TITLE: More Men Have Been Killed by That Gun Than Died in the Skyllian Blitz

CHAPTER: 1

AN: I know. I know. The timeline isn't perfect here. I have to get this out of my head. Just go with it, 'k?

If you never played the Zaeed Massani DLC, then you didn't realize you met his son "Bain Massani" on Eos. You also wouldn't know his favorite weapon is an old M8 Avenger, which he named Jessie. Zaeed is one of my favorite ME characters, so I thought I'd drag him kicking, cussing and shooting to the Andromeda Galaxy.

Keep moving you old bastard.

Peering through the darkened lobby a set of stairs appeared in the gloom. Perfect. He'll make for that central staircase. That'll give him more options. It'll put him in the open, but it's a chance he'll have to take. To gather himself for the sprint, Massani pushed his back against a stack of crates and tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Warm and sticky it clung to his skin blinding him. He shivered through the icy sweat pouring down his spine. The merc swore while he fumbled with his weapon trying to breathe through the cramp in his side. He'd been through worse than this. Plenty worse. He'd fought them off, stayed ahead of them for twenty-four hours or better. Even killed one of the bastards. That's when he noticed while taking a moment to admire his perfect head-shot the dead man wasn't wearing anything identifiable as Blue Suns, or for that matter any of the other folks he'd pissed off through the years. So what?

He didn't know why they were chasing him. Didn't care. He did care about staying alive. And well, damned if he'd let them win. And if they wanted him alive? That would never happen. An hour later he's trapped in an empty office building, and there's nowhere left to run. The merc backed himself into a corner and methodically reloaded his assault rifle. That he shouldn't have entered and risk getting cornered didn't seem as obvious when he made the decision. Then he'd missed his chance to escape a few yards back when they passed a set of double doors leading outside. He'd thrown himself at the doors, but they hadn't budged. Of course, they'd locked the goddamn doors. The searing pain his shoulder reminded him of his stupidity of throwing his body weight against those doors. That's alright. He had plenty left in him

The sound of boots pounding on tile floors alerted him. "It's just you and me Jessie," he said chest heaving. Gathering himself he shouted a string of words blue enough to make a sailor blush and took aim at the men charging through the door. How many more could there be? Didn't matter. A few more minutes and he'll be sipping a scotch at Afterlife.

An hour later, the merc dropped to his knees retching and gasping for air. Goddamn, he'd gotten them all. Sons of bitches didn't know who they were messing with. Maybe he'd just sit here for an hour. Let Jessie cool off and grab a sip of water. He listened for sounds of movement, but all he heard was the hum of the air handlers. Another sip and his head dropped against the metal side of a desk.

Sons of bitches…

Something moved on his right, a shadow within shadow moving against the gloom. A flash of reflection off a rifle barrel. Pain shot through his body cramping his muscles and sending fire down his nerves. The wet sound of bones breaking. His bones. Damn, they'd known to sneak up on him from the right. Goddamn Vido was rotting in hell for screwing up his peripheral vision. Massani spits blood stumbled to his feet and swore at his pursuers. The room tilted and went dark. He wrapped Jessie in his arms as he fell.

This was it. The end. Regret flowed through his blood filling his heart. He squeezed Jessie and murmured, "Been a good run, love."

He never heard the radio transmission going on above his head as Aria's soldiers tied his hands and feet.

"That's it, Aria. We got him."

"'Bout damn time. Bring him to me. Time to pull that thorn in my side for good. Leave that stupid rifle with him. It'll be my going away gift to him."

Her laughter echoed away as the soldiers exchanged a quick look. They shouldered their weapons and lifted Zaeed from the floor. Never a good idea to keep Aria waiting and always wise to follow her orders.

~o0o~

The first thing he noticed was the air smelled cleaner than it did on Omega. The second thing he noticed as he explored his new environment with his fingers is Jessie laying next to him. With a sigh of relief, he wrapped his fingers around the rifle butt. Then a voice that set his head pounding.

"Mister Massani? Can you hear me?"

"Whatthefuckdoyouwant? I'm paid up 'til morning."

"Please don't struggle, sir. Breathe as deeply as you can."

"Th-h-hink an old man can't defend himself? I'll take every one of you out." He bit down on a groan because everything hurt. Hurt to talk, breath and move.

"Sir, the rifle isn't loaded, and you are in no danger here. Please, open your eyes."

"Whothearehellareyou?"

"I'm Doctor Carlyle, Mister Massani. The sooner you open your eyes and sit up the sooner I can take care of those injuries for you. I imagine you're in a quite a bit of pain."

"Goddamn right, I am. Got any Scotch? Not that cheap blended stuff."

"If you open your eyes I promise to locate a bottle of Scotch."

"Good enough." Opening his eyes and sitting up opened up a new world of pain.

"That's it." Hands helped him sit up. Hands on his face, tracing the outline of his scar. "No offense to your doctor. Whoever repaired you face did a terrible job. Couldn't even match your eye color."

"Some dame on Omega fixed it for me."

"I can tell. Perhaps later, when you've rested we can talk about fixing that eye. I know I can do better than what you've got. In the meantime, there's someone here who wants to meet you."

Another face swam into focus. Whatever the doc gave him was working because his vision cleared. The young man staring at him was young. Very young. Not quite as handsome as Commander Shepard, but the same genetic charisma. Lucky bastard. The face reached forward and took his hand as if to greet him.

"Mister Massani, I'm Scott Ryder. This won't mean anything to you now, but I'm the human Pathfinder for the Andromeda Initiative."

"What's that? Some fancy name for smuggler? Met all kinds of them. Nothing new."

"Mister Massani, please listen to me then I'll let you get some rest. "We woke you from cryo-sleep just a few minutes ago. Sir, you've been asleep for six hundred years. Welcome to the Andromeda Galaxy."

Zaeed felt his eyes widen and his breath hitch. Musta drank some crazy batarian shit to have this kind of a dream, "Well, goddamn. You don't say."

~o0o~

He woke again in a comfortable hospital bed. Most of the pain was gone and the room didn't spin when he lifted his head off the pillow.

"You're awake. I'll get the doctor."

Massani squinted one eye. Nope. Not the doc or that Ryder fellow. "Who are you?"

"May I get you some water, sir?"

"Don't ignore the question. Who are you? You look kinda familiar."

Massani watched the stranger make a great show of straightening a tray, pouring water, tugging on his blanket and spent about five minutes glancing around the room. Finally, after he apparently ran out of things to distract himself he returned to his chair by the bed.

With eyes everywhere but him, Zaeed prepared himself to listen. Couldn't be anything more shocking than learning you slept for 600 years. Could it?

"Well, the Pathfinder and I met on a planet called EOS. When he found out my name, he mentioned he thought he'd seen it before. Turned out you were part of the human ark. Someone paid a large sum of credits to make sure you got a cryo bed and shipped to the Andromeda Galaxy with the rest of us."

"I may be old enough to be Noah, but I'm not deaf. I'll ask you one more time boy. Who are you?"

"My name is Bain, sir. Bain Massani."