Blake Harrows's Story

The Krogan nodded and followed, eager for a good fight if they decided to choose the unwise action of being their enemy. As they moved, Blake Harrows came into play. He joined up with the Commander and the others, still a little sore. Gemli was a bit impressed. "I was under the impression you might be too sore to move for a little longer after that sparring session".

"Luckily for me, I anticipated the pain. That said, we are going to have to work on your definition of sparring later" Blake told him, before catching up so he was walking alongside the Commander. "Ready for work, ma'am. That said, we need to talk, either now or later. I made a breakthrough on the Blackfile".

The Blackfile as he called it was his father's datadrive, encrypted so heavily even someone who knew him in great detail would take time in decrypting it. The thing had layers upon layers of encryption, and it required multiple keys in the right order to get through. His father had shared everything he knew about encryption with Blake, including a number of advanced encryption algorythms that sometimes took him days to explain it all in detail.

And this was the first breakthough Blake had gotten so far. Each part of the file used different encryption algorythms and keys, so one solution would not work again.

CDR Elana looked at Blake, speaking softly and some what quietly to him well maintaining her calm professional opperince, "Look kid, your cute, smart and its important. But lets talk about this after we deal with our new guest." at the Krogan, "And Urdnot, be nice to the kid, or me and you will have to spare."

Over the com to all fighters, "Contacts have stopped just out of system. All fighters stay on full alert incase they enter." To Jacoopi and his squad, "Form up on the inbound neutral ship. Protect it, at less till we can deal with it."

Chief Neeha to Roran, "Lets go take a look at what they have. Who knows what toys they have just laying around." then procceded to board the Salarian ship.

Commander Elana to Blake, "Hey kid lets check out our new friends here first then I will help you with our other project." gave the kid a quick smile, she had grown to like having him around. She unofficially adopted him even if he didn't know it. Turning to Val and Gemli, "You two, come with me. I have a feeling this is going to get interesting." With that she walked onto the other ship.

Dr. Valova nodded to the group and departed towards the med bay.

As Othesat's shuttle leaves, the six Turian Frigates moved to the front of the fleet to form a defensive wall aided by all non-gunship squads. As this happened the Quarian Cruisers fell back behind the dreadnaught and other cruisers. The two Alamo and Geneva Class Frigates moved to cover the rear, while the Berlin Class Cruiser along with the Turian Cruiser move to cover the flanks. With the Turians on the starboard and the Berlin on the port.

As Roran Followed her onto the ship, he looked around "Reminds me of The Neema during the war..." There was much similarities.The walls were falling apart, the crew was in, some what decent condition. "Maybe they need more help then we think..."

"Hey, he is the one that asked" Gemli mentioned. And while it was true that Blake had asked him, Gemli did have another reason. Blake was no expert on psychology, but he was a Krogan and he knew bloodrage. And Blake was raging on the inside. Did Gemli go tough on him? Yes, but other Krogan might go further if they did not reject him. Gemli would make it hard enough for Blake so he did not go looking elsewhere, but would also hold enough back to keep the kid from getting any serious injuries.

The Asari's challange though interested him. "You know that isn't exactly something I wouldn't mind" he mentioned with a smile.

Blake nodded at the Commander's words, and began to work on his Omni Tool. "Alright. Hold on though, let me set up a comm line though. And here..." Blake then deployed a drone. "In case there is hostiles aboard, I can try and hack into any needed systems from here so long as the drone stays alive, so you can focus on other things should it come to that. And please, be safe".

The last part of what he said held a different message though. Please don't make me lose anyone else...

The commander looked at Blake, "Sorry kid but you coming with. And don't worry, I'll have the lieutenant look after you. As for me, I'll be fine. Just an other routine mission. Now come we got work to do." Looking at Gemli and Val, "Lieutenant, I want you glued to the kid, he doesn't make a move without you knowing about it. now everyone on to the ship. The quicker we get this done the better." Without waiting she finishes boarding the trade ship.

Over the coms to Jacoopi's squad, "Listen up. I want all gunships to provide escort for our shuttles. Once the fighting really gets going, I want you to provide close support to what every ship your near. Be careful, gunships aren't the best for this type of fight and we don't have the supplies to replace any. So if it start getting to bad I want you to land and help the crew in what ever way you can. Eagle squad escort shuttle xray-590." (Othesat's shuttle)

As Neeha made her way to the cargo bay, "I hear you. I was on the Shellen during the war. And if they need our help then Im glad to have some one with me. Especally another Quarian, nothing against the others but they just don't understand ships and fleet life like we do." With that she starts looking at the different booths.

"Especialy-" He cut him self off, he didnt want to sound racist in front of someone. "Nevermind...It is nice to have another Quarian with me on the ship. It seems they managed to situate themselves in mechanical positions better then most other creatures during battle. Im sure the only reason the Geth didnt wipe us out when we tried to take back Rannoch, is because there were Quarians like you who actualy understood the diagnostics of an element Zero engine, and knew how to Keep a constant flow and prevent overloads." Roran said as he finished and looked back at her "I have a feeling i just sounded like an Incredible loser..."

"Wh....okay, I am in" Blake said, surprised. This would be his first mission or op or whatever, and he was a bit excited. Still. He could not let it show. He went by the Asari. "I guess we are a team them".

He looked at the ship scans. "Okay, so, if we can avoid using my last name while on the ship, that would be good. Because these are Salarians, which means a good chance of STG. The more information we give them, the more tehy can use it against us, either in a fight, or bargaining with us. Especially if they want information".

Gemli smiled. "Got it Commander. And hey, if they try and take information, I can extract what I can from their brains". He laughed a little at that point. "Dont worry, I wont smash any skulls in. Not without being provoked anyways".

Val nodded at the commander then turned to Blake, "I guess so little one. You ready to play. And don't worry kid I wont let you get hurt... to much."

Neeha tries to hold back a laugh, "No, not a completely. And thank you, but we couldn't have done it alone, we needed people like you to help us." Stopping at a few booths, when ever she sees something she wants she adds it to a list on her omi-tool.

Just then the commander gets a video message on her omi-tool from the captain, "Commander, the enemy around 60 fighters has moved into system and are closing fast. Looks like they're leading about 50 boarding craft. That ship your on is to vanrable get it out of her and to the rearguad. Im sending our gunships to escort you. Activating emergency override to unhook you from the Bailey. Once their safe get back here on the double. Over and out." With that the Salarin ship unhooks and is genteelly pushed off. Elana runs up to the Irgol, "Captain move us to these coordinates and dock with the frigate. That way we can off load our people then we can get you and you crew out of here."

Jacoopi's sensors pickup the fighters in a wide 'V' formation and as soon as they are in range of the fleets fighters and frigates they open fire. Over the coms from Commander Dakira, "Gunships get that ship safely to the rear."

Blake nodded. "Lets just hope whatever issue this ship has does not include a leaky fuel tank near a source of fire" he mentioned.

As the various messages and what not went off, Blake monitored the situation. Mostly, it was just crosschecking and formations at this point. He noticed that, according to a group of reports, a few specific fighters were headed straight for them.

"So" Blake mentioned as he turned towards Val, and employed his kinetic barriers. "Anyone else think this might be one big trap? Mysterious ship to lure us in combined with a sudden enemy appearance?"

"Nah, I just think its our luck" Gemli mentioned. "Everyone knows the goodguys always have the worst of luck".

Blake wondered if he had a red cape hidden somewhere.

Two of Jacoopi's rounds find their mark, while an other tracks its target, and the fourth is shot down. The missile fired at him misses but recovers and takes out one of his squad mates.

Two of the Turian Frigates are boarded well a third is taken out by a damaged boarding craft that kamikazed into the frigates engines. One of the two surviving frigates got swarmed and was forced to pull back to the rearguard. Half of the fight fighters and most the boarding craft break off from the fight and head towards the dreadnought. The Alamo and Geneva Class Frigates, being faster, more maneuverable and better suited for anti-fighter, speed into position to add the dreadnought. As the frigates repositioned the York class Cruisers moved as fast as they could straight for the approaching crafts, to act as a wall and to try and scare the boarding craft.

The shuttle at this point starts evasive maneuvers and awaits safe harbor on the injured frigate, since the ship it was heading for the front.

Neeha nods at Roran, "Your right." and heads to Irgol to see what she can do.

Val turns her shields on and flashes her biotics then winks at Blake, "Well then they are in for a surprise if it is."

The commander runs to the bridge to get a better look at whats going on.

(Sorry if I missed a tag. I tagged as many people as I could tell was on the boarding team)

"I would recommend helmets on, in case there is no atmo on the ship, or it gets vented on us" Blake told them, securing his helmet. He then walked forward, looking around. Blake used his omni-tool to scan the room, as well as various ship systems and for life signs.

"Looks like a trap, smells like a trap..." Blake mentioned, as Gemli raised a weapon. Blake looked towards Val. "Just curious. How difficult was it to get this hanger door open? And why are these no other craft here?"

"Anything else interesting?"

"Yeah...the ship has a lot of Anti-Fighter weaponry. And it just went online! Val, we need to get to the Weapons systems pronto!" he mentioned as he went to a locked door. "Just let me hack this..."

"No time!" Gemli said, as he used his natural Krogan Strength to force the doors open manually. Suddenly, various automated defense systems also went online. Gemli started shooting drones and turrets as they poped up. "Go! I will cover you both!"

Kearan sat in the dark and the dank of the ruined ship, his eyes sunken and dark, his skin an unhealthy grey colour from malnutrition, his mind flitting in and out of conciousness in the dark of the ship. He was the last, the last one left, out of a crew of 800, he was the only one left standing. Or sitting rather. Then again, there had certainly been less crew alive on the ship when this whole mess began. Only about 250 crew members survived the crippling of the pirate ship Anubis, and it was of those surviving few that Kearan was the last of. Power had been simple, the reactor was still functional, it was just the engines that had been trashed by the Cerberus cruiser, not that they hadn't given as good as they got. Life support was functional on those decks not blown open into the vacuum of space, and although initially to conserve power they had switched off the artificial gravity, as their numbers dwindled, it was switched back on. Nobody expected to survive the ordeal, and it was at least nice to have your feet on the ground, and not have shit gliding through the air. The few Salarians on board were the first to go, their hyper metabolisms succumbing to the strict food rationing set in place. They were bagged and ejected out the airlock. That decision was soon regretted. Food supplies ran out quickly even with tight rationing, and it wasn't long before starvation and hunger took their natural course. What little Command structure was left on the ship quickly broke down as the crew began to split into warring factions. Most of the humans did no fare well in the ensuing conflict. Assaulted by a combined force of the Batarians and Krogan, they were decimated and most scrambled into hiding, Kearan amongst them. The Quarians were the next to go, their life suits giving them a unique advantage in the area, but lacking medical and technical supplies meant that even small wounds laid them low. They also refused to do what the other parties accepted. Eating the dead. With food rations all but non-existent at this point, the Krogan/Batarian alliance and the Asari/Turian group began to attack one another over not just space and control, but in order to gather food. Kearan was not exempt from the situation, unlike others, he simply adapted early. Stray turian scouts and batarian hunters met their end on the tip of Kearans combat knife, their bodies dragged away to the dark corners of the ship Kearan survived in. What remaining human crew were left he soon hunted down. Easier targets than the powerful krogan or biotic Asari. As the two opposing sides ground themselves down and dwindled in numbers, even the fractious alliances began to erode, and soon it became every man for himself. Eventually, it became just one man and himself. Kearan killed them. Every last one, kept their corpses cold in the medical bay, rationing himself. That was when the real struggle began. It had been different knowing that there were at least other living beings on the ship, but being the only living soul for thousands of lightyears was... straining for the mind. Soon the voices came, tormenting him for the crimes he had committed to stay alive, in time, eve they left him. All that remained was the silence, and it had been silent for a long time.

Kearan had run out of "food" over a fortnight ago.

He didn't think he would last much longer, the pain in his stomach had left, but now it was gone, he almost missed it.

He had sat in silence for so long, that the hiss of an opening airlock was so alien he almost didn't notice it. Had he missed someone? Was there another survivor who had eluded him? No, no surely not... Who...

He tried to stand but his legs failed him and he slumped back down to the floor. He tried to cry out, but his voice wouldn't come, all that came was a hoarse whisper. They wouldn't find him, he was in his hiding place, the place he had used to elude the rest of the crew in the early days of the wreck. They would come through, scavenge, and leave. He would die here. Alone in the dark, with not even the voices to keep him company...

The gun.

He wasnt even sure where the thought came from, or if it was even him that thought it, but it was right. His hand slipped down to the pistol at his hip. Carnifex model with extended barrel and ultralight materials. He was glad for the lightness as he struggled to raise the weapon away from his body. He squeezed, the trigger depressing with a slight click just before the mass effect accelerator blasted the bullet down the hall, ricocheting around the hall with a deafing rattle and ping of noise, echoing throughout the hollow ship, But Kearan heard nothing, his mind having already succumbed to darkness.

As the Salarians board the frigate they are meet by a hurt Vorcha guard leaning against the opposite wall. "Turn back. Ship broken, engines broken, most crew dead, no hope. Engines not ours, all going to die." Just then Volus tech emerged from a maintenance hatch, "We were boarded some how and they waited till we fell back to strike. They took what was left of engineering. With so much damage the crew is having a problem keeping the ship together and trying to retake engineering isn't going well. I recommend you if you have men to spare great other wise leave now. We picked up a ship in need, cant tell which frigate it is but it is better off then we are. Help them we got our ship." With that the Volus reenters the hatch, and the Vorcha starts down the whats left of the hall towards engineering.

Commander Elana and chief Neeha followed the Salarians.

As Gemli takes out drones, a Geth runs into the room well typing on its omi-tool, and yells out, "Hold your fire! The system activated when you landed with out authorization. One moment." just as he finishes deactivating the system four shot come through the door hitting the geth in the back. As it falls to the ground it yells out. "RUN! WAVE OFF! SHIP LOST!" It types a few things in to its Omni-tool and as it hits the last button it lays flat on the deck, motionless and its light slowly fades out. A second later everyone there receives coordinates of what looks like a powered down frigate.

Val runs you to Blake and Gemli, activating her Biotic Protector to cover the three of them. "Fall back, we are not here to retake her. That geth sent us coordinates of an other ship. I would rather try and help the other ship then try and clear this entire ship with just the three of us. Now fall back to the shuttle." She covers Blake regardless of what his next move is.

Jacoopi picks up a faint signal coming in slowly from off the fleets six o'clock. His ships VI reads it as a frigate class ship that's gone dark.

Othesat makes it to the med bay to a find a horrific scene. Crew laying all over the place in mixed conditions, with medics running from person to person in an attempt to help everyone they can. One of the human medics walks over to her, "Let me take a look... Ok... you seem fine nothing critical. You can stay and help or report back to your station." With a nod he ran off to help a hurt Turian with third degree burns all over his body.

"Alright, fine!" Blake mentioned as he started to fall back. Gemli went over to Val however.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful or disobey orders, but perhaps the guy with natural plate armor should be the one who covers our escape, since I can risk going out of cover and not dying from the first shot that penetrates my shields!" he mentioned as he maximized his tech armor. "You Asari are a bit too squishy to do that!"

As Blake re-entered the hanger, a rogue missile apparently hit the side of the hull they were at. This caused significant damage, including causing a bit of damage to the shuttle as well, as it shorted out when it tried to turn on its engines. "Son of a bitch. Now what are we supposed to do? We need to get back to the ship! I mean, our ship is literally right over there. Hell, you could throw someone across".

Gemli looked back at Blake. "You know, you are a genius. Thats a great idea right there".

Blake had a bad feeling Gemli was not kidding. "Gemli. Urdnot Gemli. Don't you get any ideas now! No! You stay back!"

"I don't hear a better idea, and I can throw you with enough force to get you over there in twenty seconds" Gemli said smiling.

Val, Gemli, and Blake's shuttle pilot over the com, "This is shuttle pilot to boarding team. The shuttle has taken some damage but she is still good to go, but we need to leave now!"

Val looked at Gemli, "With respect, you are better suited for going through wreckage then I am. A gap in the floor or debris in the way, expressly getting Blake through it. I'll hold the door till your both on board then I'll be right behind you." Well keeping her biotic field blocking the door, she activates her shields and turns on her helmet com to an open channel. "Shuttle craft this is LT Valarirae Saburo. Be ready to go as soon as Urdnot Gemli, and Blake are on board, I will be right behind them."

The shuttle pilot, "Roger that ma'am... ma'am?... Roger that." He starts the engines and opens the shuttle door.

"LT Jaccopi, its ENS Laren. I've taken over as your wingman. Recommend we fall back to a minamum safe distance, preferably a place we can land. I'm running low on munition and not sure how mush longer we can hold. Our gunships weren't designed for sistande combat against these many fighter sir, over."

Over every com channel, with a Japanese accent "This is Admiral Katsumoto Yamamo to the Bailey and her fleet. I call you now as a courtesy from one worrier to an other. You are in possession of an item of great importance, stand down, turn it and its carrier over to us or be destroyed. If you hand it over we will leave you alone, do the honorable thing and live to fight an other day. We will withdraw for one hour, any ship that tries to flee will be destroyed for being cowards. I Await your response. Endurance out." With that every attacking ship disengages and jump into FTL.

Captain Siethis to all ships. "ALL HANDS! NOW HEAR THIS! ALL HANDS NOW HEAR THIS! All small craft find harbor. Begin fleet wide repairs if need be scuttle the ship. All away teams your on your own find shelter and hunker down. Frigates and cruisers to the rear. I will hold the Bailey here, everyone give us a wide berth and for no reason approach us. No matter what happens its been an honor to serve with you all." On board the Baily, the captain looks at a report, most boarders have been repelled on the baily.

Fleet started with status change
2 York class Cruisers 1 boarded
1 Berlin Class Cruiser badly damaged
1 Turian Cruiser no power or coms
4 Quarian Cruisers no fighters or shuttles left
6 Turian Frigates 1 boarded (has the away team on it for now), 4 destroyed
2 Alamo Class Frigates all lost
2 Geneva Class Frigates 1 badly damaged

As the remaining ships that can, move to the rear of the fleet, the captain, "Baily what do we have on the Endurance and this Admiral?" A holo image of Baily appears next to the captain. "Sir. All we have is a mention that he is a fleet Admiral currently attached to the Special Projects division, and who has never lost a fight since the rank of captain, nor has he back down from a fight regardless of the odds. As far as the Endurance goes there is a romor it was to be the biggest carrier ever built, not just having a larger capacity but have the fire power of a dreadnaught. Sorry sir but that's all I have."

As Baily gives his report Blake's datadrive gives off a low beep.

Commander Selani turns to Roran, "Back to the ship." Turning to Irgol, "With respect, lets head to the unknown contact and holdup there, if there are any other teams out or survivors looking for shelter they might head there."

"Yes Commander." Roran said as he turned and ran back to the ship. "This is chaos!" he muttered to himself. "Weve been given orders to go find shelter, but we have no Regroup location. We have a massive ship headed our way. Ive met humans, they never retreat from a battle or let there enemies go without firing a few shots at them..." Roran continued complaining until he was in the ship, among a few other Salarians.

"Bah....So much for assisting the Human Rebbellion..." he said as he looked around before seating himself at a gunners chair. "Wow is this old..." he said as he looked through the Firing Screen "This must be Pre-contact War..." he said as he chuckled. He quickly removed his hands "This needs calibrating. Dont want to put a hole in the ship now do i..." He said as raised up his omni-tool and linked it to the gun to begin Calibrating.

As they were heading back, Blake could not help but notice the blinking light and the beep. He opened it as he listened to the message from the Admiral. And once he was done, fear suddenly entered his eyes. He played the message for Val and Gemli as well, so they knew how urgent it was. "Val! I need to get to the Commander now!"

He tried hailing the Commander, but moved quickly enough he reached her first. "Do not trust him! A part of the drive just unlocked, a message from my father. See for yourself..."

He sent the message to the Commander now. "Son... if your reading this without me then one of two things has happened. First, you 'found' this drive in my safe. or I am no longer with you and for that I am sorry. If it is true that I am no longer there then I leave you with my friends Elana Selani and Valarirae Saburo, they will look after you. Knowing Elana she has not told anyone including Val who you are or why you are so important to her. Also if your looking into Admiral Katsumoto Yamamo, he is the fleet Admiral of my Terminus Systems defense and security fleet. Chances are that you took the dive through a relay and now facing his fleet. He knows of you but will be after this drive, its designed to send a signal should it pass through a relay without prior authorization. With the network in disarray I could not send to codes but they are buried in this drive. Katsumoto will do anything to protect our sites through out the Terminus Systems and to get this drive, but attached to this note is a code to grant you my level clearance. DO NOT LET HIM OR ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE GET THIS DRIVE. You can trust my two friends but no one else from the SPD.I love you son and am very proud of you. Keep up the good work and stay safe. -Dad"

"Do not trust him!" Blake mentioned. "We need to get out of here now, make a dash for the Mass Relay or somewhere safe! We need to move now!"

Blake was aware he was essentially giving the commander an order, but frankly given the importance of the message he figured at the very least they could discuss that issue later. If it was an issue, technically his father just promoted Blake, at least elevating his clearance level.

Gemli was more or less half confused, half angry, and half protective right now. It occurred to his intelligent Krogan mind three halves makes no sense, but he could think about semantics later. Right now, he just had this overwhelming desire to punch the admiral and protect Blake, Val, and the Commander.

At least he knew Blake trusted him. That made him also feel half happy with himself.

The turian leads the Doctor to a shuttle in the main hanger just as a fire brakes out. Lt. Natasha starts directing the damage control teams as the turian loads the Dr. onto the shuttle. The shuttle quickly takes off, making the turian who had no time to sit fall out. Part of the celling collaped, killing the turian, as the pilot closes the doors and flies out of the hanger as fast as possible. The shuttle makes a quick landing in a hole in the unknown frigates hull.

The Salarian ship makes its way to one of the few docking ports thats still working. As the commander orders Roran and Neeha off the ship, a damaged escape pod collides with the Salarian ship. The impact renders the bridge crew including Irgol unconscious and damages the docking tube. Neeha grabbed Roran and ran into the frigate incase the tube depressurizes. The commander ran to the bridge grabbing Irgol and carring him to the docking tube. Once there she could see that the tube was going to break at any moment and that she couldn't make it well carring him so she used her biotic push to throw him. Just in time for the tube to break, and due to age and damage the Salarain ship couldn't seal the door so she was spaced along with most of the surviving Salarian crew. Luckly Neeha was standing by to seal the door on her end with a tech override and some juice from her suit.

As Gemli throw Blake into the shuttle Val turns and carfuly uses her shockwave to push Gemli into the shuttle. Thankfully the co-pilot had grabbed his sidearm and was waiting by the door. So when Blake was thrown he was there to catch him and get him out of the way, as Gemli lands on his stomach on the floor of the shuttle. sortly there after before Gemli can more Val uses her biotic charge to bridge the gap and uses him as a landing pad. Once she pulls herself off of him she yells to the pilot, "Ok We're on let go." With that order the co-pilot jumps to his seat closing the door and launches the shuttle. They make their way to the frigate in time to see the commander get spaced. The pilot goes to bring them in for a landing in the hanger but notices the wreck of a fighter, but due to the damage cant pull away and instead aims the nose away and crashes into the wall. Both pilots are killed on impact and the shuttle is beyond repair as it is half in the interior wall of the hanger.