Chapter 6 – A Dish Served Cold
April 13, 2185
Captain's Quarters, Normandy SR-2
En route to Elysta system, Ismar Frontier
As soon as the relay spat us out in the Ismar Frontier cluster, Joker programmed in a FTL course to the Faia system. He radioed me in my cabin that the trip would take several hours, so I decided to use the time talking with Zaeed about our plan of attack, since he was the one with all the intel for this mission. I got dressed and went down to the engineering deck where he had set himself up.
I exited the elevator and found Zaeed inhabiting the starboard cargo hold. I walked in to find a very interesting setup. There was a small table with an old rifle and other equipment, also obviously old and with the appearance of things that hadn't been used for a while. His armour was standing on a rack nearby, ready to put on quickly. Everything here told a story about a man whose life was killing, and he had honed that skill to razor-sharp. There were some interesting pieces scattered around as well, such as a model of a turian cruiser and a krogan armour helmet, with red markings of the Blood Pack mercenary gang. I thought to myself that these were probably trophies of memorable kills or missions, and that I might ask about them later. Something else caught my attention though, and that was a small terminal on a 'desk', really just a pile of crates. Displayed on it though was a split screen image, each showing a different camera view somewhere on the Normandy.
I turned around and asked him how he got this, and he just said simply that Cerberus needed to put a little more work into their surveillance encryption. He came over and pressed a few keys, showing me some more images from different surveillance devices. Given the number of times he scrolled through, there were a lot more bugs on the Normandy than I had originally thought. I made a mental note to give the Normandy a thorough clean as soon as possible. Turning around, I asked him if he wanted to give the briefing on the Zorya insertion. He reached over and grabbed an OSD in response, and asked me to lead the way to the briefing room.
I took him back up to the elevator, hailing the ground crew and telling them to meet me there. Zaeed and I got in the elevator, which stopped on the crew deck to let in Garrus, Kasumi and Miranda. The five of us got out and made our way to the briefing room, finding Jacob and Mordin waiting for us. The table was still showing its' holographic display of the Normandy, as Zaeed found a port near the door end of the table and inserted his OSD. The hologram then quickly changed from the Normandy to a large factory-looking building and some surrounding areas, as the briefing began. He pointed to a spot on the north side of the diagram and pointed out that this was the airpad, and the site most likely to have a few escape vehicles or gunships. He also pointed to a ridge about one kilometer south of the complex– in his opinion, this would be the best place for an insertion. Zaeed then looked around the table and said that a small team would be best, three or four heavily armed soldiers that could work quietly. It would be highly likely we would have to face a lot of heavily armed resistance, but we didn't want to draw it all at once with an obvious attacking force.
We all looked at each other around the table. Zaeed was obviously going to be a major part of the insertion team. Being a biotic, as well as heavily armed and armoured, I would be the second. Kasumi shook her head, letting me know that she was not up for this kind of action. Jacob and Miranda said nothing, just stared at the hologram. Mordin was actively manipulating the hologram now that Zaeed was finished, muttering under his breath about possible entries and exits and other such things. Garrus just looked at me, and we both knew that he was going to be the last one of the team.
Once the team was finalised, Garrus went to the armoury to check out the new Mattocks and Zaeed disappeared down back to his cargo hold. I pulled Joker on the intercom and he said that we were about an hour out, and then joined Garrus in the armoury where he and Jacob were discussing the specs on the new rifles. Garrus was impressed with them, and said he'd definitely be taking one out for the insertion on Zorya. He turned to me and said it was a shame I didn't have any training in rifles, because I'd enjoy using this one. He put the new Mattock on his rack next to his sniper rifle, before heading back to the crew deck, saying he needed to check his armour. I looked in the weapon locker to see that Zaeed still had his old weapons there. I wondered if he wanted to swap out his old ones with the new ones we had, though from the personal looks of those weapons, probably not.
I went back down to the cargo hold to find him looking intently in a mirror. I knocked and he turned around, wearing one of the most intense expressions I had ever seen on a face before. He asked me abruptly what I wanted. I told him I was down here to ask him if he wanted one of the new Mattock rifles for the mission. His face softened a little then, almost becoming wistful, and he glanced over at the old rifle on the bench. I took a closer look at it now, seeing it was covered with notches, just like the ones on his current weapons. He apparently saw what I was thinking, and he said that Jenny had caused most of the notches on his current gun. The rifle, Jenny obviously, looked old, maybe even twenty years. Zaeed said that Jenny was the best rifle he had ever owned, more bloodthirsty than he was. She was the most reliable weapon he had ever used, never jamming, always accurate. He sighed, and said that all ended one day when she finally jammed when he needed her most. He'd used Jenny to bludgeon her final targets to death, with the final result of breaking the rifle totally beyond repair.
He'd bought replacements over the years, but always kept Jenny, maybe out of sentiment. I asked him again if he wanted a Mattock for this mission, and brought up the specs on my omni-tool. He took a quick glance and said he'd take one, but he needed time to make some modifications. I was in no doubt on the specifics of his modifications as he pulled out a black-bladed knife from one of his personal crates. We both went back up in the elevator, Zaeed getting out on combat deck whilst I kept going to my quarters. I pulled my armour out of its' locker, only recoiling a little at the smell of burnt vorcha. It was getting pretty weak now, maybe it would be gone after the next wash. But I just put it on for now, since there was nothing I could do about it.
I'd finished putting on the rest of the armour when I looked at a piece that had been sitting there for a while. I had picked it up on Omega, a Kuwashii combat visor headset, but I hadn't used it yet. I got it from Kenn's at the same time I got the FBA arrays. I don't exactly remember why, maybe it had something to do with remembering Garrus before I reconnected with him. I picked it up and slid it over my head, my hardsuit computer automatically registering the new piece. After a few diagnostics and tests, my hardsuit obviously decided it liked the new piece, and the arm that extended out over my eyebrow brought down a holographic display. Linked to my hardsuit, it showed me the integrity of my armour, the relative strength of my personal biotic barrier should I choose to activate it, as well as a redundant shield generator, which I hadn't known I had. Some code scrolled through and I recognized it as an IFF protocol booting up. A little flashing warning came up saying 'Weapon Not Linked' which I assumed would fix itself once I added my weapons down in the armoury.
I went down to the armoury to find Jacob and Zaeed already there, Zaeed carving into the stock of a Mattock. I couldn't make it out yet, but I assumed it was something along the lines of a number, and given his record and reputation, probably a high one. I walked over to the locker and pulled out my weapons and slung them into the magnetic holsters on my hardsuit: shotgun on my lower back, pistol and SMG on my hips and the grenade launcher on my back. Each weapon registered itself on my suit's computer and came up on the display from my visor. Testing it out, I pulled out my pistol and aimed it experimentally at the wall. The visor displayed the vector of the bullet, and said there was no target to designate weaknesses on. I put the pistol away, wondering to see how it would work in combat.
After that, Garrus came up in his armour, still sporting two massive holes around the neck where the auto-cannon on Tarak's gunship had pierced it. He simply picked out one of the new Mattock rifles and his sniper rifle from Omega. The three of us then took the elevator down to the garage, boarded the shuttle and waited for Joker to take us into orbit around Zorya. It didn't take long, and soon Joker was remote-piloting the shuttle to the landing zone we had picked earlier. As we entered the atmosphere, I asked Zaeed if there was anything we should expect groundside. He replied matter-of-factly that the Blue Suns were one of the most highly organised mercenary outfits in the Terminus, so we should get ready for anything. I just nodded and activated my personal biotic barrier with a flick of my wrist.
The shuttle touched down on a clearing at the top of the ridge without a problem. It was easy to see why the planet had been chosen as a colony world, it was essentially a tropical paradise, at least at this latitude. Just to the north we could see a large tower sending out black smoke into the atmosphere. I just sighed a little inside at just how far we haven't come yet as a species. We make the same pollution mistakes on new planets, which was exactly what had just about killed our own before people got it in their heads about climate change. It wasn't hard to guess that was our destination.
Then someone tapped into the Blue Suns communications, but it wasn't whom I was expecting. Zaeed's was the voice I heard, not EDI over the radio. I marked that as a little strange, but I decided that now wasn't the time to press the matter, since Zaeed had added the frequency to Garrus' and my hardsuit's computers. A voice came over the comm. to Bravo squad, telling them that there were people south of the complex, and that they weren't runaways. It didn't take a genius to figure out he meant us, and if we needed more proof that the Blue Suns were running some sort of slavery thing in the complex, the runaways comment was it. Zaeed just scowled and said 'Vido' in a way reserved for those on a vendetta. I signalled with my hands to move out, using the assumption that if we can access their comms, they could probably track ours.
We pulled out our weapons, Garrus and Zaeed with their Mattocks, while I opted for my shotgun. We made our way along a little gully, before coming across some fresh bodies. Civilian. Zaeed took one look at them and said this was exactly Vido's style: shot in the back and left to rot. Garrus just said we should keep moving, as the dead couldn't be helped. I nodded and signalled to move out again. Almost to mock me, Vido came in over the comm. again, telling the Bravo squad to get ready for action, because we definitely weren't runaways. Apt advice, but sadly, not enough to save Bravo squad from us.
We ran into Bravo a little while later at the southern checkpoint. At first it was only 6 troops and a girl with a rocket launcher on the catwalks. Zaeed and Garrus made short work of the troops on the ground, taking them out with quickly clean shots to the head and torso, their bullets carving through armour and tissue alike. The girl with the rocket launcher let loose rockets fast enough for me not toto prevent me from getting a clear shot off from my shotgun or my handguns. So I did the next best thing I could, and threw a series of shockwaves at her. The third one hit just under her feet, sending her flying into the air. She did what any normal human would do when flung unnaturally into the air: she flailed her arms and screamed. A scream that was cut short when she landed headfirst on the ground. She didn't get back up after that impact, and it wasn't hard to imagine hearing the sound of her neck snapping as she hit the ground. My visor confirmed it, registering the change from living to dead and relaying it through my HUD.
We didn't have time to relish in our victory though, because my HUD also showed reinforcement in the form of five more troopers and FENRIS mechs coming from the north. Garrus and Zaeed took out the troopers with a fair amount of ease, given that they the troopers were looking at me and they were on their flank. My visor scanned the targets and identified the FENRIS mechs as the priority threat, given my armaments. It identified the most like spot for quick incapacitation as the central processing area in the 'head'. I waited until they were in close proximity and the rearranged the circuits inside their heads courtesy of my shotgun.
Once that threat had been taken care of, the three of us moved ahead towards the complex that was now dominating our horizon. We found a deep valley with a small waterfall, spanned by a mechanical bridge that had been retracted, probably by the reinforcement that we'd just taken out. One look at the control panel and I knew it was beyond my technical skill. I signalled Garrus over for him to take a look at it, just as Vido came in over the comm. again. He was shouting at his men, telling them if they retreated, he'd shoot them himself. Zaeed just said that that was exactly like Vido.
Vido was starting to sound a lot like someone I had killed in a previous life: one self-styled Lord Darius. Someone who had become dangerous, too dangerous to simply ignore anymore. So Admiral Hackett asked me to "negotiate" with him. I recognised pretty soon that negotiation wasn't the way this was going to end, so I killed him. I'm sure a similar thought was going through Garrus' mind. I told Zaeed that Vido sounded like someone who needed to get shot, and he said that was something we agreed on.
He then told me that Vido and he had founded the Blue Suns 20 years ago, and since Vido's little coup, they'd only gotten meaner, like as not to turn against clients if it meant more credits for them. I asked him why nobody had mentioned the fact that he founded the Blue Suns to me, and he angrily replied that it wasn't common knowledge. He led the men while Vido ran the books. One day, Vido started hiring batarians, to Zaeed's anger. Vido justified it by saying that they were cheaper, and Zaeed said had told the man they were terrorists right to his face. He said it wasn't long after that incident that Vido paid six of his men to hold him down while Vido shot him point blank in the head. I asked in wonder how he could have survived such an injury, and he just pointed to his face and said that a stubborn enough person can survive just about anything. I was an example, since I survived getting spaced when my ship was destroyed. Rage, apparently, was one hell of an anaesthetic.
I looked at him in a new light after this revelation. And suddenly a few things began to make a lot more sense. The tattoo on Zaeed's neck was the Blue Suns logo turned on the side. The way that Tarak spoke to Zaeed back on Omega was far to friendly for just an acquaintance. Zaeed had said once out of the blue that for the last 20 years, he's seen Vido every time he heard or fired a shot, every time he sighted a target. For him, this wasn't about saving the facility or it's personellpersonnel, this was about revenge. And the look in his eye said that this was a part of his soul now, and if I got in his way, not even I would escape being shot.
Garrus picked a good time to finish working, breaking through the control firewalls and extending the bridge. We walked across it and Vido came across our comm. again, telling his men that we were heading towards the southern gatehouse, and telling Charlie and Delta squads to meet him there. Zaeed just tightened an already vice-like grip on his Mattock, muttering at Vido to bring it on.
We got to the south entrance to find Vido with a welcoming committee of mercenaries, all their guns on us. Vido just leaned on the rail with an attitude that said I'm in charge here, and I know it. He welcomed us like he'd been expecting us, and based on the comms we'd intercepted, he probably had. He saw Zaeed grip his Mattock tightly, stock against his shoulder and eyes down the sight. He told him not to be stupid, he had the advantage of numbers. He then reconsidered, telling Zaeed to give his men a reason to shoot him, again.
Zaeed just shouted in rage, pulling on the trigger and not letting go until his thermal clip was spent. His fire sent all the mercs diving for cover, since you never know when something like that could get a lucky ricochet and end your career permanently. One of his shots evidently his a gas line, as I could hear the hiss. Vido just laughed at Zaeed's apparent lack of aim, when Zaeed fired another salvo, igniting the gas cloud that had formed, creating an explosion that took out a few of the mercs, and apparently injured Vido, who shouted something about shooting Zaeed before limping away. Zaeed for his part ignored the mercs who were now shooting at him, and as well as ignoring Garrus and I, just using the butt of his rifle to smash at the gas main. After a few powerful blows, he eventually caused a chain reaction of explosions whichexplosions that took out the mercs on the catwalk above and exploded open the door, which sailed just overhead.
Not that I minded the distraction and the merc carnage to the Mercs, but a little warning would have been nice. I said as much to Zaeed and he just saidreplied that they'd lost the advantage now, and there was no way Vido could escape. I replyrejoined that we'd talk about this later, and he nonchalantly replied that once Vido was dead, he'd love to have a discussion on any topic I wanted. I was about to say something in reply response to this snide comment, but more explosions cut me off. I just motioned through the now-open door, Garrus and Zaeed taking up flanking positions behind me.
The welcoming committee on the other side of the door was comprised of three turians in blue armour, running towards me with shotguns. I charged biotically at the first one, sending him flying off the edge of the platform to almost certain death below. The second one received a talking-to from the business end of my shotgun, while the third one was taken care of by my squadmates. We walked on, the explosions continuing to race through the pipes around and underneath the platform we were walking on. I thought then that Zaeed's actions may have been too excessive, and in hindsight they were, but I didn't have a choice then.
We reached a door when a refinery worker ran out onto the platform, screaming hysterically about how the refinery was about to explode, and we needed to help them. I believe I rolled my eyes, wondering what about me made me look like someone who could stop a building that was obvious exploding, from exploding. Zaeed said we didn't have time for saving theretheir people. Vido was escaping, and if he got away, he was going to blame me. The expression in his eyes said such blame would be delivered with a bullet.
I gave it a brief thought, my mind quickly wandering from Darius to Balak and a lot of other criminals I've known. There was probably not a lot we could do for the workers here, most of them would likely die even if we found a way to stop the explosions. Vido also struck me as a man who would likely do this again, and since this was the Terminus, no-one would probably be likely to care. Putting and end to Vido was probably the lesser of two evils in this case. I told Zaeed that Vido was the bigger threat here, and needed to be dealt with. Zaeed smiled a mirthless smile and said he was glad I came around to his wisdom. We turned around, and I swear nothing sounded more haunting than the man's screams as we walked away. They'll probably haunt my nightmares, just like the screams of my parents and friends on Mindoir and the screams of my 50-man team as Thresher maws killed them on Akuze.
For the next ten minutes the three of us fought our way through the energy plant, following a map EDI managed to make for us of the quickest route to the airpad with the gunships. We got to an open air courtyard with a convenient bridge, with a not-so-convenient pyro running across it. We didn't get to have deal with him though, because the pipelines under the bridge chose that moment to explode under him, taking out both him and the bridge. Unfortunately for us, this made forced us to take the long way around, a way that involved a lot of mercenaries we had to kill. Many of them with flamethrowers, which were extremely dangerous in those close quarters. I remember at one point, when we came out where the bridge would have taken us before, we came across a lot of merc, some with rocket launchers. As we fought them all, I heard Zaeed shouting at Vido as if he could hear, telling him to stop hiding.
After that, I remember we entered a building whose walls seemed to be made entirely of pipes, some of which had exploded. On the ground was the body of a merc who had obviously been caught in the explosion, and had been holding a small flamethrower. I picked it up and examined it. It was small enough that it was portable without a tank of fuel, but that also meant it wouldn't have a great capacity. I didn't have room for it, so I handed it to Garrus, who slung it on his back without a word. He probably thought it was a bit like the old days where I'd search dead enemies for better weapons.
After the pipe building we came to what was obviously a shipping area for volatiles. Two large tanks hung suspended on their cranes above us, and several tanks were littered around the room. Thankfully we wouldn't have to watch our aim, and my visor displayed the armour thickness on the tanks as nigh-impenetrable. Zaeed had a better eye than Garrus or myself, as he got a quick look at Vido escaping at the other end of the room. The three of us were about to advance when a dozen mercs burst in from all over the room. We hunkered down behind the nearest available cover, coordinating attacks where possible but more often just taking targets of opportunity. Apparently, some of our stray shots did matter, as they hit the tanks on the crane just hard enough to cause them to act like flamethrowers, and it wasn't long after that some enterprising merc thought he'd use it to good advantage and activated the cranes.
Zaeed was the one who accidentally discovered that the tanks weren't exactly secure in their cranes, a stray shot causing it to visibly loosen in its' bracket. The three of us prioritised the tanks then, shooting them until they fell out of their crane brackets. One of them fell harmlessly into some sort of chasm, while the other one fell and exploded near some mercs, who flew everywhere and died on impact with whatever suitably hard surface they came in contact with. When we were down to the last merc he brought up his omni-tool and managed to type in some commands before Garrus took him out.
We were quickly enlightened as to the hero's last works, as an YMIR mech stomped it's way into a firing position, auto-cannon ablaze. The suppressive fire on from the cannon forced us all into cover, unable to take any real firing position without being exposed to lethal amounts of ammunition. The only break in the auto-cannon fire was so that it could lock-on and fire with one of it's equally deadly rockets. Fortunately, it's programming was limited to firing one weapon at a time at one target at a time, which gave us a slight advantage. One of us would distract it and take cover while the other two fired at it.
The fFirst obstacle was the shields, so Garrus tried some overload attacks while I let loose with my SMG. One thing I'll say about the YMIR class, they were built with battle in mind. It took several overloads and almost half my thermal clips for my SMG to finally deplete the shields before we faced the next obstacle, the armour plating. My visor scanned the target and highlighted several areas where the armour was weaker to allow freedom of movement, as well as areas with greater chance of dealing critical damage. I swapped my SMG for the Phalanx, turning on the laser sight for so I could get a better aim. I aimed straight for the head, as did Garrus and Zaeed, our combined firepower quickly overwhelming the light armour and damaging the critical circuits. In fact my last shot completely shattered the head, which of course activated a self-destruct protocol, the chassis falling to it's knees and beeping disconcertingly. We took cover just in time for the massive blast wave to completely bypass us, but we still felt the heat and saw the brightness of the explosion.
Once the YMIR was down, my visor showed there were no more targets in the vicinity. We ran towards the end of the building, to the door Zaeed saw had seen Vido leaving by. A few more corridors later and we were outside again, right near the airpad. We saw a Mantis gunship there, and Vido limping his way towards it. Zaaed pulled out a pistol and shot over Vido's shoulder, hitting a fuel tank and getting his attention. Vido turned around as Zaeed advanced, the latter saying nothing. I guess after visualising this moment for 20 years, words kind of seemed superfluous. As Zaeed advanced, a pitiless, empty expression on his face, Vvido tried one last ditch effort to save his life with pleading. He tried saying it their history was nothing personal, just good business, and Zaeed shot him in the leg. As he fell to the ground, clutching his profusely bleeding leg, he tried telling Zaeed that he'd done him a favour, made him into the man he was now. Zaaed was standing over Vido now, looking at the pathetic waste of a man before him, watching as the fuel tank he'd hit before formed a pool of volatile liquid around Vido.
Vido stared right into Zaeed's eyes, hoping to find some small shred of mercy there as he begged not to die. Zaaed just looked right into his eyes and said 'fry, you son of a bitch.' He then ejected a glowing hot thermal clip from his pistol into the pool of fuel, the volatile liquid igniting and soon engulfing Vido. Zaeed stared at the flames and listened to the screams for a few second, and then turned around and walked back to us, not even flinching as the tank behind him exploded. I didn't need my visor to tell me that Vido was dead now, the lack of screams and the oppressive heat told me that much.
We walked to a nearby clearing where Joker remote-piloted down a shuttle to pick us up. As the shuttle was landing I placed an anonymous call to the emergency services in the nearby colony city. I didn't want to try explaining what had just happened. The shuttle ride back to the Normandy was done in silence, a silence I perfectly understood. 20 Twenty years wais a long time to have hold something a vendetta like Zaaed's been carrying, and suddenly having it gone is would be a lot to deal with. I decided to let Zaeed have some time to think as he got off at the engineering deck, handing me his weapons to return to the armoury. I took them with a nod, one look into his eyes confirming that he needed time to process.
I went up to the armoury with Garrus, who was still carrying the flamethrower on his back. As the door opened, Jacob looked up from a terminal he was using. Garrus and I put our weapons away, and I took the flamethrower over to Jacob. He looked at it with a little awe, and told me he had only heard of this model. I asked him if it was still functional, seeing as it had been in an explosion. He just nodded and said this particular model was very tough, and should still be fully operational. He'd still test it to make sure, but it should be fully ready for the next mission I went on.
I thanked him and went up to my cabin, Garrus waiting for the elevator to take him down to the crew deck. Once I was in my cabin I took off my armour and placed it in the locker, before taking a shower. Once the shower was done I went to my private terminal to see if there were any new messages. There were two, one from an unexpected source and one from someone I remembered. The unexpected one was from someone on Omega, the wife of one of Garrus' team. It was sad and sweet at the same time, and I decided to forward it to Garrus. Maybe it would alleviate some of his guilt. The other one was predictably from Emily Wong, who said it was great to see me show up Westerlund News' least unbiased reporter again, and jokingly chiding me for not giving my favourite reporter a proper interview. I laughed a little at this one, and swore that if I waswere ever allowed back on the Citadel, I'd gladly give her an interview.
Joker called up to ask for a destination, and I have had to admit he has an almost innate ability to pick good times to use the intercom. I remembered the time just after the Normandy was impounded by Udina, when Liara and I were about to have an intimate moment, that I heard his voice blaring through the ship. I told him that since we're we were in the cluster, I wanted to check out the Elysta system. He said he'd set a course, but since it was on the other side of the cluster, it would probably take about eight to ten hours at FTL. I told him that was fine, and decided to go have dinner with the crew.
I went down to the crew deck absolutely starving, which is a common thing for me. Being a biotic really helps in combat, but it definitely required a lot more energy. In the Alliance, normal biotic rations have 50% more in terms of kilojoule count. Since I'm not in the Alliance right now, it means that I just need to eat more at meal times, and snack during the day. I bet I wouldn't be surprised at the number of famous human models who have biotic tendencies or capabilities, since they can eat more and stay thin. Though it must be torture for biotic pregnancies- the food cravings must be insane. In any case, Gardner's cooking was fantastic tonight, a calamari gumbo based on an asari recipe for the levos, and a turian marash for Garrus. It smelled pretty good, and Garrus certainly seemed to enjoy it. Between Garrus and Gardner explaining, they managed to get across that it was something like Earth Moroccan, spicy meat and vegetables cooked in semi-desert areas.
I didn't see Zaeed for the entire meal, and I asked Gardner if he'd been up before me. Gardner said that he hadn't seen him eat, but he had come by and taken some ingredients down with him. I thanked him, handed him my plate and went to take the elevator downstairs. I was surprised when the door opened and a wonderful aroma came out. I could definitely work out what Zaeed had been doing with those ingredients. I walked into his cargo hold to see him eating something, I couldn't quite make it out. I could see a little heat element and some cookware on one of the crates that had obviously just been used. Apparently old habits die hard. He looked up as I entered, chewing and swallowing a mouthful of food. He asked me if I wanted any, and I had to admit, I was hungry after smelling it. He pulled out another plate and fork, and spooned some of the extra onto the plate and handed it to me. I took a bite and my eyes went wide. It may not have looked much, but this stuff was great, it would give any chef a run for his money.
I asked him why he'd chosen to cook down here instead of eating what Gardner was making, and he gave me the answer I pretty much expected. He was used to working alone, and the times he had a ship it was only big enough for one. Everyone had to eat, so he had learned to cook himself, and had a few cooking guides on his omni-tool. Just because he was cooking for one doesn't mean it should taste like crap. He also said that food is an easy way to poison someone, and it wouldn't be a stretch to think he'd been on both ends of that kind of thing. We had a few more enjoyable mouthfuls in silence after that, and then he looked at me, putting his plate aside for the moment. I'm inserting a recording of what Zaeed said, because it really moved me.
"I wanna thank you Shepard. I've been going from one side of the galaxy to the other for 20 goddam years, hopin' to get Vido in my sights. Not sure what I'm gonna do after your little mission. You're the first person who's ever really helped me without being paid, and I appreciate that you went out of your way for this. For all I care, the galaxy can go screw itself, but as long as you need me, I'll have your back Shepard. Here's to us."
At that point he brought out a bottle of scotch, real Earth stuff, and poured a generous measure into two glasses, which we both drained quickly. I came back up to my cabin and decided to get some rest now, seeing as tomorrow was probably going to be a big day.
