Firebase Dagger. Ironically the one location Mason is reminded the most of home. Cerberus’ Phoenix operatives were raised and held on a planet similar to it. Constant storms, raging winds, sand and shrapnel in every crevice of the base. A bit more red with longer days and nights, but... Generally the same.
The enemy was wiped out without a care. He lost a teammate without any body to salvage, an abomination’s explosion ripping through any defenses the salarian had. Mason didn’t feel any remorse. He’d had fallen squad members before and he wasn’t about to get himself killed for one.
As he listens in on the comm of his headset, their shuttle is lost, all transmissions dropped. Crashed possibly among the waste, the storm a bit too much for the pilot to handle. It would be a long time before another one comes in and the dragoon is beginning to lose his patience. Stranded in a literal fucking desert with an asari, of all people...
He turns to look at her, but the face underneath his helmet goes pale. A thin body, long but rigid and thick, wings plastered against its back, long, cricket-like legs hunched over and multiple appendages curled to latch to her back. Its antennae stretch out like horns. If Mason were from Earth, he’d recognize it as something similar to a fucking massive locust. He feels a lump in his throat stop him from alerting her and instead just stares, baffled, starting to take steps backing away. The thing is moving, making its way up her shoulder, and he can’t do anything but point at it.
