The Hangar was dark, a cold breeze created by the countless fans in the ceiling can be felt unpon entry. The Bay hasn’t been used in a while, it simply wasn’t needed due to the relocation of some of the Seraphs. Though one ship stood in there. An empty hangar with a single ship in the middle. This package has been delivered a few days ago but Garrus wasn't able to inspect it until now. A small door on the side opened and let a shimmer of light into the hangar. “There it is.” With the sound of the doors closing the lights went on and presented Garrus his new present. A lone BDR-804 “Guardian”, one that has seen countless battles, stood in the Hangar. As Garrus walked closer a smile got visible on his face. People dream about certain objects that they want to possess. Garrus is no difference in that regard, he, as a combat pilot, had heard a lot about the Libertonian engineers and their combat craft. Ever since it was his dream to be able to fly one of their ships. Now this dream came true. His very own Guardian. “Hope’s Guardian. A fitting name for such a beauty.” He put his hands on the cold metal, feeling a chill running up his arm. He slid with his hand over the wing as he walked to the cockpit. Feeling the countless scratches on the wings from asteroid impacts or weapon fire he realized how many battles that ship had fought. This ship is something special, the ship belonged to Avery Reeves, director of the Agency 404. Acquired as a Cadet of the first fleet, this ship started out as a Avenger. Though at some point the top fin got blown of and the ship was retrofitted as a guardian and was still in possession of Avery. With Avery's recent promotion to the Director of the Agency, he is no longer able to sustain the freedom to take this ship out for a flight. Therefore he gave it to his allies, entrusting them to take good care of the ship.
As Garrus reached the cockpit. turned around and inspected the weapon mounts. "A naked ship, helpless in any combat. Now let's have a look at the internals." Garrus opened the cockpit and entered the ship. Looking at the seat, he already saw something that had to be restored. The chair was worn out, some of the leather was ripped, dried out or just bleached. Sitting in the chair was still comfortable though, the controls were intact but needed a lot of configuration. Most of them, if not all, were specifically adjusted to Avery's liking. "Before I even try to take this ship out for a stroll, I have a lot to adjust in here." Leaning back he scanned the rest of the cockpit. The rest seemed fine and might only need a bit of fresh paint and proper cleaning. Turning around with the whole chair Garrus stood up and walked to the cargo hatch at the rear end of the cockpit. Climbing through he noticed a frame for a bed. The cargo hatch at the outside of the ship has been sealed to turn the small cargo-bay into a bedroom, and therefor eliminating the ability to carry any cargo that is bigger than luggage. "An interesting choice to sacrifice the cargospace to have a mobile home. But I have to admit, that I had never thought about the idea, even though it is a really handy idea." Inspecting the bed closer, taking it's size, he noted them on his datapad and sat down for a moment. Just taking a breather, trying to picture himself sleeping in here.
As he left the cargo-hold, he turned to the seat again. Looking at the seat he considered starting up the engines to test them out. With a quick move he jumped in the seat and started pressing some buttons on the console. After he successfully entered the code Nick gave him the engines started and the ship lit up. A humming filled the docking bay, a headlight illuminated the hangar doors. Taking a look at the ship's status, Garrus smirked. Everything was ready. He could just take off and take it for a test flight. Though he did not, instead he turned off the engines again and locked the ship. Jumping out of the cockpit he looked at his PDA to check the time. Realizing that he might not have much time left until he had to attend a meeting with the Kight Captains. Therefore he rushed to the door and opened it, behind him the lights went off and the door closed, leaving the Guardian to sleep for a bit longer.
Once again the door opened and filled the room with a small amount of light until the lights turned on. Accompanied by two mechanics, Garrus entered the room and walked towards the Guardian. It still was unarmed and had not been painted with the Forlorn Hope's logo, still bearing the flag of Liberty. "Alright chaps, let's get this beauty in space. You know what you have to check." Both of the mechanics nodded and moved closer to the ship. One of them climbed up on the wing and opened a maintenance hatch on top of the ship, exposing the electronics that slumbered beneath the hull. He reached in his bag, taking some kind of monitoring device out of it. As he held the device a few cables were tangling of it. Placing the device next to him, he reached for the cables and stuffed them into the hatch, following by his hands. A few seconds passed and the device turned on with a beeping noise.
The other mechanic stood next to the cockpit and had opened a second maintenance hatch. Placing the bag on the floor he opened it and a different, bigger device got visible. Reaching for the two big cables that were mounted on the device he turned the device on. As he had lifted the cables into the hatch, searching for the access-points he heard his colleague. "Up 'ere's all fine. Gonna check the engines now." Finally being able to plug the two cables in, he started his test of the control systems.
In the meantime Garrus climbed in to the cockpit. "Now let's take care of those adjustments." Placing his small bag with screwdrivers and wrenches next to the chair in which he took a seat. He put his hand in the bag and started to search for a fitting wrench. As soon as he found a fitting one he started to slightly loosen the nuts and bolts that fixed the controls, allowing him to adjust the tilt and position. Carefully he tilted one after the other, slightly moving them until each part fits his liking. At some point he heard a knocking on the cockpit that disrupted his concentration. as he opened the cockpit a young woman entered the ship. "Hey Garrus. How's the ship?" Garrus knew this woman, she was the one who recommended him to the other Knight Captains as her potential successor. He clears his throat and looks to the woman. "I already fired up the engines yesterday, they seem to work Ma'am. I wa..." The woman interrupted Garrus with a annoyed sigh. "Garrus, haven't I told you to talk normal with me? You do know I hate formalities.""Erm, yes Sarah. So, I was just doing some adjustments in the cockpit to take the ship out for a stroll. Do you know by any chance if the mechanics are done outside?""Yeah, they're done. They seem to have gotten themselves some beverages. But now, let's take the ship out for a ride." Sarah started to laugh as she handed Garrus the wrench. "I just have to adjust the last bit and I'm done.""Fine." Sarah sighed. "Take your time." Sarah sat down on the ground and waited for Garrus to finish his adjustments.
"Hold tight, I don't know how this ship behaves." As soon as Garrus finished talking, the ship started humming. Slowly the hangar door opened and the ship took off. "Shields at 100%, engine running smoothly." Seemingly stressed by the start, Garrus now fell back into the seat, relaxing that everything works as it should. "Now, this is a good sign.""Indeed it is. Now let's take it closer to the asteroids and show me your piloting skills." As Garrus turned around, Sarah began laughing. "I'm just kidding. And well, I better let you do your thing. But let me test the ship too.""Sure, sure." Garrus let out a chuckle as he turned the ship as hard as he could, forcing Sarah to hold onto the chair in front of her. Garrus sight glided over the controls, monitoring all the displays, checking if everything is in order.
Garrus kept silent for a while, maneuvering the ship through the small asteroids. At some point he initiated cruisespeed. Looking at the rising number on one of the displays, he quickly adjusted his seat to a more comfortable position. Waiting for the ship to accelerate he poked Sarah. "Now, you said I should bring this ship in the field. Here you go, full speed in an asteroid field." He tilted the ship and flew past each asteroid. Small asteroids impacted on the shields without any noticeable damage on the shields but still with an impact that can be felt. Reaching the open space again he cut the engines and let the ship slow down. "This ship performs the way I have expected. The Libertonian engineers really have build a damn good ship. Even after what it had seen, it is just performing better than every other ship I have flown." He leand back and smiled. "Say, you wanted to have a try too, right? Here, the ship is all yours." With that said, Garrus stood up and let Sarah take a seat.
Sarah immediately fired up the engines and entered cruise. With a wide turn she entered the field again, flying close to the asteroids and around the base that, they eventually reached again. "This field isn't dense enough to have fun evading the asteroids" Sarah laughed and turned the ship towards the barrier cloud. "What are you doing? The ship isn't armed yet!""Nah, we're fine, I won't have us killed." Still laughing, she rerouted all energy to the engines, giving the ship a slightly higher speed.
After a short while they reached the Barrier Nebula with its slightly denser asteroid field. Sarah flew past each asteroid, barely scratching them. Garrus was impressed by her piloting skills and the fact that she nonetheless wanted to stay grounded on Glenn was not easy to comprehend for him. Checking the time they flew around, Garrus realized that they already need to get back for some briefing. "Sarah, we need to get back to Glenn, I don't have much time left before I have to meet with someone.""Fine, fine. We'll fly back."
Reaching Glenn again, they initiated the autopilot and brought the ship back in the docking bay 'S'. Leaving the ship they walked through the empty hangar towards the door, turning the lights off and leaving the Guardian to rest in the dark hangar.
A few weeks passed since Garrus had the free time to look after 'Hope's Guardian'. Although the hangar was not empty the whole time, some of the Forlorn's artist have been using the hangar to work on the Guardian. As Garrus finally found the time to take a look at his ship he was speechless. A bit of paint and polishing can work wonders with a ship. The Guardian now truly was the ship of a mercenary, painted in the colors of the Forlorn Hope. The guardian was the first ship that got painted in the Forlorn's colors. "Ain't she a beauty, eh?" The man next to Garrus started laughing. "It took me a while to figure out how I'm distributing the colors but after all I managed. Ya want to take a peak at the other designs I've came up with?" The man pulled out a datapad and showed some 3D animations of the several ships the Forlorn uses, all painted in a black and red scheme with some white accents. "Haven's gonna be the next ship that gets the paint job done.""I'm impressed. Keep up the work.""Aight, gonna leave ya alone with the beauty." Garrus silently nodded and started to walk closer to the ship while the other man left the hangar.
As Garrus stood next to the ship, he pulled out a small datapad with some of the Mechanics logs and starts reading up on the weapons systems and some tests. The weapons, some rapid fire Flashpoints and Debilitators, were already mounted and configured. During the initial test, the mechanics found a problem with the power core and the power output. Getting values of approximately 25% less than the values they expected. Followed by those readings that seemed to vary each test was a note from the lead mechanic. "Powercore damaged. Need replacement. IRG might have a powercell for fighter use. Suggestion: Getting in contact to get one." Having read the whole section Garrus turned of the datapad and put it away again. "I guess I have to message those eggheads from the IRG." Garrus let out a sigh as he started to walk to the cockpit.
"Hangar control, this is Knight Captain Hendrix. I'm heading out for a test flight""Acknowledged Sir, hangar doors are opening. Safe skies." The Guardin took of and slowly hovered towards the door that had just opened, leaving the rest of the hangar empty. As soon as the second door opened, the Guardian accelerated and left the station, immediately charging the cruise engines. Garrus maneuvered the ship out of the asteroid belt and stopped at an open are that was not commonly traversed by anyone. He activated the weapons systems and waited for them to be ready. "This thing will be useless with that damaged powercore, if the values are correct."
As soon as the weapons were online, Garrus started shooting and watched the powercore drain. As soon as some of the guns stopped shooting, due to the low power reserves, he stopped and inspected the bar that was displayed on his screen. Slowly it rose, noticeably slower that every other ship he ever flew. He then started to drain the power core again, though this time he stopped the time how long it took to empty the powercore and how long it too to recharge. Comparing these numbers to the ones he got from director Reeves,
he came to the same conclusion as the mechanics. Garrus let out another sigh as he powered off the weapons again. "This is nearly impossible to fight. How am I supposed to fight with such a handicap." Garrus let himself fall back into the seat and closed his eyes for a moment.
Suddenly an alarm filled the quiet cockpit. Garrus' eyes opened and his sight moved to the radar at an instant. The radar displayed a ship moving towards the Guardian. As a reflex,
Garrus immediately powered up the weapons and started to accelerate. With a quick move Garrus turned the ship around, now facing into the direction of the approaching ship. The console now was able to identify the ship, it was an Eagle, flying under the colors of the Forlorn Hope. "This is Knight Captain Hendrix to the pilot of the 'Chrysaetos'. Your course is set directly on my ship, what is that supposed to...." Garrus stopped talking due to fact that he had to perform an evasive maneuver to not get rammed by the ship. "Goddamn it, what is that supposed to be? Identify yourself!" Another alarm started to fill the air in the cockpit. Shots started to impact on the shields of the Guardian. Garrus now started another evasive maneuver and turned towards the ship. "What the hell are you doing? For Christs sake, identify yourself!" Another shot impacted on the Guardian. "Alright rogue asset, the time for formalities is over."
Garrus moved the ship and started to shoot at the Eagle. As soon as the guardian's shields fell, the pilot of the Chrysaetos stopped shooting, Garrus on the other hand not, he continued to hammer on the shield of the eagle, struggling to use the weapons due to the damaged powercore. "Last chance, iden...""Hey Garrus, your powercore seems to struggle. It can't keep up with the weapons." A giggle can be heard over the radio and Garrus fell back into his seat, powering down the weapons. "Sarah, what the hell was that?""What? I was just teasing you. You left a while ago and missed a meeting. I asked around and saw the Guardian was missing. I thought I'd look for you.""I was just doing some tests with the weapons and it seems the powercore is damaged. Anyways, I was just on my way back to the station." Garrus charged his cruise engine and was stopped by yet another alarm. "Incoming missile."
The missile impacted and disrupted the engines of the Guardian. "Leaving already Garrus?"
Garrus let out a sigh and hit with his fist on the console. "I am late already. What in Christ's name are you doing Sarah? Is that supposed to be funny?" Garrus wasn't as calm as he usually was when speaking to Sarah. He reached after the controls again and swung the ship around to face the Chrysaetos. "Did I anger you Garrus? Just stay a little longer, no one will notice if you arrive a tad later. Oh and don't try to hold back." Sarah pressed a button and an alarm started to sound in Garrus' cockpit. "Incoming Missile!" Another impact. "I suppose you know what happens next Mister Hendrix. Show me what you got and don't hold back from the-" Before Sarah was able to finish a heavy weapon impacted on her shields. A Mini Razor was fired of Garrus' ship and impacted directly on Sarah's cockpit, leaving the ship shaking and the shields weakening. "I won't Fenn."
Both ships charged at each other, exchanging a few shots. Garrus was not playing around this time, he knew Sarah had the upper hand, maybe even skill wise. They flew pas eachother, desperatly trying to get behind the other one. Suddenly, one shield dropped. "Well done with a broken powercore." Sarah started to laugh as they continued to circle around in space. After Sarah got a few shots on their hull she was able to drop Garrus' shield and manage to hit a Mini Razor. "Warning! Critical hull damaged detected!"
"Satisfied now? You've beaten me. Twice." Sarah didn't answer. "What? Did you grew silent while watching me get beaten?" Garrus was still angry, although he calmed down quite a lot. "I hope you packed enough bots Garrus, we are not alone. Move! Outcasts emerging on our location, ready your weapons, and sent out the Nanobots!" Garrus quickly pressed a button and released some Nanobots that quickly patched up the hull to restore it to a degree that can still take a few shots. "That is the worst timing ever. I'm right behind you Sarah, let's show them how we deal with unwanted guests." Garrus paused for a second until he opened a com channel to the Outcasts. "Outcasts, this is Crayterian territory, turn back now or get eliminated. This is your last chance."
No response came from the Outcasts as they exited cruise and powered up their weapons. "Guess they won't talk then, be ready Garrus." As soon as the Outcasts were in range, Garrus and Sarah split to the sides and together with focused fire, they took down the first one, leaving two to be dealt with. "I'll take care of this one. Shout if you need to be saved.""I'll be not the one shouting for help, Garrus." Again they split up and started to enter a dogfight with the remaining two enemies. Not knowing how Sarah's doing, Garrus forced down the enemy's shields. Severely handicapped by the now empty power core, Garrus struggled to hit the hull of the outcast. They continued to circle in space, slowly drifting away from Sarah and the other one. As soon as the shields of the Outcast regenerated, the pilot started to fly reckless, getting hits on Garrus without giving a damn about getting hit himself.
Garrus's shields dropped, as well as the ones from the Outcast. Both shot a Minirazor, one of them hit. "Warning! Hull integrity dangerously low!" Garrus' was shaken around by the hard impact. With one eye he saw the Outcast taking aim and preparing himself to shoot. Suddenly shots flew from behind the Outcast that ripped apart his hull and forced the pilot to escape. "Don't stand around idly, we got to get back as soon as possible, I doubt they forgot to call for backup."
Both ships entered cruise and aimed for Glendalough Orbitals. Garrus ship, barely able to sustain more damage, was the front man, closely followed by Sarah. "Move, I've just had more on my scanners." Sarah paused for a second, looking at Garrus' ship she realized that the Outcasts are gaining on them. "This is Sarah Fenn to Glendalough Orbitals, we got enemy ships on our tails, we need assistance, Knight Captain Hendrix is severely damaged!""Acknowledged miss Fenn, we're sending the Seraphim squad to your location. Hang in there."
After a few minutes, the Outcasts caught up on them. Two missiles were flying towards the Chrysaetos and Hope's Guardian. "Incoming missile!" Both impacted.
"God damn it! Where's the backup?!" Garrus' ship thrusted in evasive pattern to not get hit by the enemies' weapons, while Sarah did the same, trying to relieve the pressure of Garrus. Shots flew past both of them with the occasional shot hitting the shields. The situation was dire and Garrus, even though he managed to survive such situations before, got nervous. Sweat was dripping down from his forehead onto his lap. Their only hope now were the promised Seraphim Wing. The cockpit was filled with hot, moist air, illuminated by several warning lights and shaken by the countless alarms. Garrus reached for a button to reroute the weapons energy. With a few more hastily button presses he had transfered all the weapons energy to the shields to buy him more time. The display of the shield strength was dropping, slowly but still dropping. His look wandered from the main screen down to the scanner, hoping to find friendly signals. Nothing, only a strong squad of Outcasts on his tail. He was getting more nervous each second, with each hit, with each look at the shield status. Suddenly as he looked down on the scanner again, contacs, five of them.
"Somebody call for an exterminator?" It came from an open frequency, although the sender's ship was not of hostile nature to Garrus and Sarah. "Get the hell outta here boss, we'll take these goons to Valhalla. Three, four, five and six, let's clean up. Angriff!""Man you're a sight for sore eyes. Not a second later and I'd have been spacedust. I knew I could count you guys.""Don't mention it boss, just remember it on our paychecks." The ships passed Sarah and Garrus and hit the Outcasts with a full salvo. One ship went up in flames and exploded. Parts were flying around and impacted on the Seraph's hull. "Hah, zu einfach! That's the first one. Five and six, get the ones that are still following Garrus, show them what we're mad of." While the fighting continued, Garrus was able to charge his cruise engines and gain distance. Sarah was right behind him as he set course towards Glenn.
Sarah suddenly turned around. "You get back to Glenn, I'll help out your boys. And don't dare to call me back, Garrus.""Fine, just help them finish this quickly." Garrus was still able to hear the radio chatter of the fight. According to what he understood through all the static was pleasing. His boys were destroying ships left and right, leaving only scrap behind. The place must be a battlefield, six ships under the flags of the Forlorn Hope, five Nyxes and an Eagle fighting one or possibly two squads of Outcasts.
The air was still hot in the cockpit due to the rerouted energy and high damage on the ship. Garrus was falling back into the seat and activated the autopilot. He was relieved, his crew came just to the right time and saved the show. The guardian was heavily damaged when it approached Glendalough. The station didn't even hail and immediately opened the hangar for Garrus. He slowly approached the hangar and flew in. As soon as the second door opened he saw the whole crew of mechanics waiting, ready to work, all tools already in their hands. Garrus smirked as he proceeded with the landing sequence. The engines turned off and the mechanics started to sprint towards the ship, ready to do their duty.
The cockpit opened and a wall of fresh air hit Garrus. The air was cold, a chill went through Garrus' body as the sweat rolled down his forehead. He slowly stepped out of he ship, step by step. He turned around to have a look at the damage. From the outside it looked like it will collapse each second. "I take it you will get the ship up and running again?""Without doubt. The ship will be ready in no time Sir.""Thank you." Garrus stepped back from the ship and moved closer to the door. The air was still cold and the sounds of the repairs bugged him as well. Although he wanted to have some rest, he still stood in the hangar for a bit, leaning against a wall and looking to the ship. The mechanics walked around the ship like a bunch of ants around an apple. They were on top of the ship, lying beneath or standing next to it. It the normally empty hangar was now hell of a busy place.
Suddenly the door next to Garrus opened and a man entered, stopping next to Garrus. "Hey Garrus, alles klar? Heh, they mus have beaten up the ship pretty badly." The man paused for a second looking over to the Guardian "Ernsthaft? Even the paintjob is ruined? Guess they will have to do some additional shifts to get the ship in shape again." Garrus smirked but kept silent for a bit. "I knew I could count on you guys, thanks for saving my sorry ass." Garrus pat the man on the shoulder as he turned towards the door. Facing the door, his head was tilted down. He was still smirking with the hand on the man's shoulder. "Keep an eye out for a bonus, you guys earned it." He lifted his hand and opened the door. "Gerne boss. It's what we signed up for after all." Garrus left the hangar and made his way to the command center on Glendalough.
The ship was still the center of the hangars attention. Slowly the mechanics slowed down and started to leave. The ship wasn't close to being repaired but they had done what was possible for now. They made a list of what they'd need for further repairs and locked the hangar. The hangar was now back to it's original form, quiet and dark, with a single ship standing in the middle, waiting for someone to repair or fly it.
Stenn slowly strode into the hanger, a cup of coffee in hand. He'd seen the flight logs, and signed off on countless mechanics requests concerning this ship in particular. It seemed it had undergone enough repairs to build two more of its kind.
Stenn shook his head slowly as he turned to the men behind him. "You're sure this core will help?" He asked, his voice showing signs of exhaustion. "The amount of things we've tried with this beauty is coming close to impossible. We aren't sure it'll help much, but at the very least it'll help with power management for a while." The older of the two engineers responded. A nod was all the permission they needed to pry open the ships engine, and carefully insert one of the experimental cores synthesized from the Nyx's aboard the Haven. It might not be as powerful as most, but it was damned efficient, with almost no energy bleed off.
"Alright, gentlemen, I want this done before Garrus decides to take a look around. You know how independent he is, and I can do without him wondering why I'm getting involved." Stenns cybernetic arm hummed softly as he took a sip of coffee. "You have two hours before he'll come do his routine check. Try not get caught alright?" He said as he softly stalks out the hanger, leaving the techs to work.
The small door at the side of the hangar opened once again. Inside the hangar people were walking around the ship, examining it carefully and noting the damage. Some things have been fixed in a hurry to hold the ship together. It still wasn't in a shape to fly again."Alright everyone, listen up. We have acquired an IRG Powercell for the ship. It's currently stored on Haven. Additionally we contacted the Core to help with the repairs, since we don't have any knowledge of the ship." He paused for a brief second taking a breath, "We need the ship on Haven before the day ends. This also counts for the surplus ship. I suppose the ones who are accompanying me already know it, right?" He looked into the faces of the crew and saw three people nodding. Those people were the same ones who accompanied him to fetch the surplus ship and who initially checked the ship. "Good, move the ships over, we're leaving in 24 hours towards Dagger Station." Garrus nodded to signal the crew they're supposed to continue. All of them moved to different directions, picking up tools and making the ship ready to get shipped.
The lead mechanic stepped next to Garrus and looked at the ship. "Ya do know that we might 'ave been able to fix it ourselves, dontcha? But it's your call G and I do appreciate that you got some 'elp for us. Are they willing to share their knowledge?""We'll see about that but that was my intention when I selected you to accompany me. I take the surplus is ready to be moved to Haven?""'Tis a bit difficult, we used the good parts on this one, ya know, the ones that are perfectly fine and no surplus crap. So we only have some internals and the plating floating around.""That's what we decided to do, didn't we? Anyways, if that's the case, bring the leftovers to Haven.""Gotcha G, we're ready in five." Turning around with a silent nod, Garrus made his way to the door.
24 Hours Later on board the Carrier Haven
The ship and the parts were all loaded up and were resting in Haven's hangar as the ship started to move. Slowly it began to leave Coronado, plotting course to the Omegas. The crew was on edge as the cruiser flew through space, the Omegas weren't as dangerous as the Omicrons but they still weren't a safe place. Suddenly the intercom in Garrus' room started to make a noise. "Sir, we're approaching the destination. It seems like they sent out a fighter to bring us into mooring position.""Proceed, I'll be at the bridge in a few minutes. Open a communications channel while I'm on my way." Garrus moved out of his room towards the elevator.
Eventually he made his way to the bridge and hailed the Station close to the carriers position. "This is Garrus Hendrix of the Forlorn Hope to docking control of Dagger Station. We're here for the planned repairs on a "Guardian" class vessel. The ship and some surplus parts are stored on the Carrier. Do we have permission to moor and unload the ship and parts?" Garrus now was waiting for clearance to moor and meet the Core's mechanics for the planned repairs and installation of the new tech.