Mass Effect: Humanity First

(Choice A) Help Her

Hallard couldn’t let her die. No matter how impractical, or how much it went against his orders. He didn’t know if he could help her. But he owed it to her to at least try.

He leaned in and scanned her bio-signs. Things did not look good.

“What are you waiting for? Kill her.”

The asari was barely alive. She’d lost a lot of blood, and her condition was only going to get worse unless she received medical attention soon.

But there was no time for that now. All he could do was administer medi-gel over the wound. It wouldn’t save her, but it would buy her time.

Hallard administered the dose.

“What the hell are you doing?”

But Cavanaugh’s words were little more than background noise to Hallard. He didn’t care what his partner had to say. He wasn’t going to shoot an innocent civilian. It infuriated him to no end think that Cerberus could even authorize something so heinous.

He looked into the asari’s eyes. Her eyes were as blue as the color of her skin. She was scared, and her consciousness was fading. But she was stabilizing. At least for now.

“Are you alright?” he asked the asari.

She nodded only once.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll come back for you. In the mean time, wait here and…”

Her eyelids dropped. She fainted. Hallard checked her pulse. She was still alive.

“Hallard, you want to explain to me what you just did?”

“I saved someone’s life.”

“That wasn’t what we were ordered to do.”

“I don’t give a damn.”

“Yeah? Well I do.”

Cavanaugh brought his pistol to her face. He was about to fire when Hallard knocked his arm away.

“There’s no need to eliminate her unless we absolutely have to. Cerberus will want her back.”

While it frustrated Cavanaugh to no end, a larger part of him agreed, or else he wouldn’t have backed away. 

“You got a crush on our little friend, here?”

Cavanaugh shook his head and bore a smug look on his face.

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

“Me? What’s the matter with me? I’m not the one who wanted to gun down an innocent civilian.”

“Then maybe you should have picked a different line of work.”

“You’re a real cold prick, you know that?”

“Hey, I’m what the job needs me to be.”

“Why the hell does Cerberus have us gunning down innocent civilians?”

“Civilians? Innocent? Are you serious?” He scoffed again, mocking his partner. “You really are a newbie, aren’t you?”

“This isn’t right. Cerberus using aliens like a pack of lab rats.”

“What is the matter with you? We’re at war. It’s us versus them.” He pointed at the unconscious asari with his pistol. Hallard was afraid he’d try to shoot her again. Fortunately, he didn’t. “Humanity’s a speck in the galaxy. If we want to have a glimmer of hope at long term survival we have to do whatever it takes to get ourselves at the top of the food chain.”

Hallard didn’t like it. Not one bit. But still, he was enough of a pragmatist that he could see his point. In spite of his reservations, he could at least bring himself to acknowledge that humanity would need every available advantage it could get. 

“Now pull your shit together,” said his partner. “We’ve got a mission to complete. Let’s get this over with so we can get back home.”

With his right boot, Cavanaugh shoved the dead asari away from the door. Before they made their way inside, he looked at her, and he wasn’t so sure if he could stomach the things he’d have to do next.

Cavanaugh led the way, sidearm in hand. The facility was quiet. Too quiet, especially for a place that was a complete and utter mess.

“What happened here?” thought Cavanaugh out loud.

“Mess from all the shuffle.”

“Must be.”

Everything had been tossed aside. Office furniture, storage lockers, crates. They were all laid out in a chaotic, haphazard manner. Even crates, things that weren’t meant to be in the lobby, were. Someone had obviously moved them. But that shed new light on all the mess they saw before them.

“Cavanaugh, it’s an ambush.”

“What?”

The asari must have heard him, because that was when they all ducked out of cover, assault weapons drawn.

“Cavanaugh, get down!”

But Cavanaugh hadn’t been able to react fast enough. He flinched when he should have ducked. And that one split second got him shot on the arm.

Hallard had a choice. Either save his partner, or save himself.

Save Partner (Choice AA)

Leave him (Choice AB)