Disclaimer: I own neither Mass Effect, nor Predators
Chapter 1
Warriors of the Galaxy
The sound of the wind whipping outside the shuttle, the smell of adrenaline before a fight, the cool touch of your favorite shotgun, all part of a warrior's life. Something Urdnot Wrex had been away from for far too long.
He had missed his days of riding shuttles, waiting to be dropped off into a hot zone. Smoke clogging the air, explosions going off left and right, and gunfire so thick if you put up your hand it'd get shredded within seconds.
Yes, Wrex missed it very much.
He knew the importance of his work as Clan Leader of Urdnot, but sometimes he just needed to go out and let loose, crack a few skulls. That was a nice memory, the sound of skulls cracking. Different species skulls made different sounds too. Humans made a juicier crunch whereas Turians had a sort of papery sound to them.
The thoughts reminded him of his time with Commander Shepard, strong warrior, good woman, and friend. Them and the team, against the unknown, killing it with big guns, good times.
So, given his past, he understandably needed to get out every now and then, kill something.
When he'd been contacted that some pirates had made an unauthorized landing not too far from Clan Urdnot's camp, he'd been nearly overjoyed.
He'd practically jumped of his throne, slapped on his battle armor, grabbed his favorite shotgun, and ordered a pilot to fly him over, with no escorts to protect him.
He could barely contain his giddiness as he sat in the shuttle. Though the wait was made more bare able by the comfort of his armor. It was a well-worn suit, a dull grey in color, with many chips in its paint, but it was a hell of a lot better than that ceremonial crap he was forced to wear.
His shotgun was a modified M-22 Eviscerator. He tinkered with it and given it an extended clip so that he could now squeeze of 5 rounds before having to reload.
And of course, he was a Krogan Battle Master; his biotics could make short work of anything his shotgun wouldn't.
"Clan Leader," called the pilot from the cockpit, "we are approaching the drop off point!"
"Good, my trigger finger was getting itchy," he snarled as he stood up from his seat,
There was a small jerk as the shuttle slowed to make its descent, when it finally touched down the doors popped open and let in a bright beam of sunlight.
Wrex took a moment to soak in the barren wasteland that was Tuchanka.
"Are you certain you will not need assistance Clan leader," asked the pilot,
"Yes!" he growled, "not get off my back, lift off, and don't come for me until I tell you to!"
"As you wish," the pilot closed the doors and took off immediately,
Wrex grumbled under his breath, too much pampering. If he'd known he'd be babied as Clan Leader, he might have refused the post.
((#*%^)#(%&^)(#%)#%&_(&%_#)%&)#%^)#)#(%*^)#%^))
The Citadel, center of the universe, at least as far as any species was concerned
Many would like to believe that it was also the city upon the hill, the epitome of society, the shining white city of all that was civilized. But for every shining city, there had to be a dark underbelly.
That was where all the gritty cloak and dagger happened.
Where crime bosses like the human Red dust distributer; Malcom, did his work.
Those with his kind of power, felt like they were at the top of the world.
And with so many Eclipse mercenaries protecting him, why shouldn't he.
Located at the top of a ten story skyscraper, each floor containing at least a dozen guards and security camera's watching every corner. Not even a squad of Asari commandos could get in without trouble.
Perhaps not a squad of commandos, but what of a single Drell assassin? One well versed in the ways of being unseen and using the shadows, one named Thane Krios.
The assassin moved through the halls of the building swiftly and silently. His body blending into the shadows and his footsteps so quiet, they might as well have not even happened.
The guards were no use, not a single one of them noticed as a figure slipped by.
Most assassins would have dispatched the guards along the way, or at least, just enough so that the exit would be easier. But Thane was not most assassins, if he had to kill guards, it meant that he'd made a mistake, and he rarely made mistakes.
Sneaking his entire way up to the top floor, Thane hit an obstacle.
A door
More specifically, a double door with ten inch thick plating, four guards outside, and one mean looking Krogan.
But to Thane, this was nothing new.
He'd long ago found the solution to this obstacle. A mechanic's door on the adjacent hallway lead to a power room. Inside the room, a ventilation shaft.
The Drell crawled into the shaft and stealthily made his way through it until he finally found himself above in the ceiling of Malcom's office, there his target sat at a large desk, busily going through his computer.
Predictably, there were guards in the room as well.
Two of them
They would be of little challenge.
Before carrying out his mission, Thane uttered a quick prayer,
"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."
Quiet as a shadow, the assassin dropped down from the vent, his steps making no sound.
Reaching into this coat, Thane pulled out two M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol, one for each hand.
With expert aim, he fired both weapons at the same time, each shot blowing out the brains of their intended targets. The guards fell to the ground, Malcom, to shocked to respond, was helpless as Thane's hands wrapped around his head and violently jerked it to the side.
A sickening crack filled the room and the man was dead.
Just as the Drell was about to pray for his sins, the entire room became flooded with light, the double doors opened, and at least six guards and the Krogan stormed into the room. Each pointing an assault rifle at Thane.
There was a ring from the computer on the desk.
Thane turned his eyes to it.
"Incoming call" it said,
"Pick it up," ordered the Krogan,
Thane decided to play along and answer the call.
The face of a bald, pale skinned human popped up on the screen, a smug look on his face.
"So," started the human, "you're the famous Thane Krios; you've got a body count bigger then all my men put together. I almost feel bad for killing you, could use someone with your skills in my service."
"You knew I was coming," said Thane,
"Course I did, ever since your time with Shepard, you've been taking down crime bosses like me non-stop, but that ends here"
"I'm afraid not," replied Thane, "I knew that you were expecting me. That's why I placed an explosive charge on your building's power generator."
The assassin held up a detonator,
Malcom's eyes widened, "Kill-"
Thane pressed the button.
A tremor rocked the building and the lights all died.
The squad of Eclipse soldiers opened fire, their shots hit nothing but air.
"Where is he?" asked one of the mercenaries,
"Where did he go?"
The sound of twin pistols cracked through the air as one by one the hired guns fell.
The merc's in turn fired at random, wherever their assailant decided to reveal himself. The bright blue light of their guns bathed the room, the light growing smaller and smaller as their number's dwindled.
Soon, only two and the Krogan were left.
"Come out an fight coward!" growled the large alien,
Thane fired from the shadows, the shot hit the Krogan in the shoulder but bounced off its shields.
"Ha! Got you!" it growled,
The Krogan charged towards its victim, Thane remained calm and still until the last second, where he quickly stepped out of the way.
The Krogan, unable to stop its charge, smashed through the window and fell to the streets below.
The remaining two mercenaries quickly opened fire.
Thane closed the distance between them too fast. His foot struck out and knocked away one's rifle, then followed up with a strong punch to the man's throat, crushing his wind pipe.
The next, an Asari, threw a blast of biotic energy at him. He swiftly dodged and used his own biotics to render the blue alien weightless, letting her float in the air before he delivered a shot to her head.
The Drell caught movement in the corner of his eye.
He quickly ran up to the windows to see Malcom fleeing for his escape shuttle.
Thane knew he'd never make it to the man in time. But as always, he had a plan.
Making his way to the room's balcony, he was given a clear view of the fleeing prey. He grabbed off from his back, an M-92 Mantis sniper rifle.
He brought the rifle's scope to his reptilian eyes and sighted his target.
Malcom had already made it to his shuttle and was in the process of taking off.
From the angle he was at, Thane had not chance of hitting the man himself, but he had a perfect line of sight on the pilot.
The shuttle's thrusters finally kicked to life and the pilot quickly pushed them to get them the hell out of there, slamming his foot down on the acceleration peddle, just as his head exploded.
From her perch, Thane watched as the shuttle spiraled down to the ground, thousands of feet below.
Malcom wouldn't be able to fly the shuttle himself; the shot from his rifle had destroyed the controls.
Another perfect assassination.
Storing his rifle back onto his back,
He clamped his hands together and began to pray.
(*&%($^(^$(*&(*%*(&^*(#$%^#*&%^#$)(#*&%^)#^)%^)&^#%(*%^)#^%)
A good hunter knows when to stay hidden and when to strike. A good soldier knows when to follow orders and when to follow his heart. A veteran, knows when to follow his instincts and when to work with what's been given to him.
He was all of these things. He was a lethal killing machine.
Alliance military, black ops, well-armed. A good combination.
Target: slavers
Location: Terminus system
Planet: Classified
Currently within slaver camp
Name: Classified
Rank: Classified
History: Classified
Date: Classified
The operative watched as the slavers, mostly Batarian, some human, herded their "merchandise" into cages.
Men were put in separate cages from women and children. The men would be sold for manual labor, women would most likely become servants or prostitutes, and the children? Unknown
"Get the buyers online right now," ordered a Batarian, the leader, "tell them we've got a fresh stock. All look healthy and useable for something, even the kids."
"Yes sir," said a human,
"Hurry it up people," yelled the leader, "if we sell this batch, we can all say hello to a big chunk of change!"
The operative scanned the room
A dozen targets, all well-armed, others most likely in the adjacent rooms as well.
The operative practiced switching from target to target with his Mattock rifle, he continued until he was satisfied.
"You two!" growled the leader, "get me one of the women, I could use some stress relieving after that raid."
His head exploded,
"Shit" screamed one of the slavers,
A second later a clustered group of them became a find red mist and a shower of meaty chunks as a grenade blew them to bits.
Loud cracks of the Mattock's shots rung through the air as the Operative picked off the hostiles one by one.
"Up there!" shouted a slaver,
The survivors looked up to see a figure clad in Terminus armor taking pot shots at them through a window on the roof.
Before any of the slavers could do anything about it, they'd already taken a bullet to a vital organ.
The Operative dropped down from the ceiling and made his way through the room.
"Hey!" called one of the prisoners, "are you here to help us? Get us out!"
The Operative nodded, when suddenly the doors opened. The Operative dove behind a pile of crates as slaver reinforcements filled the air with gunfire.
The Operative swapped his Mattock for a Katana shotgun, he pulled out another frag grenade, hit the detonator and tossed it over his cover.
"Grenade!" yelled a slaver,
The Operative heard the explosion and burst out from cover.
The first slaver he saw he immediately shot, another came out from behind a pillar and had his head blow off. The next fired at him from the side and was immediately put down with two bursts.
Suddenly a slaver jumped out and latched himself to the Operative's back, one hand around the Operative's neck and the other hold a knife.
It was almost laughable.
The Operative tossed the slaver over his shoulder and onto the ground.
"No wait!" cried the slaver,
The Operative fired
($%#$%^&&(&(*#%^*%^(*#&%(#*$^)#%^)#%^()#^%)^%()#%)
Zekk'Preet vas Tonbay, or Zekk as he was more commonly known, sighed for the tenth time of the day.
He was just another Quarian out on his pilgrimage, trying to bring back something useful to the fleet.
He'd decided from the day he'd set out, to go and try his luck in some sort of military pursuit. Thus he went to go sign up with mercenaries, hoping that at some point he'd run into something of use.
Possibly a new type of weapon, better combat armor, new tech, anything really. The Quarians could use every military advantage they could get, they lived on Ships, they had no home world to defend. If their fleet got attacked, the enemy would automatically be attacking their homes.
But, it had been a full year by human counts since he'd set out, and so far he'd had little success.
The mercenaries he'd joined up with were more like a gang.
Running around Omega, getting paid to do jobs, most of which were morally questionable, and drinking at the cheapest bar with the cheapest whores.
Zekk didn't participate in the last two, he couldn't since his immune system was so weak he'd probably die of infection the moment he had a tear in his suit.
Omega was, not exactly the cleanest place in the world.
Still, it build character. The kind of character one would need to survive in the cruel universe.
But despite its "character building abilities" as Zekk liked to put it, he still remained…
"Hey Zekk,"
The Quarian looked up from the chipped bar table to see the single most beautiful thing in all of Omega.
"Oh…hey Kat" said Zekk,
"Have any adventures recently?" she asked,
For a brief moment, Zekk found himself tongue tied. Kat was a young female human with ginger hair tied into a tight pony tail, emerald green eyes, and a lip ring on those lovely ruby red lips. Despite all the crap that happened on Omega, she remained chipper.
Plus, she knew how to handle herself. Zekk had once seen her thrust her knee into a Turian's "tender spot" for asking her the stupid question "how much?"
"Uh…" he started,
She giggled cutely,
"Well, not really," he said, "just the usual stuff."
"Ah, cracking heads with your buddies," she said, pointing off to the side where a few members of Zekk's group were downing their 13th shot of some alcohol and groping the prostitutes.
"Uh…yeah," he replied bashfully,
"Well, it's probably more exciting than spending your days behind a counter serving drinks and fending off drunks," she quipped,
"Heh," he chuckled,
"find something for your pilgrimage yet?"
"No," he admitted,
"Well, to be honest, I'm glad kind of glad you haven't, you're better company than the usual rabble we get," she said,
"Really?" asked Zekk, suddenly popping up,
Kat giggled, "Yeah, is that visor fogged up or something? Can't you see me talking to you every time you're here?"
"Uh…well I…you see it's just," he stuttered,
"Tumar!" roared an angry voice,
"Uh oh," sighed Kat, "looks like you're friends have friends."
Zekk looked over to see a Turian, backed up with two Humans, a Krogan, and a Batarian and four LOKI mechs, marching their way towards his boss, a middle aged human named *Tumar.
*Tumar is said (Too-mar)
Three of Zekk's own gang grabbed their guns, but did not raise them.
"Lorik, what an unpleasant surprise," Tumar said through feigned happiness, "can buy your boy's anything? Drinks? Women?"
"How about your heart, on a plate!" growled the Turian,
"Ooh, sorry, I kind of need my heart, especially when I'm gonna be spending time with this little minx here," he said as he ran a finger down the chin of an Asari suggestively caressing his leg.
"I know it was you hit did the hit on my men down at the warehouse!" growled Lorik,
"Warehouse, warehouse," repeated Tumar as though trying to remember, "let's see…nope, got nothing."
"Well that's just fine," Lorik said in a low tone, "cause me and my men are going to help you. See these mechs? Top quality, bought them just for this occasion."
"Their real shiny," mocked Tumar, "I bet you spent a fortune on them."
"It was money well spent to see you ripped apart," assured Lorik, "Kill him!"
Lorik's gang and Mechs raised their guns
Zekk and his men raised their guns
The Mechs fired
And Lorik's men dropped to the ground, a burning hole in each of them.
"What!" cried out Lorik as the Mechs turned their guns on him,
"Thanks for the gift Lorik" said Tumar, a satisfied smile on his face, "those mechs will make a great addition to my group."
"But, how!" demanded Lorik,
"I've got an ace in the hole when it comes to mechs," bragged Tumar, he gestured behind Lorik,
The Turian turned around to see Zekk standing next to LOKI mechs he'd hacked.
"I hacked in to their systems in less than a minute," said Zekk, as he took out his Tempest submachine gun and turned it toward Lorik "I don't know whether to be proud or disappointed."
"Wait, please! I'll pay you double whatever Tumar is paying! Just help me out here, I-"
BANG
Lorik dropped to the ground, a gaping hole delivered from Zekk.
"Nice work Zekk my boy," complimented Tumar, "now, if you could turn the mechs off so the gang can store them away."
Zekk turned on his omni-tool, within a few second, the mechs curled up and shot down.
"You've just earned yourself a bonus," said Tumar as the men carried away the mechs,
"Now, if you'll excuse me," said Tumar as he lifted up the Asari still rubbing his inner thigh, "I'm gonna go to my room, all this excitement has me stressed out."
"Sure boss," said Zekk as the human walked away,
Zekk for his part, turned back to the bar and sat back down at his usual seat.
"That was pretty exciting," pointed out Kat,
"uh…yeah," he said, reaching down into his pockets, "listen, Kat…"
"Hm?"
"Um…well…never mind,"
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Wrex was thrilled.
There were at least 15 pirates down there, all armed, and organized. And he got them all to himself.
The pirates had set up camp in a hollowed out building's bottom floor. Wrex had entered about two stories above them, which gave him a good vantage point.
The pirates had set up three men on patrol around the camp, one on the second floor, the other two at the front entrance.
Wrex could have stayed put and come up with a full proof plan that could efficiently neutralize all of them in an incredibly short amount of time. But, in the end, he opted for a much less complicated approach.
"Hey! Connor!" yelled the top patrol, a human, "Connor!"
"What?" Connor yelled back,
"Get up here and take my place! I'm getting hungry!"
"Quite whining Billy! You've only got a half an hour to go,"
Before Billy could protest, Connor had already turned away and left.
"Bastard," he grumbled as he turned around,
"when I get done with my shift, I'm gonna-" suddenly cut off by seeing a shotgun barrel
"What's up," quipped Wrex,
The shot echoed out through the entire building.
Connor looked back to see Billy's body fall off the first floor and land right in the middle of the campsite. In his place stood Wrex, shotgun smoking.
"Now normally I'd give you the option to surrender. But because I'm in a particularly good mood, I think I'll just kill all of you," said Wrex,
"Kill him!"
Wrex ducked down behind cover as shot whizzed overhead. The adrenaline was already starting to course through his system, it felt good.
Wrex unhooked a frag grenade from his belt, hit the trigger and tossed it over. He counted, 1…2…3, he popped out just as the grenade went off, scattering the whole lot of them.
The Krogan jumped over the railing and landed on to the bottom floor, right in front of a pirate who'd dropped to his belly to escape his grenade.
"Nice try," said Wrex, before blowing off his head.
The Pirates recovered from the explosion and came back gunning.
With a quick burst of fire, Wrex gunned down two more pirates before being forced to take cover behind a solid pillar.
Popping out of his cover briefly, he threw a Warp, a blue ball of biotic energy shot out from his hand, it flew through the air and slammed into one of the pirates, shredding the man apart.
"He's got biotics!" yelled one of them,
"No shit," Wrex muttered under his breath, using the same powers he shielded himself in a biotic barrier.
Without warning he roared and came charging out from the pillar. The pirates opened fire in an effort to drop him quickly, their attempt was met with failure as the rounds deflected off the Krogan's shield.
Wrex shot out his hand sending a group of the Pirates flying away.
A fourth who'd managed to escape being thrown, continued firing until Wrex rammed into him, causing the man to literally be tossed aside like a ragdoll.
One of the pirates who'd been tossed away by his biotics was met with a grizzly end as the man just got back to his feet, only for Wrex to smash into him and crush him against a wall.
The Krogan quickly dislodged himself from the blood mess and whipped around to blast a gaping hole in the second pirate, then grab the other by the collar of his armor and repeatedly headbutt the man until his face was nothing but a pulp.
Tossing away the corpse, Wrex turned his attention to the remaining 6 pirates.
The two guarding the front door had come back to rejoin with their comrades, and the other four had taken up positions behind a pile of heavy supply crates.
Wrex smirked
Calling upon his biotics again, he scattered their cover all over the room, leaving them in a slightly bewildered state.
Taking advantage of the opening, Wrex slung his shotgun and charged head first. The pirates never stood a chance.
The first took a powerful uppercut to his chin, breaking his neck and jaw at the same time.
The second was batted away like a fly, his head smashing against the rock wall
The third desperately fired his weapon, only for Wrex to tear it out of his hands, snap it in half then squeeze his head until it popped like a fruit
The fourth tried to run; he didn't get very far, especially not with a shotgun round in his back
The final two, were smart.
They stopped to think about what they should do about the Krogan covered in blood.
Wrex gave them one suggestion, "Boo!"
The two immediately started to flee.
"Hey! Come back here, I was just joking!" he called, of course they didn't stop, "ugh, cowards."
Gathering himself, and some extra rounds of ammo of the dead, he chased after them.
"Alright, where'd you two go," he asked himself as he exited the building onto the broken streets.
There was a scuffle to the right, Wrex turned his head just in time to see a foot disappear around a corner.
He trudged toward it, shotgun up and ready.
As he began to round the corner, he heard something strange. It sounded like the discharge of a weapon, only, bigger, maybe a bit less stable. Then there was the unmistakable sound of a man dying, then the gurgling of blood.
"Hey, is someone stealing my kills?" he called as he rounded the corner,
True to his ears, he found the last two pirates dead.
Though he did not feel bad for them, he was intrigued by their deaths. After taking a quick scan of the area and satisfied that no one was around, he knelt down to inspect the bodies.
The first one's cause of death was easy enough to discern, he looked like he'd gone through a butcher shop. Deep cut marks covered the man's chest and face, Wrex noticed a two stab wounds next to each other. Too level to be separate, most likely some sort of two pronged weapon.
The second however, was a bit of a mystery. Clearly he had not died of blades, no blade, no matter how sharp, could tear a whole that big.
It was the size of Wrex's fists put together, and it looked like it had been instantly cauterized. The sound he'd heard before? But he'd never seen a round do that kind of damage, not even from sniper rifles. A Claymore shotgun perhaps, but he'd recognize the sound of one.
It was just then that he heard an animalistic clicking noise. Wrex immediately whipped around but was confronted with nothing.
Dismissing it but still keeping sharp, Wrex returned to inside the building. He opened the supply crates and found a good amount of weapons, ammo, and food, this would be useful to the clan.
"Pilot," he called over his COM, "there are supplies here, round up some warriors and gather them up. The clan will make use of them."
"Yes Clan Leader,"
"And take off without me when you're done,"
"Clan Leader?"
"There's someone else out here, I'm tracking it down," explained Wrex,
"But Clan Leader, you cannot-"
"Do as you're told!" he growled,
"Yes Clan Leader,"
It was just then that he heard another scuffle, he quickly ran back outside to the two dead bodies, only to find them missing.
Now he was sure that something was around, but he still couldn't find it.
Then there was that clicking again.
Suddenly, Wrex felt a strange prick on his leathery neck. He reached up and found what looked like a small but extremely sharp dark.
Almost immediately Wrex felt himself getting tipsy, his vision blurry. Not good, he searched around, trying to find where the owner of the dart was, but he could still see nothing.
By now he was on his knees, vision was getting dark.
"Damn it," he groaned, he was on his belly by now.
The last thing he was, were a pair of feet walking towards him.
