I don't own the Mass Effect, nor any ideas borrowed from Logical Premise with permission.


Operation: Landfall III

Date: 04-09-2183

Location: Hintertown, Redcliffe, Feralda System, Northern Terminus


The meeting turned out to be heavily delayed, which worked for me. It gave me the time to make sure that everyone who needed to be in the field hospital was there. Since that was more than half of the team, it had taken more than a little bit of time. Goddess, I wasn't about to complain, that no one had died was a miracle I was more than happy to accept.

Voya had been hit three times, and had gotten plenty of crap into her system from the filth in the trench. Her right arm was immobilized, and she had a thick cast around her left shin. On top of that she was swimming in anti-biotics and stuck inside her full suit, much to her irritation. She already had a fever and was already starting to cough her lungs out, but the Terminus Quarian doctor who'd looked over her had been confident she'd recover. Of course she was going to be angry and irritable even beyond her normally belligerent levels during the process, but that was more or less expected..

Faras and Callada had likewise taken a pair of shots each, though they didn't have the same issues as Voya. The latter just had a pair of flesh wounds in her arm that had been patched up, but the Turian hadn't been as lucky. One of his chest plates had been cracked by the impact, and while it wouldn't kill him it made it painful for him to breathe. He was suitably drugged up as a result, with his mate standing guard over him. She had only been hit once, a gouge in her side that hadn't struck anything vital.

For their part, Shyeel and Trena had both gone past their limits biotically speaking. They pair of them had been promptly strapped into beds with nutrient IV lines going, the medics entirely ignoring their mutual protests that they were fine.

"Can't I get some sleep first?" Illyan groaned as she, Amy Chang, and I walked between several of the prefabricated buildings. Illyan and I were fully armored up, our environmental systems working over time, while Chang was wearing her sensible shorts and tank top again. "Seriously boss, I can fix Glitch up tomorrow."

"Did I say you had to do it this instant?" I replied. "Essential crap to get it mobile again, first thing in the morning. I want it able to have it on the night watch by tomorrow so we don't have to have someone on that shift."

The big Asari grunted. "What about the power armor? And are we still pulling everyone out of the hospital tomorrow?"

Chang glanced at us. "Wouldn't it be safer to leave them in the hospital?"

"It would be if I trusted the guards to not be bribed. They're all but immobile, vulnerable. Best to get them back into our barracks and protected by a mech that can't fall sleep or take cash."

She swallowed. "Oh."

I grunted and turned back to the massive Asari. "As for the armor... we'll focus on Dietrich's first, that'll be my chore. Chang can have someone haul two new shields out of storage plus the parts we need once I figure out what those are."

Illyan glanced at me. "You sure you want his first boss? He did all right but he's not exactly... well, you."

"And he won't get used to it unless he uses it more often." I pointed out. "If I'm stuck on foot with the rest of you for a mission or two then I'm stuck, but I don't think we'll be going out for a bit. We should have time to at least get scratch repairs done, I've gone into combat with worse."

"Yeah, that's fair boss. Just makes me nervous as all, I like my bullet shield to be a bit more than omnigel and patched sails."

Snorting, I reached up and punched her arm lightly. "Go tell Thul I want someone to take over for Idas on hospital watch in a few hours. And make sure they put all of our people in the same room. I'll be at our place after this briefing or whatever it is."

"Briefing." Chang supplied quietly. "All of the regimental colonels on this continent will be there, the rest will be attending remotely. I think all of the mercenary leaders will be doing the same."

"Those that survived." I shook my head against a wave of exhaustion. "Did you hear any details?"

"No si... No. Only that the fighting wasn't going well anywhere, and that it was very sudden."

"Great." Letting out a breath, I shook my head slightly. "Right, Illyan, get going. Chang, where's this thing happening?"

"The main command hall." She held out a tanned arm, "This way."

Exchanging quick nods with Illyan, and neatly dodging her when she tried to clap a hand on my shoulder, I followed the human woman out and onto the main street. She tried to set off at a quick pace, only to jerk to a near-stop when I snapped my right hand out to seize her by the shoulder. I didn't put any real pressure on her, but from the way she swallowed I might as well have.

"Um... sir?"

"We can take our time." I pitched my voice low so that it wouldn't carry, "One, I'm exhausted. Two, we need to talk."

It was hard to tell with her skin ton, but I thought she paled a little. "If.. if this is the loyalty conversation, Voya'chi already...um..."

I groaned and let my head slump as I shook it, my armored hand sliding off of her. "By the goddess... of course she fucking did. You have my apologies for that, I was going to try and be more tactful."

She blinked several times. "You... were?"

"Let me guess, she didn't bother mentioning the fact that Jarrick checked into your background and confirmed that there was a local reporter named Amy Chang before the fighting started?" I sighed, "Or that you match the pictures of her?"

"Oh. Um, no, no she didn't." Chang was visibly relaxing as I spoke, her lips twitching a little. "She skipped right to the threats about betraying you all."

"She would." I muttered, more or less to myself. Setting off at a slow pace, I forced my posture back into proper stillness as we talked. "No, this is about your former job and how it might still be relevant actually."

"Relevant how? I thought I heard T'Laria say that you had some writer on Illium cataloging everything for you. And you were in Badass Weekly not that long ago for that fight on Kirkwall right?"

A muscle in my cheek twitched. I had been. Someone, probably one of the soldiers from the 121st who'd been present, had apparently recorded my close combat brawl with the enhanced Krogan, and a still-shot of me about to execute the one I'd killed had ended up on the magazine's cover of all places. Trena had bought a physical copy of the stupid thing, framed it, and then slammed it over my head for being stupid enough to end up in hand-to-hand in the first place. She hadn't bothered to fix it either, hanging it on the living area wall of our prefab with the glass till cracked from where my skull had broken it.

Apparently it gave it was supposed to remind me never to do that again. Tides damned crazy bitch.

"We're not looking for more coverage, no. I was actually hoping you might still have local contacts."

"Oh. You want an informant." She pursed her mouth a little. "I wasn't really that kind of reporter."

"You're respectable, I know." I rolled my left shoulder in an Asari shrug, dipping my head that way a hair. "I'm not asking you to slog through the crap the tides bring in or anything like that, I just want information about one of the new arrivals."

Chang was silent for several steps. "Who?"

"The 91st Xenthan."

Her eyes blinked as she glanced at me. "The.. whole regiment?"

I let out a slow breath. "They were the other unit on Kirkwall when one of our team went missing. She's presumed dead, but no one has found a body yet, and they've long cleared out the rubble. I trust that no one in the 121st would be so stupid as do to something to her, and there isn't much I can do to find out if the locals were involved. But the 91st isn't exactly a reputable unit, if they found and did something to her... I want to know."

"Oh." She bit her lip, chewing on it as we continued to walk down the side street, our pace slow and unhurried. "I'm... not sure I can help. I was a respectable kind of reporter, like you said. I talked to people directly and asked questions, nothing like this."

"It's spy work." I admitted. "I'd do it myself if Ayle was here and healthy enough to run the unit, but since she isn't I have to find someone to delegate it to. And honestly... most of my companions aren't exactly subtle or easy to forget. You'd be compensated on top of your salary, and if you ever think you're in danger you can drag anyone not on a mission along with to bodyguard you."

The smaller human continued to play with her lip for a few moments, it had to be a nervous habit of some kind. "What would you want me to do? In specific? Not walk up and ask them if they killed or enslaved your friend I hope."

I snorted quietly. "No, of course not. There has to be people like you who will be conscripted or hired to support the regiment, ask them quiet questions. Find out what bars the 91st likes to frequent and then ask the staff, the shuttle pilots who aren't in the regiment proper, people like that. If they have any slaves they'd be a good source of information as well."

She turned and blinked at me, nearly stopping before stumbling back into motion. "You've... done this kind of thing before?"

"I listened to customers prattle on about crap, and occasionally kept my ear to the sea while I was in a bar." I corrected. "It's a long story."

At the last word, her demeanor shifted, an almost... hungry look appearing in her eyes. "I can't promise anything, but I'll try on one condition."

It was my turn to blink at the sudden turn around. "Which is...?"

"I don't want more money, I want stories. Not what that Asari on Illium is doing for you, I don't want to hear about the fighting. Not just repeating all the rumors either, I want personal stories."

"Personal." I repeated the word slowly. "Tends to be just that. Personal."

Chang stopped and turned to face me, actually crossing her arms in front of her breasts as she glared up at me. "You are asking me to do something that could get me killed sir."

I twitched a little at the last word. "Kean, not sir remember?"

"You are asking me to do something that could get me killed Kean." She repeated, a little smirk on her lips.

My own twitched a little at her tone. "What's with the sudden change?"

"I'm a reporter. You said the word story."

"And that's all it took?" I snorted and shook my head. "Athame's ass if I'd have known it was that easy I'd have done a better job negotiating."

Her eyes lit up. "So it's a trade? I'll ask around, carefully, and you'll tell me everyone's history?"

Crossing my arms slowly, I let me head fall back slightly as I contemplated the offer. "Everyone will tell you their own stories, on their own time, but only if they want to. If you manage to find anything on Jacqueline, I'll tell you mine. If you don't, I'll still tell you but only when this campaign is over."

She mulled on that for several moments, "You tell me some of yours while I investigate. The part where you were on Illium. You can save the rumor-correction about what you were up to on Omega and how you ended up in the Korlus campaign for after."

I considered that for a few breaths, then nodded slowly. "Deal."

We both uncrossed our arms and held our hands out more or less at the same time. We shook once, then I nodded and waved for her to lead on. "I'll talk with you tomorrow at the bar, unless an emergency mission comes up."

"That sounds like a plan." Chang kept up the pleased expression for a little while, but only for a while. After maybe twenty meters of walking her little grin and vacant expression became a neutral frown, probably as she tried to work out how to do what she'd just agreed to. And probably how dangerous it could be for her if anyone from the regiment was involved and heard that she was nosing around and asking questions.

She seemed intelligent enough, she'd find a way to ask her questions carefully. And if she fucked up, I could always send Illyan and Voya with her. The pair of them might have hated one another but they did work very well as a team, they'd keep her alive. Of course that was provided that the doctor's were right and that Voya would be fine within a few weeks.

Ugh, no. Not going there. She was going to be fine and her usually bitchy self soon enough.

Amy Chang guided me between several buildings and side-streets, eventually bringing us to one of the larger structures in the compound. Circling around it, I quietly thanked her when we reached the main entrance and its cordon of heavily armored Turians and Batarians. The latter eyed me suspiciously, but respectfully so once they saw the logo on my armor. The former just looked at me suspiciously.

"Thanks Chang, I can find my way back." She nodded politely, visibly grateful to not have to go in with me. Her inner-reporter probably wanted desperately to come in and record everything she heard, but she had enough self-preservation to shove it aside and flee towards our barracks with every sign of alacrity.

I couldn't really blame her. She was a very, very tiny finish in this particular ocean, and the population of this building would consist entirely of sharks. Not Greenmouths either, a Warlord's headquarters would be populated by Swordfangs. If she'd been in full armor bearing our logo, I might have brought her in to keep notes for me, but as she was... no. Not with me asking her to ask strangers potentially awkward questions. Better fewer people saw her with me right now.

Shaking those thoughts off, I realized that I'd allowed my posture to slump a little with human tiredness again. Grimacing at myself, I straightened my back properly and gave the guards a polite nod as I approached.

"Identify yourself." One of the Turians growled, moving his white-armored bulk to block the wide and open doorway.

"Back off Bessio." Another guard, a Batarian, snorted as he gave me a slightly left-leaning nod of his own. "That's Reyja'krem Kean, he's expected."

"Kean." The Turian made a clicking sound. "The human who thinks he's a Batarian. You're late."

I stared at him through my helmet, a wave of irritation rising. "And you are making me later by getting in my way."

A high-pitched, almost whistling, growl came from the other guard. He stayed where he was for several long breaths, then only reluctantly shifted out of my path.

"May the goddess save me from bloody self-important idiots." I muttered it just loudly enough for him to hear. The three Batarian guards let out coughing laughs, one of them grabbing Bessio before the idiot could do anything stupid.

"Get inside human." The Turian settled for snarling, trying to loom as best he could with a Batarian as tall as he was hauling him back with one arm.

I pointedly ignored him and strode into the massive building. It, like everything else in the compound, was obviously something that had been built elsewhere. But that was about all they had in common. The headquarters structure was a massive dome, large enough that it had probably needed a specialized cargo ship to haul it to the planet's surface as a single piece.

The entrance hall was small but packed with people, plain-clothed officers with patches from a dozen regiments standing against the walls or sitting in the few benches. A few glanced up when I entered, the Batarians bowing their heads politely, before returning to their conversations. Bowing my own a bit to the right in kind, I flicked my eyes around to find the signs pointing towards the main briefing room.

Following them through the hall, and then down another, I found myself in front of a sealed doorway with a pair of Asari guards on either side, their white and yellow armor freshly cleaned and almost shining.

They, at least, didn't say anything. Instead one of them simply tapped the controls beside her, waving me past with her other hand.

"Ah, Kean." The familiar voice of Colonel Kaste reached me even before I'd stepped into the small auditorium, the old Turian waving me a clawed hand at me from where he was sitting next to the doorway. "I saved you a seat."

"Thanks." I shifted around him before sitting on his right, a Turian woman politely shifting over a little to give me more room.

I glanced around as I settled into place, getting a good look at the room. It was huge, probably taking up a good quarter of the building, and was currently packed to capacity with officers. Most were Turian, but there was a sizable number of Batarians and Terminus Quarians present. Here and there I also saw a few Asari and Humans, but they were very much the minorities.

"Major Vithi Kaste." Turning my torso to my right, I shook myself mentally as I realized that the officer was introducing herself.

"Reyja'krem Cieran Kean." I replied, finally taking her in. Unlike the Colonel, she had the striking blue paint of Xentha, though she shared the same silvery sheen to her plates. "Though I'm guessing you knew my name."

"I did." Her mandibles quivered in amusement. "I'd honestly hoped to speak with you before this, but duty is a heavy burden."

"Agreed." I murmured, glad that we'd ended up back here instead of down and closer to the center. It let me lean my tried body against the wall behind us, and I wasn't too proud to hold back a groan of relief. "Sorry, long day."

"For all of us." She agreed, her voice growing somber. "Did all of your people make it?"

"Everyone's alive, but if you've got an emergency I can only put half the team in the field. No power armor for at least a day, my own is going to take a while." I pursed my lips a little. "How bad did the regiment get hit?"

Vithi glanced away from me, her dark eyes focusing on the staff assembled around a holotable below us. "Most of the Fourth Company was still in the valley, including Captain Kithian. At least a hundred and fifty dead to the water, plus the combat casualties before and after. We won't know the exact numbers until the rest of the regiment is shuttled back."

Grunting, I was about to reply when a low chime sounded from the ceiling. The hum of conversation died out as the staff far below separated, revealing a plain looking Turian male. He wasn't in armor, instead in the same white dress uniform as half of the room. It was... a little disconcerting really, Turians outside of armor just looked odd to me.

"My thanks for your attention." His voice was a deep, rolling thing, and I abruptly realized that he was probably a lot larger than he looked from here. As he spoke, several dozen flatscreens flickered to life on the wall behind him, each showing another officer from the other regiments scattered across the planet. "Those present, my thanks for leaving your regiments in the hands of your subordinates even temporarily. Those remote, my thanks for sparing the time to attend."

I snorted, but kept it quiet. On either side of me, both Kaste's mandibles flickered in equal amusement. After all, no one here had seriously had any choice in the matter.

"As you are no doubt aware, we suffered a severe setback this morning when Blood Pack counter-assaults struck at incredibly inopportune moments for us. I regret to inform you all that the 43rd and 67th Xenthan, along with the 4th Anderfelian, have been all but destroyed on the southern continent. Nearly fifteen other regiments have suffered more than thirty percent casualties, and the situation down south has grown perilous."

There was a low round of mutters, and my amusement died a rapid little death.

The General wasn't done, pacing slowly as he continued to speak. "Additionally, there were direct attacks on the mercenary commands hired to serve as additional commando teams for us, as well as the Lady Warlord's personal Talon teams that she provided for my use. All three of the latter on planet are now combat ineffective, and while my staff is still compiling the numbers, I can be reasonably sure that more than two thirds of the mercenary teams have been likewise taken out."

Below and to the right, a Terminus Quarian female rose. She moved with a kind of stiffness that I thought was age, though I couldn't get a clear look at her from here. When the General nodded in permission, she spoke in thickly accented Khellish only slightly muffled by the re-breather she wore. "During ze fighting, my regiment detected unusual communications between ze enemies to our front and ze Varlord Zaen. Ve have finished decoding zem, and discovered how zis attack occurred. Evidently ze Krogan have kidnapped or enslaved many of ze inbred, and are forcing zem to work. Zey broke our encryption nearly three veeks ago, and Zaen vaited for ze perfect moment zu strike."

"We have of course already changed our codes," The General bowed his head towards her in thanks, the Quarian returning it before stiffly sitting back down. "But we are heavily understaffed for electronic and communications warfare. I have already requested experts from Xentha, and they will be here within the month, but until they arrive we will be changing our encryption daily. I expect every regiment to likewise limit open communications to the bare minimum required for operations."

Sloppy, for an operation of this scale, but it was an understandable oversight. The Blood Pack weren't exactly known for their hacking and engineering work, even Zaen's more efficient, Asari-enhanced branch of the group.

He paused, turning to flick the holotable behind him to life. "Given this limitation, and the overall progress of the enemy over the past local day, we are adjusting our overall strategy. Colonel Metherian, you remain the senior officer on the southern continent. You will continue the controlled withdrawal until you have re-secured the landing zone."

"We're keeping ahead of them so far." One of the talking heads on a screen spoke, the Turian's voice echoing from the speakers above us. "I've given the others leave to launch spoiling counter-attacks as needed, it's alleviating some of the pressure."

"Excellent. That ties into our shift. Regrettably, we will be ceasing our advance on the capital for the moment." There was an annoyed chorus at that, mostly from the other surviving mercenaries. I held my own tongue, barely, but I wasn't happy about it either. "In order to secure a defensive line to protect Hintertown. If we lose this city we lose any chance of seizing Zaen's palace at all, so we will be cautious here. That does not mean that we will be inactive elsewhere, I fully intend to take the imitative back and to force Zaen to react to us."

A hand waved at the now floating image of the planet behind him, spinning out like a scroll to provide a two-dimensional map. Several red sections began to appear in rapid succession, each with an icon and a number appearing beside it. "We now have sufficient reserves on both continents to free up several regiments for new operations, along with enough shuttles and landing craft to carry as many as eight units at a time. Your orders are simple: If it assists Zaen's war effort in any way, burn it to the ground. Priority focus will be on vehicles, infrastructure, and mining operaitons."

Frowning, I leaned forwards a little and was mildly surprised to see the 121st had been assigned to a zone. "Looks like we're going raiding."

Colonel Kaste nodded slightly at my mutter, his mandibles twitching once before going still. "You'll need to be involved in the planning process Kean. Hit and run is more what you're used to then I."

General Mascal resumed before I could speak, shifting to something closer to a regular briefing. He outlined the changing time lines to the campaign, then elaborated on how several formations had resisted the Blood Pack's counter-strokes to try and buck morale up a bit, before shifting to logistical matters and how the usage of massive air forces to move nearly eight thousand soldiers around would affect them.

"That is all for now." He settled into an at ease position, examining the room as he spoke. "All Colonels are to report back to their regiments, your omni-tools will have the precise orders and instructions concerning the encryption change and our new operational plan. I would ask that the mercenary team leads present remain for now, we have additional matters to discuss."

I couldn't help but let out a seething sigh of annoyance as both Kaste's rose to their feet. I agreed to meet them the following morning to go over our assigned raiding zone and help work out some kind of plan. Then they were up and moving, along with most of the room. A few minutes later and it was just me and maybe a dozen other figures in irregular armor.

"Please, approach." Mascal waved a hand at the front benches when none of us got up from wherever we were sitting, "I'd rather not use the speakers, quite honestly I tire of my own voice."

My lips twitched a little, and I rose from my seat with a tired wince that my helmet thankfully concealed. Shuffling my way down the stairs, I elected to remain standing rather than sit again. A slight nudge to my left elbow made me glance that way, finding the black armored Night Sister standing there.

"I see you survived." She murmured, her voice husky and low. "Did your people?"

"They did. Yours?"

"Those that made off the dam." Her hands rose and pulled her helmet off. She turned out to have lightly purple skin, with striking features anchored by a harsh jawline. "Mirala."

"Kean." Seeing that everyone else was taking off their headgear, assuming they'd had any on, I sighed and reached up to the same. "Surprised you're sticking around to be honest."

Grey-blue eyes flicked across my face before she turned away with a shrug. "There were only six of us to begin with. Losing two of our sisters is painful... but losses do happen in this business."

"Quite so." The General brought our attention back to himself, and I blinked to see him leaning in a very un-Turian like fashion against the holo-table. "That is partly what this is about. Given the casualties suffered, and the evident fact that you specifically were targeted, I'm offering you all a one-time clause to exit your contracts."

A green skinned Salarian, both of his horns little more than burned nubs, held up a hand. "Stipulations?"

"Nothing more than your usual escape clauses. No taking work with the Blood Pack, no attacking the Lady Warlord's assets for one Citadel year, that sort of thing." His mandibles shifted slightly. "I am surprised that none of you have commented about being targeted."

I rolled my eyes before speaking in Thessian. "Because Krom wants us all dead. We're here for him, specifically. It wouldn't be hard for him to convince Zaen to go all out to kill the people hunting his pet assassin, especially since we're obviously helping your troops out as we do."

"I am curious about another thing, however." Another Asari, this one in sky blue plating the same color as her skin, spoke up. "What came after all of you? And those that died? Was there a pattern?"

"Artillery." A male Quarian growled, his long forked tongue wetting his lips. "We'd just begun a withdrawal or it would have been perfectly aimed."

"Same." Mirala nodded, jerking a thumb at me. "Took out the dam our units were defending. Barely got off it before it collapsed."

"Berserkers." The only other human, a twitchy little Latin woman, spoke around an unlit cigar. "Three of the fuckers."

"Two of them for us."

"Varren pack, came out of fuckin' nowhere."

"Gunships, probably pirates stuck on planet."

The reasons went on from there, more or less sounding the same. Sudden attacks exploiting the fact that the Pack had been listening in on our radio communications with our allies. More often than not whoever had executed it hadn't told the local forces much of anything either, resulting in shock and confusion on both sides as everyone tried to figure out just what the fuck was going on.

"We can confirm that level of confusion almost everywhere." The General confirmed once we'd discussed it enough to notice the pattern. "My intelligence staff believes that Krom may have been the one issuing those orders, and that Zaen was only responsible for the counter-attack on the southern continent."

I grunted, reaching up to stroke the braids hanging on either side of my mouth. "Makes sense." When several of the others only looked at me, I sighed and elaborated. "If Zaen pulls off an attack that takes out three regiments and mauls several others, it might be pushed off as him being personally involved. He could have used it as confirmation that he was reading our signal flags correctly, and struck us exactly when we were becalmed."

Mirala let out an amused little sound. "You're turning me on with the nautical analogies Kean. You speak the language well."

My eyes rolled at the chorus of muttered laughs, and I switched to the Highborn tongue. "My point is he wouldn't have done something so open just to take out a few dozen commando teams. This is a world war, we aren't going to change it overnight. He's got weeks, maybe months to figure out which of our groups was actually a threat worth dealing with."

"Quite so." Mascal's mandibles twitched in a slow movement. "My staff, and I agree with them, believe this could be a sign that Krom is wearing out his welcome with Zaen. He may have to take more active assignments to work his way back into the Warlord's good graces."

The Salarian's dark eyes narrowed. "You mean he will be in the field more often. First you offer us a way out, and then you try to lure us to stay."

"Of course I want you to remain." The General shook his head. "My special forces, both your kind and the Warlord's Talon teams, have been all but decimated, and she has no more to send me. She commands that I give you a choice, and so I am, but I am not above reminding you of why you were here in the first place."

There was a long moment of silence, then the Salarian shook his head. "I've lost half of my team, including the specialists I was relying on to take the target alive. We are leaving."

Mascal nodded, turned to grab a tablet from where it was sitting on the holotable, and tossed it at him. "Sign where it indicates. Anyone else?"

None of us spoke, instead all turning to the man he'd just thrown the computer at. We stayed silent as he flicked through it, obviously reading every line very carefully before nodding, tracing a scribble with his finger, and then setting it aside. "Good luck to those hunters who remain."

He'd barely had time to stand up before the human woman had moved over and taken it, adding her own signature before following him out. A longer paused followed, then a Turian and Batarian both stepped forwards and signed the escape clause before departing without a word.

I shook my head and turned away as the General pushed off and approached where Mirala and I were standing slightly apart from the others. "Reyja'krem Kean. I had hoped to speak with you in person."

My eyes narrowed a little as he approached. He was, as I'd guessed, much larger up close. At least seven feet tall but with the same wiry lethality that all of his species seemed to have. The blue Xenthan markings accented his brown plating well enough, and I bowed my head politely. "General Mascal. I confess to not having heard much about you."

His mandibles twitched a little. "For which I can hardly blame you, after all I am not your prey. Everything else must seem of little import to you."

"To varying degrees." I ignored Mirala's suddenly speculative look from my left. "What did you wish to discuss?"

"The Lady Warlord believed it would please you to know that one of the mercenary teams eliminated in the fighting was an all Batarian group. Their bodies were recovered by our people, and one of them was carrying an omni-tool with specific orders upon it."

I sucked in a slow breath. "An SIU hit squad was masquerading as a merc team?"

"Quite so." He seemed all too amused by that. "Imitation is flattering, is it not? They likely hoped to draw close to your people through false camaraderie."

And now my paranoia was going to go into overdrive. Again. Lovely. "Where there is one, there could be more."

"None of the groups still alive fit the profiles of any known special forces group, my people checked immediately following that discovery." The General assured me. "I have forwarded all of the information to your own intelligence analyst, the young human man. You can verify it is unchanged with my own people, he may have direct access to my intelligence staff."

I blinked. "That's... generous."

"The Lady Warlord does not abide poachers. Neither do I." His voice lowered, his attention shifting from me to the Asari, then back again. "A competitive hunt is one thing, but we suffered enough interference from the Hegemony in the last war. I don't need another campaign thrown into chaos because of them."

"Sir?" We glanced aside to see an Asari maiden, her purple skin looking bright against her white uniform, give the General a quick salute. "Your staff is assembled in the CiC sir."

"Thank you Lieutenant. Reyja'krem Kean. Mistress Mirala." She started a little as the casual name drop, but he was already turning to glance around the room. Three other mercs were still present aside from Mirala and myself; the Asari in blue armor, the Terminus Quarian, and a Batarian man. "You all may return to your units, but please be aware that I may be asking favors of you in the future. Given the circumstances, you will understand the necessity."

"And you'll understand if we refuse." Mirala spoke, her voice smooth. "As you said, we have our own prey to hunt. Our contacts only speak of assisting the unit we are assigned to."

"That is why I used the word favors, but we will discuss that when the time comes." Giving us all a bow of his head, he turned and strode away, the Lieutenant flocking beside him and holding up a tablet for him to read.

Again, none of us moved or spoke at first, the doors sliding shut behind them. Mirala opened her mouth, only for the Quarian to hold a hand up before pulling a small box from his belt. Setting it on the holo-table, he flicked it on with a finger and an annoying hum promptly filled the air.

"Mics are out within five meters, don't stray." He grunted, a three fingered hand rising up to run through his stiff, white shocks of hair. "He was too open to be genuine."

"T'Ravt is normally open about her business." I mused, "As are her people."

The Quarian glanced at me, his glowing eyes narrow. "You trust him?"

"Of course not." I scoffed. "I don't know him. Do any of you?"

There was a chorus of negatives that made the Batarian growl irritably. "We need to correct that. Competitors or not, right now it is only practical we pool information about our employer."

"Agreed." Mirala murmured, her arms crossing. "Kean, you have an intelligence analyst on your payroll, yes?"

"He's already booked past capacity." I shook my head. "Any of you?"

"None of us are millionaires." The other Asari shook her head, "We can't afford to pay someone to just sit around and read crap like you."

"So charge more." My left shoulder twitched. "Or find a local investigator and pay them to analyze his history for you."

She blinked at me. "You think there are any locally?"

"Zaen isn't Ganar. There was a middle-class present in the city, and it's big enough there should have been a few. If there's any around I doubt they'd charge all that much for a report."

"I can handle that." We all glanced at Mirala, "We should meet again, more privately. Do you know the bar Dancing Cheth?"

The Quarian made a face. "It's a dive."

"And loud." The purple Asari pointed out. "Assuming we are not out of the city in one week, we meet there and I will disseminate what I have found."

And I would have to have Chang double-check it. From the cautious nods of the others, they were all planning on doing the same thing.

"Agreed then." I bowed my head politely, "Now if you'll excuse me, it's been a long fucking day. Sleep is in order."

There was a chorus of agreements to that, and we all pulled our helmets back on and filed out of the room.


Shadow Broker Report 987-BN0-Noverian Branch

Broker,

My apologies for the delay in this transmission, communications were on lockdown following the engagement. I can confirm most of the what the media is reporting and a few details at this time.

First, Matriarch Aethyta T'Voth and an Asari commando team was on planet and waiting for Arterius and T'Soni. This is honestly the most disconcerting engagement to have occurred, because that old bitch was setup and waiting like she knew they were coming. They took out most of T'Soni's honor guard, and if Arterius hadn't showed up T'Soni would have been a blue and purple smear on the ground.

Arterius crippled T'Voth badly enough that her people hauled her out of there and detonated charges they'd scattered through the place. Apparently that moronic Turian had been trying to breed Rachni from a frozen queen he'd found, and the blasts let them loose to start killing anything that moved. I have a confirmed video from a snowcrawler that the queen got out before the entire place blew, but she vanished after that. We might need to get agents in place to watch those old relays sir.

The last commandos got what's left of T'Voth off world at about the same time Shepard showed up. She and her team pounced on Arterius and T'Soni when they got back to Port Hanshan and kicked off a running brawl through the city. T'Soni went down early, she was too beat up and exhausted to put up much of a fight, but Arterius held out until that huge fucking dreadnought of his slammed into the ground just outside the city.

Things got confusing as hell after that sir. We know Shepard shot Arterius enough times to make the Alliance call it a kill, but I won't call that confirmed unless I see the Turian's cybernetic body in front of me. Once Sovereign boosted away things stayed confusing, Shepard lit off to join the space battle while Alliance Marines dropped down and secured the entire city.

I'll be sending more detailed reports as I'm given bandwidth to do so.

Agent Snow


Next up is Interlude VIII: Active Intelligence

Well we've now met the local general, gotten the basic idea for the plan that will occupy the next operation, and everyone is more or less in agreement with all of you that Krom was the one responsible for the direct attacks on the mercs. The next chapter will cover quite a few things, and will be longer as a result. Still not sure if the extra POV for this one will be Trena or Voya, but it'll be one of those two.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat


Review Responses:

GreaterGoodIreland → I keep meaning to go back and do a full report on just how many troops and ships each warlord has, but the amount of time that would take plus providing numbers for the Citadel groups for comparison is daunting...

BJ Hanssen → Ayup, this is about the point where canon receives a body blow thanks to Aethyta's interference. Expect news bits and background information to keep coming in to clarify a few things :)

TallyGirl02 → No Joa yet, sorry. She's coming though.

Tusken1602 → The Battle of the Citadel didn't occur, the Alliance & Citadel fleets engaged the geth near Noveria. The fallout is going to be... interesting.

5 Coloured Walker → Cieran and the others were on shuttle 3, the pilot was referencing that the other shuttles were already clear.