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Osiris	By : samanthalee Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 8333 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This work of fiction is meant for entertainment purposes only, and no profit is being made from it. Mass Effect is the property of Bioware

Chapter List
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Chapter 3

The Citadel was approximately 40 kilometres long, consisting of four arms each the size of a small city. It was home to millions of humans, turians, krogan, asari and just about every other space faring species in citadel space, and every single one of them needed to breathe. Feeding these millions of pairs of lungs over dozens of square kilometres of city required an enormous amount of air. The air processing facilities needed for each ward were buried deep below the surface levels, unseen marvels that most of the people whose life they sustained never even considered. The air they produced was fed up to every cubic inch of the wards through thousands of miles of ducts and vents. Behind every wall, below every floor and above every ceiling ran this labyrinth of tunnels, one city running within another, like the arteries beneath the skin. This maze was completely unmapped by the resident species of the citadel, built by an unknown race and maintained by the Keepers, it was known only in tiny segments by the duct rats; brave or foolish children that used its smaller passages to hide from the more brutal elements of their life. Beyond the small sections that these children memorised the air ducts were an unmapped mystery.

However, this maze had been built for a purpose and like all things created for a purpose, there was logic in its construction. If one knew the logic behind the construction and the layout of the city it needed to feed, then the ventilation system could take you anywhere on the Citadel, no security check points, no guards, no cameras.

An assassin’s dream.

Thane Krios had operated on the Citadel numerous times over his career and in his line of work it paid to move undetected. He had spent countless hours studying the ventilation system, learning the thinking behind it, walking the streets and mapping it in his mind. Eventually Thane started using the ducts more often than he walked the streets; he had always felt uneasy walking the public streets of the Citadel. There were too many cameras, too many lights, too many C-Sec guards. Thane could disappear into a crowd better than anyone, but a drell on the citadel stood out, and Thane had always preferred it in the shadows.

However, travelling in the ducts was never safe. Logic could only lead you so far, there was a very good reason that most duct rats did not survive till adulthood. The ventilation system often surprised the rats with unexpected vertical falls or fans that crushed their bones to splinters in seconds. Thane had seen the destruction that these fans could inflict upon the body many years ago; while he was learning the system his guide, a duct rat, fell into a fan as he was explaining the system to Thane. It was the sound of the boy's bones snapping that Thane remembered as he leapt at full speed into the airducts.

This is foolish, he thought, always slow, always careful.

He didn't know this section of the ducts, sprinting at top speed through an unknown section of the system could easily lead to any number of horrible deaths ... but no. There was no time for slow, no time for careful. He had to reach the Skyway exit before Saren. He couldn't let him get away, he had most likely killed Shepard, or mortally wounded her.

Thane blocked out the image of Shepard lying with the same cold, glass eyes that he had seen in so many of his victims over the years, instead focusing on the tunnels ahead of him. He could only use the main shafts; he was too large for the secondary vents that the duct rats used. He ran as fast as the headspace allowed, the vent ahead veered left. He followed it without hesitation; the Skyway should be left of his current heading. He tore around the corner; this shaft was larger than the others, like the main arteries of the body, branching off into smaller versions of itself, feeding the rest of the body. He had moved about forty yards forward since the entrance of the ducts and had now turned approximately eighty degrees left, the alley connecting to the Skyway docks should only be twenty yards ahead. He ran ahead ten yards before he saw the shadow of the large circulation fan in the floor in front. His heart stopped. It was large, perhaps eight feet wide, he didn't have time to stop, it was too close, he had too much momentum. He instead accelerated, as he reached the edge he put all of his momentum into a single jump, at about a thirty degree angle, he reached the wall about three feet from the far edge. He planted his right foot at waist height and pushed again. The soft, rubbery soles of his boots gave him enough grip to launch himself the remaining distance, his foot touched the ground only inches into safe ground. At the next corner he stopped and looked around. There was an exit to his right, he sprinted the short distance, sliding through the opening blind and dropping the ten feet to the floor below.

He landed without a sound in the alley. Ahead of him was the exit to the street outside Chora's Den; to his right - the exit to the Skyway. He turned as he heard the sound of a door hissing closed behind him. There, only twenty meters away was Saren Arterius, he was facing away from Thane, doubled over and gasping for breath.

Thane stood silently and turned to face Saren, the door panel was flashing red, meaning that Saren had punched the emergency lock, this meant that Wrex was stuck on the other side of the doorway. Thane figured that it would take him at least five minutes to backtrack through the wards to the other entrance of the alleyway which was far too long, Thane could not delay Saren for that length of time and capture him alive. He had one option; kill Saren Arterius, the longest serving and most decorated turian Sprectre in history.

And with his gun discarded after Saren's overload at Chora's Den, he had to do it alone, and unarmed.

Straightening his back, he closed his eyes and clasped his hands in prayer. As he took a deep breath to slow his heart rate, he heard the sound of Saren taking two steps in his direction, followed by a barely audible hitch of breath as he noticed Thane and stopped in his tracks.

"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my feet swift and my blade strike true," He felt his muscles loosen as he spoke the words, relaxing the tension and nerves out of his limbs. The footsteps started up again, he was being more cautious than before, but he still had the slightly heavy footfalls of the anxious and rushed, he knew he couldn't be held up for too long.

"And should the worst come to pass ... grant me forgiveness."

Taking a final deep breath, Thane opened his eyes and locked on to the shining blue eyes of his opponent. Reaching beneath his coat, he grasped the handle of the blade strapped between his shoulder blades. Flicking the catch holding it in its sheath he drew the blade, it was a single sharpened piece of black bark that he had carved many years ago as the penultimate task in his years of training on Kahje. After six years of combat, stealth and biotic training he had been sent into the Kahje wilds to find the Umbranemus. This unique species of tree grew only at the centre of an ancient ruin that was once the heart of Prothean civilization of Kahje, and was considered sacred to the Hanar, who believed that it was the home of the Enkindlers. He had been twelve years old when he had wandered the ancient streets of the ruin, marvelling at the sheer size of it.

In the centre of the ruined city was a large open square and it was here that the Umbranemus grew. For millennia the city had been a barren, lifeless wasteland, with no vegetation able to survive for long in the poisoned ground of the city, still radioactive from whatever cataclysm had destroyed the metropolis millennia ago. But given enough time life, in any circumstance, adapts. At the very heart of the city a single tree had evolved, with a bark as black as coal and tougher than steel to shield it from the eternal bombardment of radiation. Thane had prayed before the tree, thanking it for the gift he would remove from its flesh before using a small plasma cutter to take a single block of wood, barely a chip from its colossal form. In accordance with Hanar tradition, he had made his very first kill with the blade he had carved from the Umbranemus bark and from then on, he was an assassin.

He drew comfort from the familiar feel of the worn leather cord wrapped around the handle, from the astonishing weightlessness of the blade despite its fourteen inches in length. He never went anywhere without this blade, the organic nature of the materials meant that it could pass through any weapon scanners. In the twenty-seven years of carrying the blade, he had made only one change to it; the name "Irikah" inscribed on the blade.

Pushing the memories from his mind, he focused on Saren.

"My name is Thane Krios ... and I shall be your end."

Saren's only reply was a mocking scoff before resuming his advance, removing the gloves that would have otherwise made the two inch talons on each of his fingers a considerably smaller factor in the next few minutes. Thane shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet as Saren charged the last two metres, lashing out with a vicious right handed swipe. Thane leapt backwards away from the first strike, but staying close enough to tempt Saren into immediately swinging a second. As Saren started the arc of his second swing Thane was already moving, shifting his momentum forward in a heartbeat and ducking his head he passed less than an inch under Saren's left arm as it slashed at where Thane had stood a second earlier. As Thane drew level with Saren's body he brought his knife in a slashing motion across Saren's chest, only to feel the screeching vibration as the wooden blade scraped over metal.

Recon armour.

Recon armour was a common compromise between protection and discretion in the espionage theatre as it was small enough to fit under clothing, only having ceramic plating over the soft leathery flesh of the chest and stomach. It also housed a surprisingly strong kinetic barrier generator for its small size, which was useless against a blade but the combination of the ceramic plating over the more vulnerable areas and the tough plating of the rest of the Turian body, it didn't leave a lot of places Thane could do much damage.

It was only a second before Saren was on him again, Thane saw his shoulders tense to throw a right cross punch, he began to pivot around the clumsy attack when Saren quickly darted out his right foot instead. The feint caught Thane off guard and the low kick sent Thane to one knee, Saren was instantly had a brutal punch aimed directly at Thane's head. He reacted quickly, punching his knife in a reverse grip downwards across Saren's thigh and following the momentum through to roll under the punch by millimetres and come up behind his adversary. The natural armour plating of Saren's thigh couldn't take the pressure Thane put behind the razor sharp blade, and he was reward with a sharp growl as the blade bit through the armour. It was a small cut, but it was a start.

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Wrex, in a word, was pissed. He had been gaining on Saren after the chase through the Wards, but it wasn't enough. He had managed to stay far enough ahead to get to the alley that lead to the skyway and lock the controls.

Centuries old and you never learned how to hack a fuckin door control! he thought.

He was so close, he could smell that turian stench from just a few seconds earlier. Backtracking to the other alley entrance was pointless, Saren would be gone in twenty seconds. He let out a roar of frustration and slammed his fist into the wall, leaving a sizeable dent in the otherwise pristine white walls of the citadel market. Despite the blinding rage screaming through every sinew of his body, he was vaguely aware of the sound of two weapons being drawn and powered up behind him. He didn't need to look, he could smell the mixture of virgin weaponry, over-cleaned uniforms and pant-shitting fear of the C-Sec officers behind him. He didn't give a shit about them, Saren was gone, Shepard was dead and he really needed to shoot something.

One of the C-Sec idiots took a step forward, mustering up the balls to say something.

"Wrex, you're under-"

"Fuck off before I blow you in half."

It was at that moment that Wrex heard something. A muffled noise from the other side of the doorway, so quiet he wasn't even sure he had heard it at all. Was that a turian shouting?

Wrex stalked up to the C-Sec officer who raised his gun at Wrex's approach. Wrex didn't flinch, this human didn't have the guts to shoot. Wrex stalked up to him and held out his hand.

"Key card."

The C-Sec officer looked from Wrex to his outstretched hand, then back to his face in confusion.

"Wha-" he stammered. "No!"

Wrong answer. Wrex thought. The officer didn't even have time to roll with the punch, Wrex hit him and he hit the ground like a sack of shit, unconscious before he hit the floor. The other officer simply stood terrified as Wrex took the first guard’s key card and walked over to the security terminal on the wall. Inserting the key card Wrex pulled up the local security feed from the alleyway. There was Saren, only a dozen yards through the door, fighting with Thane.

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Saren had proved even more capable in combat than Thane had anticipated. He had the advantage in both reach and power, but he also had tremendous discipline and speed of mind. Thane had been able to get through his guard a few times and inflict a few injuries but Sarens natural armour plating with the additional recon armour ensured that they were fairly minor so far. Thane had been able to stay out of reach of Saren's talons so far, but had taken some solid punches and kicks.

Seeing Saren's left arm raise a little too high in his guard stance, Thane darted in and stabbed his knife up towards the soft flesh of the armpit. Saren , however, was waiting for this and pivoted as fast as he could and punched at Thane's wrist with his forearm. Thane knew he was in trouble as he felt the impact send his blade spinning from his grip; he took advantage of Saren's focus on his wrist, stepping in close and bringing his left elbow into the side of Saren's face. Saren stumbled a step backwards, Thane took a step closer to Saren and planted his foot against Saren's thigh and kicked himself upward. As he did this, he punched his other knee upwards and put both hands to the back of Saren's head, pulling his face forward to connect with Thane's knee with brutal force.

Thane had expected Saren to stumble backwards under the intense pain he must have felt with his newly injured nose, but as he reached the ground again Saren was already launching another attack. Having not yet recovered his balance, Thane couldn't avoid the punch that was only an inch from his face, and instead rolled his head as it connected, lessening the impact but losing sight of his target for a moment. Saren used this moment well and before Thane could recover from the punch, he felt Saren's talons tear across his chest. The pain burned through his senses as he staggered backwards and looked at his wounds. They were deep and painful, but not critical.

He looked up again and met Saren's eyes, stepping back into his combat stance once again. There was a triumphant glint in Saren's eyes and his mandibles twitched into a slight smile as he confidently began stalked towards Thane once more.

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Wrex growled at the security terminal, Thane wouldn't last. He was good, hell he was lethal but Saren had all the advantages. He was more powerful, had longer reach and still had a something resembling a weapon. Thane was having to dance around a hell of a lot more than Saren just to keep from getting torn apart and without a blade he wouldn't last long.

Saren was still there, but Wrex couldn't get to the bastard! He was stuck on the wrong side of a security door and Saren had locked it down, not even the C-Sec key card would override it. He punched the wall again in frustration, not even acknowledging the whimper of fear that escaped the human C-Sec officer behind him. He couldn't believe that Thane was stuck fighting Saren unarmed while Wrex was only feet away armed to the teeth, one blast from his shotgun would blow Saren in hal -

It was in the middle of that thought when Wrex remembered a moment from two years ago. He wheeled around and charged back towards the markets. The sight of the heavily armed krogan marching back towards the crowded streets seemed to inspire the human C-Sec to dig around his shorts and find a pair. He chose this moment to plant himself in Wrex's path and muster all the authority he had in him.

"Stop!"

Wrex neither knew nor cared what kind of fucked up logic was going through this pathetic human's mind when he concluded that placing his two hundred pounds of soft meat in the path of a six hundred pound krogan and saying "Stop" would end well. Wrex didn't flinch as he barged straight through the man, sending him sprawling to the floor with a simple shrug of his shoulder. In a few seconds he was at a jog and back onto the main market street, punching in the setting on his Eviscerator shotgun for incendiary rounds.

The shop he was looking for was twenty yards down the street. He barged through a crowd of chatting salarians and reached the door at a full sprint. Two years ago he had owed Morlan a small fortune for a custom order he had smuggled in for him after the destruction of Sovereign. Instead, Wrex had settled for helping Morlan set up a more permanent "Famous Shop" located on the recently destroyed and rebuilt promenade. Morlan, however, was a tight-ass with credits and Wrex had been amazed at how seamlessly the crap materials used for the construction could be made to blend seamlessly into the rest of the surroundings with a little help from the keepers.

As he charged through the shop towards the back wall, the other patrons had the sense to dive out of his way, while Morlan ducked under the cash counter in the far corner. Wrex raised his shotgun and blasted the remaining two shots of the thermal clip into the wall ahead of him. The devastating force of the blast dented the wall in several places, and the stench of the thermite paste burning through the high density plastics of the wall were instant. But still, the keepers were good at their jobs and the wall was alot more intact than Wrex had hoped for.

This is gonna hurt. thought Wrex as he put his shoulder down and charged with all his might.

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Thane felt a tight feeling in his chest, his breathing was laboured and his limbs felt heavy. It was true that Thane had not been involved in such a prolonged - or such a strenuous - fight in many years but he was still in near perfect physical condition, it should not be affecting him this badly.

Kepral's

He had managed to avoid any more serious encounters with Saren's talons but without a weapon he had to get in closer than before to deal any damage. He had taken fewer blows than Saren, but Saren had much more power behind each strike and each impact further sapped Thane's strength. Despite his bloody nose and obvious fatigue, Saren was growing in confidence as he sensed Thane's weakening state and pressed forward once again. Thane collected himself and focused. He recognized Saren's right feint and ducked under the following left hook, unleashing a biotic blast into Saren's chest that sent him stumbling backwards a few yards. Thane sucked in a deep breath, forcing breath into his tight lungs and summoning every drop of energy in his body as he sprinted towards Saren, jumping sideways he used the wall of the alley to kick himself high enough in the air to aim a neck snapping kick at Saren's head.

Saren, however had recovered quicker than Thane could close the distance. Seeing the kick coming just in time, he reached up and grabbed Thane's ankle in one hand and the top of his thigh in the other. It was with a sickening sense of complete hopelessness that Thane felt his momentum shift as Saren turned and wrenched his leg much like he was swinging a sledgehammer. Thane hit the floor with devastating force, driving the air from his lungs while the impact of his head on the unforgiving tile knocked him to the very edge of consciousness.

He had failed Shepard.

He tried to focus on Saren as he stood over him, but his eyes wouldn't focus, his ears were ringing and his limbs had no strength in them. He waited for the end to come, for the sharp pain at his throat followed by the release of death.

But it did not come, he could make out Saren's form still standing above him, breathing heavily. Thane heard his voice as if through a thick fog.

"You may be, Thane Krios ... but not today." He said as turned away. "Tell Shepard I said hello."

Just as Saren was about to reach the intersecting alley that lead to the Skyway, the wall ahead of him suddenly erupted as the huge form of a krogan exploded through the wall in a shower of sparks and molten metal and crashed into the opposite wall. The air was instantly choked by the smell of thermite paste and the mixture of smoke and concrete dust hid the krogan from Thane's view momentarily. Saren had stopped, obviously completely dumbfounded by the unexpected turn of events. Thane suddenly saw Wrex explode out of the wall of smoke, clutching his shotgun by the barrel and swinging it like a club. Saren was unable to get out of the way in time and the impact lifted him off his feet and crashing against the wall. Before he could recover from the blow Wrex delivered a brutal punch that would have crushed the skull of a human and levelled his pistol at Saren's head.

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Goddamn that felt good. Wrex thought as he watched Saren spit blood as he sat against the wall. It looked like Thane had put up a hell of a fight, Saren's clothing was torn to shreds and he could see a few bloody patches where his blade had bitten through the armour. Looking around he saw Thane just getting to his feet, albeit a bit shakily. His eyes were drawn back to Saren as he coughed another globule of blue blood onto the floor before speaking.

“Urdnot Wrex, still wielding the subtlety of a sledgehammer, I see.” He said.

Wrex only scoffed in response as he raised his pistol to Saren’s forehead.

“Stay dead this time.” He smirked as he started to squeeze the trigger.

“Stop!” Thane said as he kicked the barrel of Wrex’s pistol away from Saren’s head. Wrex instantly had him by the collar of his coat, a few years ago he would killed anyone for doing the same thing; perhaps he was going soft. Thane, ever the stoic, did not struggle or protest. “We need to question him.”

Wrex growled at the suggestion. “He killed Shepard!”

“Shepard isn’t dead.” Saren said from the floor.

“Ok, bedtime.” Wrex said, smashing the handle of his pistol against Sarens chin, knocking him unconscious and guaranteeing one hell of a head-ache if he lived long enough to wake up. “Mommy and Daddy need to chat.”

“Are your comms still functional?” asked Thane.

“Nah, busted when I hit the wall.” Wrex said as he tried in vain to get anything but static in his earpiece. Looking around, he nodded to a terminal near the door to the Skyway. “Call the Den.”

As Thane moved over to the console, Wrex leant against the wall opposite Saren, keeping his gun on him even as he lay unconscious. He should have felt his heart rate slowing, the aches and pains of his body coming to the foreground of his consciousness as the adrenaline retreated from his veins. Instead, he felt his hands shake and his hearts pound with barely controlled rage. Shepard was as close as any human could get to being an Urdnot, and to stand here with such an enemy at his feet, defeated after a sneak attack on one of his clan and not be able to rip the bastard limb from limb was maddening. He rolled his shoulders and, after checking Saren was still out, closed his eyes while he took three deep breaths. In through the nose ... hold it ... out through the mouth. The asari chick, Liara, had taught him this trick on the Normandy after Shepard had nuked the genophage cure on Virmire, and while he thought T’Soni was a bit soft for a fighting job, this whole breathing thing sure as hell worked; it must have saved a dozen lives and then some over the past few years. With a firm hold on his rage secured, he opened his eyes to see Thane returning and straightened up expectantly.

“The barman cannot find them.” Thane said flatly.

“What the hell does that mean?” Wrex said.

“It means we left.”

Looking up the alley, both men were stunned to see Shepard striding through the hole Wrex had smashed through the wall. She looked like hell: there was a gash along her hairline, blood was caked in her hair and smeared down her neck but the wound had been treated with medi-gel and was no longer bleeding. She was walking hunched and her breathing was short, measured and raspy; probably a broken rib or two.

“Are you alright?” Thane asked, concern in his voice.

“He used a concussive shot, bottles did more damage than the gun.” She said, absently touching a finger to the cut on her head. She turned to Thane, eyeing the wounds on his chest and the scratches on his face. He straightened up as he noticed, trying to mask to pain and dizziness he felt.

“You OK?” She asked.

“I will be.”

With a respectful nod, she proceeded past him and stood over Saren. Tali, following close behind Shepard, handed Thane his Predator pistol. Nobody spoke, Wrex stood motionless, almost afraid to breathe lest the sound disturb Shepard. As much he hated Saren, he knew that she feared and loathed him more than anyone: she had followed the trail of death, destruction and cruelty that he left all over the galaxy and had lost a friend in the process, a good man. After a few moments, Shepard still hadn’t moved. She stood over Saren’s form, simply staring at him blankly. Eventually, Tali put a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of whatever thoughts were racing through her mind.

“What should we do?” asked Tali.

“We could take him to the C-Sec station.” Wrex suggested.

“I disagree,” Thane said, which earned an instinctive grunt of disapproval from Wrex. “Respectfully, of course. C-Sec’s security measures are inadequate. It would also be near impossible to conceal the fact that we have him in custody, which may get out to any companions he has.”

“No.” Shepard said, finally dragging her eyes away from Saren’s form and looking at her crewmates. “Get him to the Normandy.”

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Author's Note: Okay everybody, I know this has taken ages to write and i apologise, hopefully the next chapter will follow within the next two weeks. Hope you all like, I know i have taken some artistic license with Thane's knife, as it is never seen in the game (in other words, I completely pulled it outta my ass) please review or send me an email of what you think or any suggestions to samanthalee1989@hotmail.co.uk
I will give answers to anyone who messages me.
Thanks for reading.
xx
P.S. "Umbranemus" is a word i made from Latin words meaning "Shadow" and "Tree" therefore, Shadowtree.
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Osiris