19 Hours 12 Units March 21st 2184
Planet Omega
Abandoned Spaceport
James' form crashed along a violent trajectory as the brilliant wave of destruction was unleashed. The former Systems Alliance marine heard the loud scraping of armor against pavement as his kinetic shields failed right before he continued along through a roll and eventually came to a rest a good distance away from the shuttle with his assault rifle clattering to a stop well away from James' reach.
As he looked up James spotted the massive form of the krogan bearing down on him from around the rear of the shuttle. Two cut down and heavily modified shotguns were held ready as he moved along toward the downed Cohort member with grim determination spread out across his scaly reptillian skin. James scrambled up and extended out his pistol while moving for cover. As the pistol unfolded the Cohort squad leader opened fire on krogan but the mass accelerated pellets were easily deflected away by the krogan's superior shielding as he continued along toward James.
Suddenly a new storm of shotgun fire bolstered James' forcing the krogan to abandon his war path and roll back to avoid being cut down. James' helmet receiver picked up a palpable roar from the larger alien and he dug in away from Bacek as the turian moved in with his shotgun ready. James stood up and moved to join his friend as he reacquired his assault rifle.
Unfortunately James' sensors picked up a new group of targets approaching fast and he realized that enemy reinforcements had to be coming to help out their buddies. Opening his com unit while moving along toward the landing ramp of the shuttle he noted where his fellow squad mates had secured Domus.
"Set up incendiary grenades at defensive points and prepare for some close quarters. Joavn get aboard the shuttle and get it ready for a fast lift. " The one time criminal nodded shortly to James and quickly swept aboard and into the shuttle and soon after Bacek and Cahleura hauled the weapons dealer aboard James knew the element of surprise was long gone and they'd have to buckle down to beat back this new wave of interlopers. James pulled a pair of portable barrier generators from his belt and placed them down strategically to still give his team good windows of fire.
The wave of reinforcements arrived soon after the barriers were erected and suddenly James' rifle was set and locked against his shoulder as he opened fire once more. This newest entrée into the battle was undoubtedly some mercenary force that Domus had hired as a backup. Red curved bolts of lightning decorated their shoulder pads and a pair of the symbols were perched mirror to one another on the crowns of the helmeted mercenaries. The Cohort squad leader wondered if the group had any connection to the raid on Fort Pride but he kept himself concentrated on disabling the threat they presented. James kept a steady rhythm of bursts going while Bacek's well trained precision was like that of an ancient hunter as he picked off his opponents. The turian's Haliat Armory Thunder IX delivered fast and vicious bursts directly to the heads of those targets unlucky enough to be caught with low shields. The end result was nothing short of a deadly art as the turian whittled through the advance squad and used either the barriers or the heavily armored shuttle whenever his shields were low.
Nina didn't fair so bad herself as she stood guard next to Tholam making sure to watch the salarian's back as the tech specialist's omni-tool played havoc with the equipment of the mercenaries. After one particular rapid succession of keys and a tap of the input command, the small motors in the armor of one of the advancing mercenaries were locked in place sending the rifleman tumbling forward in a crash as his control was cut; the human Cohort member had to grin at her squad mates ingenuity but she couldn't dwell on it long as more and more targets presented themselves.
Firing the finishing burst at a mercenary sniper James finally heard the shuttle's engines powering up signaling the Cohort's revised extraction plan. Using direct hand signals to the squad scattered around the abandoned spaceport he issued the order to fall in and prepare for their exit. Armored boots clanged up the landing ramp and James and Bacek slowly backed up to cover their squad mates exit. The squad leader swapped quickly to his Hydra VII shotgun and caught one of the mercenaries full on in the stomach as the operatives tried to stop the Cohort squad's retreat but it was too little to late. Preparing another charge just in case James followed Bacek up the ramp and soon enough the gangway lifted up and sealed behind the two almost as the ship lurched suddenly as it began it's ascent.
"Easy there Six, last thing we need is to loose our lunches." James said as he glanced at the bound and gagged weapons dealer and then continued. "Lids stay on, ship might be bugged with cams and recording devices so maintain silence unless it's an emergency." James said before seeing Tholam power up his omni-tool once more and began searching the vessel for such devices; James wasn't taking any chances with their package. As the shuttle headed out and away from the spaceport James made sure the safeties on his gear were set before settling in for the ride back to their actual extraction craft. They'd ditch the shuttle and take anything that might help them figure out what their next destination would be.
About a half hour later the Cohort squad was set in preparation to leave Omega and James stood in a doorway of the modified freighter the squad had used for their infiltration while he watched Cahleura and Arterius questioning Domus. James figured they'd only bring in Bacek if the weapons dealer didn't want to play ball but James hoped that the human might make things a whole lot easier and tell them his connection to the attack so they could all get a move on. So far it didn't seem the case.
"Just tell us why your name was found in a rover used by a crew to massacre those mercs and then maybe we can talk about you getting out of here. If not then I'm sure that some of your contacts would be very interested to hear what you told us while we had our nice chat." Cahleura said coldly while Arterius watched a monitor that kept watch over Domus' vitals, a preparatory measure should they need Bacek.
"You waste your time with such threats. My contacts know that their information is safe when they have the money for the services I provide. And as to your one link to me, I give my name to many people, how does that implicate me any more than any of you?" Domus said in a staunch tone that had decisive Russian tones to it. The human glared toward Arterius before Cahleura continued.
"Because you were in the process of selling amongst other things, modified weaponry whose serial numbers corresponds to those that were stolen from the Fort Pride facility." It was true they had found the weapons stashed in a crate aboard the shuttle but it didn't really fit the build of the meeting that had taken the squad a week of interrogation to uncover. There had to be something else and James knew the answers they sought lied with Domus.
For the moment he left his fellow squad mates to it and headed toward the gang plank to make sure the rest of the loading was going smoothly. Near some crates set to be loaded aboard the freighter Tholam studied the captured weapons hoping to find something else conclusive but the look on the salarian's thin face spelled it out to James.
"It's illogical that we've come all this way for some stolen weapons. These aren't even top of the line grade and their heat sink is speced for 5 round bursts. I can't figure how a mercenary organization could hold onto a structure with weapons outfitted in such a fashion." At those words something clicked in James' mind as to why the weapons were so important that Domus had gone to great lengths to keep the meeting under wraps. It wasn't the rifles it was what was in them and James had an idea he wouldn't like what it was.
Hands kept steady by precise concentration Tholam began to disassemble the rifle he had been looking over. It was a fairly easy process but James got the feeling whatever the weapon was hiding might not exactly be user friendly and so both he and the salarian had donned the heaviest armor they had brought for the mission. His faceplate lowered James watched as Tholam removed the outer casing of the item that fueled the limitless supply of pellets for the miniature mass accelerator that gave the current generation of weapons their lethality. Instead of one of the generic blocks of metal that was normally situated in the assembly there was a much smaller block situated with a decisively menacing looking explosive device.
James held his breath as Tholam carefully removed both items and once the charge from the explosive device was properly removed than the salarian began to investigate the bomb.
"This device is unlike anything I've ever seen being used by most conventional militaries. There are a few components that are foreign to me but I believe that the researchers back on the Citadel might have better luck than I."
"Whatever it is he went to a lot of effort to hide it and offload it. I think some people here on Omega were going to be given the shipment as payment for their work in other areas of this plot but we're still missing solid answers." James said a bit daunted that they seemed to be still skirting around another dead end. Before he continued a voice called out to him from the ship and he realized it belonged to Joavn.
"Sir Nina intercepted a transmission that was left for Domus. I think they figured he wouldn't answer so they left us a nice message." The human said with a grin as James moved told Tholam to get the mysterious device sealed up to prevent it from possibly threatening the squad in any way and followed Joavn to where the team had taken the communication suite that had been precisely removed from the shuttle and loaded onto the freighter so that they could get all possible information from it without having to haul the entire ship.
At her work station Nina was working on her terminal setup as some audio played on a loop. As the voices spoke James recognized an all too familiar turian voice as the speakers.
"Domus I need you to pack up and get to Elysium to meet us there. The demonstration is moving forward due to the increased Citadel activity in the sector and we believe even the Alliance might be close to uncovering our operations here. You must tread carefully my friend but do not let your faith falter. With this demonstration we shall deal a staggering blow to not only the Alliance but we shall also strengthen the resolve of those who have been hesitant to join us. Once they see the test they'll realize that we have spoken the truth and they shall flock to our banner." Hearing Troaviel's voice left James feeling a bit lost for words. He hadn't considered that his former fellow squad leader would be part of this newest threat but he'd be lying if he said he didn't look forward to seeing the turian again. The message didn't given them an exact route but it was at least a solid lead that might just bring them face to face with a betrayer and all the closer to unraveling this newest mystery that was posed to strike at the galaxy.