Disclaimer
While this story contains all original characters the universe is entirely the property of EA and Bioware.
The Red Moon Collection - 3 - A Hunt and a Kill
Chapter 1
Uncharted debris field, Balor System, Caleston Rift
"Damn... this is really it."
Will stared out into the great black abyss as he concentrated on drawing slow, efficient breaths. The stars and nebulae that surrounded him were frighteningly gorgeous, and never had he seen them so vividly. Against his own judgment, he twisted his head back around in search of the faint blue glow of the mass relay. He squinted in desperation until he finally found a dot of blue light pulsating softly between the distant spinning, concentric rings. It was getting harder to spot among the glow of thousands of stars surrounding it. As he turned his head back he felt himself rotating on an unsettling axis. The weightless was starting to get to him. He could feel panic clawing from the corners of his mind.
"Stay calm," he reminded himself while talking a deep breath. He could afford just one, he rationalized. "If you don't keep calm, you'll start to panic. If you panic, you're gonna suck up all the air in your recycler and suffocate."
All around him pieces of debris ranging in size from a speck of dust to a dozen meters wide drifted at about the same velocity as he did. However, a particularly bulky-looking metal beam had been slowly drifting closer over the past few minutes. Will felt a sudden urge to grab onto it just to feel his hand on something. Weightlessness was bad enough, but having nothing tactile for him to hold onto was almost worse. He reached for his belt and winced at the extreme pain in his arm and back. Will's fingers gripped his pistol, pulled it from its holster and brought it to bear in the opposite direction of the metal beam, firing a few shots. The silence was haunting. The weapon barely had any kickback to begin with, but the slightest bit it did have slowed his velocity enough for him to see a noticeable increase in the speed at which the metal beam closed in on him. He stowed the weapon carefully and waited patiently for a minute. Then two. Three and a half minutes later, he reached out and felt his glove touch the metal. He gripped it tightly and closed his eyes. A nervous frown crept of his lips as his fingers slowly tightened and loosened their grip on the beam a few times as he tried to keep the fading calm. Panic was trying to creep in again.
"Was that supposed to help?" He thought as he opened his eyes and swallowed hard.
Will's eyes shifted to the corner of his HUD as it glowed gently in low power mode. His omnitool was still working and there was nothing stopping him from halting his oxygen flow. Will shook his head in small, minute motions to shake the thought, but it quickly returned. If he really wanted to, his helmet could be removed rather easily. He drew in another deep breath.
"It was worth it, right?"
He had to hope so.
Two months earlier
"One more!" Eleena shouted from across the alley.
Will nodded to himself as he stared down the scope of his rifle. The unfortunate recipient of his gunfire, a turian member of the small gang whose territory they were raiding, fell to the ground of the grimy Omega alleyway. The sights of the turian's rifle had been locked onto T'lees as the asari covered their flank, and Will had no intention of losing someone on this mission. Orange light from the street at the end of the long alley drew irregular shadows from the dead gang member as he crumpled to the ground in plain sight. Their other target was playing safe and sticking to cover. SMG fire from a dozen meters down range forced Will to duck back behind a support column as his comm beeped to alert him of an incoming transmission.
"Beta team is at their waypoint," Tul'Sorrin alerted them over the comm. "Waiting on your command."
The silhouette of their target appeared as he leaned out from behind cover. Will tensed in surprise as Eleena flew forward in a biotic change and impacted the final remaining target square in the chest. The salarian engineer flew backward, head over heels, and landed with a satisfying thud on the dirty ground. He rolled to the side and into cover, his SMG still in hand. Will planted his feet and raised his M-15 toward the crate where the engineer hid as Eleena cautiously approached it with her own weapon ready to fire.
"What was the name again?" Eleena asked tauntingly. "'Blades?'" She snorted. "I know you guys are just starting out so I'll cut you some slack, and I'm no expert on running criminal organizations, but you should probably avoid murdering every one of your robbery victims if you've only got a few dozen bodies in your ranks."
The salarian Blade member jumped up and snarled angrily as he squeezed the trigger of his SMG, unleashing a few bullets into Eleena's heavily bolstered barrier. Less than a second later his chest was torn open as T'lees hurtled a biotic blast into him, sending the salarian to the ground with a final gasp. Will glanced over to the asari as she stood with her shotgun at her side.
"You're supposed to be watching our flank," he reminded her.
The asari sighed softly. "No one ever attacks our flank. You and Eleena get all the action up at the front."
"Only because no one ever drops their gun like I ask them to," Will countered with a smirk.
Eleena checked the two fallen enemies and turned back to face Will and T'lees.
"We're clear," she called to them.
"Beta team is still waiting on your go ahead," Tul's voice chimed in over the comm.
"We were busy," Will answered as he led the pair of asari down the alley. "Tell them to get ready, we're about to reach our entry point."
"Understood."
It was almost hard to believe, but an increase in murder rates on Omega was actually noticeable on a week by week basis. Even more so when the victims followed a very strict pattern of being wealthy, a proprietor of firearms, or both. As such, the so-called "Blades" had caught the attention of the Red Moon Collective very quickly, and a few weeks of observation, recon and infiltration had revealed a great deal about the burgeoning gang. The most important discovery had been that of their weapons stockpile, located in the industrial Sora District of Omega. Will glanced up briefly, his rifle still pointed forward, to take a quick look at the red-tinted stars beyond the station's mass effect barriers. The Sora District was one of those built on the spire, far out from the base of the asteroid itself, when the mining boom had stripped it of all its precious eezo. Now these run-down factories and processing plants housed squatters and gangs like the Blades.
"This is it," Eleena reminded him as she came to a stop beside a cargo bay door.
Will's attention returned to the task at hand. "We're at our entry point," he radioed to Tul. "Overriding the door security now."
He reached out to the door's lock and activated his omnitool. Will let out a sigh of relief as the quarian's "canned hack" that had been loaded onto all of the squad's omnitools went to work.
"Beta team is moving in now. No detection so far," Tul said. "Patching Ralliston through."
Will watched the security panel as it blinked orange, the hack still in progress.
"Alpha team, you copy?" Asked a second voice.
"I hear you," Will answered.
This was only Ralliston's third mission with the RMC and first commanding his own squad. Curiously, he did not sound nervous, but rather impatient to get into the fray.
"We're inside, up in the rafters," Ralliston reported. "I see multiple targets down below. I think they know you're coming in."
With that, Eleena and T'lees readied their weapons in anticipation. Will stepped back from the door and raised his M-15 as well.
"Open fire as soon as the door opens," Will ordered Beta team.
"You got it, Captain. Lining up shots."
The orange door lock spun and pinged as the hack continued to bypass the security. Finally, it phased to green and blinked once. Will's finger wrapped around the trigger as he braced himself for breaching the door. As the two halves parted and began to slide open, gunfire erupted from within. The four green-clad Blade members inside turned in panic as Will, Eleena and T'lees as well as three guns from behind and above them opened fire. Their foes barely had time to recognize their dilemma before they were cut down in the center of the room.
"Comm traffic," Tul'Sorrin reported. "Sounds like they're holding up in the main room to your right."
Will nodded and stepped into the building, scanning the dark corners as he did. "Good to know."
"Comin' down," a voice called from above them.
They looked up to the ceiling and watched as three shadowy figures moved from beside an open window to a ladder on the far side of the rafters. The first to slide to the ground was a bulky turian in his recently painted silver and red armor: Ralliston Kitt. Will noticed a spot on his shoulder where small chunk of paint that had been stripped away, most likely by gunfire. The sapphire sheen of what had once been his Blue Suns coloring peeked through the hole created by the stray bullet. He retrieved his rifle from his back and turned to approach the Hyperion squad with a nod of acknowledgment.
"Captain Hume," he said before glancing to Eleena and T'lees. "Ladies."
"Hmm," Eleena replied, uninterested.
T'lees smiled and bowed her head gently.
Will gave the turian a quick look-over. "Run into much resistance on the way in, Ralliston?"
He chuckled cockily. "Not as much as I'd have liked."
The human and batarian under Ralliston's command formed up at his side after reaching the bottom of the ladder. Will had only met these two a few hours before the start of the mission. They, along with Ralliston, were operating under Will's supervision as part of the training regimen that Kallux and the rest of the higher-ups in the RMC had established. With the Collective's demand for more recruits came diverse moral compasses. To them, exacting vengeance for those who have been wronged was a perfectly reasonable objective, but the key factor was their paycheck. So far, Ralliston had been hard for Will to read.
"Keep your minds on the objective," Will advised as he watched their reactions. "Tul'Sorrin reported a lot of radio chatter from the next room."
Shansa and Tul were circling a few hundred meters overhead in a cargo shuttle. If the raid on this weapon dump went well, they would be landing to retrieve the haul. Until then, the quarian was running his scanners, monitoring comm traffic and helping to direct the assault.
"Is this the only entrance?" T'lees inquired as she eyed a wide door on the far side of the room.
"According to those building blueprints we pulled," Eleena confirmed.
Will turned and approached the door, surprised that the panel at its side was green to indicate a state of "unlocked." He looked over his shoulder and motioned for the others to flank him.
"If there's any cover, I'm going for it as soon as the door's open," Will informed them. "If not, we'll hang back in here and figure something out."
The others nodded as Will raised his rifle and glanced to Ralliston. He directed the turian toward the door with his eyes before focusing on his sights. Ralliston tapped the control mechanism, ordering the door to slide apart with a groan from worn gears. The squad was immediately met with the roar of gunfire from inside the body of the warehouse. In the split-second it took the door to open, Will scanned the room and identified a series of thick, load-bearing metal columns that lined the the outer edge of the walls. Recognizing this as the cover he had hoped for, he sprinted forward into the room and slammed himself into position behind the nearest column. His shields had dipped a good bit, but were holding strong. To his surprise, Ralliston had followed him directly through the door and toward a column a few meters away. He certainly didn't lack courage. Or bravado.
"Drop your weapons!" Will shouted around the corner of his cover.
"You think that's gonna work?" Ralliston asked with a laugh.
A biotic shockwave passed between the columns, causing the hostile gunfire to waver momentarily. Will leaned out and picked a target as the other two members of Ralliston's team charged in and took cover. The Collective squad opened fire together as Eleena and T'lees took aim and tossed biotic attacks from the doorway.
"It never does," Will yelled over the exchange of bullets. "But it doesn't hurt to ask."
With the upper hand clearly in their favor, Will was able to see that there were only five members of the Blades to oppose them. Two had already fallen and another was caught in a biotic singularity dropped by T'lees. The target at the center, a turian, blasted shots at the RMC squad until his shotgun overheated, leaving him with nothing but his pistol. He drew his sidearm as the others around him fell, firing off shots randomly and sporadically until his own shields became exhausted and he dropped to the floor. The batarian on Ralliston's team jumped forward, his rifle still locked on the spot where the large turian foe had fallen.
"Hold your fire!" Will ordered just as the batarian had acquired his shot.
The batarian looked over his shoulder with a disapproving grunt, but obeyed. Will lowered his weapon and stepped out from cover, his eyes locked on the bloodied turian. He coughed and looked up as Will approached.
"Who... who the fuck are you?" He coughed.
Will looked around the room to the crates of weapons. This was definitely the right place.
"Look around and see how much hardware we're dealing with," Will ordered to the others.
"Answer me!" The turian sputtered from the ground.
"I was about to," Will replied as he turned his attention back to the wounded Blade. "Have a little patience, man." He let his arm fall to his side with his rifle pointed to the floor. "We're part of the Red Moon Collective, and we're not a fan of what you and your buddies have been doing. Specifically that business with the murdering."
The turian laughed insultingly. "You... you guys are a bunch of..."
"A bunch of what?" Will narrowed his eyes. "Actually, don't answer that. It doesn't matter who or what we are; what does matter is what we do. And putting an end to cold-blooded murderers like you?" He smirked lightly. "Well, I don't like the killing, but I did give you a chance to surrender."
One last cough of blood seeped from the turian's mouth before he fell back to the ground, motionless.
"Quite a haul!" A scratchy human voice rang out from behind them.
The entire squad spun on their heels to see a pair of humans in armor painted proudly with the colors and insignias of the Blue Suns. One wore a helmet and held a rifle across his chest while the other, a grizzled looking man with pale skin and jet-black hair, stood staring Will down with a confident grin. Will looked around the room to see the others were standing at alert with their weapons ready to draw. He looked back to the strangers and eyed them up and down.
"I'd say so," Will answered safely.
Ralliston slowly stepped up to Will's side and whispered quietly. "Janson. Number three with the Blue Suns on Omega."
Will clenched his jaw.
Janson stepped forward and took a quick look around the room. "Thanks for taking care of the hard part."
"'Thanks?'" Will repeated.
"That's right," he answered very matter-of-factly. "The Blue Suns will be taking this stockpile. But come on, it's only fair that I give you a nice pat on the back."
"You're not taking a fucking thing," Eleena said flatly.
The entire RMC squad but Will raised their weapons in protest. Janson took no notice and walked forward until he was within an arm's length of Will.
"That asari's got a mouth on her," Janson mused.
Will slid his rifle onto his back as a sign of good faith and crossed his arms. "She does," he acknowledged. "And she's right."
Janson narrowed his eyes challengingly and glanced to Ralliston's RMC emblazoned armor. "Yeah, I've heard about this little initiative. The Red Moon Collective, right?" He looked back to Will and shrugged. "Catchy name, I guess, but it doesn't really get your message across."
"Yeah, because 'Blue Suns' is a clear mission statement," Eleena retorted.
"And our 'message' is that gangs like the Blades and the Blue Suns need to be kept in check," T'lees asserted from across the room.
"Oh, I'm aware of your objective," Janson said with a small laugh.
Will raised a brow. "So I guess it doesn't matter that our name doesn't get the message across. Word gets out regardless."
The human nodded. "Which is why I'm here: to show you that we've taken notice and to tell you where you can expect to fit in." Janson stared Will down. "You and your squad can leave now. This is Blue Suns property. If you refuse... well, your little gang of do-gooders has, what, a couple hundred in your ranks? If that?" He took a step forward and stared down at Will intimidatingly. "The Blue Suns could wipe you out in a week."
Will stared back to show he wasn't afraid, but wasn't about to challenge that point. He knew how to pick his battles, even though he often wish he didn't.
"Well?" Janson asked expectantly.
"Let's go," Will said after a long pause.
"Are you serious?" Ralliston snarled. "It's two on six!"
"I'd doubt it would stay that way for long," Will argued. "And even if it did, the repercussions echo a lot farther than this room."
Janson smiled authoritatively and stepped back. "You're a smart man, mister..."
"Captain, Hume," Will corrected. "And you're lucky that's the case."
Will ignored the laughing response his taunt received and stepped past Janson toward the door. The others, slightly bewildered, had no choice but to follow. He led them out into the alleyway and toward the street, raising his omnitool to activate his outbound comms.
"Shansa, we need exfil," he stated bitterly.
"On my way!" She answered. "How did the-"
"We'll talk about it later," Will interrupted.
Eleena stepped up to Will's side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Will, what the hell was that?"
"That was me not putting a target on the head of everyone in the RMC," he said quietly.
The asari let her hand fall back to her side as she walked with him. She did not object. Will closed his eyes as they stepped out into the street and came to a stop, waiting for Shansa and Tul to arrive. Only on Omega could a night go from so good to so damn shitty in five minutes.