Author's Notes: Well here we are finally. I have been gone for a long time, I know. I'll be honest with you guyies I've been having a rough time, my mother had passed a little while back and I just lost the will to write. I had a little time with depression but I'm back, I've found my passion to write again and I want to finish this story. I don't want it to see like I'm rushing through this but I don't want anyone to think that I'm half assing this either. I just want everybody to understand why I haven't updated in a while. Okay along time. I apologize and I hope you all can forgive me. I'm not asking for sympathy or anything I just want you all to understand.
Now this chapter will hopefully be long enough for you all as this is probably the longest I've ever written. I've also added a sneak peak of another fic I will be working on secondary to this one. It's a concept I thought would be pretty interesting. Let me know what you all think in the review section.
Also for the record all of this story so far has been the prelude, I will try to end it in the next chapter so we can get on to the main story. So far I felt like it's been dragging on for to long.
Now without further ado enjoy:)
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Chapter 4(prelude)
Armali city, Thessia
Lower Armali
Varis District
23rd precinct
3 hours before Varis Towers
Detective Ruora was having a bad day. No a bad day would be coming to work late or leaving the lights on in the house-which she experienced many times in her life-but right now, it seemed like everything was falling apart.
She paced the walk way in front of her desk, her distress apparent. She was in the middle of the Armali city police department, the 23rd lower district precinct. She remembered her first day at this precinct, she was a new detective; her first day on duty on this side of the city. She had just transferred from the upper city precinct after a run in with some of the cities more established and 'influential' citizens. After a few brash decisions on her part she'll admit, her superiors felt, for her safety and moreover the citizens of the upper city, that she should be moved to the lower city precinct.
At first it wasn't ideal but given the situation she didn't have much of a choice. It was either that or give up her badge, and that wasn't going to happen. Still...the lower city precinct was the most infamous precinct, the lower city specifically was know as being one of the most crime ridden and violent areas in all of Thessia, maybe even the galaxy, excluding omega. It was a hell hole waiting to boil over. The latest reports she had read almost equated patrolling the streets of lower Armali to patrolling an active battleground.
One thing did surprise her though, 5 years ago they also had the highest police deaths in Thessian police history, losing almost 30 officers a year. It had gotten so bad that the Armali council almost closed the entire precinct down and just let the 23rd district fend for itself. But then Allari T'yvar came and everything changed. Apparently she was a Thessian hero, everybody knew her and was more than happy to let her take the reigns. Many thought Allari was crazy to try and save it and more than a few of the so called 'elite' tried to stop her. But she just kept going and to even more surprise for Ruora, there hasn't been a single police death in the last five years, a dire contrast to the years prior.
Who was this woman, more specifically where the hell did she come from? The only thing Ruora could find was a few service records, one on her commando years guarding a Matriarch Delros, someone she never heard of or seen before, after that apparently she became a spectre and obviously most of those records were classified but what was there still seemed a little light.
She didn't like it, none of it made sense. Why would she leave the freedom and power of a spectre, to be the chief of some struggling police department on Thessia? Like Ruora she was just an immigrant to Thessia so being homesick wasn't a valid reason. None of records held answers to her questions it only gave her more. Then there were the rumors that she was involved with the Justicars, some people even believed that she was one herself but that's impossible, once you're a Justicar there's no going back, its part of there code or so she assumed.
She knew she shouldn't have been this prying about her future boss but she just had a habit of studying her future co-workers and bosses. She didn't trust people very easily, if at all. She couldn't find it but she just felt there was something about Allari that didn't sit right with her.
So it was to her complete surprise on her first day in the 23rd precinct, that she was greeted by the warm and almost comical embrace of Allari, she was nothing like how she anticipated. She was not the ice queen she was expecting. She was the polar opposite. Her very disposition giving off nothing but sunshine and rainbows.
Ruora loved it at first...
but after a few hours she began to wish she was the ruthless tyrant her mind had created only a few hours before. It was amazing that she was like that, considering there line of work and all the shit they had to go through on a daily basis. Especially since they were in the second seediest place in the galaxy. They had seen everything; rapist, murders, terrorist, mass murders, mass rapist, you name it they got it. As much as the Asari wanted the galaxy to believe that Thessia was the crown of the universe it still had its share of grime, like any other world, if you look close enough you'll find the dirt and corruption. Armali city lower districts were a primary example of that fact.
But somehow through it all Allari finds a way to keep her optimism, even when everyone else around her was fed up. Ruora just didn't understand. How could someone with her temperament survive living in a city that practically wants her dead. How does she continue to smile at a city that tries to break you down every day? Where does she find the strength? She thought of asking her just that on multiple occasions but never got the nerve up to actually do it, or let go of her pride long enough to ask. She also turned out to be close to her age, she was a couple decades older however but sill she was young considering Ruora was only 120 at the time. It was odd enough that she was her boss, she didn't want to make things more awkward. Besides she wasn't gonna break or anything; Ruora was tough. She had grown up in the Terminus systems so there wasn't much the galaxy could throw at her at this point, but she was tired.
This city had worn even her steeled nerves.
And now things seemed to be reaching a crescendo. Her partner was now officially missing apparently. But sadly this wasn't the worse news today, one of the beat cops reported that a extremely illusive Turian arms dealer, one that she had been tracking for weeks now mind you, has completely disappeared. She checked everywhere, she talked to all of her informants and still couldn't find a single clue as to where he was or where he might have gone off to. It was frustrating beyond comprehension, they had a whole surveillance team on him and he still somehow managed to give them the slip.
It only leaves one explanation, he has some powerful friends who helped him slide by. But who? Well she knew who, why was really her question. She couldn't believe they'd step in now when she was so close. Nothing added up, she was sure she had did everything right; So how did things get so out of control?
She didn't really want the Turian, he was a small times arms dealer trading in stolen to defective weaponry to the myriad of gangs of the lower city that ran amok in the streets. He wasn't really considered a big fish, he wasn't even on there radar at first...until common street gangsters started toting hi-powered assault riffles and other military grade equipment. After a few bank robberies and even a hostage situation, the chief had enough and order full martial law on all of 23rd district, how she got the authority for such a call was beyond her. Most likely, the snobs elitist in the upper city didn't care enough to deign her. Either way it worked for the most part, the department was able to make a lot of arrests and take a lot of those guns off the street.
But it still left the question, where did the guns come from in the first place? All of the guns were unmarked, and brand new, they didn't even have there companies respective signature markings or insignia on any of them. This fact alone led them to believe that these guns were being massed produced somewhere illegally.
Knowing it was a long shot Ruora went through some old files to a case she had been looking over for years now and discovered something interesting about the myriad of companies she had been monitoring for years. Some of them had invested money into a aircar factory in lower Armali. It was widely know about through out Thessia, as the companies went on a massive publicity campaign to show the galaxy that they weren't that bad. It was kind of like a yeah we make weapons that kill people but we care about the community type of affair. The irony didn't escape her. Not everyone bought there little campaign but it didn't matter if they were giving away money and making more jobs. It was a win, win for everybody. But Ruora never bought it, she saw right through there whole campaign, they wanted something. At the time of the campaign she couldn't investigate her suspicions causes there wasn't anything to investigate at the time and she was only a simple beat cop for the upper city back then. They were building factories and other facilities all over the galaxy, for low income area's and struggling colonies, they tried to seem so innocent but Ruora knew there game. They were making it seem like they were trying to help when in truth they were planning something, she just knew it.
She watched and monitored them daily for months, all the other cops thought she was crazy. Now months to an asari is as trivial as minutes to all the short lived races, but to be plastered on one case as much as she was, for that long without a single development, that could cause even a asari to loose hope. Especially since she had only been on the job for 2 years, most of her career she spent trying to pin a collection of companies that may have genuinely wanted to help.
But no! She couldn't except that, she knew them for what they were, and she was going to nail them. And one day her salvation came. She had just finished her standard paper work and case files of the day and she didn't have any other cases to work on so she decided to delve into what she began to call her 'side project' after Allari first saw that she was serious about her investigation and told her to knock it off. It was the only way to get her off her back. She had to admit it though, it was starting to take affect on her work, but she wasn't obsessed; no matter what anyone else said. She just knew something wasn't right.
So after going through her usual surveillance of public records and documents, she began to look up each building the companies constructed on the extranet, one by one looking for anything out of the ordinary, she started off with the one in Armali city, praying to the Goddess for a break. She must have heard her prays because she immediately found something.
The factory had shut down completely. She immediately looked it up, trying to find the reason for the closure, what she found intrigued her deeply. All the articles said the same thing, the city just couldn't afford to run the factory, even with the assistance of the companies, so they closed it down. That alone she found suspicious because she never remembered voting in a form for this, but then again she never really voted in the first place, unless it was something really important. She knew the vote went through easy, the voters were probably told it was a huge drain on the city and it had to go. Those bastards got her again.
It was reported that another 'third party' company was looking to buy it from the city for a fair price. Ruora nearly leaped with joy this was the lead she had been patiently waiting for, she could bet her life that there was no third party company it was only the corporations trying to take control of the factory through a front company. Why was the question. She was elated now but before she jumped the gun she had to make sure.
And after a extensive search of the list she found that every other facility had closed. Each ones ruling government claiming it was for the same reason. She had them, now all she had to do was show her case to the chief and ask to start a full investigation. Much to Ruora's surprise Allari said no. She agreed that things were fishy but she just didn't believe there was enough evidence to warrant a full investigation. Ruora tried to argue her point of view but it was a moot point, the chief had made her mind up, and when she does that there's no point in debating.
She wanted to punch a wall... no better yet, she wanted to drive her aircar threw a wall. It seemed like every time she got close to a breakthrough, somebody added another layer. She was mentally drained and was ready to scrap everything, when fortunately-or unfortunately if you don't look at it from her perspective- 2 weeks later, the military grade weapons started to flood the streets. At first she couldn't find any definitive correlations, so when martial law was initiated she had hoped to find something, but the only thing they ever got from the thugs they caught was that they acquired their gear from some Turian arms dealer.
Although it did narrow down there search, in a city with over 85 million people its not just impossible but insane to try and find a Turian arms dealer without a name or anything more really to define him. Even if they did search through the criminal world specifically, there was still dozens of Turian arms dealers in Armali, and who said that they even lived in Armali. For all they knew this dealer could have some flat in Serrice and just sells in Armali. Or they could be and off world-er. If that was the case it would have made things significantly harder. But they caught a break, one of the under covers they had planted in one of the local Turian gangs had something. Apparently there was supposed to be an arms deal, possibly with the Turian. So they arranged a sting.
Overall the sting went perfect which was a surprised to Ruora because they rarely ever did. The only problem she had was that there target wasn't even there. But his second in command was, and as it turned out he was all they needed. He wasn't a turian but a thin palish orange Salarian, who looked like he had no business on the mean streets of lower Armali let alone be in the middle of a arms deal. He tried to play tough and resist at first claiming he was going to be out in no time, but after siting a week in his cell with no sign of getting out he realized no one was coming and he broke. He began telling them everything, dates of past deals, dates of future deals, and the name of the Turian arms dealer. He told them practically everything, which was to no surprise after hearing there names. The Salarian(Numort Hayora) and the Turian(Caelter Gratmius) both had a long list of petty thievery and low level movie pirating, they were amateurs. How they got into the arms business in the first place was anyone's guess.
But that wasn't the revelation that caught Ruora's ear, it was there supplier that caught her full attention. There supplier had been the same collection of corporations that she had been trying to catch for years now, apparently they had been using the same factory that gotten close down a few months prior to produce the weapons. If any of what Numort had said was to be believed then they had to act fast before the corporation's got a wind of what was happening and decided to clean house.
Ruora wanted to move on the factory right away but the chief dismissed that idea entirely. In fact it seemed like Allari didn't believe one bit of what the Salarian had said. She claimed that the testimony of one two-bit criminal would never stand up in court. And as much as it pained Ruora to admit it she knew she was right. When it went to the courts and it was going to courts, they were going to have to have a lot of evidence, because the corporations were going to fight hard.
After a few more threats of violence and life imprisonment, Numort agreed to helping them capture Caelter -claiming he had all the data and hard evidence- in exchange for amnesty. She felt it at that moment, she was close, so close to beating those bastards and putting an end to all this. She was finally gonna get justice. But just like everything else in her life, things could never remain simple, before they could enact on the plan, he ended up killing himself in lock up with a make shift shiv. How he managed to get the materials is still under investigation at the moment but at that time it didn't matter to her. He was her one chance and she lost it.
Without Numort they had nothing but what he said. They had the recordings but without the hard evidence they were back to square one.
All of this had transpired five weeks ago and ever since then Ruora had kept a stern watch over Caelter, one wrong move and she would have him inside the precinct before anyone could even protest it. But of course he remained completely clean the entire time, not even so much as a parking ticket. It pissed her off, that he wasn't committing a single crime, which would be weird in any other situation. But now today he just vanishes completely, gone without a trace. She asked all the other precincts in Armali if they have seen him, then she asked the rest of the precincts on Thessia, nothing. After that she searched every block within her jurisdiction and still nothing.
She was lost, she didn't know what to do.
Ruora stopped pacing after she passed Grerk's empty desk for the 40th time. She picked up a picture of him and her holding up a Valhawk they had hunted a few years ago. A rough smile tugged at her lips as a single warm tear rushed down her cheek. She could hear the old Krogan now laughing at her for being so soft. She quickly wiped the tear away and placed the photo down.
Ruora began pacing again, lost in her memories of Grerk. Grerk, was more than just a partner to her, that old Krogan became her mentor and teacher over the years, when she first arrived he practically took her under his wings. On her first day he was already considered a veteran of the force having served for 5 years already. Allari had brought him in, when she took over and when a Krogan offers to help in a place like lower Armali, you better not question it, so no one did. But of course there was some awkward times at first because its not everyday that a Krogan joins a mostly Asari police force, on a Asari dominated planet. Eventually everyone got used to it and he proved to be a valuable resource, not only for his physical prowess but his mental as well as he proved time and time again that Krogan can be just as smart as a 'slimy Salarian' as he had put it multiple times.
So it was a huge blow to the precinct's morale when he disappeared three days ago. The other officers began to speculate as to what happened to him. The general consensus is that he got abducted by the corporations because they had dug too deep. She couldn't believe they actually got the drop on him and was able to take him away without someone noticing. Besides he wasn't the one digging so hard, it was her. If any one was gonna get kidnapped it would be her. Or maybe they'd taken him to teach her a lesson, to prove that she was insignificant to them and she couldn't stop them.
Before her mind could continue its self destructive debate she heard someone clear there throat behind her. She immediately looked back to see Allari, concern almost radiating off her.
"Hard at work I see." They both looked at the growing pile of paper work that laid stacked in a pile on top of Ruora's desk. "Listen Ruora, I know your eager to find your partner but I need you to relax, you've been here for hours already, I mean when was the last time you had some sleep, and I don't mean a nap, but genuine sleep." Ruora shrugged.
"I don't know" Ruora said indifferently. Allari sighed "Listen Ruora the other chiefs and I had a meeting and we managed to get the Armali council to allow us to place the entire lower city into martial law this time. Me and the other chiefs have our Tactical divisions out searching for Grerk and Caelter as we speak to we don't need you here right now, so go home."
Ruora was tired having been in the precinct all day for the past two day's, but she just couldn't sit down, she had to be in the field. "Chief I can handle this it's nothing." Allari scoffed at her reply.
"Your a mess Ruora you need rest now, this isn't a debate that was a order go home." Ruora shook her head, her frustration apparent.
"You don't understand chief, I can let them take anyone else from me." Allari frowned at her rebuttal, her worry visibly increasing.
"I read your file, and I see why you hate the Consortium so much, but please don't make me have to call the shrink." She sighed again at the sight of Ruora tensing up when she said the corporations widely known name. "Look Ruora you need rest. Just go home, I'm asking you as a friend."
Ruora saw that there was no way for her to win this battle so she, begrudgingly grabbed her badge and gun of her desk and made her way to the exit. Ruora knew that she meant well but she just could let it go she had to be out here. She wondered how Allari got her file though, it didn't truly matter it was mostly fake mixed with some truth, like how much she hated the consortium, that was true. But why was completely false.
On her way out she ran into a person, she believed a Drell. He dropped a paper out of his coat pocket when they clashed. Ruora picked up the paper and was gonna hand it back but the Drell only stop partially to turn and tell her to read it before walking off at his normal brisk pace.
Ruora unfolded the paper and read what was on it, it was a simple note: 'come to the closed factory at 7:00pm, alone, no cops, bring any and your friend is dead'. Ruora immediately put the note in her pants pocket and check the time on her omni-tool. It was only 1:00, she had plenty of time to get some rest before she'd go. Most other cops wouldn't go to this little meet and greet on the account of the danger, but this was what she wanted. She was gonna show these bastards danger. She straighten her self out then quickly left, a smile plastered on her face, the consortium didn't know what was about to hit them. They had messed with the wrong Asari.
Armali City, Thessia
Lower Armali
Varis Towers
Wrex hacked jagged streams of dust as he tried to clear out his lungs. He was lucky he had four of them because if didn't he was sure he'd be dead by now. But that was the last of his problems because at that moment he was falling, again. He had turned on his thrusters and put them on full throttle, he was warned not to do such a thing as the thrusters could fail easily, his armors Vi went crazy screaming alarms and alerts until he shut it down. It was slowing his descent giving him time to think. But he wasn't so much as concerned with his self as he was for his clients, because he'd most likely survive the fall, but they wouldn't. He had to act quickly, it was hard to visualize there position with all the debris and dust, so he activated the thermal vision in his helmet. He immediately got a hit on where the kids were. They were on a slow decent down, there eezo powered cradles seemingly going into some kind of defense mode, a high strength barrier cascading around them to protect them from the debris. Wrex was pleasantly surprised, he always loved when his client made his job easier. He turned on his control Vi again and directed the cradles towards him.
"Well I'll be damned." As the cradles got closer his armor's central Vi began giving him rough estimates to the cradles barrier strength, he was shocked to see that the cradle's barriers were stronger than his. They most have paid a fortune for them. But if they could afford these cradle then what were they doing in these crummy apartments, was his question. But hey it wasn't his business and he particularly didn't care. He was here for a job and he was gonna see it through.
Alright with the kids out of the way, he now had to find this Benezia, he scanned the surroundings in an active search for the Asari. He was given a signature tracer for Benezia by his employer to be able to pick her out anywhere, how it works and how they got it he'd never know. After a few seconds he found her, she was a few feet below him, unconscious just like before. He used his biotics to grab her and pulled her closer to him. He got to her just in time as the ground was fast approaching, but something felt off to the Krogan.
Then it hit him. He had forgotten all about the Asari he had brought in with him, the wreckage of her aircar whizzing past him as a reminder. He immediately sprung into action. He scanned the room further and found that this time the damsel in distress was above him. He used the same method he used to get Benezia and grabbed her. Once he got both of his charges secured, the thrusters failed. Luckily they were only a couple feet from the ground, so he simply maneuvered himself to absorb the shock of the drop, he was a fully armored Krogan after all so this small drop was nothing.
He strengthen the barrier around his lower half in anticipation. It never hurts to be prepared. It was a bit more of a hard landing than he thought it was gonna be though but he was okay. So was the Asari who now were both very much awake.
"Who are you let go of me dammit" Benezia bellowed breaking free from Wrex's grip. She stepped back and flared her biotics. But then she saw the destruction around her, as the building was falling all around them. They were in what appeared to be the remains of the lobby, debris and bodies everywhere. They had to leave now. He didn't want to be here when the rest of the build came down.
She fell to her knees her biotics dispersing, "What happened?!" Wrex was about to speak when the Asari he 'kidnapped' gave a hoarse laugh. "What didn't happen?" Wrex looked at her his red optics glaring, a symbol for the glare he gave her under his helmet. She probably felt the animosity because she shrunk a little at his glare.
"Listen, none of that matters right now we need to leave this apartment building it's coming down, we don't have much time." Wrex's kidnapped charge nodded her head agreeing with that sentiment. Benezia just stared clearly in shock induced trance. Wrex saw this and grabbed her arm shaking her awake.
Benezia came out of her daze and looked at Wrex. "Where our my children?" And as if on cue the two cradles landed next to them. Benezia sprinted towards them, gave a desperate sign of relief when she saw they were perfectly fine. After a few moments to savor the reunion she turned back to Wrex.
"Where is Aethyta?" Benezia questioned in a monotone voice. Wrex was sure she already knew the answer. Wrex didn't know who this Aethyta was, so he assumed it was her bond mate that he had encountered earlier.
"I'll be honest, she's probably buried deep in that rubble." Benezia looked flushed, as if the very life was drained from her.
"Well we have to look for her, I...I mean we have to find her then, we have to-" Wrex cut her off, his frustration mounting as more of the lobby crumbled around them. "I'm sorry Benezia she's dead, and we're running out of time!" Benezia shook her head in denial of it all.
"No we can save her, we just have to try!" You could feel the desperation in her voice, Wrex had to admit that even his hard hearts where melting right now. He felt for her but they were out of time. Wrex was gonna just knock her out with one quick motion but he was stopped by his 'captive' who looked Benezia right in her eyes.
"I know your hurting right now, but you need to think about your children. If we stay not only will we die but so will they." Benezia seemed to pause contemplating her words. It was easy to see that she still wanted to look for Aethyta but she knew what the other Asari said was right. Seeing this she grabbed Benezia's hand snapping her out of her thoughts. Instead of replying Benezia just gave them a nod.
That was all Wrex needed he immediately went into action. He told Benezia and his 'captive' to grab the cradles while he made them an exit.
Most people would say they were trapped in that lobby, but Wrex wasn't most people. Wrex quickly analyzed the room and within seconds his visor found them a suitable exit. There was a weak spot on the southern wall behind them that would collapse if given a nudge, and by nudge he was thinking a bioticly charged warp.
He knew he had to do this right because the building was already weak. He didn't want to bring the whole complex down on his head.
"Alright is everyone ready?" Benezia nodded, the shock of a few minutes ago replaced now with a raw determination. The other Asari nodded as well. "Alright then, lets get this show on the road, you two stay behind me and run when I run." With that being said Wrex gathered a large amount of biotic energy and then discharged it the wall, carefully making sure that it wasn't too much. The wall shattered, giving them a clear view of a alley way.
"Run!" All three of them dived towards the alley way, Benezia and the 'captive' pushing the cradles along with them.
Armali city, Thessia
Lower Armali
East Armali
'Closed down factory'
1 hour before Varis Towers
Ruora couldn't think of one moment were she felt more excited than this one. Which was weird because she was almost certain she was walking into a trap, but that fact made her even more energized. Which was another irony because she only had gotten around three hours of sleep. She tried to get more but she just couldn't rest, so she prepared herself. She was running on pure adrenaline at this point.
It was time, she made sure she had her pistol ready. She had decide to use her standard issue predator, brought a incinerate mod as well, she figured when it came to combat, and it was, she was gonna bring the pain. She also had decided to wear her standard issue riot armor, which came with decent shield strength and combat Vi. The fact that riot armor was standard issue, even for detectives never really shocked her, it was just a sign of the city they lived in. She hopped out of her aircar, she didn't bring her regular aircar but instead she brought a cheap junker. It wasn't anything special, well it was down right hideous, but it would get her from point A to point B. She had parked it on the side of the factory in a dark alley, she wasn't worried about it getting stolen, nobody was that desperate.
She made her way to the front gate and as soon as she approached the gate opened.
Yep, definitely a trap. She was ready though.
She continued to the factory until she arrived at the door into the main area. Before she entered she checked her gun one more time and strengthen her barriers, then placed her helmet on. She was ready. She slowly opened the door and what she found was interesting. The main area was completely empty. There wasn't a single machine in sight. Ruora looked everywhere and couldn't find a single bit of evidence that anyone ever used this factory. She almost gave up and left the room, until she saw something gleam in her peripherals. She walked up to the object to get a better look. It was a metal handle, attached to what appeared to be a metallic door. The door was utilitarian in design, and big enough for one person to enter at a time. She looked around and couldn't find any other doors in the room, besides the one she came in with.
Well it would appear that they wanted her to go down so Ruora steeled herself and opened the door. What she found was a room darker than space itself. Ruora could make out a flight of steps that lead down the hatch, so she slowly descended down. And as if on cue, the moment her foot hit the floor the lights flickered on. Ruora immediately drew her pistol and scanned the room, what she found intrigued her greatly. The room was massive, and it was filled with machines and equipment, row upon row of it. In fact it looked like there was enough equipment there to mass produce various weapons if needed, and judging by the warmth of some of the machines, it would appear that it wasn't to long ago they were used. Ruora pulled up her omni-tool and began recording everything she saw, making sure she left nothing out of the report. After a few minutes of recording she stopped it. After that she looked around the room a bit more just to make sure she saw everything, and then made her way to the stairs, but before she could leave, she heard something behind her. It took her a few seconds to realize what it was.
It was the distinctive sound of someone clapping. In one fluid motion she spun around weapon drawn on the source. Standing on a raised platform on the opposite side of the room was Caelter, a murderous grin hanging to his face.
"Very good detective, you did everything I ask you to, like a good girl." Caelter clapped even harder, his applause echoing around the room.
"Caelter? So you finally decided to show your face huh, you slimy Pyjak?" Caelter chuckled a genuine hoarse laugh, he was truly enjoying this.
"Whoa detective, why all the animosity, can't we be civilized here." Upon hearing his response, Ruora immediately turned on her laser sight on her predator the red beam lined up perfectly with his forehead.
"Enough games Caelter! Tell me where my partner is or I will show you how civilized I can be!" To his credit Caelter didn't even flinch, in fact he seemed very comfortable in his position, considering he had a gun aimed at him.
"Look at you detective all worked up over some old Krogan. I bet you wouldn't have that same sentiment if you knew who he really was." Ruora rolled her eye's, flaring her biotics to show her annoyance.
"Cut the BS Caelter. Where's my partner!?" There was a viciousness to her words, a viciousness that Caelter ignored.
"You don't get it do you? Your being played, detective. Your mentor isn't who he says he is. He's no better than the criminals you chase. But alas, I see you don't want to see the truth, I guess it wouldn't matter anyway seeing as you won't be leaving this factory."
Then for a second time today she was surprised as the factory began to shift and turn as the machinery began to fold into itself. The whole room began to transform, as the conveyor belts that was once beside her morphed into stairways and the walls became doors. Ruora looked around the room in mix of interest and anxiousness, she had expected an ambush but not this. The room had seemingly finished its metamorphosis when the exit she had enter from closed and vanished into the wall leaving her in a completely empty room like the one above.
"Welcome to my personal combat arena detective, I hope you find it up to your standards, I know its not what your use to." Ruora froze, which elicited a low chuckle from Caelter, the clicking of his mandibles bringing evidence of its validity.
"Ha, yeah that's right I know all about your time on Kar'dosa. You really thought that you could escape it didn't you ? You can't keep running away from your past detective and expect it not to eventually catch up." Ruora was in a trance lost in her thoughts. She had thought she had escaped all that, she had hoped she was finally free from that damned planet.
"Well don't you worry, our mutual friends wishes to remind you of old times!" Ruora ignored the Turian as she continued to contemplate what he had said a few minutes prior. There was no way they could have tracked her, she made sure that she covered her tracks. She was a new person. Or at least that's what all her legal documents said. She was Ruora Ur'vano now and there wasn't a single person in the galaxy that could tell her different, so she thought, but in truth she wasn't feeling this confident.
"Alright, so you know who I used to be, well for your sake I hope you know what I'm capable of too."
The bastard laughed again, it was all a game to him.
"Oh I have been well informed but I was hoping I could get a demonstration." And with this he pressed a button on his omni-tool and the doors closest to her opened. Immediately ten thugs came running out weapons trained on Ruora. They were a mixed group, four Asari, three Turians, two Salarians and a Krogan. All of them were ready to fight, and they showed a some what trained discipline as they took up fire positions all around her. The Asari thugs harden their barriers, the Turians activated there weapon mods and the Salarians powered up a tech armor and drones. The krogan just watched.
"I am a officer of the law, all of you leave this area now and I won't arrest you. We don't have to do this!" Caelter scoffed, mock disappointment coating his words.
"Really 'detective' are you still clinging to that sad disguise, just let it out. You know you want to fight, I know it's been so long since you had a good battle. Besides its the only thing your good at." Ruora shifted her aim between the thugs in an attempt to get them to back off, it wasn't working.
"Listen detective they are all getting paid 100,000 credits a piece to fight you, plus there's another million to whoever kills you. ...But we both know that once you let the monster in you out there's no stopping it." And with that being said the thugs launched there assault, the Salarians kicked things off with a tech attack that locked her armor down, it made her practically freeze in her track as the enemy began to put a ridiculous amount of fire power on her. An considering there was literally no cover anywhere she just sat in the open absorbing the fire. Her Vi began blaring warnings and alerts, frantically trying to get her armor back under her control. She tried to assist with her omni-tool but before she could raise up her arm all the way her omni-tool was disabled by another tech attack. Her armor shields failed right afterwards, never intended by its designers to have gone through that kind of abuse. Now they were tearing through her own biotic barrier. She could feel every bit of force the barrage brought upon her. Ruora grind-ed her teeth the raw force of all the continuous weapons fire nearly knocking her of her feet.
"Come on detective! What are you waiting for, unleash the beast. I know you got it in you, I've seen the vids." Caelter looked at the scene with a look of disinterest, he knew she was holding back and so did she. "You're gonna die down here if you don't, and then you'll never find your partner."
As much as she hated it, he was right. She had to let go if only for this moment. Using all of the control of her armor and strength she had left she activated her armor's back up omni tool and partially deactivated her locker. The locker was a small device that regulated her biotics, it was much like a amp but a bit different as it not only helped her control her biotics, it weakened them, essentially locking her full potential. A potential which she has not mastered by any means. Which was why she had the locker. It was a invention gifted to her by a close friend years ago to help her 'adjust' to her new life. The moment she partially disabled the locker she felt a stream of strength flood her body. She hadn't felt like this in decades. Even as the thugs continued there relentless assault, only pausing to let their guns cool down, she felt stronger and stronger. All of the energy gathered in her chest, she kept letting it build until she couldn't hold it any longer.
What happened next was chaos, with the rush of such biotic potential coming back to her she had forgotten how it felt and lost control, a massive explosion of biotic power erupted from her sending most of the thugs flying. One of the Salarians and a Turian were killed on impact. The rest were either badly injured or just didn't want to get back up in fear of another biotic attack. The Krogan on the other hand had remained pretty much unscathed. He had only been pushed back, having slid a few feet.
"Now that's what I'm talking bout show me that monster inside of you detective. Show them why your called the Demon of Kar'dosa!" Ruora hadn't heard that title in ages, she had hope it would have died with her old self in Kar'dosa, but apparently she wasn't so lucky. The Krogan that remained standing, scoffed at the name.
"You don't look like a demon to me. I've seen Varren with more bite than you!" Caelter began to lightly clap again, his joy apparent.
"Oh yeah I forgot to introduce you to Pokmor Jurd, he is one of the few remaining krogan battlemasters, I think you'll find his centuries of combat experience and devastating biotics to be quite the challenge! Oh and I think you should know that Jurd here is also the leader of one of the most vicious blood pack gangs there is, so have fun with that!" The moment Caelter stopped talking all of the doors in the arena swung open and a assortment of blood pack members flooded in, weapons drawn on Ruora.
"Well 'demon' let's see what your really capable of." With a wave of Jurd's hand the Blood pack attacked. Ruora quickly scanned the battle field, there was currently thirty blood pack members charging at her, the vast majority being Vorcha, with a few Krogan in the mix. She counted 22 Vorcha, and 8 Krogan, for most that would be a slaughter but no matter how much she denied it, she was the demon of Kar'dosa. This was child's play, well it would've been if she let loose, but she had promised her self never again. She wasn't that monster anymore, but she knew deep down that this was gonna be a tough battle if she didn't. She quickly contemplated using more of her power, on one hand if she loosened her shackle a little bit more she was certain that she could mop the floor with these blood pack mercs, on the other hand she could lose control and the stipulations of such a event made Ruora shiver. She didn't have to debate it was now or never. Ruora reached for her omni tool set her locker to 25%. This was already well beyond the level she felt comfortable with going to but she could feel the energy build up inside her again. She could feel the strength she had been denying all these years flow through her, it brought her a dirty pleasure that she desperately tried to ignore but there was no more ignoring it now.
As the blood pack closed in only a few feet away from her she erupted into a explosive and destructive biotic charge, taking the blood pack head on. Using her biotics to a devastating effect she danced across the battle field, her biotics teleporting her towards a cluster of 5 Vorcha with a speed and ferocity they were not expecting. The force of the biotic charge alone knocking down two of them. The other three managed to prepare themselves just in time for the charge and maneuvered themselves away from the brunt of it. But it didn't matter because Ruora was right on top of them now and within quick succession she fired on two of the Vorcha, there barriers unable to stop the barrage. As those two fell Ruora dashed towards the remaining one, the Vorcha in question having yet reacting to her quick movements. She grabbed the Vorcha by his neck and hoisted him in the air, displaying a strength that no one knew she had, and a strengthen that she had forgotten she had. Suddenly she felt the urge she knew all to well flood her body, it was the main reason she lost control and the main reason she had her locker. She tried to resist, she tried to stop herself but at this point it was like she was on auto pilot and she had no way of turning it off. Not until her urges were satisfied. She looked into the eyes of the Vorcha blood pack merc, his blood red eye's glaring at hers, which were now pitch black. The Vorcha must have realized what she was gonna do because he began to kick and thrash in a desperate attempt to break free from her grasp, but it was to late.
"Embrace, eternity!" Ruora didn't have to say that but she always did it because it made her feel more normal after she did what she had to. She immediately overpowered the Vorcha's mind, he struggled a bit but it was to no avail as Ruora had him in a death grip. The Vorcha screamed as his mind was shattered into a thousand pieces, the once savage warrior now nothing but a hollowed out shell of what he once was. She could already feel the strength and experiences of her prey flowing through her. That wasn't what her body had hoped for but it alleviated the urges for the most part, if she didn't end this soon she was gonna need more.
She looked around her and saw that the remaining blood pack members where all staring at her, fear and shock all evident on their faces, which surprised Ruora. She didn't think the blood pack feared anything. She threw the drained body of the Vorcha at the feet of the two Vorcha she had knocked down before, they jumped nearly shrieking in the process. One of the Vorcha blood pack members ran towards the body of there fallen comrade. The moment he touched him the fallen Vorcha sprung-ed up and attempted to attack his allies. A krogan managed to put him down with a burst from his vindicator but the damage was done. The rest of the Vorcha ran in terror, unable to maintain the discipline the blood pack Krogan had beaten into them.
Jurd went into a fury ordering the Vorcha to comeback. The Krogan tried to regain order but after they saw that it was impossible they began to fire on the fleeing Vorcha. Some of the Vorcha fought back but most just ran. The ones that fought were quickly put down, the ones who kept running weren't any more lucky and got picked apart by the Krogan. Only a few survived the onslaught all of them running for the doors, but to there horror the doors were locked. They banged and clawed on the doors as the Krogan closed in. There were only 8 Vorcha left and they all turned to face the Krogan as they stopped a few feet behind them. They tried to fight but yet again they were no match for 8 heavily armed Krogan.
All the while Ruora went on the attack again, her target this time was Jurd himself in all his Krogan glory. She charged at Jurd with all the biotic force she could muster, which was quite the amount of force as the very metal under her feet buckled as she warped across the room a aura of blue biotic energy enveloping her . But Jurd wasn't a battlemaster for nothing, he saw what Ruora was doing and immediately began to launch a barrage of warps at her in hopes it would slow her down. They didn't, in fact it seemed that with each successive hit she sped up gaining more and more ground, the biotic blasts were either deflected or absorbed by her barrier. Seeing that he wasn't gonna stop her he immediately created a barrier field around himself. Ruora continued her charge and slammed into the Krogan's barrier. She went right through the barrier like a hot knife through butter, she didn't stop either until she slammed into the Krogan his armor barriers collapsing on impact.
The Krogan was blown away by the force of the charge, he was pushed into the far wall, he wasn't by any means done yet but that charge had left him a little disoriented and vulnerable. He sat back against the wall in the middle of the process of trying to regain his breath. Ruora saw the opportunity and walked up to him confident in her victory.
"Not so tough now huh, Jurd?" She raised her pistol to finish it but then stopped herself.
She was a officer of the law she couldn't go and execute people, even if they were trying to kill her moments before.
"Ah come on detective don't tell me you lack the conviction to finish this. Or even worse you want to take the moral high ground here. Your not a cop, your a killer, a cold blooded killer. And it seems to me that you need another reminder of that." Ruora had honestly forgotten all about Caelter, but that's easy to do when your fighting a room full of blood pack mercenaries. She was wondering what the Turian was going on about now and she didn't have to wonder long as the floor to the make shift arena began to shift and turn until the very center of the floor began to open up, Slowly but surely the floor parted until all that remained of the center flooring of the room was a wide circle. Ruora stared into the abyss next to her feet and immediately she felt that something was looking back at her. Ruora off of pure senses and feeling, jumped away from her position, just in time to see a stream of acid land on the same spot she was once standing on. The effects were immediate as the metal began to twist and melt.
Immediately after the initial barrage two massive claws protruded from the hole, the claws at first grasping at the edges but then after finding a sturdy place to cling to they slowly began to pull something up, and judging by the size of the claws it was massive. With in a minute a massive creature rushed out of the hole, screaming. It was a Thresher Maw. Ruora stumbled back at the creature, it's ferocity jarring.
"Now if you'll excuse me detective I have to go, I have a guest that needs to be attended to. Have fun with my friend here." And with that Caelter vanished from his platform in a flash. Ruora didn't know what was more concerning, the fact that she he to fight a Thresher Maw or the fact that Caelter was never really there. The bastard must have been using some hologram tech. This was gonna be harder than she thought.
Armali city, Thessia
Lower Armali
East Armali streets
Abandon Warehouse
Grerk dusted himself off, his armor having taken a nice beating in a myriad of traps and ambushes that were thrown at him. Grerk wasn't impressed nor was he deterred by the petty attempts on his life. He had met tougher challenges in the Terminus. But the challenges of today and the trials of the Terminus were nothing compared to the struggles of Tuchunka. He shook that thought away and focused on the the situation at hand. He had been fighting through the warehouse for at least an hour now, the warehouse was larger than what he was led to believe initially, and there was more security here than what his Intel said. His target had hired blue sun and eclipse mercenaries to defend himself, how he got them to work together was beyond Grerk, but if he had to guest it was more of his target's employer's doing than any of his action.
After going through a small army of mercenaries he finally managed to find himself in front of a large gray utilitarian looking door. By it's design and level of protection it provided, Grerk assumed it led to the command room. After a few seconds of cracking the door codes he was in.
With no surprise to Grerk, the room was utilitarian and bland just like the door he entered through, really like the rest of the warehouse now that he thought about it. The only difference being that this room was lined up with dozen's of monitors and computers. There was equipment all over the room, most of it was your regular surveillance equipment, albeit highly advanced versions, but some of it was stuff he had never even see before. One thing Grerk realized was that his target was here a lot longer than what his Intel suggested, damn he really needed to get new Intel. As he was about to reach for some spherical device a voice grabbed his attention.
"So you decided to finally come out of hiding?" Grerk immediately drew his gun on the voice. He was greeted by the sight of Caelter and his bodyguard of Consortium troopers, clad in there black armors. They surrounded him, 5 Turians, 3 Asari, 4 Salarians, and a Krogan. The krogan seemed to be in command as he stepped next to Caelter and whispered something into his ear.
"I was never hiding Caelter I was order to wait." Grerk attempted to step closer but was met with 13 barrels. "Tell your men to stand down Caelter were on the same side remember!" Caelter merely chuckled.
"Sooo, am I suppose to just forget that you were running through my base and killing all my men only minutes earlier?" Grerk was hoping he hadn't found out about that yet, but he knew it was a long shot.
"I tried to be diplomatic but they didn't believe me when I said we had the same boss, so this is the result. You should be happy, they were all weak anyway, at least now you don't have to pay them." Caelter didn't laugh this time.
"Cut all the shit Grerk, the boss knows you've switched sides. Did you really think you could hide from her. And did you really think I was here just to sell weapons, you know me better than that old friend or should I say...Captain." Caelter followed his words with a mock salute that made Grerk wince slightly.
"I figured you were up to something I just didn't know what, nor did I care, I had my own objectives."
"Well I'll tell you what I've been up to, knowing you I bet you already have numerous speculations." Caelter pointed towards the numerous monitors to his right, "As we speak all of the gangs of Armali have now taken to the street to what is now possibly gonna be the biggest gang war in Thessian history, probably because its the only one, but that's beside the point." Noticing Grerk's confusion and all around distrust for what he was saying Caelter moved towards the consoles and waved for Grerk to follow. "Look for yourself." Grerk cautiously walked over and looked at the screen, and to his surprise Caelter wasn't lying. It was Chaos all over the city gangs were fighting for control of the streets, it seemed like no area got left untouched as the violence seemed to have even spread to the upper city. The police were struggling to contain the gangs as they were taking losses all over, Grerk saw more than a few police containment forces being pushed back further and further.
"Why, I mean what does Tel'varis gain by turning Armali into a damn war zone?" Caelter grinned, "Who truly knows the machinations of the boss, I simply do what I'm told." Caelter threw up his hands defensively as if to sell his blatant lie. Grerk didn't have time for games. In one fluid motion he grabbed Caelter and hoisted him against the monitor wall, destroying a monitor in the process. " Stop fucking around Caelter and tell me what she's planning!" Even with a fully armored, angry Krogan in his face, Caelter simply laughed. "Wait, did you really think that this would get me to talk, come on now Grerk, your the one that taught me how to resist interrogations. We both know I'm not gonna talk." Grerk dropped Caelter...then immediately placed his avalanche shotgun to the temple of his forehead.
"Alright, fine. If you don't want to talk then I'll just kill you and be done with this." Grerk ignored the numerous blares the alarms on his armor's VI was screeching off about multiple weapons locks. "You could kill me Grerk, and you probably would kill my bodyguard as well...but then who would tell you about your precious partner and how she's about to die horrifically." Grerk paused at the mention of his partner.
"What the hell are you talking about Caelter?" Caelter merely pointed towards the monitors again.
On another screen Grerk saw Ruora locked into a heated battle with a Thresher Maw. "Yeah, interesting isn't it she is an amazing fighter, I've never seen, anyone, with biotics like her's. And from what the Consortium brainics were saying, she hasn't even deactivated her locker completely." Caelter then looked Grerk right in his eyes.
"You don't know why I'm here but I know why your here." He pointed to the screen that contained the image of Ruora struggling against the leviathan Thresher Maw. "Her. The bitch sent you here to protect her. Well the boss doesn't like people taking her property." Grerk enraged at the Turian's utter disrespect pressed his gun deeper into the Turian's head.
"Talk, now! Where is she?" Caelter seemed unmoved by the gun pressing further into his skin, in fact he actually he seemed even more amused. "Alright look Grerk, because you helped me become the man I am now and all that, I shall make a deal with you. You give me all the data you have on the Terminus and it's current criminal structure and I'll give you all the data I have on Tel'varis and her current operations as well as your little detective." Grerk was caught off guard with this request. Why the hell would he want that data, Grerk hadn't been in the terminus in almost 20 years. He doubted much had changed...but still. What use was it to Tel'varis. She already had enough business in the Terminus.
"What does Tel'varis need with the Terminus, last time I checked she didn't need any more muscle."
This time Caelter went into a full out laugh. "Nothing! If all goes right she won't even know about this transaction. I hope you didn't think I planned to serve her forever, oh no,no,no, Grerk. I have wayyy more ambition than being her lackey for my whole life, you taught me better than that. That's why when you first joined the Consortium I thought you were just trying to make a move on the throne, but no. You let her break you and now look at you. A former shell of what you once were. I saw you change from the powerful Krogan warlord who brought fear to all the Terminus, to some Asari bitch's lap dog, I knew then that I was the superior man. I'm gonna do what you couldn't, I will take control of the Consortium." He then waved at the soldiers who still had there weapons trained on Grerk. "These soldiers have already sworn there allegiance to me and the rest will follow soon enough. So do we have a deal, and don't try to screw with me Grerk, if you do I guarantee your little cop friend will suffer." Grerk looked at Caelter...and then at Ruora fighting the Thresher Maw, then back at Caelter again.
Grerk lowered his gun and began to type on his omni-tool, he sent all the files he had of the Terminus to Caelter. It was a list of the best trade routes, colony strengths and myriad of many other things that any conquer to be of the Terminus would love. Caelter looked at Grerk with an incredulous look, he must not have actually expected Grerk to comply.
"What, your not gonna attempt to fight me or anything?I mean what's stopping me from not giving you anything." It was Grerk's turn to laugh. "Because I know you kid. Of all of your 'character flaws' you always had one good trait. When you said you were gonna do something, you did it." Caelter frowned but not because Grerk was wrong but more so because he knew him so well. "Alright take the data and leave this place before Tel'varis finds out your here." Grerk waited till the info finished downloading and left. He sprinted towards his aircar and started it up, putting in the coordinates to the old factory that Ruora was currently fighting for her life in. On his way he began to read threw some of the files Caelter had sent him. True to his word he had sent him a plethora of info on Tel'varis's Consortium and there operations. He had no idea how he got a lot of the files but he was happy he had them. With this data he and his boss were gonna have a lot better idea of how to handle Tel'varis. He was only partially worried about Caelter, Caelter had always been his own worst enemy. But even he had to admit, it seemed like Caelter was actually getting his shit together.
But what he wanted to know the most was what Tel'varis was gaining by putting the city into chaos. He almost had given up until he found a file named Operation Shield-Armali. Grerk opened the file and read it vigorously. It would appear Tel'varis was trying to throw the city into chaos so that the consortium could swoop in and save the day. This apparently was designed to be the day view of a group the Consortium called Avantius. From what the file read it was apparently the Consortium's answer to the many mercenary companies in the galaxy. They called it a military for hire, which in Grerk's mind meant only one thing, they were heavily equipped and highly trained. Grerk went even deeper into the files and he ended up finding dozens of files all titled Operation Shield, but with different cities or colonies all cross the galaxy. Each one with a different disaster that Avantius would move in to clean up afterwards. From a disease outbreak, to a meter strike, there was a plan for each city or colony and they all started from the abandon factories that Ruora had tried to expose months earlier.
The Consortium used them as bases for there operations on all the places they had in there sights, the kid was right all this time. But this was a ballsy move, too ballsy. Grerk still couldn't understand why Tel'varis would risk such a move knowing that she didn't even have half of the Consortium supporting her, by next week if the vote passed properly his boss was gonna be the new head of the Consortium. Maybe this was part of her plan to make herself look like a hero by opening a whole new market for the Consortium. She would be making a huge profit and gain a lot of popularity with the galaxy, and the one thing the board likes is profits. If this was her plan to keep her power then she only had a week left, which means that operation shield is probably fully underway. Armali city was already under siege and most likely other places were facing there own dilemmas as well but there was still time for them to put this to there advantage. Grerk called the one person he knew that was capable to turn all this shit around. The boss.
Unknown, location
Unknown, time
"I see...so this Operation Shield, you think it's Tel'varis's attempt at taking back power. How cute, she's getting desperate." A slow sigh, it was a heavy drag of air that screamed disinterest and disappointment. "I've had enough of these games, call Ghask and tell him the mission is ago, he'll know what I'm talking about." After a brief pause Grerk replied. "Are you sure boss, the Matriarch council won't be happy."
"Don't worry Grerk I'll handle the council, you just let Ghask know what I want done." Another pause.
"As you wish Matriarch but please be cautious." And with that the line was cut.
"So your finally gonna do it huh? About time, I feared you were gonna stick to your inane policy of doing this election the right way. Tel'varis is too much of a threat it's time you played dirty."
"Be quiet girl. You don't know who could be listening." The woman in question merely scoffed at that.
"Were in a highly secured base that's not on any map of Thessia. Who could possibly be listening?" The Matriarch gave the younger women a stern look.
"Never underestimate your enemies, and with the enemies I have that's almost ten times more important. We have to be careful Allari, understand?" Allari seemed as if she was about to protest but then thought better of it.
"Yes mother."
"Good, now go back to your station before anyone notices your gone, if they haven't already." Feeling like she was a little too harsh she added, "And after all this nasty business is over I promise you I will make you that dish I used to make you when you were little for your birthday." Allari smiled at her and then left.
"Matriarch Delros, Matriarch Ri'va is on line 2 as you have requested." Slight pause. "Oh and Warlord Ghask has begun the mission as you have requested and will give you a report within the next 36 hrs." Matriarch Delros thanked her assistant and told her take break. She smiled at herself. Everything was falling into place.
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Author's end notes: Well here we are the chapter, I hoped everyone enjoyed if not please leave a review and tell me what I did wrong, that's the only way I can improve is through criticism so review away. Thank you for reading, love you guyies.:)
So without further ado enjoy the preview of Titan the whole chapter will be coming out relatively soon we'll see. This story comes first tho.
Oh and for the record Titan is another Mass effect fan-fiction set in alternate universe were the Turians where never met by the Asari and Salarians and the Krogans won the rebellion.
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Titan
Prologue-Road to war
Olivia objectively walked down the hallway, her disposition showing everything in her step. She kept a quick pace that left her marine guard follower at a constant disadvantage. Grey, red and black utilitarian dress clothes on top of a chiseled physique. And it figures he would be just as well kept and dreary as the hall they found themselves in. She glanced back at the poor kid. He couldn't have been any older than 20. How a baby like him got into the military in the first place was a mystery. But she was more interested on how he even got stationed here. She'd glance in his direction even looked him in his eyes at some point just to elicit a response.
Nothing, just a grim, yet determined look that most veteran soldiers would display. Maybe he wasn't such a baby after all.
She kept her callous pace much to the protest of her escort until the hall ended and they were standing in front of a large metal door that held the same design scheme as everything else, dark and dreary mixed with that old fashion military utilitarianism. But the door's fashion or lack thereof wasn't what caught her attention first, no it was the two heavy power armored soldiers that stood guarding the door that caught her eye. Pitch black armor, with nothing but a two insignia's adorned on the shoulder and the chest. Both red and gray circles colliding like a Ven diagram with a large white number 5 in the center. Fifth section of the OAI, officially they didn't even exist, but people in her position knew the truth. If they were here then this was going to be interesting.
One of them held what looked like a standard marine issued assault rifle, but being the one who designed the rifle she knew that it was more than that.
It was simply put her pride and joy. It was considered to be every special forces operator's best friend. It took her years to get the right formula for it but when she did, it quickly gained fame and it became the most used weapon by every tier-one group in the military. But because of its highly advanced nature it was expensive to mass produce so it never trickled down to the standard military forces. The other guard had another weapon she was familiar with... one of her competitor's.
It was a sleek and smooth weapon that even she had to admit-she had to stop the bile from coming up for thinking this-looked way more appealing than her bulky rifle. But looks weren't everything, at the end of the day you want a weapon that gets the job done, not some trophy piece. But should couldn't deny it, the rifle had a lot of praise, in fact half the rank and file military swears by it, claiming it's the best rifle in the galaxy. And just to add more fumes to the fire, it can be produced at a third of the cost of her rifle.
"Ma'am?" She looked to the sound of the voice, it was the soldier boy impatiently waiting for her to enter the plain door that was now wide open, the powered armored soldiers now at attention as if she was the damn Grand Marshal herself, in all her elegant form. Hmph, she mind as well be, considering the amount of power she holds. Because money talks or so they say.
"Hmm, my apologies trooper, I was trying to figure out why in the world is the army still using that old relic." She bold and blatantly pointed to her competitor's rifle, that rested in the arms of the left fifth section soldier.
He shuffled a bit, showing a slight discomfort for now being the center of attention. The movement was so slight that most wouldn't notice it. But she wasn't most. She smirked plainly then placed a callous hand on the soldiers armor.
"Don't worry soldier I won't take this as a personal sign of your character, but please next time follow your associates path and pick a real gun. New era all the way!" A small combination of pride, condescension and joy coating her words.
She gave another smile and walked through the door.