inspire confidence," Tarran said, his tone bone dry..

"Look, moving on … our main objective is to find out everything the mercs know about the job ExoGeni hired them for. From what Paulsen managed to tell us, most of Project Winter was done on a remote site. Give what Core just told us, I'd bet they were hired to protect shipments going to and from this site …."

"…Which means that they can give us its location." Her father nodded, finishing the statement for her.

"Exactly. My main concern right now is finding out what our enemies—" Ria started to say.

"Skullheads," Laura interjected, cutting Ria off.

Ria gave the human woman a questioning glance, to which she shrugged and answered "Figured it fit, because of the helmets they wore. Its that or continue with the incredibly descriptive titles of 'those guys we fought' or 'our enemies' at any rate. I mean, seriously, the detail of those, pure art."

"Alright, as I was saying, my main concern right now is that the Skullheads probably knows where the project is being worked on. One way or another we need to get there as soon as possible. Thats what we're here to do."

Ria paused, glancing between those assembled before her. When no response was forthcoming, she continued. "Right then, if that covered everything then its time to get going. I want everyone down into the cargo hold in ten, and be ready to go."

. . . . .

The shuttle trembled as they dropped through the clouds, turbulence rocking its metal frame. Ria seized hold of a handlebar to keep from losing her balance. "Keelah, Tarran, would it kill you to fly this thing straight for once?"

"Hey, the winds this high up aren't exactly a picnic. I'd like to see you do a better job," the turian's voice echoed back from the shuttle's helm

"Give me the controls then so I can show you how its done." Ria retorted, having to raising her voice to be heard over the sudden roar of thrusters as the shuttle accelerated.

"Can we not, actually. I'd like to actually survive long enough to get shot at by the badguys of the day," Laura interjected. "No offense Ria, but you aren't exactly the most … sane, driver, of the group," She continued, then added in an undertone, "not that it comes as a surprise, given the stories Dad always told about your dad driving …."

"Hey, I'm a good driver!" Ria shouted in unison with her father, the older Spectre speaking up then for the first time. Giving him a sidelong glance, she saw that he wore an absolutely incredulous expression, one that would have matched Ria's own, had her face not been obscured by her mask.

Laughter filled the shuttle, so absurd this reaction must have seemed to the others. Ria even thought she saw Daron crack a smirk at this, though if he had the mercenary had quickly stifled it before she could get a closer look.

"Bosh'tets, all of you." Ria grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look like I will piloting this damn thing next mission , thank you. Prove you bosh'tets wrong."

"Well, it was nice knowing everyone," Laura said, her laughter abruptly ceasing.

Ria opened her mouth to retort, only to shut it again as Tarran spoke up suddenly, "Guys, as much as I'd hate to break up a rousing session of teasing our 'fearless leader', we might have bigger problems. You might want to take a look at this."

A faint hiss of static filled the shuttle as a view screen flickered into being. Ria blinked focusing intently on the image. Ashoria could be seen, a mass of gray and brown against a sea of olive green of the tangled forest that surrounded. The cold morning sunlight glinted harshly against the glass of the taller structures, its glare visible even at this distance. Ria's eyes then widened as she then noticed the pillars of black smoke that rose up from within the city.

"Long range scanners are picking up strong heat signals from throughout the city. Its like entire sections of the place have been set ablaze," Tarran said.

Sure enough Ria began to see an orange haze that seemed to hang over several blocks of the city, the flickering light of distant flames growing more intense as the shuttle continued to draw in closer to the port.

"Keelah, w—what happened here," Ria heard Kel whisper, the sound of his voice barely to be heard over the hum of the shuttle's engine.

Straightening to her full height, Ria slung her rifle into a ready position in front of her. As by unspoken command, the rest of her team moved to prepare their own weapons. Within seconds they were standing to either side of her, guns trained on shuttle's exit hatch in anticipation.

With a gentle lurch the shuttle began to decelerate, gracefully dropping down towards a docking platform at the center of the colony's large port. A soft clang sounded, the shuttle's engines cutting off as it touched down.

Her team fanned out with practiced efficiency as they exited the shuttle, moving to cover all side in preparation for any imminent attack. Nothing moved within sight of them, the all-too-still port appearing for all purposes abandoned.

The silence that hung over them was broken by the muffled cracks of distant gunfire, the echo as the sound traveled through the city making it impossible to tell just how far off it was.

"Right, so what now?" Ria heard Laura hiss in a low whisper, the Marine turning to look her way expectantly.

"We move in slow, at least until we know who's responsible for all this. Eyes sharp and weapons up." Moving forward, Ria led the way as they moved towards the edge of the port. The city rose up before them as a solid wall of prefabs and makeshift buildings stacks on top one another, at least two-dozen layers or more high in some places.

Passing under the city's shadow, the flickering flames ahead became more apparent. The air grew hotter with every step, and the sharp odor of burning metal and rubber nearly overwhelmed the coppery scent of blood.

Ria froze, a crunch of a footstep in the gravel road echoing ahead. For a second nothing moved before her vision, then, without warning, five blurs of blood-red color burst into her vision. Five figures, crimson armor glinting the faint light, weapons drawn. One shouldered a long tube, a shill wail screaming out as a rocked burst from its end, white smoke trailing behind.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Ria watched helplessly the missile streamed towards her team. She was forzen in place, she couldn't move. She couldn't act! Stuck in the same snails crawl of the world around her.

Just then she a blur of motion could be seen out of the corner of her eye. Her father bounded into sight with impossible speed, moving as he alone has been unaffected by the halting of time itself. He slid to a stop in the the center of the rockets path, bracing himself against one knee. An omni-shield burst to life an instant the missile hit. There was a deafening boom, the force of the blast spreading to either side as it rolled off of the shimmer orange barrier

With a rush the world full into motion once once. Her reflexes took over now. She snapped her rifle up and fired. Her gun barked, the sound oddly distant, blood fountaining from the throat of the rocket launcher wielder as he fell lifelessly.

A batarian standing at the left fell as he was struck by a warp launched by Kel. The batarian screamed in agony, writhing on the floor as the warp tore him apart on the molecular level. Sprays of crimson erupted from two more of the red-garbed men as Tarran and Laura opened fire.

One of the last standing grabbed the fallen rocket launcher from the ground. Before he could an azure glow surrounded the tube, Daron pointed an open hand towards the weapon. The biotic clenched his hand into a fist, the launcher detonating in a cloud of shrapnel. The last two foes fell with two agonized screams, the rocket's ruin fragments shredding armor and bone alike. A moment later they stilled, dark pools of blood spreading out under them.

"Were those members of the Crimson Ghosts?" Kel asked, the small quarian's shoulders visibly shaking.

"Looks like it," Tarran replied, nudging one of the bodied with his foot. "Logo looks like theirs though I think the crimson armor was a giveaway."

"What worries me more is, you know, they did kinda just tried to kill us. Lets not forget that," Laura said, frowning. "Either they thought we were with whoever caused all this, or …." She gestured at the black smoke rising from further into the settlement.

"… Or they're responsible," Ria finished for her. "Not sure which I like less."

"Only one way to find out," her father replied, his tone grim.

"Agreed," Ria dimmed her head in a sharp nod."Everyone, group up. We need to keep moving."

Moving back into formation, Ria led them forward into the town. The sounds of distant gunshots had died down now leaving only the sound of crackling flames. The silence grated on Ria's nerves, suddenly preferring the grim reminders of ongoing fighting and death that filled the air but minutes before.

Suddenly voices could be heard ahead. Between the crackling of distant flames and overlapping echoes, no individual words could be made out. However, it didn't take much for Ria to tell that amongst the voices were several terrified screams.

She stopped, motioning for her team to slow. Creeping towards, Ria inched around the corner of a building. In the street beyond she saw a group of a dozen Crimson Ghosts with weapons drawn on a group of terrified men and women cowering against a wall. Even as she watched two more mercenaries lead another civilian, a human girl no older than fourteen, out of one of the prefabs. The girl struggled to break free, her frightened cries filling the air as they tossed amongst the others.

Ria stifled a curse, her empty hand clenching shut. Anger threatened to take control of her, every instinct shouting, screaming for her to gun every single one of those monsters, to make each of them pay for what they'd done and for what they. Only caution held her in check then, the knowledge that they were outnumbered staying her hand. They couldn't just run in, not just for her own safety, but for the many innocents who could get caught in the crossfire.

One of the mercenary's barked an unintelligible order, pointing at one of the civilians. Two of the red clad men moved forward, dragging the turian that had been picked out. Tossing him down in the middle of the road, the captain strode forward, taking aim with his gun.

A gunshot echoed out before Ria could look away, the sight of the turian falling in a spray of blue blood burning into her eyes. The others civilians screamed, the sound cutting Ria to the bone. How dare they. How dare they, how dare they, how dare they! How dare they round up people up like cattle, execute as if they were merely animals only fit to slaughter. She had to stop this, she had to—

"Bring the next one."

Ria tightened her grip on her gun, hissing in anger she watched two mercs pulled the same teenage girl from. They shoved her forward, the girl tripped and fell, landing face first next to the patch of still-fresh blue blood. Terrified sobs filled the air, the girl's entire body shaking in fear.

The group's leader laughing cruelly, the sound stabbing like a knife at Ria's raised his gun, aiming it on the crying girl at his feet.

A heartbeat echoed like a drum in Ria's ears.

Another beat, it's sound louder.

Another beat. A red haze filled Ria's vision.

Another beat. Her body moved without command. She leapt to her feet, squeezing the trigger of her rifle.

Two gunshot filled the air, one after another. The mercenary leader's body jerked twice then fell. Blood the color of his crimson armor pooled out from under him, the man twitching once more before lying still.

A wisp of smoke curled from the tip of Ria's rifle, the weapon aimed at the spot the merc captain had stood a moment before. Glancing sideways, Ria saw that the second shot had come from her father, who likewise stood with weapon drawn. Behind her the rest of Ria's team moved, moving to stand at her flanks

Gone was any fear of being out numbers. Gone was any fear of others being caught in the crossfire. They'd all die for she if she didn't act. All that mattered was stop those monsters, stopping them, and making them pay.

"Drop your weapons, now," Shepard hissed, his voice cold as ice. "You have one chance, one damn chance before I kill every single one of you."

For several heartbeats no one moved, the remaining mercenary's starting at the enraged Spectre with looks of naked fear. Above the distant crackle of flames the girl's muffled sobs could still be heard.

"Kill hi—" one of the mercenaries started to say, his words cut short as Shepard fired a burst that took the man's head from his shoulders.

"I was hoping you'd do that," her father whispered, so quietly that even Ria had barely heard.

The scene fell into chaos, a roar of gunfire filling the air. Taking aim, Ria unloaded her clip into the two nearest mercenaries one after another, her targets falling in a spray of blood.

"Laura, Tarran, take out the three on the far right. Daron, Kel, cluster on middle left" she ordered quickly, ducking behind cover as she ejected her spent clip.

The pair opened fire, focusing down the three mercenaries once after another. Meanwhile Kel threw a warp the middle of a group of four an instant before a Daron's shockwave tore into the group. The two biotic fields intersected and detonated, the biotic explosion tossing the hapless mercenaries into the air.

An agonized screamed filled Ria's ears. Whirling in the direction of the sound, Ria looked just in time was watch her father step past the wounded mercenary trashing as it feet, not even seeming to notice the man as he unloaded his clip into the next foe. Ria watch on in stunned awe as he tore through mercenary after mercenary with ruthless efficiency, a trail of corpses left in his wake. Blood soaked the earth, a line of crimson that glimmered in the dim light like the sea under a rising sun. Slowly the gasps of dying men faded one by one, each caught in the Spectre's wrath slipping into the void.

A shiver rolled up her spy as she beheld his expression. Instead of the anger she expected she was an expression unnatural calm; just cold, empty, calm. Only his eyes betrayed his true fury, emotion, eyes that boiled with unbridled hate.

Just as quickly as the fighting had started it was over. Silence hung like a shroud, the crowd of terrified men and woman stared at Ria's team with looks of uncertainty mixed with hesitant hope, as if unsure what to think of the group that had killed their would-be executors.

At last Ria broke the stillness, turning her attention to the girl still lying in the middle of the street. Soft, choking sobs reached her ears as she approached, the sound so quiet it could barely be heard.

"You okay?" Ria extended a hand to the girl, her tone gentle.

"I— I … I don't … I think so," the girl said between sobs, looking up at Ria. Tears streamed from her large, brown eyes, a look of both fear and hope in equal measure

"Don't, you're safe now," Ria assured her, helping the girl up to her feet. She led the girl back to where the other people stood huddled. A woman with graying hair who looked like the girl's mother ran forward, pulling the girl into a tight embrace as Ria moved back to give them and the others some space

"What happened here?" Shepard asked, facing the group. He kept his hands up away from his weapons, his voice staying at a soft, gentle tone.

"I—I don't know," one of the other civilians replied, an elderly batarian with wrinkled skin. "They started going from door to door earlier today, we just thought they were after money for whatever new 'taxes' they just made up. Then they started shooting people, setting fire to buildings whenever they couldn't get in."

Ria felt her heartrate quicken, her entire body tensing as if preparing for the sudden onslaught of battle. The scent of fire and ash seemed to suddenly take on a horrid quality, an sickening order that caused her stomach to wrench. It wasn't just homes that were being destroyed, but lifes. How many had died, trapped, screamed as fires consumed them.

Ria shuttered. Forcing herself the banish the horrible images, she stepped forward to stand next to her father. "How many other people are still out there?" Ria asked. She glanced at the empty buildings around her as she spoke, wondering if these people were the only ones left.

"Not sure, but I don't think they could have killed everyone yet," the batarian replied.

"Don't worry, we'll put a stop to this," her father assured them, her stern voice carrying the unwavering confidence Ria could only wish her's possessed. "Where are they coming from, do they have a base somewhere?"

"They work out of a big building at the other side of town. It's practically a fortress. That way," one of the other civilians offered, pointing off to the east

Ria nodded. Good, she now had a destination, a goal in mind. Worrying about how many have and would die wasn't something she could easily deal with. But dealing with the problem, that was something she could do. Heh, leave it to a Shepard to consider shooting stuff the easiest job.

"You should make for the edge of the town, its not safe here. We've cleared the way behind us, it should be safe now," Shepard said, pointing in the direction they'd come.

"I thank you, human," the batarian said, nodding to me. Several more thanks came from the other civilians as they turned as headed back towards the edge of the settlement.

"So, least we know now who we need to shoot some more," Tarran said grimly, his mandibles tightening into a grimace. "What now?

"We need to split up our resources, moving as one group won't do us much good here," Shepard said, turning back to face Ria and the rest of her team. "We need someone focusing on getting the civilians out of the line of fire. Laura, you should take Daron and handle that, his biotics can cover large groups if need be. Tarran, go up top, find a spot with a good view of the city. We need you reporting on their movements and picking off small groups outside our reach. The rest of us will make for the merc's headquarters, where—"

"Dad," Ria interrupted, announced. She crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot as she gazed at him expectantly. Receiving only a confused look in return, Ria sighed and explained, "its my team, you know. I am the one who's supposed to be leading right now."

"Oh, sorry, force of habit," her father replied, holding out the palms of his hands in mock surrender..

"Right then," Ria said, turning her attention to her team. "… so yeah, go with what he just said. Its a good plan."

This drew a collection of smirks and stiffed chuckles from her. Rolling her eyes, Ria tapped her foot, waiting the moment it too for her team to actually begin following the order's they'd been given.

Once Laura, Daron, and Tarran had split off a minute later, Ria turned back to her father and Kel. "Come on, lets move."