Black Sun Rising
Chapter 2: The Citadel
"Hey, rookie. Wake up. We're almost at the Citadel."
Shepard forced himself awake, blinking his bleary eyes at Murphy as he sat up in the cot.
"Hey, Murphy."
"Yeah?"
"Sorry for calling you out like that yesterday."
Murphy shrugged.
"You got the job done. That's all that matters. Didn't your old man ever tell you that?"
"Yeah," Shepard said, feeling a bit better. "Just felt like something I should say, I guess."
"Fair enough," Murphy replied, his brown eyes light with a smile that didn't show on his face. "Apology accepted. Word to the wise, though—never apologize to Zaeed. Nothing he hates more than an apology. Well, except maybe worthless fucking rat-bastard traitors," he finished sharply, his face contorting with spite. The outburst caught Shepard's attention, driving away the last of his sleepiness.
"Aleena mentioned something about the Blue Suns earlier," he said. "That Zaeed got double-crossed. Were you with him for that?"
"Not there in person, no," Murphy answered, regretful. "If I had been, maybe Zaeed wouldn't've gotten shot in the head. When the coup went down, some of the other mercs got to me first and made sure I couldn't help him. Little shits."
Shepard caught himself about to apologize, and killed the word on the tip of his tongue.
"Didn't mean to dig up anything painful," he said, but Murphy just shrugged.
"You didn't know," the mercenary replied, "and if you're gonna work with us, you might as well know where we come from. Nothing wrong with that."
Shepard nodded as he got the rest of the way to his feet, trying to ignore the pain as the scar tissue on his back stubbornly refused to stretch. Looking over at his arm, Shepard noticed the dressings on his wound had been changed. He winced, remembering both the pain of the wound and the stupidity that had helped him get it in the first place.
"Hey, at least whoever shot you didn't use Polonium rounds," Murphy broke into Shepard's thoughts. "I would've lost my arm if Aleena hadn't been carrying around anti-radiation meds."
Shepard shrugged on a nondescript brown jacket over his shirt and nodded, waiting for Murphy to leave before following in his wake out to the ship's bridge.
"He lives!" Aleena called out jokingly as Shepard made his appearance, causing Talitha to look up suddenly from her place near the Asari. The girl ran over to Shepard, hugging him tightly around the legs. After a few moments, she looked up at Shepard and smiled.
"Thank you," she said.
Shepard reached down and put his hand gently on Talitha's head, smiling sadly.
"Don't mention it," he replied. Talitha let him go and ran back to where Aleena was sitting, and apparently a game of cards was in progress between the two of them.
"Hey, Shepard," Zaeed called over. "You ever been off Mindoir before?"
"Can't say I have," he answered. "Why?"
"Because I'm gonna love seeing the fuckin' stupid look on your face when we dock at the Citadel," the older mercenary said, flashing a rare smile. "Make sure I don't miss it, Wrex."
"I'll be right there with you," Wrex chuckled. "Try not to spend your whole share in one place, kid. Women and booze have a way of making that happen."
"I'll try my best," Shepard said, sinking into a chair with a sigh as he tried not to feel overwhelmed by the turns his life had taken since the Batarians had dropped out of the sky and destroyed everything Shepard had loved. His thoughts must have been easy to read, because it wasn't long before Zaeed spoke again.
"If anyone asks," he told Shepard, "don't say who your parents were. Trust me when I say your father had a lot more enemies than he did friends."
"What? Why?" Shepard asked, surprised. "And how?"
"What did Karrick do on Mindoir? Farming, factory work, something low-key?"
"Farming, yeah. Also took me hunting whenever he'd go out to get some non-ration meat for dinner."
"Doesn't surprise me he'd want to keep a low profile," Zaeed said. "Don't know what your father was like around you or your mother, Shepard, but when I knew him he was one of the most brutally efficient Alliance soldiers around. A Corsair, actually."
"No shit," Murphy said, briefly looking away from the ship's controls. "I didn't think those spooks actually existed."
"I'm sorry, my father was what?" Shepard rejoined, confused by the revelation and more than a little hurt his father would have kept something like this secret from him.
"A Corsair," Murphy said, "is a member of what basically amounts to the Alliance's Special Operations Unit. Sort of an answer to the Turian Special Forces, the Asari Commandos, the Salarian STG, and the Council's Spectres. An extrajudicial weapons and tactics response soldier, who can more or less do whatever they need to in order to get the job done."
"What Murphy the living encyclopedia is trying to say," Aleena clarified, "is that Corsairs tend to kill a lot of people over the course of their time in the position. Dangerous people, at that. People who typically have equally dangerous friends and associates."
"And those people would be more than happy to gun me down in the street if word of who I was ever reached them," Shepard completed the thought, nodding. "Got it. Thanks for the warning, Zaeed."
"Not about to let you get shot by some jumped-up thug with a vendetta," the older mercenary replied. "You're no use to me dead."
"So glad to know you care," Shepard quipped, drawing a chuckle out of Wrex. But his flash of humor passed as quickly as it had come, and the human lapsed back into silence.
"Hey, Massani," Wrex spoke up, "you sure walking back into the Citadel is a good idea? Pretty sure C-Sec wants to see most of us behind bars, and I'm not in the mood for a fight with a ton of goons. Hell if I know why the contact even wants to meet us here, anyway. She never used to be so... public."
"Already got that covered, buddy," Murphy said from the pilot's chair. "I doubt the Citadel would turn away a ship carrying the only two survivors from Mindoir, and especially not when one of them needs medical attention. Udina might not have a ton of pull, but my guess is the Council will see this as good enough of an olive branch to make him shut up for a while."
Wrex shrugged.
"Guess we'll see soon enough," the Krogan mused. "Look out your window, Shepard—we're here."
Shepard pulled himself out of his thoughts and stood up, looking out of the nearest window as the stolen Batarian ship approached—and was completely dwarfed by—the Citadel.
"Holy shit…" Shepard breathed, his eyes going wide at the sight. "That's… it's…"
He trailed off and gave up trying to make sense of the ancient space station, simply staring gobsmacked at the testament to Prothean ingenuity. Zaeed chuckled, glad to see his prediction proven right. He was about to say something when the main speaker on the ship crackled to life, and a voice spoke up on the other end.
"This is Citadel air traffic control, requesting clarification from the Batarian vessel Bira'doran. We do not detect any Batarians on-board your ship; please explain the discrepancy immediately, or we will be forced to scramble air security."
"Control, this is Colin Murphy, acting pilot of the Bira'doran," Murphy promptly replied. "We picked this ship up off of the Mindoir colony, in the process of rescuing some humans that had been taken by Batarian slavers. One of them is in need of medical attention. If you need additional verification, feel free to contact Nassana Dantius, in the Embassy Quarter. Over and out."
After the line had been cut off, Shepard made his way to the pilot's area and sat down in the seat next to Murphy.
"Is Talitha sick?" he asked, not bothering to hide his worry. Murphy sighed.
"Not physically, no," he said, "but the kid's got scars. After you passed out, she started freaking out and was pounding on the door trying to get to you. Aleena had to do some weird Asari mental thing to calm her back down, and ever since then she doesn't want to leave Aleena, either.
"Talitha probably got taken around when the Batarians first touched down, so my guess is she was locked up like that for a while. She needs a trained child psychiatrist looking after her, not a bunch of mercs."
"Yeah," Shepard said, hanging his head in resignation. "I guess you're right."
"Don't worry about it, kid," Murphy said, reaching over and patting Shepard on the shoulder. "She'll be all right. The worst is behind her now, thanks to you."
Shepard took some small comfort from that, but swallowed his reply as soon as the speaker flared to life again.
"Bira'doran, you are clear to dock," the controller said. "I repeat, you are clear to dock. Please enjoy your stay at the Citadel. And from one human to another," the controller finished, thank you for what you did. Lord knows the Alliance wasn't getting results."
"We just did what anyone else would've done, Control. Bira'doran, out."
The ship cruised the rest of the way towards the docking bay, a silence settling over the mercenary group that was as relieved as it was uneasy.
"I don't trust Dantius."
"You've mentioned that before, Aleena," Wrex said, his voice calm. "This isn't the first job we've done for her, and I doubt it'll be the last. She's got no reason to flip on us."
"And if she does," Zaeed joined in, "we've got a mountain of dirt to bury her under."
"We do?" Aleena said, arching an eyebrow.
Zaeed smiled.
"As long as Murphy hasn't gone and fucked it up, yeah," he answered. "You haven't gone and fucked it up, have ya, Murphy?"
"No, Sir," the pilot replied, a smile in his voice. "The recordings are all stashed away somewhere nice and safe. And no, I haven't told anyone where except you."
Wrex chuckled, giving Zaeed an impressed look.
"You had Murphy running a recorder on Dantius? Not bad."
"I'm still alive for a reason, you know."
The ship finished docking with a slight lurch, and the crew got to their feet for a quick stretch before disembarking. As they made their way to the main door, Zaeed cleared his throat.
"Hang on for a second, guys."
As soon as he was sure everyone was looking his way, he continued.
"Turns out, we do have an ace up our sleeves, just in case," Zaeed said. "But it depends on whether or not you're willing to trust the rookie."
"That depends on what we're trusting him with," Wrex said. "What's the plan, Massani?"
"We give Shepard here the main account card," Zaeed explained, "and he doesn't come with us to meet Dantius. Dantius wires the money through to Shepard, and none of our cards have anything on 'em. Worst case scenario— we get locked up— Shepard can bust us out."
"Because Nassana doesn't know Shepard exists," Aleena mused, thinking over the idea for a few long moments. "It's risky," she said at last, "but at least it's something."
"Too risky," Wrex said. "What if the kid runs off with the cash?"
"I'd still have to find a way off the Citadel," Shepard said, speaking up, "and I can't fly a ship myself. Besides," he finished, staring the Krogan down, "I still owe all of you for getting me off Mindoir. I don't take my debts lightly, Wrex."
The two of them stood locked in a staring contest for a few tense moments, with Aleena ready to jump in immediately if things got ugly.
But in the end, Wrex gave a short nod and took a few steps back.
"Anyone who isn't afraid of me is someone I don't mind watching my back," he said. "Damn shame you weren't born a Krogan, Shepard."
Shepard smiled, and the tension lifted. Aleena let herself slowly relax, and was about to exit the ship when Murphy's voice stopped her cold in her tracks.
"Shit!" the pilot hissed, looking at his gun's combat scanner with narrowed eyes. "We have a serious problem, Sir."
Zaeed wasted no time in walking over and looking at Murphy's scanner, his good eye beginning to burn with anger as he saw what had upset his pilot.
"That double-crossing little bitch," he spat. "Ten soldiers are waiting outside, weapons hot."
"We can take 'em," Wrex grumbled, but Aleena gave him a placating look and shook her head.
"Yeah, we could," she said, "but the rest of C-Sec? I'm not so sure about that, Wrex."
"Fuck," Zaeed said bluntly, itching for a fight but not stupid enough to just throw his life away. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, considering their options.
"Shepard," he said at last, "you stay here. Lock yourself in storage, and don't come out until nightfall. You hear anyone rummaging around, it ain't us. As soon as the coast is clear, come find us and bust us outta jail before Dantius pays the right people and gets bullets put in our fuckin' heads. Think you can do that?"
Shepard nodded, his eyes keen with determination.
"I can."
"Good," Zaeed replied. "You damn well better, because I have a lot of things left to do before I kick the bucket. All right, fellas," he continued, addressing his fellow mercenaries, "let's go face the music."
The four warriors waited until Shepard was out of sight and had radioed Zaeed to confirm his position before disembarking, and sure enough a whole squad of C-Sec goons was waiting for them, weapons hot.
Along with Nassana Dantius, who looked more smugly satisfied than the mercenaries had seen her in years. But the most important thing was to keep up appearances, and Aleena was more than happy to get the show started.
"Nassana?" she breathed, sounding so surprised that it took all of Wrex's self-control not to compliment her acting skill. "What the hell's going on?"
"That's them, officer," Nassana said to a Salarian member of C-Sec. "They're the ones who murdered ExoGeni representative Koral Fortram. Search them, and I'm sure you'll find all the proof you need of that fact."
"What the fuck are you babbling about, woman?" Murphy shot back, the very picture of righteous indignation. "We're just trying to get this poor, injured girl the treatment she needs! The Batarians ruined her life!" He pointed to Talitha, who by now looked utterly panic-stricken and was holding onto Aleena as if her life depended on it.
"And she'll get the help she needs," the C-Sec officer replied, before his eyes darkened. "Can't say the same about you scum, though. Lawson," he finished, gesturing to a nearby human woman who looked to only be a few years older than Shepard, "take the girl where she needs to go. We'll handle the mercs."
"Yes, Sir," Lawson said promptly, her blue eyes softening as she approached Talitha. "Come on, little one," she said gently, kneeling down to look the girl in the eyes. "Let's get you somewhere safe."
Something in her voice seemed to calm Talitha instantly, and the girl let go of Murphy. Lawson picked her up, holding her against her shoulder and whispering something comforting to the child as she turned and walked away. As soon as she was gone, Nassana allowed herself a sneer.
"On your knees, Massani. All of you, on your knees!"
Seeing no other options, the mercenaries complied.
"Your superior officers know you're taking money under the table from a psychotic shrew, boys?" Murphy asked with a smirk, provoking a glare from the Asari.
"Search him first," Nassana said coldly. "And be thorough."
Murphy clenched his gut in anticipation of the strike, but there was only so much he could do to safeguard against a Krogan. The fist slammed into him with brutal force, and when the pilot coughed he tasted blood.
"Yeah, great job beating down a defenseless man, you spineless sack of shit," Zaeed spat, his voice venomous. "You're a disgrace to your people."
"Couldn't've said it better myself," Wrex grumbled, his glare decidedly predatory. "What's your clan, worm?"
"Weyrloc," the Krogan growled. "At least I don't whore myself out for credits, Wrex."
"That's not exactly true, from where I'm looking," Aleena said, smiling. "Your price is just lower than his. No shame in being a cheap lay, though."
Wrex laughed, and the Weyrloc's eyes went wide with rage. He made to charge, but Wrex's laugh never faltered.
"Wait," the Salarian called out, at a look from Nassana. "Don't kill them just yet, Orunk. They need to suffer some, first. Take 'em down to the containment cells in our basement, and let 'em stew for a bit. We'll take care of them just before the sun comes up."
The officer turned to Nassana and nodded as the prisoners were led away, a smile flitting across his thin lips.
"Thank you for your assistance, Miss Dantius," he said. "Fortram was asking some uncomfortable questions, and now we get to tie up a loose end and take the credit for solving the case of his most horrible murder. I won't forget this."
"The pleasure was all mine, officer," Nassana replied, smiling. "Until next time."
The officer turned back to his fellow C-Sec soldiers, his smile vanishing.
"Search the ship," he said. "Murphy mentioned more than one human while they were docking. Find them and blow their brains out. Split up whatever else you find. Consider it a bonus."
"Yes, Sir!"
Shepard didn't move a muscle when he heard the door to the cargo compartment getting wrenched open. He'd stationed himself behind a few pallets of ammunition, hoping that they would mask his heat signature. That, and the searchers would be too lazy to look any closer.
"Doesn't look like there's anything here," one of them said at last, and Shepard recognized the voice as Turian. "Go head on back to HQ and report to Commander Jeron. I'll do a final sweep here."
"Thanks, man," another voice replied, sounding human. "I owe you a beer."
The Turian laughed.
"For all the crap I let you loot off this ship, you owe me more than one."
"Yeah, whatever. See you back at the base, buddy."
"See you there."
Shepard remained immobile, hoping that the final C-Sec goon would leave without forcing him to get violent.
"Hey, kid," the Turian said, and Shepard felt a shiver lance up his spine. "You can come on out. I swear I won't shoot you."
"Not sure that's good enough," Shepard answered, drawing one of his pistols and readying it. "Got anything better?"
The Turian sighed.
"Fine," he groused. "Nassana Dantius is a corrupt piece of scum, and my CO is even worse. I want to take them both down, and I feel like you want the same thing."
Shepard relaxed, but kept his pistol up and didn't give up his cover quite yet. Sensing his hesitation, the Turian continued.
"Look, if I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You'd be a smoking pile of meat on the floor. That good enough?"
Shepard finally broke cover, coming face-to-face with a Turian wearing blue armor and sporting a matching electronic eyepiece over one eye. The Turian held his hands out palms-first, convincing Shepard to power down and holster his pistol. The Turian relaxed as well, holding out one of his hands in greeting.
"Garrus Vakarian," he said, and Shepard took the offered hand, shaking it firmly.
"John Shepard. Nice to meet someone who isn't trying to shoot me, Garrus."
"I can imagine," Garrus said, before looking more closely at Shepard. "The CO mentioned something about Mindoir— were you there when the Batarians hit?"
"Yeah," Shepard said shortly, frowning. "And I was one of the only two that made it out alive and free. Not something I feel like getting into right now, if you don't mind."
"Oh, of course," Garrus said quickly, flustered. "I just… damn. Sorry. That was a shitty thing to bring up."
"Don't worry about it," Shepard said, forcing a small smile on his face. "I get the feeling a lot of people are gonna be bringing that up for a couple years. Might as well get used to it."
He moved over to the pallets of ammunition and began loading his sniper rifle and two pistols, pocketing some extra clips in the process just to be sure.
"The mercs I came here with have info on Dantius," he explained while readying his weapons, "but only Murphy knows where it is. You want to go after her, we have to bust my friends out of… wherever the hell C-Sec dumped them."
"Hmmm," Garrus stalled, thinking. "Might be a bit tricky, but at least the elevator out of here leads right down to the C-Sec HQ. I'll think up some cover story as to why I'm arresting you, and we shouldn't have any trouble getting in. Getting back out with the other mercs, and alive at that… well, that's the tricky part."
"I survived on my own against packs of Batarian slavers for two weeks before Massani and his crew pulled me off Mindoir," Shepard replied, confident. "Something tells me those guys were a lot more vicious than the people C-Sec keeps on their payroll."
"Fair enough," Garrus allowed, "but even if most of them are mouth-breathing incompetents, you throw a small army of incompetent people at a small group of competent soldiers and that story's only got one ending."
"Which will only matter if we give them enough time to get off their asses and come after us," Shepard said. "You have your cover ready?"
"Our cover," Garrus corrected him, a hint of humor taking the edge off his words. "And yeah, I do."
"Nice. So, feel free to arrest me, Officer Vakarian," Shepard said with mock solemnity, holding out his bare wrists. "I promise I won't give you or your partners any trouble."
"Shut the hell up, Shepard," Garrus said with a chuckle as he put the handcuffs on his new accomplice, but Shepard made sure to have gotten rid of his smirk by the time they were in the elevator, headed down to C-Sec.
"Hey, Vakarian," the trooper behind the desk called out distractedly, until she noticed that Shepard was walking next to him. "Hey, who the heck is that? Did you find another human on that merc ship after all?"
"I wish," Garrus groused. "I could use the bonus credits at the end of the month. No, this is just a vagrant I picked up off the streets for loitering. Pretty sure he works for Fist. Gonna ask him a few questions, nothing big. I'll handle all the paperwork."
"Okay," the trooper replied, looking back down at the reports on her desk. "Don't rough him up too bad, though. He's kinda cute."
Shepard's smile was so smug Garrus had to fight not to elbow him in the ribs.
"Don't even start," the Turian said as they kept walking, cutting Shepard off before he could turn his smug grin into equally-smug words.
"My life's been a living hell for the past few weeks, and you won't even let me catch a break," he said a few moments later, his grin gone. "And here I thought we were gonna be friends, Garrus."
"If we can pull this off, maybe we will be," Garrus replied as he pushed the panel to call another elevator, "but for now, I need you focused less on cute girls and more on not getting shot in the face."
"Fair," Shepard said, before smiling again as they got into the elevator. "I'll be sure to put in a good word for you on the way out, though, if you think she's cute."
"Seriously, just stop talking. I think I liked you better when you were brooding."
"I've had enough of that for a long time," Shepard said, rolling his shoulders and trying to focus for what they were about to do. "Besides, I don't think Wrex or Zaeed would be happy if all I did was moan and groan about how my life got ruined."
Garrus said nothing, the ding of the elevator pulling him back into the present. The doors slid open and they each took a step forward, only to be stopped cold in their tracks a heartbeat later.
Bang.
The sound of the gunshot immediately put Garrus and Shepard on edge, but neither of them had time to react before the gun's owner trained their weapon right on Garrus' forehead. The Turian saw who was aiming the gun at him and his eyes went wide, stunned and confused.
"Miranda?" he asked, beyond shocked to see his fellow C-Sec trooper, Miranda Lawson, looking ready to blow his brains out. "What…" his eyes shifted over toward the other end of the hall just long enough to see the fresh corpse on the ground—one of their group's top Lieutenants— before looking back at Miranda.
"Why…?"
"You weren't supposed to see that, Garrus," she said, her expression sincerely apologetic as her finger prepared to pull the trigger.
"I'm sorry."
…
…
A/N: Looks like things just got a lot more complicated for our dynamic duo! But hopefully they'll be able to make it out of this mess in one piece. Or two, at a minimum.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and many thanks to N7HG, Elder Sibling and Kanukoris for reading and reviewing! Means a lot.
And speaking of Kanukoris, they're in the process of writing an incredibly good and criminally under-reviewed piece of Mass Effect mercenary fiction called "Veteran Zero", which you should totally go read and review if you haven't already. It's really good stuff. Zaeed and Jack-centric, but with a cool cast of supporting characters I can see really coming into their own. So yeah, go read it.
And thanks for reading this chapter, as well! See you next time.
- JP
p.s. - As far as Miranda and Garrus' ages here goes, Miranda is 20 and Garrus is a couple years older than Miranda. I know Garrus and Shepard are more or less the same age in the main canon, but that wouldn't really work here. So I tweaked it some.
