Somewhere Else on the Horizon Colony, Terminus Systems, Saturday Afternoon Fandom Time
Hopefully, Riley and Éponine were enjoying the walking tour of Sam's home town. Sam thought it was preferable to spending more time at home with her mum and dad, who were quite welcoming, but a bit stifling after she'd spent so long away from home. Taking in the sights of Horizon was more in line with the experience she wanted to provide for her guests, anyway.
The area they were in was fairly rural, just on the border between a residential town and an Alliance outpost. The landscape wasn't so different from Earth: crisp grass, blue sky, a smattering of chirping birds (though different in appearance to common types of birds back on Earth, a discerning observer might note). And true to the planet's name, the sunset was extraordinary.
"Now, my clearance level won't allow any of us entrance," Sam noted as she came to a hill that overlooked the Alliance camp, albeit from a distance. "But I thought I'd let you get a look at it anyway. I used to work in one of the labs over there before I was stationed in Fandom. To be completely honest, I've had nicer work environments, but you won't find a better-stocked lab anywhere."
She bit her lip, wondering if she couldn't make this a bit more interesting. "I suppose we could get a little closer..."
Riley
Truth be told, Riley had spent most of the time gawking at everything. Look, it was space and he never thought he'd be able to go and now he was there and on another planet and it was amazing.
He was so rubbing this in Ben's face.
"I'd be okay with getting closer," Riley agreed, having reined his gawking in to peer at the Alliance camp Sam had pointed out. "If it's anything like DC, you can get pretty close without a cop getting in your face and macing you."
Éponine
Éponine was on the same wavelength as Riley, just possibly with a higher degree of mindblown. Also smug, because she'd be willing to bet that not even the richest old bourgeois she'd ever seen reading the newspaper in the Luxembourg had gotten to go to another planet, what with space travel being a century and a half away from existence.
"I'd like to get a closer look too, so long's there aren't any cops around who're likely to pinch us," she chimed in with a faint grimace. It wasn't one of her favorite things. "We'd only be looking, after all."
Sam
"If anyone's got a problem with it, I'm sure they'll register their complaints more politely than that," Sam declared. "Er, hopefully, anyway. I don't make a habit of sneaking into Alliance outposts I haven't got the clearance for."
Especially ones with big, scary, brand-new defense towers like the ones this camp currently had. She eyed the largest of the towers warily before she decided to hell with it, and started down the hill that separated them from the camp.
"Those towers are new, by the way," she observed. "Not quite sure what's going on there."
Riley
"Extra protection?" Riley wondered, going for what he hoped was the less 'oh god we could be shot down any moment' option. "Like the US upgrading their nuclear capabilities every single day or something?"
Éponine
"Ah. So that's what those are," said Éponine, who kept pausing every few steps to squint curiously at the towers. "That's a little bit odd, isn't it? D'you think they mean to keep something out, or in?"
Assessing the place like she intended to sneak in was just habit.
Sam
"I... suppose 'out' makes the most sense," Sam ventured. "But, erm, contrary to popular belief, Portalocity employees can usually see a safety rating for a given destination, and there weren't any red flags..."
Hey, what was that weird buzzing sound?
Riley
Yeah, Riley heard that sound too. He glanced around, trying to find the source.
"Are there mosquitoes on this planet?" he asked, already swatting at the air in front of his face.
Éponine
To say Éponine was skeptical was kind of an understatement. "Those are quite a bit of trouble to go to only to keep insects out."
That said, she still shifted her attention from the towers to the sky, just to see where the noise was coming from.
Sam
"There are, but they're certainly not--"
A black swarm of furiously buzzing insects became visible in the distance from the west -- distance that was rapidly growing smaller and smaller as the swarm advanced at top speed.
"--that loud," Sam finished weakly.
That was definitely not good and definitely not normal.
She peered cautiously down the hill separating them from the Alliance camp. "Sh-should we run?"
Riley
"Possibly?" Riley said, starting to look a little freaked out. "Uh, very, very possibly. To where, though?"
There were a lot of...things coming and Riley didn't see a convenient bomb shelter anywhere.
Éponine
"They're only --" That was right about when Éponine got a good look at the swarm and how fast it was moving, so never mind anything she'd been about to say about them only being insects; trying to find the shortest escape route just took priority.
"Pardine," she half-muttered. "Well, d'you suppose we ought to find out how unwelcome we'd be down there?"
Sam
The swarm was getting closer and closer and Sam was starting to panic, so she managed to strangle out, "Let's -- let's go with that."
There were faster ways to have made that call, Sam.
Still, if there weren't any immediate objections (which she would certainly listen to), she was going to take off at a run down the hill. It was a good thing she had her inhaler in her pocket.
Riley
"Crap, I hope I'm not allergic to anything," Riley said, taking off right behind Sam. He'd been doing so much running from these in his life that he was an expert by now.
Safe to say that Riley had no objections on running.
Éponine
Éponine was used to running from the police, but losing one or two pursuers in a crowd was an entirely different experience from having nothing but a lot of empty space between her and an entire swarm of ridiculously fast flying things. The differences didn't matter, though, not right now, and she'd barely waited to find out if the others were in agreement before she started down the hill.
"If they don't let us in, what then?"
She wasn't asking to make anyone panic; she just wanted to know if they'd have to do some fast talking. Literally and figuratively fast, too, under the circumstances.
Sam
Sam was wheezing -- her asthma was not liking this situation at all.
"We get swarmed," she wheezed. "Maybe die."
Or hack the door. She didn't have a cool head right now. But as they got closer, coming up on the nearest building, someone with a cool head might notice that there didn't seem to be as many people milling around the Alliance camp as you might expect -- actually, there weren't any at all, except for a few scattered colonists who seemed to be paralyzed in place, surrounded by an eerie orange glow.
Probably best to get inside.
Riley
"That is not an optimistic way to think!" Riley shouted, making the mistake of looking back over his shoulder at the swarm. "I don't wanna die!"
Safe to say he didn't have the coolest of heads either. He had his running shoes on though so he was doing that, almost oblivious to the nature of the camp. Too concerned about his own life.
Éponine
"No matter. I hardly think they'll notice us at all," Éponine rasped out -- being short of breath did her voice no favors. "Good lord, it's much emptier than I thought it might be."
Mercifully, she didn't add (out loud) that this was probably a sign of trouble.
Well. More trouble.
Sam
Sam was able to concentrate on two things: running without tripping, and the buzzing of the swarm behind her. As they approached the nearest building that had a door that could shut, she added 'fiddling with her omni-tool' to the list: as much as it was really not recommended to hack open Alliance buildings, she was pretty sure that she didn't want to be swarmed by gigantic insects either.
The door beeped, glowed green and slid open. "Here, here, quickly," Sam panted hastily.
Give her a second to catch her breath. The panicking was only going to increase from there.
Riley
Riley didn't need to be told twice. He pretty much flung himself in through the open door. He pinwheeled and ran into a wall but was glad of that because that stopped him from falling over.
He was breathing hard and staring wide eyed at the swarm that was closing in fast.
Éponine
Recommended, not recommended, whatever; this was a time for survival instincts, not conscientious ethical decisions.
Éponine half scrambled, half skidded into the building and immediately flattened herself up against the wall beside the doorway.
"Good god," she rasped, but that was all she could manage before catching her breath became a priority.
Sam
Doubled over and taking puffs from her inhaler, Sam resurfaced to ask, "What the hell were those?"
And she was the one who was supposed to know.
Riley
"You don't know?" Riley asked, feeling a little terrified at that prospect. "I didn't bring any insect repellent!"
He literally didn't know what to say so he fell back to sarcasm.
Éponine
"Large, fast, and likely intent on eating us, though all that matters to me is that they're not doing so," Éponine retorted with some sarcasm of her own. "Only I don't much fancy being trapped in here forever. D'you think they'll lose interest and go off on their own?"
She didn't exactly sound optimistic about that possibility.
Sam
"Erm -- hopefully."
That wasn't a good answer, Sam. That seemed to register with her, because she took a breath and said all in a rush: "Guys, I am so sorry. I've no clue what's going on and this is -- I'm not a combatant, I'm just a specialist, and there's a reason I was stationed so far from conflict, and I don't -- have -- any idea how to deal with this."
Riley
"Well, it's not Bali but I'm certainly getting my exercise," Riley quipped, looking around and desperately wishing he had his laptop with him. "Good for the heart and all."
He was quiet for a second, still searching their surroundings.
"Think we're safe in here?"
Éponine
Éponine's response was to laugh, but it was a harsh and sarcastic-sounding laugh and so probably wasn't a reassuring answer.
"And you so clever about so many other things," she said, teasing, but relented and gestured toward Sam's omni-tool. "Can that fancy lingre of yours tell us anything about them?"
She paused and glanced around, skimming over unfamiliar control panels and deciding she'd leave the tinkering with them to the others. Still, she kept staring at the window shutter controls, even if she didn't make a move to actually use them.
"Or if they've anything to do with the people standing about like statues outside?"
Because she hadn't been the only one who'd noticed them, right?
Sam
"You're right! I can -- wait, what?"
Sam had not noticed the frozen people. She had been concentrating primarily on the running and the not dying.
"Erm, I didn't see anything like that," she said, looking nervously to Riley.
Riley
"I was too busy trying not to die," Riley said, sheepish. "People were frozen out there? And I bet it wasn't just a very badly timed game of freeze tag either."
Keep on keeping on, Riley.
Éponine
"If they're playing at something, it's stupid of them to do it now. No matter, imagine if we'd run right into some less friendly crowd, and you not noticing! Good thing for us, if less so for them." Now was probably a terrible time for Éponine to take a moment to enjoy feeling superior, but those opportunities were rare.
. . . all right, and moment over, because trying not to die was still a priority.
She indicated the shutter controls. "Shall we take a peek, do you think?"
Sam
Sam bit her lip. "I suppose we ought to," she said, and slowly activated the controls.
The shutters opened to reveal that it wasn't just a swarm of insects on the other side of the glass anymore.
Sam sucked in a breath. "Oh my god."
Riley
"Holy shit," Riley said, eyes widening and mouth dropping open. "What in the -- "
He trailed off.
"What?"
Éponine
Éponine let out a strangled little noise, as if she'd been half a second too late to fully stifle an alarmed yelp.
Then she laughed, a little too loudly and carelessly.
"Good lord, what a frightful looking bunch of devils! But suppose they're friendlier than they look? No, that's stupid. I don't fancy our odds there, I don't."
Sam
Sam had clapped her hands over her mouth in alarm, but she removed them to breathe, "I don't think we've got any odds."
She stared out the window in horror for another long moment and then quickly returned her attention to her omni-tool. "I'm calling Commander Alenko," she said firmly. "He might be somewhere in this base. Unless..."
She really hoped he wasn't frozen.
Kaidan
There was no need, really, because her omni-tool crackled to life a few seconds before she could set up the communication protocol. "Specialist Traynor," Kaidan yelled. "Calling Specialist Traynor--"
Please be alive.
Sam
"Commander Alenko!" Sam exclaimed as soon as she keyed in the combination to accept the call. "Are you and your friends all right?"
There was definitely a note of franticness in her voice that gave away how very much she needed a refresher course on non-soldiers' combat training.
Kaidan
Oh thank god.
"We're fine, for now," Kaidan reported. He glanced up - had to keep making sure nothing was coming. "The whole colony's been overrun. What's your status and position?"
His voice was calm, if a little out of breath.
Sam
"We made it into an Alliance building at--" Sam reported before giving her coordinates. "We're secure for now, but the building's surrounded by those creatures. I don't think we've got much of a chance of fighting our way out of here."
Kaidan
Kaidan... was going to save his breath of relief for later, but it was definitely bubbling up. "Okay," he said. "Just stay put, don't engage. We should be able to get there within ten minutes. Keep a head up, Specialist."
[[based on, like, a throwaway line of sam's in mass effect 3. preplayed with the amazing and unbelievably patient filleauloup and 1stinkinpercent and coded up by the impossibly generous not_a_whiner.]]
The area they were in was fairly rural, just on the border between a residential town and an Alliance outpost. The landscape wasn't so different from Earth: crisp grass, blue sky, a smattering of chirping birds (though different in appearance to common types of birds back on Earth, a discerning observer might note). And true to the planet's name, the sunset was extraordinary.
"Now, my clearance level won't allow any of us entrance," Sam noted as she came to a hill that overlooked the Alliance camp, albeit from a distance. "But I thought I'd let you get a look at it anyway. I used to work in one of the labs over there before I was stationed in Fandom. To be completely honest, I've had nicer work environments, but you won't find a better-stocked lab anywhere."
She bit her lip, wondering if she couldn't make this a bit more interesting. "I suppose we could get a little closer..."
Riley
Truth be told, Riley had spent most of the time gawking at everything. Look, it was space and he never thought he'd be able to go and now he was there and on another planet and it was amazing.
He was so rubbing this in Ben's face.
"I'd be okay with getting closer," Riley agreed, having reined his gawking in to peer at the Alliance camp Sam had pointed out. "If it's anything like DC, you can get pretty close without a cop getting in your face and macing you."
Éponine
Éponine was on the same wavelength as Riley, just possibly with a higher degree of mindblown. Also smug, because she'd be willing to bet that not even the richest old bourgeois she'd ever seen reading the newspaper in the Luxembourg had gotten to go to another planet, what with space travel being a century and a half away from existence.
"I'd like to get a closer look too, so long's there aren't any cops around who're likely to pinch us," she chimed in with a faint grimace. It wasn't one of her favorite things. "We'd only be looking, after all."
Sam
"If anyone's got a problem with it, I'm sure they'll register their complaints more politely than that," Sam declared. "Er, hopefully, anyway. I don't make a habit of sneaking into Alliance outposts I haven't got the clearance for."
Especially ones with big, scary, brand-new defense towers like the ones this camp currently had. She eyed the largest of the towers warily before she decided to hell with it, and started down the hill that separated them from the camp.
"Those towers are new, by the way," she observed. "Not quite sure what's going on there."
Riley
"Extra protection?" Riley wondered, going for what he hoped was the less 'oh god we could be shot down any moment' option. "Like the US upgrading their nuclear capabilities every single day or something?"
Éponine
"Ah. So that's what those are," said Éponine, who kept pausing every few steps to squint curiously at the towers. "That's a little bit odd, isn't it? D'you think they mean to keep something out, or in?"
Assessing the place like she intended to sneak in was just habit.
Sam
"I... suppose 'out' makes the most sense," Sam ventured. "But, erm, contrary to popular belief, Portalocity employees can usually see a safety rating for a given destination, and there weren't any red flags..."
Hey, what was that weird buzzing sound?
Riley
Yeah, Riley heard that sound too. He glanced around, trying to find the source.
"Are there mosquitoes on this planet?" he asked, already swatting at the air in front of his face.
Éponine
To say Éponine was skeptical was kind of an understatement. "Those are quite a bit of trouble to go to only to keep insects out."
That said, she still shifted her attention from the towers to the sky, just to see where the noise was coming from.
Sam
"There are, but they're certainly not--"
A black swarm of furiously buzzing insects became visible in the distance from the west -- distance that was rapidly growing smaller and smaller as the swarm advanced at top speed.
"--that loud," Sam finished weakly.
That was definitely not good and definitely not normal.
She peered cautiously down the hill separating them from the Alliance camp. "Sh-should we run?"
Riley
"Possibly?" Riley said, starting to look a little freaked out. "Uh, very, very possibly. To where, though?"
There were a lot of...things coming and Riley didn't see a convenient bomb shelter anywhere.
Éponine
"They're only --" That was right about when Éponine got a good look at the swarm and how fast it was moving, so never mind anything she'd been about to say about them only being insects; trying to find the shortest escape route just took priority.
"Pardine," she half-muttered. "Well, d'you suppose we ought to find out how unwelcome we'd be down there?"
Sam
The swarm was getting closer and closer and Sam was starting to panic, so she managed to strangle out, "Let's -- let's go with that."
There were faster ways to have made that call, Sam.
Still, if there weren't any immediate objections (which she would certainly listen to), she was going to take off at a run down the hill. It was a good thing she had her inhaler in her pocket.
Riley
"Crap, I hope I'm not allergic to anything," Riley said, taking off right behind Sam. He'd been doing so much running from these in his life that he was an expert by now.
Safe to say that Riley had no objections on running.
Éponine
Éponine was used to running from the police, but losing one or two pursuers in a crowd was an entirely different experience from having nothing but a lot of empty space between her and an entire swarm of ridiculously fast flying things. The differences didn't matter, though, not right now, and she'd barely waited to find out if the others were in agreement before she started down the hill.
"If they don't let us in, what then?"
She wasn't asking to make anyone panic; she just wanted to know if they'd have to do some fast talking. Literally and figuratively fast, too, under the circumstances.
Sam
Sam was wheezing -- her asthma was not liking this situation at all.
"We get swarmed," she wheezed. "Maybe die."
Or hack the door. She didn't have a cool head right now. But as they got closer, coming up on the nearest building, someone with a cool head might notice that there didn't seem to be as many people milling around the Alliance camp as you might expect -- actually, there weren't any at all, except for a few scattered colonists who seemed to be paralyzed in place, surrounded by an eerie orange glow.
Probably best to get inside.
Riley
"That is not an optimistic way to think!" Riley shouted, making the mistake of looking back over his shoulder at the swarm. "I don't wanna die!"
Safe to say he didn't have the coolest of heads either. He had his running shoes on though so he was doing that, almost oblivious to the nature of the camp. Too concerned about his own life.
Éponine
"No matter. I hardly think they'll notice us at all," Éponine rasped out -- being short of breath did her voice no favors. "Good lord, it's much emptier than I thought it might be."
Mercifully, she didn't add (out loud) that this was probably a sign of trouble.
Well. More trouble.
Sam
Sam was able to concentrate on two things: running without tripping, and the buzzing of the swarm behind her. As they approached the nearest building that had a door that could shut, she added 'fiddling with her omni-tool' to the list: as much as it was really not recommended to hack open Alliance buildings, she was pretty sure that she didn't want to be swarmed by gigantic insects either.
The door beeped, glowed green and slid open. "Here, here, quickly," Sam panted hastily.
Give her a second to catch her breath. The panicking was only going to increase from there.
Riley
Riley didn't need to be told twice. He pretty much flung himself in through the open door. He pinwheeled and ran into a wall but was glad of that because that stopped him from falling over.
He was breathing hard and staring wide eyed at the swarm that was closing in fast.
Éponine
Recommended, not recommended, whatever; this was a time for survival instincts, not conscientious ethical decisions.
Éponine half scrambled, half skidded into the building and immediately flattened herself up against the wall beside the doorway.
"Good god," she rasped, but that was all she could manage before catching her breath became a priority.
Sam
Doubled over and taking puffs from her inhaler, Sam resurfaced to ask, "What the hell were those?"
And she was the one who was supposed to know.
Riley
"You don't know?" Riley asked, feeling a little terrified at that prospect. "I didn't bring any insect repellent!"
He literally didn't know what to say so he fell back to sarcasm.
Éponine
"Large, fast, and likely intent on eating us, though all that matters to me is that they're not doing so," Éponine retorted with some sarcasm of her own. "Only I don't much fancy being trapped in here forever. D'you think they'll lose interest and go off on their own?"
She didn't exactly sound optimistic about that possibility.
Sam
"Erm -- hopefully."
That wasn't a good answer, Sam. That seemed to register with her, because she took a breath and said all in a rush: "Guys, I am so sorry. I've no clue what's going on and this is -- I'm not a combatant, I'm just a specialist, and there's a reason I was stationed so far from conflict, and I don't -- have -- any idea how to deal with this."
Riley
"Well, it's not Bali but I'm certainly getting my exercise," Riley quipped, looking around and desperately wishing he had his laptop with him. "Good for the heart and all."
He was quiet for a second, still searching their surroundings.
"Think we're safe in here?"
Éponine
Éponine's response was to laugh, but it was a harsh and sarcastic-sounding laugh and so probably wasn't a reassuring answer.
"And you so clever about so many other things," she said, teasing, but relented and gestured toward Sam's omni-tool. "Can that fancy lingre of yours tell us anything about them?"
She paused and glanced around, skimming over unfamiliar control panels and deciding she'd leave the tinkering with them to the others. Still, she kept staring at the window shutter controls, even if she didn't make a move to actually use them.
"Or if they've anything to do with the people standing about like statues outside?"
Because she hadn't been the only one who'd noticed them, right?
Sam
"You're right! I can -- wait, what?"
Sam had not noticed the frozen people. She had been concentrating primarily on the running and the not dying.
"Erm, I didn't see anything like that," she said, looking nervously to Riley.
Riley
"I was too busy trying not to die," Riley said, sheepish. "People were frozen out there? And I bet it wasn't just a very badly timed game of freeze tag either."
Keep on keeping on, Riley.
Éponine
"If they're playing at something, it's stupid of them to do it now. No matter, imagine if we'd run right into some less friendly crowd, and you not noticing! Good thing for us, if less so for them." Now was probably a terrible time for Éponine to take a moment to enjoy feeling superior, but those opportunities were rare.
. . . all right, and moment over, because trying not to die was still a priority.
She indicated the shutter controls. "Shall we take a peek, do you think?"
Sam
Sam bit her lip. "I suppose we ought to," she said, and slowly activated the controls.
The shutters opened to reveal that it wasn't just a swarm of insects on the other side of the glass anymore.
Sam sucked in a breath. "Oh my god."
Riley
"Holy shit," Riley said, eyes widening and mouth dropping open. "What in the -- "
He trailed off.
"What?"
Éponine
Éponine let out a strangled little noise, as if she'd been half a second too late to fully stifle an alarmed yelp.
Then she laughed, a little too loudly and carelessly.
"Good lord, what a frightful looking bunch of devils! But suppose they're friendlier than they look? No, that's stupid. I don't fancy our odds there, I don't."
Sam
Sam had clapped her hands over her mouth in alarm, but she removed them to breathe, "I don't think we've got any odds."
She stared out the window in horror for another long moment and then quickly returned her attention to her omni-tool. "I'm calling Commander Alenko," she said firmly. "He might be somewhere in this base. Unless..."
She really hoped he wasn't frozen.
Kaidan
There was no need, really, because her omni-tool crackled to life a few seconds before she could set up the communication protocol. "Specialist Traynor," Kaidan yelled. "Calling Specialist Traynor--"
Please be alive.
Sam
"Commander Alenko!" Sam exclaimed as soon as she keyed in the combination to accept the call. "Are you and your friends all right?"
There was definitely a note of franticness in her voice that gave away how very much she needed a refresher course on non-soldiers' combat training.
Kaidan
Oh thank god.
"We're fine, for now," Kaidan reported. He glanced up - had to keep making sure nothing was coming. "The whole colony's been overrun. What's your status and position?"
His voice was calm, if a little out of breath.
Sam
"We made it into an Alliance building at--" Sam reported before giving her coordinates. "We're secure for now, but the building's surrounded by those creatures. I don't think we've got much of a chance of fighting our way out of here."
Kaidan
Kaidan... was going to save his breath of relief for later, but it was definitely bubbling up. "Okay," he said. "Just stay put, don't engage. We should be able to get there within ten minutes. Keep a head up, Specialist."
[[based on, like, a throwaway line of sam's in mass effect 3. preplayed with the amazing and unbelievably patient filleauloup and 1stinkinpercent and coded up by the impossibly generous not_a_whiner.]]