Chapter 12 - Chapter 12, Another Assignment

This one will just be two more Citadel assignments. However I'm pleased to say that the ending of this chapter will set the scene for Bring Down the Sky, which will feature in the next chapter.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this.

Chapter 12

Another Assignment

The elevator the Citadel tower stopped and then opened. Austin stepped out. After having spent the whole of yesterday making love to Liara in the large swimming pool he was now looking for Emily Wong. After enjoying their shore leave yesterday, the crew of the Normandy had returned to their posts. Austin had however instructed some of them, to go shopping for supplies and new weapons. Austin meanwhile had received a message from Emily Wong requesting his services once again. Seeing as how the two had made a little deal with one another, Austin had replied saying that he would take the job.

Eventually, he found Emily waiting for him near the stairs.

"Hello again, Commander! I've got a proposition for you." She greeted. "Since you helped me get information on the crime syndicate, I've gotten a lot more backing from my publishers. I'm investigating traffic controller conditions now, and I wondered if you could help."

"What do you need me to do?" Austin asked.

"I've heard rumours that the space traffic controllers are overworked to a dangerous degree. I can't get into the control room, but you could. If you planted a bug inside, I could crack the story." Said Emily.

Austin took a tiny little device from one of pouches on his combat belt and showed it to Emily.

"What's that?" she asked.

"This is a special, Helldiver bug. It's the very best I have." Austin answered. "Watch."

He activated his omni tool and the small device slowly folded open and transformed into a small mechanical spider. Emily stood back amazed by what she had just seen.

"Wow." She said.

"Sync your omni tool to it and it'll transmit the information to you." Said Austin as he held the little spider out to Emily. She took it into her right hand and used her omni tool to scan the bug. She then handed it back to Austin. The little mechanical spider then folded back up into its small device form.

"Once I have the bug attached I'll report back to you and let you know." Said Austin as he placed the bug back in his belt.

"Excellent. Just place it on a terminal with a good view of the area. Thank you again for your help. In the long run, this story is going to save lives." Said Emily.

As Austin turned to see an Alliance Admiral. He appeared to be talking to a message, and he looked concerned. Austin decided to see what the matter was.

"Congratulations on becoming the first human Spectre, Commander. I'm certain you'll be up to the challenge." He said.

"I appreciate that, sir." Said Austin as he saluted.

"My name is Admiral Kahoku. It's about time the Alliance got one of our own in with the Spectres. We need people like you to deal with our… problems." Said the Admiral.

"Is something wrong, Admiral?" Austin asked.

"I'm getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes. Nothing new. Maybe you can help me, Shepard. One of my recon teams was investigating some strange activity out in the Traverse. We lost contact yesterday. Now I can't get clearance to check it out – suddenly it's a restricted area. But that doesn't apply to you, Shepard. Helldivers have small operation in the Traverse and Spectres can go anywhere they want. You can find out why my teams dropped out of contact." Said Kahoku.

"I'll find them, Admiral." Said Austin.

"I appreciate that, Commander. I was running out of options. I'm going to stay here and see if I can find anything out through official channels. Won't hold my breath though." Said Kahoku. "I'll upload the info on where my team was last seen to your ship. Maybe you can get some answers."

As Austin exited the elevator, he was once again in the C-sec academy. Remembering what Emily had said to him, he slowly made his way to where the traffic controller was located. As he neared the stairs he could see that there where to many C-sec agents for him to plant the bug himself. He slowly found his way over to a corner and took out the bug without anyone noticing. From behind his back, he activated his omni tool. The small device once again unfolded itself into its robot spider form.

Using the interface inside his helmet he was able to control the spider drone directly. Despite all the various C-sec agents in the rooms and hallways, they failed to notice the tiny metallic spider crawling on the ceiling.

The Standard issue ETX 18 Helldiver Spider drone was one of the first gadgets to be invented for the Helldivers. They were normally used for stealth missions or for the exact same reason he was using this one, planting bugs and cameras. When the spiders had first been designed, they had originally been designed as small flying drones with rotor blades. These however where very hard to operate and needed to have large enough rotor blades for adequate lift, and this made it easier for the enemy to spot them. As the years went by however the Arkanes slowly perfected the designs until finally the flying concept was abandoned all together and replaced with the Spiders that where now used today.

After climbing on the ceiling for several minutes, the spider that Austin had deployed finally made it into the traffic controller. After finding an inconspicuous place that not only provided a good view of the whole room but was also where no one would notice it, Austin issued a command to the spider through his omni tool. Very quietly, the mechanical spider drone attached itself to the indicated position and folded back up into its small device form.

With the bug deployed, Austin decided to head back to the Citadel tower the long way by going through the Wards. To his surprise, he ran into Conrad Verner again.

"There are rumours on the extranet that you've been made the first human Spectre! That's incredible!" he said excitedly.

"Right. Conrad. We talked awhile back." Austin replied. He hated to admit it, but all the attention that he was now getting as a Spectre was starting to get him.

"You remember me? Wow. Hey, I know you're in rush, but… can I get your picture?" Conrad asked.

"I don't have problem with it, but… why?" Austin asked.

"You're a hero, Shepard. Decades from now, humanity is going to remember you. And I'll have a picture." Conrad replied.

"Okay. How do you want me?" Austin asked as he struck a pose.

"Just hold up your gun. Actually, can you hold your sword in the other hand?" said Conrad.

Austin did as Conrad instructed and held up his SMG. He then unsheathed his sword and held it up as well. He was thankful that he didn't have any of his team with him and that the Wards weren't too busy today. He felt a complete fool doing this.

"Perfect!" said Conrad. There was a brief flash as Conrad took the picture. Austin then returned to normal and sheathed his sword and gun.

"Thanks again, Commander! I'm going to hang this in my living room! My wife will love it!" said Conrad as he left.

"I hope, that's last time." Austin thought.

Finally, Austin made it back to the Citadel tower. Emily was waiting for him.

"I'm already getting readings. This is going to make a great story! Thank you so much for your help! Here, this is everything I've got from my publisher's budget." She said as she handed Austin a sum of credits.

"It was no problem, Emily. Good luck with your story. It deserves to be heard." Said Austin as he shook hands with her.

"I appreciate your support. I hope this will save some lives in the long run. Thank you again for your help. I'm going to go show this to my publisher! Oh, and if you ever fancy an interview, you know who to call." She said as she walked off.

"Message coming in. Patching it through." Came Joker's voice.

Austin had now returned to the Normandy and had ordered Joker to plot a course for the coordinates that Kahoku had given him.

"Commander, we've just found out about what happened between you and Miss Al-Jilani. I don't blame you for refusing an interview, but the brass is a bit disappointed that you declined. They were hoping to know the opinions of humanities first human Spectre." Came Admiral Hackett's voice.

"With all due respect, Admiral. I'm a soldier. Not a public speaker. I would've just messed it up, or worse, lost my temper with her." Said Austin.

"Don't worry, Commander. I'm not blaming you, I agree with your choice. She shouldn't have ambushed you like that. Just wanted to let you know what the response was back home." Said Hackett. "I won't keep you any longer. Fifth fleet out."

With the message ended, Austin plotted a course for the coordinates that Kahoku had given him. With the trip due to take a few hours he decided to kill the time by talking with some of his crew.

"Shepard! I'm glad you're here!" said Tali excitedly.

"Good to see you smiling again. So to speak." Said Austin.

"I'm sleeping much better now. I guess I'm getting used to how quiet your ship is. I still think a lot about my pilgrimage though. With all the worlds we go to, I'm hoping that I'll find something that I can bring back to the Flotilla." Said Tali.

"I'm sure you'll find something. We're still far from of this story." Said Austin.

"I know. I wonder sometimes, Shepard. Have there been any Quarians in the Helldivers that never completed their Pilgrimages? I've heard a lot of rumours that Quarians that never returned from them always joined them." Tali asked.

"Hard for me to say, Tali. I asked, Leena the very same question once. She never answered. Eventually though, I found out why. She had a lover before she went on her pilgrimage. During their pilgrimages they both stayed in contact. Eventually though, her lover said something that really hurt her. He said that life on the Flotilla was boring and useless compared to the Flotilla. He joined the Helldivers and never returned from pilgrimage. Despite this however, she refused to let him go. After she completed her Pilgrimage she then left and joined the Helldivers too. By the time she tracked him down though, he… he was killed in action."

"So, there are some?" Tali questioned.

"Well… some I suppose. But not all. There have even been some that I know who said that they joined the Helldivers for the Migrant Fleet. So not all. You're people don't join our ranks to abandon their people."

"Thank you for telling me this, Shepard. I'd heard Leena had special reasons for joining the Helldivers. But I had no idea her story was like that." Said Tali.

"Anytime, Tali." Said Austin.

"I should get back to work on the engines. But thanks for coming by. It's nice to feel welcome here." Said Tali.

The coordinates provided by Admiral Kahoku ultimately led to the planet Edolus in the Sparta system of the Artemis Tau cluster. The weather conditions where windy but where still calm enough for the drop ship to be used. Besides, the Mako was still being repaired from the damage it sustained from the Terror Geth.

Austin ultimately decided to take Garrus and Wrex for this mission. Despite the very bumpy ride, it wasn't too bad.

"This is as close as I can get you, gentlemen. The wind's too strong for me to get any closer. You'll have to go on foot." Came the pilot's voice.

"Okay, set her down." Said Austin.

As the drop ship touched down, the doors opened. Austin now slightly regretted that they didn't have the Mako. With wind this strong it would take them a while to get to the site on foot. Upon feeling how strong the wind was, Garrus and Wrex fastened their own helmet's on. Even for them, wind like this was way too strong.

After what felt like several hours of wondering aimlessly in the storm they reached what looked like a massive drop.

"That can't be right." Said Austin as he looked again at the holo map on his omni tool.

"Perhaps the storm's messing with the instruments slightly." Garrus suggested.

Austin considered that and ran a diagnostic on his suit. Nothing was picked up.

"No. Everything's working fine. The marines are down there somewhere." He said.

"Then I guess we're going down there?" Wrex asked.

"Yep." Austin confirmed.

"How though? You'd probably survive that but I'm not so sure about the rest of us." Said Garrus.

Austin detached two small circular objects from the back of his belt and handed one to both of them.

"What are these?" Garrus asked.

"Grappling devices. Helldivers use them for climbing up and down surfaces." Austin answered.

"Is there anything that suit of yours doesn't have?" Wrex asked.

"Well, it doesn't fly." Austin answered.

"Seriously? All that advanced technology, and the Arkanes can't enable flight?" Garrus asked.

"They can make flight boosters that are small enough, but they never provide of power. Of course larger ones would suffice but then that adds too much weight and slows us down. Plus if you're carrying a massive rocket booster on back, the enemy spots you instantly." Said Austin as he attached the grappling device to his rifle. He then aimed at the edge of the cliff and fired. A small claw shot out of the device and embedded itself in the rock. Austin pulled tightly on it a couple of times to make sure it would stay there. He then removed the grappling device from his gun and fastened it back onto his belt.

Having seen how to use the grapples from Austin, Garrus and Wrex got the message and did the same. Wrex managed to get his claw embedded first try as well. For Garrus however it took three attempts for the claw to stay embedded.

The climb down wasn't easy. They had to take it slow and couldn't jump either because of the wind. The risk of being blown to the side and being entangled with another's cable was too great. As they neared the bottom however, the wind seemed to die down. Once they touched down Garrus seemed to struggle to figure out how he detached the cable.

"No don't….." Austin tried to say. But before he could finish, Garrus detached the device from his belt. It zoomed right back up to the top, similar to how a tape measure retracted. Austin face palmed.

"Garrus! You were supposed to push the red button on the side!" he said annoyingly. He then demonstrated by pressing the red button on the device. The claw detached itself from the cliff face and retracted back into the device. Wrex did the same.

"Sorry, Shepard. I…." Garrus attempted to say. But Austin stopped him.

"Don't worry, Garrus." He said reassuringly. "I'm not angry at you. You just need to exercise some more patience."

"Thanks, Shepard." Garrus replied. He then looked back up at the cliff face. "But how am I gonna get back up?"

"One of us will just have to give you a piggy back ride." Austin answered.

"Don't even think about it, Vakarian!" said Wrex.

Both Austin and Garrus chuckled slightly.

With the storm being much thinner down in the large crater, the team found it much easier to see, and pretty soon they could see in the distance what looked like a camp of some kind. As they got closer however, they could see it wasn't a camp. There were several dead bodies and what looked like a damaged signal beacon that hadn't been activated yet.

"Spread out. Check for any survivors. I'm gonna look at that beacon." Austin ordered.

Garrus and Wrex separated from Austin and began to check the bodies. Austin meanwhile went up to the beacon and accessed it with his omni tool. He found a message in it.

"My name, is Jack Scarter. If you are hearing this message, then you must heed my warning. This place… (cough) this place is a trap." It said. The message looked in poor shape. It was corrupted at certain parts and as a result certain bits of the message where nothing but static. "If you can hear this, get off this planet now. It belongs to (static) it will….."

The message cut out right after that. Austin began to worry.

"Find anything?" he asked.

"Nothing. They're all dead." Said Garrus.

"Come and have a look at this." Austin indicated to the two. He played the message again to both of them.

"Why do I get the feeling we're not alone here?" Wrex asked.

"I'll see if I clear this message up a bit." Said Austin as he started typing away at his omni tool. After about a minute, he replayed the signal "If you can hear this, get off this planet now. It belongs to (cough) it belongs… to a Thresher Maw!"

Austin and his companions froze with shock. Now it all made sense. They had stumbled into the nest of a Thresher Maw. Austin immediately activated his wrist communicator.

"Hellhound, do you copy?" he said.

The signal was crackly, but he could still pick it up.

"We need immediate evac." He said.

"Copy that, Commander. The storm's died down a bit now. I may be able to close enough." Came the pilot's voice.

"Roger that. We'll see if we can get out of here before the Thresher Maw finds out we're here." Said Austin. He deactivated his comm link and then turned to his comrades.

"Don't make any sudden movements. I've dealt with a Thresher Maw before. They sense their prey from the vibrations on the ground. If we move slowly and gently, it won't detect us." He said.

For a long time they continued to move slowly back towards the cliff face. Just as they were near the end however, Wrex failed to notice to small crack in the ground. His foot got caught in it and he was unable to stop himself tumbling to the ground with a loud bang.

Almost immediately, the whole ground began to shake and rumble. Then, out of the ground, burst a real, living, breathing, Thresher Maw. Immediately, it spotted its prey. It reared up its head, took a long intake and then spat a huge dollop of Acid right at them.

Everyone immediately reacted and dove for cover behind several large, nearby rocks. The Acid barely missed them. From behind cover, Wrex and Garrus fired at the Maw. Austin meanwhile tried to charge up his nuke launcher. He didn't need to worry about the Maw moving. Thresher Maws weren't that bright. They mostly just stayed in the same place when they burst out of the ground.

After a short wait his nuke launcher was fully charged. He aimed it at the Thresher Maw and fired. The shot swiftly went right at the Maw. To his surprise it then swallowed the Nuke. For moment it looked as though the nuke had no effect. But that was right before the nuke erupted. The Thresher Maw's face exploded and the headless, writhing body slowly sunk back into the ground.

"Nice shot, Shepard." Said Wrex.

"That's two Thresher Maw's I've killed now." Said Austin.

"Admiral Kahoku will need to know about this." Said Garrus.

"Agreed. Let's get off this rock." Said Austin. He reactivated his wrist comm. "Hellhound, what's your E.T.A?"

"I can see you now, Commander. Setting down now." Came the Pilot's voice.

In the distance the drop ship slowly descended from the sky. It was a welcome sight.

"A Thresher Maw? You're serious?" Ashley asked in disbelief.

Austin, Garrus and Wrex disembarked from the drop ship. They were all a bit shook up.

"Yeah. Wiped out Kahoku's team and then it… Agh!" Austin suddenly winced in pain. He looked down at his side. Some of the Thresher Maw's acid had burnt his armour and one of the Thresher Maw's talons had somehow flown in from the explosion.

"Oh God! He's hurt! Get him to Dr. Chakwas!" Kaiden ordered.

The two marines helped the struggling Helldiver into the med bay. Both Dr. Chakwas and Liara were waiting.

"What happened?!" asked Liara.

"Some of the acid must've…. Ouch! Kaiden, will you please be careful how you hold me!" Austin shouted in pain.

"Shepard! You need to get out of that armour!" Chakwas said urgently.

"Retract." Austin winced.

His armour instantly opened up and he stepped out. Kaiden and Ashley helped onto the med table. Liara then helped him to remove the upper part of his suit mesh.

"I need you two out." Chakwas said to Kaiden and Ashley.

The two marines obeyed and went out of the med bay. Liara though stayed.

"It's gonna be okay, Austin." Said Liara reassuringly.

"I know, Liara. Don't worry, I'm fine. It just stings like hell." Austin winced, still trying to smile. "At least now I know why my shields weren't responding. What I don't get is why my shields went off… Ow! Karin please warn me next time you do that!"

Dr. Chakwas pressed a clean, wet flannel to Austin's side which had been burned rather badly by the acid. Fortunately his shields and armour had taken the worst bits of the acid.

"How come you're suit didn't detect a breach?" Chakwas asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps the acid fried a circuit. Whatever it was, I'll fix it later." Austin replied, still in a bit of pain.

"Liara, keep that pressed to his side. I need to get a syringe." Chakwas told Liara.

Liara did as she was told and used her free hand to hold the flannel to Austin's side. Liara was starting to notice all the other scars that his body had. One or two gunshot wounds, several scars and bruises and even a few other acid burns. Eventually though she became more distracted by his muscular chest. Austin noticed her eyeing him.

"See something you like?" he teased.

Liara blushed.

"Hadn't noticed how handsomely fit you where, last time I saw you without your shirt." She said.

"Good to see I'm still in top shape." He smiled at her. He then kissed her on the cheek.

"If you two are quite done flirting." Said Chakwas. She had a small syringe in her hand. "And don't try to deny it. I've kind of known for a while about you two."

"Just don't go spreading it around, Karin." Said Austin.

"This may sting a bit." Said Chakwas as she inserted the needle into part of Austin's acid wound. He winced slightly but not very much.

"There. That should at least help the skin grow back a bit faster over some of the exposed flesh. You are going to have another scar though." She said.

"Well, better there rather than on my face again. I'm deformed enough as it is." Austin joked slightly. Both Liara and Dr. Chakwas chuckled slightly.

"Get plenty of rest Shepard." Said Chakwas.

Austin nodded. He then turned to Liara.

"Can you help me to my quarters? I'm not doing well on my feet." Austin asked.

Liara nodded and helped Austin out of the med bay and into the Captain's quarters. She then helped him into his bead.

"Thanks, Love." He said.

Liara smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him. As she did he suddenly pulled her onto the bed with him. For a long while the two merely lay there, locked in a passionate kiss. After they eventually broke apart for air, Austin spoke.

"You know. I'd sleep much better with you beside me. Will you… stay the night with me? Obviously with this injury I won't be able to give you sort of night I had in mind. But…" he asked. But Liara stopped him.

"Yes. I will."

An hour later Liara had changed into her night clothes, which to Austin surprise and utter delight was a simple black bra and panties which not only did very little to hide her large breasts, but also contrasted excellently with Liara's tone of blue. He couldn't help but whistle at her.

"Sexaaaaayyy!" he said. Liara smiled back at him and climbed into bed. She rested up against Austin rested her head on his chest.

"Sleep well, my love." She said.

"You too, Liara." Said Austin.

With that, they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this sir. But I'm afraid you're unit's all dead. They were killed by a Thresher Maw." Said Austin.

Austin had now returned to the Citadel to give Admiral Kahoku the news of his team's death. He had now repaired his armour from the Thresher Maw's acid. It turned out that the acid caused several of the electrics to short circuit and thus it hadn't detected the damage. Austin had sent a message to the Arkanes about this small incident. He had recommended that it be taken into account for Helldiver armour updates.

Austin was still having to wear the bandage. But the injuries had already begun to heal. With any luck he'd be back to normal in no time.

"A Thresher Maw? That's not… My men wouldn't just stumble into a Thresher nest. Not the entire unit!" said Kahoku.

"I managed to extract more information from that beacon. It had lured them there in first place with an Alliance distress signal. It was perfectly placed so that they'd land right beside the nest." Said Austin.

"Damn it! I had a bad feeling about this ever since my team disappeared. An Alliance beacon used as bait, my unit wiped out, and nobody seems to know anything about it. Commander, I appreciate what you did. Now I need to do my part. The family of those marines deserve to know why they died." Said Kahoku.

"I wish you luck, Admiral." Said Austin.

"I'll let you know if I find anything interesting." Said Kahoku as he walked off.

"Commander, I've got urgent priority one message for you." Came Joker's voice.

"Is it the ambassador? Because if it is, he better have a good reason." Said Austin.

"Actually, it's not. You're gonna love this. It's from the Arkane Council." Joker replied.

Austin instantly lit up at the mention of the Arkanes.

"Patch them through in the comm room." Austin ordered.

He immediately moved into the comm room. Right in front of him stood the holograms of the Arkane Council. It was nice to see them again.

"Commander, Shepard. Good to finally hear from you at last." Said the lead councillor.

"You also, Councillors." Said Austin.

"First of all congratulations on becoming the first human Spectre, Commander. Though we are still not happy at the Alliance for not telling us." Said one of the councillors.

"But that is not the reason why we have contacted you. We have an urgent matter that only you can deal with." Said another.

"What do you need, councillors?" Austin asked.

"We recently caught word that a Batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, setting it on a collision course with the nearby colony world of Terra Nova. We need you to stop them." The lead councillor replied.

"Why just me? I'm only one Helldiver. Shouldn't you send a squad?" Austin asked.

"We have. But the nearest forces that we can spare right now are currently half way across the galaxy. By the time they arrive it'll be too late. You on the other hand, are closer. You can get there first and stop the Batarians." One of the council answered.

"I'll plot a course immediately." Said Austin.

"Good luck, Commander. Terra Nova is a colony we can't afford to lose." Said the lead councillor.

The holograms disappeared and Austin went back into the CIC.

"Joker. Get us to Terra Nova, A.S.A.P!" he ordered. "Time for me to go back to work."

Easter holidays will end soon. So fair warning that chapters may not be appear as quickly as they used too.

Anyway, i'm looking forward to making the changes to Bring Down the Sky. Expect lots of different dialogue.

See you next time.