Mass Effect 1.5: On the Edge (OOC)

Titus led his team deeper into the menacing hive-like cruiser. The architecture, if the random assembly of metal and crust could be called such, was unsettling to the commander's mind. The expansive passages were absent of color and design. No culture, no art. Everywhere they looked, there were only dark shades of browns and grays. Yellow lights offered the only luminescence, yet they were dim and ominous. Even though the Collectors possessed advanced technology, John noticed a distinct absence of terminals and equipment. And those that they eventually passed by were placed in such random locations that their purpose was beyond him.

Finally, the security response that EDI had warned about showed up about fifty meters ahead of them. Six Collectors had formed in a line to halt their advance into a large chamber behind them. They seemed adamant to stop Titus and his companions from getting into that room.

John flashed a quick hand sign for his team to dive into cover; and they did so, using the rise of the large platform leading into the chamber ahead. The lower position allowed them to remain protected from the hail storm of the Collector fire.

"Wait till they need to exchange thermal clips!" Titus commanded over the sound of pelleting rounds above their position. Once they all recognized the distinct sounds of ejecting clips, the team raised their weapons over and took advantage of the lull in the fire fight. The response of the five of them eliminated the Collector drones in merely seconds, as the hideous bugs had taken no cover to protect themselves.

"Clear!" Taylor called out upon surveying the bodies.

"Status report," John said.

"Taylor. Green."

"Saint. Green."

"Buchan. Green."

"Villayn. Green."

The group vaulted onto the platform, which was now observed to be a hexagon, and headed into the large chamber with their weapons still drawn. Each of them continued to survey their sectors of fire until they approached the edge of the platform. Looking around, Titus saw that three incredibly vast channels met at a T-intersection, where they were standing now. Another channel ran upward into the ceiling (which was a mass of thick tubes).

"EDI said that Horn was on the deck above us;" John said, "which must be up there. I bet these platforms act as transport pads and are used by the Collectors to traverse to the different major areas of the ship."

He looked over to the single podium-like object protruding from the center of the hexagon. A small green haptic interface was projecting off the top. Titus approached it and tried to decipher the alien language and symbols that made up the controls.

"Saint," he said suddenly, "can you work your magic?"

The woman walked over with an eager skip in her step and knelt down to examine the controls. She pulled up her specialized Omni-tool and began to peck away at a series of commands. "I'll need a minute," she soon said. "It'd be easy to decrypt and bypass if it weren't for the fact that I don't speak Collector."

"Titus!" Villayn called out, causing the commander to glance up and back the way they came. A small horde of husks were running their way, crying out in their twisted moans and screeching. The turian switched from his Avenger rifle the M-29 Incisor sniper rifle on his back. The targets were still a good distance away, allowing him to line up more power and accurate shots to deter the mutated avatars.

"You've got half a minute," Titus said to Saint as he brought the Excalibur pistols together into their rifle configuration. He swiftly joined alongside Villayn and started to wreak havoc on the still approaching husks. Serena and Vala joined in when the mindless drones came too close for Titus and the turian to continue sniping.

Several seconds later, when the husks were merely feet away from reaching the edge of the platform, the defending fire team felt a heavy jut and the hexagon slowly separated from the bulk of the deck. The husks that were too close to where the platform had been moments before, fell forward and down to the bottom of the channel several hundred meters below.

"I got it!" Tia called out in a triumphant voice.

The platform slowly rose up high, gaining speed as it aimed toward the upward leading channel into the higher decks of the cruiser. Just when everyone thought they were in the clear, however, a Collector met them in mid air, using a set of four buzzing wings attached to its backside. The creature attempted to land on the hovering platform, but Vala skillfully shot it down with her M-96 Mattock, not even giving the Collector time to react to the hell fire of the robust weapon system.

"We've got company!" she exclaimed, pointing her weapon toward a small squad of more flying Collectors.

"We need to keep these insects off of us until we can reach the breach the channel above us," Villayn said. The breach he was referring to was a matching hexagonal portal that the platform was destined to rise up into and stop at. Once they docked, they would be clear of their pursuers.

The assault team continued to lay down the fire, transitioning from ranged to close-quarters weapons whenever the Collectors came too close for comfort. Finally the platform was only feet away from fully rising into the portal, but one lone Collector managed to climb aboard right before the hexagon sealed into the dock of the upper deck. Vala was the closest and threw herself into the creature before it could recover to its legs. She unsheathed her blade and dug the cold steel into the top of its cranium. The four yellow eyes faded into black oblivion and yellow ooze flowed from the wound.

The infiltrator removed the blade and wiped it clean of the foreign inards. "That was fun. What next?"

"Horn," Titus stated looking straight ahead of the group and towards a large chamber with a central column of several interfaces and Collector terminals. A lone man wearing the distinctive armor of the Titan's Demons was leaning against one of the four terminals surrounding the center column. The ID tag on Titus' HUD registered the human male as Jason Horn, Cerberus Omni Commander. The HUD showed that his vitals were fading and officially deemed him as incapacitated; but John knew it would take more than a few over-sized roaches to beat down a Cerberus commander.

John rushed to the man’s side. Tia used her Omni-tool to scan for any punctures in his hard suit and double-check his vitals. “Multiple breaches in his atmospheric liner. Several bone fractures. Tissue damage up and down his entire body. Internal bleeding. With the exception of a missing limb, he’s probably in worst shape than I’ve been in, sir.”

“Horn?” John asked aloud, trying to bring the man to his senses. “Jason. Can you hear me? Stay with me, Commander. We’re getting you out of here.”

“I don’t see any of the other Demons he was supposed to have been here with, Commander,” Vala said to Titus. “What the hell happened to them?”

John and Taylor bent down on either side of Horn and, together, braced his arms around their shoulders. Carefully, but with haste, they brought him to his feet. However, Horn was so out of it that he was practically dead weight and the two of them nearly stumbled trying to stabilize him. “We’ll need to drag his ass out of here,” Serena commented.

As soon as the group began to move, with Villayn and Tia taking point, and Vala providing rear security, Jason’s head started to roll and he began to mumble barely audible words. John leaned in to listen. “But I have explody thing...hooked up to...the thing...that's not supposed to be explody...”

John looked at Serena with a quizzical, and also comical, expression beneath his visor. “...What's he trying to say?”

“I think ’boom’, sir.”



Together, the six of them rushed as fast as they could, only stopping once so Villayn could switch places with Serena when Horn’s armored weight became too much for her. Their destination was a beacon marker on their HUDs, graciously provided by EDI.

“I’ve taken the liberty of designating a nearby blast hole in the cruiser’s hull that you can use for evac, Titus,” the AI informed. “There is still too much debris for the Vindicator to move in close, not to mention the threat of now two bombs going off. The Kodiaks have finished their evacuations, but it will still be some time before one can provide a safe exfil.”

“Won’t need it to, EDI,” John said. “We’re going out the way we came in.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Vala said abruptly, bringing an ever slight grin to Titus’ lips. “With all this space jumping, you’re starting into Horn.”

Once again, Jason let out muttered sounds from his incapacitated state. Only one word was audible to them at all this time, drug out by the delirium: “Spaaaaaacccce”

The team approached the atmospherically sealed door EDI had designated, where just beyond, lay the blast hole she had said would provide their way out. “Serena,” Titus said, “get that medical kit from the Kodiak ready. Horn’s going to need a shot of medigel and as many patches as he has hard suit breaches.” His 2IC immediately got to work on preparing the necessary first-aid supplies, with both Tia and Vala assisting to apply the patches to his hard suit. Villayn and Titus established a rough 360 in case any more Collectors or husks arrived to prevent their escape.

“Ready, sir,” Taylor said after a minute.

“EDI, now!”

The AI unleashed the hack she had prepared and the door immediately shot open. The ladies kept a firm grasp on Horn’s limp body as the vacuum of space sucked all six of them into the vast abyss outside the crater in the ship’s hull. Villayn and Titus, although greatly unstable after being propelled at high speed through space, kept watch on the Collector cruiser, still expecting company to follow. When the coast was clear, all of them glanced down below at the top of SIC Titan. The massive Cerberus cruiser was dark and dead, completely disabled and helpless. Titus wondered if its commander, in the state he was in now, could recognize his ship below as they passed over head, and even be able to comprehend what was about to happen to it.

During their gradual traverse over the Titan, John remembered telling Lt. Nicola to keep him updated every five minutes. But he had gave that order well over fifteen minutes ago and still had not received a single transmission. EDI said that the Kodiak evacuations had finished, but what did that really mean? Were they able to save everyone? Did the Collectors breach at the last minute? Was Nicola dead? Titus began to wonder if he had made the right decision to go after Commander Horn and leave his crew behind to rely on the Kodiaks. He started to contemplate whether or not it would have better if he had simply stayed on the Titan to provide them with the security they needed, or even if going after the bomb in the eezo core would have actually been successful.

Before John could finish any other thoughts swirling through his head, the first explosion went off. To their fortune, it wasn’t the bomb at the Titan’s core, which would have obliterated them at this short range. It was the sabotage that Horn himself had set up at the Collector’s battery controls. Whatever he had done had worked. A massive fireball erupted from the hole they had escaped from, adding to their propulsion and sending the group forward at an even faster rate. The Vindicator, which had once seemed impossibly far off, grew comfortingly closer. Even more pleasing to the Commander’s eye was a fast approaching Kodiak, heading to intercept the group.

As the tiny vessel came into view, Titus saw the hatch was fully raised, ready to catch them. Two figures, wearing hard suits to survive the vacuum of space, stood in the passenger chamber. The first he recognized to be Keown, and the second, much smaller than him, had to be Braden. Although it was greatly unexpected, he knew why the teenager was there. Vala and Serena may have biotic potential of their own, but it would require someone with gifted talent to be able to slow them down enough for them to safely land in the Kodiak without being rocketed into the wall on the other side.

As soon as he had finished the thought, an electrifying blue hue enveloped the young man’s body and he saw a field of biotic energy form ahead of them. The group gently collided into the produced net of dark energy, bracing their speed and slowing them down to a gentle glide into the Kodiak’s hull. The group landed gracefully, and the pilot punched in the command to seal the hatch and redirect the Kodiak back to the Vindicator.





As soon as the Kodiak passed through the mass effect barrier of the Vindicator’s shuttle bay, Titus opened his comm to the helm. “Darcy! The Titan’s going to blow any second! I want us outta here ASAP!”

“Sure. I can play the whole ‘escape from big boom game’ again,” his helmsman replied with eager confirmation.

Stalking ever deeper into the ship, it was difficult to keep reign on one’s paranoia. The jutting edges and layered walls seemed custom built for opportune ambushes, and Vala followed uneasily at the rear of the group, eyes scanning for any sign of hostiles. HUD or no, she didn’t want to get caught off guard, and the bugs had proven themselves to be rather resourceful. The silence unnerved her the most, though. No echoing alarms, pounding footsteps or even distance hum of life support. The ship for all intents and purposes seemed very…dead. A husk of a vessel, manned by the unrelenting butchers of thousands, no millions of innocents.

It sounded like something out of a bad horror film. Vala made a note not to wander off, and quickened her pace to catch up with the others. The feint droning of wings echoed behind the operative for a moment, and she snapped around, Mattock ready as she swept the massive corridor for any sign of the bugs, only to be met once again by the deafening silence. Something wasn’t right here…

“Buchan.” The 2IC’s voice called to her, and Vala spared the briefest glance back. “We can’t jump at every sound. C’mon.” Serena tugged on her shoulder and started forward again. Vala looked to the rear again, taking a step backwards before a flicker of movement on one of the strange lattices caught her eye.

“Contacts!” The squad turned quickly, as a yellow beam erupted from the vantage point, zeroing in on the still turning Serena. Vala threw herself forward, tackling the 2IC to the ground, the beam missing the two women by mere inches and burning harmlessly into the crusted floor. A trio of drones hovered up from the ledge, peppering the unprotected group as they descended.

Titus and Villayn focused their fire, cutting two of the drones down in mid-flight, while the last met a brutal end at the barrel of Tia’s shotgun moments after touch down. Righting herself quickly, Vala took quick aim for the hidden heavy weapon, zeroing in on the ledge that the drone used for it’s deadly ambush. The creature rose again, firing the particle beam as Vala feathered the trigger rapidly. The drone crumpled under the fire, but the beam clipped Vala’s shields and they dipped low dangerously.

The area temporarily cleared, the squad took a quick moment to gather themselves. Serena offered a hand to Vala, and the operative glanced up at her. “Thanks for the save.” The gratitude wasn’t forced, and Vala let the 2IC pull her up.

“Don’t mention it.” They pressed on, weary for more ambushes from the collectors, but hurrying to reach Horn and his team in time. Entering a massive chamber, they wearily checked their corners, although it was difficult to miss the countless collector and husk bodies strewn about the area. It was difficult to tell what exactly had killed each individual bug, although for the most part, it seemed to be a combination of bullets, being crushed or thrown into things, and lit on fire.

“I’m not familiar with human legends, but I assume they’re living up to the concept of demons?” Villayn’s question earned a few chuckles, but as they moved towards the lone exit, any humour they had vanished.

“Shit.”

A lone body, clearly human, lay amidst the carnage, a small spot cleared for the fallen. A sniper rifle jutted out of the ground just by the head, a makeshift marking all too familiar. Kneeling next to the body, Vala sighed quietly. “Confirmed KIA. If I’m remembering right, it’s Linda Goran.” Her hands were placed neatly over her heart, a basic rite her comrades had seen to. Two punctures to her suit spoke of the soldier’s fate, and a quick check of the neck revealed the small slit slashed into the weave. “Her tags are gone. As good a sign we’re gonna get.”

Titus took his team deeper into the menacing hive-like cruiser. The architecture, if the random assembly of metal and crust could be called such, was unsettling to the commander's mind. The expansive passages were absent of color and design. No culture, no art. Everywhere they looked, there were only dark shades of browns and grays. Yellow lights offered the only luminescence, yet they were dim and ominous. Even though the Collectors possessed advanced technology, John noticed a distinct absence of terminals and equipment. And those that they eventually passed by were placed in such random locations that their purpose was beyond him.

Another security response, this time less surprising, showed up about fifty meters ahead of them. Six Collectors had formed in a line to halt their advance into a large chamber behind them. They seemed adamant to stop the Ceberus commander and his companions from getting into that room.

Titus flashed a quick hand sign for his team to dive into cover; and they did so, using the rise of the large platform leading into the chamber ahead. The lower position allowed them to remain protected from the hail storm of the Collector fire.

"Wait till they need to exchange thermal clips!" Titus commanded over the sound of pelleting rounds above their position. Once they all recognized the distinct hiss of ejecting clips, the team raised their weapons over and took advantage of the lull in the fire fight. The response of the four of them eliminated the Collector drones in merely seconds, as the hideous bugs had taken no cover to protect themselves.

"Clear!" Taylor called out upon surveying the bodies.

"Status report," John said.

"Taylor. Green."

"Saint. Green."

"Buchan. Green."

"Villayn. Green."

The group vaulted onto the platform, which was now observed to be a hexagon, and headed into the large chamber with their weapons still drawn. Each of them continued to survey their sectors of fire until they approached the edge of the platform. Looking around, Titus saw that three incredibly vast channels met at a T-intersection, where they were standing now. Another channel ran upward into the ceiling (which was a mass of thick tubes).

"EDI said that Horn was on the deck above us; which must be up there. These platforms must act as transport pads and are used by the Collectors to traverse to the different major areas of the ship."

He looked over to the single podium-like object protruding from the center of the hexagon. A small green haptic interface was projecting off the top. Titus approached it and tried to decipher the alien language and symbols that made up the controls.

"Saint," he said suddenly, "can you work your magic?"

The woman walked over with an eager skip in her step and knelt down to examine the controls. She pulled up her specialized Omni-tool and began to peck away at a series of commands. "I'll need a minute," she soon said. "It'd be easy to decrypt and bypass if it weren't for the fact that I don't speak Collector." Despite her words, Tia’s tone indicated a certain child-like glee to be able to test her skills against those of the Collectors. “But I can get it, yeah.”

"Titus!" Villayn called out, causing the commander to glance up and back the way they came. A small horde of husks were running their way, crying out in their twisted moans and screeching. The Turin switched from his Avenger rifle the M-29 Incisor sniper rifle on his back. The targets were still a good distance away, allowing him to line up more power and accurate shots to deter the mutated avatars.

"You've got half a minute," Titus said to Saint as he brought the Excalibur pistols together into their rifle configuration. He swiftly joined alongside Villayn and started to wreak havoc on the still approaching husks. Serena and Vala joined in when the mindless drones came too close for Titus and the turian to continue sniping.

Tia didn’t even look up from what she was doing at the sound of the renewed fire-fight. “Twenty-five seconds. You got it. Just keep 'em busy.” She acknowledged.

Several seconds later, when the husks were merely feet away from reaching the edge of the platform, the four of them felt a heavy jut and the hexagon slowly separated from the bulk of the deck. The husks that were too close to where the platform had been fell forward and down to the bottom of the channel several hundred meters below.

"I got it!" Tia called out.

The platform slowly rose up high, gaining speed as it aimed toward the upward leading channel into the higher decks of the cruiser. Just when everyone thought they were in the clear, however, a Collector met them in mid air, using a set of four buzzing wings attached to its backside. The creature attempted to land on the hovering platform, but Vala skillfully shot it down with her Tempest.

"We've got company!" she exclaimed, pointing her weapon toward a small squad of more flying Collectors.

"We need to keep these insects off of us until we can reach the breach in the channel above us," Villayn said. The breach he was referring to was a matching hexagonal portal that the platform was destined to rise up into and stop at. Once they docked, they would be clear of their pursuers.

The flying Collectors threw themselves at the small group on the platform with complete disregard for their own survival the race was known for. Tia remained on her feet, letting the others pick off most of the bugs at longer ranges while she and her HMW were devastating at closer quarters. Despite her previous issues with Vala, in such tight proximity, there was no hint of their emnity. Villayn's presence, however was something different. Tia found herself checking Villayn's location at every lull out of an ingrained habit.

Once, that inattention nearly proved deadly. One of the collectors crashed off the side of the tube after taking fire and got close enough to swipe at Tia with a claw. It was Villayn that blasted its head into a spray of mustard-yellow mist after pushing her aside. Even so, it's claw penetrated her enhanced shield causing a minor score across her chest. Her Squish skin sealed nearly immediately, but the stinging wound still made her hiss in pain. Looking up, Tia's eyes narrowed to see that it had been Villayn that had come to her aid.

He helped her up quickly and immediately turned his attention back to the rest of the bugs headed their way.

The assault team continued to lay down the fire, transitioning from ranged to close-quarters weapons whenever the Collector's came too close for comfort. Finally the platform was only feet away from fully rising into the portal, but one lone Collector managed to climb aboard right before the hexagon sealed into the dock of the upper deck. Vala was the closest and threw herself into the creature before it could recover to its legs. She unsheathed her blade and dug the cold steel into the top of its cranium. Its four yellow eyes faded into black oblivion and yellow ooze flowed from the wound.

The infiltrator removed the blade and wiped it clean of the foreign inards. "That was fun. What next?"

The hatch split, and before they could even glimpse the situation inside, everything went to hell. Fire pounded on them from all directions, and Vala half sprinted half threw herself across the gap into the meagre cover of a jutting terminal. Her shields flickered rapidly, forcing her tight against the terminal to try and avoid the vicious onslaught. The lulls in fire were brief, but she had to capitalize, popping out to trade shots with a few drones before slipping back into cover. In the brief exchanges, she could see two human shapes firing tirelessly into the unending tide of drones and husks, although one was slumped dangerously against his cover, barely managing to blind fire into the enemy. Really, when the numbers were this thick, it made no difference. He was hitting something regardless.

Her shields vanished, and the operative winced as several rounds sliced across her slightly exposed arm, although the Nyx took the hits well. She glanced towards Titus, and he quickly motioned towards the superior cover by their besieged comrades. “Everyone, move up! Go, go, go!”

A single harmonious burst sounded from the entire fire team, before the five made their mad dash across the dangerously exposed ground. Any shields remaining quickly vanished, torn apart by the seemingly endless barrage. Hopping into the makeshift perimeter, Vala rolled into position beside the standing man, who briefly glanced towards her. “Welcome to the party!” Daniel’s familiar voice made her grin, although she suspected the pure adrenaline racing through her veins helped ease the tension.

“Good to be here!” She rose fluidly, firing a trio of shots into the drones before ducking back down to avoid a blast from a particle beam. “How long has this been going on?!”

“Personally? Way too fucking long!” The Demon hopped up, firing a prolonged burst even as his shields buckled under the assault. “I’m low on thermal clips, though. This won’t be doing me much good.” Vala tapped the man’s shoulder, and offered the Mattock as he turned.

“I’ve got my pistol. Just keep shooting.” The two rose in unison, firing back with everything they had, but still the drones came. “Anyone know where exactly they get all these things from?!” A missile rocketed past, connecting with an unfortunate Collector’s forehead and sending a small group of the bugs flying. The operative glanced back, the battered form of Horn casually tossing his missile launcher aside as he hoisted his rifle again. “You are one tough son of a bitch, you know that?”

“Oh fuck! HULK!” She felt a rough hand grip her collar and throw her to the ground. Scrambling back with her head down, she peer quizzically over the barricade and paled at the massive floating creature hovering towards them. A small army of husks surged forward beneath it, dashing across the open ground over the mounds of their fallen brethren. “Don’t let it get close! That thing will rip us apart!”

Titus stepped up, his voice booming over the comm channels. “Serena! Vala! Both of you, hit it with a warp!” The two biotics spared each other a glance, before a simultaneous blue glow shrouded their bodies, although the Nyx quickly swallowed Vala’s into the black of it’s armour. A moment later, and they both unleashed the strongest warp they could muster, and the massive construct’s barriers flickered under the assault. “Tia! Daniel! Hit it with an Incinerate!” The tech experts wasted no time, firing the super-heated plasma round at the Hulk, watching with some delight as it began to burn away. No more orders came, as Titus and Villayn both unleashed two full clips into the struggling beast.

As the clips ejected, the Hulk crashed lifelessly into the ground, crushing several husks as it did. The tide didn’t hesitate, and there was no time to celebrate as the former humans threatened to over run their defences. “Titus! Grab Horn! We’ve gotta get out of here, now!”

John rushed to the man’s side. Tia used her Omni-tool to scan for any punctures in his hard suit and double-check his vitals. “Multiple breaches in his atmospheric liner. Several bone fractures. Tissue damage up and down his entire body. Internal bleeding. With the exception of a missing limb, he’s probably in worst shape than I’ve been in, sir.”

“Horn?” John asked aloud, trying to bring the man to his senses. “Jason. Can you hear me? Stay with me, Commander. We’re getting you out of here.”

John and Taylor bent down on either side of Horn and braced his arms around their shoulders. Carefully, but with haste, they brought him to his feet. However, Horn was so out of it that he was practically dead weight and the two of them nearly stumbled trying to stabilize him. “We’ll need to drag his ass out of here,” Serena commented.

As soon as the group began to move, with Villayn and Tia taking point, and Vala providing rear security, Jason’s head started to roll and he began to mumble barely audible words. John leaned in to listen. “But I have explody thing...hooked up to...the thing...that's not supposed to be explody...”

John looked at Serena with a quizzical, and also comical, expression beneath his visor. “...what's he trying to say?”

“I think ’boom’, sir.”



Together, the six of them rushed as fast as they could, only stopping once so Villayn could switch places with Serena when Horn’s armored weight became too much for her, to a beacon marker on their HUDs, graciously provided by EDI.

“I’ve taken the liberty of designating a nearby blast hole in the cruiser’s hull that you can use for evac, Titus,” the AI informed. “There is still too much debris for the Vindicator to move in close, not to mention the threat of now two bombs going off. The Kodiaks have finished their evacuations, but it will still be some time before one can provide a safe exfil.”

“Won’t need it to, EDI,” John said. “We’re going out the way we came in.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Vala said abruptly, bringing an ever slight grin to Titus’ lips. “With all this space jumping, you’re starting to turn into Horn.”

Once again, Jason let out muttered sounds from his incapacitated state. Only one word was audible to them all this time, drug out by the delirium. “Spaaaaaacccce”

The team approached the atmospherically sealed door EDI had designated, where just beyond the blast hole she had mentioned would provide their way out. “Serena,” Titus said, “get that medical kit from the Kodiak ready. Horn’s going to need a shot of medigel and as many patches as he has hard suit breaches.” His 2IC immediately got to work on preparing the necessary first-aid supplies, with both Tia and Vala assisting to apply the patches to his hard suit. Villayn and Titus established a rough 360 in case any more Collectors or husks arrived to prevent their escape.

“Ready, sir,” Taylor said.

“EDI, now!”

The AI unleashed her waiting hack and the door immediately shot open. The ladies kept a firm grasp on Horn’s limp body as the vacuum of space sucked all six of them into the vast abyss outside the crater in the ship’s hull. Villayn and Titus, although greatly unstable after being propelled at high speed through space, kept watch on the Collector cruiser, still expecting company to follow. When the coast was clear, all of them glanced down below at the top of SIC Titan. The massive Cerberus cruiser was dark and dead, completely disabled and helpless. Titus wondered if its commander, in the state he was in now, could recognize his ship below and even be able to comprehend what was about to happen to it.

Before John could finish any other thoughts swirling through his head, the first explosion went off. To their fortune, it wasn’t the bomb at the Titan’s core, which would have obliterated them at this short range. It was the sabotage that Horn himself had set up at the Collector’s battery controls. Whatever he had done had worked. A massive fireball erupted from the hole they had escaped from, adding to their propulsion and sending the group forward at an even faster rate. The Vindicator, which had once seemed impossibly far off, grew comfortingly closer. Even more pleasing to the Commander’s eye was the fast approaching Kodiak, heading in to intercept the group.

As the tiny vessel came into view, Titus saw the hatch was fully raised, ready to catch them. Two figures, wearing hard suits to survive the vacuum of space, stood in the passenger chamber. The first he recognized to be Keown, and the second, much smaller than him, had to be Braden. Although it was greatly unexpected, he knew why the teenager was there. Vala and Serena may have biotic potential of their own, but it would require someone with gifted talent to be able to slow them down enough for them to safely land in the Kodiak without being rocketed into the wall on the other side.

Just as he had thought, an electrifying blue hue enveloped the young man’s body and he saw a field of biotic energy form ahead of them. The group gently collided into the produced net of dark energy, bracing their speed and slowing them down to a gentle glide into the Kodiak’s hull. The group landed gracefully, and the pilot punched in the command to seal the hatch and redirect the Kodiak back to the Vindicator.



As soon as the Kodiak passed through the mass effect barrier of the Vindicator’s shuttle bay, Titus opened his comm to the helm. “Darcy! The Titan’s going to blow any second! I want us outta here ASAP!”

“Sure. I can play the whole ‘escape from big boom game’ again,” his helmsman replied with eager confirmation.