[Citadel/Nimbus] A Party On The Rocks (closed)

“It’s okay,” replied Arina to Temria’s question. “The medigel is holding together.” At least the hood was soft. Having to wear a hard helmet would have been a torture she guessed.

She moved outside with everybody. The sudden cold air was biting her where bare skin was visible. She was grateful for the goggles now even though they limited visibility a bit. She wasn't used to this kind of equipment but was trying to move as naturally as possible. The clothing seemed to hold of the cold well and when she started to move, her body began to adapt better. Or was it the heating system adapting the suit to her?

She was just focusing on the footsteps in the snow in front of her. Her feet were much smaller than Freh’ya’s but it still felt exhausting after a few minutes.

The headache came back with the physical exercise but she was determined not to take another pill too soon.

"Alright. If you'll follow me please?" Rahi took a quick glance around, making sure both were ready and nothing was being left behind, then led the way out of medbay and around to the airlock, donning her helmet while she walked. At the threshold she held up a hand to halt the others and unslung her rifle before stepping through.

Damn that's cold, she grimaced, watching the conditions readout in her HUD drop sharply. It wouldn't be long before she began to feel it, either; her heating unit was set to keep her as warm as she needed to be to function effectively, but no more than that, not while their situation remained so uncertain. She sincerely doubted any attacker would've escaped Freh'ya's notice, but she checked the angles as she exited the shuttle anyway, sighting down her rifle for whatever help her passive sensors could be. Satisfied, she lowered the barrel and signalled for Arina and Temria to emerge.

"Ma'am, doctor. I've got your backs," she said, letting them pass her. She quickly tasked two drones to their flanks, on the edge of their sensor limits, and after a second's thought activated a third, instructing it to venture further out in a survey pattern, and return to sensor contact the moment it spotted anything. The gun drone hovered along ahead of her, and off to one side, ready to interpose itself between the civilians and any hostile fire.

She paused a moment and looked back over the hull of her shuttle, wincing at the buckled hull plating.

"Sorry," she murmured sadly, off comms. She put her palm to the hull beside the airlock, feeling there was more she ought to say, after everything - but then, Sala was a huntress, like her. Sometimes that meant sacrificing to keep others safe, and it wasn't for the survivors to feel guilty that she had done her job, even at this cost. Rahi sighed, switched her comms back on, and turned away from her ship, following in the others' footsteps, and keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

Temria followed quickly behind Arina as Rahi ushered them out, flexing her poor fingers reflexively as she found her footing on the icy surface. She saw with some satisfaction that Arina wasted no time following Freh'ya's instruction to move out in an orderly manner, and kept pace easily behind her, the commando's considerately brief paces making it easier for her to follow despite her discomfort.

With a mind to make it at least a bit useful, Temria took the opportunity to fire up her omni-tool and ready the medical interface on her slung left arm, displaying very basic, high level information about Arina and her bio signs in simple, large format that she could easily glance down at on the fly. Arina's suit would be able to keep her abreast of urgent updates, but it helped that she could be aware here. For a moment, she'd considered monitoring Freh'ya as well, but the commando had too much of a lead on her to be reliable, and Rahi... where was Rahi?!

Temria stopped, glancing back over her shoulder to see the pilot catching up behind them, and for an instant the relief she felt turned to dread as her situation kicked in. They were on Trategos. The cold, evil little ball of ice with that glowering crack in it seemed so distant, so abstract, but there they were... on a plain of ice and jagged rocks so inhospitable there very presence on it was like a joke. A world engulfed in such a cold that an unfiltered breath would feel like a kick to the chest, a brief period of burning agony, followed shortly by death. Temria suddenly felt very vulnerable.

For now at least, the suit was holding, heating the air rapidly to the point where it merely felt shockingly cold, granting her the impetus to move again. Exhaling so sharply the comms picked it up, she turned again to follow Arina, keeping just close enough to Rahilan to keep her on the monitor.

Get off the plain! There’s no cover! Freh’ya was fighting to keep her pace to a minimum, despite her urge to hurry. They had made it halfway already… soon! The rocks of the ridge would be a much better cover.

The icy particles the wind was blowing at her were causing very delicate flickers in her barrier sometimes, almost like a beautiful aurora. She looked over her shoulder to check on the group from time to time. Everyone was keeping up and Rahilan was keeping the back end close enough so they would not string out too far from each other. They were a silent caravan in a white desert.

Then she discovered a crack under the snow, several meters ahead, just in time. She raised her arm and turned.
"Stop, a crevasse under the snow. Everyone stay in your footsteps.” Freh’ya was trying to measure it, it was about five meters wide, she could just detect the opposing side when she was at the very rim. It was too insecure to jump but she could cross it with the help of biotics.

"Okay, it is at least five to six meters. I will cross it biotically. Can you all do that? Temria, Arina, you two will be assisted by Rahi and me from both ends, okay?”
Saying that she flared up her biotics, the blue shimmer engulfing her as she slowly lifted off the ground. A bubble was forming around her and she began to slowly traverse forward. Freh’ya observed the ground below her on her omnitool as she crossed the crevasse, a deep trap under the ice, while the surface was plain while and virgin snow without a trace of the looming danger. Without much hassle she floated across the obstacle but she left the bubble intact around her landing spot.

It would provide at least some additional protection while they were concentrating on the task at hand.
"All right, Arina, you’re next!” She already focused a lift on the diplomat, ready to assist her when she was.

Breath was brushing over an aural.
“Enjoy this night. The last of many, eventually.” A whispered voice, the answer was an angry sigh.

~~~~

[crackling, interferences are disturbing the message.]

“We are coming back in, Madam. No trace of the pirates in the vicinity, no trace of the promised fighters either though.”

“I talked to Sunda, they will help us out, don’t worry. The automated defenses are set up, we are safe here. You will guard the main gate while I will prepare the shuttle for the Lady Matriarch.”

[more crackle, something that could be a confirmation, then just static]

An automated turret is doing a slow 360, its infrared eye scanning the surroundings, processing everything unusual. There is nothing at the moment.

Arina froze in her step on the signal of Freh’ya. She looked at the snowy surface where the huntress was pointing but here eyes could not find anything, they were lost in the white, without depth perception.

She watched Freh’ya cross a distance elevated by her biotics and finally fired up her own. She was a civilian, which meant she wasn’t as powerful or familiar with the many forms of biotics like the military cadres in their group but this was one of the basic forms, lifting oneself by manipulation of the mass of one’s body. She was well capable of that but the moment she got off the ground she was grateful for the help. Her head started throbbing like crazy as her blood pressure rose.

With a sigh of relief, she landed next to Freh’ya inside the bubble. “Thanks, help appreciated!” she said between breaths. The painful white light from the snow wasn’t helping, despite the toned goggles… she needed another pill now. If this small effort had this effect, she wasn’t looking forward to the climb at all.

She watched as the rest of the group traversed the obstacle while she washed the medication down with a sip of cold water, making sure to stow the bottle away again fast, so it would not freeze.

Rahilan froze at Freh'ya's command, then slowly moved forward to close the distance between herself and the others once it was obvious the cause of alarm was an obstacle, not an enemy. She pursed her lips inside her helmet, studying the ground ahead - just as well the more experienced commando was in the lead, she might have missed that.

"Tasking drone," she said quietly, when Freh'ya opened her omni-tool to study the snow-covered ground. An additional micro drone deployed and moved ahead, hovering close to the snow and adding its sensors to the reach of Freh'ya's 'tool. As an afterthought she set the other drones to a more active surveillance pattern, and had the gun drone climb a little higher for better visibility - extra warning, in case somebody happened upon them while they were busy with the task at hand.

"I'll concentrate on negating mass," she offered when volunteered to help. From the look of Freh'ya's bubble she was vastly more practiced, and would fare much better at steering the others across. She loaded the drone's readings to her helmet visor so she could see where firm ground was, and when all were ready focused on Arina, surrounding her body with a faintly visible flickering aura - nothing like the concentration and precision of Freh'ya's smooth bubble, but it did its job, making her that much lighter for the trip across.

"Doctor," she invited Temria, turning to face her and flexing her hands - the gesture helped her refocus after a biotic exertion.

Temria took slow, deep breaths. She knew something like this was coming... the topography demanded it, it was practically mandatory for a scene like it in any vid on the subject, and her training had ostensibly covered it those centuries ago. She grimaced at the memory, fall after fall in front of exasperated trainers and bemused associates... she realized with some trepidation that she'd once broken her arm that way too...

"I'm not very good at this!" she told Rahi, panic creeping in at the edge of her voice, even as she took slow, trembling steps towards the commando, her rational mind pushing her against the fear, "I-I-I'm actually quite bad at this...!"

Her breathing was becoming shallow, the sound of her heartbeat felt like a drum in her head. The doctor braced herself as she stood on the edge of uncertainty and tried to focus on the other two ahead of her. She swallowed hard, looking to Rahi for support as she flared up her biotic field... "Oh Goddess... oh Goddess..." she whimpered as she took a last deep breath and lept.

Even as she did so she knew that was a mistake, by pushing off she'd lent herself momentum and was already accelerating towards the two on the other side.

"C-catch me!" she cried, careening towards them, trying not to reflect on the way her nightmares seemed to be catching up with her and just clinging to the shred of urgent self-preserving focus that kept her from dispelling the field in a panic and dropping like a stone.

The doctor was panicking. But when Freh’ya realized what was about to happen she was already in the middle of it. “We’ll help you, don’t… no, wait…!”
Too late, the doctor came at the large Commando like an angry pildavi offensive at full speed. Only her biotic elevation would have been considered a foul.

Freh’ya’s reflexes were kicking in without her having to think about it. She twisted the lift she had been ready to use anyway so Temria’s trajectory was slightly deflected. But she had not taken into account what mass manipulation Rahi had already released so the doctor seemed to twist around her axis and her flight path redirected to the left. Just not enough to miss Freh’ya, Temria’s good shoulder collided with the well padded breast of the huntress and toppled her over so she fell into the snow, barriers flickering and burying her backpack deep in the snow, Temria ending on top of her!

“Ugh… ouch. Goddess” Tides! She was resting a moment on her back, holding Temria with both harms as if to calm her down a bit. She looked straight up into the sky… it was getting dark…. Hurry.

Then she propped herself up, supporting the doctor, trying not to put stress on that broken arm. With her other, she was brushing off snow.
“I’ve got you. Are you okay?” Her eyes were concerned but probably not visible through the tinted goggles.
“At least you made it.” She added with a chuckle, trying to release the tension.

Arina was just watching the mess unfold. Her mouth was open but it was not visible of course behind the face protection, she didn't know why but had expected the doctor to be a total expert with biotics and better than herself!

When the two were entangled in the snow next to her, it took her a few seconds to actually react, but she helped the two of them getting upright again and started brushing snow off their backs. She wondered about the champaign powder texture of the snow, rubing it between her fingers. Dry air and cold temperatures, it got carried away pretty easily by the wind, on the surface a thin crust of ice was holding it together, making a very delicate crack with each step. It wasn't very heavy snow at least.

But yes, her concern was also about Temria's arm, totally forgetting her headache for a moment.

Temria hit the ground feet-first as the others brought her in, though she flinched too hard to follow through with it properly. Stumbling, she hit Freh'ya with a full-shouldered tackle that brought them both to the ground in a tangled mess, but under the circumstances she couldn't have been happier.

"I'm okay... I'm okayImOkay..." she stammered between frantic, rapid gasps, clinging to the commando for dear life. "I-I made it...!"

It took some coaxing from the pair of them there to convince her to let go, and when she did so reluctantly the doctor was happy to note the pain in her arm remained the dull ache she'd been coping with fine thus far. Rolling onto her side, and then turning further, she sat there for a moment in the snow while she tried to catch her breath, a trembling creeping into her joints as the adrenaline almost immediately began to wear off.

"O-okay... Lets get... Rahi... and get going..."

Rahilan hesitated a moment at the sight of Temria's expression; it wasn't that she had been serene, exactly, following their crash, but who would be? Rahi hadn't anticipated her composure to be that tenuous though.

"...uh," she began, "it'll be okay?" She realised, as she was generating her field around the doctor, that she likely didn't sound terribly encouraging, and took a moment to glance across to the distant, reassuring figure of Freh'ya. "Just go-"

Ah, too late.

"...slow..."

Fortunately nobody's attention was on her, to notice her visible wince at Temria's impetuous leap. She fought down the instinct to try to moderate her path herself - the debate passed through her mind in an instant: Freh'ya had the power, all she needed was for Rahi to keep calm and not start altering Temria's flight characteristics in mid-stream.

She tensed when the doctor landed, tumbling herself and Freh'ya into a heap, but Arina was there, and after a moment she saw all involved moving steadily again, no evidence of further serious injury. That was a Goddess-send.

She took a few seconds to refocus, putting the debacle out of her mind (Athame, what could have happened, just because she was too slow to offer a few calming words when they would've done good) and built a field around herself. Dark energy discharge flickered over her like blue fire, and she took to steps and jumped - not a headlong leap, but a relaxed push away from the ground, a skip almost, except that she floated up and over, drifting, and followed a leisurely arc back down to gently touch down across the hidden fissure. The crosswind had carried her a little way down from the grounp - as much as she had lowered her mass, there was no way to stop that any more than a leaf could defy the breeze - but she had allowed for it, and took only a moment to jog back to the others, resetting the tac drones and bringing the gun drone across as she did.

"Um. Is... everyone, alright?" she ventured.

Everyone had assembled again finally. Freh'ya began to realize what it would mean should they actually meet opposition from an point of tactical advantage. The group was not battle-ready and she would have to get them to the safety of the retreat as soon as possible.

"All right. Everyone please check your gear, make sure nothing is lose or lost." She was inspecting Temria's backpack while saying that. Nothing was lose or open, just the fine snow in a few folds.

She looked over towards where the galcier ended and the rocks began protruding through the white surface and hillside of the ridge began. She pointed towards the area and up.
"We have to get up there before it is dark, so everyone get going. This is going to be the hard part. Map says, the rest of the way will be easier." she turned towards the pilot.

"Rahi, make sure this spot does not give our numbers away. Everyone in line again." she slung her rifle over her shoulder so she had under her right arm as she began to march the rest of the way....

~~~~

Half an hour later, the group was the the foot of a step hillside. The dark, almost black colored rocks were sharp edged where the weren't touched by the ice. There was no path or anything but there were enough protruding ledges and boulders to eventually gain elevation. Freh'ya was carefully measuring each step but at least she could be sure if some protrusion was carrying her weight, it also would carry the others.

After two hours (it felt like four) of tough rock climbing, they had reached another obstacle, where only biotics could help them. The next ledge was just too high to reach and pull up, especially for one-armed Temria. Freh'ya again advanced but she wanted to avoid a catastrophe. From her point right at the edge she had an excellent feel of the hundred meters of razor sharp rocks right under her. It had been getting dangerously dark by now, the snow of the glacier was reflecting the last light while the dark rocks seemed to swallow everything. The wreck was sitting there, good to see from this position, like a stranded moo-whale.

She looked down a the three asari below and sat her backpack and rifle next to her.
"Okay, this time Temria is next. You two will support her with your hands. I will use an elevation and you -" she pointed at Rahi " - will assist with a lift, okay?" she was extending both arms as she bent her knees to reach for Temria as soon as possible. The exhaustion of this trip had brought an invisible grin to her face. It would have been an fun excursion under other circumstances. Whoever had done this would pay at her bare hands. She was in her element, Always on the move, as was the motto of the vanguards of the Ring Guard.

Marching, marching, in the steps of that commando in front of her.... Marching... White... Dark. Oh, rocks...

Arina had just been staring ahead, trying to focus on the footsteps. She was no great help, just not being a burden was enough. They had made a bit of a rest at the foot of the hillside and then tackled the climb. Nothing or nobody was bothering them. Only the wind was now whistling between the sharp rocks. The drones made their buzzing and beeping noises, a bit like birds blabbering to themselves. Actually, it occurred to Arina just now that there were no animals or birds around either. This was a lost hell, frozen over. Who had the bright idea to actually build a mountain retreat out here!?

Nobody talked much obviously, this was far too tense a situation. Her stomach started to grumble just when they reached that wall. She shook her head in amazement about the ease of Freh'ya's biotics. There was a difference between just anybody's and centuries old huntresses abilities, amazing everytime.

She turned around and... took a step back against the rock wall. "Goddess..." It was terribly high, she hadn't realized it before.

She stretched her back a bit, the backpack was starting to wear on her, the head wasn't getting better but she didn't want to take another pill yet. The end of the climb was in sight! She didn't dare ask for a break either.

"C'mon, Temria, just this one more climb, we are almost there." she was trying to smile under her face mask, maybe the crinkle on the outside gave it away a bit.
All of them holding together made it all bearable she thought, looking from one to the next, she had actually hope to see this through. She was gently supporting the doctor for the lifting action, trying not to look down.

In the time between her graceless pirouette across the snowy chasm and now, Temria had had time to settle her nerves and a cooler, calmer frame of mind had reasserted itself. In fact, she hadn't shown any reluctance to take to the mountainside, and did well to keep pace with the others, despite her handicap. Once in a while that confidence would be tested, her fingers would slip or a surface would chip under the repeated pressure and she had to snatch at it again with the same hand before her balance tipped too far, but she did so without having to call further attention to herself, for which on later reflection, she would be thankful.

So long as she wasn't moving fast, she reasoned, she could face anything decisively... Fortunate for her in this case, then. She'd be well within her rights to start panicking if she fell at this height.

"Yes ma'am." she responded dutifully to the commando's instructions, readying herself to scale the short gap above them. The handhold appeared to jut out from the cliff face, enough to make it hard to see beyond its lip, but secure enough... Temria looked to the others, first to Arina, for support, then to Freh'ya, for the go-ahead, "Ready when you are."

"Yes ma'am," Rahi said quietly, directing the gun drone as it reached their side of the fissure. The drone swerved off to where she had landed, lowering itself near ground level where its lift drive stirred up the snow, erasing her footprints. The disturbed snow left behind began to settle almost immediately in the wind, and Rahi guided the drone back along her path, and then swept it back and forth over the others' landing area. Temria and Freh'ya between them had made rather a large impression in the snow, so she helped with a few scrapes of the end of the tent pack, obscuring the outline enough for the drone to finish the job.

"Got your backs," she said when she was done, taking up her position at the back of their little column. The ridge looked foreboding in the distance.

-----

Rahi hauled herself up ledge by ledge, trying to focus only on the task at hand - grip, test, lift, steady, repeat, gathering up pitons as she passed them and periodically floating them back up to Freh'ya to replenish her store of them. It was a comfort, at least, to know the big commando was up there in the lead. If someone slipped (she tried not to automatically think the doctor), there was nobody she would rather have on the other end of the cable. As strong as her biotics were she could probably secure herself to the rock face well enough to support a full-grown krogan hanging free on the end of the line.

Looking only at the rock in front of her she didn't know a new obstacle was coming until Freh'ya called it. She followed the others up to the ledge and took stock of the gap they would be lifting Temria over. Somewhere in the periphery of her vision, down on the glacier, was the wreck of Sala; she chose not to try to spot her.

"Ready with lift," she responded dutifully, taking a quick sip of water from her suit's reservoir and calming her breathing after the hard climb. Temria's voice sounded steady, that was good. She looked over at Freh'ya and gave her what she hoped was a confident smile, then - realising her face probably wasn't visible through her visor anyway - a quick nod.

When Temria was ready, Freh’ya’s arms became engulfed with twirling fields of the dark enegery, the blue and white fingers stretching out and spinning a web around the doctor.

From below, Rahilan was adding to this with her own abilities and Temria was lifted off the ground and travelled upwards slowly. As soon as Freh’ya could, she grabbed the shoulders of the doctor. Of course it was a problem that Temria could not extend her arms but they eventually managed to get her up on the ledge. The huntress led her back two steps against the rocky wall, there was barely enough space and her backpack was also sitting there.

“We’re getting better at this, aren’t we?” she said, the grin audible in her voice. “I may need some more of this salve for my shoulder though….”

She turned to help Arina along, who seemed to stand there, pressed against the wall underneath her.

“Good job, Rahi. Arina… Arina, extend your arms. ” The blue shimmer of the biotics flared up again.

OhGoddessOhGoddess…. Arina was beginning to experience genuine fear of height all of a sudden. It wasn’t extremely difficult to handle as long as she could press against the rocks but the moment she was supposed to be lifted to float up the few meters was causing a panic to rise. She tensed up and had to close her eyes, gripping the straps of her rucksack as tight as she could.
“Just… just make it happen… and quick!” …. her arms, something about her arms… she let go of the straps and with a terribly awkward looking fast motion she extended her arms over hands, trying to make them longer and longer, still pressing her eyes shut…

She never knew how she made it but eventually she was sitting next to Freh’ya’s backpack, calming her breath, grinning awkwardly towards the doctor, pressing her hand in a bit of a weird fashion. It was the adrenaline most likely.
“I… I… will take one more pill, okay?”

Temria slumped against the rock wall and let out an exasperated sigh, "You've earned it after this..." she replied, sharing in her jovial tone. "I'll buy you a massage from the damn Consort if we get out of here!"

As Arina came up over the ledge, the doctor took the chance to lean forward a bit, helping to steady her as they both slunk back away from the edge of the precipice. Even now, the whistling of the wind was picking up, the ominous song of the mountains warning them to seek shelter sooner rather than later.

"Hold off on it for the time being..." she told the diplomat with the most calm, relaxing voice she could muster despite the cold creeping in. "It'll be best if we can assess you a bit and have you take one before sleep... try to bear with it for the time being, alright?"

Rahi exhaled quietly as Arina reached the ledge above - her sudden motion as she was being lifted had caused the pilot to worry her injury was causing her a seizure, or some similar impairment, at the worst possible time, but once she was up and Temria was attending to her, it seemed there wasn't such a drastic cause for alarm.

"Coming up," she annouced, for Freh'ya's benefit. "Just cable tension, if you could?" She removed the last piton from where she was standing and focused on nullifying as much of her weight as she could. With a piton in each hand and Freh'ya hauling her up by the cable, she managed the ascent without feeling too exhausted once she finally scrambled up onto the higher ledge. Arina and Temria were close to the cliff face; Rahi remained on the edge, letting her weight return and settle her in against the wind, and trying not to think about the drop.

"Tell me we're somewhere near the top?" she said, managing a dry chuckle.