Mass Effect: The Voyeur, the Vixen, and the Vandal

By: The 483

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Mass Effect.

Spoiler Alert: Some spoilers, Light to moderate, are contained herein.

Chapter 1: The Players

Catherine Elizabeth Chambers stood lazily, leaning against a stack of easy to move crates. She yawned, her white teeth gleaming in the sharp light of the modular lighting coupled to the roof of the space. She pulled out her package of cigarettes, and knocked one out, placing it in the corner of her mouth. She breathed deep, the tip flaring to life before fading to a dull red point. She breathed out her nose, letting the smoke trickle slowly out. She sighed happily, then opened her eyes, their bright, deep emerald iris's almost glowing in the harsh light.

"Oh," she said, as if she had forgotten that there were other people present, "anyone else want one?" She held up the self start cigarettes to the assemblage.

6 people sat on their knees, their wrist bound behind them with some wire. Each bore the bruises and scuff marks of combat, their armor dented and scratched, and in one case, leaking blood. There were three humans, a Salarian, a Turian, and a Batarian. At the suggestion, two of the humans looked angry, one looked scared, the Turian made no notice, the Salarian cocked hiss head to the side, and the Batarian grunted.

"Sure." He said, his lower set of eyes blinking. Casey pushed off with her back, and took a few steps forward, flicking the pack so that another cigarette poked out, and held it so the Batarian could grab it. He did, and breathed it to life. "Thanks." He said around it, with a sigh of pleasure. "Hurph, not bad, for a human brand." Casey grinned.

"Nope." She held up the pack for him to see. They were a Krogan brand. The Batarian looked impressed. Casey nodded, and returned to her position.

"Are you done?" A slightly irritated voice called from down the line. Casey looked over and met the blue eyes of the Asari standing there. She was dressed in skin tight leathers, reinforced in the shins, thighs and arms with plates of specially treated fiber composite armor. The front of the armor was cut out, exposing the lower part of her breasts, and her stomach to about 6 inches below her navel. She was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Always time for politeness, Vix." She said smugly. The Asari was Tsukiko A'yorro. Raised on Palavin, the Daughter of an Asari diplomat and a Turian Soldier, she spent the majority of her early life raised in Turian culture, so that even though she had mellowed in the past 50 years or so, her ridged discipline was still apparent, even though she engaged in more erratic, or what Casey referred to as "Teenager" behavior. The fact the Tsukiko was 187 years old didn't matter, as she was still in the Maiden stage of her life cycle. She rolled her eyes at Casey, looking amazingly childish.

"ANYWAY," She emphasized the word, "as I was saying, which of you is going to tell me where the package went?" She glared at the 6 prisoners.

"I'd tell her." A gruff, deep voice said from behind the men. "Bitch is crazy." It was the third of Casey's party. The only name he had ever given to her, or Tsukiko, was Thud. The Krogan was easily 3 feet taller than Casey's 6 feet, and all of it was rippling muscle. He went by the call sign of Vandal, which was throwback to his peculiar roots. He was a Krogan, which meant that he was fairly warlike in temperament. But he had seen the futility of the Krogan's plight early on, and distanced himself from them. He had a talent for engineering, and studied and worked on the citadel for 20 years before he was comfortable with his proficiency. After that, he met Casey, and they began working together. His call sign was chosen because he has not the main muscle on the team, he was the tactician and planner of their ops. Vixen (Tsukiko) was the front woman, and contracted with employers, her natural sex appeal made her good at working people. Their average commission had gone up 20% since she joined the team.

Casey or Voyeur, as she was called, was in her late 20's, though even she wasn't sure anymore the exact age. She was between 26 and 29, but having been raised in a crèche, the official records were shaky at best. At 15, using a fake I.D. chip that said she was 19, Casey joined the alliance. By 17, and on the cusp of a promotion to Sergeant, she was transferred to Earth and enlisted in Sniper Training. She graduated top of her class, left a Corporal, and was attached to a garrison on a mining rich colony on an otherwise uninteresting planet in the Attican Traverse. As the mining interests were owned by Citadel based manufacturing companies, the garrison was shared by military forces of the Turian, Salarian, and Human governments, under over all command of a Turian Major who was nursing a grudge against humans, still fresh after the First Contact War.

After two years of this posting, with very little action, the military board review and liquidated her position, and in view of the negative reports filed by the commanding officer, Casey was released from service. She was pissed, of course, as he allegations of her Xenophobic slurs were exaggerated where they were not outright fabricated. Casey, in point of fact, loved meeting aliens. Half the reason she had joined the alliance in the first place was so that she could meet and learn about the other cultures in the galaxy.

So, the 20 year old ex soldier was dumped in the slums of the Citadel with few belongings, and only enough back pay to put her up for 6 months at most. That problem was solved after a mere 2 weeks. One day, while she was eating in a cheap restraint in an unassuming ward, wondering if the meat in her meal was in fact what it was claimed to be, a man in a sharp looking suit sat down across from her. After a short conversation, Casey learned that she had been scouted for a paramilitary group called "Cerberus." The man explained that they combed through the dossiers of alliance soldiers who had been dismissed under unfavorable circumstances, and offered to let them continue fighting on humanities behalf.

Casey loved it. It was so different from the Alliance. All of the equipment was new and shiny, state of the art, and the people around her were as good at what they did as she was at what she did. 4 years she spent with them, the first three a rapid string of promotions and missions. But she began to have doubts. Not once in that time, did she enjoy friendly relations with an alien. And darker rumors began to float around, of assassinations, and political pressures they were exerting that were not merely pro Human, but anti-Alien. So Casey minded her business, but kept an ear to the ground. She was one of the first candidates for a program called "Project Phantom." Her and about two dozen others were placed in a special outpost, and were installed in a special, extreme training regimen. Casey had been worried at first; during her time with the Alliance, she had taken an incendiary round to the left shoulder, and the whole area was a mass of scars. But she retained her range of motion, and was able to keep on track, learning to use the new kit, and easily keeping up with the physical training. Casey did not know it at the time, but she had been the most promising student, and even had a few of the trainers scared, if she were to go rouge, a lot of people would die before Casey would be stopped.

So Casey kept up the special training, until the phase of augmentation came to pass. The plans called for the weaving of advanced cybernetics and synthetics into the body structure, to allow for enhanced senses, and interfacing with the mechano-assisted hard suits. Casey refused, and a scuffle ensued. 3 trainers and 5 security force members died before they lost track of her.

Now, 3 years later, Casey found herself as the Sharpshooter and Muscle of a three person mercenary family living and operating in Omega. She wore a old Alliance Spec. Ops sot suit, overlaid with woven hard fabric coated ceramic plating, painted into a shiny black that glittered dark purple when the light hit it at the correct angle. The Nano forged titanium alloy sword that she had requisitioned when she left Cerberus was clipped to magnetic hard points on her belt at her back, so that the blade hung suspended horizontally, and her right hand rested on the hilt as she puffed her cigarette. Hanging within easy reach of that, was a red, Blood Pack manufactured Executioner pistol. While it could only fire one round per thermal clip expended, that round had the power to liquefy most unarmored targets, and would rip most lighter armor apart. A heavily modified Mantis sniper rifle was compacted on her back. Casey could work as redily with rapid or semi automatic weapons, but she prefered the accuracy and damage that the single shot weapons delivered, and did not worry about the close range. If Vandal did not manage them, they would not live long enough to regret their mistakes.

One of the humans spit at Vixen's feet.

"Oh? I am sorry, do you think this is a game?" She said darkly. Vandal shook his head sadly. "Voyeur, would you show our friends here why proper respect would be a good idea?" Casey's hand flowed from the hilt of her sword, caught the pistol, raised it, and fired as the barrel reached the right angle, letting the massive buck push her arm straight up, before continuing the motion back around, reattaching the gun to her belt, and resting at ease again. The retort of the pistol was so loud as to make the lights shake. The body of the offender no longer possessed a head, and person to either side of him were sprayed with fine red mist, and peppered with bits of bone and brain. The body slumped. The man who had looked scared whimpered as pissed himself. The other had flinched, except the Turian, who hadn't even seemed to notice.

"Anyone else care to be rude?" Vixen asked sweetly. "No? Good, now tell me..." She grabbed the front of the Salarian's armor, and hoisted his face close, "where is the package that was supposed to be in this container?" The Salarian remained mute, looking defiant, so Vixen backhanded him across the face. While only playing a sociopath, intent on scaring the Eclipse mercs into talking by pretending, thereby killing as few as possible, some part of Tsukiko liked interrogations. This was manifested by the inclusion of a small patch of metal she had incorporated into the back of her right glove, which was similar to a cheese grater in effect. This turned what was usually an unsuccessful minor pain delivery into a psychological weapon, as it could be really disconcerting to get a simple slap, yet see the had come away with half of your face on it. Tsukiko then learned an interesting fact. Salarian faces bled a lot. The aliens face paled, and he lost consciousness and blood flowed thickly and soaked the front of his armor. She made a disgusted sound (shaking inside, but she had an act to play, and did not let it show) and dropped the creature into his own pooling blood. She figured that this one was done for, he was bleeding too much, and wanted him put out of his misery.

"Vandal, if you would please finish this?" She moved on, and the Krogan, his heavy metal plates creaking as he shuffled over, and looked down on the Salarian. He may have given up on the Krogan as a people, even going so far as to abandon his Clan ties, but he still was not overly fond of Salarian for their work in sterilizing his people. He lifted a heavy, metal shod boot, and smashed the squishy skull like an over ripe fruit. He let out a satisfied chuckle as he wiped the boot on the dead mercs back armor, and moved over to where Casey stood, looking peaceful in the face, but sick in the eyes. She knew it was necessary to give a show of forrce, but she was far more used to being far away from the carnage, watching through a lens. Killing unarmed prisoners did not sit well. She offered the big Krogan a Cigarette, and he took it. It looked ridiculously small in his mouth. He breathed in, half the stick burning and crumbling away. He gave a disgusted grunt.

"Honestly, we have no desire to kill you." Tsukiko continued as if nothing had happened. The Batarian grunted.

"Doesn't seem that way from where I am sitting."

"Oh, we are willing, but that does not mean we are eager. We have a simple mission." She turned, hands on her hips, and looked at the four remaining figures. "As I am sure you are aware, there is only one law within Omega. That law is simple: Do not fuck with Aria. But for some reason, your bosses seemed to believe themselves exempt from this law, and chose to attack one of her warehouses, and steal a piece of something. And so here we are, to retrieve this package. Now, believe it or not, you are lucky, as we are not standard operatives for Aria, and as such, do not NEED to kill you. If you turn the package over tto us now, we shall allow you to go, with no further repercusions."

"And if we don't?" The Batarian asked, his voice level, almost amused. Tsukiko sighed.

"Then some torture until one of you spills the beans, and Aria sends her real forces to eliminate any members of your family or other contacts in residence in Omega to send a message about the cost of defiance." The Batarian nodded thoughtfully, then looked sideways at the Turian.

"See, Kerus, I told you something was off when these three burst in. Did the boss tell you that the thing they nicked was stolen from Aria? Anyone on station for more than a rotation knows that she wouldn't take that sitting down, so this was clearly an expectable outcome."

"We do not know that they will let us go." The Turian spoke, his expression not changing."

"True." Casey added. "But there is the chance, and isn't that better then a clear certainty?"

"Right." The Batarian added. "Isn't your family worth at least the chance that you'll come home? I know mine is." The Turian looked conflicted.

"That makes sense." Vandal, always the tactician, had been thinking throughout, and chimed in.

"Better idea. You four come with us, and personally deliver the package back to Aria personally, as a show of good faith." At that, the Turian looked skeptical, but slightly relieved.

"...Alright, I guess we can..." The angry looking human interrupted with a shout.

"NO! you dirty -" The human was in turn interrupted as Vixen's Predator barked three times and he toppled backwards. She turned to Casey as she let her gun fall to her side.

"Jeez. Voyeur, is this a human trait, or something, to get a good deal, and just say screw it?" Casey shrugged.

"Possibly. A lot of us do seem to like to tell people in positions above us to screw off when we are not in a position to bargain."

"Hmmm, well, anyone else want to argue, or are we good?"

They were good. Vixen moved around back, unbinding the Turian's hands while Casey covered him with her pistol while he retrieved the package. It was unimpressive, a small thing wrapped in static resistant plastic. Vandal accepted it. They then made arrangements to meet outside of Afterlife about two local hours later, where Casey and Tsukiko came, freshly showered and in appropriately skimpy dress that never the less did not stand out in a club such as the Queen of Omega's lair. Tsukiko, still using the name Vixen, spoke briefly to a bouncer, flashed a view of the package, and gestured to the Batarian and Turian, looking slightly out of place with their bruises and cuts. The other human was nowhere to be found, but he had chosen to flee rather than attept to parley with Aria, or more likely, one of her officers. They were waved forward, and Tsukiko handed the package to the Turian. As they passed into the club, and the bass heavy music deaded all other sound and made the air shake, Tsukiko nodded to Casey, and left her to mind the shop, walking off to meet with a person who might have a job for them. Casey watched her go with a small portion of her awareness, until she saw the table where she stopped, and her attention was piqued.

She recognised the person sitting there., and knew that she should not be sitting there, or even on Omega at all.

She continued to watch as they were cleared up and into Aria's private booth, were scanned, and the two Elclispe plead their case, presenting her with the package. Casey, like her call tag implyed, stood with her back to the room, looking down at her parter, talking quietly with the human woman accross from her.

She had short, ruffled chin length hair that was a dark blood red, and deep set, almost dead eyes the exact same shade as her hair. Pale skin almost fish belly white, and a small, almost silky slender frame looked awkward in cloths that were baggy on her, but would have been skin tight on anyone else. There were probably no humans in council space that had not seen this woman, at least in pictures, in the last few months.

It was a publicity stunt, possibly put across by the human Council member to help bolster flagging moral after the death of Commander Shepard, the First Human Spectre, Commanding office of the Turian/Human manufactured ship Normandy, and Hero of the Skillian Blitz and Battle of the Citadel. The official story was that his ship had been attacked by Pirates and he had been killed in the attack about 6 months back, and it was a great loss.

This woman... Cypress, Casey thought the name was, was elevated from nowhere to be hailed as the Second Human Spectre, and if the stories were to be believed, the most powerful Biotic in the alliance. Rumors floating around the net said that she could do tricks even the Asari hadn't heard of. One of her popular stunts was that she could wrap herself in a biotic field, and force herself through a Quantum "gap" and back out through another, effectively teleporting herself a short distance. There was a video they had shown on the news of her repelling a Vorcha attack out on a rim world, where she popped out of existence, only to reappear somewhere else, punching a Vorcha, before vanishing again, to appear behind another, slamming a hammerfist on its skull. This repeated until she had killed or disabled about 10 of them, before popping in the center of another group, and detonating in an explosion that tossed the bodies 20 meters in the air, and finished by throwing another biotic field at an approaching ground support vehicle, crushing in the front like a tin can and sending pieces sheering off it.

But it made Casey uneasy, and not because she was a Spectre. Casey did not fret about them, she was confident that she could match one in solo combat. If it hadn't been for her record, she might have even eventually been put up for recommendation. But no, the fact that she was here, on Omega, and seeking out Tsukiko, an act that usually meant a job, did not make sense, and that irritated Casey.

Oh well, she would find out soon enough. She stifled a yawn, as she was dismissed, and headed back down onto the floor, and up to the bar, ordering a shot, and receiving with it a chit that contained their payment. She pounded back the alcohol, and found Tsukiko walking up. She held out a hand, and the Asari took it, and they left.

"Got a new job, guarding a Veep." She said when they were clear of the din of the club. "Starts in 4 days." She gestured with the envelope she held in her free hand. She would give it to Thud, and he would work out the plan. "How'd your end go?"

"No issues. Was a little surprised the Aria let the 2 live, but they spilled some secrets on their employers, so I would not be surprised to see a few Eclipse heads on stakes the next time we cruise the wards." Casey was not exaggerating or speaking metaphorically. But she did not worry, another job was done, and she was tired. And Tsukiko was good for the nerves. It was no real lovey dovey time relationship, Tsukiko would never hold still for that kind of thing. She was what Thud liked to refer to as a "Pansexual," meaning she would have sex with anything, and he was not far off the mark. There had even been a thought to making her call sign "Harkness," But Casey didn't think anyone would get the joke. And why Casey did love Tsukiko in her own way, it was not in that way. She was a nice partner to snuggle with, and a casual romp or angry, blowing off steam endurance match was always nice, but they were not compatable for a relationship. As they hit the causeway, and flagged a auto cap, Casey decided she would just fill Thud in on her impressions, and let him factor it out. She would just remain on edge, and like her namesake, watch everyone's back.

End 1

Not a lot here yet, still working out details (namely the plot) but just wanted to get this out while it was fresh. Hope I can make it interesting, and I will expand the three mains a bit more, and maybe, if I can find another "V" word that fits, add a 4th. Just didn;t want to shove to much background down your throats right away, and I need the characters to grow a bit before I learn more about who they really are. Anyway, if you read, thanks, it's appreciated.

Like it or hate it, let me know please, as I cannot improve it no one tells me why I suck. Thanks again.