Hey everyone! I'm back with Chapter 7 of Violet Eyes!
Some people to thank for reviews: metaladdict, GUEST, Desert Sunrise. K0H and Theodur!
News Bulletin: I will be leaving for Mexico on the 17th, and on top of that my significant other is going to be here for a visit. I only see her every six months, so writing will not be happening at the pace that it has been, if at all for the duration that she is here. Maybe.
Another thing: I have received complaints about the passage of time in my chapters. Each section, Denoted by (XXX), passes time, sometimes a few hours, sometimes one or two days. I will always address how much time has passed in each section, IF it has passed. Some sections are meant to happen at the same time. It will change soon.
Also, please be aware that the next few chapters after this one are crash course and there is going to be a good deal of violence and there will be a couple scenes depicting torture. Be aware that it is coming. You have been warned.
Enjoy!
The cavern was big, and only lit by huge hives of bio-luminescent insects. Approximately a thousand meters long and almost the same high with around two hundred meters wall to wall, the arena for the Zande was a natural box. It had been two hours since the tournament started, and Zaia was tucked carefully into a small crevice about thirty feet up from the cavern floor.
Below her and across much of the cavern floor lay piles of debris from heavy explosives. Someone who was entered carried nothing except a bomb vest, detonating it as soon as the Zande began. The rest of the combatants, Zaia included, had scattered to escape the falling rocks from the ceiling and walls.
As soon as she could find her bearings, Zaia began to hunt. She was not worried about the run of the mill mercenaries and idiots. She was worried about the career mercs like Kazzik and Jentius, and many more that she might not know of.
To her surprise, Urdnot Jotun had not actually entered the Zande itself. It seemed that the giant krogan had some brains in his head after all. Of course maybe not. Even a stupid krogan would know that Jotun would be killed first and foremost by as many people who could pull a trigger as possible.
To her displeasure, she had not yet identified Kazzik nor Jentius' bodies among the dead. That was bad because she knew that, without a doubt, those two would each have heat sensing scopes on their guns or visors and, while her suit was beyond state of the art, it still emitted heat. On top of that, all three of them would be hunting each other in the darkness.
Muzzle flash still lit up the cavern, but only from one end. The far east end of the place lay dark and silent, a foreboding sign that combat there and been deadly and swift, the survivors moving west to find more people to kill. The area between her and the other side of the cavern had been a killing field, herself and one other shooter killing almost twenty mercs trying to get to the west end of the cave.
A plan had just begun to form a plan on how to identify the other shooter. Whoever they were, the rifle they were using was built for power. Its muzzle flash was huge and the sound vibrated her teeth when it fired.
Based on those facts, she was pretty sure that it was Kazzik Fur, seeing as taking down huge game involved a huge rifle. Also, it made sense that the shooter kept moving, because salarians couldn't stand to be patient. They were a high motor race, so sitting and waiting was not their thing.
This was all good news for her. If it was indeed Kazzik stalking her, then she had a better chance. Jentius was a turian and, like Garrus, turian snipers were legendary for their patience. If it was Zerium, he will sit behind something for days on end waiting for her to come out of hiding. Kazzik was more likely to come looking than Jentius.
As she slowly scanned the area in front of her, a heat signature emerging from around a boulder flared to life. As quickly as she had registered it, her cross hairs were trained in its direction. Judging from general body shape, the person was turian. Possibly Jentius, but highly improbable, seeing how the target staggered and was armed with only a pistol.
She waited as the turian came closer, drawing within a hundred and sixty meters. Normally, that was far too close for her, but he was only wielding a pistol. Couldn't possibly be dangerous. There was no helmet or visor either, meaning no heat sensing.
A hundred and thirty meters. She switched her view to high resolution night vision and zoomed in on the turians face. It was definitely Jentius Zerium, and before thinking she centered the cross hair on his head and pulled the trigger. As soon as the head jerked from the force of the bullet, another shot flashed out.
Zaia felt the sting of a bullet bite into the underside of her trigger arm. Immediately, she dropped down from her ledge, landing into a roll and scooting up to sit against a boulder. Medi-gel released from emergency pods, spreading with a warming sensation over the wound.
"Fuck me..." She mumbled to herself, wincing as the sting of the wound intensified before dropping away. It was a trap set specifically for her, or rather for Talon. It all made sense to her now, all the shared merc kills made by a high powered rifle. The shot that caught her under the arm was from another low powered rifle, much like her own. Jentius had been using a high caliber gun, probably anti-material or higher, and the massive muzzle flash had led someone dangerous directly to him. He was clearly waiting on Talon to come out, but while he was doing that, Kazzik Fur must have surprised him and disarmed him.
Once unarmed and probably injured or poisoned, he was sent out into the open, where Kazzik knew that Talon would not hesitate to take a shot at another high end sniper. He was right, she shot Jentius, and he got her location and put a bullet into her arm. Lucky it was just her arm.
Her visor blinked from red to green, signaling that the medi-gel had finished working, then to blue as she activated the combat interface. Before she moved, her short range sensors pinged the area, searching for any electrical signals. Wherever Kazzik was, it was not within fifty meters of her.
Slowly, she peaked over the crest of the boulder, only to have another bullet ricochet off of it a foot to her left. Kazzik was a hunter, not a sniper, so it was no surprise that he didn't wait for her to fully expose herself before shooting. His game was to keep her off balance, and that meant leasing no ground to her.
Reaching to her belt, she pulled a frag grenade and a flashbang out, arming the flash with a click of her finger. This particular move wasn't of her invention, but came from another assassin whom she had respected immensely. She was all ready to take a few shots to get them out of a jam on Horizon when Thane Krios stopped her and demonstrated this diversion tactic.
She tossed the flashbang over the boulder in the general direction that the bullets were coming from. She waited a moment, then hurled the frag grenade off to the left and readied herself to move. The idea was that both grenades would go off at the same time, distracting the shooter that had them pinned down.
In this case, it might work yet better because of Kazzik's night vision sight. The flash could possibly blind him temporarily. Regardless, as soon as those grenades went off in about another second, she would be sprinting to her right, looking to put some distance between herself and Kazzik's scope.
The grenades went off with a deafening boom, amplified by the huge cavern. Zaia took off low but at a full sprint. Her distraction must have worked as she heard no bullets or gunfire. In a few seconds, she managed to push about fifty meters off of where Kazzik had her pinned down.
She took a moment to catch her breath and get her bearings. The cavern once again went silent, apart from the battle in the western end. She flexed her arm a few times to test its mobility, the wound still terribly painful. The issue with medi-gel fixes on bullet wounds was that the bullet itself remained inside the arm.
Wincing, she lifted her rifle up and poked the scope out from behind the pillar she was hiding by. Carefully, she panned across the darkness were Kazzik was probably hiding. When nothing graced her scope, she turned her attention to the opposite cavern wall. There was a decent possibility that, just like her spot up on the wall, there were other crevices and ledges that a sniper could use.
As she panned, something stood out on a ledge about twenty feet up. It was almost indiscernible, but it was there. A tiny shred of heat stuck up from the ledge, maybe a shoulder or foot. All her instincts told her that taking a shot now was a horrible idea, so she lowered the rifle and cast a glance around the area.
The diversion worked. Kazzik didn't know where she was anymore, owing to the fact that she had not been shot at since moving. She wouldn't take solace in that and get careless though. Before long, Fur would realize that he had been tricked and move. She had to get him before he did so. Much more importantly though was that she now knew where he was hiding.
She quickly dashed between boulders, each time getting closer to the other wall. Her plan now was to get flat against it and force Kazzik to abandon his nest. There was no question: Kazzik was a hunter. A killer. As soon as he realized that she hadn't poked out for more than a few minutes, he would know to look elsewhere.
Stopping for a moment, she pulled up her rifle and eyed the spot where the heat was coming from. Having moved a good thirty more meters, she had a much better view. Kazzik was laying down, his rifle propped onto a rock. She zoomed it and saw the real effects of her grenade distraction.
The salarian had a pair of Elkoss Combine night vision goggles resting on his forehead. Him waiting for her to shoot Jentius made sense now. He hadn't brought any heat sensing gear with him in the Zande, only the night vision gear. When her flashbang went off, it probably fried the sensitive sensors in the usable but cheap goggles. Perfect. He was essentially blind.
Knowing this, she moved more freely, but quietly. Kazzik might be blind, but he wasn't deaf, and things echoed in this cavern. Looking around, she spotted a particularly big piece of debris that was pretty flat. It rose up about seven to ten feet from the ground. She hurried over to it and climbed up, using a pile of smoking bodies to get up.
Once on top, she laid down and rested her rifle on her injured arm, deciding to use it as a steady piece for the shot. As soon as she looked through the scope, Kazzik Fur's heated silhouette radiated like a sun. He must have finally realized that she had escaped him and was looking around.
She settled the cross hairs on the salarians back, just below the base of his neck. Kazzik turned and looked her way. He would never see her on the rock.
XXX
Liara sat patiently in her kitchen, which was miraculously not in splinters, listening to Garrus' account of how her home was partially obliterated and her most precious computer had been destroyed while Shiala sat next to him. Of course, she had those files backed up and stored in several different places, but that wasn't the point.
"So, you and Shiala thought each other intruders in my home, then proceeded to try and kill each other?" Liara asked. Both the turian and the commando nodded glumly, looking every bit like school children being scolded by their teacher.
"Garrus, did it not occur to you that the House T'Soni commando's would not let anyone but family into this estate at night?" Liara asked sweetly. Anyone who knew her would immediately sense the dangerous sarcasm that laced the question. While she was not particularly angry about the destruction that she came home to, Liara was indeed annoyed by it.
"Um...my mind was sort of not clear when this happened..." He managed. Liara rolled her eyes. "Men..." She grumbled and turned her attention back to Shiala. She was not aware that the commando leader was coming back home and had been pleasantly surprised to see her there. Her daughters were also happy to see their green-skinned aunt, but Liara had suspended the pleasant reunion so she could talk about the carnage that was the bottom floor of her estate.
"I'm terribly sorry Mistress. I was unaware that Mr. and Mrs. Vakarian would be visiting, so I assumed that someone had found a way to break into the estate." Shiala said, bowing her head at the head of the T'Soni family. Liara rubbed her temples in frustration. The small vacation with her father and daughters was wonderful, the family getting to spend real quality time with each other for the first time in months.
It had not been in her plans to come home and immediately have to get the house repaired. Regardless, it was nice to have Shiala home, and doubly nice to have Garrus and Tali there as well.
"Did Vasha and Imali enjoy their suspension?" Tali asked, coming back into the kitchen from her room. She was changing out of the dirty apron and putting away her surgical tools and shotgun. After, she made a short trip to see her nieces off to bed before coming downstairs again.
Liara smiled as her daughters faces graced her thoughts. "Yes, they did. I had a nice talk with Vasha about impulsiveness, even though I can't say that what she did was wrong. I want to teach my kids that using force and violence is always a last resort, but what she did was fine in my book." She said, sitting down on a bar stool and pouring herself some Thessian Red, a nice wine.
Tali giggled and stood next to her loving turian, who wrapped an arm around her. "You know, Liara, Shiala told us about your little meeting that you have planned. A bit curious about when you were going to say anything about it." He said, not maliciously, but a little tone of suspicion in his voice.
Liara waved her hand at them. "Oh, soon. I don't know when the meeting is. I was actually going to mention it to you two tomorrow."
"What is it?" Tali asked. Liara pulled up an image on her omni tool, displaying the moon of Menae that orbited Palaven. "I received a very official looking message about building Puradomes on Menae." She said, watching the slowly rotating holo of the moon.
Garrus scratched his beak. "Menae? Was it a turian?" He asked. Liara shook her head.
"Message was anonymous. Whoever it was spoke at length about the Puradomes, then asked me to name a meeting place."
"Did you?" Tali asked.
The scientist nodded. "Oh yes. The meeting place is here at the estate. I also added that the entirety of my commando forces would be present. The messenger agreed and said that they would message me when they are close by."
"Why the secrecy I wonder..." Shiala mused, sipping absently from her drink. Tali seemed just as perplexed, remaining silent. Garrus was not so silent though.
"I know why. Since the dawn of the turian space age, Menae has remained a secretive place that only the military had access to," He said, pulling up a file on his omni. "Most people believed that it was to allow the military to have an easy access outpost for the defense of Palaven, should war break out. Conspiracy theorists said that the Hierarchy was testing new technologies there. In any case, citizens have never been allowed onto Menae. I'm guessing that all the secrecy is because such an idea will have high profile opponents within the government." He finished, Tali immediately agreeing with him.
It did make sense for someone to be secretive like that, and along with Garrus' explanation, was probably smart on the part of the anonymous party. It made Liara feel a bit better that they let her name the location, and that her commando corps would be present.
She also had no doubt that Tali and Garrus would demand to be present at the meeting as well. No matter how it went, no more domes could be built until the Rannoch domes were finished. Dome construction went much faster with the help and resources of the geth, and currently they were tied up with the quarian domes.
The secrecy of Menae was slight news to her. She had seen the moon during the Reaper War and assumed that all citizens had been moved elsewhere to protect them. She had heard before that it was a classified place, but not entirely secret.
"Um...Liara, I really am sorry about the computer and those files..." Garrus said slowly, gauging the scientists reaction. Liara shook her head at him, a smile spreading on her face. "It's quite alright, Garrus. That information is backed up in so many ways and places, even with you. Do you remember that Widow that you used at Olympus Mons?"
The Battle of Olympus Mons took place on Mars, around the time that Liara discovered the Puradome schematics in the volcano archives. When she activated an old lift, it unearthed a tunnel system housing a very nasty race of subterranean insects, much like the rachni only a bit smaller.
Size meant nothing though, as they put up a strong fight against Liara and her retainers. They were forced to retreat, so Liara called in the cavalry. Garrus, Zaeed, Grunt and an asari detachment of about a hundred commando's came to fight under Liara's command. Garrus used a Black Widow rifle that Liara had modified to pick up the electrical signals that the insects emitted.
"Of course. Those buggers had a thing for burrowing. That modded Widow made it really easy to pick off ambushes. Why?"
Liara took a long drink. "Do you still have it?" She asked. He nodded. "Oh yeah. It's in a glass case in my armory on Palaven."
She made like she was looking through the scope on a rifle. "When I modded that scope, I also inserted a memory chip with all those files on it. I did the same with Tali's favorite omni. Grunt has one in his hump armor, next to the medi-gel capsules. Zaeed let me put one in Jessie, his old assault rifle, though I suspect he has since moved it."
Garrus ran through all the names she just listed off. "Are you saying that..."
"Over the past ten years, I've personally made sure that every single person who ever fought alongside Zaia has a memory chip of those files somewhere on them. Some of them know, and some don't. Even Jack has one." Liara finished, a distant look in her eye as she recalled her fight to get Zaia to record audio logs.
At first, Shepard never recorded audio logs. She said that they were unnecessary and foolish. Liara explained to her the importance of logs, for both the present and the future, but for the first few weeks after , Zaia didn't record a single one, much to Liara's disappointment and slight anger. As a scientist, Liara was obsessed with information and organization. Zaia not recording logs put her careful system in jeopardy.
The night after they fought the newly self actualized EDI on the moon of Earth ,Luna, Zaia and Liara had a screaming match over the bullet wounds that Liara sustained from the automated defense bots. Shepard had never wanted Liara to come along anyway, demanding that she stay on the Normandy. The scientist didn't listen and was shot several times.
While Dr. Chakwas was fixing her up, the spectre flew into a rage. It was anger like Liara had never seen before, frightening and explosive. She and Shepard screamed at each other for three hours before Shepard was tranquilized by Garrus and Wrex.
Liara hadn't noticed because of how mad she was, but Shepard had drawn a pistol on her. As soon as she did, Wrex and Garrus stepped in. That was the first time Liara found out about Shepard's Woede Syndrome.
A week later, Liara went looking through the logs one evening and was surprised to find one from Commander Zaia Shepard. She watched it and was surprised to find that it was an apology. The tough, cold spectre stuttered over herself like a young schoolgirl. She had never apologized to anyone before. It was absolutely adorable. Zaia demanded that Liara destroy the log so nobody else ever saw it, and she did. Right after making a personal copy. After that Shepard recorded logs, albeit only on seldom occasions.
"Anyway, I better get some sleep. Going to have to design a whole new ground floor tomorrow." Liara sighed, smirking at Garrus and Shiala as they glanced regretfully at each other. "Good night. Shiala, welcome home." She said, exchanging kisses with the commando leader.
Garrus and Tali said their good nights as Liara left the kitchen. She climbed the stairs that had miraculously survived the onslaught of her friends quickly and headed for her daughters bedrooms.
Easing the door open to the first room, Liara cast a quick glance at her daughters bed. Vasha always slept in one place, her bedsheets never appearing ruffled or disturbed. Her room was impeccably neat and clean.
Closing the door softly, she walked across the hall. Imali, as soft and kind as she was, slept like an angry krogan, tossing, turning and being generally restless in her sleep. Even when she was just a baby Imali had problems sleeping at night because of her restlessness. Now she slept deeper than a petrified log, but her rolling and tossing had not faded.
The two of them were fast asleep, the fun of their vacation tiring them out. Liara was careful to explain to both of them the damage that using violence to solve problems causes. Sometimes, she felt like she babied her daughters with things that were under their age group.
Both of them were incredibly intelligent for their ages, but...they have always been a bit different. While the other girls at their school have started developing hobbies and preferences, such as sports, dancing and even young biotics, her daughters have not. However, her daughters are frequently the top in the class for proficiency testing. Its like they can do anything they want and almost choose not to.
She closed the door, taking refuge in the thought that maybe they will grow into something as they get older.
Further down the hall was the master bedroom of the T'Soni Estate. Liara opened the door and felt the cool tile flooring of her bedroom on her feet. Her dimmed lights turned on, illuminating a huge bed covered in green sheets.
On the left side of the bed on a table was a big picture of her, arm in arm with Zaia on the Citadel. It was taken at the party before the Battle for Earth. Zaia was as grumpy as could be that day because she didn't want to be present, but Liara forced her to go. The scientist told Shepard that she would never be forgiven if she didn't appear, and in a dress. The commander said that she didn't care. Nevertheless, at seven that night, she walked into the party with Liara.
She quickly shed her clothing and donned a knee length silk robe that she slept in. It was deep purple with a lighter purple sash to keep it closed in company. She got into bed and kissed her fingers, brushing them across the picture of Zaia.
"Goodnight, my love." She said before laying her head on the pillow, drifting off to sleep.
XXX
Zaia walked through the cavern, pistol in hand and heat sensing vision active. Killing Kazzik had been her ticket to victory, as no other merc in the Zande had nearly the skill to give her a challenge. She had been shot two more time when frightened mercenaries started shooting blindly into the darkness. Luckily, neither of those penetrated deep enough to be serious. Just painful.
As she suspected, most of the fighting in the west end of the cavern had subsided by the time she got there, of the other fighters having killed each other off. Now it was just a matter of search and destroy. The krogan in Dezzshaa ran a scan for life signs every hour after the twenty four hour mark. Once there is only one life sign, they will send transports to retrieve the winner.
A sound to her right alerted her HUD. Looking over, she saw a mercenary stumbling through the dark, several bullet holes already marking her armor. The asari looked frightened, but very much alive. Zaia fired three shots, two into her neck and one through the head. A quick kill to prevent any pain and suffering.
Walking up to the body, she carefully observed the armor. The insignia was new, something she hadn't seen before. It depicted a sword and a severed head. Strangely macabre for most of the groups she had run into recently. In the aftermath of the Reaper War, brand new merc groups have popped up all over the galaxy.
The Blue Suns were apparently still kicking under new management, but the Eclipse and Blood Pack were dead and gone. Another sound from behind her. She whipped around, sighting a krogan picking through dead bodies. She reached into her belt and pulled out a small frag, rolling it to the krogans feet. She clicked a small transmitter and the frag detonated, sending bits of krogan flying everywhere.
She ducked as a bullet hit the rock next to her, sprinting to a nearby pillar and hiding behind it. A few more shots hit around her in about a ten foot radius. Whoever was shooting was doing so without a solid target. She peeked around and saw another krogan trying desperately to reload a pistol in the darkness.
She activated her tactical cloaking and silently moved from cover to cover. In a few moments, she had circled around to the krogans back. Quietly drawing her omni-blade, she plunged it into the soft tissue under the krogans arm, angled up to sever both his hearts. She rolled the dead krogan over, looking at the insignia on his armor.
It was the same as the asari, a sword and a bodiless head. She would have to take a look into this new group, figure out who was leading it and what type of activities they were getting up to. She needed a name. She made a mental note to investigate around Dezzshaa after the Zande.
She made her way over to the cavern wall and climbed up to a ledge about twenty feet up. Once there, she settled in to watch for any survivors. If any more crossed her path, they would be easy to pick off. She deactivated the outward audio from her helmet, then dialed her omni. The ring only went off twice before someone answered.
"Talon."
"Rhakk. How many alive at last check?" She grunted. There was a brief pause before Rhakk spoke again.
"Four. Last check was fifty-two minutes ago."
"The rest are dead. Tell them to run another scan." She said before disconnecting. She knew that they would run another scan if Rhakk requested it. A Zande champion had next to unlimited power within the Tuchankan underworld. Not even Schlauss could say no to Rhakk.
Her omni went off a few minutes later with a message. Congratulations, Talon. Transports are inbound. Head to the LZ at these coordinates.
She input the coordinates to her HUD directional system. "Of course the damn LZ is at the other end of the cavern..." She grumbled as she climbed down from her perch and began the walk over. Not like it was really that far, only a thousand meters, but still. It was unnecessary effort.
Thirty minutes later, a small detachment came through a tunnel into the cavern, meeting her just inside. They escorted her to a group of trucks and drove from the cavern down a subterranean highway. Most of the detachment were krogan, but there were a good amount of humans in there too, Kimmvo Schlauss' men. As the ruling crime lord of Dezzshaa, Schlauss was making millions on this Zande. At the same time, he had the right to be the first person to offer Talon membership of his group. Not that she would be joining.
Freelancers were in high demand right now as the new mercenary groups formed throughout the galaxy and Terminus Systems. As a Zande winner, Talon would be sought after by every single one of them.
At that thought, she recalled the insignia she saw on those last people she killed. The sword and head. Again, she made a mental note to look into it.
Before long she was getting out of the truck to the thunderous applause and roars of approval from most of the criminal population of the city. She paid them no mind as she stomped through the crowd, heading straight for the huge building that was the central command of Dezzshaa.
Getting inside and heading up an elevator, she arrived in a large room with a throne in it. On that throne sat Kimmvo Schlauss, the crime lord in control of the Tuchanka underworld. Next to him stood Otrat Rhakk, her contact in the underworld and the most well known Zande winner in history. Around them stood mercs of various races, most of whom were probably leaders or otherwise.
"So, this is the famous Talon. Congratulations on your victory." Kimmvo said from his throne, a stupid grin on his face. On either side of him hung banners with a boars head with one tusk broken off, the insignia of Sklaven, his group.
"Yes, congratulations Talon. Though we all knew you would be victorious." He said with a snicker. The people all around began to murmur and talk, some pointing fingers and some left the room entirely. Of those who left, a big turian walked out with the sword and severed head insignia on his back. So there were turians, asari...and krogan. All together in one group. Interesting...
"Obviously, you'll be wanting to join Sklaven, so just go talk to Jotun an-"
"No." She grunted, her eyes still facing the door where the turian had left. She was far more intrigued with this new group than she had expected. Something about there being turians, asari and krogan all in one merc group set off a red flag in her head.
"Excuse me?" She heard from behind her. She decided to get this over with as soon as she could so she could investigate. Turning around, she noticed that Kimmvo's face had taken a humorously red tinge to it.
"I'm staying freelance. I want nothing to do with a group." She grunted. As soon as she finished, Rhakk burst out in laughter.
"I told you that Talon would not join Sklaven, fool." He choked out before exploding again into a laughing fit. After a few minutes he stopped. "Talon has been freelance since day one, and he works best alone."
Schlauss looked like he was going to pop. "Who said I'm giving him a choice?" He grated out. After a second, Zaia had drawn a pistol and had it trained on Kimmvo, while her second pistol was centered on the bodyguard that had taken a step forward. "You really want to try and force me?" She grunted threateningly.
Schlauss chuckled in his seat. "And if I was going to try?" He asked. Zaia pulled the trigger quickly, shooting the body guard twice in the head before centering that pistol on Schlauss as well, remaining silent.
The German slave trafficker looked defiant in his throne, smirking at the pistols. "You think you would make it out of the city after killing its ruling crime lord?" He snickered, gazing arrogantly at her.
"You're a human in a krogan crime city. They would thank me." She ground out. Rhakk grinned next to the throne and nodded at her, in total agreement. As they faced off, the door behind her opened and closed again. Before a moment, a turian crossed in front of her.
"Talon, I assume. Pleasure to meet you." The turian said, holding his hand out to her. "Who are you?" She grunted. He took back his hand slowly before crossing them both behind himself. "I am Caius Corium. I have paid Kimmvo handsomely for the right to take his Zande winner as my personal body guard. That is you."
Zaia holstered her pistols and kept her arms at her sides. "So I've heard." She said. "Lead the way."
"Hold on a minute, Talon. Winning a Zande is a big deal. You have to get the tattoo. Its one of a kind, created and only applied here in Dezzshaa."
She thought for a moment before nodding. "Fine. Where must I go?" She answered. Rhakk grinned and clicked a few buttons on his omni. Zaia's omni beeped a moment later with directions.
"Go there. Go alone." He grunted. She nodded and turned to leave, Caius leading her. As they got to the door, Rhakk barked her name again. She turned to him, staying silent. He grinned like a madman.
"Don't worry, Talon." He said. She narrowed her eyes in her helmet at his words. She had just won a Zande. Why would she worry over getting a tattoo?
Ignoring it for the moment, she followed Caius out of the building and to another building. A hotel it looked like, or at least the krogan version of a hotel. Inside a small room with a stone bed he rummaged through a suitcase, finally pulling out a datapad.
"Tell me, Talon. Will you sign a contract?" He asked, showing her the pad. She shook her head. Contracts were always bad news. "I knew what winning the Zande meant. I won't betray you." She said, trying to sound convincing. Playing along as a body guard was not something she was used to doing.
Caius put the pad away and sat down. "I'm sure you wish to go get your tattoo, or whatever you must. I request that we leave as soon as possible. When you find this tattoo artist, ask them how long you will be needed and tell me." He said, forwarding her his omni address. She nodded and left the room, heading for the coordinates Rhakk had sent her.
It was a short walk as only a few minutes later she came upon a small building. It was small, but looked very modern and...new compared to other buildings in Dezzshaa. In front stood no less than ten krogan, all wearing pitch black armor. As she approached, the stopped talking and eyed her warily.
One stepped forward, laughing at his men. "Don't be scared, pups! This is the mighty Talon! He has just won a Zande!" He bellowed. He stood aside, as did his men as she passed, entering the building. Inside, the black walls made the lights yet more ineffective.
At the end of the wide hallway was a large door. She strode forward and entered the room, closing the door behind her. The room was black. Blacker than dark space was.
"Activate you night vision, Talon." An old voice ground out. Doing so, she was surprised to find that the room was furnished, and in the middle was a chair. In it sat a krogan who was simply ancient. She had never seen a krogan old enough to have wrinkles and drooping cheeks.
"I assume that you wonder who I am?" He croaked.
"I do." She answered simply, and she really was. Very little piqued her interest, but so far two things have today. The merc group and now this prehistoric krogan.
"My name is Jorgal Ouvegter. And I am called the Ancient." He said. Zaia couldn't help as a smile spread across her face. "I want you to know, Talon, that everything said and done in this room is your business and mine only. No other living being shall know."
"Suit yourself." She answered, looking around. Apart from Ouvegters chair, there was one more piece of furniture. A table with bindings at each corner It looked more like a torture machine than a table.
"Very good. As a Zande champion, you are going to get the Kampioene Teken, a one of a kind tattoo. You must tell me where you want it." He said. Zaia thought for a moment. It was pitch black, so there would be no way that this krogan would see that she is in fact a woman. It would ruin her entire image as Talon. Regardless, she might have to kill this ancient krogan.
"Neck. Right side." She answered as she began working at the seals to her helmet. The old krogan nodded and stood up, making his way over to the table where he undid the bindings. It was like he knew this room by heart and could navigate it perfectly in the dark.
"The mark is applied biotically. It involves an immense amount of pain, hence the bindings. Please lay down, on your back."
"So you won't be touching me?" She ventured, then swore inwardly. Her voice mod was deactivated when her helmet seals were undone. Quickly, she dropped her helmet and grabbed a pistol, aiming it at...the dark.
"Relax. Nothing that happens in here leaves. You can put the pistol down, Zaia Shepard." She heard the krogans words and her face blanched.
"How do you know it's me?" She snapped into the darkness, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see an outline or anything at all. A single glow began to emit from what looked like the center of the table. Next to it, she saw the looming krogan, the front of his body illuminated. She had to check her gasp when she saw his eyes. Pure white. He was blind.
"Any krogan could recognize you. Your suit made it impossible for your scent to escape before, but you must have unsealed it. Like I said before, nothing leaves this room. Your secret life as Talon is safe." Ouvegter said with as much of a grin as he could muster. "Though I am interested in how you went from the Hero of the Galaxy to the deadliest freelancer in the galaxy. And why. However, that is a story for another time. Lay down on your back." He finished gesturing to the table.
Zaia slowly walked up to the table and laid down on her back. Ouvegter loomed over her like a mountain above a small child as he took her first wrist.
"No binds. I don't play that game." She snapped, ripping her hand away from the old, blind krogan. He nodded. "I understand, but I caution you. The tattoo application is excrutiating. It is for your safety." He said. Zaia eyed him suspiciously.
"You don't talk like a krogan." She stated, staring at the krogan's blank eyes. He laughed, a rocky chuckle deep from his belly.
"I am of clan Jorgal. We are the longest living krogan clan. How old do you think I am, Hero?" He asked as he faded into the darkness once more. A moment later, he returned, having brought his chair with him.
"I will assume from your silence that you have no guess. I will tell you. I was a young bull when Beelo Gurji became the first Spectre." He said with a grin. Zaia quickly did the math in her head. She knew from her time as a spectre that Beelo Gurji was the first spectre, a salarian. But that was in...holy shit. That was in 693 CE!
"So...over 1500 years. Thats why you sound different." She stated. The krogan nodded sagely.
"Yes. Most krogan of my generation died out in the Rebellions or through the genophage. I, however, survived. Now. Prepare yourself, Zaia Shepard.
Mysterious old krogan eh? Anyhow, given the high chance that I don't write at all for the next two weeks, I will throw another chapter up Tuesday morning for your enjoyment!
