2174 CE

"Citadel Security has announced this morning that the gunfire heard last night in the Presidium was the result of a raid conducted by one Spectre Tela Vasir and a team of Asari Commandos. The target of their operation was one Michael Hunter, a prominent businessman living on the Presidium who had discreetly been involved in all manner of illegal activities according to the Spectre's investigations. C-Sec has expressed concern at the revelation of a powerful criminal living right here on the Presidium but what their plans may be concerning the immediate and not so immediate future, they did not disclose."

"I still have mixed feelings about Hunter and his family." Templar quietly declared.

"What's there to have mixed feelings about?" Jason shrugged in the pilot seat of the Tempest. "Guy was a criminal that funded pirates, slavers, and worse. He got what was coming to him."

"Well, yeah, but did you have to make him watch his family's death?" Templar returned. "That was a bit... dark."

"Imagine for a moment the amount of misery this man has indirectly caused." Jason started. "This was just him getting a taste of his own medicine, so to speak."

"I guess you're right." Templar resigned.

"No use thinking about it now, we've gotta get that bread." Jason proclaimed as the Tempest spun back around to face the planet they were approaching, its speed now low enough for an approach.

Jason's participation in the aforementioned operation with Tela Vasir and the Asari Commandos had given him some concern regarding his position and whether or not he was drawing too much attention but it had also given him a heightened sense of exhilaration. For the past week or so Jason searched for a job that would offer more of a challenge and he found it on this planet he was now approaching.

Some Volus had rubbed certain people the wrong way with his business so now said people now wanted him dead. Fortunately for Jason, the Volus was able to afford a substantial bodyguard in the form of highly trained and equipped mercenaries led by a highly experienced Asari Commando. Jason figured that the job would offer a good challenge so he went for it - the credits were good too.

It was night in the city and in the downtown area of that city was a large warehouse that sat underneath the gaze of the planet's moon, its full brightness not reached for this night but would for other nights. Perching himself on the rooftop of a nearby building and having turned off the red-orange light on his helmet, Jason now overlooked the warehouse that contained his target and his prize. Jason spotted 4 guards on the outside of the warehouse, 2 of them standing together in a static position and the other 2 moving together on a patrol around the perimeter of the warehouse.

One of the stationary guards was a Turian while his compatriot was a Salarian with the two patrolling guards being both Asari. Jason's sensors showed more heat signatures inside the warehouse itself but after a period of observation, he concluded that these four would be the only ones present on the outside until there was cause for alarm. Satisfied, Jason now drew his sniper rifle, Praedyth's Revenge, from his back and lined up for a shot.

All of his weapons were more powerful than their contemporary counterparts in this Galaxy but that was due more to his superhuman strength as a Guardian. His weapons used Mass Effect technology but where normal weapons needed to restrict their yields for the safety of its user, Jason's weapons were afforded much more freedom that allowed them greater firepower. Mass Effect guns could literally launch slugs at a speed that would result in a massive explosion at the impact site and they do, on Dreadnaughts. Small arms used the same system, but they were scaled down. Krogan, thanks to their natural strength, and the Geth, due to their synthetic frame, were able to wield small arms with a greater yield than what was more commonly available.

One such example was the Widow, famously used by Legion in Mass Effect 2, a weapon that was devastating enough to be enlisted in the role of combating enemy armour. Jason's sniper rifle, Praedyth's Revenge, was similar to the Widow. Where his other weapons might need 1 or more shots to break an enemy's kinetic barrier, save for perhaps his shotgun at close range and his rocket launcher, his sniper rifle completely ignored the shield of a combatant. The biggest difference between it and the Widow was that the Widow could only fire 1 slug before it needed to be cooled whereas Praedyth's Revenge could fire 5 with a theoretical rate of fire of 140 slugs per minute, ignoring cooling times.

Now, this weapon was aimed at the torso of the unfortunate Turian that was standing beside the Salarian. He lifted his right index finger off the trigger guard and had it come to rest on the trigger itself, taking deep breaths. He exhaled and once the air exited his lungs he pulled the trigger back and felt the stock of the weapon kick backwards against his shoulder as the gun's sights shot upwards and rightwards. Because the sights were linked up to his helmet, he didn't have to physically look through the scope and was able to admire the impact of the fired slug through his helmet's sensors suite.

The slug flew through the air and impacted right into the Turian's stomach. The kinetic force of the slug pushed the Turian backwards at the point of entry before the explosive slug detonated, splitting the Turian in two as his upper and lower halves fell to the ground uncoordinatedly. The force of the explosion knocked the Salarian standing beside him back, ever so slightly, as well as painting the Salarian with some of the blood from the Turian.

As the Salarian watched his friend's body impact with the concrete ground, he did not realise that it would also be the moment he, too, would meet a similar fate. Jason didn't aim for the torso this time, though, as a slug dug itself into the Salarian's helmet and split his head open like a popped balloon.

The two Asari only had enough time to raise their rifles before one of them met the same fate as the Salarian and the second one found a slug digging into her just under one of her collar bones before detonating and sending one of her arms away from the rest of her body as it was kicked to the ground.

Having fired 4 slugs, Jason allowed the weapon to cool as the thrusters located on the back of his chest piece and on the sides of his greaves fired and launched him across to another rooftop towards the targetted warehouse.

As he got closer to the warehouse entrance, Jason stowed his sniper rifle and drew forth his machine gun as he jumped off the rooftop he was on and used his thrusters to break his fall. Templar opened the front door for him as he rushed in and round himself in a small corridor and found 3 mercenaries rushing towards the intrusion. Their surprise at his arrival allowed him to begin firing first which ended up being the only deciding factor as said mercenaries did not have the chance to return fire.

Having cleared the corridor, Jason moved up to a hard-right turn but as he rounded the corner he was greeted by the concentrated fire of a group of mercenaries all behind some form of cover. He was only able to take down a single mercenary before he had to retreat back around the corner as his shields broke under the concentrated fire, priming a flashbang grenade as he did so. Owing to their training, the mercenaries did not cease their fire after his retreat, opting to keep him pinned behind the corner as some of their numbers were so doubt advancing upon his position.

With this fact in mind, Jason decided to throw his grenade onto the wall and have it bounce into the corridor where the mercenaries were. He heard one of them yell out as his flashbang bounced in amongst them and no doubt many of them would have gotten into cover or some such but it'd do them no good. As soon he heard the flashbang detonate, he jumped back out from the corner and sent forth his high explosive slugs and watched as his victims were rendered into mutilated carcasses.

He would encounter a rather similar resistance down the track when he rounded a T-intersection and began receiving fire from a mounted machine gun. This time, however, the enemy was at a far too great of a distance for Jason to be able to rely on his grenades. He fired multiple slugs into the enemy position as he retreated but the turret's armour plating was too thick as his slugs detonated on the armour, causing only minimal damage. There was, however, a small viewport on the turret but a shot on a target that small at a distance this large would require a little more precision.

Stowing his machine gun, he drew Praedyth's Revenge once more and calculated his plan. Once again, the enemy's fire did not relent and from his sensors, he could see multiple signatures coming around on the flanks.

Ah, classic. Jason thought. Keep the enemy pinned with machine-gun fire and have mobile elements advance upon their flanks.

Jason would not allow the enemy to see their tactic come to fruition, however, as he popped back out from the corner and lined up the shot with his sniper rifle, his shields threatening to break once more and break they did. A single slug exited the barrel of his weapon as his shields finally gave out but the enemy fire did not continue. Having taken out the turret operator, he once again moved forward.

The slugs from two Salarians impacted on Jason's shields before his own slugs broke theirs and dug into their flesh, exploding not long after. As he made to move on a crate flew at him and he had to roll to the side to avoid an impact. Jason quickly got up and saw the sight of the thing he had most anticipated all this time.

His anticipation was interrupted when the Commando used her biotics to charge right into him as he felt the force of a truck slam into him and was thrown backwards right into the crate he thought he had rightfully dodged. The Commando sent forth another ability but this time Jason used his thrusters to quickly dodge to the right, the Commando's power enveloping the aforementioned crate and lifting it upwards.

Jason began firing on the Commando with his machine gun but only two slugs detonated on her shields before she raised another hand to form a biotic barrier and brought down her other hand, sending the levitating crate right into the side of the human. Jason was not even firmly back on his feet when the Asari Commando's slugs from her machine pistol began impacting on his already damaged shields and he knew he had to seek cover.

Activating his thrusters once more, he flew himself backwards around a large shipping container and heard the Commando's slugs impact on the container's metal. Jason's reprieve was short-lived as he saw a singularity quickly forming at his feet before he launched himself upwards, above the shipping container, and began firing on the Commando from his elevated position. This time it was the Asari's turn to seek cover as the human landed on the container and continued firing upon her.

In his eagerness, however, Jason overheated his machine gun and quickly had to begin letting it vent thus giving the Asari an opening for an attack - one she would not pass up. Shooting out from cover, the Commando fired a biotic pull at him and Jason suddenly found himself levitating before he was shot towards his opponent. As Jason was flying through the air, the Asari decided on another biotic charge and Jason found himself taking on the impact of a speeding truck two-fold.

He felt the metal floor impact with the back of his head as he tried to regain his bearings and, more importantly, tried to find where the Asari Commando was. He saw her coming right at him with her right arm pulled back and her fist encompassed in a biotic glow. Jason redirected the Asari's fist to the side before launching an elbow right at her throat. His attack his stopped by one of the Commando's arms as the other was pulled back once more - this time connecting with Jason's stomach. Jason countered with his own punch, blocked by both of the Asari's arms but it did separate the two as Jason reached down to his belt and drew his knife.

Not allowing the Asari to summon more of her biotic powers, Jason boosted himself forward with his thrusters and now held his knife with both hands with the tip pointed directly at the woman's neck. The thrust was swatted aside as one of the Commando's elbows slammed into Jason's helmet, his momentum and her strike causing him to fall on his back. The Asari lifted one of her legs and tried to bring it right down on top of Jason's own neck but he, too, swatted the attack aside and pulled the woman down onto the ground with him.

He climbed over her and made another attempt at her neck with his knife but she blocked it before the blade found its target. Jason attempted to keep pushing downwards towards the Asari's neck but with one of her hands, she launched him up into the air and rolled herself away before gravity brought him back down towards the ground. Jason got back up and prepared for more hand-to-hand combat when he saw a thin metal pipe flying forwards him.

The pipe hit him on the stomach covered only by the soft suit, just above the belt, but the pipe did not stop as it punctured his suit, his skin, and his organs - coming out on the other side as he was impaled by the rod launched by the Asari's biotics. Jason looked down to confirm the obvious as he saw his own blood exit his armour and begin dripping down. He fell down to both knees and look up at his assailant, defeated.

Vienne was exhausted. When she first heard that they were under attack she had been expecting a team of law enforcement or something along those lines but it was just a single person with a single glowing eye on their helmet. This one-eyed creature slaughtered all her troops like some unthinking war machine fit only for killing, without any form of hesitation or remorse. She was used to death, of course, but the manner in which this creature dealt it chilled even her.

Finally, it was up to her to stop this beast and she succeeded in doing so but now he was exhausted. It took every ounce of strength and stamina, both physical and biotic, to stop this creature and it left her with bruises, fractures, and possibly worse. In the end, however, the beast was laid low and now knelt in front of her as she approached to deal the killing blow - her fist developing the glow of biotics.

As she got close, she was stopped in her tracks by a sound. The creature was... laughing. After having dealt all this death and it itself being on death's door, the creature was laughing. It was such an immensely unpleasant sound that Vienne felt disgust build up inside of her as she raised her fist and brought it down onto the creature's helmet, hearing an audible crack that would have been the helmet, the skull, and the neck.

At last, the creature fell down for the final time and Vienne exhaled all that was left in her lungs. She examined the creature one last time, taking in his odd-looking armour, before turning around. She was only able to take 3 steps before she heard a sound behind her and witnessed some kind of light. Before she even knew what the source of the disturbance was, she felt a sharp object pierce into her chest directly into her heart.

The... thing was alive as if all its wounds had been magically undone and its knife was dug right into her heart and one of her lungs. She coughed once, spewing out blood. Placing a hand on her back, the creature lowered her onto the ground. Amidst the panic and confusion swelling within her mind, she heard the creature speak.

"Find peace in the embrace of the goddess."

With those words, Vienne's racing mind was calmed somewhat and she accepted the darkness as it claimed her.

Jason found the Volus hiding away in a small room. The Volus quickly began speaking to try and avoid his fate but Jason simply raised his hand cannon and fired a slug into his head. Jason took the Volus' Omni-tool and snapped a few pictures before turning to leave.

Something on your mind? Templar whirred in his mind.

The Asari Commando. Jason replied. I dunno, I kind of feel bad.

You do? Templar asked.

It seemed a little unfair. Jason explained. All that effort and she rightfully won the fight... but I just got back up. Of course, I wasn't just going to let her walk away but... I guess life's a bitch, huh?

That's definitely true. Templar accepted.

I suppose it's better to die fighting, though. Jason thought. Out of all the ways she could have gone out, considering her occupation, this was probably one of the better options.

Ah, well. Time to get out of here before the cops arrive. Jason concluded.