"So what do you think?" Archangel asked, as the three men sat in the shade out on a balcony overlooking one of the many picturesque valleys of Rannoch. The Rayya Citadel had been the first biosphere built. With the help of the geth, the place where the quarians could, within their own quarters, remove their helmets for short periods within the day without the massive risk of infection.
"She's got someone feeding whoever it is information," Thane replied bluntly.
"Yeah," Zaeed drawled.
"Who would your money go on?" Archangel looked at the two men thoughtfully.
"Kal'Reegar seems a decent enough sort," Zaeed took a puff of his cigar and blew the smoke into the air, "Protective of his girl. I respect that."
"For such a heathen, Zaeed," Thane waved his hand in the cloud of smoke that surrounded him, "You are astute."
"Kiss my ass, preacher," Zaeed drawled, and huffed a smoke ring into the air.
"Stay focused," Archangel scowled, "What about Miranda?"
Thane drew his hands together, prayerlike, resting his elbows upon his knees. He stared into space for a moment. "She is very lovely," he intoned, "And she knows it."
Zaeed snorted, "Great set of tits on the woman."
Archangel rubbed his brow as though it ached, "Spirits, Zaeed."
Thane continued as though Zaeed hadn't spoken, "She is very intelligent, and seems genuinely upset by the deaths and for Tali's well being. What is her story?"
Archangel leaned back in his chair, "Not really sure. She was part of the human contingent that assisted Tali with the negotiations with the geth. When the geth consensus ended all hostility and agreed to help with the rebuild of Rannoch in exchange for settlement rights, most of the humans returned to Alliance space. This Miranda Lawson decided to stay."
"So either she is running a scam on your buddy, or she's all altruistic and shit," Zaeed blew another smoke ring.
"We will keep an eye on her," Thane acknowledged.
They all glanced up as the sound of a shuttle hummed through the air.
"Huh, Alliance markings," Archangel shaded his eyes against the glare of the Rannoch sun.
"What do they want out this way?" Zaeed grumbled, stubbing out his cigar on the solid sole of his boot.
"Let's go find out," Garrus rose to his full height.
"Indeed."
The sole figure that stepped off the shuttle was in N7 armour and armed with some decent weaponry. He was solid, with tattoos snaking up his neck.
Archangel stood with his arms folded across his chest, Thane in his habitual posture of hands folded behind him, and Zaeed in hipcocked arrogance.
"Welcoming committee?" the accented voice drawled.
"Just wondering what Systems Alliance wants on Rannoch," Archangel replied.
"Checking up on things…you know…" a shrug as a heavy rifle is hefted on solid shoulders, "And what's a …turian, drell and …" a frown at Zaeed, "…you, want here?"
"Old friends of the Admiral," Archangel shifted slightly.
"Ain't that interesting," an easy going smile, "Take care, fellas. You…stay out of trouble." The N7 strolled toward the main buildings without looking back.
"I don't think I like that guy," Zaeed growled, "I could shoot him. We could just say he fell off a cliff or something."
"You just don't like him because you didn't scare him, Zaeed," Thane replied calmly.
Zaeed paused, pointed at Thane and frowned forbiddingly, "Shut up."
"If you two have quite finished, now the sun is losing some of that intensity, we should head out to the sites and see what we can see," Archangel stared out at the horizon.
The buildings still smoked. The bodies were gone, buried with quarian honours and the remains of the geth had been retrieved and sent back to the dreadnoughts that hovered as protection over Rannoch.
Archangel squatted and touched the scorch marks that discoloured a wall splattered with quarian blood. He circled his fingertips together and frowned thoughtfully.
Thane strolled up beside him and his voice was matter-of-fact, "The weapons are human in origin."
"Yeah," Archangel sighed, "Yeah, they are."
Zaeed jumped down from the roof top, the low structure an easy distance, "There was a turret up there, blew up. Got some interesting tech built in.
Archangel rose to his full height, "I'm going to guess that the other settlement has some similar evidence."
"Would be fair to say," Zaeed nodded his agreement.
"That's a big call," a new voice echoed in the silent settlement.
The three mercenaries turned, and brought up their weapons. The N7 agent held up his hands, unarmed, and strolled down a set of stairs to their level.
"What are you doing here?" Archangel snapped, not lowering his weapons.
"Followed you," came the drawling reply, "So you think humans did this?" He jerked his chin at the carnage.
"Who are you?" Zaeed growled, his weapon still up.
"Lieutenant James Vega, Systems Alliance," he didn't need to add 'N7', "Maybe if you introduce yourselves, you can lower those weapons and just maybe we can help each other out?"
"This is Thane Krios," Archangel gestured to the drell, then the human, "Zaeed Massani, and…I'm Archangel."
Vega's eyes narrowed, "You are shittin' me."
"No," Archangel looked at his companions with a frown, "I'm not 'shitting' you." He looked like the phrase was mildly disgusting, and lowered his weapon.
"Holy shit," Vega broke into a large smile, "Hell man, everyone who has been within spitting distance of Omega has heard of Archangel! You made the gangs sit up and pay attention. Hells, you are friggin' heroes!" He held out his arms widely.
"That's…great," Zaeed rose a brow, "Look, kid, right now, you are getting in our way. Why don't you just turn around and tell whoever it is you are reporting to that everything is in hand?"
"Yeah, no way, hermano," Vega shook his head, "I'm gonna stick to you three like glue. My assignment was to find out what was going on here, and that's what I'm gonna do."
Archangel stared at the N7, and glanced sideways at Thane and Zaeed.
"Yeah, you can do us a solid," Zaeed drawled, "Up there on the roof? There is a turret. Its got some serious mods."
Archangel nodded, "And this file," he brought up his omnitool and transferred images to Vega's omnitool, "Has vid evidence. Get this to the Admiral. We are moving on to the other settlement."
"Alright, sure. No worries," Vega shrugged, "Why you trusting me with this?"
"Because you are a fine upstanding member of N7," Zaeed replied, straightfaced. He grunted as Thane did something to his ribs with a movement almost too fast to see.
"Yeah, sure…" Vega muttered uneasily.
After several minutes gathering up the parts of the turrets, Vega took off in the shuttle he had borrowed to head back to Rayya Citadel.
The three looked at each other, and Archangel muttered, "Now we can get on with it."
Vega landed at the Citadel. The shuttle area was quiet as he stepped from the pilot's seat. He paused as he saw a long legged creature poised on the front of the shuttle parked next to his. She was a major hottie. Long, coiling red hair, freckles dusted over a creamy complexion, cupids bow lips coloured a rich burgundy and green eyes that sparkled with heated mischief when she saw him.
"Well hey there," a crooked smile curved those amazing lips.
"Hey yourself," Vega drawled, checking her out with an interested gaze.
"N7, huh?" she levered herself upright and strode toward him. Her lean body was clad, head to toe in unrelieved black, belted at the hips and dipped low to reveal the curve of her cleavage. She traced her fingertips over the N7 badge on his chest, "I have never met an N7 before."
"Never met anyone like you before either," Vega ran a hand down her arm, confident in his charm.
"Aww, so sweet," she touched him lightly on the chin, "Miranda never said you were so sweet."
"Uhhh," Vega blinked in surprise, "So…who are you?"
A sting caused him to twitch, and he slapped a hand over the fingers that caressed his neck, "What the…?" His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell like a dead weight to the ground.
The red head squatted and activated his omnitool, transferring all data to her own. She tugged the duffel he had been carrying toward her. She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, leaving behind the tint of purple. She patted his cheek, "Poor boy."
She rose to her full height, picked up the duffel and ran off.
"We found him in the shuttle bay," Tali explained to Archangel, who stood staring through the window at the comatose N7. He looked troubled.
"Did he have the evidence on him that we sent him off with?" he asked.
"What evidence?" Tali looked puzzled.
"Damn," Archangel raised a hand to his forehead, and rubbed his brow, "What knocked him out?"
"He was injected with something," Tali replied, "There was a mark on his neck."
"Have you reviewed the security footage?"
"It was shut off in the shuttle bay. Someone shut it off."
Archangel was silent for a while, "What about the camera in the shuttle itself?"
"Wouldn't it shut off if the shuttle was powered down?" Tali queried.
"The camera would have been active as he swung in," Archangel explained, "Maybe it caught something."
"Ancestors," Tali breathed, "I didn't think of that."
"I will look into it," Garrus touched Tali on the arm, "We will find out what is going on, Tali. I promise."
"Thank you, Garrus," Tali squeezed his hand.
He paused, as though to speak, but hurried off instead.
Tali turned back to the window and the unconscious N7 agent.
Archangel leaned back and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Garrus…" Thane broke the silence and laid his hand on his friend's arm.
"Yeah, I know," Archangel growled.
"What the fuck is Shepard doing here?" Zaeed snarled, hand clenching on the gun, "And when can we hunt her down…I owe her a few pops."
"Zaeed," Thane said gently, "Shut the hell up."
"What?" Zaeed protested, "We hate her don't we? She stole those weapons plans from us and sold them on to the batarians."
"I know what she did," Archangel growled low in his throat, jerked his chair backward and stalked from the room.
"What? What'd I say?" Zaeed protested.
"He was in love with her, Zaeed," Thane replied calmly, "He trusted her."
"Shit, really?" Zaeed scratched his head, "I thought he was just regular mad. But Shepard ripped out the heart of our Archangel? That explains a lot. What about Tali though? I thought they had a thing?"
"It's complicated," Thane replied, and sighed, "He's protective of the Admiral. They were squadmates long before lovers. And they were lovers only briefly. He and Shepard?" the drell shook his head, "That was something entirely different."
Alarms sounded throughout the compound.
"Hells!" Zaeed grabbed up his rifle, "Come on, buddy. Looks like we got trouble!"
Thane sighed, "It would seem."
They strode out and met Archangel at the door to their rooms.
