Chapter 6
Trouble in Torfan
Part 3: Double Dealing
T-26 Hours
There was an elegant dance of mutual insult that had to be played during any meeting between Batarian pirates and the officials that profited from them. Technically, pirates were casteless, the absolute bottom scum of Batarian society. Lower even than the slaves they captured and sold. Utterly immoral, useless and rightly universally reviled and hated. They were also necessary to the continued existence of the Hegemony and its established culture. The pirates were fully aware of this, and they soundly and fundamentally rejected the culture that would've left them to rot and die in ignominy and squalor if left to themselves, but also deeply longed for the approval of that culture which had birthed and raised them.
For the officials to accept the pirates as deserving any basic consideration or politeness was antithetical to everything they believed in. But to insult them too openly was to risk the loss of their business and the collapse of the Batarian economy with it. For the pirates, to accept any authority from the Hegemony, to even momentarily appreciate any scraps they threw for them, to give any sign that they wanted anything else than to continue to be free and casteless was to admit that deep down inside they knew what they were doing was selfish and wrong. Consequently, both sides had to at every opportunity, degrade and mock the other in any way just short of outright rudeness. This was mostly accomplished by the Batarian officials trying to organize and control the pirates while extolling the virtue and glory of the civilization they had been exiled from, while the pirates took every chance they could to flaunt any rules put before them while swaggering about in the best stolen loot they had to hand to prove they were doing just fine on their own.
So the governor of Torfan threw an extravagant and lavish dinner party for the assembled pirate captains, full of all the best food, drink, style and wealth that could be imported directly from the heart of the Hegemony itself. While the pirate captains all brought their own bottles of wine or brandy, plates of pastries, or boxes of fine chocolates to add to the feast whether the governor wanted it or not. Some of them came bedecked in fabulous jewelry and stylish clothes as well all of which had been looted from Elysium for the explicit purpose of proving that the captains could get things just as good outside the Hegemony as in it.
The governor set out name cards for each Captain assigning them a seat according to their respective rank, as best as the governor himself could determine anyway, descending from the either side of the governor all the way down the table. The pirates had ignored these placings and organized themselves into various cliques scattered about the table, with the strongest captains congregating on the opposite side of the governor. That rat fink Durrin had even brought his own damn table and set it up to the side of everyone else for his cronies to gather around.
The governor sent for his servants, half of them Asari slaves the other half made up of young Batarian girls, and began to serve the pirates an elegantly prepared and organized three course meal. The pirate captains grabbed and groped the girls as they passed, refused some food, seized extra portions of others, demanded food that was not being offered as part of the feast, or simply starting eating the food they had brought themselves. The governor offered a toast to the success of the raid, which everyone accepted since to do otherwise would be a bit too rude, and then launched into a long winded and utterly pointless speech about all he had done to prepare for their arrival and set up the slave auctions which would make them all so very, very rich. The pirates ignored him and quietly conversed amongst themselves.
Jar'Kannath sat near the center of the grand table and silently studied the assembled forty five other pirate captains, trying to get a read on how the balance of power amongst them had shifted after the raid. The pirates were not formally organized of course. Such a notion was anathema to the very soul of piracy. Each captain here was the lord and master of his own ship, a free man to work and fight however he saw fit. But wherever sentient beings gathered and were occasionally forced to cooperate, some kind of hierarchy soon emerged. Amongst pirates it was largely based around ship size, then by fleet size and lastly by reputation. It was after all unwise to mouth off to someone who could either blast your ship out of existence with little effort, run you down with a pack nipping at your heels to bleed you with a thousand cuts, or would just fly circles around you while they monologue about how great they were and how far ahead they had already planned out the fight.
The upper layers of this hierarchy were dominated by the captains of cruiser sized vessels. Whether light cruisers at only five hundred meters, or heavy cruisers at over seven hundred meters, such ships were able to go toe to toe with most patrol fleets and thus were free dive into even the densest of shipping lanes to search for prey and loot. To captain a cruiser was to join a list kept by the STG and to have one's name known to every Turian captain within hundreds of light years of one's favorite haunts and known territory. Thus there was a certain amount of respect that came with those ships for having spat in the Hierarchy's eyes and lived on to tell about it.
If owning a cruiser was a direct challenge to the Turians then to captain a battlecruiser a ship just shy of dreadnaught size at eight hundred meters in length, was an insult to the primarchs themselves. A captain of such a ship was known to every Turian naval officer in the galaxy. The profiles of their ships were the subjects of extensive training courses at their naval academies as every up and coming officer worked on crafting theories and tactics to bring such infamous pirates to heal. Spectres were more than willing to break cover if it meant putting a round through a captain's head or a bomb in his hold. The STG had whole a team of agents devoted to tracking and hunting for every pirate battlecruiser known to be active, and once one was found acting anywhere outside of the most lawless and devoid regions of the galaxy, a Turian hunter fleet would be dispatched to track it down and kill it dead. More than one primarch had stated his career path by bringing down a pirate battlecruiser. But such feats weren't common, and those captains who worked with such targets on their backs and remained alive and prosperous were truly worthy of the highest respect and cooperation.
A few captains and some Terminus warlords might have the funds needed to acquire a full sized dreadnought, but there were cheaper ways to commit suicide. A battlecruiser might be hounded by the Hierarchy across the galaxy but it could find refuge in the Terminus, Verge or other such regions where Citadel law held little sway. A dreadnought would have no such protection. The last time a warlord had tried to make such a ship for himself the Hierarchy had invaded the Terminus, killed the warlord along with three others who had tried to stop them, brought a dozen worlds to their knees and even besieged the fortress space station Omega itself for almost three hundred days. That had been back before Aria T'loak had taken over Omega, the Turians would probably think twice before trying that one again. But Aria would never offer succor to a fool dumb enough to try and own their own dreadnought.
Jar'Kannath wondered to himself if the Hierarchy would react with such hostility to a pirate acquiring one of those new carrier type ships the Alliance had introduced during the First Contact war. The ships were basically dreadnoughts but carried swarms of fighter craft instead of a heavy spine gun. They were less effective in direct combat than even some of the heavier cruiser designs, but if allowed to keep their distance and keep their strike craft well supported they could inflict a lot of damage in a battle as the humans had proven to the Hierarchy's shagrin. With one of those, and a crew skilled at flying fighter-bombers, and some gunships with boarding crews, a single captain could possibly hunt down and capture multiple trade ships passing through the same system for hefty profits. Jar'Kannath would have to look into that later.
Beyond meer ship size, the ability to maintain the loyalty of more than one crew and curtail the ambition of a subordinate captain without alienating him and earning his spite was also worthy of note and respect. But captains who were able to place their subordinates in charge of their own pirate ships and not have such men strike out on their own at the first opportunity were a rare breed indeed. While pirates were often willing to informally gather and cooperate under the leadership of a respected or feared cruiser or battlecruiser captain, such as this grand fleet that had struck at Elysium, very few pirates maintained any real organized structure. Permanently united fleets with one definite leader were rare and only made up of very small bands, maybe seven or eight ships at the most.
Those more common informal bands were typically rallied by reputation more so than anything else. Pirates known to make major gains at minimal risks were never short on friends. Neither were those known to be able to hit well above their weight class and thus could fight their way out of dangerous situations.
Jar'kannath himself sat at the upper end of the spectrum here on Torfan. As captain of one of the fleets eight light cruisers, he had the right to make his voice and opinion heard when the captains came together to discuss their future plans of actions. He also had a reputation for strategy and audacity, particularly for taking impossible sounding ideas or plans and somehow making them work. While he had no direct subordinates, more than one frigate and destroyer captain would look to him for inspiration in how to act. Furthermore most of the cruiser captains would feel much better about a plan only after he had judged it sound or workable. Interestingly the more ridiculous and audacious the idea the more appealable his approval would make it. While he didn't have the clout or the power to demand that others follow him, those that held the reigns of power would probably be willing to budge a bit on their own plans if it meant getting him to back them.
The real power in the room though was presently divided between three captains. The one closest to the top was no doubt Crazed Soi'fon. A batarian piratess she captained a battlecruiser and kept up a friendly if informal relationship with several of her former crew members who were now also captains of five frigates and three destroyers. While she was not their direct commander, the eight other captains often followed her lead and were certain to come to her aid against all but the most impossible odds. Soi'fon was something of an oddity as a woman captain. Jar'Kannath had nothing personal against the idea, but it was slightly scandalous to see a batarian woman, normally a delicate creature that needed protection and guidance, out here in a man's world of death and violence. He was also nowhere near stupid enough to underestimate the mad woman just because her sex. She was lighting fast with her twin pistols, could out maneuver ships half her size, and had the incredible ability to show up exactly where it was completely impossible for her to be at just the worst time for her to be there.
Her next greatest rival was old man Yamamoto. One of only five human captains in the assembled fleet, he captained the only other battlecruiser. He was a former Alliance rear admiral who had gone rogue after the alliance canceled several major military research projects as a sign of good faith to the Citadel Council after the end of the First Contact war. Yamamoto had stolen the designs for two of those weapon systems and used them to build a battlecruiser unlike any other. While he lacked any direct subordinates and wasn't exactly the greatest strategist in the world, the sheer power wielded by his ship and its experimental armaments was more than enough to get most pirate captains to join up with any idea he threw his weight behind, simply because the firepower he boasted was more than enough to shoot his way out of any problem he faced.
His ship had two major weapon systems that made it so infamous. The first was a powerful heat sink systems that allowed him to equip a triple barrel spine gun. While it would overheat to the point of shutting down after firing less shots than a normal ship could; if it fired at its fastest pace, even the shields of most dreadnaughts couldn't take three hits from a heavy spine cannon if they came within half a second of each other. Such a volley would eviscerate any cruiser sized warship with just a single salvo.
Additionally, the old man knew how to create special 'torpedo' long range missiles. Equipped with a small mass effect core, the torpedoes could be launched at about one point seven times the speed of light, delivering their payloads before their launch could be detected, even over extremely long distances. Originally designed to deliver nuclear payloads into the midst of enemy fleets, the old man instead used them to carry dozens of void missiles right up to point black ranges and then fire them when his enemy's guardian defense systems would only have a half second at most to react to the barrage. The torpedoes were incredibly expensive to make, but again anything less than a full dreadnaught was likely to be crippled by even a single shot.
Rumor had it, that once an Asari patrol of two light cruisers, three destroyers and five frigates had come across the old man while he was in the midst of robbing a pair of merchant ships. Once the Asari saw that the merchants had already surrendered and were in no immediate danger, they had refused to engage the old man and risk going toe to toe with such overwhelming firepower. Instead they had parked themselves about two AUs or so away from the pirate and left him to take his loot and vanish beyond the Mass Relay unchallenged.
The last great mover and shaker at this little shindig, was unfortunately that blasted, rotten infuriating Durrin. The man was one of three heavy cruiser captains in the fleet, and had a light cruiser captain and four frigate captains as his direct subordinates. He had a reputation for generosity and an easy going attitude that made him enjoyable for most to work with. He also was a kill stealing, griefing, stuck up, absolute jerk of a waste of decent eyeballs. The man had been a thorn in Jar'Kannath's side since his old academy days, and only gotten worse and more smug now that he had one of the largest personal pirate fleets in the galaxy at his beck and call. If there was any justice in the world, the man would insist of defying Shepherd and defending the Hegemony, and so Jar'Kannath would be able to convince the giant to kill the wretched man once and for all.
The fact that these three men were the ones in charge of the situation now had come as a bit of a surprise to Jar'Kannath, but there was no denying it. While each of the three remained stubbornly seated whileglancing back and forth between each other and the other cruiser captains, swarms of frigate and destroyer captains buzzed about them. A few took permanent seats next to them in a show of solidarity and support, other flitted back and forth between the three, stopping to ask a question, listen on the answers others were receiving, never offering their own ideas, merely nodding when pleased by an answer and glaring sullenly when not. A few times one of the other cruiser captains would head over to one or the other with their own questions and comments. Those men provoked more serious discussions, and freely offered their own opinions and even argued back against the three. Sometimes lesser captains would follow after a cruiser captain when he left, but would usually return or make their way over to one of the other three.
This was unexpected, Elanos Haliat was the man who should have been in charge. This whole raid had been his idea in the first place. His reputation had been what brought them all together, his intelligence had guided their attack, his connections had got them the support of the Hegemony. Instead he had been the one man forced to sit in his assigned seat, and the only thing the other captains would send over his way were their glares. The simple reason for this had to do with all the empty seats in the hall. While the assembled forty six captains were an impressive sight, the fleet had left here with sixty seven.
Elysium had been targeted for the raid largely because Haliat said it lacked any significant orbital defenses and there was a gap in the patrols in the surrounding systems that would allow them to get in and out unopposed. The original plan had called for the fleet to unleash their forces all across the planet at once, then the fleet would split into groups. The frigates mostly landed to support the infantry, while the medium cruisers and destroyers scattered across the planet to provide orbits support. Jar'kannath and the light cruisers had formed a picket group between the planet and its mass relay, while the heavy cruisers and the two battlecruiser held orbit nearby to support the picket or the fleet. It was a good plan, it had just one problem: there had been an Alliance dreadnought on the far side of the planet.
A single ship, even with a four frigate escort shouldn't have posed a problem, except that the one ship had been a dreadnought. The whole fleet could've overwhelmed it, but the captain in charge of it, supposedly Hacket himself though some said the man had named himself Anderson, had known how to properly use the damn thing. He had kept his distance, used his frigates to isolate the patrols in space and pick them off from a safe distance, while occasionally making a flyby over the planet and taking out one of the ships on the ground.
In of itself, this was not enough to disgrace Haliat, after all intelligence proved faulty all the time. What captain here hadn't bitten off more than he could chew chasing after some wild rumor or another? Jar'Kannath himself had made more than one plan based off of things he had half overheard in a bar. And that plan had actually gone fairly well, after he had ejected one of his spare eezo cores and used it as an impromptu nuke to drive off that trio of Salarian cruisers. He had still managed to turn a profit on that one, so it still counted as a good plan. So being caught by an unexpected dreadnought was not a major problem really, but not bothering to tell anyone about it was.
Haliat had apparently gotten it into his fool head that his personal fleet could go head to head with a DAMN DREADNOUGHT. So he had refused to 'share the glory' with the two battlecruiser captains who could actually match that kind of fire power and actively prevented his fellow captains from calling to aid. Thus twenty one ships died, including one of Haliat's cruisers, two of his destroyers and three of his frigates halving his personal fleet and destroying his reputation as one of the most powerful pirate captains in the Terminus. So died the hope of a united Terminus pirate fleet able to shape galactic policy and dominate the warlords.
Now leadership of the fleet would likely be limited to just negotiating for the price of the slaves and how soon it would be paid. Afterwards most captains were planning to go their own ways, maybe a few would try and follow Durrin or Soi'fon and join in whatever they were planning to do next. Of course in reality most of the men here were going to die when the Alliance came looking for their people. Unless Jar'Kannath could convince them to sign on with Shepherd instead.
"What's got your face all scrunched up like that?" A voice asked Jar'Kannath from the side, "You look like that souffle insulted your mother or something."
The man speaking to him was Barbarossa the last human at the table to run a cruiser, a heavy cruiser at that too. He was a slightly older man, blind in one eye, sporting entirely too many rings on each of his hands with a few more in his ears for good measure. So far, he was one of the few captains that like Jar'Kannath had stubbornly remained seated so far and not attached himself even briefly to the three centers of power. Coming over to just talk with someone like Jar'Kannath was likely a statement on his part, either he was dissatisfied with the ideas offered by the three, or he was asserting his independence.
"I just wish this fat fop," Jar'Kannath responded, "Would stop prattling on about his so called brilliance in setting up this auction and tell us when we can expect to be paid already."
"Are you so eager to get out of this place?" Barbarossa inquired, "Don't you want to stick around and enjoy all delights Torfan has to offer?"
"Not if it means running into that Krogan when he comes looking for his money." Jar'Kannath confessed. "I don't mind telling you this Barbarossa but I'm in deep on this whole wretched affair."
"I feel you man," Barbarossa commiserated, "I've got loans to the wrong people as well, but that won't matter soon. We're going to rich beyond our wildest dreams once all this businesses is said and done."
"Assuming they can actually get a proper bidding war going." Jar'Kannath pointed out a little louder than he strictly needed to be, "If they just use this as a chance to sift through our best stock, we might be left deep in the red with nothing but a bunch of old hags and useless kids left to sell. Honestly I might just sell my cargo to one of the local merchants, pay my men to keep them on, and get back out there to work on paying off my debts."
Initially Barbarossa gave Jar'Kannath an odd look as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Then after thinking for a moment he saw the captain's top eyes glance towards the governor, then he nodded and scratched his nose. The man smiled, leaned back and spoke out projecting his voice to be heard even over the governor's droning, so that the whole room could hear him.
"Just take the money and run huh? I have to admit the idea has a certain charm to it. To tell the truth, this place does give me a bad feeling. I mean how profitable could an auction really be?"
"I'm sorry gentlemen," the governor himself suddenly called out while glaring at Jar'Kannath and Barbarossa, "But I was not done speaking here; could you kindly wait to speak with each other until after I am done?"
The governor had not bothered to speak out against any other pirate ignoring him and talking amongst himself. While Jar'Kannath was not certain what everyone around him was talking about he had heard several others express doubt about how much they would actually make off this raid. What had caught the man's attention had likely been Barbarossa saying he was going to leave. A matter of little concern for a governor, he could just as easily get the merchants here to join in on his auction as he could the pirates, but an agent of the Hegemon was likely under direct orders to keep them here under control. Jar'Kannath wondered just how far he could press the fat useless fool.
"You were merely speaking to the air." Durrin interrupted butting in where he wasn't wanted. "My good friend Jar'Kannath was speaking to the equally esteemed Barbarossa and now you have interrupted them quite shamefully."
"When a man like Jar'Kannath speaks," Soi'fon added from the other side of the room, "Prattling fools would do well to listen. I for one would love to hear what insites he has at our situation."
The governor sputtered at the twin rebukes and insults, but quickly composed himself. He puffed out his chest and glared down at the seated captains but made no effort to speak. Around him the other captains nodded in agreement with Durrin and Soi'fon, even the Old Man gestured for Jar'Kannath to continue. Only Haliat seemed sullen and angry at the turn of events. Normally it would've been his prerogative to bring the room to this most vital of all discussions, the price of the slaves and what is to be done afterwards, but his fall from grace had robbed him of the chance, and now Durrin has seized it for himself. Soi'fon unwilling to let her potential rival lead the discussion had instead turned it to an as yet neutral party, which suited Jar'Kannath just fine, it was one of the reasons he had not yet approached any of the big three to speak with them. Now the first real skirmish of his mission here on Torfan would begin, he had to expose at least part of the governor's intentions.
"While the esteemed governor," Jar'Kannath began placatingly, "Has spoken at length about the boundless riches soon to befall us all, I was merely remarking to Barbarossa here, how I would much prefer if we could attach some more definite numbers to the discussion. Something in the region of a hundred and twenty grand a head would certainly make me feel far more at ease."
One or two of the captains facing away from the governor smiled at the figure. Four times the standard rate was a fine place to begin with for most negotiations. Soon Soi'fon or one of the others would rebuke him for speaking of such a ridiculous amount and would suggest something more reasonable, say around a mere hundred grand a head, allowing themselves to be negotiated down to merely sixty, or if she was feeling vindictive, holding fast around eighty to ninety. A price that would pull every pirate here out of the hole, and set them up for quite a tidy profit when all was said and done.
"Ha!" The governor laughed before anyone else could step into the conversation, "Do you think so lowly of me as to ask for such a pitiful amount? Have I not told you all the great list of nobles and merchants who will be coming here to buy your stock? I have promised all of you a seventy five, twenty five split and will keep my word. If you all walk away from here with anything less than a hundred and fifty thousand credits for each slave you sell in the coming weeks, than I will go back to Karshan a broken and defeated man."
The governor smiled to himself as he saw the many eyes around the room widen in surprise and shift back and forth between the big three. He was more than pleased with himself no doubt. What did he care for money? He would promise them the whole moon itself if it kept them all here. The man had thought he faced a serious threat of pirate captains escaping his trap, now he saw that he just had to dangle more money in their face and they would stay right where he wanted them.
Jar'Kannath's eyes swept the room in both directions, he had managed to seat himself in a place where he could see each of the main three with a quick darting glance. The Old Man was stoned faced, but that was to be expected. Soi'fon looked sour faced, did she smell the rat or was she frustrated with having been robbed the chance to show off as she haggled? Durrin had covered his mouth with one hand, and studied the governor in detail. Wheels were turning behind those eyes, but where the lead and how quickly they would get there, he could not tell. Jar'Kannath pressed the attack further.
"A wonderful promise my lord." Jar'Kannat fawned with a pleased look on his face, as if all his earlier troubles had been wiped away by the promise of more credits. "That would certainly be a fine price to gain on the young men and women we have captured, but we also have some older folks and some children with us as well. Such stock will not sell well at auction, we will have to deal with the merchants to move them probably offering them group rates. How can we hope for a good price after the Hegemon and his friends have bought up all our best offerings?"
More than a few captains around Jar'Kannath gave him a slightly odd look at that last statement. Not surprisingly, since at auction, especially ones where the nobles of the Hegemony would actually come out here to attend, the rather old and the quite young would actually sell better than men or women in the prime of their lives. Luckily the governor had not noticed this odd reaction, and according to the information Tali had dug up on him off the extra-net, he had never been to a slave auction before, and so hopefully wouldn't know this.
Live auctions tended to be family affairs surprisingly enough. A fine time to take the wife and kids out on an adventure to the seedy underbelly of the galaxy in a controlled and safe manner. Pirates were hardly going to attack the people they were looking to sell stuff to after all, not if it meant permanently losing access to a place like Torfan along with ruining their reputation. The wives were the important ones. Bachelors, and men without their wives present would no doubt be more than happy to only buy the young and beautiful as slaves to use as status symbols. But women were of course highly possessive by nature.
No fault of their own, of course, it was all due to pheromones, and millions of years of evolution pounding it into the heads of what was the weaker gender after all that once they sank their teeth into a man, they had best not ever let him go. Even noble women in loveless arranged marriages would never tolerate any rival for the attention of their husbands, the men who protected and provided for them. So it was only natural that such women tended to buy slightly older servants, for their superior wisdom and life experience of course, but also because such people would never catch their husband's wandering eyes.
Children likewise tended to get bought up by those with wives nagging at their sides as an act of mercy. Otherwise who could tell what kind of awful things might happen to the poor little dears. Best to rescue them and raise them properly as playmates and servants for the woman's own children. Until they likewise grew old enough that they might catch their master's attention. Then it would probably be off to whorehouse, or to some young batchelor looking for wall candy. Afterall teenagers didn't need nearly as much rescuing as children did.
But if this Hegemon sent snake was completely uninterested in actually organizing a successful auction and had only been sent to keep the pirates with the necks on the block until the axe blow came, then he probably didn't know any of this. In which case in the face of yet another challenge about money than the best thing to do was to promise them more money. If Jar'Kannath could get the man to make enough promises that the pirates didn't need, all of them to good to be true, then their natural suspicion would kick in and they would be willing to hear Shepherd out.
"Quite a legitimate concern." The governor admitted looking quite smug to himself, apparently he already had an answer prepared for this. "Lucky for you my good man, you're resting in the hands of a man of great foresight like myself. I have already thought of how to move any and all unsold slaves that slip through the cracks at the auction without any issue. I have been in contact with a representative of the Batarian State Arms corporation, and we are in luck. They are need of quite a lot of slaves for a new mining colony they are planning. Rather desperate need at that, they have already offered me almost seventy thousand a head for every slave I have."
The room went silent at that bold faced ridiculous lie. Every head turned to regard the governor with wooden smiles and wide open eyes. The look of men unable to believe that someone had had the sheer audacity to tell such a whopper of a lie in their very presence, but were unwilling to stop the man before he finished hanging himself.
Humans had a wonderful alternative name for the Batarian State Arms corporation which described them quite well. They called them the 'B.S. Agency.' B.S. weapons, B.S. service, B.S. prices. The BSA would never in it's life every even remotely consider the possibility of paying more than twice the going rate for any slave sight unseen. They never paid standard rates for any slave they bought, even after thorough investigation. Put a veritable Adonis in front of them, young virile and more than capable of accomplishing any task and they would insist that the man was wracked with birth defects, cripple by disease, blind in one eye and a day away from death; so they refused to pay anything more than a tenth of what he was worth. The BSA would never even buy new slaves. They exclusively bought old, unwanted and rebellious slaves people wanted to see worked to death, since that is what happened to every slave bought by the BSA, dead in six months or less from starvation, exposure or some other industrial accident.
"That would be about fifty thousand in profits for us." Jar'Kannath sumized trying to not sound floored by the staggering arrogance and stupidity of the man before him. "Seems a little low to sell my entire cargo for. Not after all we spent to pull this raid off in the first place."
"Yes that is why I arrange this little auction though." The governor patiently explained.
"But if we sell our best stock at the auction surely the good folks at State Arms will pull out from your agreement," Jar'Kannath continued desperate to see how far the man could be pushed. "They can hardly be expected to fork over almost seventy grand for a bunch of old people and children."
"They would try no doubt." The governor said oh so very pleased with himself. "But you are in the hands of a true genius, and I have outfoxed them! I have in my possession a contract with the State Arms people guaranteeing them the sale of every slave in Torfan at a date just two days after the auction. But it contains no promise that I will reserve any slaves for them to buy. We shall sell our best stock at the auction for massive profits and then leave the rest to swept up by State Arms at a lesser, but no less agreeable rate."
More than one captain had dropped their previous smiling mask at this point to now openly gape at the governor. Any BSA representative who agreed and signed such a contract would be dead within the hour. While the BSA was as riddled with nepotism and corruption as any other part of the Batarian government, it was also one of the few parts that actually turned a profit. Mostly thanks to a core of utterly ruthless men drawn from a variety of castes that actually ran the damn thing, and were more than willing to threaten a man with egregious bodily harm if they ever even thought of making a mistake this bad. This lie hadn't just run far past the line men were willing to tolerate if it meant they might make massive amounts of money off of it, it had gone right over a cliff, down into the ocean and jumped through a hoop or two for good measure.
"Listen." The governor continued, "I know things haven't exactly gone to plan up to this point. It's quite understandable that we would all be a little on edge and worried about the future. But in the face of great trial we must all come together as friends and watch out for each other. And I do hope you all think of me as your friend. I certainly think of all of you as my dear friends. And friends must trust each, to help each other. Stick with me friends and I guarantee, you all will get everything that's coming to you."
"That certainly puts my mind at ease." Jar'Kannath offered, since it was true, the fool had even concluded his speech with a stock villian betrayal cliche. Every man in that room, even Elanos Haliat was staring at the governor in stunned disbelief. Their backs were up and their minds were racing at a million miles an hour. No one was that friendly unless they had a knife behind their backs, folks could smell the trap now, they just had to see how to get out of it.
"I'm glad." The governor recognized and then clapped his hands for attention. "If we are now passed that troubling topic of money, let us all return to enjoying the feast. Bring in the second course!"
T-24 hours.
"Hold it right there Blue Sun scum!" The Torfan security enforcer shouted as he grabbed Nihlus by the arm to stop him from stepping through the doorway into the security station. "This area is off limits pending an official investigation, I can't have you disturbing the crime scene."
"So the rumors are true then?" Nihlus asked the obvious, even only part way into the door he could see the blood splatter on the walls and more than one body on the ground all but soaked in the stuff. "A whole security station was wiped out by the pirates?"
"That's no concern of yours merc," The enforcer insisted. "We've got the situation under control, so why don't you go back to whatever bar you crawled out of and leave this to us?"
"Hey man, no need to be so hostile." Nihlus placated, truth be told, the meer fact that a massacre took place was confirmation enough for what he was looking for, but knowing the details of what was going on would help. "Look the boss man wants info about what's going on down here, and if I come back without it its my ass that's going to be in for it. Tell you what, I've helped out with a murder investigation or two in the past, just let me see what's happened and maybe I can help you gentlemen figure out just who you're going to kill over this?"
"Oh so the big bad Blue Sun is going to deign to help out us poor yokels with the crime scene huh?" The guard asked mockingly, "This ain't rocket science bub, the pirates are mad that the governor ain't paid them yet. So they take it out on us and try to scare the man into forking over the cash. This stuff happens more often than you think. They even put their signs up on the wall to let the man know just who it was he pissed off. We don't need your help. We don't need you here. So piss off."
"You got a problem with one of my men?" A voice called from the hallway behind Nihlus as his heart skipped a beat. That voice was not one hard to misplace, Zaeed Massani, one of the few men the galaxy to get a brief about him sent out to every active Spectre in Citadel space. Veteran of the Relay 314 incident, the sentient being with the most confirmed kills on Shanxi, co-founder of the Blue Suns, and perhaps the one man on Torfan almost guaranteed to see through Nihlus' disguise on sight.
Nihlus froze for perhaps half a second as he considered his options. The security room fortunately had no security cameras watching it, so violence could solve his problems here. The enforcer along with his colleagues posed little threat, but Massani was another matter entirely. The Blue Suns leader had a reputation for leading from the front and always taking on the most suicidal missions his mercs picked up himself. Even if Nihlus thought he could defeat him, he wasn't certain he could keep him from at least escaping, and if he did, then his whole cover was blown. Well, he had heard once that humans had a hard time telling Turians apart, so just maybe his cover wasn't quite screw yet. No reason to panic and jump the gun then. And if Zaeed was kind enough to walk a bit closer, the fight would go much easier. So Nihlus turned and saluted.
"No problem sir." Nihlus offered with crisp military precision, he even let his sub-vocals fall into the old, most respectful patterns that had been beaten into him back in basic training. "Just offering my services to the security officers here to help find out what happened."
"Good thinking…." Zaeed said before his eyes widened as he got a look at Nihlus' face. So at least one human knew how to tell Turian features apart. Wonderful. Nihlus reached behind his back for a knife, the throwing blade had a slight emp charge that helped it bypass most shields and sink into the flesh beneath, when Zaeed continued.
"Just about to do the same myself soldier." Massani said with a very slight nod at Nihlus. So the man knew the disguise was fake, but was willing to play along around Torfan security. That was a hopeful sign at least. The reason why though escaped Nihlus for the moment, but the Spectre was willing to keep up the pretence for as long as it kept him from having to kill anyone.
"You would be wise boy to let my man take a look at that massacre for you." Zaeed said to the security guard in a slightly threatening tone of voice. "You wouldn't want the wrong kind of rumors flying around the station, now would you?"
For a moment the man seemed like he still might object, but when Zaeed approached him smiling a little too pleasantly, the man thought better of it and stepped aside. Nihlus slipped from standing 'at attention', to 'at ease', and allowed his 'superior' to enter the room first. Zaeed shot the Turian a glare as he walked past but still gave no other signs of hostility. Nihlus followed after him with a slight smirk to the guard outside.
The room was a wreck. Ten bodies lay strewn about the place. One was slumped in the corner at a blind spot to the door, three knocked over in the middle of the room, two at the security consoles still at the seats, two more on the security consoles having been knocked over while trying to rise up. Lastly on man sprawled out to the side, killed while trying to make a break for it. All the corpses were riddled with holes, and the blood splatter was consistent with men shot while standing, mostly from behind. It was hard to say for certain without a full team of crime scene investigators, but from the looks of it, the whole room had been taken by surprise, most of the had been killed where they stood or sat. Only three men here had had time to react before they were all gunned down. Likely by multiple attackers, with automatic weapons and military precision and training. But there were a few oddities.
One of the security screens was broken, and one of the consoles was dented suggesting something large, a pair of bodies perhaps, had been thrown at them with considerable force. All the dead were suffering from some kind of head trauma as well; broken necks, caved in skulls, one guy's face looked like it had been smashed in with a massive steel rod. The bodies could've been desecrated post mortem, but that seemed a little too psychotic for the typical pirate scum. The most telling sign was one body whose armor had been partially removed, and on his chest a single massive bruise had formed.
While Nihlus briefly inspected the bodies, Zaeed approached the man who seemed to be in charge, while staring at a number of pirate gang signs spray painted on the far wall. The man in question was a Batarian with red and blue stripes on his armor signifying his rank. The man was likely the main boss of this security team. According to Saren, the security enforcers on Torfan were divided into a number of gang like squadrons of varying sizes each lead by a single boss and in charge of patrolling and managing the safety and peace of different sections of the base. Saren also had said each man augmented his actually rather minor budget provided by the governor by extorting money from the merchants, smugglers and pimps that had permanent facilities on Torfan. Occasionally the different leaders fought with each other for territory and prestige.
"Massani." The commander greeted Zaeed in a neutral tone.
"Cartez." Zaeed responded in turn before nudging one of the corpses on the floor with his foot. "These your boys?"
"No." Cartez answered with a slight smirk and pointed at one body that likewise had both stripes on his armor. "These were Tal'Lion's men, though most of the rest of his lads have signed on with me now that he ain't exactly in a position to pay them anymore."
"Well, glad to hear some good has come out of this at least."
"That's one way to look at it."
"I take it the pirates don't appreciate being told to sit down and wait for two weeks huh?"
"That's putting it lightly." Cartez confirmed before finally relaxing a bit and turning to face Zaeed. "There have been two other big hits like this one elsewhere in the base. Gather enough pirates together and sooner or later people start dropping sure, but I've never seen it this bad before. Or this vindictive."
"Well things will calm down once you and your boys start cracking heads right?" Zaeed offered, "Let the pirates know they can't push you around and all that."
"I have direct orders from the governor not to escalate the situation." Cartez lamented.
"Seriously?" Zaeed asked a little stunned.
"Seriously." Cartez confirmed.
"That's just inviting the pirates to hit him again even harder." Zaeed pointed out.
"That's what I and every other security chief on this station has told the man, but he won't listen. He refuses to let anything happen that might threaten his little auction." Cartez ranted, finishing his statement in a mocking tone of voice.
"Well that make his offer to me a little more ominous." Zaeed noted.
"What offer?"
"Three quarters of a mill a week to 'keep the peace,'" Zaeed explained. "Got the message in my inbox not half an hour back. At first I assumed he wanted my lads to help you instil the fear of god into these pirates, so I came down here to get the lowdown from you directly. Now it sounds like the governor might want me to keep you all from going after the pirates."
"A tempting offer to be sure." Cartez said with a low whistle of appreciation. "But think hard about it Zaeed. Most of us don't really care if the pirates bump off a security chief or two, more territory for the rest of us to take after all, but this is bordering on just plain old disrespect at this point. If the governor allows another attack or two like this to happen, then most of us are probably going to band together, force our way down to the star ports and hold ourselves a good old fasion lynching. I don't think even you will want to stand in the way of all of us."
"Not for just three quarters." Zaeed confirmed, "Hiring new men is expensive these days. Not as many veterans to go around, we actually have to pay to train new guys up now. Well if you want any help, I'm willing to give you a small discount for an old friend of course."
"As if I need any help to kill some pirate scum!" Cartez rejected and shouted to the room at large. "Bunch of casteless runaways all of them. While me and my boys are proper warriors born and raised! Pirates act so tough taking on defenseless merchants or killing men from behind. But once we've pinned them down, then we'll show them how true warriors fight and kill!"
The assembled living men in the room cheered dutifully at their boss's declaration. It took a surprising amount of will power for Nihlus not to roll his eyes at the display. Even by Batarian standards these men were all a bunch of washouts and rejects. The dregs of the army too incompetent and lazy to be trusted putting down slave revolts or breaking up labor strikes. The pirates at least occasionally fought people who would actually shoot back, these men spent their days swaggering about the place intimidating pimps and smugglers into ponying up protection money. In a straight fight, Nihlus would put his money on the casteless professionals over the washouts no amount of nepotism in the galaxy could find real jobs for.
"Find anything interesting lad?" Zaeed called back to Nihlus after the ruckus died down.
"Cause of death is pretty self explanatory." Nihlus offered without further explaining what he meant, "As is how they were taken down. The only real thing of note, is that the pirate sigils on the wall are slightly off. You can see how the lines get a little shaky here and there, and there are a few marks out of place. Could've been made by other gangs trying to place blame on a few of their rivals."
Zaeed made no comment in response. Though he did half raise an eyebrow at Nihlus. That was to be expected, the sigils were actually flawless, but the design choices Nihlus had pointed out could be misinterpreted along the lines he noted. Really Nihlus just wanted to see how wed to the idea this was a pirate attack the security forces were.
"No need to overthink this." Cartez said waving Nihlus off, apparently he had already made up his mind on the subject. "They probably just left the job to one of their newer hands. Honestly the pirates aren't smart enough for that level of deception. And even if they are, it doesn't really matter who we string up so long as some dances in the air."
"The rest should get the message after that." Zaeed agreed. "Well I won't take up anymore of your time Cartez. Next time your off shift, hit me up. We'll go out for drinks, and I'll treat you to this lovely little whore I found last night. She's a hundred and fifty kilos if she weighs anything at all, blind in one eye, and missing half her teeth, she's just perfect for you!"
Cartez laughed and waved the mercenary away as he asked his men for a more in depth report on the status of the consoles. Zaeed turned away and put a hand on Nihlus's shoulder and pushed him out of the room with just a little too much force to be friendly. Nihlus made no effort to resist, and relaxed as he was guided away from the security station, down a few hallways and then shoved into a storage room and pinned against a wall.
Zaeed put his forearm across Nihlus's neck and made to press a gun to his side as the friendly facade he had worn throughout their walk here dropped away. Nihlus grabbed the gun barrel as it was pushed forwards and pulled it past his armor to press against the wall, while he drew his own gun on the other side and pressed it into the seam of Zaeed's armor. Nihlus's pistol of choice was a simple carnifex. Not the fanciest gun in the world, but damn did it ever pack some kick. Too close to trigger Zaeed's kinetic shields and aimed at a weak point in his armor, Nihlus was poised to put a decent sized hole through the merc's guts long before he was in any danger of being choked. Zaeed probably could pull back quickly enough to avoid a fatal shot and get the room to raise his own gun, but that would merely place them both in a more typical standoff situation. For the time Zaeed held his position.
"So you want to tell me just who the hell you are?" Zaeed demanded an inch from Nihlus's face.
"Nihlus Kryik, Citadel Spectre." The Turian answered, "The man who is going to save your life."
"Spectre huh?" Zaeed said easing slightly off of Nihlus's neck but not releasing him from his hold. "And what is a dog of the Citadel doing slumming it in a place like Torfan?"
"Piracy and slavery are both outlawed by the Accords," Nihlus explained, "Is it really so surprising to find me here enforcing the law?"
"The Council has never been overly bothered by how folks suffer out here in the Verge before." Zaeed pointed out, "You expect me to believe this has nothing to do with stopping the Alliance from cleaning out the Hegemony while looking for its lost people?"
"That's certainly an added bonus." Nihlus nodded as he conceded the point to Massani. "Point is Torfan's days are numbered. A joint Alliance-Hierarchy fleet is in route to clean house, best make sure your on the right side of things when it all comes crumbling down."
"A joint fleet?" Zaeed said in slight disbelief, "You people are actually serious. Three quarters of a million is nowhere near enough to take on those kind of odds. You've made your point Spectre, I'll clear my lads out and get out of your way."
"A wise choice." Nihlus said as he pressed his pistol into Massani's side even as the man pulled back a bit more. "Sadly, neutrality won't be enough I'm afraid. If you want to keep your head attached, you're going to have to do me a favor or two."
"Are you threatening me Turian?" Zaeed growled as he shifted his gun and pinned Nihlus's hand to the wall with the barrel. Zaeed wouldn't be too tough to take on with a round in his guts, but he was one of the last men Nihlus would want to fight with only one hand. He was quite fond of that hand too, but now was not the time to show weakness.
"No I'm extorting you human." Nihlus answered with a glare, out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a brief blur move past the doorway, like someone rushing into the room and the shadows. None of the pirates or other denizens would bother to get involved in a Blue Suns matter, and another Blue Sun would just ask Zaeed what he was up to. That left…..
"You think I came down here just to satisfy my curiosity over some rumors?" Nihlus continued doing his best not to look towards the shadows in the room. "I'm checking in on the work of one of my associates. A few more massacres like this and Torfan security will have a full on blood feud going with the pirates, which means that Torfan itself will soon be under siege by its own clientele. No amount of bribes will ever get a captain to risk letting a bunch of mercs on his ship in a climate like that. No the only way you're getting off this rock will be in an Alliance cruiser. Whether you make that trip in the morgue, brig or being held aloft as a hero, well that's up to you."
"You want me to backstab Torfan's security." Zaeed surmised, "Fight my way out while the Alliance fights its way in? Me and my three hundred odd lads against nearly ten thousand security officers? I can think of a lot of ways I would prefer to die than that."
"Nothing so dramatic Zaeed." Nihlus assured him. "The Alliance can break this moon easily enough, especially with some Turian steel to back them up. But if all those slaves get held as hostages against them, well, then things get a lot more complicated. But if you were to take your men, seize control of the slave quarters then things would go a lot smoother. Bunker down for a siege and keep everyone nice and safe until the Alliance clears a path out for you. We're even in the process of getting some of those would be slaves weapons so that they can help you out. Once the path is clear, you escort everyone to safety and return to earth a bonafide hero. The Alliance will give you a bunch of medals, the Council will be sure to express its gratitude financially and the next time you want to recruit some fresh meat you've got one hell of a marketing pitch to pull them all in."
"That's doable." Zaeed agreed, "What's the catch?"
"The catch," Nihlus hesitated for a moment, Zaeed was not going to like this, "The catch is that we can't afford to let any of the humans get sent to Hegemony space. Even a single child could act as a rallying cry for a galactic scale war. There's been rumors of a more private auction taking place before the fleet can arrive. If the smugglers make plans to start moving people off the moon before we can get it locked down, we might have to trigger a slave uprising a little early and then hunker down for a few days until reinforcements arrive."
"A few days?!" Zaeed all but shouted, "You want me to keep all those people safe from a god damned army for a few days?!"
"It's not the plan we want to go forward with." Nihlus insisted, honestly too, he really, really didn't want things to get that far out of hand. "Hopefully this fight between Torfan and the pirates will prevent anyone from being sent off this rock. But we need to be prepared for all eventualities."
"Yeah well your plan for this one is stupid." Zaeed dismissed. "And I want no part in it. I've got better ways to throw my life away then trying to fight this whole station at once, even in a purely defensive war."
"That's too bad." Nihlus pressed, "Because I'm not asking you. If you want to live to see next week you will keep those slaves nice and safe, whether it's for a few hours or a few days. Either way it's the only way you're staying alive through all this."
"I'm a mercenary god damn it." Zaeed declared, "I know the value of my one life down to a fraction of a credit. And it ain't worth anywhere near this kind of hassle."
"Alright." Nihlus said rolling his eyes. "Then tell me, what is this kind of hassle worth?"
"Four million," Zaeed answered without hesitation. "Plus expenses."
"Fine," Nihlus agreed holstering his gun and offering to shake Zaeeds hand. "Four million and come what may, you keep the slaves safe."
"Four million," Zaeed repeated as he holstered his own gun and removed his arm from Nihlus's throat, but didn't shake his offered hand, "And I talk it over with my men, see if they're up for a good old fashion suicide mission. But I will give you my word, that neither the governor nor any of his men will hear about any of this from me."
"Acceptable." Nihlus affirmed and brought up his omnitool. "We've got an encrypted message server running at this address. Contact me there, if you're up for the job. But make your decision quickly Massani, time is running out."
The old mercenary nodded and left the room. Nihlus held his dignity for another twenty seconds or so before he finally exhaled deeply and relaxed. Out of the shadows, Saren stepped into the light giving Nihlus the classic slow clap and smirking to himself.
"Well that went rather well." Saren complimented, "Your famed diplomacy skills certainly live up to their reputation."
"Of course they do." Nihlus chided, his sub-vocals irony laden and self depreciating. "Thanks for not shooting him when you came in, it would've ruined our conversation and made it slightly more difficult to hire him."
"Well it seemed that you had everything under control." Saren explained, "Besides if he had blown your hand off I could've gone with you to get a proper replacement. I know a guy who does just the best work with cybernetics even without a license. We could've made a day of it, it would've been nice."
"Thank you but for the time I'm content to continue on with what my parents gave me."
"Do you actually trust him not to rat on us?" Saren pressed.
"Massani is not a very complicated man." Nihlus pointed out, "If he wanted me dead he would kill me himself. Not even your shadowy presence would've deterred him for an instant. Besides the Blue Suns understand that it's rarely wise to actually kill Spectres if they can avoid it. That sort of thing comes back to bite them."
"I'll trust your judgement." Saren agreed, "I suppose it would do him little good to tell Torfan security to start hunting after people in Blue Sun's uniforms anyway. How did the crime scene look?"
"Staged." Nihlus summarized. "The bodies were killed in hand to hand fighting and later mutilated to make it look like they had been shot."
"The blood splatter and pooling?"
"Chest compressions to get the heart pumping again, get the blood flowing out of the wounds before it had a chance to coagulate in the veins. The bruising on their chests gave it away. An in depth autopsy would reveal the same, but the security forces see the pirate sigils on the walls and think they know everything about what's going on. It's all Shepherd's work no doubt, he's using the pirates as cover, while he bleeds out the defenders. There have been two other attacks like this as well."
"Four others." Saren declared he sub-vocals suggested he was quite impressed by all this. "Two of them were against the SIU. They're keeping those massacres secret but I stumbled across both sites before they could be cleaned up. All work with the same M.O. Taken by surprise, out of sight of any security cameras, killed in melee and killed in seconds of each other, with the bodies faked afterwards to make it look like they had been gunned down and fought back."
"By the spirits," Nihlus cursed in frustration, "Someone that large has no business being able to move this stealthily. It's just not fair."
"The worst part is the locations of the attacks as well." Saren continued bringing up a vague map of Torfan's interior. The details were lacking, only pointing out the main paths around the station and giving people an idea of what might be found where, Saren highlighted four different spots in different areas of the base. All of them were on different floors, different sections, and the map itself showed no path to reach any of them.
"Shepherd carried out each of his ambushes perfectly." Saren explained, "He must have spent at least some time to become familiar with each of the locations before carrying out his attack. He's scouting the base in detail while he whittles down their forces. By this point, Shepherd likely has a better grasp of the ins and outs of this place then the security forces defending it do. And since that attack took place in one of Torfan's secret rooms than Shepherd must have some means of ferreting them out, he likely knows where others are, and the secret entrances and tunnels as well."
"The bodies in that security chamber had been dead for at least eight hours, rigor was setting in after all. The security teams usually work in four hour shifts to keep their jobs interesting by changing them up often. Since no one found this massacre until just now, means that Shepherd must've edited their schedules to leave himself undisturbed for a long time. He has access to their computer systems, even their security systems now."
"Then he will likely be able to blind Torfan's security when his uprising starts." Saren realized his face going blank as the full weight of what Nihlus had said sinking in. "And he'll cut their communication lines, or even start feeding them false info."
"Meanwhile he will be free to guide his 'troops' around the facility with ease now that he's mapped so much of it." Nihlus pressed on, his own mind racing to try and guess the mad giant's next move. "Some of the slaves in the hold are already armed, if he can get more weapons to them…. Saren the difference in training and experience between the slaves and the security forces likely will not matter in this situation. Shepherd is going to massacre the whole moon base and I doubt there is much that can stop him at this point."
"Perhaps the Blood Pack could." Saren noted. Even if they were marching blind, confused and likely taken by ambush every few feet, this was still the worst place in the galaxy someone could find themselves fighting Krogan berserkers in. "Assuming the governor could even contact them to offer them the bribes needed to get them involved. Assuming that Shepherd doesn't have an as yet unseen contingency plan even for them."
"The man couldn't have planned for everything." Nihlus insisted, but Sare simply scoffed in reply.
"The time for underestimating that giant is well and truly past." Saren chided, "Look where that's gotten us so far? He's stolen a march on us make no mistake. At this point his uprising is probably inevitable, and will also likely succeed. But our mission never really had anything to do with the slaves themselves. Our mission was to keep Shepherd contained, and it's time we started focusing on that."
"What are you proposing Saren?" Nihlus asked cautiously.
"We collapse the roadway between the main base and star port." Saren suggested, "Bury everyone in here until the fleet arrives to dig them out."
"You mean to lock the civilians in with the slavers?" Nihlus asked shaking his head, "Shepherd has the power to fight his way free easily, but if there is no way out, were just forcing him into a knock down drag out fight with the slavers and that will get alot of people killed."
"The civilians are not our concern." Saren dismissed. "We need to keep Shepherd on this moon base, no matter the cost."
"You can't act so shortsightedly Saren." Nihlus insisted. "Our mission is to keep the peace between the Alliance and the Hegemony and there is more than one way to break that peace. If the slavers slaughter enough of the people here then the Alliance will demand vengeance in blood from Hegemony. And they will unleash Shepherd on them whatever the Council says this time."
"If you have a better suggestion I'm open to it." Saren conceded.
"Shepherd may have overplayed his hand with these massacres." Nihlus suggested, "If we can stir up the pot a bit more, actually get Torfan's security to attack the pirates and then bomb the star port a bit, we might be able to force the pirate fleet to withdraw. That would trap him here as well."
"That could work." Saren agreed. "It would also make the uprising itself more likely to succeed with less loss of life."
"Hitting the pirates as well would also be a good idea." Nihlus offered, "If we could get them to launch actual attacks against Torfan it would greatly accelerate things."
"I do like killing pirates." Saren said quite pleased with himself. "Very well. I'll head over to the main star port and see what I can do to rile the pirates up while you keep looking for Shepherd and slitting throats when you can. See what you can do about getting a pirate disguise for yourself. Turian pirates might be rare but if you could get on actual camera while killing people it would add to the tension."
"Just don't go killing me by mistake though." Nihlus dryly added.
"As if I could ever mistake that ugly mug of yours." Saren responded as the two left the hold and got to work.
AN: A few deviations from Mass Effect lore worth mentioning here. The smallest has to do with ship designations. In Mass Effect there are only four military ship classifications. Frigates: ships small enough to land on planets, Cruisers: ships larger than frigates smaller than dreadnoughts, dreadnoughts kilometer long vessels with massive spine guns meant to make people regret their career choice in the navy and Carriers: dreadnought sized ships that transport large numbers of fighters and bombers into combat, mostly used by the SA. '
My problem with this whole setup is that the cruiser class too damn vague. Cruisers can be anywhere from 400-800 meters in length and basically just a catch all for ship of the line that's not a dread. So I introduced a destroyer, light, heavy and battlecruiser classification to make the class more specific and varied. Now I regret choosing three different variants of the word 'cruiser' since I now wrote that word like fifty times in the chapter and it HAS NO SYNONYMS.
The slightly larger thing is Zaeed Massani. His official lore is surprisingly hard to nail down with in the official Mass Effect timeline. There is, as far as I can tell, no lore about his life before founding the Blue Suns and he was kicked out of the group when they wanted to expand into the Batarian slave trade. So it's likely that he left the group sometime either during or after the Skyllian Blitz. Obviously I went with after since why wouldn't you want to have Zaeed Massani in the story being all cynical, badass and renegade. All the stuff about him being former SA military and fighting in the First Contact war is just my headcanon though.
Now if you would all allow me rant about the official Batarian lore for a moment, specifically about how there really isn't any. They're one of the most recurring antagonists in the series as a whole, play a fairly large part in the lore of Shepherd's early life, and are probably one of the greatest military powers outside of Citadel Space. And the sum total of all official lore known about them is as follows: 1. They practice slavery. 2. They have a caste system. And 3. They are actively competing with the Turians for title of biggest racist pricks in the galaxy. That's it. I think the number of friendly Batarians you meet in the whole series can be counted on one hand, they are one of the few bipedal races to never get a spot on the Normandy crew along with the Volus, Vorcha, and Yahg. The god damned Reapers got more effort put into seeming reasonable if not sympathetic then the Batarians did.
If you ask me the Batarians were centered around the concept of a society that uses cultural relativism and accusations of racism to justify their barbaric practice of slavery. After introducing them as such the developers then realized that if they continued to explore those ideas they would either have to envision a system of slavery that was at least understandable if not sympathtic to enforce the idea the morality is relative to culture, which would of looked quite bad, or they would have had to tackle the philosophical contradiction that objective evil does exist (trail of tears, holocaust, holodomor, atlantic slave trade, pretty much everything the east india trading company ever did) but morality itselt is relative to the individual, their culture and their biases. Which they were not prepared to do. So the Batarians were kept as one not villians for most of the series before being unceremoniously killed off screen during ME3.
Which is a crying shame, could you imagine what kind of moral conundrums the Batarians could have forced a player to face in ME3? You could make their whole mission series optional so the player would have to decide if they were willing to condemn an entire race to extinction for being racist gits. You could've been forced to choose between saving a group of slaves or innocent civilians from the reapers. You could have had the option to put Batarian slaves to work building weapons to fight the reapers, or reposessing the possessions of slave owning families to bolster your income at the risk of alienating Batarian support for the suicide mission. Or lead a mission to free and rescue slaves from Batarian space that had been left behind to die at the cost of some of the military power you were building up to save the earth. But no. You get none of that. You get one guy leading the last group of Batarian refugees and he takes one conversation and a fetch quest to get him to pledge the last of his military power to defend the species that drove his people from the citadel.
So yeah pretty much everything I write about the Batarians in this story is only loosely based on the actual lore about them at the most. Really I'm making up a solid 90% of this stuff as I go along.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a review. I appreciate constructive criticism and the new review alert messages I get in my email fill me with the determination to write more of this story.