Jason Hough - Mass Effect - Nexus Uprising

“Step away, hands where I can see them,” Sloane said.

They dropped the bag. Tens of thousands of tiny pale objects skittered and bounced across the floor.

Seeds, Sloane realized.

Neither of the men surrendered. As their loot showered the floor, both turned and ran for the door opposite the one through which Sloane had entered. She stepped forward and let off a few rounds in their direction, aiming low in the hopes of hitting a thigh or knee, and ending their escape. But her foot landed on the carpet of small hard shells and she slipped. Not much, but enough.

Her aim went high and her first shot slapped into the back of the nearest of the two. The man went down, limp before he hit the ground. His companion rounded the next corner and vanished into the store beyond.

Sloane ignored the spilled seeds, aware of their value to the Nexus’s survival but unable to do anything about it now. She paid them only enough attention to keep from losing her footing again. In seconds she crossed the room and stepped over the dead body.

More bloodshed. Sloane feared this was only the beginning.

The hallway split. She could go forward, or up a flight of narrow stairs, probably to some kind of office. Surprise no longer on her side, she flicked on her tactical light and studied the floor. There, on the steps, were the remnants of crushed seeds. She went up, two steps at a time, using only her toes to minimize sound.

When she was two steps from the top the space before her erupted in light and deafening sound. A flash round. She staggered back, blinded, deaf. Almost fell, somehow managed to keep her feet. She could see nothing, hear nothing, but the narrow space made the direction obvious.

Sloane fired blind toward the room at the top of the stairs, full auto now, her weapon set to alternate between armor-piercing and incendiary rounds. Her ears withered under the continued assault of noise, but her vision returned. Not much, but enough. She kept climbing, firing all the way, offering no gap through which the enemy could regain their footing and return fire.

At the top of the stairs she pushed on into the office, still shooting. Tables and chairs erupted into chunks of metal and splintered faux wood. A window at the far end, overlooking the promenade where her team had first come under fire, was suddenly riddled with a line of bullet holes, every other one ringed with black charring.

The window farthest to her right, though, was open, and Sloane just barely caught a glimpse of her prey’s leg as he climbed out onto the signage and disappeared behind the wall.

She leaned into a full sprint, ready to pursue, but some instinct told her no, danger . She pulled up. Too late. A blow to her shins sent her sprawling. Her gun clattered away to vanish under one of the ruined tables. She twisted, ignoring the searing pain across her legs as she leapt back to her feet.

A fist. Sloane ducked, the blow grazing the top her head. She threw a punch of her own. Solid contact with the man’s stomach. He grunted, doubled over in time to become acquainted with her knee to his jaw.

Her vision began to return in time to watch blood fountain from his mouth. He backpedaled. Sloane went after him, then paused when she saw his hand. He’d been fumbling for a pistol, had it now. She turned and dove toward the table that had claimed her own weapon. Rolling over it, she landed hard on her back as his shots slammed into the metal surface.

“It’s over for you,” the man said, only somewhat intelligible with a mouth full of blood. “Calix has a plan, and he’s ten steps ahead of you. Give up now and you can live—”

A terrible shriek cut his words short.

Sloane heard him crumple to the ground, and behind that, the low crackling of dissipating biotic power. She took a tentative glance over the top of the table. Talini stood there, her blue skin almost iridescent in the dim light.

“You okay?” the asari asked.

“Yeah,” Sloane said. “Yeah, though if you’d been a second later… What did you do to him?”

“Reave,” she answered.

“Not fooling around,” Sloane observed.

Talini raised her chin slightly. “I think we’re past that stage now, don’t you?”

Ten minutes later Sloane Kelly reached the door to Operations. It was sealed, a good sign. The one barrier that even Calix couldn’t override. She pinged Tann and Addison on their private channel and announced herself. A few seconds later the door opened from within.

She almost collided with Spender coming through. He must have been waiting right inside.

“So?” he asked in an oddly hushed tone. “Did you catch them?”

“Afraid not,” Sloane replied. It hurt to admit. She almost launched into her story, but Spender gave a quick nod and stepped aside, letting her through as if he no longer cared.

“Well, well,” Tann said, “the spymaster returns.”

“Not now, Tann.”

“You could have told us you were installing hidden cameras. We should have discussed the privacy implications—”

“I said I’d beef up security,” she shot back.

“You neglected to specify!”

“ Look ,” Sloane hissed, “this has to wait for later. We’ve got a mutiny to deal with, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

The judgmental glare did not waver, but he let her in all the same. By unspoken agreement the rest of Sloane’s team remained outside. Talini gave Sloane a terse nod as the door sealed. A tiny incline of her head that somehow managed to say, We may not be in there with you, but we’re all with you.

Emboldened, she turned back toward Tann. The slithery Spender loomed in the background, as if uninterested now.

“They hit the armory,” she said, blunt and to the point. It seemed best. “At this point they might be better armed than we are.”

“How could this have possibly happened?” Tann demanded. “The one room in this station that should have been impenetrable, and from what Spender tells me Calix and his criminal gang just waltzed right in.”

“He had the overrides for the doors. It was in the data that asari stole. I don’t know why I didn’t think—”

“I thought the criminal you jailed had not passed that information on?”

“So Calix claimed.”

“And you neglected to change these codes?” Tann asked, already pacing. “Despite the circumstances?”

“I…” she paused, allowed herself a steadying breath. “I think this is going to be a short fucking meeting if you try to pin the whole thing on me.”

Tann paced, his steps so fierce Sloane thought it only a matter of minutes before he’d wear a visible path into the floor.

“Reports of looting are coming in from all over,” he said. “Fighting in the common areas. Hydroponics is ruined, and may never recover.” She let him rant, barely listening, her eyes cast upward to the ceiling.

“We need to get the doors closed,” Spender said. “This station is wide open right now, enabling all this behavior.”

“Agreed,” Tann said. “In fact I don’t understand why it hasn’t been done yet.” He aimed this at Sloane.

“Because Calix made sure it wouldn’t happen, not without a full reset of the configuration.”

“So do a full reset,” Tann said. “What are you waiting for?”

“A full reset takes time, and while it’s in progress a lot more than just open doors would be rendered insecure.”

“Shut them manually then.”

“A team would have to be sent to each door, and then it would need to be protected until the reset could be performed.”