The Firefly (Mass Effect Andromeda)

Chapter 28

Scott was feeling desperate. The burns to his arm and shoulder were healing. It had been weeks since the attack, since he and Olivia had walked into an elaborate trap. His memories of it were vague: the rocket knocking him clear across the room, and Olivia standing over him, firing her gun before dragging him out. He passed out.

When he came around, she was gone. His teammates were around him, and Olivia's sister was being loaded into the Nomad by Vee after having been shot. "Where's Taylor and the others?" Liam asked him urgently. "Did they make it out?" The building was engulfed in flames.

"I don't...I don't know." Scott stammered, the pain of the burns making it hard to think. "Olivia pulled me out. She was here. I didn't see the others."

They had vanished. Dr Gaari, Dr Calon, and Olivia...all gone. With him and Nina wounded, they were forced to leave, to reach the safety of his ship and on to the Nexus. They left the planet, not knowing what had happened.

He'd sent his team out without him to search. There had been no sign. The trail was cold. It was as if the three of them had vanished from the face of the galaxy. The whole thing was bizarre. Jeff had clearly been funded by someone in order to attack them like that, but none of the mercenaries had survived to explain, and so they were left with a burnt out shell of a building, and a mystery.

Since then, he'd been recovering. Nina was out of action for a while, and had returned to Eos and her parents to recuperate. Vee was conducting her own investigation from the Nexus but didn't seem to be making any headway.

In the meantime, he'd had to return his focus to the Archon, the Kett leader, in search of Meridian. They'd gotten the location of his flagship on Kadara and when he was healed enough, they headed into Kett space.

"Lot of Kett comm chatter, Ryder." Suvi informed him.

"Keep us stealthed Kallo." He told his pilot, "No sense picking a fight yet." Jaal and Drack joined him on the bridge as he gasped at the sight. There was the Archon's flagship...and tethered to it, the Salarian Ark. It had been missing for so long it hardly seemed real.

"We found the Salarian ark?" Drack asked in disbelief.

"SAM, tactical." Scott ordered. A schematic appeared. "Looks like the Archon captured it. It's tethered."

"What can we do?" Jaal asked.

"I'm working on it. SAM, connect me to the Moshae." He spoke at length with the Moshae, the Angaran elder who he had saved from the Archon. She confirmed the map to Meridian was on the Archon's ship, in his sanctum, his inner chamber. After disconnecting, he turned back to his team. "Okay, if we play this right, not only do we get the relic, but we save the Salarians. I say we get onto the Ark, assess the situation, and then sneak onto the ship via the tether."

"A feasible approach." SAM said. "Currently, Ark Paarchero is on standby. Only its stasis facilities are online."

"What about the salarians?"

"Unknown."

The Tempest cruised in stealthily, landing on the Ark. It looked like any other, except for the silence. They wandered through a med bay, looking for clues. On a welcome terminal, SAM found an odd file associated with Salarian Intelligence operatives. "This is Captain Hayjer of Ark Paachero," A voice said urgently. "If you are receiving this message, hostile aliens have captured our ship. Please look for our Pathfinder Zevin Raeka. Situation urgent."

They moved on, filled with foreboding, opening bulkhead doors. There seemed to be some Kett infrastructure added around the place, but the ark's systems still appeared operational. Scott asked if it was flight ready. The easiest way to save everyone, in his opinion, was to take the whole Ark.

There didn't seem to be any sign of a struggle. "Damn Salarians didn't even put up a fight." Drack cursed.

A dead Salarian, a man, lay in the next med bay. The terminal identified him as Pathfinder Zevin Raeka. "What's the cause of death?" Scott asked angrily.

"An embolism while in stasis." SAM said, "However, Initiative records indicate Pathfinder Raeka is female. This Salarian is male."

"What? Then who is this?" After looking through DNA records, they concluded that the Pathfinder had been switched with the dead man to save her. They hurried along, looking for the dead Salarian's pod, hoping the Pathfinder might be there. They noticed a lot of empty pods as they went.

From there, they lifted down a female salarian.

She woke slowly, her eyes blinking. "Hey there, take it slowly." Scott murmured.

"No need. I'm fine." Raeka said, sitting up, "Salarian stasis recovery is almost immediate. Who are you?"

"Scott Ryder, Pathfinder for the human ark."

She rose, a little unsteady, "This is madness. Stasis was a mistake. I should never have agreed to it." Raeka explained that the Ark had been set on by a hostile species, and the Captain had not seen any way around it but to surrender...live to fight another day. The Captain convinced her to hide and dismantle her SAM.

Scott explained his plan to enter the Kett ship, ordering her to wake a flight crew and prepare the Ark for leaving. Raeka seemed more than capable, so Scott keyed her into comms before preparing to leave.

"Pathfinders," SAM said suddenly, "I detect multiple life signs on the Ark. All Salarian."

"Let's check it out." Raeka frowned.

Together they followed SAM's directions until they came across a group of Salarians who flinched with fear at the sight of them.

"It's alright." Raeka said, "You're safe now."

"Dr Calon?" Scott said in confusion, staring at one of the huddled Salarians on the Ark. "I don't understand."

Nunok Calon, the Salarian who had vanished from Kadara with Lyora Gaari and Olivia stepped up to greet him. He looked exhausted. "Pathfinder. You don't know how glad I am to see you."

"I don't understand." Scott said again. "How are you here?"

"The short story is I don't know. Myself, Ly and Liv woke on a jettisoned escape pod, in Kett space. We were picked up by some Krogan scouts, sent by Drack." He nodded to the Krogan.

"You saw my missing scouts?" Drack chimed in.

"No sooner had we boarded than the Kett attacked and took all of us." He shuddered. "I don't know how long I was in a cell. I was interrogated. Olivia was in the cell next door." His voice dropped, "They were...harsh with her, I believe. I kept hearing her screams." Scott blanched. "One day they left me unlocked. I got out, released Liv and a couple of other Salarians. We tried to run, got split up. I made it onto the Ark with a few others and we've hidden here since."

"So where's Olivia?" Scott asked heavily.

"If she and Lyora are still alive, they're somewhere on that ship." Nunok's voice shook.

"Then that settles it," Scott looked at his companions, "We're going in."