Chapter Summary
Saren is annoyed with crass language, and Garrus is trying to be a good person while the darkness whispers sweetly of blood and vengeance, and Nihlus? Nihlus is having fun, till he's not. When Nihlus isn't having fun, nobody is having fun.
Chapter Notes
Lexicon: Quiritus - Turian Closed Dialect equivalent to 'ladies and gentlemen'. (Credit: MizDirected)
Torin - Turian word for male adult. (Credit: MizDirected)
Nais – Pronoun for Asari (Credit: MizDirected)
Kava - Dextro equivalent to Caffeine (Credit: Chromaticism)
[Wiki Entry] M-97 Viper, a Rapid-fire military sniper rifle. Incredibly accurate and deadly at long range, these weapons are popular amongst infiltrators and assassins. Very effective against armor; somewhat effective against shields and biotic barriers. Upgrades the Mantis sniper rifle. Rosenkov Materials developed this deadly weapon in response to the rising prevalence of kinetic barriers. While kinetic barriers still offer some protection from this weapon, its sheer power and rapid rate of fire make it capable of quickly killing almost any target, regardless of its defenses. (Credit: Mass Effect Wiki)
(A/N: I love this rifle. Garrus uses it, because author-chan says so. He has a combat scanner mod on it, which raises head shot damage by 50%, and a custom piercing mod that boosts the kinetic coil generators for another 40% overall damage, and extra penetration. oola~la~.)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The outbuilding had precisely no computer access, just a lone terminal for checking fluid levels of some kind. They deliberated for a moment between going straight for the central structure, or trying the next outbuilding. More information would be nice, but if Eclipse mercenaries had taken over the facility... it was a moot point.
Garrus chimed in on the coms with a single nonverbal click, a request to speak.
"Go ahead, Vakarian."
"I've got some bad news, Quiritus. Activity on the far side of the main complex, looks like a few non-combatants being herded to machinery at gunpoint. Looks like... they're doing something to one of the silo-shaped machines. It's got a pressure gauge on it, that's all I can tell you."
"How many of each?"
"Two armed, five civilians."
"What are they wearing?"
"They, ah... the civilians are in a uniform, company logo on the sleeve. The other two are in piece-meal armor sets... Eclipse insignia on the pauldrons."
"Understood. We've encountered Eclipse here as well. Their leader seems to be an Asari, potentially on the upper level of the main building. See if you can get eyes-on."
"10-4... I mean, affirmative. Sorry, been with C-Sec too long."
"I understand police radio short hand, feel free to use it if you wish."
"Alright. Nihlus...?"
"Yep, I'm good."
"Right well... I'm not seeing anything on the second level. I'll keep an eye on the windows."
The Spectres moved back to the side door, and quit the building. Cautiously moving around the back side, and then sprinting the distance to cover. This was repeated a few times to get into range of the main complex. They hit the wall of the central metalworks, and crouched along the side. Nihlus ended up closer to the corner, peaking around it for an instant to check for hostiles. Two guards, also bearing the black-on-yellow 'sunflare brand' of Eclipse mercenaries. Nihlus opened up coms at a whisper.
"Hey Blue, can you see the doorway on the south-east side? It's in a bit of a dent, two mooks standing guard."
"Seriously, 'mooks'?"
"Shoosh, smart ass. Can you?"
"I'm moving around a sizable boulder right now, should have a better angle on the eastern face, just a minute... … Yeah, okay. I see them."
"I'm going to take out the one on the right, you take the left. Ready?"
"One... second... yes, ready."
"On three. One... Two..." In the absence of three he spun out of cover, knife in hand. A flick of wrist sent the blade flying, the low speed of the projectile ignored by kinetic shields, and it sunk into the Salarian's head at dead center. Idiot hadn't worn a helmet. Within a heart beat a near silent 'fffwip' sounded, and the other merc's brain matter splattered the doorway. The two Spectres moved in quickly, Saren dropping down to search for a key-card while Nihlus covered them. The first didn't have one, but the second did.
In they went, the older Spectre jamming a nearby security camera that had likely gotten a quick peak at them. A terminal stood nearby. He hacked into it and had the building's remaining security looping it's feed in short order. Then he began to dig for intel, and with mainframe access it wasn't hard to find. The metalworks had been taken over to supply Eclipse directly, an idiotic rank climber among their leadership had seen the target as easy pickings, likely not knowing it's previous clientele had been government contracts. The engineering alloys it was producing weren't being sold at all, they were being shipped straight to an Eclipse ship yard, with a small portion siphoned off to a mech production facility.
Saren's reaction was a study in, 'Let me tell you all the ways in which that is unacceptable.' Nihlus' was more along the lines of 'All of my nope, not just some of it, nono, alllll of my nope.'
"Vakarian."
"I'm here."
"Security is disabled, if you see any targets that are out of sight lines from discovery, take them out."
"Understood."
Thus began a long stream of stealth take-downs, intended to continue until discovery or mission completion.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Cobalt and black armor turned purple hued in the sunset as Garrus wound along the outskirts of the facility. He had permission to seek out stand-alone targets, and intended to make the most of it. If it had come to a forceful retaking of the complex, he wasn't about to look like a decorative wall hanging when the kill counts came up.
The next unfortunate merc came into view, a lone guard standing outside the second outbuilding.
Breathe in.
Check your numbers, your angles, your environment.
Breathe out.
Aim.
Breathe in.
Wait for low space in between heartbeats.
Breathe out.
Fire.
The Viper rocked in his grip, a quick jerk that was mostly calmed by the internal recoil suppression. A quiet 'cha-thunk' of the internal mechanism called out in time with the jerk, and the hostile dropped.
One shot, one kill.
He pressed forward and down the hill, finding a cleft to slide into, dropping his altitude quickly without a damaging fall. Catching his feet in a pile of scree at the bottom, he moved in a crouch toward a new perch. Still at a good angle, half as high as the main building, he took a look around with his new perspective from the north side.
Another doorway, two guards outside. His rifle had a twelve-shot clip, sure, but two head shots in a row with insufficient cool down time to re-aim fully between shots... he could do it. He'd done it before. No real hurry, for all of the... admittedly pleasant tension running through his limbs, and his team mates hadn't commed back about anything in a while, so Garrus took the time to really check his numbers, and practice the aim-fire-aim-fire twice through.
Breathe in...
Aim.
Wait for the heartbeat to come... and go.
Fire.
Aim.
Fire.
Two shots, two kills.
Admittedly, the second one hadn't been dead center, a hint to the right and lower down. He made a mental note.
An Omni-tool scan of the area showed no major movement of patrols or drones, so he moved on. The sniper trailed farther north, a short climb, a full tilt run along some cliffs heading west, and stopped at a likely perch around the north-west side of the building.
Now this was a good angle. One Eclipse napping, -napping-, on a cargo crate, another set of two by a door to the main complex, and a solo merc by the third outbuilding. None of them in sight of each other except for the two by the doorway. Perfect.
Breathe. Check numbers. Aim. Wait for it... fire… fire… fire... fire.
Four shots, four kills.
Still no word from the Spectres, he pushed farther around the plateau, having to go slower with the limited cover. It was likely why he noticed movement in a window. Garrus paused, seeing no more motion, and moved on seeking a place to get a good look into that window. It was going on full dark now, which made movement precarious, but also let him creep closer without being easily seen.
He came around a small rise, higher up then he wanted to be, but it was enough to see into the room, and get a look at a horror story. The torin had to turn away for a minute and swallow back the bile that tried to escape his throat at the sight. An Asari, not more then twenty five or so, was curled up on the floor. Her naked prepubescent body had only the bruises to cover her. He moved around, using the terrain to get the right angles to scope out that section of building.
It appeared to be a series of storage rooms, only partially climate controlled he would guess by the lack of A/C units on the roof. It's heating and air filtration was bound to be comparatively poor to the rest of the facility. He assumed the mercenaries had taken over the staff's actual living area themselves, and shoved their forcefully acquired workers into this space instead. No access points for runners to escape.
He crept forward cautiously, just close enough to get a scan of the interior and ground beneath. Nothing below it, not even plumbing to provide water. Worrisome. The fuzzy layout results showed around fifty life signs, mostly clumped together. A few, like the young Asari, were alone and horizontal at floor level. He forcibly didn't consider that further. When he had some solid facts to share he taped the coms once, Saren replied within moments.
"Vakarian."
"Building off to the north west side of the facility, connected by a sky-bridge on the third floor. Looks to be a series of storage units, currently filled with staff, but not enough to be the full roster. Maybe forty or so civilians, and some guards. I'm guessing they let them out to do their jobs in batches, and put them back in here when done. Some are in bad shape, signs of physical abuse. There's no external entrance, just a few windows that don't open."
"Acknowledged."
The line went dead. Garrus tried to keep from feeling frustrated. He had half expected Saren to give him orders to move in and... no, no... he wouldn't have. Garrus was here as a sniper. He was supposed to be cover fire, leaving the up close and personal to the Spectres. He really,rrealllllly, wanted to say 'fuck that', and go rescue those people. Right now. The only things stopping him were that he absolutely did not want to be disbarred from coming on future mission with them, and well... those people were probably safest right where they were, for now. He could help best by finding a really good perch, and killing more potential dangers to them.
A long, steadying breath. 'Alright. Fine.'
A quiet sort of rage in his eyes, Garrus Vakarian went hunting.
The next several minutes passed by in a haze, his color-washed form darted between boulders in the darkness, nimbly climbing and roughly dropping, finding creative perches and killing every group of Eclipse he found. One situation had involved lining up two heads in a row, waiting the half a tic for a double tap, and then re-aiming to a third.
Three shots, three kills.
It was about that time that the alarm was raised, all was still for a moment and then... hostiles began swarming out of the woodwork. He risked a com request for location from the Spectres, hoping to get eyes-on in case they needed him. Nihlus replied with vague directions underscored by gunfire, but enough to work with.
More cliffs, more boulders, more sprinting open spaces and leaping crags.
He pulled around the south eastern side of building to see Saren going toe to toe with a triad of Asari in full biotic bloom. Nihlus was running pell-mell from cover to cover, taking down reinforcements. The silver-grey Spectre's fight plunged into the side of a processing center, disappearing into misty shadows of billowing steam. Garrus noticed distantly that the power seemed to have been cut as he began lining up shots.
"Sniper!" Went out the cry, like music to his ears.
'Yes. Yes there is a sniper. Start running, feel free to scream. I'd like to end you while you flee in terror. Those good people you've turned into slaves and brutalized deserve no less.' Some part of his mind was a little sickened at the vicious thoughts, but another part of him reveled in it. Behind this scope he was judge-jury-executioner, and he wanted justice, paid in full.
He reloaded for the second time, shoving the mental high-and-low far away. Now was not the time to enjoy his work, and it was not the place to get emotional. He needed to be calm and focused.
As the numbers started to thin out Nihlus opted to follow after Saren, and Garrus cleaned up any who remained in view. When there was nothing but wind moving outside, he began working his way down to the facility. He wasn't about to sit outside and twiddle his thumbs patiently. He was beyond caring if he got away with it.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Lieutenant L'athai was having a rough day, which was unfortunate really, as it had been proceeded by quite a few good days in a row.
The Eclipse's 'Bloody Lohera Sisters' were fighting the upstart Turian who thought he was a real biotic, as if any non-Asari ever really could be. How precious.
Though their side wasn't holding up nearly so well as should be expected before his shitty, graceless onslaught of heavy pistol and warps. How a Turian had gotten to the skill level of tossing out 1700 newtons of force... whatever, didn't matter if he was dead, did it?
So! It was time for a change in tactics. Leaving behind a few people to show them down, the nais took the nearby Eclipse and lead them to the 'luxury accommodations' where they'd left the workers when they didn't need them. Time to see if hostages could be used against the ugly grey asshole.
They only made it part way back through the facility before the red one popped out of a side door, with a cheeky, "Hello there! Miss me?", given before he leapt for cover. 'Shit. No time... there! You'll do.'
Morai grabbed a young man, one of the brats they'd put to work scrubbing floors, tugging him forward from his hiding spot behind some piping. The smelting equipment in the large room gave off a great deal of steam, which the nais backed into while attempting to begin... negotiations.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Nihlus leveled his pistol at the nais with a seemingly cheerful smile. The whip-thin Salarian boy began crying behind yellow and black gauntlets. He struggled to keep the smile on his face, that poor kid...
"Oh come on, hostages, really? You think Spectres give two shits about damage control? Pfffffft."
Out of the whirling steam came the slow but inexorable footsteps of his former mentor, walking out of the miasma dripping purple from a blood soaked arm, rivulets of Asari blood running down the faux talons of his gloves.
Looks like someone had torn out a throat or two.
"Let the kid go. Now." Came from the... ceiling? Nihlus chanced looking up, his fake-smile fell into a more honest smirk at the sight of Blue crouched in the rafters, no where near any visible way up, his rifle aimed unerringly at the Eclipse leader's head. Protective of children, was he?Spirits, he lo... liked that torin.
'Smoo~th, Kyrik. Lying to yourself?' Came his thoughts, to which he replied while returning his gaze to the situation at hand. 'Not lying... refusing to start that bullshit. It's another never-going-to-happen, just... let it go.'
'Like Saren?'
'Shut up, I'm busy. Yes, like Saren.'
His subconscious laughed at him.
"Well crazy bitch, time to surrender."
"You think I'm stupid? Ha! Eclipse owns this place now. It's ours, you hear me? I'll kill every last worker and blow it to pieces before I let you take it back! It's my ticket to greatness, and the likes of you aren't welcome here!" Nihlus blinked. He hadn't meant the 'crazy' part as more then offhand insult, but by the sound of it he wasn't too far off the mark. Saren stepped forward.
"This facility is to be returned to it's original operation, by order of the Citadel Council. Stand down, and you will be extradited to your respective legal systems for processing. Resist, and die." The nais squeezed the kid's neck in her anger, and it popped alarmingly. Salarian necks were fragile.
"Fuck..." The little boy made a squeak.
'Oh spirits, no.. no no no. He's just a-'
"YOU." Crunch.
She dropped him to the floor like so much detritus, one of her lackeys tossing another hostage to her. She smiled at them like a mad dog.
Nihlus was suddenly gone, no sign of the affable torin remained, the bloodless shell that stood in his place rocketed forward to end the child-killer with dead eyes and grasping talons.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Garrus swallowed hard, deeply... something. Upset? Fascinated? Terrified? To see Nihlus change like this.
Saren was unnerving at times, he'd noticed, because nothing really bothered him. Sociopathic. Saren couldn't care less about threats or mission cost or collateral damage. He didn't care if you had family, or not, were good or evil person. He came, he saw, he killed everyone in his way, and he left.
Even keel and unflappable, that was Saren Arterius in combat and in life.
Nihlus was his counter point. He thought he saw why the council not only allowed but encouraged them to pair up frequently. Nihlus tried to evacuate civilians, tried to minimize the disturbance of Spectre work to the people around them, was generally reasonable and good natured.
Optimistic and open hearted, a gentle tug on Saren's rampant destruction when displeased.
Not now.
The moment the nais had killed the Salarian boy for show Nihlus had become cold, instantly, like a snap-freeze. Not emotionless, but icy, icy rage.
Threats hit deaf ears, all bets off, Nihlus moved, aimed like a mac-canon at the monster who'd turned the metalworks into a slave camp, a screech of terror had been the nais' last words.
He'd begun to slaughter the remaining Eclipse forces with extreme prejudice.
'It doesn't suit.' Thought Garrus, feeling a shiver run down his spine, leg muscles primed to run, fight-or-fight instincts buzzing. 'It just does not suit. Nihlus is -supposed to be...- warm. He's summertime. Laughter. Where did this... blizzard come from?'
Garrus wondered, not for the first time, why he felt poetic when keyed up.
He took a few shots, but having issues seeing in the stirring mist, chose to scramble across the rafters to a way down. He circled the room, using the equipment as cover. Choosing targets carefully.
He came around the edge of a machine and caught sight of Saren, joining him in cover. The other Spectre was taking pot shots at the enemies as they scattered in the wake of the... snap freeze. Grenade explosions rattled the room, echoing loudly, leaving a ringing in his aural cavity. Saren leaned over, and laid a startlingly warm hand on his shoulder.
His voice low, he calmly reassured, "It's fine."
Garrus shook his head once, hard. Realizing that his subvocals had been broadcasting a low note of distress.
"It's not fine. He's not fine. Where did this come from and how to we make it stop?" Saren hummed softly, a soothing purr of subvocals he'd never expected to hear from the torin, as he fired upon hostiles that had foolishly turned their backs on the two in favor of keeping aim on Nihlus' last seen location.
Or maybe not so foolishly, as screams rang out in the murky dark.
"It's not going to stop until there are no hostiles remaining. Nihlus... does not like to see children used in such a manner."
"Under. Statement." Saren nodded in easy agreement. Garrus turned back to the... carnage was really the only appropriate word, though that would make it sound as if he could see half of what was going on. Between the smog from the smeltery equipment, and the haze of... so many grenades, it was hard to tell what was happening.
Suddenly Nihlus' words from that long ago conversation over kava trickled into his mind. 'I enjoy fighting in limited visibly conditions. I'm fast. I don't need to see. I can hear, and I can smell. No one sees me coming. I'm not sure even a scope that can see through smoke and aerial debris would help all that much.'
'I see what you mean now.' Garrus thought, distantly agreeing with the words he had vehemently disagreed with before. He lifted his rifle, and took aim.
At least he could try and end this quicker. He wouldn't feel right until he could see Nihlus behind his own eyes again. He wanted to bring back summer.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Chapter End Notes
[Author's Codex] Closed or Forbidden Dialects
While most species are happy to have Universal Translators automatically break the language barrier for them, some dialects and languages are not available for automatic translation. The reason for this ranges from difficulty of interpretation, to protection of cultural heritage written into galactic law. Hanar bio-luminescence, for example, has a poetic flow to it's words that are modified by the movement of the speaker's tentacles. This has proven too difficult to fully translate, as each basic color flash has nearly sixteen variations, thus a simplified version is all that comes through on UniTs. Another choice example is the elaborate language of the Turian Closed Dialect, a blending of their unique subvocals, a variety of sounds that aren't entirely verbal, and a semi-formal language used only when in the company of other Turians. Though the Closed Dialect is a complete language unto itself, it is most often used in a blend with the Turian trade tongue, pulling words in that have particular emotional sensitivity to them, such as terms of endearment or family. The Drell and Raloi languages are also available in limited translation, as both have 'high-speak' and 'low-speak', the low speak is used in their day to day affairs, and the high is to be used only for moments of significance, such as religious ceremonies or political peace talks. Lastly, obscure languages that are not widely known, local slang that appears and fades too quickly, and words used out of context can sometimes cause translator glitches that will take a UniTs a bit of time and a few tries to properly convey. (Credit: Canon, MizDirected, Author blend. It's a mind-canon lovechild, enjoy.)
Fanfic Recommendation: Sound the Clarion (153,255 words) by Amber Penglass (FemShep/Garrus, way AU, takes place mostly on Palaven!)
