MASS EFFECT DESCENCION: CHAPTER 14
"Sorry I'm late." Tarak gruffly muttered as he took the seat at the table across from where Sh'sk was sitting.
Sh'sk lifted an eye ridge with a teasing smile. "I'd be careful with that one. A lot of the asari are with the Eclipse." He motioned for the bartender there at Fortune's Den to come get their drink orders.
"I'm careful." Tarak chuckled. "I have interrogated her thoroughly numerous times."
The female human at their table rolled her eyes and shook her head with a feign disdain. Her name was Celeste and she was Sh'sk's informal second-in-command. The short hair, red head was young in human terms to hold a high-ranking position in a merc group, but she held the title well. She was born and raised on Omega and knew the station in and out. She knew who all the players were and knew a lot of their weaknesses. She was one who divulged the intel about the eezo facility to Sh'sk. With their gain, he decided to keep her close so that way the Blue Suns maintained the advantage of the other merc groups on Omega. They could with their increased profits, despite their payout to Aria, they could recruit more men and acquired more territory. The balance of power was shifting to them, but the Blood Pack was knocking on their backdoor so they had to remain vigilant. Tarak, the other batarian, was the formal second-in-command to Sh'sk. He was next in line after the former leader was "punished." However, he knew not to stupidly go up against T'Loak, which was why Sh'sk didn't befall the same fate as Zaeed Massani. With that, Sh'sk was grateful. His lifestyle was becoming luxurious since his arrival and he was getting cozy. Though, he was smarter than to get too cozy and loosen up his tongue to anyone. Especially with his checkered past. The good news was that he recently heard that Saren tried to attack the Citadel with an army of Geth and was killed. Now, he had that chip off his shoulder, but he still had to worry about Balak and the other Spectre he ran into on the asteroid.
Once the asari bartender took their drink orders, Celeste took out her data pad. "I discovered some concerning news."
Sh'sk lit up one of his cigarettes and passed his pack over to Tarak who accepted one. He in turn held the pack to Celeste, but she openingly declined. "Spill it." Sh'sk said as he took a puff.
"Our sales of red sand to Ilium are on the decline and now with the tariffs, it doesn't make sense to keep sending it there." The red head used her finger to swipe through the information. "The Eclipse's sales are up ten percent."
"Why are they up?" Tarak questioned.
"They actually reduced their price so they are selling theirs less than ours and they claim their form is purer which gives the duster an increase of duration of biotic capability."
Sh'sk grumbled under his breath. He never really dusted in his life and didn't really find the urge to do so, but he knew plenty of those that did. Red sand was a very addictive drug and could give the user very slight biotic capabilities until they came off it. The power was not enough to go and produce a slam to anyone. It was barely enough to lift light objects such as a pen off a table and swirl it around for amusement. He figured since he was a biotic that could have been the reason why he never really wanted to experiment with it. The drug was one of their main profitable expertise and the port on Ilium was one of their hubs for distribution. If they lost that to the Eclipse, it could set them back quite a bit. The administration on Ilium claimed all tariffs were equal for shipments, but he began to wonder if someone was being bribed under the table. It made perfect sense because the Eclipse couldn't really profit if they reduced their prices. "When is the next shipment going out?"
"Two days."
"Send three more men to discuss the terms of the tariffs. Make sure they are heavily armed."
"You're the boss." Celeste put down her pad when the drinks arrived.
Tarak and Sh'sk both ordered batarian ale while Celeste ordered a martini. A weak drink to them. "When you going to get something a little stronger?" Sh'sk pointed to the tiny glass with a grin.
"When I can afford more." Celeste tossed back with a wink as she took a sip.
"I pay you well." Sh'sk took a swig of his drink.
"That shit you drink would kill me." She countered.
"Probably. Humans are very weak." Tarak concurred as he sat his bottle down.
Celeste responded with a well-known gesture of the middle finger to him. This aroused a burst of laughter from the table. Sh'sk exhaled with relaxation and paused to contemplate his next purpose of their business there. He wanted to get more information about what transpired on Omega recently during his arrival and why Aria switched out the Suns' leaders. That knowledge was never disclosed and for a while, he didn't know to trust really in the organization. Tarak and Celeste seemed to be the ones closest to him and he decided to test the waters. "So, whatever happened to Ibah?" He tossed out casually as he took another drink from his ale.
Celeste and Tarak exchanged silent looks, which made Sh'sk tense up a little. "The dumb shit went too far." Tarak spoke up first.
"He was greedy," Celeste agreed. "Though, the creds that were promised were too good to pass up. I'll have to admit that."
"Yeah…I could have gotten off this pisshole."
"Sounds like a lot of money. Who was the client?" Sh'sk pressed on.
"Commander Shephard's ship was attacked recently and destroyed. We found his body still frozen from the exposure to space. We were contacted by the Collectors soon after we found it. They wanted it…badly." Celeste continued as her lavender colored irises stared down at the remains of her drink.
"Those damn bugs creeped me out." Tarak shifted a bit in his seat. "What were they going to do with a corpse that bad off anyways."
"Commander Shepard?" Sh'sk blurted out in confusion. The name was familiar…he searched his memory bank and then it hit him! That was the same man that was on the asteroid and squared off against them. Well, another chip was going to be off his shoulder.
"Yeah. Some Spectre." Tarak gave a shrug. "The first human. The Citadel news made a big deal over it. He didn't last too long."
"What happened with the Collectors?" Sh'sk switched back to the client. He heard about the Collectors but only horror stories. He was told long ago when he was just a youngling that if he didn't behave that his family would sell him off to the Collectors. He figured it was some made up story. No one in his life ever admitted to seeing them and he never crossed paths with them.
Celeste gave a shrug. "The transaction never went through. Aria found out and was she mad that they were on the station." She giggled. "Luckily, I wasn't there when Ibah and a few others went to meet them."
"Me too. No one came back. Aria killed all of them." Tarak finished off his ale and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand.
Celeste furrowed her brow as her fingers ran up the stem of her glass. "I trust you, Sh'sk, really. Just sometimes, I don't trust her...how can we operate if she constantly spies on us and interferes? I never hear her going after the Eclipse or the Blood Pack. We have been hit too many times with her."
"I'm not a snitch." Sh'sk snubbed out his cigarette into the table's ash tray and looked at both of them directly. This was it, he had to continue to hold their trust. It was the only way he could get information from both sides of the spectrum. "I still run the Suns and as far as I'm concern, I'm not what you humans call a 'lap dog.' We have her favor and clearly it was shown that when we held the territory from the Talons. Let's continue to use this to our advantage."
"What are we going to do about the damn Blood Pack? Garm does not play around. Plus, he has a lot of krogan and vorcha. I'd rather go up against the damn asari." Tarak tossed out.
"You mean you'd rather fuck an asari." Celeste poked at him with a coyly smile.
"Or we could just do that." Tarak nodded his head in approval.
"Better than fucking a krogan." Sh'sk grunted. "I'll go talk to Aria and see if we can get some heavies."