Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 25

"God yes. You're fantastic."

"I want you to do something for me. When you're about to cum, let me know. I want you to give me a facial."

"Really?" I asked, feeling my eyebrows raise at such a request.

"As you said, god yes. It's so hot, Shepard. Like you're marking me as yours."

"You've got a deal."

So she resumed blowing me, her head bobbing up and down slowly, feeling her tongue do it's magic, eventually picking up the pace and I was soon moaning rather loudly, whispering her name in a fashion she would have known I was completely turned on. When I warned her I was close, she moved so I could eventually stand up, and she kept blowing me until I knew I was close, eventually sitting back on her knees, looking up at me as I stroked myself until the first shot hit her right in the middle of her face, quickly followed by at least five more. Her face was coated in cum, and she giggled to herself. "Wow," she said, "You do cum a lot, Shepard."

"Guess it's another thing to be thankful to Miranda for! Plus, the blowjob was hot."

"I love to please you, Shepard. I thought that would be obvious by now." She used a finger to clean some but I eventually led her to the bathroom, as she couldn't really open her eyes, turning on the shower and handing her some soap so she could clean her face. When she could finally open her eyes, she turned to me, an enormous smile on her face. "I've never done that for anyone before. I knew all about it, of course. Just had to do it."

"Consider me both honoured and impressed."

Leaning down to kiss her, my hands were soon wandering over her body, though she gently grabbed my wrist as she spread her legs slightly, eventually feeling the warmth between them. She kissed me hard as I slid a couple of fingers inside her. "Get me off just like this," she whispered.

"I like a challenge," I whispered back before kissing her, immediately positioning my hand so I could slide a couple of fingers into her while also fondling her clit. She was soon whimpering into my mouth, her fingers digging into my back as I was soon pumping into her.

"Oh god!" she cried, breaking the kiss, "Just like that, Shepard."

I simply grinned as I met her eyes, hers filled with every emotion and her feelings of the moment. I kissed her hard again before she had to break, breathing deeply before resting her head on my shoulder, crying out again before she gently bit my shoulder. "Fuck!" she cried.

"Going to cum for me?" I asked quietly.

"Keep going!" she shouted, "Don't stop... please..."

"Sounds like you're pleading, Kelly. Are you begging for me to make you cum?"

"Yes!" she cried out, "Please, Shepard. Make me cum."

I doubled down, glad I kept my fingernails tidy as I was now really pumping into, focusing on that special spot I knew she had and I'd found the very first time we'd fucked. Fondling her clit at the same time, she was now practically riding my hand at the same time, holding on tight, only her deep breathing and cursing heard over the running water.

"Oh god," she cried out before releasing a long moan, feeling her squeeze my fingers as she enjoyed one hell of an orgasm, the sort that left her legs like jelly and she needed me to hold her up. She relaxed against me as I removed my fingers, meeting her eyes as I sucked them clean, making her giggle before she closed her eyes. "Well, I'm ready for dinner now," she mumbled.

Turning off the shower, I grabbed a fresh towel, wrapping it around my waist, before wrapping her up in one and picking her up in my arms, which earned me a kiss on the cheek, as I led her back to the couch, sitting down as she lay sideways on my lap and leaned against my chest. "Were you doing anything important?" she asked.

"Just checking details for tomorrow. Last minute things."

"Hope I didn't distract you too much."

"Trust me, absolutely no complaints."

We relaxed like that until I heard her stomach rumble. I was hungry too but willing to wait until she was ready. It was amusing as she had to get up and slowly retrieve her clothes across my floor as I dressed in some jeans and a shirt. Taking her hand, we walked out to the elevator, and when we arrived at the mess, I continued to hold her hand until we were at the counter, ready to collect our trays. It was now obvious to everyone what was going on, so no-one said a word, sitting across from Garrus as always, Kelly sitting next to me.

"Plan for tomorrow, Shepard?"

"Considering Korlus is meant to be the murder capital of the Terminus Systems, everyone is coming. So that's you, Kasumi, Zaeed, Jack, Miranda and Jacob. I want all the firepower I have at my disposal."

"Sounds like fun," Kasumi stated.

"I would like to think I've been to worse places, but from the description," I trailed off with a shrug.

"No Mordin?" Garrus asked.

"I want him focused on dealing with the Collectors. Once that is done, I'll take him with us."

"Any idea of factions on the ground?" Zaeed wondered.

"Most of the major organisations have a presence. But the major presence is of krogan, which explains Doctor Okeer being on the planet. He can perform whatever experiments he is doing in secret."

"So we could be running into an army of krogan? Great," Garrus muttered.

"Hopefully we'll get a fix on Okeer and we can shuttle in somewhat close to wherever he is working. My only concern is that there are groundside planetary defences, so landing might be tricky."

After dinner, a few of us headed into the lounge for a drink, and I was pleased to see Miranda join us. She enjoyed one drink, surprised she chose to have a beer. She spent all her time next to Jacob, as it was obvious she knew him best, but she participated in the conversation and seemed to enjoy herself, and more importantly, take five minutes to relax. I met her eyes once and nodded my appreciation for taking my advice.

As we would be heading out on mission the next morning, I didn't want a late night, though that didn't mean Kelly was being relegated back to the crew quarters just yet, though as we were lying back in bed after undressing, I told her that the sleeping arrangement simply couldn't become permanent. She laughed, telling me she certainly understood that, though thanked me for being upfront about it.

I woke early the next morning, letting Kelly stay in bed as I dressed and headed downstairs for a workout. A run on the treadmill. A couple of miles on the rowing machine. Work the punching bag. Callisthenics. Everything to get me ready for the day ahead. Then it was a hearty breakfast for the energy required, slow burning so I wouldn't be exhausted after a couple of hours' graft, and adding more calories as I remembered I was now biotic. I smiled to myself, a vivid memory of the mounds of food that would appear on Alenko's plate. I was glad I could at least smile when I remembered him nowadays. Good man, taken far too soon.

Heading up to the armoury, a few others joined me as I assembled myself in armour. It was comfortable enough to stand around in until we dropped, and I gathered the weapons I would take, leaving those on the bench. Garrus was always in armour, grabbing his sniper and assault rifle. Kasumi didn't wear armour, only taking a shield pack, though she said though it looked like she wore regular clothes, they were of a mesh that acted like armour, though nowhere near as resilient as the type I wore.

Busying myself at my terminal, I waited until Joker announced we were within range, ordering those who I needed down to the hangar bay, ready to outload. After grabbing my weapons, I headed down alongside Jacob, Miranda, Kasumi and Garrus joining us on the next level, then finally Jack and Zaeed before we arrived at the hangar bay. Our shuttle pilot was already waiting for us, one of the crew who I'd spoken to during one of the nights in the lounge.

Once Joker let us know we were in orbit of Korlus, the shuttle took off towards the surface, switching on the vidscreens so we could see our destination. And it was the textbook definition of a shithole. The ruined frames of ships littered the landscape, rusting in the oppressive heat of the sun. We hadn't even stepped outside and I was already starting to sweat. EDI had managed to get a fix on Okeer's location, but there was nowhere suitable for us to land close. We would be landing at least a couple of kilometres back and would have to walk. No doubt our arrival would attract plenty of attention, hence the large team on the ground.

Feeling the shuttle touch down, I opened the door and led the way off, almost shielding my face from the heat and the strong wind, despite the fact I was wearing a helmet. The smell was probably the worst. It smelled like an enormous garbage dump. Those without a strong constitution probably wouldn't last long planetside. Once everyone was off, Garrus shut the door and gave it a slap, glancing to see it take off. The pilot would return for extraction, hopefully closer to Okeer's location.

We'd barely walked a few metres when loudspeakers suddenly turned on and we heard a message.

"There is only one measure of success: kill or be killed! Perfection is your goal."

"Definitely krogan here with a message like that," Zaeed muttered.

"Stay loose," I ordered, "We just want Okeer."

"And if they want to fight?"

"We kill them and move on. Okeer is the target. I don't care about anything else."

Taking point as always, I glanced to see the team spread out when they could, otherwise forming a line as we weaved our way through the wreckage of what must have once been enormous vessels. I had no doubt many of them were freighters, perhaps even dreadnoughts given the size. The loudspeaker echoed again.

"Being hired is merely the beginning. You must earn your place in the might army we are building."

"You think Okeer is building a krogan army?" Garrus wondered.

It was a question to ponder, though I doubted he'd have the intelligence for it. I remembered one smart krogan that we met on Virmire briefly, before we killed him. Wrex was intelligent, though in other ways. There were probably others like him. Thinking of Wrex left me wondering where he was. I simply hadn't looked for most of the old squad, figuring they should know I was alive by now, but as yet, few had reached out. I assumed the Cerberus rumours put them off.

When we ran into Blue Suns mercenaries, we wasted no time. I summoned my biotics and charged, slamming into one mercenary, blasting away the second with my shotgun. Gunfire opened up as that attracted the attention of more, the team spreading out into cover. I used my shotgun but started to use my biotics, a warp here, a pull there. I found the latter useful, as I could drag them close them blammo! Head gone with an accurate blast of the shotgun.

Zaeed definitely took pleasure in killing those in blue. I hadn't really talked to him much about it yet, but there was definitely history between him and the Blue Suns. After we'd laid waste to them, we noticed that a couple of them were communicating by radio link, so we patched in so we could listen to their conversations. We heard someone called Jedore, and all I needed to do was give Zaeed a questioning look to realise he knew the name.

As we moved on, the loudspeakers continued to speak about the krogan army being built, and how they would march across the galaxy, destroying all those who stood in their way. I'd heard and seen similar ranting from similar nutcases back on Earth. They rarely succeeded for long. We smashed another Blue Suns patrol, Jack stepping forward to show her biotic superiority, flinging Blue Suns around for fun, her shockwaves far stronger than anything I could produce. We took out three more before someone finally took notice.

"Tell Jedore we have a problem. Patrols are going dark. Either the krogan are pushing or we're being raided!"

Mercenaries aimed with rocket launcher will always give you a bad day, particularly when the bastards are using cover and they've got the high ground. I couldn't charge up there, so had to link up with the other biotics and use brainpower to get them to move. Meanwhile, Garrus had taken position behind us, no doubt waiting for the right moment. Finally, Miranda managed to get one to move out of cover, Garrus immediately firing, the top half of the mercenary's head blowing clear off. That forced the one next to him to jump out of the way, Jack immediately grabbing him in a pull, and at least three people riddled the body with bullets.

"Code six! I repeat, Code Six! Offworld presence! Shift fire from the krogan. Hostiles in the compound!"

No point fucking around now. I gave the order to push forward. We still used cover and fought smart, but it was obvious the Blue Suns were wilting, though they kept throwing bodies forward for us to shoot. More came forward with heavy weapons, but we got hold of them before they could ready their weapons, and I charged at another two, knocking one down, while the other was too close to do anything but wait for me to swing my weapon, blowing one of his arms clear off before I put the barrel to his neck and fired.

The firing lasted for quite some time before all went quiet. The loudspeakers didn't shut up but the radio was silent. Jedore was likely still alive, but if she knew we were listening, she wasn't talking. We kept walking, eyes always searching, always wary, listening intently, until we entered what could only be described as a killing field.

And in the middle of said killing field was one giant fucking krogan. I would never say a krogan looked harmless, even docile, but this one didn't seem willing to kill us yet. I gestured for weapons down as I carefully approached the krogan, he doing the same thing until we were only a couple of paces apart.

"You are different. You don't smell like this world. Seven night cycles, and I have felt only the need to kill. But you... something makes me speak."

"I guess Okeer must breed them full-size, ready to throw into battle immediately. Killing machines straight out of the tube," Miranda stated.

If this krogan was a test tube baby and only a week old, god knows how big he'd be later, unless he was simply bred to grow this quickly. It was beyond my realm of expertise.

"No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me. But I flushed from glass mother for a different reason."

"So what are you doing here then?"

"Surviving. That is what the voice in the water told me to do. But... Otherwise, I have failed. So I will continue to fight here until I find a worthy opponent."

"Why don't you come with us? You'll be guaranteed a fight. Perhaps a worthy opponent."

The krogan shook its head. "No. I will stay here and fight. But I can show you the way to glass mother. It is up further. Behind more of you fleshy things."

I followed him as the krogan lifted an enormous steel plate like it weighed nothing, revealing a hidden entrance, or exit depending on your point of view. He stood to the side as I let my team pass by first, looking back at him. He simply stood there, probably ready to replace the steel plate back. "Sure you don't want to come? Things ahead might try and kill you."

"I will wait here and fight until I am released. I am not perfect. The voice says I must wait. But I will wait and kill until proven worthy."

"Good luck."

I walked through the gap and heard the krogan place the steel plate back into position. Of course, we'd wiped out plenty of Blue Suns, and I'd warned of krogan presence, and that was who we ran into next. Tough bastards as well. Charging one krogan isn't a bad idea. Charging any more than one isn't a good idea, so I stayed back with the team, switching to my assault rifle, and we simply rained bullets upon them. Krogan can be bullet sponges at the best of times, so I always found aiming at their rather large faces a good tactic.

The chatter on the radio started up again as it appeared the Blue Suns were also being attacked by the same krogan. I was left wondering if it wasn't Okeer behind it all. If he was, then I was left feeling I'd underestimated this krogan. If he truly was creating an army, then he was one hell of a dangerous krogan.

We passed through scenes of carnage, as it was obvious the Blue Suns had been slaughtered by the krogan. We barely had a moment of respite as we were now weaving our way through the ruins of starships, and although that meant more cover, it meant less room to move. Whenever we ran into Blue Suns, I'd charge and use my shotgun, giving my team time and space. If we ran into krogan, I switched to my assault rifle.

"Krogan on our six! Copy, goddamn it! Where's Jedore and her personal guard?"

It seemed the krogan were as intent on wiping out the Blue Suns as much as we were, or at least as much as Zaeed was. I was left thinking if we were not around, he would have taken the ear of each one he killed. Or maybe their heads. He certainly fought with a ferocity I had seen momentarily on Omega whenever we faced mercenaries in blue.

I was left thinking we were approaching their rear, as over the radio, we could hear a furious gunfight that didn't abate. We heard one report that suggested Jedore was going to deal with Okeer, so that suggested we should probably move just a little faster. I wasn't going to come all this way, deal with all this shit, just for that fucking krogan to be executed. Then Jedore's voice over the loudspeaker with one explicit command. We had to be killed. Immediately. Whoever did would receive large cash bonuses.

Blue Suns mercenaries flooded in our direction. It was little more than a shooting gallery and I was charging left and right, blasting away, before charging again. Once I felt the strain, I charged back to safety and cooled down, instead linking up with Miranda, Jacob or Jack, not that she needed much help. She could pick up mercenaries at will and fling them wherever she wanted.

We were now at the top of the ship pile, and if we could take a moment to look, we would have been greeted by an absolute scene of desolation. It was little more than a ship graveyard. The very earth beneath it would have been polluted. The water certainly looked toxic. I felt sorry for anyone who did not willingly live on the planet or for those who couldn't escape. Anyone who chose to live there was off their rocker. No wonder the krogan thrived. I hadn't been to Tuchanka but I'd read about it.

The Blue Suns were dug in and waiting. Their last stand. No doubt Okeer was close. No orders were necessary as we fanned out and got to work. With their heavy weapons, I aimed for them when charging. I'd learned that, if I timed it right and hit them hard enough, the collision alone could kill them, but most of the time, it either put them on their arse or staggered them, and it required a following blast of a shotgun to ensure they were dead. I was surprised Jack didn't use the skill, so I'd have to ask her later. Miranda and Jacob had already admitted that it was a little too close counters for their liking.

No-one lived by the end. We might have been a much smaller team, but we were all professionals. We'd been trained to do this. I'd seen mercenaries. Most of them thought they were soldiers, but most were little more than weekend warriors. Zaeed knew Jedore, at least by sight, so he started to check the bodies, but he found no sign of her. I was hoping we would have killed her then and there, but I didn't worry about it too much. The important matter was Okeer.

Walking up another stairway, we walked through a doorway into a rudimentary lab. There were a few tanks and other equipment around, vague reminders of what I'd seen on Virmire, and also on the Normandy. Glancing around, I noticed a krogan in a lab coat watching a vidscreen. He turned to me as I asked, "You Doctor Okeer?"