Author's Note: After re-reading this story for the unknown'th time I wanted to work on it and improve it a little. I hope you enjoy! This takes place before Mass Effect 1.
A night of cold rain trickled down all around her.
The frigid cold that threatened to pierce through her body was aided by the heavy humidity that clung in the air like sludge. The moisture made her black cargo pants sloth against her legs. Her red cloak was so drenched that its color was closer to redwood than crimson. Her soaked combat boots clopped against the slick pavement.
Her body carried her towards the unknown. She was wandering down the dimly lit streets and didn't care where she went, but her steaming pace slowed as she looked around at her surroundings.
All about her the dirty street was clogged with people bustling in and out of small shops, cantinas, and what she could only describe as establishments. Beggars sat on the edges of the filthy sidewalk trying their best to stay out of the pouring rain. They asked for money or food from passers by, but they paid her no heed. No one paid her any mind as she made her way deeper in to the gloomy street.
It had been 20 years since First Contact, but still her people were treated an unhealthy air of suspect and distain by the other societies of the Galactic community.
Not even the beggars acknowledge us. She mused sourly. At least it will take the MPs awhile to find me. She smiled bitterly.
The air smelled of burned fuel mixed with feces and rotting garbage. The Alliance had built a garrison 'base' to support their embassy near the Capitol of Kaltic on the Planet of Tanus. But the Turians who dominated the world would only allow the base near the shanty district. As such the Alliance had tried to become a peace keeping and law force for the area. Not that it had done any good due to red tape and politics. The Turians had never wasted one opportunity to remind the Alliance, that Humans were still new comers to the greater community, and as such, second class.
She trudged lost in the fog of her mind, water pooling around her feet as she moved forward. She was relishing the freedom that the moment in time had granted her. For a moment she was unknown, a ghost, nothing but a figment of a memory to any who passed her by. Her ears caught the sound of blaring music from a near by cantina and she drifted over to listen.
The music was old and unfashionable, but at the same time it was cheery. She drew closer to the entrance where a Volus stood leaning against the door, and she stood behind him peering over his dwarfish form. Like her, he too was looking inward at the spectacle of the room.
The Cantina was old. Just how old she couldn't guess, but the tables and chairs were worn. The bartenders still poured drinks of all kinds from containers rather than from a single distributor. People of all species packed the space, talking, dancing and laughing, but at the same time there was not one human to be seen.
As the warm air rushed out of the room and in to the cold of the night of the street she shivered and drew her cloak closer around her. It was then that the Volus noticed her. He jumped forward in surprise and turned to look up at her as he backed inside the cantina to get away from her. His masked face displayed to her nothing of his personality but it didn't need to as he quickly slipped in to the cantina grasped the open door.
"Your Kind is not welcome here!" He yelled as he threw the door in to her face. The wall slammed heavily against her sight, and she was once again out in the cold and the filth.
Rage boiled to the surface as she clinched her fists. They pulsed with her blood and energy. She felt like ripping the door off it's hinges and slamming that bigot across the room.
No... he's not worth my ire. She seethed as she tried to calm her emotions.
She tore her self away from the sordid establishment and continued on her aimless journey in to the night. Her surroundings became even more decrepit as she continued on. Figures moved in shadow all around her. Talking in whispers, handling deals. Tanus was solidly in Citadel Space, but was close enough to the Terminus Systems that the black market thrived. For this slum it was the only market. Any thing could be had. From food and shelter, to red rand and slaves. Most would never have ventured where she had by choice, but she did not care.
There was no fear with her, only anger. The hunger still present. A desire to crush, to dominate, to master any who dare stand against her. The lust was the same that she had desired for years to fulfill. The same lust she had fed just a month before.
The rain falling on the tin and plastic roof tops created a staccato that resembled the roiling and ragging of a fire.
It wasn't enough. She sneered as she looked at her cold, wet hands.
Matching the desire she had was an insurmountable feeling of self loathing. What am I? What have I become?
The operation had been a disaster from the start. Intelligence had failed spectacularly and there had been far more Slaver and Pirate ships in orbit around the moon than had been expected. The Alliance 'Fleet' had been made up of 1 carrier, 2 cruisers, and three frigates. The ensuring brawl had been murderous, but by the end of the fight, the Alliance held air and space superiority by default with their remaining Cruiser and Frigate.
Her comm beeped and she quickly answered it. "Lieutenant. I understand that the Major has suffered a mental break and is not longer fit for duty. I understand if you refused this field commission..." The voice was calm, tense, but measured. It rang of experience, and caution.
"No. I'll get the job done. What are my orders?" She responded sharply.
But the Alliance wanted to make an example, to send a message, what ever the cost. So they had sent her.
Most of the drop shuttles that had been launched were blown out of the air either by anti-air guns, or remaining enemy fighters. So here she was, on a godforsaken paradise of a waste in space. But the Alliance wanted to make an example, to send a message, what ever the cost. So they had sent her.
"Neutralize the base. Your in command now Lieutenant." The voice said firmly, but with a tinge of regret.
"Understood Admiral." She said and then her comm fell silent.
"Corporal Zerella! Do we have any air support?" She yelled as sniper rounds rang through the air above her head."
The marines were blind firing in to the forest in vain as a response to the snipers.
"No Ma'am! The Capetown is gone! Suicide run by the last of the enemy's fighters. All hands lost! And the SSV Black Forrest, and Lakewood are unable to assist!" He screamed as he fired into the forest.
The small fleet had bombarded the moon taking out every landing pad, bunker and Slaver encroachment on the ground. Herding them like rats to their compound. But the Slavers and Pirates would not go quietly and their own surface based weapons had neutralized the Alliance's remaining orbital threat.
She could hear Slavers screaming, yelling commands.
They were close. Too close. But that didn't matter.
Her face was twisted in rage. There goes Plan A.
All around her was wreckage and ruin tangled in the thick growth of the forest. The pitiful excuse for even a moon had a terra-formed atmosphere thick enough to support the tangled mess of a forest. A forest grown to conceal and shelter.
Yet so close. She were so close. The enemy compound was just two klicks away!
"Corporal give me some News!" She roared.
"Heavy concentration of snipers all the way to the compound. Other fire teams have taken heavy casualties and have pulled back past their drop zones. Four Makos are down!"
"Well fuck! What are we supposed to do? Wait for the bastards to come to us?" One marine piped up.
"I say we either pull back and regroup with the rest of the fire teams, or wait for back up!" another yelled.
She turned to face him and pulled her handgun on him. "You do that, and I will shoot you myself! We have a job to do!"
The Marine focused on death's instrument that was aimed at him. Sweat dripped down his face. "What are your orders..." He responded terrified.
She took some omnigel and threw it over the earthen mound like a grenade. The mucus like metallic sludge splattered across a thicket of growth. She then took her shotgun and fired three successive incendiary rounds in the direction of the mess. The gel immediately caught fire like napalm and started to torch the area. The Slavers screamed again and she could hear foot steps falling away in haste as the fire spread.
"I want this forest raised to the ground! If you see a slaver I want it dead. If you see one of fire, save your ammo and let it burn."
The dug in marines at first look dumbstruck by her command.
"You can either torch this fucking hell of a forest or you can stay. You can either move forward or you can die. Its your choice." She said with venom.
Then they started to follow suite throwing small containers of omnigel and lighting it on fire.
With in the hour the screaming of the fire mixed with the yelling and screams of the slavers and pirates as it over took them. Thunder roiled above her head as the smoke and fumes rose above. Soon rain would come and put out the firestorm. Then it was on to her objective.
All she had to do was wait.
[][][][][]
Thunder boomed and the intensity of the rain increased around her. She hugged the eves and tattered awnings which feigned to provide some cover from the down pour. She stood underneath a sulking porch. The wall of water made it nearly impossible to see to the other side.
She was also not the only being seeking reprieve from the storm under the ledge.
She saw two Turians, a Volus and a Salarian huddled around a heater and listening intently to a news terminal. Curiosity got the better of her as she edged quietly closer near the group. But as she heard the story blare from the terminal her blood ran cold.
"...An Alliance official commented earlier today that the clean up on the moon of Torfan has been complete. A month ago the Alliance conducted a crushing assault on the slave bands which were stationed there. The Alliance has stated that the strike was in retaliation for the repulsed attack on the Human Colony of Elysium just a few years ago and the strike was lead by..."
The report was interrupted by the Volus. "As if we needed to be reminded. The Alliance has been using that assault as propaganda coup to their benefit ever since!"
The Salarian quickly slithered over to the heater and went about trying to soak some warmth into his hands. "Do you guys remember the Last Chance? The bar I worked at?
"You mean the one you got fired from a week ago for giving a Turian an overdose in his drink?" One of the Turian's said amusingly.
"He asked for it." The Salarian shot back.
"Wait I thought you said you gave him a human drink by accident and that's why he kacked." The other said probingly.
The Salarian glowered at both of them. "That's not the point!"
"Then what is the point then?" The Volus piped up irritated by the cold and his bickering associates.
The Salarian ignored the Volus' tone. "One night I had a group of Alliance Soldiers jam into the bar."
The Turians backed away from the heater in disinterest to lounge against the wall. "What's new about that? Alliance always have crowded the Last Chance. Damn Humans think they own the place." One of them shrugged.
"Yeah, but this lot was different. They didn't come for the drinks, or look for a quick mate. They seemed to come in to forget."
"So? I drink sometimes to forget." The Volus piqued in.
"That explains a lot." One of the Turian's retorted. The Volus waved a brush-off in his direction and the Turians continued to laugh.
"Yeah. But this was different... The group was talking about an Officer. They called her a butcher.." The Salarian said cautiously as if Death was close by.
The Turian who had been silent the entire time rolled his eyes. "Yuris and I called our commanders worse when we were in. How is this even related?"
"I think the group was on Torfan." The Salarian said, his voice still quiet.
"Aw come off it. Your sounding as if the Butcher of Torfan really exists. The Humans are just like the Krogan. They love their verbose and 'scary' names. I'm sure they all drank a round in the 'Butcher's' honor." The Turian continued in distain.
"Yeah. Sure. If you call fear, curses, and threats drinking to honor." The Salarian responded flippantly. "By the end of the night more than one said they would desert before serving under the Butcher of Torfan."
"Well whatever. The humans take out a simple pirate base and now they think their tough." The other Turian's spoke up. "It took the Council to intervene years ago during the conflict after the Relay 314 incident. And for what? To have a new 'pet' like the Hanar or the Elcor."
"Careful what you say, Turian. The Hanar and the Elcor don't have homebuilt dreadnaughts like you do." A low rumble came from the dark corner.
She focused on the source of the voice. It took her eyes a moment to perceive the unmistakable form of a Krogan who had been overhearing the group's conversation.
He stalked forward to the group. "Torfan was not a soft target. Underestimating the Humans is a mistake." He growled.
"Since when did the Krogan become Human lovers?" Spat the Volus.
"I do not dismiss the humans as lightly as you do." The Krogan lumbered over to tower above him. "But then you don't have to worry about fighting do you? You just go and hide under the Turian's coattails."
The Turians growled and one reached inside his coat. The other quickly accosted his arm. The Krogan had seen it all and turned his attention to them.
"Your lucky on two counts." He said as he drew close. The Turian's just glowered at him. "First is you didn't draw your weapon. Second is that I'm to tired to kill you for the fun of it."
The Turian who had gone for the weapons growled, but his companion gave him a rebuking shove in the shoulder.
The Krogan just gave them both a wicked smile as he turned his back to walk away. The giant Lizard started to walk in her direction. At first she thought it was by pure chance he was heading in her direction, but she soon realized that he was looking directly in to her eyes. She hadn't dealt much with Krogan in a 'civil' setting and her hand twitched by reflex to her side groping for a sidearm that wasn't there. Yet she kept her exterior cool, and held her gaze steady.
"Humm..." He purred with satisfaction. "Your the first warrior I've seen all night." He sniffed at her. "And one that has been blooded too. So far I've only ran into those who are lost and stupid." He said solidly. "Let me by." It was not a request, but a command.
There was plenty of room for him to pass by her, and she gave him no ground.
The Krogan pushed by her making sure to knock hard in to her shoulder. The hit forcefully shoved her into the wall and in turn gave the Krogan her ear.
"Careful lady. Your stubbornness will get you killed one day." He said with a chuckle as he lumbered into the downpour of the night.
She watched him go. I'm not stubborn. Just driven.
"Montoya! Bring in your squad and form up on me! O'Mally, Osuka! Makos out in front, and be ready to open fire on my mark." She spoke calmly.
"Understood." Was the line of calls that came to her.
Rain steadily fell around them as the fire subsided. The atmosphere couldn't have sustained the beast for any longer, and everything within a two klick radius around the compound had been burned asunder. Nothing within the inferno's grasp had escaped it's fury.
Slowly they made their way forward. The terrain around her was smoking, fumes pouring to the sky. More than one of the marines in her unit had lost their stomachs as they walked by the chard and twisted remains of slavers that had been caught in the blaze. But she moved them all forward as they trudged through mug and drew closer to the burned mound of metal before them.
It was silent. All around them was an eerie dead quiet.
And so it began. Corporal Zorrell collapsed to his knees in the mud. A shot had gone cleanly through his head.
"Snipers!" One Marine yelled as others took hits. The squad hit the dirt as more rounds went by.
"O'Mally! Osuka! Light these bastards up!" She yelled in her comm.
The two Makos suddenly unleashed a hailstorm of cannon and machine gun fire all the way to the compound. Charred and muddy ground exploded from the high velocity cannon rounds, and machine gun rounds caused what was left of the ashen trees to splinter and dust.
The torrent went on for what seems like 20 minuets.
"Hold fire!" She commanded, and the Mako's guns fell silent.
All was quiet again. She took in a deep breath and stood up. Her squad look up at her as if she had gone insane.
"What the fuck is she doing? Does she want to die?" one said to another.
C'mon you bastards. Here I am. This is the best opportunity your going to get! She blared in her mind.
Yet nothing happened, except the rain the kept showering down and the gut wrenching smell of smoke and chard flesh that hung heavy in the air.
"Move forward." She commanded. The Makos started to trudge forward, the marines following closely. Just half a kilometer to go.
Then Hades opened it's maw again as rockets from the compound tore into Osuka's Mako setting it a blaze and sending shrapnel flying.
And it was still raining.
She looked up at the group of beings that had taken notice of the apparition that had been in their midst. They were silent, but each of their expressions were telling.
Just leave us in peace. Please...
She quickly gathered the water soaked cloak around her face again and stole in to the night.