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Osiris	By : samanthalee Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 8333 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
- 6
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“Shepard,” Joker’s voice crackled through her comms unit “I’ve got their eyes on the skies, dropping you into the canyon and shutting down non-essential systems in thirty seconds, you’ll be touching down on the south side of the base in 5 minutes. Good luck, Commander.”

As Shepard’s comm. unit clicked over to silence, the interior lights in the shuttle went out and the entire craft lurched as the autopilot dove into the canyons of the Invictus desert.

“We’ve gone dark, team. We’ll be touching down in five minutes.” Shepard called out to the rest of her team as she brought up a three dimensional holographic scan of the Eclipse base from her omni-tool. “The base is big ... it looks to be a major spice smuggling and training operation, probably a centre of operations for the whole sector. The main complex has a battery of heavy turrets that could knock the Normandy right out of the sky so Joker’s staying away but he's staying within sensor range to keep their scanning equipment on the sky while we use the canyons to slip in under the cover of the storm.”

“A base that size with that kind of artillery can’t go unnoticed in the middle of the desert, the Eclipse must be paying off the local authorities. There’s gotta be serious credits coming out of this operation.” Jacob said as he loaded thermal clips into the shotgun that lay on his knee.

“Which probably comes from whatever they are smuggling. We’ll be touching down here,” said Shepard as she pointed at the orange miniature projected from her wrist. “five hundred metres south of the main complex, on the edge of this container field.”

“Those are all shipping containers?” Tali asked incredulously. “that must be millions of credits of spice in there.”

"Hundreds of millions." Jacob corrected

"Their smuggling is of no importance to us,” Miranda cut in from the far end of the bench. “What’s important is to find out whether this bastard is lying or not.” She said as she gestured towards Saren, who sat silently in handcuffs beside her.

“Exactly,” Shepard continued “which is why we’re going to go in as quietly as possible and hit the command centre ONLY. From the looks of it the C.C. is this building in the centre of the compound. Miranda and Jacob, you two stay with the shuttle, make sure we don’t have any unwelcome visitors. I’ll take Saren to breach the control centre. Tali, I’ll need you to hack into their mainframe as fast as possible and download as much data as you can.”

“Very well, Shepard.”

“Jack ... JACK!!” Shepard shouted, startling the tattooed biotic from where she was sleeping in her seat. “Wake up, I’ll need your destructive talents to breach the command centre.”

“Fuckin’ aye.”

“The problem..." Shepard continued "is this structure here on the north end of the compound, a hundred metres from the command centre. It looks to be some sort of barracks. If it goes loud at any point then we’re gonna have that building pouring a lot of hurt in our direction.”

“How much hurt?” Grunt asked.

“The Normandy can’t get close enough for thermal scans so we don’t know. Could be room for fifty, could be two hundred. So ... Grunt and Thane, I want you to bypass the main complex on the west side, set up overwatch between the barracks and the command centre and keep them pinned down if things get hairy.”

Thane, his chest still bandaged from his previous injuries, merely nodded as he attached his pistol to the magnetic holster on his belt. Grunt had a sadistic smirk on his face at the prospect of the possibility of a heavy firefight.

“The base is currently being hit by a major rainstorm which should cover the sound of our approach. There’ll probably be guards patrolling the cargo yard but only engage if absolutely necessary, we can't have a firefight breaking out before we hit the control centre, we’ll be overrun before we even get there. So Grunt, keep that shotgun holstered.”

She ignored the childlike look of disappointment on Grunt’s face as a red light illuminated the cabin.

“One minute till touchdown,” She called out, “Any questions?”

“Yes,” Tali said as she motioned towards Saren “Why did we not leave him in his cell?”

“Because we don’t know what we’re gonna find in there. If his story is true, he’s our best source of intel.”

“Of course, that’s only half of the truth.” Saren said from the corner, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Shepard doesn’t trust me to be left alone on the Normandy ... even in chains.”

Shepard didn’t answer as the shuttle threw itself into a series of violent lurches as it shot out of the canyon, remaining within a few metres of the desert landscape to avoid any Eclipse air-defense systems.

“Ten seconds!” Shepard yelled as she stood by the door, support bar in one hand, assault rifle in the other. The other members of the squad readied their weapons as the shuttle swung round, setting with a thankfully gentle thud before the door hissed open and Shepard surged through.

She was instantly hit by a wall of freezing rain that was like being plunged into an ice bath. The torrent was so heavy that it instantly soaked her hair and seeped into the padded underlayers of her armour. Ignoring the cold, she scouted the landing area through the sight on her Mattock assault rifle. They had landed in a stretch of empty space between the outer perimeter wall and the cargo field. A loading area by the looks of it. She saw no guards as she scanned her rifle scope from side to side. The rain was so heavy that she could barely see the first row of containers only twenty yards in front of her. She could hear the rest of her team over the sound of the storm, jumping out of the shuttle, weapons ready, each covering a different sector of fire.

“Clear front.” She called when she was satisfied that there were no guards in sight.

“Clear left.” Tali replied.

“Clear right.” Jacob’s voice.

“Clear six.” Came Thane’s voice from around the side of the shuttle.

“All clear.” Shepard said, looking back towards the shuttle. “Saren.”

As Saren stood and casually hopped from the shuttle into the pouring rain, Shepard approached Tali.

“You stay a few yards behind us,” she said, glancing at Saren. “He tries to run, you shoot. No questions.”

Tali gave a confident nod before Shepard looked around the group, searching for the one man she couldn’t see.

“Where’s Thane?” she called to the group before almost jumping out of her skin as he materialised from the shadows of the shuttle. She gave herself a mental slap at how jumpy she was before she spoke to him.

“It’s scary how easily you do that.” She said jokingly before her face turned serious. “If this turns into a firefight you and Grunt are gonna get a lot of heat. I only need TIME from you and not much of it. You give ‘em hell and FALL BACK. This is not a death or glory mission so you get your asses outta there ... understood?”

“Perfectly, Shepard.” He replied.

“Ok,” She said as she patted him on the shoulder. “Move out, fast and quiet. Miranda, Jacob, keep a sharp eye.”

With that she took off towards the row of containers, rifle at the ready with her team following behind her. Reaching the containers, she pressed herself against the side of a one roughly in the middle of the row, just shy of the corner. Jack arrived a second later on the other opposite side of the gap. Shepard gave a final glance around at her team. Jacob and Miranda had already taken up position around the shuttle. Saren was stood casually behind her, looking far too content for Shepard’s liking while Tali stood ready behind him, shotgun in hand. Looking past them, she saw Thane and Grunt approach the far end of the row, only ghostly figures through the thick torrent of thundering rain

“Have fun, boys.” Jack said quietly over the comm. system.

Shepard looked back towards Jack, gave a small nod, and rounded the corner, rifle ready for anything.

Thane despised the rain, it was a heavy reminder of his fast approaching mortality and he felt as if he was drowning with every breath. But he pushed it from his mind, the situation demanded his focus be total and unflinching. He took comfort from the shadows of the containers as he moved among them and from the roar of the downpour that he knew would make his already silent footfalls impossible to detect. He moved ahead of Grunt, who lumbered along heavily as Thane scouted the route ahead.

As they moved deeper, Thane could not help but ponder the nature of the Eclipse smuggling operation. They were now about halfway into the field, yet every container they had passed lay open and completely empty. The mystery only served to further his unease about the entire situation.

They moved swiftly amongst the shipping containers; they had to pass the central buildings and set up in front of the barracks before Shepard reached the control room in the centre of the compound. Speed and caution, it was a delicate balance. However, as always in any operation, it was sheer luck that proved the biggest factor. As Thane approached the corner of a new row, he noticed that the containers ahead were still sealed and locked, the keypad glowing red in the rain. It was during this split second of distraction that a guard rounded the same corner that he was only feet away from and turned, by chance, straight towards him. As fast as Thane was, there was no time to avoid the Batarian seeing him.

Thane reacted in milliseconds. The guard’s brain hadn’t even processed the image in front of him before Thane leapt forwards and delivered a straight kick to the side of the left knee, destroying the joint and pushing the guard to his knees as Thane followed the kick with his weight. The guard could not make more than a gasp of pain before Thane’s fist ploughed through his jaw, jarring the brain into a brief moment of stunned silence. It was all the time Thane needed to neatly grasp the front and back of the batarian’s head and strongly whip his head to the side, snapping his neck in a single motion that was now muscle memory to Thane.

No shots. No shouts. No sound.

Grunt stepped up a second later and gave Thane an approving slap to the back that caught him off guard and sent him staggering against the nearest container. As his shoulder connected with the metal, Thane was startled as he heard a strange noise from inside. His curiosity boiling over, he looked at the key pad on the side of the door as Grunt hauled the now lifeless guard into the shadows. To his surprise, the door was indeed locked but seemingly with no entry code. With the press of a button the red light flicked to green as the magnetic locks disengaged.

“Why lock it with no code?” Grunt asked.

Thane was silent for a moment before answering, he knew what he was about to see.

“It is not intended to lock people out.” He said sadly as he swung open the door.

Shepard had never been very well suited to stealth missions. She lacked the patience to sit in the shadows and wait for the prey to come to her. She was a soldier, a fighter. They had taken out two patrol guards as they moved towards the main complex. She almost felt guilty, sneaking up on someone and killing them from behind didn’t sit well with her. She would always prefer a straight-up fight. She rounded another corner and finally saw the edge of the containers only a few rows ahead. Moving forward carefully, she took up position by the final row with Jack and Saren right behind her while Tali stayed a few yards behind.

The area ahead was lit with a few dim lights, but the coast looked clear. There were no security cameras in sight, no guards that she could see and there was enough cover and alternate routes to circumvent anything they ran into. She was readying herself to move again when her comm. unit crackled to life.

“Shepard,” came Thane’s voice, “Have you looked in the shipment containers?”

She didn’t have time for this.

“Their smuggling isn’t our problem, Thane.” She hissed “Get back on mission.”

“Shepard.” Thane’s voice came through again, this time carrying a weight to it that Shepard hadn’t heard before, it made her pause. “Open the containers.”

Shit, she thought as she signalled Tali over to her position, We don’t have time for this!

“Stay here with him.” She said, motioning towards Saren.

“Wha-“

“I’ll be right back.” Shepard interrupted, signalling to Jack to follow her. She lead her a few rows back to avoid the possibility of anyone in the compound seeing them before she approached one of the locked crates. Locked, but with no code. It didn’t make sense. Jack must have noticed the same thing as she was already covering the door, shotgun at the ready.

Shepard readied her rifle, turned on the flashlight, took a deep breath and pulled the door open as suddenly as she could and raised her weapon.

The sight in front of her hit her like a sledgehammer.

The container was filled with cages, stacked two high against both sides, each with a human crammed inside. There must have been at least fifty cages, none tall enough to stand in. The smell was a sickening cloud of piss, shit ... and death. Looking closer at the cages, Shepard could see that a large number of the occupiers were dead, while the rest were starved or sick to almost the same condition.

Shepard gasped, unable believe what she was seeing. “This isn’t a spice smuggling operation ... they’re slavers.”

“Motherfuckers.” Said Jack, tears in her eyes.

The rain outside had stopped ... the container was silent. The victims left alive were either starved to the point of unconsciousness, or had been there so long that they no longer cared.

“Mommy?” Came a soft voice from a nearby cage. In the light of Shepard’s flashlight, a pair of small hands reached out to grab the bars, followed by two bright blue eyes that shone through a mess of matted dark hair and grimy facial features.

“Oh my god.” Jack gasped. The little girl couldn’t have been more than four or five years old.

“Have you seen my mommy?” the girl asked. Shepard couldn’t answer her, she couldn’t speak a word. Her throat felt as if it had been crushed and tears were gathering in her eyes. She looked at Jack, who had a hand covering her mouth as she tried to fight back tears. Shepard understood, Jack had once been exactly as this girl was now. Trying to collect herself, Shepard swallowed hard and slowly moved towards the girl’s cage, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

“Hey, beautiful.” She choked out as she forced a smile onto her face. “What’s your name?”

“Christa.” The girl replied.

“That’s a pretty name.” Shepard said as she knelt by the cage. “How long have you been here, Christa?”

“I don’t know.” She replied. “The pretty lady gave me her food. She’s been sleeping a long time.”

Shepard shone her flashlight into the next cage, where a young woman lay curled in the corner, obviously dead.

“Shepard,” Tali’s voice crackled impatiently in her ear. “Where are you guys?”

“Shepard ...” Jack began before Shepard turned to give her an angry glare before turning back to the little girl.

“We’ll leave her to sleep some more, OK? She’s tired.” Shepard said. “Where did you last see your mom?”

“The bad men took her away. She said she would come back but the bad men said she had gone away forever.”

A fresh tear slipped down Shepard’s face

“Do you like space ships, Christa?” Shepard asked

The girl nodded.

“Do you wanna go for a ride on mine?”

At this the girl smiled like it was Christmas morning despite the misery of her situation, her white teeth a stark contrast to the grime on her face. It broke Shepard’s heart to see such innocence caught it such an evil place.

“Shepard!” Jack hissed. As much as she hated to admit it, Shepard knew what Jack was thinking and couldn’t deny the logic. They couldn’t take the girl along with them on what was certain to become a combat mission; she was as likely to get one of the others shot as she was herself. However, the look that Shepard gave Jack left absolutely no doubt that she was not open to negotiation as she used her omni-tool to hack the simple mag-lock that held the cage closed.

As Shepard gently took Christa by the hand and made her way back down the row of cells, Jack moved back to the doorway, levelled her shotgun and stepped out, giving the area a quick scan for any more guards before she turned back towards Shepard. As they reached her, Jack grabbed Shepard’s elbow and leaned in close.

“Listen,” she whispered, “We can’t take her along, she’s a fuckin’ kid. She’ll get herself or someone else killed.”

Shepard thought for a moment. She knew that she could take the girl along, it would be much more sensible to leave her there and call in the authorities as soon as they were off-world. Such thoughts vanished as she caught sight of the young woman in her cell who had died to keep this innocent girl alive. How could she let her spend one more minute in a cage? She nodded to Jack before kneeling down to speak to the girl.

“Hey, Christa.” She said in the friendliest voice she could manage. “Jack and I have to go away for a little while. This is very important: I want you to run that way,” she pointed back down the row of containers towards the shuttle. “my friends Miranda and Jacob are waiting at my space ship and they’ll look after you until I get back. Tell them I sent you.” The girl nodded. “But I want you to run as fast as you can and no matter what you hear you can’t stop until you get to my space ship, can you do that?”

The girl nodded. “Where are you going?”

“We’re going to go see the bad men.” Shepard said.

“Are you going to send them away?”

“Yeah,” interrupted Jack, with a cold edge to it that Shepard knew was murderous. “We’re gonna send them away, kid.”

“Okay,” Shepard said, “now go.”

As the girl took off towards the shuttle, Shepard re-checked her rifle and turned around without another word.

“Where have you been?!” Tali hissed as they got back to where she still had her shotgun levelled at Saren’s chest as he sat on the floor casually leaning against the nearest container as if he was waiting for a taxi. “What was in the container?”

Shepard and Jack exchanged a look between them before Shepard answered.

“Slaves.” She said.

“Wha- ... all of them?” Tali said as she looked up and down the row they stood in. “But there are hundreds of containers, that must be thousands of people here.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Saren interrupted. “Sun comes up in an hour, Shepard. You’re running out of time.”

“He’s right.” Shepard said “the mission is top priority, I’ll call in a favour from Hackett when we’re safely away and get a relief force in here. We’re a hundred and fifty metres from the main control room, move out and watch your corners ... let’s go!”

Krogan. If there was one thing that Thane hoped he would not have to deal with before they reached their overwatch position, it was a krogan patrol guard. And yet Thane crouched in the shadow of the final row of containers, hidden from the eyes of the Krogan who stood only a few metres away between the container field and a large training yard of some kind.

This was a major problem, the set-up position to provide overwatch on the barracks was on the other side of the training yard, at least a hundred metres past the Krogan who now blocked their path. Batarians, humans, salarians and even the armoured turians each had significant weaknesses which could be easily exploited for a silent kill. Krogans, however, were walking tanks; their suits of armour were thick and covered all but their heads, which themselves were protected by their armoured crests and their strong, muscular frames and thick bone structure made snapping their neck impossible. Usually, the only way to kill a krogan was simply to overwhelm it with gunfire; fill it with enough slugs to drop a thresher maw and wound it faster than it could regenerate. However, for a stealth kill, there was but a single weak point that could be exploited: an exposed expanse of flesh at the base of the throat, a knife at the right angle could bite through the thick skin deep enough to sever the major artery.

The problem, of course, was getting to it.

The wide set shoulders of krogan anatomy along with the fact that their armour covered the crest at the back of their head meant that a killing blow could only come from the front, and Krogan security guards tended to have a strict “Shoot first” policy when it came to trespassing strangers. Thane would simply have crept past the Krogan’s position were it not for the fact it would have left Shepard’s position vulnerable in their flank while assaulting the command centre.

Using hand signals only, Thane motioned for Grunt to stay where he was, lest the krogan’s heavy footfalls catch the attention of the guard. Taking extra care to move silently now that the rain had died away, he crept back behind the storage container before jumping up to grab the top of it. Hanging on the side of the container, he waited for a moment, listening for any sound of movement that might indicate that the krogan guard had heard anything. Hearing nothing, he pulled himself up onto the roof and lay on his stomach to keep his profile to a minimum. From his new vantage point he could see that the training yard stretched all the way to the barracks building. Immediately before him lay a shooting range that was ringed with a simple wire fence. Beyond that was a small, empty square that looked like some sort of drill yard. Finally, beyond that stretched an assault course that covered the final stretch of space in front of the barracks which, for anyone exiting the barracks, would provide excellent cover from all of its surrounding with the exception of a watch tower that stood between the drill yard and the assault course. It was probably used during the day for instructors to keep a watch on the progress of the men below. Intentionally positioned to have a perfect view of the entire training ground.

The perfect sniper's nest.

Which left only the primary obstacle: killing the krogan guard and getting to the tower without raising an alarm. The krogan was still facing away from him, casually cradling the M-100 Grenade Launcher in front of him. After giving the area a final scan for any other guards, Thane shifted into a crouching position and drew his Umbranemus knife from its sheath.

Even with his considerable skills, Thane could only hope that this would work. He took a quick moment to say a silent prayer before he took a slow, steadying breath and leapt from his vantage point.

He landed with a foot on each of the krogan’s massive shoulders while his free hand gripped the crest of the krogan’s armour for support as he staggered under the unexpected impact. Before the krogan could realise what was happening, Thane swung his dagger downwards with as much strength as he could muster, plunging it past the krogan’s head and down into the base of his throat before wrenching the blade upwards. He felt the warm blood wash over his hand that indicated that he had successfully severed the major artery he was aiming for.

However, one thing that could never be predicted or accounted for in advance when dealing with a krogan was the power of their rage. Krogan battle rage was legendary and was capable of giving them strength and endurance beyond natural limitations. Even as his lifeblood drenched Thanes hands the Krogan grabbed Thane’s arm and with a roar wrenched him from his back and threw him to the floor. Thane looked up to see the barrel of the krogan’s grenade launcher rising towards him. Using the slip of the wet ground against his leather jacket, Thane spun on his back and kicked the barrel of the weapon away just as it erupted in a deafening shot that sailed over Thane’s head.

The shot exploded against the barracks building just as the towering hulk that was Grunt came charging from the container field and rammed into the krogan guard, the impact sent the guard crashing through the wire fence, landing on the shooting range floor. Before he could recover, Grunt stomped one of his colossal feet onto the guard's chest, plunged his fingers into the gaping wound in his throat, clenched his fist and ripped the guard's throat out.

Thane was on his feet and running a second later. He had barely even reached the krogan's body before the wailing alarm sounded over the entire compound. Stealth was now useless, the base was at full alert and worse: he wasn't in position.

Shepard was barely fifty yards into the main complex when she heard the distant roar of a krogan, followed by the unmistakeable sound of an explosive detonation. A moment later the base was drenched in bright lights as an alarm began sounding.

"Thane?!" she shouted into her comm unit, taking cover at the corner of a building. "Thane, what's your status?!"

"We are not in position!" Came Thane's voice through her earpiece.

"SHIT!" she screamed in frustration. She was still fifty metres from the command centre. She looked around to Tali, Jack and Saren who were standing behind her. "Command centre. Double time. MOVE!!"
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Osiris