To all who waited this long for Chapter 3 of Fireteam Shepard, thank you. It has been a rather difficult December/ January. I lost my muse and am trying to find it again. My boss died of a heart attack and I got his job in addition to my girlfriend having a miscarriage. Things are starting to look up though. I am making a concerted effort to write every day and try to continue the story. My prologue started with the death of Crota. I have to at least make it that far.
The doctor allowed Ryuko up and about two months after her surgery, informing her that she had exceeded his expectations for her physical therapy and had adapted to her new metallic arm far faster than anticipated. A form fitting black long sleeve shirt, denim cargo pants and a black leather jacket were given to her by Gregor as her last outfit had been shredded. She stepped into the daylight, shielding her eyes. She barely made it two steps from the doctor's porch before she was swarmed by children all shouting questions over each other at her. She sat down amongst them. "Kids, leave her alone. She's been through a lot. Let her have her space," Constable Holliday said sternly as he approached. "There will be plenty of time for her to answer your questions when she's feeling better." The children grumbled as they dispersed. "It's quite alright, Constable. It would have been an adventure for me just as much as them. Where I'm from the kids are quite different."
"Oh I doubt that. Kids are kids no matter where they're from."
"They're very different. Where I'm from all children take an aptitude test when they are three to determine where they would be best used in society. Once that is determined, they only learn what is necessary for them to excel in that field. Curiosity, while encouraged, is only humored within their assignment. Not a body is wasted," she said as she frowned. "Some parents never see their children again and what those kids there just did would have been met with stiff consequences."
"Frankly ma'am, I'm glad these youngins aren't from where you're from 'cause that just sound barbaric," Holliday replied looking down at her. Ryuko stood and started to walk off. "When every day you have to worry about being explosively decompressed or your habitat being crushed by an asteroid collision, the only thing that matters is survival. What others think of how you do that be damned. Such is life where I'm from."
She set out to explore. Ryuko figured she would be here for awhile and she needed the lay of the land. As she walked, she felt the eyes of the citizenry on her and noticed two of the constable's men following her. She was a stranger in a strange land and she knew it. Occasionally she would stop or be stopped by a local, chat for a few minutes and continue on. She spotted her Ghost after awhile. He was helping a man something that looked like a two wheeled vehicle. She walked up and observed them work for a bit. "Okay, try starting it now," Nolan said. The man held a lever and turned a key in the object and it roared to life. "Well I'll be damned, you Ghosts sure are useful," the man turned the machine off. "Never thought I'd get this damned motorcycle to work, what was wrong with it?"
"One of the cylinder heads broke when you rebuilt the engine. Structurally it was incredibly weak and couldn't take the strain of internal combustion," Nolan replied, quite proud of himself. "I repaired it at the atomic level so it should be good as new."
"Well thanks for your help. By the way, your shadow is here, Ghost." Nolan turned.
"Yeah, Nolan. Your ghost is here," Ryuko said.
"Ryuko! It's good to see you're awake. Are you okay? What did the Doctor do? They wouldn't let me see you, are you alright? Did they d-…"
"I'm fine," Ryuko interrupted. She pulled at the neck of her shirt to show him her shoulder. "Left arm is completely synthetic. Couldn't save it. It's just as good if not better than my old arm. I was really surprised by the organic like dexterity in the wrist and fingers. Still swear I can feel it though," she said while demonstrating her replacement limb.
"I took the liberty of discussing lodging for the foreseeable future with the constable. There were many people who offered to take us in for the time being. The constable decided we should be put up with the EXO doctor in case you have any unforeseen medical complications or we could stay with Gregor. He is a Guardian and would be able to assist you with discovering what powers the Traveller has bestowed upon you. Also, given your ignorance of how to survive on the surface of a planet, Gregor and a few others in town have offered to teach you how to survive on your own here on Earth. If I may say so, Gregor seems most smitten with you. Oh and you're being followed by the local law."
"Yeah I know. They've been tailing me for awhile now. Now, two questions and a statement. One, I have powers? Like a super hero? And two, Gregor's got the hots for me? Finally, three, you have no segue skills," Before Nolan could answer a booming voice rang out. "Shepard! We have…"
The Reef"…a serious matter to bring to your attention, my lord. An asset's beacon reactivated in orbit over Earth four months ago. We didn't want to bring it to your attention until we were certain. Our CO was certain it was a glitch in our tracking system as the asset has been listed KIA for more than a decade," one of the Crows reported, his back so straight Uldren thought it must have been uncomfortable. "Which asset, Corporal? We lost many during the coup."
"Sir, asset serial number Sierra 2571."
Uldren's eyes snapped up from the report in front of him to the man in his office. "I appear to have misheard you. Would you care to repeat that." It wasn't a question.
"My lord, it is asset Sierra 2571."
This can't be right. It can't be. She's dead. I killed her myself. There were no other ships in the area. If you want something done right is appears you can't even do it yourself. Uldren stood and walked right up to the corporal. "Forward everything you have on this to me at once. Then purge your systems of all information tied to this serial number and tell you CO that he and his entire department had better forget about this and forget fast," Uldren said, his voice dripping with venom.
"Yes sir. Right away sir. Very good sir," the corporal said as he scurried from Uldren's office. Twenty minutes later Uldren's computer terminal pinged. He sat and poured over the information before him. Asset beacons didn't just turn back on, it just wasn't in their programming. The beacon behaved like a tracking chip and was wired to the heart of the subject. If the subject died, the beacon transmitted the location of the corpse for approximately a month before shutting down. Theoretically one could reactivate if the subject came back to life but there was no precedence for this. It had never happened. "Where are you Canaan? Why is your beacon on? And why Earth," Uldren mumbled to himself. He had to act fast. If Mara caught wind of this, there would be nothing he could do to prevent her from launching a search and rescue team. Over the next two hours he formulated a plan. He needed to be sure she was alive first. Jumping to conclusions at this juncture could only spell disaster. He summoned two of his most trusted operatives, Boolean and Gemini, twin sisters whose success record was only surpassed by their target. He handed them an envelope each with instructions not to open it until they had cleared Awoken space. It would be a prolonged operation, reconnaissance and careful planning would be key. If she was alive, she would be on high alert. "You can't hide from me, sister. I will always find you."
Earth
Ryuko was ecstatic. She was going home. Nolan had found a ship capable of space flight roughly ten miles from the settlement. Even more exciting, she had been lent a horse to get to the vessel. "Don't worry about bringing him back," Holliday had said. "Boy knows where his home is." She said her goodbyes and left. The trip took a little over an hour due to terrain. When she caught sight of the vessel, Ryuko hopped off the horse and ran to the ship. The horse turned and galloped away back towards home. As she inspected the hull of the ship, she noted it was the same class as the ship she had arrived on Earth in.
"Ryuko. I'm sorry. I can't go with you," Nolan said as he materialized next to her. "My place is here, with the Traveller. Calm winds and fair seas." Ryuko turned to say something to Nolan but he wasn't there. She searched and called his name for a few hours, hoping he would return.
Eventually her excitement at returning overrode her sadness that Nolan had left. She activated the cargo door and started up the ramp. Before she made it into the ship she heard a gunshot and she was thrown backwards. She hit the ramp and rolled down it. When she hit the ground she looked down at her chest, a red spot growing larger and larger. She tried to roll over and stand but was shot again, this time in the stomach. She tried to call out but all the air had been pushed from her lungs by the impact of the second bullet. Then the most blood curdling laugh she had ever heard assaulted her ears. She turned her head to look at where the laugh was coming from. Out from the shadows of the cargo hold stepped three familiar faces. In the middle, with a vicious grin, stood herself holding a smoking revolver. To the left stood Uldren applauding her doppelganger and to the right stood Mara, her sister, her eyes filled with wrath. Ryuko tried to scramble away but was quickly pounced upon by Mara and Uldren. She tried to fight them off until Mara hauled her up by the hair and smashed her face repeatedly into the hull of the ship. Ryuko fell to the ground in a heap. She tried to stand but her limbs refused to support her. Uldren savagely kicked her in the midriff over and over. The two older Sovs then pinned Ryuko to the ground on her back. "You traitorous quim," Mara spat. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out about your treachery? You dare allow the family to be implicated in the death of the Colonel? And then fake your own death so you might be spared the consequences of your failure? I never should have taken pity on you. I should have listened to my brother and let him kill you." "Mara, please, that isn't true. Uldren was waiting for me at the rendezvous and he sho-…" Ryuko was cut off by Mara pulling a pistol from behind her and smashing Ryuko across the face with it. "LIES," Mara roared. Uldren turned to look at the doppelganger. "Meet our replacement for you dear Canaan. Come forward and take Canaan's place as our knife in the dark," Uldren said. As Ryuko's doppelganger approached, she split into two of Mara's personal guard. The masked figures both pulled out a knife and sliced hole in Ryuko's abdomen. She screamed louder than she ever had until Uldren and Mara delivered a quick jab to her throat, silencing her. As Ryuko choked and gagged from the blow, the two guards shoved their hands into the incisions. One grabbed Ryuko's heart firmly while the other tugged at something attached to it. Ryuko felt a tearing as whatever was being tugged at came free. Both guards removed their arms from Ryuko's body and one handed something to Uldren. Uldren dangled the object in front of Ryuko's broken face. "You see this? You should have made sure you disposed of this before you came back. Because of this, I can always find you. Not that I have any need anymore. This time you are going to stay dead." He and Mara stood and turned to walk away. "Ladies, dispose of this trash," Uldren ordered. The two guards nodded silently, grabbed two containers from one of the landing gear bays and started dousing Ryuko in what smelled like fuel. When the containers were empty they threw them to the side and stepped back. Mara looked down at Ryuko with disdain. "There won't be enough left of you to come back this time. Canaan. Stay. Dead," Mara and Uldren said in unison. Uldren pulled out a match, lit it and flicked it at her.
Ryuko screamed as she bolted upright, her shirt drenched in sweat. She frantically took in her surroundings. She was in the doctor's living room on his couch. She ran to the kitchen, scaring the nurse who was preparing dinner for herself and Ryuko, and grabbed a large knife then fled to the bathroom. She slammed and latched the door and sat in the bathtub. She peeled off her shirt and aimed the knife at her torso, just under his ribcage. She plunged the knife in and shrieked. She screamed as she cut a hole large enough for her hand. She vaguely heard a banging on the door and someone calling her name. She dropped the knife in the river of her blood rushing down towards the drain in the tub. She shoved her organic hand into the hole, screaming even louder as the pain intensified. The banging and yelling at the door grew in intensity. She pushed past her diaphragm and lungs and located her heart. She felt all around it until she found the small locator beacon. The door caved in under Gregor's might just as she pulled the chip out with all her might. She quickly smashed it with the knife before she blacked out from the pain. The last thing she saw before she fell unconscious was the big man's horrified face above her.
Several hours later…
"I'm telling you she was scared shitless. This wasn't premeditated. You know what this is? It's a transmitter. To who or what it is transmitting, I don't know but whoever it is has her so terrified she cut herself open so she could stop them from knowing whatever it is this was sending. You didn't see it when you resurrected her and the doc didn't see it on his scans. Nolan, this is serious. You're mad, we get that. Be angry at the thing that caused her to panic. Don't be upset at her. She knew where to insert the knife and how far she could cut to avoid fatal damage." Gregor's Ghost hovered next to Nolan, trying to calm him. Nolan had been powered down on the desk next to Ryuko when she had grabbed the knife and dashed off. The doctor had been the first to respond, Gregor arrived not long after as he had been nearby and heard the screaming. When Gregor smashed the door in, all Nolan saw was Ryuko's arm covered in her own blood up to her elbow and the gushing hole in her torso. Nolan was about to reply when a shriek was heard from the room Ryuko had been taken to. The two Ghosts rushed to the room to find Ryuko cowering in the corner armed with a scalpel and a swirling purple ball of energy on the opposite wall. The doctor was standing well back from her, trying to calm her down.
"What happened," Nolan demanded.
"Her Guardian powers are starting to manifest themselves. I was inquiring as to the purpose of the device she extracted and she became skittish and hostile. She pushed me away and grabbed the bed pan. When it transformed into a ball of energy, she threw it and it exploded," the doctor replied as the ball of energy faded and eventually winked out.
"Stay back. Stay away from me. I don't know what's happening to me and he is coming. He is coming and everyone is in danger. From me. From him," Ryuko screamed as Nolan tried to float over to her. "Who is coming? Who are you so scared of? Let me help you, Ryuko," Nolan said soothingly.
"No! No. That's not my name. I'm not Ryuko Shepard. That was a name on a locker I saw. I'm not her. I'm not Ryuko. Stay back. Let me go. You all are in danger."
"Who are you then?"
"I…it doesn't matter. You just need to let me go. He'll kill you all."
Nolan and the doctor edged closer. "Who, girl, who?"
She was visibly trembling as she stood, taking an aggressive pose. "My brother. Uldren. He's coming for me."
The doctor rushed forward and tried to disarm Ryuko. She used the EXO's momentum against him and swung him around and flung him to the floor in front of her. She threw the scalpel like a throwing knife. Before it left her hand, it transformed into another ball of energy. When it hit the EXO, it exploded into a large puff of smoke. Nolan saw Ryuko vanish in front of him. Moments later, the window exploded outward. Nolan rushed to the window and saw Ryuko rapidly become visible again, fleeing into the night. He turned to the doctor. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. I am very grateful that didn't turn into a void grenade like the last one."
"She had an overwhelming desire to flee. She is linked to the Void by the power of the Traveller. It appears the powers she was gifted are in line with her profession."
"What is she, Nolan?"
"An assassin. Quick, we must inform Constable Holliday and organize a search party. In her current state, she is more of a danger to herself than anyone else. We need to convince her that she is safe."
A half hour later…Holliday sighed. He looked at Nolan, the doctor and Gregor. "She's an assassin. I let an assassin in my town. And none of you told me before now. To top it all off, you want to go find her. An assassin. Someone who could kill each and every person in this room before we knew what was happening. Let's say I did authorize you to organize a search party, which I won't, she will not be permitted in this town. Colson is a peaceful place. We don't need or want people of her ilk in this great town. I am denying your request to organize a search party. Doctor, you are forbidden to go looking for her. Imagine the shit we'd be in here if you died. Gregor, Nolan, if you want to find her, go ahead but you do so alone. You will not recruit any of my citizens for your suicide mission. But let me repeat myself just to be clear. She will not be permitted to return here. Now get out. All of you."
As they filed out, Gregor looked at Nolan. "We will get her Nolan. Using your connection to your Guardian and my tracking skills, we will find her. If she cannot return here then perhaps we could prepare a home for her a little ways from Colson."
"You didn't see her, Gregor. She is terrified of this Uldren. She is convinced he is coming to kill her and that somehow her being here would bring harm to everyone here. She wasn't exactly clear so that is all conjecture but I feel it is not too far off from what is going on in her head."
"Either way, we need to find your Guardian. She needs to learn how to discover and control her powers. Until then, she is a danger to everything she meets. It should prove interesting. The void is manifesting differently in her than others I have met. Initially I would say she is a Defender given the vortex grenade however she is smaller than every Defender I have ever met and none of them have had the ability to vanish. My second guess would be a Voidwalker however we run into the issue of the invisibility. They can't do that either. She is neither Titan nor a Warlock. I think, Nolan, we are looking at a new breed of Hunter."
Meanwhile…Ryuko ran until her legs would no longer carry her. She had run so far through the forest she eventually burst through to a field on the other side. It was a full moon so bright she had no problem seeing. She took a few minutes to rest before continuing, keeping a wary eye on her surroundings. She carefully made her way across the field and came to a road littered with abandoned and wrecked automobiles. Using the cover they provided she picked her way through them, listening for any potential threats. Almost an hour later she happened across a sign that read 'Philadelphia - 40 Miles." She read the sign and decided to stop and sleep for now. She found an empty car and wrestled her way in. The windows were caked with dirt and grime from over the years and the interior had a slightly stale smell. She settled into the rear passenger seat when she was sure no one was watching her and quickly fell asleep. High above her, a small ship descended from orbit toward Philadelphia.
The next morning…Boolean walked down the ship's cargo ramp and gave a big yawn. She stretched and walked to the edge of the building the ship had landed on. As she looked out over the ruined cityscape her sister, Gemini, stepped up next to her and pulled out a datapad. "According to our intel, our target is roughly 50 miles north west of here. On the other side of something called French Creek Park. The humans built a town on the western side of the park after the Collapse. It isn't large. Population is estimated at around fifty or so individuals," Gemini said flatly.
Boolean pulled a tooth brush and paste of one of her belt pouches. "Do we know who the target is? I don't like having to fly into the fire without knowing who we're supposed to be killing," she said as she prepared to brush her teeth.
"Not as of yet, no we do not. The Crow is supposed to contact us within the hour with our targets dossier," Gemini replied. As she started to stretch, her datapad pinged. She did a double take when she saw the photo attached to the dossier. "Bullshit."
"Who i' iht," Boolean asked as she pulled the brush from her mouth.
"It's her. It's the Vestian."
Boolean rinsed her mouth and looked at her sister with a look of disbelief. "Bullshit. She's dead."
"I know. At least that's what the Crow said. He's never wrong. This has to be an imposter."
"A likely possibility but why would someone posing as the Vestian be here?"
Gemini flipped through the dossier on her datapad. "Crow seems convinced it's actually her. It says here she's listed as MIA assumed KIA for quite some time. Says her tracking beacon reactivated for no apparent reason few months back and shut off again few hours before we got here. We need to assume it is her. I'd rather over estimate our mark than under estimate."
"Does it have her known skill set in there? We knew she was good but her methods were never made known," Boolean asked.
"Nigh perfect marksmanship. Sniper rifles, semi automatic pistols and revolvers are her preferred firearms. An affinity for knives. Black belt in muay thai, karate, tai chi and jeet kune do. This is funny, it just says she can hide anywhere including in plain sight. Nobody is that good. Master trap maker. It says…"
Boolean held up a hand to interrupt Gemini. "So basically she's Batman with guns."
"Yes, yes she is. While it is nice to be able to see what she knows, this still omits a lot. Like her thought processes. Hooray we know what she can do. Now we need to know how she does it and it doesn't tell us any of that. This is eighty-four pages of redaction. All we know is the where and when of her ops. We don't have the how. Even her name and age are redacted. Crow may as well have just sent us a picture that said 'kill me' on it and we'd have the same amount of information," Gemini said, clearly perturbed.
" I may be able to crack some of the encryption on the file. See what Crow doesn't want us seeing. Let's secure and fortify ourselves a base of operations and then I'll get to work on it," Boolean said with a shrug.
Meanwhile…
Ryuko awoke with a pounding in her head and pain in her side. She slowly lifted her shirt to check her stitches. She was relieved when she saw she hadn't broken them. She sat up and listened for any loud noises nearby. After a few minutes she cracked open one of the car doors and peered through the crack. She eased it the rest of the way open and slipped out. She thoroughly scanned her surroundings before making her way cautiously down the road. She was pleased to have all the cover the mass of cars provided but knew that it would also adequately conceal any potential hostiles. About two hours later she came upon what looked to be a bombed out military truck. She climbed in the back to see if it had been picked clean. There was a very long metal box towards the cab of the truck that looked relatively undamaged. She tried opening it but the top wouldn't budge. She looked around for something to pry the top off with and found a crowbar in a toolbox. Using the crowbar she wrenched the top off of the box, causing a loud screech and a metallic bang when the top finally popped off. She reflexively crouched low and scanned around her. For what felt like forever she stared at the tree line expecting something to come out and attack her. When she was convinced she was alone she turned to the contents of the box. She removed the top layer of packing material and almost squealed with delight. Inside she found two 9mm pistols, two thigh holsters, two sound suppressors for the pistols and twelve fully loaded spare magazines. She removed her new found weapons from the box and pulled out the next layer of packaging. Beneath she found a small black long sleeved tee-shirt, a thick belt with what looked to be ammo pouches, a pair of olive green cargo pants and black combat boots. She pulled them out and put them on. After dressing, she quickly grabbed the pistols, attached the suppressors and holstered the pistols. She stuffed the spare pistol ammo in her pockets and then removed the final layer of packaging. What she saw made her silently scream with joy. Before her was a semi automatic sniper rifle with eight box magazines of .338 Lapua ammunition. It had a wooden stock and pistol grip, a high power scope and a bipod. But what really made her most excited was the camo net that covered most of the rifle. She pulled it out and tested the weight. Pleased with her find she more closely examined the rifle, looking for any damage or signs of natural corrosion on the weapon. While checking the stock she noticed something carved into it. She looked closer to see what it was and what she saw made her chuckle. Etched into the stock were several phrases she assumed were names for the rifle. Shut Up and Get Behind Me. Better than Yours. Closing Time. All of them crossed out except for the last one. Patience and Time. "I'm gonna keep that one," she thought. She put the rifle ammo into the pouches on her belt and hopped out of the truck, continuing on her way towards Philadelphia.
***
Something I'm going to need to address sooner rather than later. Auto Rifles: Pulse Rifles:
This came up in a conversation I had with some friends of mine over PSN while playing Destiny. Weapon calibers. The reason I need to address this is because my friends and I were talking about sniper rifles in particular and one of my friends was certain that Hereafter is a .50 Caliber sniper and I told him the stats don't support that idea. He said the Destiny handbook that came with the game said all snipers were .50 cals. I informed him that no, it doesn't. Every sniper it lists it says fires a 127mm round, or at least mine does. Our characters would have to be 50 feet tall for us to wield a rifle that fires a round that big. What do I mean? A 127mm round is 5 inches. That is the size of round fired by a dual purpose AA gun mounted to a WWII US Navy battleship or the main armament of a USN Destroyer of the same time period. It isn't talking about how long the round is. It's talking about how wide the round is. 12.7mm is a .50 caliber round 127mm is a 5 inch round. So while the Destiny Handbook that came with the Year 1 Collector's Edition may just have typos regarding the caliber of round every gun that is in the book fires, I'm not taking that chance. So each weapon type will have a few real world calibers that every weapon in that category could fire and those calibers will be decided by impact. Hereafter cannot be a .50 caliber because it lacks the impact. It is a medium impact sniper. Black Spindle could be a .50 cal because of its extraordinarily high impact therefore Hereafter will would be more akin to a .338 Lapua. Weapons using nonconventional ammunition like Fusion Rifles and Hard Light as well as swords and rockets (both for obvious reasons) are exempt from this. All of my information by way of weapon stats comes from the Armory on . So here is the breakdown with ingame examples:
Low Impact: 5mm (see the long barreled version of the FN P90) Necrochasm
Medium Impact: 5.56 - Monte Carlo
High Impact: 7.62 - Suros Regime
Low Impact: 5mm - Bad Juju
Medium Impact: 5.56 - Red Death
High Impact: 7.62 - Lyudmila-D
Scout Rifles: Hand Cannons: Sidearms: Shotguns: Sniper Rifles Machine Guns: And there we go, our caliber break down. This is how it will be and is not subject to change. It's the future. I will use what rounds I wish.
Low Impact: 5.56 – MIDA Multitool
Medium Impact: 7.62 – Fang of Ir Yut
High Impact: .308 – Jade Rabbit
Low Impact: .357 Magnum – Last Word
Medium Impact: .44 Magnum- Hawkmoon
High Impact: .454 Casul – First Curse
All are going to be 9mm due to the very low impact of every one of them being the same.
All: 12 gauge (I don't use them in game so I don't know any of their stats. Making them all 12 gauge because I am unapologetically lazy)
Low Impact: .308 – Praedyth's Revenge
Medium Impact: 338 Lapua – Patience and Time
High Impact: .50 caliber/12.7mm depending on whose talking – Black Spindle
The only exception to the Snipers will be No Land Beyond. When I decide to use it, it will be a 20mm cannon. Because Ryuko is one badass bitch and bitches love cannons. Plus I, along with the whole community I think, feel No Land Beyond would have been a viable weapon if only it offered the firepower only a 20mm Anti Tank rifle can.
Low-ish Impact: 5.56 – Super Good Advice
High-ish Impact: 7.62 - Thunderlord