"I really hate these private security outfits! They don't even offer any real protection. Why can't I just get some normal combat armour?" Guy was lounging around in Edan's private residences with the rest of his team that had to remain on Camala because of their current employer's paranoia. To make sure that no one mistaken them for mercenaries they had been ordered to wear uniforms of a private security firm based on Camala so as not to arouse suspicion and question why they were there. Most of the team were else ware apart from two, a Batarian called Jorn Ese'Raun and a human who was a new recruit to the Blue Suns and Guy had only bothered to learn his first name, Jake. Ese'Raun walk over to the window and said
"For the last three days all you've done is complain. Can you shut your damn mouth for one minute and give my ears some peace?"
"Careful Jorn. I'm in charge here so don't go giving me orders. Got that." His tone gave Jorn the none too subtle hint that if he spoke out again he would probably be flying out of the window.
"We'll see." The batarian didn't seem too impressed.
"What do you think is happening with the mission sir?"
"How the fuck should I know? Bellius should be calling in anytime to give us an update, once he's done it's a matter of killing a girl and we're all done. Payday and I did fuck all!" Jake was nervous around Guy and that was the way he liked it. If his men feared him more than anything else, then he could keep them in line and stop them from second questioning his orders.
"In my opinion that's the best kind of job. No risk and maximum reward."
"Well I prefer to get my hands dirty and earn my credits." Guy leaned back in his seat and put his feet up on a table while he put his hands behind his head. Before another word was said the door whooshed open revealing Edan in the door way. Jorn and Jake both turned to face him while Guy remained seated. Edan was the not happy from the reception he got from Guy which only served making his mood even worse.
"I'm getting impatient. Why haven't we heard anything from your team yet?" he walked into the room and sat at a chair behind a desk and folded his arms. Guy sat up and pointed at his men and then at the door. Jake left immediately but Jorn stood still for a few seconds until Guy spun his head to look him straight on which did cause him to move towards the door. After they had both gone Guy spoke
"If I had gone on the mission then you would have heard by now and we'd be all done and on our way home." Edan leaned forward
"You are staying were I can see you, I don't want you compromising this whole operation." With a breath he added "Are you sure your man can handle it?"
"Who Bellius? Yeah he's good and as soon as he calls and gives us the good news then I can finally leave and get out of these stupid clothes." Almost on que his personal vid console he had brought with him started to bleep. "Speak of the devil" Guy activated the console and sure enough appearing before him was Bellius. "Bellius, calling to give us the good news? I've got the money man with me right now and he's been eagerly awaiting this very call." Bellius didn't answer right away and when he did he sounded off.
"Erm… yeah about the mission. I'm sorry to report that we ran into complications." Guy widened his eyes and through gritted teeth asked
"What complications?!" The reply took some time to come but when it did Bellius spoke with all the confidence he could muster.
"An Alliance ship, the SSV Hastings arrived at the planet before we could complete the mission, so we are unaware if it was fully successful." Guy slowly turned his head towards Edan who was trying to contain seething rage. He turned back to Bellius.
"Tell me EXACTALLY what happened in the mission and DON'T leaving anything out." Bellius' mandibles twitched indicating he was nervous but did as he was instructed.
"We first of all intercepted the cargo transport ship and stopped it from sending out any messages to the planet or anyone else. Using the contact details provided we landed two frigates at the landing zone and neutralised the security personnel there while the third frigate remained in space to monitor for other ships in the area."
"Okay, all sounds good. Carry on."
"After we had secured the landing pad the assault team then descended into the main facility which was located nearly a mile underground, so we had no way to communicate with them. It was only when some of the team came up escorting Dr Qian while the others cleaned up the rest of the operation we noticed it. That was when our scanners picked up the mass relay's activation, so we bailed leaving the half assault team in the base. As we were leaving we found out it was an Alliance ship that activated the rely, so we jumped to FTL before they could find out we we're there." Guy took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled the same way as he took the details of the mission on board.
"Ah shit. Right Bellius bring the doctor here at once, I don't want any other fuck ups before he's been delivered." Bellius nodded and looked relieved but it was short live when Guy exploded. "You had better hope that the assault team finished their job because if you fail again then I'll make you suffer! It will last days to the point where you will be a shell of former self, but you won't die. On no. You'll be left around as an example of what happens to people how mess up on MY MISSIONS! Got it!?" The look of terror that flooded over Bellius' face was instantaneous.
"Yes…. S..sir. Understood." Guy then deactivated the console and ran his fingers through his hair and threw his head back. After a few seconds to fix himself back up he looked at Edan with a courteous smile on his face.
"As you heard boss, Dr Qian has been extracted but the mission didn't quite go according to plan."
"Really you don't say." Edan didn't raise his voice or change his posture. "because from what I heard the main point of this mission which was to remain undetected has been compromised meaning that my involvement in this could be leaked and if that happens then you and your whole company will go down with me!" Guy held up his hands
"Okay calm down, calm down. There wouldn't be anything left to tie the Blue Suns to the attack, all men on the mission would have been told to use personal arms and armour as well as have their tattoos removed before the mission. Also, as an added note they would have rather died then surrender as they would know that me and Vido would find them and make them pay in the same why I just threatened Bellius."
"And you're sure of this?"
"Completely. I'm confident that they would have seen the job through to the end which includes the total destruction of the base and anyone within it. Including themselves if that's what was necessary." Edan only seemed to relax slightly.
"And if the Alliance did manage to stop them?" Guy chuckled
"Then you, me and Dr Qian are all fucked." Edan didn't like the response
"You're awfully calm about being on the receiving end of an Alliance raid."
"Because there's nothing we can do about it if they do but right now I say we wait. At least until the news is reported, an Alliance base attacked in the Skyllian Verge would be breaking news and it will tell us how successful the mission was." Edan was quiet for a long time as he tapped his fingers on his desk. When he spoke again he was much calmer
"Then we'd better sit tight and wait for the news." Guy clapped his hands together and smiled.
"Great, it won't be too long." And then he activated his console to quickly send out some messages to the rest of the Blue Sun's in his company regarding the mission update and to stand by in case the worst-case scenario occurred. They didn't have to wait too long, a few hours later and the news report was on and just as Guy had said, the attack on Sidon was the headline news. Throughout the report the news caster talked about how this was a tragedy and what the implications of this attack could mean for the Alliance and humanity. Guy wasn't interested at all with that and continued watching with an increasingly tenser Edan.
"From the information we have been told about this incident, the base and all personnel have been lost with no survivors. Due to the nature of the base we have nothing to go on telling us why it was attacked and the Alliance currently have no leads as to who might be behind this." Guy smiled as he heard Edan breathed a sigh of relief.
"See I told you, my men would sooner die then fail the mission."
"I'm glad. With the money I've already paid you and your company I would have expected no less." Guy stood up and with his arms outstretched, made an over exaggerated bow and combined it with a toothy grin.
"It's a pleasure boss. Now how about a drink to celebrate the first part of the mission being a success." Edan was now acting more like the confident businessman that he was while Guy poured two drinks which he assumed were some form of Batarian Whiskey and then brought it over to him. Edan took it from him and Guy the clinked his glass into Edan's with a big smile on his face, however Edan didn't look so happy but remained civil.
"Looks like your mission was a success despite the complication."
"Damn right, although if I was there then it wouldn't have had any problems at all but as you said. I wasn't allowed to go." His smile remined and Edan snorted
"I don't care for you tone Guy, but I must admit your Blues Suns are indeed worth what I payed. In fact, for your services I will pay a bonus to your merc group to show my appreciation." This type of thing meant nothing to Guy, but he knew that Vido would be pleased with this, he on the other hand was only interested in slating his blood lust.
"Great." He tried to hide his sarcasm which Edan noticed by simply flaring his nostrils "No seriously, that's fantastic. I love the jobs where by I sit on my ass and do fuck all."
"You're not the poster man for the Suns, are you?"
"Depends on the poster." Guy laughed, and the pair finished their drinks. Once done Guy thought it would be best if he got the men who had been stuck on Camala assembled so they could be ready to meet the doctor when he arrived. He left Edan to his own devices and thought it would be best he wasn't involved in any conversations between him and Vido as he knew he wouldn't make it easier. Before he left though he was given the location for where Dr Qian would need to be sent to when the ship arrived which was a warehouse almost in the middle of nowhere that had no tie's to Edan.
Several hours later, the cruiser transporting Dr Qian had entered Camala's obit and called Guy for instructions.
"We're here so where do you want the delivery captain?"
"I'm sending you the coordinates. Send him down and don't send to many people with him. Jobs nearly done so once he's in Edan's hands we're out of here." There was a noticeable pause before the man on the other side of the vid screen answered
"Bellius says he's coming down sir. Wants to tell you something." Guy smiled and bit his lip at the same time
"Does he? Wonder what that could be about?" he cut off the man and headed for the drop site by shuttle with a few of his men, Jorn and Jake were amongst them.
"This was a pretty simple job sir." Guy wasn't happy at Jakes statement.
"Boring job you mean. If this is what I've got to look forward to then I'm done with this captain shit. I'd rather just be doing the dirty work."
"You'd be happy dying with all those guys at Sidon?"
"Damn right! Would have been fun taking on some Alliance Marines. Heard they're supposed to be really good." Jorn snorted
"And you'd be dead. Much better for everyone." Guy just laughed at the Batarian for being honest with him. He hated ass kissing.
When they arrived they all got out and waited for the other shuttle to drop off the doctor. After another ten minutes it arrived and landed a few yards away from them with its doors already opening before it had fully landed. Inside were a few Blue Suns and an elderly man clutching a case to his chest so tightly that Guy assumed that he needed it to live. Now that it was firmly on the ground, two mercs stepped who were soon followed, by process of elimination, Dr Qian.
"Ah, Qian I presume?" he said this while pretending to tip his non-existent hat to the doctor.
"Hmph." Was all he got for his opening line.
"Not the funny type of doctor then?" Qian looked over the group then proceeded to look down his nose at Guy.
"It doesn't take a genius to see that you think you're funny. I doubt that it took your simple mind long to come up with that little anecdote. Now tell me where Edan Had'Dah is, I need to speak with him about my project." Guy could tell he saw all the mercs there as little more than pond scum so gave him a sly smile
"He'll be along shortly. In the meantime, this is where you'll need to stay until we get the all clear. That okay for you Doc?" Qian looked over the building to his right then snorted
"It'll do but you should tell Edan that I do not want to be kept waiting. He needs me else were as soon as possible. I cannot be wasting my valuable time hiding in this hovel." Guy pointed to two of his men from the ground team and then to the warehouse as a silent order to take the doctor inside. Once he was gone Guy then said
"Wonder what crawled up his ass and died?"
"He is a human so what do you expect from them." Jorn said as a matter of fact to which Guy laughed. This was obviously not the response the Batarian wanted so he added. "Better tell Edan that the doctor is secure."
"I'll do it, I think he's starting to warm up to me." Guy chuckled but it was short lived when he saw who else was stepping off the shuttle. "And you're here because what Bellius?" The Turian looked nervous but was flanked by the two mercs who had stepped off the shuttle before him. This seemed to give him a little more confidence so when he finally spoke, he sounded somewhat professional.
"We lost her." Guy remained silent as he waited for Bellius to continue. "We found Kahlee Sanders on Elysium and sent a man to go and capture her, so we could dispose of her without causing a scene but shortly after he found her, he messaged in he'd captured her then he went silent. A few hours later we found him, and his face looked like it had tried to stop a truck. We got some words out of him and it seems she to have manged to get free and now we have no idea where she is." Bellius' face hadn't changed one bit as he look straight into Guys cold, unblinking eyes.
"Anything else?" he asked as the Turian shook his head. After a few awkward moments that felt like years Guy bust out laughing. It was so unexpected that all the merc's present jumped back in shock. Guy started to wave his arms to get all the others to laugh with him which they did but it was forced and gave off an entirely different tone to what Guy was setting. Eventually Bellius started laughing but he had no idea why, until he felt a pain in his leg like it was burning.
In one quick motion, Guy pulled out his pistol and shot Bellius in his left thigh which made the Turian squawk in pain and collapse to the ground clutching his wound. All the other merc's were now silent but Guy kept on laughing for a little while longer until he began to slow down into a wheeze.
"Oh Bellius, you're such a character!" he started to regain control after this and said. "You know I've learnt some new things over the last few days about being in charge. Do you want to know what that is?" Bellius didn't reply as he was still moaning in pain, so Guy shot him in his right shoulder. His shot was drowned out by more screaming and he waited till Bellius wasn't so loud.
"I've learnt that when you're in charge, all the praise gets sent to your superior and all the shit gets dumped on you. This is something I hope you're learning now because you were the man on the ground and in charge of this op. Now you've fucked up." He punctuated this with another shot to his right knee, Bellius who was now crying from the pain didn't know what to do and tried to pull himself into a ball and called out
"It's not my fault! They screwed up! Blame the others!" Guy sighed
"That doesn't fly well with your superiors. They don't care whose fault it was other that you were the one calling the shots. Now I have to go and tell the money man that this has got a little more complicated." He paused then shouted
"YOU SCREW ME OVER AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" He was about to shoot again but stopped just short of pulling the trigger and in an instant became calm like nothing was wrong. He walked over to Bellius who winced in pain as Guy ripped off his lieutenant's badge and flicked it into the air and caught it. He then turned to Jorn who was standing watching all this happen and tossed him the badge.
"Congrats on your promotion Jorn." And then walked passed him
"You want me to be your second?" He sounded confused but not unhappy
"Yeah, I can trust you to get the job done and I hate you so if you fuck up I'll have no problem blowing your head off your shoulders." Jorn snarled but still clipped his new badge to his armour.
"Fine, what do we do with Bellius?" he asked as Guy carried on walking away
"I can't look at him right now so do whatever you want. I've got more pressing problems right now, like keeping my own head where it should be." He was near the shuttle that he and his team arrived in.
"And Qian?"
"Keep him here, protect him like his carrying your pay checks. I've got to go and see the money man about this development." With a smile and a sigh, he then said, "With any luck Jorn, you might get another promotion this evening and we might never have to see each other's ugly faces again." He then pulled himself in and order the pilot to take him back to the city.
When he walked back into Edan's office he felt like he was going to his death, but he wasn't afraid just annoyed that this could have been avoided if he was allowed on the mission. He entered to see the Batarian smoking a cigar and relaxing at his desk with a small glass in his hand. He didn't turn but acknowledged Guy's presents
"Is Dr Qian secure at the location?"
"Yeah, he's there. Got all my men guarding it right now." He knew that Edan was smirking right now even though he was facing away as he took another puff on his cigar
"Good, and the technician? Is she taken care of?" Guy hesitated
"Erm, funny story actually. No, she's still on the loose. We've got no idea where she is." All this was said with a smile.
"WHAT!?" Edan span in his chair and slammed his drink down on his desk so hard that most if not all its contents had shot out.
"She got away. Pretty sure she's still on Elysium though."
"SHE GOT AWAY FROM YOU!" Edan was now standing
"Technically she got away from…" before he could finish Edan threw his glass at Guy, but it missed and smashed on the wall behind him forcing him to shut up mid-sentence.
"Do you have any idea what this could mean! If the Alliance finds out what I'm doing then I'm done, everything I've done for this will go up in smoke and I'll be lucky to avoid a bullet in my head!" he marched over to his window and slammed both hands on it.
"Don't worry we can fix this, no problem. Look we left a ship in orbit on Elysium and we have people at all the main ports, if she tries to leave then we'll get her."
"No." was the flat reply he got from Edan. "This is far too important to sit and wait, I need someone who can get this done quickly and without fail." He then walked back to his desk and opened his Vid screen, furiously typing as he did on a holographic interface.
"Just send me, I promise I'll kill her and we can finally part ways."
"You've done enough, you messed up the Sidon job twice now. I knew something like this would happen, but I thought hiring the Blue Suns with their reputation that it could be avoided."
"Come on, you've got the best guy here for the job just let me get out there!" Edan gave him a cold look with all four eyes and Guy still hadn't gotten used to that in Batarian's
"I have no need for you right now, go and move Dr Qian to back up location. He will be safe there from Alliance recon teams but keep some of your men with him at all times. He far more valuable to me than some crappy mercenaries." Guy laughed
"Careful, we might be on your pay roll right now but that won't always be the case."
"Do I look like a care right now." His tone told Guy everything he needed to know. Whatever Edan was doing, the threat of possible complications from him meant nothing.
Just what are you doing and why this human Doc so important to a Batarian of all people?
The next evening Guy and his ground team were with Edan at the same warehouse that Dr Qian was at but was now located elsewhere. They had been summoned here to meet with a bounty hunter whom Edan had hired extra to deal with the missing Alliance tech known as Kahlee Sanders. Guy was so pissed off that in the warehouse he had purposefully situated himself on one of the upper catwalks away from Edan who was sitting at a table in the middle of the warehouse floor.
"You think we'll know this guy?" asked another human merc next to Guy
"Hope not, I'm going to blow him apart once he's done with this job." The other merc stopped talking to Guy after that. Several minutes later Guy saw Jorn enter the warehouse and walk over to Edan, he couldn't hear what was being said but knew it was to do with the bounty hunters arrival.
"Fucking brown nose." Jorn respected Edan more than Guy did so it was understandable that Edan had decided to let Jorn do all the talking with the bounty hunter. Guy turned his back to the floor and waited for the new muscle to enter, when he did he hear multiple gasps from his team and groaned. Suddenly he hear the bounty hunter announce himself
"My name is Skarr." Guy span round immediately at this turn of events and watched as Edan introduced himself so he could interrupt
"No way! I knew Edan was going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel but you!" Skarr sighed as he recognised the voice and looked up to Guy
"How is a shit head like you still alive?" Guy laughed and jumped over the railings and onto a large container and then jumped again to the floor. He walked straight up to Skarr who was being escorted by four Blue Suns mercs including Jake who looked ready to piss himself at the monster standing next to him. Skarr stretched out his hand and grabbed Guy by the throat which made the mercs go for the weapons until Guy raised his hand for them to stop. Skarr twisted his head from side to side then said
"Damn it is you, thought I was imagining things." he then let go of Guy "What are you doing working for these idiots?" Guy laughed
"Long story but lets say they made me do it."
"You know each other?" Edan asked from his seat and both Guy and Skarr answered in unison
"Unfortunately."
"I don't have time for you to catch up so can you step aside Guy and let me speak with my guest?" Guy did his ridiculous bow and moved off to the side. Edan and Skarr then started to talk about the job and Guy was remined of how conniving Skarr could be, everyone who met him underestimated his intelligence so when he proved he was anything but stupid their faces would always be frozen in terror. Skarr had manged to correctly figure out that Edan was behind the Sidon attack and that what ever they were doing, he wanted badly.
"You've got plenty of men, why not have them do this?" he asked as he wondered why he had been called to hunt one human woman. It then hit him and he began to laugh "These ruck whores screwed it up didn't they!" He had insulted the Suns several times during his exchanges with Edan that this one went over the limit.
One of the men next to him whacked him head in the side of his head but all this did was give Skarr an excuse to lash out. With a vicious back hand, he smacked the merc so hard across his face that the force caused his neck to snap as he flew and hit the wall. The other three mercs then piled on top of the Krogan and tired in vain to pistol whip him into unconsciousness with no success. Guy noticed that all the other mercs were aiming at the mess and he simply said.
"Everyone stand down, you'll just get him pissed at you." The other mercs hesitated and then did as they were ordered. Then from nowhere, Skarr pulled a knife out and began to carve up the mercs who had foolishly attacked him. He slashed one across the jugular and the crimson geyser that erupted sprayed towards Edan, so Guy stood infront of him to shield him from the blood. After that merc fell to the floor Skarr then sliced another mercs leg and the sheer amount of blood that came pouring out told Guy he was a goner. Finally, the last merc, Jake, got to his feet and stepped away from the Krogan and drew his pistol
"Don't move!" he shouted with a nervous whimper at the end. Skarr stood up and looked square at Jake.
"Think carefully about your next action kid, no ones going to help you. Stand down." Jake looked over the room then finally at a blood covered Guy
"We have to put him down! We can't let him get away with killing our friends!" Guy laughed
"Yes, we are. You do this then I'm going to make everyone watch as he shows you your place." Jake went pale.
"You're kidding right!"
"I'll give you to the count of three to lower your weapon." Skarr warned
"You shut up, you move and your dead!"
"One." As soon as Skarr started counting, Guy noticed the air and light begin to change around the Krogan.
He's going to use his biotics!
"You can't be serious! I'll kill you!"
"Two" before jake could say another word, Skarr sent out a shock-wave of pure dark energy that knocked the kid off his feet and then charged across the room. Once he was standing over Jake, Skarr then picked him up by the throat with one hand and slowly began to squeeze.
"Be honoured human for you did at the hands of a true Krogan Battlemaster." Jake's face went red then blue and finally purple until there was an audible crack as the force of Skarr's grip snapped his neck and crushed his throat. He then let the lifless body fall to the ground and smiled. Guy then turned to Edan with a face covered in blood and smiled
"You didn't get anything on you did you Edan?" Edan was somewhere between fear and revulsion at the display he'd witnessed and then said to Skarr
"I thought you gave him to the count of three?" Skarr pulled his blade from the other merc's corpse and replied
"I lied." The meeting carried on and finally agreed upon terms were finalised and this was when Guy added
"I'm going with you Skarr, I've got to get some of my reputation back after this cock up." Edan stood up.
"Now many times must I tell you no! You are not leaving Camala! If you get caught and divulge my involvement in this, then I'll be as good as dead." Skarr looked over Guy and then looked at Edan
"Don't worry, if he gets caught then I'll kill him before he can say a word. Besides, I could have use for him on this assignment." The way how he phrased it to Edan it was like he was hinting at Guy being unfortunately killed in this mission, freeing Edan from him forever. Edan looked over the pair and after a long think sat back down.
"Fine, go." He wasn't sure about it but he knew better than to argue with a Krogan. Guy sneered at Edan
"Thanks boss. You won't regret it, I swear." Edan waved them off and they both left together.
"You'd better not slow me down runt." Skarr growled
"Don't worry, I've learnt a few things in the years since we last met. You're going to be the one getting in my way." Skarr roared with laughter and they both left the warehouse, heading for Skarr's shuttle and then to Elysium.