Turok 7

Turok

Chapter 7

By BigToFu

Jane Sheppard

With deft hand movements over her controls, Jane boosted the Titan around a corner as her target lock sensors picked out a trio of targets. One on the ground turning her way and two up on the roof of the buildings already in position. The over-shoulder rocket pods came up and unleashed its quad rockets guided by the laser emitter. Then she brought up her weapon platform and fired off a trio of hard plasma rounds melting through the battle drone on the enemy team. A left range sensor went off and Jane raised her left vortex shield to catch the rocket launched towards her cockpit.

Catching the rocket, she directed it off back towards the shooter before it exploded, taking the time to confirm that kill. Jane and her Titan then skated forwards on the boosters as the rocket shooter exploded into chunks. Her Titan hunched down to shift the center of gravity lower. Her leg and back booster activated as the antigravity eezo core kicked in, Jane pushed the throttle with her feet moving the pedals as she leaned into the corner. With one last turn, Jane saw the finish line in sight.

Two garage shutters flew up on the sides of the road, and from the left a mark three hover tank came gliding out. Then out of the right side of the road came one of the larger combat robots that pushed the limits of Citadel law against robots. The only reason why it wasn't against the law was due to it being not only remote controlled but also because it didn't have a Vi installed.

Tucking the off-hand in, Jane put her Titan's shoulder forward while shifting the shield energy towards a more vectored angle. The tank fired its sabot rounds first but they did nothing but ding right off the shields. Then the tank pulled back as its coolant vents activated to dump all of the heat.

The larger robot came forward with a double-hand motion as it prepared its hands for combat, but Jane wasn't having any of it. Shoulder still forward, she took the battle bot in the chest, then grabbed onto its frame with the vortex shield. With a twisting spin motion, Jane made her dad proud with an impeccable Texas spear twister football maneuver.

With a finishing touch, Jane spiked the combat robot on top of the hover tank while leaving a plasma grenade behind. Her audio receivers picked up the clunking sound of the grenade landing along with a timer appearing on the lower section of the massive viewing panel the Titan provided her.

The boom behind her was overshadowed by the alarm sounding as Jane flew across the finish line.

[ Time 9:32 ]

"New course record, Pilot," Her Titan BT stated over the internal comms.

With a chuckle, Jane eased off the controls and allowed BT to pilot them the rest of the way over to the weapons check and mech bay area of the facility they were currently in. From her vantage point and liberal amounts of zoom, Jane could already see top brass in discussion over her performances while the mechanics stood around and pretended they were busy. Some were waiting for nothing else than for her to settle BT into his cradle so they could swarm the machine.

Sigh, she might as well get this over with, the next time she sees Turok. Jane was more than willing to give him a piece of her mind. She knew why he was doing it, but it would be better if he just gave System Alliance the technology instead of forcing them to reverse engineer it based on the hints and manuals to fix her gear. It's clear that he is trying to help without helping but she could also see the moving parts to everything. First, was the System Alliance putting out the word to welcome Quarians with favorable conditions. On the other hand Jane didn't really know how to feel about the entire thing.

The Citadel was making overtures for the technology and no one could seem to figure out where the leak came from. Last she heard, they also mentioned a Spectre slot possibly being available for humanity. Now that was a massive shake-up and could easily lead to a Citadel seat. The implications of that alone were astronomical. There have been species with the Citadel longer than humanity and even they don't have a seat at the table.

If scuttlebutt was to be believed, then the politicians wanted to carve up Bt and hand over the tech with swiftness, but the only reason that wasn't done was due to threats. Internal Investigations and the Admiralty were none too happy and the last Jane heard, words like treason to humanity and a few other choice bits were thrown around.

The military arm of the System Alliance was frothing at the mouth when they found out that Turok had left her with a care package of what he considered minor technology. It also didn't help that he left BT in her care along with a sample of weaponry that System Alliance could use as guides to build their own.

With a sigh, Jane sat BT within his cradle before finishing out her post-run checks and hitting the open canopy button. Pushing up and out, Jane took a second to perch on the opening to the entrance of her cockpit. Clunking sounds drew Jane's attention and she turned to see an army of mechanics and rabid engineers attack her titan with a ravenous will to turn every bolt and nut.

"June, no pulling him apart," Jane yelled as she watched a mechanic/engineer combo try and open up a panel that had nothing to do with basic checks.

They stopped in their work and Frank, the leader of the mechanic's team, started a fast walk that took him into their personal space. The fools had tried to pocket a bolt when Frank made himself known. She could only shake her head at this bunch of kids trying to steal candy.

With a sigh, she gave Cindy a wave of the hand as the walking gantry finally came up for her to walk onto it. The last time Jane had just jumped down and used her jump jets; more than a few people had lost their heads. Now her damn jump jets were in a room getting checked over seven ways from Sunday because of course they would want to recreate the unique creation that used no eezo at all.

The more her people were amazed at the technology, the more Jane realized that Turok just might be right. They were far too dependent on eezo to the point that what should be ordinary creations were stunning them.

"Why the long face, you made a new record, that's something to be proud of." Cindy spoke with a smirk and shoulder bump.

Jane shook her head; she had no way to even brooch any of the topics within her mind. And it wasn't for the lack of trying, it was just that she could tell anything she said would get slapped with a classified classification and that was the issue. So instead, she went with something else that had been on her mind for the last week.

Jane grunted then shot Cindy a smirk. "Just ready to get out of here is all."

Cindy gave her a nod, "I know how you feel, got anything planned for when you are finally able to get outta here?"

Jane gave a snort, "Yeah, I might have someone in mind that needs a good throttling."

Cindy gave a short chuckle as Jane got off the gantry, with a wave over her shoulder. Jane shook her head as Cindy turned back towards BT with nearly the same crazed look on her face. With a sigh, Jane said nothing as she walked over and leaned on one of the ammo crates. Using the crate as a tabletop. Staff Sergeant Johnson was putting his rifle back together. She waited until he was finished and searched around for his cigar before she held up the one she lifted from his pocket.

"You know these are bad for you, right?" Jane quipped as the Staff Sergeant took his cigar.

"Yeah, I keep hearing that but I'm still kicking, ma'am." Johnson replied with a grunt.

Jane raised her hand quickly to stop him. "Ma'am is my mother, Sheppard works for me or just Commander."

Johnson gave her a grunt and a tip of his hat, "Alright then Commander, so what brings you to my corner of the shoot house?"

With a chuckle, she took a step to the side and helped Johnson with the rest of the weapons. "You know how it is, put up a new score and they let you stop playing piggy in the pen."

Johnson snorted at that, "Yeah, I noticed that, you got all the stick jockeys foaming at the mouth wanting to ride that thing."

Jane gave a chuckle while double-checking the cam pin and then reaching for a charging handle. "Admiral Decker had to come down hard with official orders on a few wrenchmonkees."

Johnson stopped what he was working on, "Let me guess, base Commander Smitty got it up her ass since you were here and she had say over all your shit?"

"Yup, she damn near ordered the engineers to pull apart BT the moment she laid eyes on him," Jane replied with a shake of her head.

"OFFICER ON DECK!" Someone called from the other side of the armory room and both Johnson and Jane snapped to attention with a crisp salute.

"At ease Sheppard, I was looking for you," Came the gruff no-nonsense voice of Admiral Decker.

"Sir," Jane responded while shifting her stance a little.

"Word just came in, we have another slaver base to crack and I want You and BT to lead the charge." The Admiral spoke. "So pack your bags ladies and gents we are heading out."

{Scene Break}

[ Lighthammer ]

Leaning back in her chair, Mara said nothing as her brother Uldren took them out of the planetary docking station. Petra was in the navigator's seat setting course to the space station they were tasked with investigating. Their ship was none standard enough to let them get around but also to the standards of the Vanguard without giving too much away. One of the first things Turok wanted to do was put them up in a ship like his own, but Sheena had talked him out of it.

It was bad enough he was flying around the galaxy causing a ruckus, there didn't need to be two ships like his. Plus, a ship like his would give away the game even if it would make standardization a lot easier. At least the Quarian fleets would have standardized ships, Mara had seen not only the specs of those things but had gotten a chance to take a Dreadnought out to pummel a few asteroids. All in all, her people would once more have the biggest guns in the galaxy, but this time they would not be led by weakness.

Just the thought of the Admiralty burned her something fierce, she could count on two hands how many spineless cowards there were sitting high on their chairs. Ego's bloated and over-inflated as they ruled over dying people for years with no one to fight back. Proud of their traditions of sending them all off to die one by one in the name of pilgrimage. That would all change soon and Mara couldn't wait, she still remembered the day her family was blackballed and kicked out of the Flotilla. Her father had wanted them to stand and fight for a planet they had located on the edge of Citadel space, but the Asari came along and wanted the planet. It didn't matter that no one had claims to the system, those bitches had fabricated lies. A planet barely on the edge of Citadel space and not even listed in the system was suddenly included in shifting territory boundaries.

All her father wanted was for them to have a planet worth fighting for and they blackballed him, kicked him out, and sold him to the Citadel to appease their so-called anger. It didn't take long for the admiralty board to then conclude that keeping their family was more issue than it was worth and they were out of the Flotilla on a pilgrimage even though they didn't sign up for such a thing at the age of fifteen. Her mother was a survivor though and made sure to impart that knowledge to Mara and Uldren before her passing.

"We have reached the edge of the solar system," Uldren called out and pulled Mara out of her own head as she waved a hand over the arm of her Captain's chair.

Checking everything, including the firewalls, Mara was happy with what she was seeing, "Alright, Petra, give him a course so we can go to hyper-slip space." Her eyes roamed over the information coming out of the navigation terminal and Mera could only hmm in acceptance.

Turok was very forward about not wanting the location of their new homeworld to be on the map and even now she could see that not even the system could be registered to the navigation computers. From the way the map was set up, even Mara could tell that they were well outside the known Citadel space and Terminus space. That was alright with her though, Mara could admit that she was sick of the games of power they liked to play inside of the milky way.

With a clear from her omni-tool, the navigation system unlocked allowing the subspace communications node to plot a route for them toward Space Station QxtR9897. She finished the checks and then let her brother take them out. The ship didn't even shudder as they entered the higher dimension that was layered on top of their reality known as hyper-slip space.

Looking at the map on her Captain's terminal, the smirk on her face froze as Mara watched them blow past solar system after solar system barely skimming the outer reaches of the gravity well. Seeing the ten minutes counting down on the panel, Mara just settled in for the ride as she went over the supplies list. She was flying with a crew of two along with their ghosts. The ship could fit anywhere from 10 upwards to thirty if they double bunked, but she refused to do that. Checking things over, she noticed instructions for dimensional expansion, but also a warning about letting the technology get out.

Yeah, that seems simple enough to work out and keep secure. She would just need to instruct her brother and Petra to scan all omni-tool's before they board her ship. There was no point in letting any Salarian or Asari code try and infiltrate things.

With a wave of the hand, Mara brought up the medical facilities again, then the armory, before finally settling on the ship's weaponry one more time. They were rocking eight turbo lasers, four on each side with the same amount of missile bays. Full-phase array shields that covered both kinetic and wavelength in case someone happened to solve their time-old laser issues.

A double beep drew her attention, Mara looked up to see that they were a minute out from their destination. With a twitch of the finger, Mara dismissed the information she was reading and brought up the shields systems, and placed them up to max before activating the security system on full alert.

They dropped out of hyper-slip space and found not even a hint of combat within the star system that housed the space station that was their destination. Keeping the disappointment from her face, Mara had Uldren fly them around for a casual inspection before docking at the station.

Looking up from her station, Mara looked at her long-time friend and confidant, "Petra, slice into the station's data-sphere. Find out where our brothers and sisters are." Mara then turned towards her brother, "And you, don't cause any trouble."

Uldren put his hands in the air as if to surrender, but Mara could see that sly smirk on his lips, "I don't even know what you mean sis, I'm well-behaved if you haven't noticed."

Mara narrowed her eyes at him, "Blue Krogan, scar over right eye with a yellow handprint on his left shoulder guard."

Uldren gave her a shy smile, "Come on sis, that was like years ago."

"One month, seven days, sixteen hours, and thirty-seven seconds," Mara growled out, and her brother gulped.

Her brother then tossed his hands into the air, "Fine, that one was on me, but we definitely got a deal out of it."

Shaking her head, Mara got up from her seat and walked to the armory to pick up an assault rifle. She had a rule about no heavy weapons on the bridge, but now they were getting off the ship. A Vigilance Wing folded into compact form on the magnetic holsters on the plating of her armor while Uldren picked up his Thorn hand cannon. Petra walked over and removed the Thunder Lord from its heavy casing. Mara was of the mind to keep all elemental weapons out of Citadel space but Petra had made the argument that biotics weren't the only ones running around with overload bursts and other insane mods for combat.

Once they were prepped and loaded down for war, Mara and her fire team went to the airlock and stepped onto the station. Waiting for them on the other end of the airlock a good ten feet from the exit was the station security along with someone who looked like they were in charge of the entire party. A quick count put the numbers at six Turians, two Krogans, and three Asari. The one in charge with the clear air of a snooty bitch was the Asari with a purple tint to her skin, a sneer clear on her face.

Fighting back the reflex to pull her weapon and start blasting, Mara walked out of the airlock. Even as she walked forward, Mara ignored the signs of the security system active by the blue shimmer at the edge of a wall twenty feet to her left. All she needed was a glance to tell that the kinetic shields were active in the area and maybe even in the weapon emplacements.

"You may stop there," the Asari stated, the sneer still on her face even as she made a stopping motion with her off-hand.

With that, Mara stopped with her stance loose, Uldren and Petra flanking her both on the left and right.

The Asari made a head motion, "We don't allow guns on our station, you're gonna have to check those."

Mara snorted, then shook her head, "Yeah, that's not going to happen, I heard that this sector was pirate-infested and I have no plans to stay longer than I have to."

Some of the Turians shifted as Mara and the Asari got into a standoff and she could hear her brother mutter something behind her before he stepped forward. His helm went down with a swishing sound and he showed off his smile. It was clear that slag of an Asari was interested in her brother the moment Uldren stepped forward with a hand on her shoulder pushing her back.

Uldred stepped in front of her, breaking Mara's eye contact with the Asari, an easy going smile on his face. "What my sister is trying to say, yet failing, is that we would prefer to keep our equipment since this was only a minor stop-off to pick up a mechanic."

The Asari shifted her stance to something calmer as she smiled at Uldren, "It's usually polite to introduce oneself before business, is it not?" The Asari pressed with a genial smile on her face.

"Uldren Sov, no one too fancy, just a hunter I'm afraid," Her brother said with a slight bow and flourish of an arm.

The Asari tittered a little, "I see, and what are you, might I ask?"

Her brother smiled, "Just a Guardian on his way." Replied smoothly as he made a motion.

"I see," the Asari replied with a nod of the head. "Let us speak in my office and I will get you a docking clearance processed."

Uldren smiled and started to walk with the Asari just outside arm's reach. Then he stopped as if to remember something. "Ohh, about my sister and her associate?"

The Asari slag threw a look over her shoulder, a sneer on her face, then waved an arm to clear the security forces. "No trouble on my station."

Mara sneered right back at the slag, as she walked off with Uldren. With a shake of her head, Mara had to ignore how her brother was able to sweet talk himself into something again because it was better to just clean up later than to pull a shoot out right now. Petra sighed and made a head motion to follow her and Mara did before she snapped and flatlined the Asari.

Ignoring the Turians, the other Asari and the Salarian, Mara followed Petra as she brought up a map toward their destination. Mara got a ping from her own omni-tool and her ghost accepted it for her. Then as they walked beyond the entry to the mining station, one of the tram cabs arrived for them pre-called by Petra. Taking a seat across from Petra, Mara just watched the scenery go by as her companion hummed an old melody.

It was such an old Quarian folklore melody that she had even almost forgotten it. Yet, the peace wasn't allowed to last that long as the tram slowed down and they arrived at one of the deeper levels. Outside the little tram car was dark, dusty, and very dirty, if it had a name. Grim Nior would be the perfect description of what was happening on this level. As she stepped out along with Petra, Mara did notice the well-cared-for sensors and lights. Not only that but a few of the access panels had clear signs of good craftsmanship.

Walking down the corridor, Mara ignored the looks from some of the station's bottom feeders. That only lasted till they got to a section with a Krogan guarding the way. Just over his shoulder though, Mara and Petra could see two Quarians in a slight ready position, makeshift weapons in hand.

*grunt*

"That's far enough pyjacks." The Krogan grunted as he stepped in front of their way.

Mara ignored the Krogan as she went to push past his large frame blocking the path.

"I said—"

The Krogan never got to say anymore because Mara had activated the biotic controls within her suit and had pinned the Krogan against a wall as she walked by. She shot him an off hand look, "No one will keep me from my kin."

The two Quarians had their weapon trained on Mara even with shaking hands. "Stop right there!"

Ignoring the command, Mara kept walking forward until her chest was pressed against the barrel of the makeshift weapon. Then slowly she reached over to her left arm and deactivated the enviro helm of her suit.

"Ke'lah!" Was Muttered out and then the whispers started as the weapon dropped. "It's true…"

With a small smile on her face, Mara took in the attention for a few seconds more before straightening up the air around her shifting to that of professionalism. "Gather everyone, let them know that it's time for a New Rannoch."

The excitement spread from one to the other and then doors further down opened. Then it was like a dam had burst as Quarians gathered in the hallway surrounding Mara, questions flying. What drew her attention though was the few Quarians around the Krogan trying to help him back down from where Mara had him pinned against the wall. With a snort she walked over, Petra gave her a look but would say nothing. She did what she did because she was here for their people, nothing more, nothing less.

With a swift flex of her wrist, Mara released the Krogan and he surprisingly landed light on his feet.

"Feisty little pyjack."

Mara never flinched as she met the eyes of the Krogan, "Petra, pay the Krogan what he's owed so we can clear everyone out of here."

"Ohhhh," a few muttered before someone was brave enough to step forward.

It was so wrong, she hated their reactions and bodily motions, even though she wasn't like this before Turok rescued them. Her gaze was sharp as she looked at the one who stepped forward.

"What is it?"

"We would like Curdon to come with," The Quarian who's name she didn't even know put forward but Mara shot it down instantly.

Mara snorted, then spoke with a swipe of her hand, "Not possible."

Her fellow Quarians looked at her confused, "Why?"

"But he saved us…"

"We owe him our lives…"

Multiple voices went up along the hallway and it was getting to be a pain in the neck if Mara was being honest about things. With a sigh and a pinch at her brows, Mara motioned for one to speak while the Krogan just grunted with a gravel-like chuckle.

With a hard look on her face, Mara stared down the Quarian that stepped forward. "Explain to me why I would invite a Krogan along?"

The Quarian rubbed his hands together with a hunched back, "Well, you see…"

Mara shot a hand up, "Stop, stand up straight and look me in the eye and show some self-respect, you are a Quarian, not some Batarian slave."

It took a bit but eventually, the Quarian in question finally stood up straight even though his knees shook a little along with a nervous twitch in his hands. Mara was not happy with how underfed he looked, she didn't even need to glance around to see that the years of malnutrition did not do her people good.

"One of the Turian security guards arrested, Jeli'Maamm nar Wiworp and threatened to strip her out of her vac suit. Her repair of his gear was impeccable, but he didn't want to pay and just steal." The Quarian stated and towards the end, it was clear he was still holding onto some resentment.

Before Mara could give an answer, Petra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Turok did state he wanted to see if he could also cure the genophage, maybe this Krogan can offer his assistance."

This caught the Krogan's attention as he strode forward to stand before Mara.

"Do not make deals you can't deliver," the Krogan named Curdon rumbled as he stood over her.

Petra spoke once more, "We will contact Turok and see if he is agreeable with this suggestion."

The Krogan looked them over for a long bit of time before nodding his head, "I will contact some pups from the clan, might get better results from fresh blood."

Mara snorted at him, but before she could say or do anything, there was the sound of an explosion in the distance. Then multiple people stumbled as the entire station shook from the spreading shockwave. The little yellow blinking light drew her attention; when she activated the call program on her omni-tool. Mara found Uldren in the middle of a firefight in what clearly was the station's promenade.

Mara watched as her brother stood out from behind cover, flames roiling all over his form, the Thorn hand cannon up at the hip. Six shots were fired off with six bodies bursting into flames, none of the weapons were even able to damage her brother as the Flames of his Light and shields protected him. Uldrens off-hand came up, a knife flicking outwards to slice through a Batarian and his armor before sticking into the far wall.

Then as Uldren took cover once more, he noticed the call. "OHH, hey sis, remember when we talked about not doing the whole thing, 'I told you so thing' you like doing?"

This… was going to be such a long day, and Mara could already feel the headache forming and healing itself then forming again. Of course, leave it to her brother to figure out a way past their new healing factor.

Authors Notes - Removes the - for the internet links

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