Hey guys long time no see!
First things first I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed the last chapter.
Thank you Sapphiros for your advice last chapter. I had no clue about separating dialogue and the like, but hopefully this chapter shows that I've improved. Anyway I really appreciate the constructive criticism. I need it to get better.
Next up is ChaosTheVoid. All those things are quite possible my friend. Some more than others…but all quite possible.
masterdude94 Oh believe me that will be going down.
Random guest person. Sorry the c-sec isn't Executor Pallin. Way too important to be walking the beat let alone be in Tayseri of all places. Maybe he'll show up later .
jabbarulez. You're damn right they're going to be pissed.
Thanks aside this latest chapter is shorter than the last one due to me cutting it out of my latest writing. I actually have chapter 5 almost done, but with this attached to it chapter4 was looking a little beefy. So lookout for a new chapter in a couple of weeks or so. Anyways I hope you enjoy the next chapter because I have more in store soon. Enjoy!
Armando Owen Bailey sighed as he rubbed his rough unshaven face tiredly. It had been a long day to say the least. Two of the officers he had allowed to work a case in Tayseri had died today. Gunned down by batarians of all things. What the hell were that many Batarians even doing on the station, he thought tiredly as he stepped out of the skycar that had flown him from Zakera.
Most Batarians usually stayed away from the Citadel and stuck to Terminus system planets with questionable or non existent police forces, such as Omega. The few Batarians here on the Citadel were nearly all businessmen or were affiliated with some sort of similar trade. So it was alarming when fifteen heavily armed Batarian slavers somehow found their way past security and into one of the most secure places in the galaxy. And it was tragic when those same aliens cost him two of his own.
Lambart Yungira and Bretnas Somalda had been with Bailey since C-sec had started moving humans into more prominent positions after the Battle of the Citadel. Along with Bailey they had been some of the first humans to excel in their newfound positions and had been exceptional investigators. If there was one way for humans to gain their aliens peers respect it was through being good at their jobs. And Yungira and Somalda had both earned their turian superiors respect. They had been the equivalent of the good that humanity could bring to C-Sec. And now they were dead.
Sighing to himself Bailey stepped through a pair of sliding doors and into Tayseri Wards C-Sec Precinct Waiting Lobby. Huh, seems a lot emptier than usual, Bailey thought as he noticed the lack of blue suited C-sec constables, must be a busy day. Walking up to the lobby desk he showed his I.D. to the Turian waiting at the desk.
"Captain Bailey?," the Turian spoke in surprise, "Captain Keethem's waiting for you in the morgue Sir. Just take the elevator over there down two levels and take the first door door on the right."
"Right, thanks," Bailey said detachedly as he turned and walked to the elevator. So Decimus was waiting for him huh? It had been a while since he had seen his old Turian friend. Taking the elevator down the two floors like he'd been told he turned into the hallway labeled morgue where he saw a turian slumped over next to the Morgue doors. Recognizing the alien as none other than Decimus he strode over to where the Turian was sitting.
"Armando," the silver face tattooed Turian spoke without looking up from the spot on the floor his gaze was so firmly fixed. Bailey knew the Turian was probably taking the loss of the two men as well as he was if not worse. He'd known the two men almost as well as Bailey and they had been under his command here.
Bailey looked at the door beside the Turian, "They in there?"
Decimus nodded slowly before standing and looking Bailey in the eyes, "I'm sorry Bailey. If I'd known…"
Bailey raised a sardonic eyebrow, "If you'd known there was a whole squad of heavily armed Batarians hiding in the Keeper tunnels? Hell Decimus, we've both been in C-sec for almost twenty years now. And even we don't know every nook and cranny of those god-forsaken tunnels. Little bastards are always changing things anyway so I doubt we ever will." Turning away from the frowning Turian he walked over to a window looking into the morgue where two smooth, metallic caskets were waiting side by side on the lab tables. "Besides," he spoke looking past them where a line of full body bags had been placed across the back of the room, "Pretty sure your Special Response team made up for it by killing all the four eyed fuckers."
"Actually, I think I might be able to do you one better," said Decimus confidently as Bailey looked at him curiously, "We found four possible accomplices just before my men came into contact with the batarians. No idea if they have any information on them but something's definitely off about them."
"Yeah, How so?" Bailey asked.
"Well we've got footage of each of the Batarians arriving on the station," Decimus stated as he waved for Bailey to walk beside him, "But we lost the footage of them as soon as they slipped into some of the gang controlled areas here. These four on the other hand don't show on any of the port cameras across the entire citadel."
Bailey stopped and looked skeptically at his fellow Captain, "None of them? How did they even get here then?"
The Turian captain shrugged, "Hell if I know, but they have no I.D. whatsoever. If I had to guess I'd say they were smuggled on to the station, but that would definitely leave out the Krogan.
Bailey's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he followed Decimus back into the elevator, "You're telling me a Krogan snuck onto the Citadel with no one noticing?"
Decimus shrugged as he watched the floor counter on the elevator change, "Well technically a Krogan, a Drell, a Asari, and a Quarian. But how they did it is beyond me. We've had numerous people sneak onto the Citadel before, but I've never seen anyone just appear without a trace like they have. Everyone leaves some hint of a trail, some sort of mark that they were here or how they got here. I mean we have literally thousands of cameras in place, eventually everyone shows up on camera. But not these guys. And that worries me."
Bailey nodded thoughtfully, "The last thing C-sec needs is for people to have unlimited access to the Citadel without us knowing. The last time that happened it took the Alliance Navy to bail us out. And that was after Saren and the Geth had already killed nearly a third of our people.
Decimus bobbed his head agreeably, "Exactly. Which is why I called you down here."
Bailey frowned, "Decimus, this isn't my ward. Tayseri is your workplace not mine. I don't have any jurisdiction here. And I'm not sure how your people would take it if a Zakera Ward Captain just took over a-"
Decimus cut him off, "You wouldn't be taking over anything Armando. We don't even know if this is really a case yet. I just want your help and your opinion from time to time afterwards if possible. Like back in the day when we didn't both have a bunch of junior constables to look after and we only had each other to rely on. You'd strictly be a consultant. Nothing more."
Bailey waved him off, "You had me at 'wouldn't be taking over anything'. I'll help in anyway I can Decimus, but I'm guessing I'm not following you to sign the paperwork for Yungira and Somalda am I?"
Decimus flashed him a row of razor sharp teeth that translated to Bailey as the Turian equivalent of a smile, "No Armando you are not."
"How did you catch them?" Bailey asked curiously as he watched the four camera feeds closely. In each display sat the four individuals Decimus's men had arrested. Going from feed to feed Bailey looked intently at each of the cell's residents. In the first cell sat an irritated looking Drell with his arms crossed across his chest as he glared daggers into the wall across from him.
"It wasn't too hard actually," Decimus stated as he walked up next to him to look at the Drell, "It was fortunate that me and seven of my men were on our way to the last spot where the Batarians had been spotted when we found them. They were all just standing over constable Cestus just staring at him when we arrived behind them." Raising a three fingered hand he pointed at the Quarians screen, "He was the closest to Cestus so we hit him with a couple concussive shots. Never saw it coming, he was out cold a half second later." His hand drifted to the Asari who was curled up on the cell bed with her back to the camera, "That one looked like she was about to resist though. I swear I know the Asari are exceptional Biotics but this one had Biotic energy coming off her like actual living flames."
"So what happened next," Bailey asked.
Decimus shook his head, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself, but the Krogan talked her down."
Bailey's head snapped to the side as he stared at the Turian in confusion, "He what?!"
"Talked her down," Decimus repeated, "And quite calmly too might I add. He motioned to all of us and made her realize that even with those powerful biotics of hers with all eight of us we'd cut through her like…what's that human saying, 'a warm knife through margarine'.
"A hot knife through butter, but you were pretty close that time," Bailey remarked with a roll of his eyes. If he had a credit chit for every time another species butchered one of their sayings he'd probably have enough to buy a ship of his own.
"Right, well we would have slaughtered them if they'd resisted and if there is one time not to try C-sec it's when one of our own has gone down. Makes even the best of us very trigger happy," the Turian admitted grimly, "Anyway after that they surrendered and we called a medical unit to pick up Cestus and the Quarian. I called a transport to take the rest of them back to the precinct but not before the Drell told us about the Batarians chasing after them. And well you saw what happened after that."
Nodding Bailey looked at the feed of the Quarian who lay asleep on the bed in the cell, "You haven't questioned him yet?"
Decimus shook his head, "No he's still unconscious from those concussive shots. Doctors said he's perfectly fine so we dumped him in an interrogation room to monitor him until he wakes up but until then maybe you should look over the other threes interviews. Agreeing with the Turians idea Bailey followed him over to a workstation where the interviews were saved.
Beginning with the Drell's interrogation he watched as another turian sat across the table from him asking questions. The Drell mostly refused to say anything, but over the course of the questioning Bailey noticed he was very unnerved by the Turian sitting before him. It was in the way he crossed his arms over his chest and how he kept looking sideways at the dextro across from him. However, as nervous as he appeared it still didn't seem to quell his tongue from muttering angrily that he didn't know how the fuck he'd gotten into the damn Keeper tunnels and that if he did he sure as fuck wouldn't have told the fucking cops.
"Bit of a mouth on that one," Decimus remarked dryly as he watched on over Bailey's shoulder. The human snorted as he continued watching the Turian interrogator fail to get anything else out of the Drell. All the man had said was that he woke up in the Keeper Tunnels minutes before running into the Batarians. After that it was just running and panic. Exiting out of the Drell's video Bailey went to the next one pulling up the video showing the Krogan. Watching the interrogation a feeling of bemusement swept over him as the huge creature stared at the nervous Turian investigator before him with an almost curious look. Unlike the Drell however the Krogan was surprisingly polite as he calmly explained that he wasn't sure how he'd gotten into the Keeper Tunnels and that before he'd been able to figure out what was going on his friends had shown up and the Batarians had started shooting at them. Bailey snorted to himself as he watched the interrogation conclude and the Krogan escorted out of the room. If someone had told him that he'd meet a polite Krogan and a foul mouthed Drell in the same day he would have looked at them funny, but seeing it first hand was pretty damn amusing.
"He said they were all friends?" asked Bailey curiously as he switched out videos for the last one with the Asari.
Decimus nodded, "Yeah, apparently they all know each other, why?"
Bailey shrugged, "Nothing really just an odd group. You don't see a lot of Quarians hanging out with Krogan afterall. …Well you did, but…apparently that was a one time thing."
Decimus looked curiously at him, "You've seen a Quarian hanging out with a Krogan before?"
Bailey shrugged, "Only after they were through shooting up Chora's den about a year or so ago."
Decimus stared at him, "You saw Commander Shepard and her band of misfits in action?"
Bailey shook his head, "No, but I did see the biggest Krogan ever that day. Even larger than the one you've got now."
Decimus looked impressed, "I don't know Bailey, this one tops out at almost a ton with his armor on."
But Bailey still shook his head, "Trust me he was bigger, even if only by a little. I've got no idea how the Commander got him to follow her, but I'd hate having a Krogan that large enter the room with the intent to fuck me up. Probably ruin my day."
Decimus chuckled, "I don't think there are any Krogans in existence without the potential to ruin someone's day."
"True," admitted Bailey, before glancing back to the feed of the Krogan, "Although that one seems alright if you ask me. Damn polite for a Krogan." Looking back to the Asari's interrogation Bailey watched the Asari captive as she sat legs crossed arms folded saying nothing. Her eye swept across the room repeatedly as the Salarian asking her questions repeating all of the charges against her in hopes of jarring her attention back to him. "She's pretty calm for someone under threat of extradition back to Thessia," Bailey noted as he watched the beautiful Asari refuse to answer any questions.
Decimus nodded, "She's refusing to answer any questions until she's allowed to speak to her friends. Which is odd since-" The Turian stopped as his omni-tool beeped out a note. Activating it the Turian grinned a razor sharp toothed smile as he looked from his arm to Bailey, "You up for an interrogation?"
Bailey's eyebrow rose curiously, "…Why?"
Decimus's grin was downright predatory, "Because it seems that our Quarian has woke up. Copy those files for later and lets head down to the interrogation rooms. We've got a bucket head to question."
Tazzik loaded another High Explosive round into his grenade launcher as his aircar flew toward Tayseri Ward. When the Shadow Broker had informed him that the Batarians had failed in capturing their target Tazzik had struggled to suppress the grin that had started to form on his lips. This meant he had another chance.
When Commander Shepard's body had been stolen out from under him by Liara T'soni it had marked the first and only time he had failed the Shadow Broker. In one unfortunate betrayal and infuriating ship theft his impeccable record had been marred by failure. And failure was not something the Shadow Broker tolerated. If it had been any other operative they would have found themselves cut off from the broker's famous information feeds if not out right assassinated depending on the severity of their failure. After all no one wanted to be the operative who cost the Shadow Broker Collector technology. But Tazzik wasn't any other operative he was renowned among the elite of the Shadow Broker's operatives as his one and only hit man. The only one he trusted to get the job done every time. …Well had trusted. Tazzik sneered as he remembered how the Broker's modified voice had informed him that a famed Batarian strike team had gone in first instead of him. It hadn't been the first time the Broker had recruited outside help, but it had been the first time Tazzik had seen him allow it on a mission as critical as this one. After all it was unheard of that the Collectors gave second chances.
"Sir we're coming up on the ward in fifteen minutes," a voice from the seat next to his spoke up jarring him from his thoughts.
Looking at the masked operative flying the aircar Tazzik nodded and activated his com unit, "Helmets on." Over the com unit he heard the rustle of his men slipping their helmets on and preparing for action. Tazzik himself slipped his blue colored helmet on as their air car slipped out of the mass transit tunnel and drifted into a outreach lane heading to Tayseri.
Anonymity would be key this mission. It was the reason Tazzik and all of his men were dressed in stolen Blue Sun armor. And obviously you didn't assault a C-sec headquarters and let your face be seen. That lead to questions on who you were and who you associate with which consequently ended up with you finding an accelerator round in your head. A mission with this much possible and expected collateral damage couldn't be some amateur fair. No this had to be clean and surgical. And so far everything was going according to plan. They'd already started a variety of emergencies throughout the fringes of the Tayseri Ward: Fires, emergency calls of shootings, and other various emergencies requiring direct attendance by C-sec. And while that wasn't enough to draw out most of the of C-sec constables from their headquarters. It would be taking a lot of bodies to cover that many incidents. No, it would take something much more serious to draw out the rest of those cloacas.
"Sir, team Firestorm reports that the payloads are all in place and ready," spoke his demolition experts from the seat behind his.
Tazzik nodded distantly, "Good, tell them to wait for my go." Something like six highly explosive bombs in one of the largest apartment complexes in Tayseri would do the job. That would instigate an emergency response from the rest of the constables C-sec could muster and leave a skeleton crew behind at the headquarters. At that point it would be up to Tazzik and the three squads men he'd brought with him to raid the C-sec station and successfully extradite the Shadow Brokers four targets. "Are the Signal Jammers ready?" he asked, as they were only a few minutes out from the ward.
"Yes sir," answered his technical support operative, "Setup should only take around ten to twenty seconds then we'll have half an hour before any communications will be able to come from or go to the station. Everything will be picked up and directed to team Tech Support." Nodding complacently Tazzik began checking his weapons for the final time as Tayseri Ward grew larger in the windshield of the aircar. It wouldn't be long now.
