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The Assassin’s Ordeal	By : Dvorchak Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 1555 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidia

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for your patience My hectic schedule spilled over into November and December (you know..the holidays) and then I was in an minor auto accident, but spent much of time focusing on getting better all of which delayed my posting of this chapter. I am so sorry for the holdup, but hope you enjoy this installment.

.____.._____________.____________..~~~**~~~..____________.___________..____.

6: THE BEST LAID PLANS

“KOLYAT!!” Thane screams, as his son slips from his grasp. There is a second of weightlessness; a breath escapes Kolyat’s lips as he feels a slight tickle in his gut…like the time he and his friends went cliff diving back on Kahje.

“Just do it, Kolyat! I swear it won’t kill you.” she teases, with a laugh. Then, without warning, she runs full speed towards the edge of the cliff jumping off with a scream of sheer joy.

He takes a deep breath, says a quick silent prayer and runs to throw himself off the edge of the cliff. The slight tingling in his abdomen grows to become gut wrenching as the movement of air around him becomes louder. His heart is racing in his throat as a bitter taste fills his mouth. The air is trapped in his lungs, making it impossible for him to breathe, let alone scream so he just clenches his teeth. He squeezes his eyes shut. The smell of the ocean envelopes him and friends splash about in the water as they cheer him on. At the last second he crosses his arm and legs, the ocean spray hits him a heartbeat before he splashes into the warm water of the ocean.

He can no longer see his father, but he is aware of arms wrapping tightly about him as he hits a sudden cushion of air which momentarily stops gravity. Then it’s as if the bubble bursts and he is falling again, ending with a body wracking thud, a moment of pain and then blackness.

..~~~**~~~..

The catwalk was just too unstable, forcing Zaeed to move the ship a several hundred yards to the next stable platform. Garrus uses the time to clean and bandage Thane’s wounds, starting with his wrists which were raw and scabbed over from the chains biting into him. Thane’s ankles were badly bruised and raw from the chains. The mesh pattern on the metal wall he was electrocuted on seems to be burn into his entire back, biceps, and the back of his legs. Dozens of small cuts, abrasion and bruises covered Thane’s torso and face. Thane’s ribs, especially those on the left are tender to the touch, but without an extensive knowledge of Drell anatomy Garrus did not know if they were broken or not. To be on the safe side Garrus decides to wrap the Drells ribs. When Thane breathes a sigh of relief and Garrus mentally praises himself for his decision.

“I don’t know if we have enough omni-gel.” Garrus says only half in jest.

“Then save it for Kolyat.” Thane says in all seriousness.

“Let me at least take care of your wrists.” Garrus says, opting to not press the issue. “I think one of us should wait behind, in case there are more Batarians or Kolyat manages to make it to the ship.” He suggests as he bandages Thane’s wrists. Once he finished tending to the obvious wounds, Garrus offers Thane a new jacket to replace the shredded shirt he was in moments before. Rather stiffly, Thanes slips into the jacket, noticing the chest and back are reinforced with thick flexible armor plating.

“Good thinkin’…I’ll stay.” Zaeed says, docking the ship. “I can also scan the area and keep you notified if you’re expectin’ company. Thane…Take my radio.”

Thane takes the radio and then grabs a four pain packs, two stim packs and a few more clips for his weapon. “Do you know where he is?” Thane asks.

“The radio we gave ‘im isn’t transmitting a signal. It must’ve broke when he…fell. You may have to check level by level.” Zaeed says.

Thane nods and leaves the ship not bothering to wait for Garrus. Zaeed grabs Garrus by the arm and speaks softly to him.

“Hey, that stim-pack I gave him, it ain’t one you can just waltz into a store and buy…and it’s gonna wear off soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“I figured we needed ‘im movin’…maybe an hour at most. It’s got some other ingredients in it that ain’t exactly legal, but will get you movin’ awake an’ block pain. But when it wears off he’s gonna be in a world of hurt, so keep an eye on ‘im.”

“How long until it wears off?”

“Maybe 30 minutes.”

Garrus sighs and curses with feeling under his breath and throws Zaeed a dirty look. He grabs a few more pain blockers before rushing out to catch up with the determined Drell.

..~~~**~~~..

Kolyat slowly and painfully comes to the realization that he is not dead. He opens his eyes, the dim and flickering light revealing little about where he is other than still in the docking bay. He realizes that most of him has landed on a metal catwalk while his head and torso lay on Thisla’ abdomen. Carefully he moves his limbs one by one, hoping nothing broke during his landing. His right fore arm sends sharps pangs of pain. Carefully he looks at his arm, grateful it’s not broken, but alarmed by the deep cut which is trickling blood down his arm. Cautiously he sits up and discovers how close they came to not landing on the catwalk. He had landed mostly on the catwalk and partially on Thisla who lays sprawled, with her part of her left arm and her entire left leg dangling over the edge. He rips off a portion of his shirt and uses the rag to bind his wound.

“Hey. Wake up.” He says softly, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently. He can feel the heat emanating from her skin as her strange Krogan blue eyes open, and slowly focus on him.

“Thane son?” she asks.

“Yes, I’m Thane’s son.” He says with a tired sigh. After days of Zaeed calling him ‘kid’ he doubts she will stop calling him ‘Thane son’.

She weakly points to herself “Thisla.”

“Thisla, huh?” he asks, looking up, hoping in vain to see the ship. “Well, we need to get moving.” He says, carefully standing up and discovering new pains in his back which he tries to stretch out.

She nods in compliance and forces herself to stand and follow Kolyat. Her balance uncertain, Kolyat drapes one of her arms around his shoulders as he grips her waist, assisting her off the catwalk. She staggers and does her best to keep up, but the infection is near crippling as it spreads through her body.

“Fall far?” she quietly asks.

“Yeah, I’m thinking two levels maybe three.”

“Talk to Thane?” She asks. It takes him a couple of moments to realize she’s talking about his radio. He tries to raise either Zaeed or Garrus without success.

“I think the radio broke when we landed.” Kolyat answers, tossing the useless device aside.

Thisla’s eyes struggle to remain open as she sways; Kolyat notices that there’s a thin trickle of dark blood making its way down her neck. He gently turns her head to examine her wound. “We need to make our way to the upper levels. But first we need to get you some medicine to stop the bleeding and try to bring your fever down.” He explains, ripping another piece of his shirt off to apply pressure to her wound. “Do you know your way around here?” he asks, placing her hand over the fabric, silently indicating that she should continue to apply pressure.

“No.” she answers weakly.

“Ok, let’s check out this corridor ahead.” He says, taking her free arm and swinging it over his shoulder to support her weight as they move down the unknown hallway.

..~~~**~~~..

“Thane, I’m not sure about this staircase. It looks like it took a lot of damage when the Mech fired off those explosive rounds.” Garrus explains as he looks at the twisted stairs, cracked ceiling, and crumbling walls.

“Then find another way down and I’ll meet you below.” Thane says quickly taking the last few steps to the landing despite the metal groaning its protest and bits of rock falling about him. Garrus quickly catches up to the assassin, grabs him by the shoulders and spins him about to see his face.

“I can respect your need to get to Kolyat!” Garrus hisses in anger, tightly gripping Thane’s upper arms. “But we get trapped or killed who’s going to help him?”

Thane takes a deep breath and mental step back. “You’re right...you’re right. I’m sorry. I…I wasn’t thinking. Let’s find another route.” Thane concedes. Garrus releases his grip and takes the lead up the stairs, he only manages four steps before the groaning metal begins to screech and suddenly collapses taking both Thane and Garrus with it. Thane reaches out with his biotic ability, catching Garrus and tossing him safely out the door as the rest of the room comes crashing down about him. Suddenly his brain is on fire and his spine becomes thousands of needles radiating pain the full length of his back, he cries out in pain and collapses to his knees. The biotic dampening drugs the Salarian injected him with are still in his system he realizes as a thin trickle of blood emerges from his nose.

A large piece of the ceiling smashes through the floor, just missing Thane. Despite the increasing pain in his left side Thane manages to roll out of the way of a twisted piece of metal from the stairwell above and then throws himself back into the wall to avoid even more falling debris. He hits the wall and an intensely sharp pain stabs through him pulling a cry of pain as he collapses. The floor beneath him reverberates…threatening to collapse beneath him if he doesn’t move, but the agony is near crippling and he finds he cannot move. The floor splits beneath his knees with a deafening crack and slips several inches sending Thane rolling towards the hole made when the ceiling fell.

Fighting through the torture, Thane managed to grab onto a piece of rebar protruding from a large chuck of rubble with his right hand, halting his slide with his feet dangle over the hole. He uses his left arm to shield his face from the small pieces of rock and dust raining down upon him as the world finally settles. Dust fills both the small area and Thane’s lungs, causing him to cough. More pain pierces his left side again, alerting him that something is terribly wrong inside. He covers his mouth, trying in vain to stifle both the cough and pained sounds escaping his lips.

Finally the dust and his coughing settle, he rolls onto all fours with the intention of trying to stand, but the pain is so sharp that his left arm refuses to support his weight. He manages to get into a sitting position, carefully placing his back to the wall. While his mind tires to focus past his suffering, his right hand pulls out one of the pain packs which he immediately injects into his side.

A brief second of pain and then a comforting numbness settles in as he thinks he hears Garrus’ voice.

..~~~**~~~..

Garrus lands with the solid thud, knocking the wind from him. He lies on the floor, struggling to breath. Finally with a thankful gulp of air Garrus carefully gets to his feet, relieved beyond words to find he’s on the safe side of the stairwell. The sounds of destruction continue as the stairwell collapses for nearly a full 2 minutes before finally settling. He calls out to Thane, searching the flickering dimness for his friend. His eyes finally fix on the doorway he had just exited through as dust continues to plume out towards him. He coughs violently as the dust finally begins to die down.

“Thane?” Garrus calls out again, when he is unable to locate the Drell.

“Garrus to Thane.” Garrus asks into the radio when he fails to locate the Drell. After a moment of silence, he tries the radio again.

Again there is silence. “Thane, do you copy?” Garrus asks, the cold hand of dread slowly gripping Garrus’ heart as he is greeted by more silence.

**What happened?** Zaeed asks.

“The stairwell collapsed. Thane and I got separated.”

**I’ll start scanning the blueprints for alternate routes.**

“Thane, do you copy?” Garrus tries again.

**Yes.** Thane finally responds. Garrus heaves a huge sigh of relief before asking how badly he was injured.

**No new injuries, if that is what you’re asking. Almost everything above me has collapsed completely, and are blocking the stairs. I will have to exit on this floor.** Thane reports.

**There may be a possible route to Thane’s floor. There’s an elevator at the back of the complex. It looks like there’s a mess hall of some type.**

“I’m on it. Thane, once I’m on your level we’ll meet there. Copy?”

**Copy.**

**I’m sending a map of the compound to your omni tools.** Zaeed added.

..~~~**~~~..

Kolyat and Thisla stumble into a small storage room holding only a few crates, a small sturdy desk in the corner and a thick layer of dust. He helps Thisla sit on the desk, watching as she leans into the corner, her eyes fluttering to stay awake.

“Stay here, I’m going to see if I can find something for you, ok?” He doesn’t wait for a response before he starts rummaging through the forgotten boxes. Luck finally smiles upon Kolyat; most of what he finds is useless to him but he does happen to find some medical supplies, a sack, and a few articles of light armor that look to be about Thisla’s size.

“I found some things that might help you. I’m going to bandage your wound.” He says. She nods her understanding and turns around exposing the surgical incision. Kolyat gently cleans the wound as best as he can before applying some omnigel and a bandage. He then helped her into a lightly armored jacket, explaining how this would help protect her. Then with her help, he tends to the wound on his arm.

“Thisla, do you see this?” Kolyat says, holding up the small cylindrical trigger to the explosive in her brain. She nods, remembering the device and the pain it brought. She’s worried about where this conversation is going and it shows in her face. “This is the trigger to the bomb in your head.” Kolyat explains. “I’m putting it in this bag, along with some of the medical supplies I found. Don’t lose it.” He says placing the long strap of the bag over her head so that he strap rested on her right shoulder and the bag sat on her left hip.

“We need to get out of here, before someone finds us.” He says quietly, helping her off of the desk and down the hall away from the approaching footsteps.

..~~~**~~~..

Garrus finds the elevator Zaeed was talking about; however, it appears as if it has not been operational is many years. With a curse he forces the doors open and finds that the elevator is jammed in the shaft below him, halfway between the floor he wants and one below it. With a silent prayer he climbs down onto the elevator roof, worried that the mechanism may give away at the addition of his weight, thankfully it supported his weight without so much as a groan.

A few more choice words escape Garrus’ lips when he realizes the door release is broken. Carefully he climbs into the elevator and pries open the doors. He can just see the release for the floor below and squeezes his arm into the tiny opening to reach that switch. Thankfully the switch moved with little effort, allowing Garrus to pull his arm back and pull open the doors to the floor below. It’s a tight squeeze, but he manages to leave the small elevator.

“Zaeed, I couldn’t reach Thane’s floor, send me the schematics for the floor I’m on.”

**Right, give me a few. I tell ya mate, I’ve seen a lot of dumps in my time, but this shit hole takes the prize.**

Garrus pulls up the map for the compound and sees that the only available staircase is at back … near the docking bay.

“Are you serious?” Garrus asks more to himself than Zaeed.

**Yep, it looks as if it goes to an office about 20 meter from the docking bay.**

“Who the hell designed this place?”

**It looks as if the original plans were modified as things broke down, weren’t used, or used for something else. Let’s hear it for record keepers.** Zaeed laughs.

Garrus sighs heavily and heads towards the stairs careful to avoid any unwanted attention while cursing under his breath.

..~~~**~~~..

The unwanted memory crashes into Thane’s brain like a force of nature. It washes over him and consumes his mind and body, leaving him as powerless as a child to face a memory he never lived.

The floor is cold, but it’s a familiar cold, one that has been a consistent presence. The door opens shattering the peaceful slumber and allowing harsh reality to take its place. Vox stands in the doorway with an unknown Batarian.

“It has no biotic ability, so it better start recouping its cost somehow. Have fun.” Vox waves a disgusted hand and walks out. The unknown Batarian has a look that Thisla does not recognize, but Thane does. Thisla’s looks up, waiting for an instruction, but none is given and the Batarian continues to close the distance, slowly removing his belt with each step.

Despite Thane screaming for her to run, she lays there, just waiting for some order, some task she needs to complete. It isn’t long until he’s kneeling before her, gently touching her face. Tenderness is an unknown in her existence and unfamiliar with it she flinches and looks at the hand. The hand now grabs her roughly by the throat, pushing her back onto the floor. The once tender hand is now a source of pain, hitting and slapping her as it rips open the rags she wears.

“Off!” she says, trying to push the much larger man. “Off!” she exclaims again, panic quickly taking hold as the man continued his unwanted advances.

There is a tingling at the base of the skull and a pressure building in the skull desperate for a release. It’s a warm pressure, without being hot, but it is persistent in its swirling around the brain like a caged wild animal until…

“OFF!” she screams, the pressure finding a release, a target and slams into her attacker with full force. It sent him flying across the room and slamming him into the wall, breaking every bone in his body. His blood splatters not only on almost the entire wall but also up onto the ceiling and down on the floor.

Thane comes back to the present time and finds himself on the floor, scrambling back away from the memory. Much to his surprise and horror he sees a dead Batarian slumped on the floor, the blood splatter on the wall explains the death. It only takes Thane a few seconds to gather himself and study the grisly scene before him. The splatter from his biotic push was nowhere near as big as the splatter from Thisla’s. Judging from the splatter her biotic abilities exceeds his own. Her power both impresses and scares him. After all she’s had no formal training on how to control her powers when powerful emotions take control.

..~~~**~~~..

“Zaeed, I’m in the docking bay and I see some blood. Some of it looks Drell, but the other is blue.”

**Must be that Asari looking girl Thane wanted to rescue.**

“How can a girl be ‘Asari looking’ she’s either an Asari or she’s not. So is she an Asari?”

**Yeah…kinda.**

“What do you mean ‘kinda’?”

**She kinda looks like an Asari and she kinda looks like a Turian. Look mate, I can’t explain it you have to see her to understand. Follow the blood I think it’s them.**

Kolyat and Thisla crouched in the dark, hidden behind a large crate. He looks over at her, holding a finger to his lips, she nods and actually covers her mouth with both hands. Kolyat carefully peers around the box the approaching footsteps and lack of weapon made him cautious.

Slowly and just as cautiously Garrus crept into view, carefully scanning the room with both weapons and eyes. Kolyat breathed a sigh of relief and whispered out to Garrus.

“Kolyat?”

“Don’t shoot.” He says, helping Thisla stand up. “This is Thisla, she helped my dad and saved my life.”

**She kinda looks like an Asari, don’t she?** Zaeed said with a laugh. Garrus grumbles something rude about Zaeed sexual preference for mothers and his parentage which causes Zaeed to laugh louder.

“Any sign of Thane?” Garrus asks, trying not stare at the shy and frail looking Thisla.

**None. He must dropped his radio.**

“My dad is in no condition to be out looking for me.” Kolyat states.

“I know that and the sooner we find him the sooner we can get out of here.”

“It’s not that simple.” Kolyat said, urgency creeping into his voice.

“What do you mean?”

“As you know, Drell have perfect memories we are also prone to slipping into a memory if the right trigger is hit. A common torture technique for Drell is sleep deprivation; as with most sentient beings, the less sleep you have the harder it is to focus. For Drell it means we are subject to Defluipsm.” Kolyat sighs as Garrus’ blank expression, his mind races trying to find the best explanation. “We become trapped in a memory, and we’re not just sitting remembering…we are reliving it. Walking, talking…everything.”

“If this happens, how do we snap him out of this.”

“Sedation would be the quickest and easiest. Once his body and mind catches up on the rest it needs. Usually the memory will go away on its own.”

“Usually?”

“Mostly.”

“Any idea what memory Thane may be reliving?”

Kolyat scoffs. “No. But my father spent nearly his entire life killing people for one reason or another, I think it’s safe to safe he not trapped in my 3^rd birthday party.”

“Zaeed we need Thane’s last position.”

..~~~**~~~..

Thane is beyond exhausted as he stumbles down the hall towards the soft sound of music. All he wants to do is sleep, but he made a promise to her and he always keeps his promises to her. He stagers down the hall, leaning heavily against the wall. There’s an annoying sensation in his left side, but dismisses it as exhaustion.

When did this hallway get so long? He finds himself wondering as he approaches the open door. He pauses at the doorway and takes several seconds to collect himself, he promised he’d take her out for her birthday and today is that day; he’s not about to let weariness interfere with their plans. Taking one last deep breath he steps into the bedroom, and sees her lying on the floor in a puddle of blood.

“Irikah.” he gasps, moving towards her prone figure. He touches her faces, hoping to revive her only to find her skin cold to the touch. He drops his head in grief, tears welling up in his eyes.

Words fail him as his soul slips back into its warrior sleep, unable to deal with her loss. Tears fall from his face onto her still form. He forces himself to look at the fatal wound in her chest. A cold and almost calming anger settles in his heart, the bullet just missed her heart denying her a clean death. This is either a message or a second rate assassin, not that it mattered…the end result is the same.

He leans forward and tenderly kisses her forehead. “I will find who did this, Mah’salrok. I will find them and I will kill them. I promise.”
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The Assassin’s Ordeal