A galaxy at war

Chapter 1: Rakka

1 week pre-Reaper war

It was hot on Thessia. It was usually hot or at least warm but this was hotter than usual. Didn't faze the Drell too much, the drier the better as far as he was concerned. He scanned the area looking for the target.

''C'mon c'mon, where are you… aha!'', he exclaimed, as he saw his target. An Asari was making a speech, addressing a large crowd in a park across the road. Her death was going to him a very rich Drell.

''Right Rakka'', he said to himself, ''let's get to it''.

He made his way across to the crowd, analysing his surrounding as he went looking for threats, or an exit. On either side of the park, skyscrapers towered on either side. Despite the fact that he had been here multiple times, the architecture of the Asari never ceased to amaze him. Rakka shook his head. Back on topic. Several armed guards surrounded the politician, but they didn't fool him. Meetings like this, where there's one guard there's ten cops on standby. The crowd was surprisingly large for an ''unofficial'' meeting, with numbers he could estimate was round-about a hundred, more or less. The crowd was predominantly Asari, but there was numerous Turians among the crowd, with the odd Salarian dotting the crowd. No Drell though. Rakka sighed in exasperation. Drell usually accompanied powerful Hanar, and powerful Hanar rarely went to the same place as their own assassins. This wouldn't help his escape, sticking out like a saw thumb. It was going to be a run-type escape. On Thessia. After assassinating a politician. This should be fun.

The politician was on a podium on a stand. A forward assault would be good, except by the time he jumped up on the stand, security would probably gun him down. The assault rifles they were holding didn't look like they were ushering arrests, and he doubted his barriers would hold out until he got there. Around the back it was. He left the park silently, any hint he was going round the back and this would get messy. Hopefully things would go smoothly.

Things did not go smoothly. After walking for what he guessed to be half an hour, he reached the back entrance to the park. It was blocked by a wall; about 9 feet tall give or take. He considered turning back and jumping the fence around the rest of the fence, but he was pretty sure he saw alarms connected. As he thought about it, something caught his eye. A door! Probably connected directly to the park as well. Avoiding the alarms, get to the target… perfect! Only one problem stood in his was. Two Asari guards stood either side, holding avenger assault rifles. Only one thing for it.

He boldly strolled up to the guards.

''Hello!'' he said cheerfully as he walked up to them, ''Just popping through.''

One of the guards roughly pushed him back. ''Members of the public are not allowed through here.''

''What if I say please?'' Rakka said as he headed back towards the guards . As he reached for the door handle the second guard knocked his hand away with the butt of her gun, ''Are you deaf? No one allowed!''. Rakka looked her right in the eye with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. ''Two things. 1: Don't try and hit me. 2: You're going to want to let me through before I count from 10 starting now, 10''.

The first Asari walked towards him and looked him dead in the face, ''Are you threatening us?'' Rakka seemed to think for a bit. ''Pretty much yeah. 7.'' The second Asari readied her rifle. ''We don't like being threatened…'' She let her threat hang. Rakka sighed. ''I don't enjoy counting from 10. So you won't let me pass?''

Both Asari shook their heads in union. Rakka sighed again ''so be it''

Before either Asari could react he jab the first Asari in the throat, leaving her gasping for air, before lifting his leg and bring it down on her skull. The Asari crumpled to the ground unconscious. By this time the second Asari had aimed her gun. Before she could pull the trigger, Rakka unleashed a powerful biotic throw in her direction. Before she could counter she was thrown again against the wall, unconscious and bleeding. Rakka did a quick analyst of their wounds. The first one would be fine, but the second one was bleeding quite badly. He looked around the room, before resting his eyes on an emergency first aid kit. Opening it, he spotted a stash of medi-gel. He broke the seal, and let the gooey salve land on the Asari's head before rubbing it in. Without further ado he went through the door.

As he suspected it lead to the park and straight to the stand. He picked up a quick jog, not wanting to waste time. As he finally arrived at the stand he noticed several guards that had not been there on his walk past. He laid down trying to blend in with the grass, but his black coat didn't help. He observed the guards for a while. They seemed to be trying to use a radio transmitter, but to no reply. One of them, the leader he presumed, barked a few orders, and the guards jogged off in the direction Rakka had come from. As soon as they were dots in the distance, he bolted towards the stage. He wondered why they had left, then it clicked: the guards he knocked out might've had to report in. he had to snap himself out of thought. He had almost run into the stage.

''Concentrate, fool. How did I ever become an assassin?'' he muttered. He was backstage looking at the target. He ran multiple thoughts on how to kill her without getting killed. Just as he picked one, a sharp voice sounded in his ear: ''who are you?''

A short Asari was glaring daggers at him. ''I can't see you on the list.''

Rakka faulted. This was unexpected.

''Well?'' the Asari demanded. Rakka breathed deeply ready for what was to come. ''Well… ah sod it''

He ran around the Asari, onto the front of the stand where the target was wrapping up her speech. Without slowing, he jumped. As he passed over her he placed a hand on either side of her face, and using her own weight and momentum against her, snapped her neck. As both he and her corpse landed on the crowd, he rolled, and before the guards could react, ran. He had barely reached the edge of the park before sirens arrived. He knew they'd been waiting for him. A car landed in front of him, and two commandos leapt out.

Rakka shook his head in disbelief. Commandos already? That must've been some politician he killed. As the commandos built up a biotic strike, he ran past; put his right hand on the right Asari's head, before smacking it into the other commandos head. Both collapsed. But he knew that was just the start. Several more cars had landed, each carrying multiple cops. This would not end well. So Rakka did the only logical thing.

He ran into a skyscraper.

Pushing past various people, occasionally muttering ''excuse me'' or ''sorry'', before jumping into a lift and pressing the roof button, just as the police burst in the building. As the lift door shut, he gave them a smile and a wave before waiting for the lift to go up. As it went, Rakka shut his eyes.

A few floors later it stopped. Rakka opened his eyes. It was dark. ''Ah, they've learned to cut the power. Huh.''

Feeling the lifts roof he gave it a push. It moved. ''Good good good'' he said to no one in particular. Climbing out he looked up. Thankfully the lift had stopped near the top. Gripping the elevator wire he pulled himself up.

Several minutes later he was at the top. The door was shut and whatever he did would have to do fast. His muscles were screaming in protest. He threw his biotics at the door before ripping them right out of their hinges, before jumping, partially bioticaly propelling himself. As he landed he tried to put his hands out to roll the impact off, but his muscles were in no shape to respond, causing him to land face down on the ground. A few drops of blood fell out before stopping. As he got up he heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. The police had caught up during his little climb. He ran to the stairs, climbing the final flight before arriving on the roof.

''Why did I come here' He shouted aloud.

It was true; he was trapped, nowhere left except a stair full of cops or a long fall down. What's a Drell to do?

Thankfully the cops made his mind for him. They stormed out the stairwell, surrounding him between the fall and 40 or so cops. The cops surrounding him had their weapons aimed. One of the police, the leader, Rakka guessed from the markings on her uniforms sleeve.

''Get down on the floor,'' The leader bellowed ''you are surrounded!''

''I went on the floor a few minutes ago, you should've caught me then,'' Rakka retorted backing towards the edge.

'Don't give me your crap, you're under arrest, get away from the edge, you have nowhere to go.'' The leader demanded.

''They've told me that before,'' Rakka muttered before looking over the edge. He was about 360 feet up, with lots of traffic between him and the ground.

''Wish me luck'' he said, spreading his arms and falling backwards off the building.

Almost instantly he regretted it. He had one shot to do this and if he failed, they wouldn't need police, they'd need a street cleaner. There was no way to time this at this speed. It was pure luck. He closed his eyes and biotically enveloped himself. As suspected, his current momentum pushed him out of his field, but it did slow him. So when he landed on the sky car, only a few ribs broke. He ignored the pain and forced the door open, adding biotics to his exhausted arms before sliding in. The Asari next to him was screaming and trying to get together a biotic attack. He was in no mood for it.

He reached over and gripped her throat just above the collarbone and applied pressure. Instantly her biotics died. ''Unless you want to die,'' He growled, ''Go to the nearest port''.

Unsurprisingly she complied.

About 5 minutes later a humming appeared near them. Looking out the window Rakka cursed. A gunship had arrived and was hovering above them. A side door opened and a figure jumped out and pulled open the door, pulling the Asari onto the roof before helping them onto the gunship.

''Impressive'' Rakka thought. ''Standing on a moving car helping an untrained civilian onto a moving gunship. Pretty amazing.''

Then he remembered no one was driving. He cursed and slid along into the driver's seat, but before he could do anything, the figures fist glowed blue and smashed the cars roof. Instantly various alarms sounded on the car and it began to veer out of control.

''no no nonoNONONO!'' Rakka yelled trying to wrestle it back into control before looking up.

''Ah fu-''

His sentence was cut short as the car slammed into the side of a building, tumbled out of control and all went black.