“Talini,” she said.
The asari lifted her chin.
“Take three volunteers. You’re to track down Foster Addison and bring her back here safely. Try the CA offices, or the hangar.”
“Understood.”
Sloane looked at the others. “I’ll need three of you with me. Kesh and the krogan workforce are out of comms range, and we need them in order to secure the doors.” There was no shortage of raised hands to pick from, so Sloane pointed at three randomly.
“Two stay here, the rest of you spread out,” she said. “We can’t defend Operations at the expense of the rest of the station. Start with the areas adjacent to here, make your presence known, restore order.” She paused, then added, “Try not to shoot anyone, understand? These people are scared, they’re on edge, and they have every right to be. If we’re acting the same way, that only amplifies, understand? We need to be the reasonable ones.”
Nods all around.
“Good,” Sloane said. “Let’s move.”
She marched back through the common area outside of Operations, bolstered by the flow of her officer core around her. They spread outward to the left and right, the formation bringing a mixture of emotions to the faces in the crowd that had followed them here in the first place. Some looked soothed, others as if they were about to be beaten down.
“Stay in your rooms,” Sloane said to them. “Or here in the commons. Anyone looting or causing a disturbance will be dealt with according to the laws of the Nexus.” She said this loudly, for her own troops to hear more than anything. They needed to know the right things to say. Those exact words would be repeated as her officers spread from section to section.
With each area she entered, a few more soldiers peeled off to put down in-progress thefts or angry altercations. Sloane tried not to flinch when a bit of rotten food slapped against her neck, thrown by one of the malcontents. She ignored it, resolving to brush it away when they left the area.
But not before.
They passed back through the row of shops cleared earlier of Calix’s left-behinds. Sloane saw shadows in those stores once again, only this time she knew they were citizens, taking anything they could find. She gestured for her last few extra officers to get in there.
“Careful,” she said as they jogged away. “You’re outnumbered.” They nodded, fear obvious in some of their eyes, though they did not break stride.
People moved in the shadows, scurrying like rats as Sloane approached, hiding until she passed. At her back they shouted for new leadership, or simply the mantra that seemed to be catching.
“No Cryo! No Cryo!”
“Faster,” Sloane said. They were only four, now, and still had seven levels to go before they’d find Kesh. “From here on we do not engage, we do not let ourselves be seen any more than we have to.”
“Understood,” her trio replied in unison.
Sloane avoided the next hall. Too many silhouettes lurking there. She led her group across the promenade fronting the shops and to the railing at the edge. There was a small gap in the section of ceiling that had collapsed across it. The space overlooked one of the Nexus’s long arms, and the wall leading up to it was slanted. Sloane hopped over the railing, holding on as her body came to rest against the outer-sloped wall. She started to move along the length, looking for her spot, when a shout went up from the citizens in the shadowed hallway.
“Stop ’em before they freeze us!”
Cries of agreement, encouragement.
The crowds, Sloane realized, had already stratified. Those still loyal to the mission, and those who’d been broken by fear and encouraged by Calix’s success. They rushed out. She watched them through the railing, considered lifting her other arm over it and firing off a few rounds to give them pause.
No, she thought. Don’t engage, it only delays us. She let go of the railing and started to slide. Her team followed suit. As a group they slid, ran and sometimes tumbled their way down the incline to the next level, spilling over on to an unused balcony still coated in the residue of the fire suppression systems. No one had yet been here.
Sloane grunted as she landed, rolling with the impact to little effect. It hurt like hell. The rest of her group fared just as poorly, but within a few seconds they were up and, while in pain, ready to follow. The angry group above seemed content to celebrate the fact that they’d scared off some security officers, and did not pursue.
Enjoy your victory, bastards. She glanced at her team. “We keep moving, but not that way anymore. I can’t take another landing like that.”
The relief in their eyes matched her own. Sloane led them from balcony to balcony, hopping the low walls in between each, heading inward toward the main connected spoke of the Nexus. None of the lifts had yet been cleared for use, but thanks to Calix all their doors would be wide open, and the tubes had ladders built into the walls for maintenance and emergency access.
At the last apartment on the row Sloane slipped in through the open balcony door. Darkness waited within, along with the smell of dust. She flipped her weapon’s lamp on and moved through the dim rooms at a jog, swinging her weapon before her as she went, finding no one.
Exiting through the font door, she peeled around one corner, taking the left, trusting the officer behind her to peel right. The man did. The other two came out after him, crossing to the far side. Sloane motioned for them to follow her lead. Somewhere nearby a bark of laughter echoed through the halls. Then, more distant, the sound of someone crying out in pain.
“What a nightmare,” the officer behind her whispered.
“Quiet,” she snapped, as much as she agreed with the sentiment.
They bypassed the next common area. Sloane glanced toward it. This was where Calix and his core group had fled behind that bulkhead. The space languished in darkness now, lights turned off or perhaps deliberately destroyed. The beam from her weapon played across shapes in the darkness. Bodies strewn about the floor. Her gut twisted at the sight. Calix could never have wanted this. Advocated it. Ordered it. No way. That wasn’t the turian she’d interviewed after Irida’s arrest, or worked beside all these months.
The Irida interrogation, though… Sloane might not have seen any of this in Calix, but Irida had. Which meant Calix had completely and cleverly hidden a large part of his personality from her, or he’d underestimated the power he had over people. She wondered what had happened on that prior posting, that it had given rise to such loyalty among his team.
They reached the lift without incident. Sloane hesitated. Glanced back at the dark common-room-turned-graveyard.
“Kesh and her team are six levels below,” she whispered. “You three meet up with her and explain what’s happened.”
“You’re not coming?” one of them asked.
“Negative,” Sloane said. “I’ve got something else I need to take care of.”
Hesitation radiated off them.
“Look,” she added. “I doubt anyone else went down there. Kesh is reasonable, and on our side.” I hope. She left that unsaid, and went on. “Explain what’s happened and bring her up here to within omni-tool range. Let her talk to Tann.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to find someone.”
They glanced at each other, dubious.
“Need-to-know, understood?” She sharpened her tone. “I’m giving you three an order and I expect you to follow it.”
“And if Kesh is being unreasonable? Or they’ve been… I don’t know, sabotaged by the terrorists in some way?”
“Then don’t engage, just come right back up here and report. I’ll be in range.” She didn’t actually know if that last part was true, but it had to be said. She couldn’t ask any of these three to go where she was going. “Move out, officers.”