//------------------------------// // Crash Site // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 93 Crash Site To Tartarus with jumping out, I'm not abandoning him! 59% Tightly holding on to the craft, Rainbow gritted her teeth and pulled herself against the chair. She was, not for the first time since arriving in the wider galaxy, cross with herself. On the one hoof she wanted to go look for Shy, and she knew Garrus would be able to take care of himself, but on the other she couldn't just leave him either. Rainbow had the urge to just jump out the craft to go look multiple times but stopped herself every time. “Rainbow, jump!” Garrus shouted from up front, his voice strained as he fought against the shuttle. “I'm not leaving you, and since carrying you at these speeds would rip my wings off I'm staying!” Dash shouted back, getting a hold of a harness and strapping herself in. “Damn it you stubborn pegasus!” Garrus growled but evidently had other things on his mind as they were getting very close to the ground. “Brace!” The shuttle smashed into the ground, forcing Dash into the harness and the air from her lungs. The screech of metal could be heard as metal plates were shorn off of the craft, while it tumbled over the ground. Rainbow gasped for air as she was knocked against the seat over and over until the harness straps ripped from their sockets and she was flung through the cabin. A sickening crunch was heard from her right wing as she hit the opposite wall. The shuttle rolled a couple of times more as it bled off speed, finally coming to a resting place upside down. Dash groaned in agony as everything in her body hurt, her wing most of all. Upfront she heard a dull thud through her disorientation before being grabbed on the armor by the neck and pulled out. “You’re terrible at following orders you know?” Garrus rasped, collapsing to his knees after dragging Rainbow to some cover. Dash took a deep breath of air but didn’t argue, focussing more on the extreme pain coming from her right wing. Meanwhile, her omni-tool was beeping all sorts of warnings about her body’s status. “We should get moving, we have limited supplies and whoever blew us out of the sky is probably coming to collect a trophy.” “Sounds great,” Dash groaned, slowly getting on her hooves. Her right wing limply hung to her side, making her grimace in pain as she tried to move it. “I won’t be flying any time soon...” Garrus took a look at it as well and shook his head. “Nothing I can do about that right now, better use your medi gel to at least fuse the bone.” Grimacing some more, Dash opened her omni-tool and activated the system. A cold Sting hit her wing but quickly dulled the pain to an annoying throb. The two of them picked some supplies out of the crashed shuttle and then set off into the wasteland before them. Destroyed buildings lay all about them as they made their way through the ruins of krogan civilization. In the distance, the roar of engines could be heard and a plume of dust that was going in the direction of the crash site. Garrus muttered a few comments but continued running at his breakneck speed to gain as much distance away from there and towards the crashed starship. Rainbow had used the time on the few stops they’d made to tie her wing to her barrel to avoid having it drag along the ground. Eventually, they made their way to a high point in the ruins to see where they needed to go.  “Whoa...” Dash gasped as the wreck of the large starship that had been smashed into the surface lay in nearly a single piece at about a mile away… what also became apparent due to the setting sun were the various campfires lit around the ship. “Looks like there’s more company than I thought...” Garrus said as he used his sniper rifle to scope out the encampments around the ship. “We should head in now, dusk will make their night vision impractical and it’ll be dark enough for us to sneak in.” “Got it,” Dash responded, following Garrus as he made his way down again and started his approach to the encamped krogans. Using large pieces of rubble to their advantage Garrus and Dash slowly snuck forward, crawling in some sections as cover gave away. The ship grew larger as they approached, a large tear in the hull clearly visible. “We can maybe get in there through here and see if its mainframe has any information on Shy.” Garrus whispered, already looking for a way in and finding one in the form of a sealed internal door. “Is that thing barricaded?” Dash asked, seeing a couple of metal bars that were blocking the entrance. Garrus merely ripped them from the door which slammed open, creating a loud noise. Dash immediately froze along with Garrus, listening to the sounds of the surrounding area. “I don’t think they heard us,” Rainbow whispered, swiveling her ears to attempt to pick up sound… “Scratch that, I can hear them coming!” “Damn it! I’m not finding out if those krogan are friendly before I’ve turned this ship inside out!” Garrus growled, pulling Dash along into the ship. “I’ve been on these ships before for a raid. They should have their data center in the CIC. The other spot we should take a look is the prison section, you know...in case...” Garrus fell silent for a bit and stared off into nothingness. “Do you have a preference for either location to go to?” Rainbow looked at Garrus’ pained expression, he really didn’t want to head to the prison of fear what he’d find there… and to be honest, she didn’t either… 1. I’ll head to the prison, you go check on the database. 2. I’ll dig through the database, you check the prison. 3. No, we’re not splitting up! We head to the closest thing first! [Vote link]