Disclaimer: I don't own Assassins Creed or Mass Effect, they are owned by Ubisoft and Bioware respectively.

Summary: Since before the dawn of human civilization, a secret war has been fought within the shadows. It didn't stop when mankind discovered that they were not alone in the universe, it merely… spread.

Chapter 1: Asari Diplomacy

As Shao leaned on the handrail of the embassies bar balcony, she was once again reminded why she hated to work in the Presidium. It wasn't the heightened security measures, she had both expected them and had dealt with them before, and it certainly wasn't the peaceful atmosphere or the beauty that was flaunted at every corner.

In fact she appreciated both of them, after all, her occupation as an Assassin made sure that she spent most of her time at places far less hospitable than this one. No, what bothered her were the clothes she had to wear to blend in. They were uncomfortable and seemed to itch her everywhere, despite the fact that she wore her far more practical combat suit underneath. Despite this, her outer layer still seemed to impede her movement, slowed her down and made sure that she couldn't make a fast escape should she need one.

Of course, if she made no mistakes, then she wouldn't need one, but she would feel better if she could, should things go haywire. With a sigh she first checked the occupants of the bar and then her clock on her omni-tool. Shao's target had yet to appear, but if she followed her usual modus operandi then the Assassin shouldn't have to wait for much longer.

Nassana Dantius was a creature of habit, and she always showed up at the embassies bar at around six PM, and apparently she wouldn't even change her habits to meet with the freshly announced first human spectre, Jennifer Shepard, that she had contacted on said Spectre's private omni-tool.

Shao had an educated guess as to why the Asari emissary decided to contact the Spectre, but if she had anything to say about this then Shepard and the emissary would never meet in this life. Nassana had undoubtedly asked them to meet her after she had settled down. The diplomat prefered to meet with others only after she had already been served. No matter the urgency.

If that had failed to cement the Assassin's opinion about Nassana's arrogance, then the fact that she proudly displayed a Templar's cross on her necklace certainly would have done the trick. Of course, it wasn't as simple as simply spotting everyone wearing a Templar cross to identify the members of that secret order, even though it was true in the case of Dantius, a lot of people wore the symbol simply because they thought it looked cool or because of its more mundane religious implications outside the Order, given its similarity to old Earth religious icons such as those used in Christianity and its like.

However, Shao wasn't here to kill Nassana because the latter was a Templar. No, she was here because of the way Nassana treated her subordinates, and those she viewed as 'beneath' herself. In fact while the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order could hardly be considered friends, they still got along to a certain degree in this day and age. Similar to the situation in France before the events of the French Revolution the two secret societies had decided to keep a truce, at least to a certain degree.

If Shao were to guess, she would say that she would have difficulties finding a templar that would mourn Nassana's passing, although she wouldn't be too surprised if some were to thank her. Perhaps I will get a message from one of my acquaintances within the order. Shao thought with a small shrug. On some occasions Assassins and Templars had worked together, for example during the invasion of Shanxi, or in retaliation to some Batarian slave raids.

The Templar Order might have been about control and creating the perfect society, more or less by force, but slavery, especially conducted as cruelly as this was something that they hated as much as the Assassins. And while most of the Templar agents lacked the fighting prowess of their assassins counterparts, they made up for it in numbers, and excellent preparation.

When the two of them were working together, the battles against the batarian slavers were nothing more than a one sided massacre.

Enough! You can contemplate the past later, right now you have a mission! Shao reprimanded herself, and shook her head. The Assassin's focus snapped back to the patrons of the bar and her surroundings. Her target had yet to appear. A quick glance at her clock revealed that Nassana still had one minute left before she was officially late for her usual evening rituals.

Speak of the goddess, and she shall appear. Shao thought wryly, using a more asari saying for this occasion as Nassana Dantius strode into the bar, looking as if everyone in the room were beneath her. The smug, superior gleam in her eyes was hard to miss even from the balcony, let alone the cocky little lilt to the asari's lips. After imperiously nodding at the barman, to signal him that she wanted her usual drink, she strode towards Shao.

The Assassin turned around, pretending to drink in the sights of the Presidium. It wouldn't do for her to make the target suspicious, now that she was finally within reach.

Nassana would undoubtedly sit with her back to Shao, so that she could easily watch all newcomers. While not a bad idea, she simply lacked any form of rear cover. Once the Barman had given Nassana her drink she would turn around, check if anyone was watching and then she would strike.

As it turned out she didn't have to wait long for the Barman to bring the Asari her prefered beverage. He probably was used to her moods by now and knew not to make her wait. "Here you go, Miss Dantius." She heard the man say, followed by a soft 'clink' as he set down the glass in front of her.

"Thank you." Nassana said but she sounded anything but grateful. She heard how the man retreated to his place behind the counter.

Shao internally counted to thirty before she slowly turned around and let a seemingly bored gaze wander across the room. Of course she was anything but bored, on the inside she was on high alert, looking for anything that might endanger her assassination attempt.

Unfortunately for her she found it in the form of a human man that was, judging from his shameless staring, rather interested in Dantius. Shao had to violently suppress the urge to roll her eyes, anyone who was paying even a little bit of attention would notice that Nassana was anything but interested in a flirt at this moment of time, provided that she ever felt like it.

Still, it was hardly a problem she couldn't overcome. She signaled the barman to come to her, even though she had to bait him with a credit chit until he finally approached her.

"How may I help you miss?" He asked her politely, an open smile on his face.

"Excuse me, but would you be so kind and bring this gentleman over there." She subtly pointed in the still staring mans direction. "Another drink with my regards?"

The barman looked at the man in question for a moment and then back at her, for a brief instance he seemed to contemplate whether to tell that said man had obviously no interest in her before apparently deciding against it. "Certainly, miss. That would be twenty credits, please."

"Twenty five." She told him with a small smile and gave him the money.

"Thank you, miss." The barman said, turned around and walked back behind his counter, where he immediately began to prepare the drink.

Now, all she had to do was to wait for the right moment. The barman walked towards the poor guy and she too began to move, the moment the barman blocked the man's line of sight she struck. Her hidden blade extended from her wrist and pierced the Asaris left lung and aorta.

Nassana managed only a strangled gasp at the sudden pain, she would have slumped forward, but Shao held her in place. For all who would watch her right now it would merely seem, as if she had given the Asari a friendly clasp on the back and was now talking to her.

When Shao looked up she could see the guy smiling at her. Apparently he thought that she was trying to endear him to her Asari 'friend' or perhaps even something as outlandish as suggesting a threesome. She graced him with a smile in return, if it helped her to maintain this illusion then she didn't care what the man thought.

Under other circumstance she would have simply left now, but she needed to make sure that Asari wouldn't make it, and to walk away only to have lover boy over there discover Nassana's less than optimal medical condition and to apply medi-gel thus ending up saving her waste of a life before she had had a chance to expire, would be beyond careless.

She was rather certain that the wound she had dealt Nassana was fatal, but medi-gel had proven to be surprisingly efficient, and in her business that could prove to be quite annoying.

So instead of simply leaving she sat down next to the Asari and smiled at her, after all, appearances needed to be kept. She decided to pretend that she and Dantius were having a friendly conversation.

"Don't worry, it won't take long." Shao told her latest victim, it was something she took pride in. No unnecessary suffering if she could prevent it, death was meant to be dealt out swiftly, not slow and agonizing. Assassin she might be, but Shao had learned long ago that such a messy business as theirs deserved some measure of reverence and respect for those they killed. Even a woman as twisted as Nassana deserved some small mercy, even if it was as simple as making sure her transition to the next life was as painless as possible.

Nassana began to silently mouth back, which of course only helped to maintain the charade of a conversation. Even though Shao heard no sound escape the Asari's lips, she could guess what she had asked. The simple question 'Why?' was rather popular.

"To explain my reasons would take far longer then you have left, but I can tell you this. I take no pleasure in this, and regardless of what you have done in life, I hope that you find peace in death." Shao told her earnestly, and slowly removed her hand from the Asari's back.

Nassana Dantius, Templar, emissary, and ruthless criminal, was dead. Her body still sat upright, giving the illusion that she was still alive, but the lack of movement along her sternum, as well as the quickly fading light from the asari's eyes, said she was gone and not coming back.

"Goodbye." Shao told Nassana's shell, before she stood up and left the bar. Her work here was done, it wouldn't do for her to linger here any longer. Especially not today, after all Nassana was scheduled to meet with a Spectre.

She hadn't gotten far when a male scream tore the pleasant atmosphere in the Presidium asunder. That poor guy had apparently approached Nassana under the belief that Shao had prepared her 'friend' for his advances, and instead he discovered the still warm corpse of the woman he had admired all evening.

Her musings were cut short when she heard the sound of armored boots running towards the embassies bar. She threw a glance over her shoulder and what she saw made a whole bunch of conflicting feelings rise within her.

Three soldiers, all with their weapons drawn, ran towards the source of the scream. A turian in blue C-Sec armor, hefting an assault rifle, next to him a human man in standard marine armor, though she managed to spot a glimpse of his biotic implant. Though those two were not the reason for her conflicting emotions, no, that honor belonged solely to their leader.

A human woman with flaming red hair and piercing green eyes clad in N7 armor, the first human Spectre, Jennifer Shepard. Although none of the facts above were responsible either, her emotional turmoil originated from the fact that she had known Shepard once.

In fact, they had been friends, even though Shepard was her senior by a year. It seemed so long ago, at that time both of them had been so carefree, unburdened by the heavy responsibilities both of them carried now. Back then, things had been so much simpler, before the attack on Mindoir.

Unlike her friend, Shao hadn't been one of the lucky ones to escape. She had been forced to watch as her family was killed before her eyes, before those animals had implanted her with one of those horrific control devices.

She had spent the next three years in slavery, enduring things that were better left forgotten but were always lurking in the dark corners of her mind. She still bore the scars of that time, both mentally and physically. At that thought her right shoulder seemed to come alive with phantom pain as she remembered how they had branded her like cattle.

In the end she had been freed by a group of Assassins and Templars. After everything she had suffered she had enough for a dozen lifetimes of control, so she chose the path of the Assassins. With her past experiences she had gained a new appreciation for the freedom of will.

She had spent the next months healing from the horrors she had endured, before she began to train through the Animus. As it turned out, there had been Assassins in her family before, none as famous as Ezio or Altair but nonetheless people who were very skilled at what they did. However roughly one-hundred and fifty years before she was born, her family decided to leave the way of the Assassins behind, she had seen their reasoning and couldn't fault them, but for her this was the right path. In some ways, it had been the only path for her.

And yet none of what she had done or seen helped her right now. A part of her wanted to meet her childhood friend, to reconcile with her. Another part of her feared that they had lived apart for too long. After all she never would have thought that the quiet farm girl she knew would become an Alliance special forces soldier, let alone a Spectre, the first human Spectre at that.

She couldn't help but snort at that thought. Yeah, and I'm certain that Jenny never would have thought that the daughter of the local doctor would join a secret society comprised of the greatest Assassins in the history of mankind. Shao thought with a small twitch of her lips. She hesitated for another moment before she turned around and disappeared into the crowds. Perhaps she would talk to her old friend again, one day, but not today. She wouldn't even know how to begin.

Hey Jenny! Don't you recognize me? It's me, your buddy Shao! Heard you were made Spectre, congratulations. Oh, I'm fine, thanks for asking. I got a new job too! Remember that Dantius woman that wanted to meet you here? Guess who stabbed her? She couldn't help but think sardonically. If she were to contact her friend, then certainly not shortly after killing someone. If she went back there now, she would undoubtedly be recognized, and that would be unacceptable. After all, one of the tenets of the Creed was to "Never compromise the Assassin Brotherhood."

With a sigh, she left the Presidium and checked the data on her omni-tool, she had other concerns then a reunion with a childhood friend.

An appointment with Dahlia Dantius for example.

Endnotes:

Nomad-117: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of my new story, (and I hope that all the people who hoped for an update for one of my others don't murder me in my sleep), to be honest I am not sure where I am going with this. But I hope that I will find the time to write chapter two in the near future.