Stepping out of a gleaming transport shuttle, Dominic Solis intently strode through the entrance courtyard and his security before ascending the raised platform at the center of the hall.
He was an older man, very much past his youth - but the evidence of his age seemed only cosmetic to the sharp, dominating aura he gave off. He had strong, dark features set into a weathered face which radiated a stern demeanour even when his tone was light. A lifelong believer in health and physical fitness, his stark white suit betrayed a burly physique even while the black of his hair had turned to white years ago. Aside from earlier accomplishments in sport, his intellect, too, was laudable. Having been born into a wealthy Spanish family from Earth and gifted with a naturally sharp mind, he held an extensive education in history, engineering, and biology.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please," he commanded in his stentorious accented voice. Attention was diverted to him swiftly and without delay.
"Thank you for joining me this evening. I am Dominic Solis, your host this evening, for those with whom I have not had the pleasure to yet meet." He paused briefly, scanning the crowd around him with his intense, dark eyes. "It was long ago that I first came to the Eclipse group, having been drawn to it by its unique way of conducting business. The Eclipse group's illustrious founder, Jona Sederis, took me under her wing and guided me toward the vision she saw for the bright future of this enterprise. I've worked diligently to help her realize that vision, gaining the requisite knowledge of the operational know-how to run something as big and complex as this company. It has been an arduous journey, to be sure, but the results of our work have been nothing short of spectacular. Eclipse's services are one of the most well-known and sought after in this galaxy."
The audience clapped, and he paused for a short moment.
"In recent years, however, after repeatedly seeing what both our clients and our units really needed, did our shared vision of the future of this company slowly diverge. This difference in vision culminated in the recent leadership changes, which I'm sure you are all aware of by now. I know the change has been unforeseen by some, yet to others, long overdue. Some doubt this new direction we are taking, and I understand that change is often frightening. I know that portions of our profits have historically flowed from less legitimate sources under the old leadership. I am also aware that many of you have expressed fears over your returns as we move away from such sources. Therefore, I am especially pleased to announce that we have secured many new long-term contracts for protection and enforcement in the public sector under our new direction. Our recent successful audits and new appearance is establishing reach in places that would have never accepted our competitors or us before.
"This evening, allow me to lay your fears to rest. If we are to thrive in the coming trials our company faces, we need to think strategically and continue to follow the tenants set by its founder: to provide discrete, robust, intelligent security services. We've always believed that our cutting-edge equipment and weaponry have put us at the forefront of protection services, and our clients know that. The Eclipse group has always represented the best of private security, and today I am proud to share new internal and external initiatives to leverage what has always been our strengths, and pleased to announce new lines of equipment, weaponry, and enhancements for all of our units to help them do what they do best."
Some in the audience clapped, though not all. Dominic paused again, eyes boring into the faces of those less than emphatic in the news.
"I would like to welcome each of you to our new Eclipse and hope you will join me in discovering new forays in the best protection this galaxy has to offer. I hope to speak to each this evening for those still in doubt to share this new, sustainable vision for our future. Please enjoy your evening and the delights it offers."
One last round of applause sounded, and their host descended the platform and disappeared with his attaché.
"Mr. Farren?"
Arius turned to face a waiting mercenary. "Yes?"
"The private showing will begin shortly. If you could, please follow me."
.
Shepard watched Arius disappear with the asari sent for him, then reminded herself of their primary purpose of the evening. She consulted the digital itinerary, quickly determining how much time she had to work. The showing was not long, but Arius had planned to tie him up for as long as possible afterward, maximizing her time for snooping around.
Firstly, she mingled. She grabbed a weak drink and floated through the party, gently inserting herself into conversations when possible and resorting to plain introductions when not. Despite some initial hesitations on her part, she quickly found a groove after the first couple of parleys and began powering through the attendees with the prowess of a seasoned networker. She was not a suave conversationalist by her own admission, but she had spoken with enough personalities and races to get the point across no matter the circumstance. Her most straightforward 'in' usually manifested as some shared grief between their occupations, real or imagined; she always believed that bitching was the common glue between all peoples, and she flexed that muscle as often as possible. With those she perceived as more boots-on-the-ground, she quickly bonded with them over the usual gripes of tactical equipment quality, questionable decisions with the top brass, and the odd titillating mission story thrown in. With those higher up on the ladder, she spoke about the problems of motivating subordinates and operational nightmares they often had to untangle. The Normandy was a machine that operated under her leadership, and she was no stranger to the trials faced by managing personnel and critical infrastructure. She even started conversations with the snobby types when they drifted near the art, regurgitating some of the impromptu art and history lessons Arius had earlier given her. All things considered, she was pretty successful in her mission: she had gotten a fairly good look into private opinions around the Eclipse leadership, some fascinating personal stories, and a long list of contacts.
After making a couple of rounds around the complex, she determined the only way to gain access around the sections of the compound restricted to guests was to get to the security room and acquire the appropriate codes. She exited the villa and casually walked over to one unused transport shuttle waiting in the receiving area. When no one was looking, she popped open the maintenance door to the engine, pulled a few wires out of the engine cooling mechanism, then flashed the onboard cooling mechanism computer with a purposely defective firmware Tali had set up for her. Closing the small door, she entered the driver's seat to start it then and walked back to the party.
She waited near the security room while sipping her drink, looking thoughtlessly at the changing patterns of light reflecting off the ornamental installations. A bright flash of light from the receiving area out front twinkled off all the refractive surfaces inside, and personnel rushed out of the security room to investigate and contain the small blaze outside the villa. She slipped into the room unnoticed.
.
The demonstration had admittedly been better than Arius had expected.
Rarely did mercenary corporations source their arms in-house. That was reserved for well-known manufacturers who provided tried-and-true tactical gear at discounted, bulk prices. His misgivings about the quality of the in-house weapons at the moment seemed premature as they watched them undergo some live-fire testing which appeared to hold up well under increasingly frantic fire rates. The most notable was a portable, rapid-fire missile launcher named Gyro v2, directly answering the Blue Sun's favourite ML-77 Missile Launcher. Automatic targeting was the default mode but could fire directly when an alternate mode was selected. Aside, they had copied and worked on some slight enhancements to existing market weaponry, clearly having been reverse-engineered with some tweaks thrown in. They were an increase to their existing arsenal, but nothing revolutionary. A small group of fully hard-suited mercenaries demonstrated the weaponry in a combat simulation arena, facing off against combat drones and then mechs as if they were in an actual firefight. Their movements were quick, controlled - swift, even, and hit hard. Few shots were wasted or missed their mark. All the signs of veteran combatants.
"Arius Farren," Arius offered, introducing himself after the demonstration had concluded and the others had filed out of the room. He held out his hand to their host.
"Welcome, Arius. Please, call me Dominic."
Dominic shook his outstretched hand with a grip that threatened to crush while his dark eyes bored into his own, daring to be matched. Arius responded in kind without skipping a beat.
"Finally. I've been waiting for someone to give me a proper shake all evening. I trust you've enjoyed our little demonstration? What can I do for you?"
"I have, thank you. I understand you are a busy man and that I am not the only person who wishes to speak to you this evening, so I only ask that you graciously permit me ten minutes of your time privately. I've something that you may be interested in."
Dominic eyed him suspiciously but accepted. "Alright, you have ten minutes. Leave us, please," he ordered, and his detail filed out of the room.
Arius lifted the large case he had walked in with to one of the empty counters, then removed his jacket and hung it from a hook protruding from one of the walls. He rolled up his sleeves.
"I'm the founder and CEO of Cryptox Industries. We're a private weapons manufacturer based out of the Terminus specializing in researching and developing... unique munitions. We cater to a specific clientele - those who we believe, at our discretion, possess exceptional qualities to be worthy of wielding one of our weapons."
"I do not take flattery," Dominic warned him, unmoved. "A sales pitch is still a sales pitch no matter the dressing."
"And I do not speak in pretension or hyperbole," Arius assured him. "Most of our clients operate within the special tactics and reconnaissance division of the Council, with some outliers. I sit here today with an offer."
"And what are you offering?"
"An opportunity," he responded. "We are not arming your mercenary group nor supplying equipment to your security forces. Out of our singular interest, we are here to ask you if you alone would be interested in a rare opportunity to have our company design a unique and unrivalled weapon for your hands. Our prices are assuredly steep. The development of arms with technologies unavailable on the market make it so - and our clients are never disappointed."
"You would know, then, that the arms business is built on a delicate trust. With that said, if I asked to see an example of your work… ?"
"I would show you this," Arius stated, moving the gleaming case between them. "An exceedingly gracious client allowed me to bring their weapon here this evening while on leave."
A click sounded as the locked case on the cold metal table snapped open with Arius' biometrics. He opened the lid. Within was the sleek blue and black form of Garrus' rifle. Garrus had been less than happy with the request - when he asked why they couldn't have just borrowed Legion's rifle, Arius had replied that he did not think that ripping Mr. Solis' arm from his socket would prove popular at a formal gathering. The turian had reluctantly agreed.
Dominic had not said a word, but Arius detected subtly excited mannerisms - the darting of the eyes and the arms' restlessness. Arius knew the ten promised minutes would extend. He picked up the rifle, field stripped it, briefly checked each part, and reassembled the gun. He reached into the case for a set of fine screwdrivers to make micro-adjustments to the scope that had accompanied the rifle but realized that it was already perfectly calibrated and set them back down.
"It appears our client takes good care of their weapon," Arius observed, "It also seems that they have been exercising it regularly. Here- " he offered, holding out the weapon to his host while recounting its features in precise detail. When he was done, he looked over to the simulation arena. "I was given permission to have its firepower demonstrated - though it may be more effective in another's hands. I give you or one of your previous demonstrator's free reign to exercise it to its limit if you wish."
Dominic still had not said anything but caught Arius in an intense look that bore straight through his skull. There was a dare behind the Spaniard's dark eyes, a promise that he would find the limit and break it if possible, as he had for all other useless and weak things that had stumbled across his path in life. Arius stared back with complete confidence - he was no amateur weaponsmith and its owner, Garrus Vakarian, was no amateur marksman.
.
The last thermal clip fell from the rifle, its red hot colour briefly singeing the floor as it bounced and rolled to a stop. Dominic Solis was drenched with sweat, his once-crisp white shirt sticking to his hulking frame under the exertion of the fight. He had run a firefight simulation in the area with light armour strapped over his clothes and proceeded to fight waves of automated robotic opponents with the rifle. Arius had watched the fight, observing less the gun and more the man - a formidable power in his own right. He was as quick, nimble and strong as a man half his age, even while his capacity for physical feats had diminished over the years. When the simulation finished and he returned to him, Arius saw that his stern facade had cracked - a grin had stubbornly moved into his face, which often appeared after a strenuous but deeply satisfying effort. The gun had won him over, and he had passed the trial.
"Ten minutes, indeed," Dominic grumbled. "I don't often say this - but I am impressed. If only those close to me could inspire as much confidence as this weapon does."
Arius smiled proudly. Like a master craftsman pouring his heart and soul into a masterpiece, the ultimate reward was seeing its masterpiece admired by those who appreciated it. He took the weapon from the Eclipse leader, disassembled it, quickly cleaned and applied a thin lubricant, then placed it back into its case.
"I am glad the experience was to your enjoyment," he told him. "This is just one flavour that we have developed."
"I must say, you have some courage to upstage me against my own articles in my home."
"My company provides a particular set of tools for a particular clientele. Your demonstration has proved to me that you are indeed the calibre of client we design for."
"Well," Dominic answered, "Against my initial expectations, you've done well. Consider me sold."
"Excellent. I'll be in touch within twenty-four hours with a contract," Arius replied, giving a polite nod. "Thank you for your time. I've occupied you far beyond what is fair this evening, Dominic - I'm sure you have other engagements to attend to."
"That is true…" he affirmed, but his voice was hesitant. "Yet I fear they will pale in comparison."
"Then I will take my leave. Though I may make one last remark, I had a look through your collection upstairs - I was intrigued by the theme of the pieces and delighted to find that you had an original reproduction of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Tablets bearing parts ten and eleven if I'm not mistaken, assuming they were of a Babylonian reproduction."
A flash seemed to have gone off behind Dominic's dark eyes at the mention, and his expression changed to that of muted surprise. "A fellow student of history? How unexpected." The older man checked his omni-tool for his appointments with a flick of his wrist. "I still have a bit of time before engagements press me. Shall we continue this conversation in my office?"
Arius politely accepted, and Dominic silently led him around the compound and up a flight of stairs toward his office. They reached the top step, and Arius strode in. It was sparsely furnished aside from adornments of holos on the walls. Like the other villa designs, the setting set the tone - rich, warm colours were placed on the walls, contrasting with the colourless crystalline structure encompassing the rest of the building.
"Brandy de Jerez?" Dominic asked him.
"Please."
The mercenary leader walked over to a small table with a decanter and poured the amber-coloured liquid into two brandy snifters, one of which he handed to Arius. Arius raised the receptacle to smell it - the rich smells of the earth rose sharply. He thanked his host and walked to a selection of holos hung on the wall.
There were some current scenes from Earth: some taken from places on its surface and some from orbit. Earth, as he had once known it, had changed. Pollution levels and overpopulation had stripped most of the Earth bare from its original, untarnished brilliance. While every human enjoyed a longer and better life, the gap between rich and poor widened daily. Advanced nations had eliminated most genetic diseases and pollution, while less fortunate regions had not progressed beyond 20th-century technology. Sea levels had risen two meters in the last 200 years, and violent weather was common due to environmental damage inflicted during the late 21st century. However, the past few decades had seen significant improvement due to recent technological advances and their introduction into the galactic scene. In alien eyes, Earth was a bit of a mess, but it was a mess he had called home for far longer than any other.
"So, Arius. Where are you from?"
"Earth."
"As am I. Where?"
"Everywhere," he answered him semi-truthfully. "Started in the near east and slowly made my way around. I've lived on every continent at some point or another."
"Well-travelled, then. Good, you have some experiences."
"A few," Arius answered, giving the barest perceptible traces of a grin. He motioned with his glass to the holos on the wall. "Humanity has come a long way."
Dominic walked over to the holos next to him. He, too, looked at the images but shook his head. "Not far enough."
"What makes you say that?" he asked, thinking the mercenary leader would allude to the relative sizes of economic strength or political influences compared to the others in the galactic scene.
"Come now, Arius, shall I even justify that question with an answer? What do you see here? Suffering. Death. We are still doomed to deteriorate, still doomed to die."
The observation struck Arius as a bit odd: it was an obvious enough point, he thought, as pessimistic as it was - and wondered if the constant perception of death throughout his long life somehow had trivialized his view of it. He might have become desensitized to it, but equally possible, he chose to celebrate life's victories over its tragedies as they were fewer and far between. He opened his mouth to make a remark but then realized that he understood something crucial about Dominic that tied everything he knew about the man.
"Hold on, your collection - It's not a contemplation of morality, but an affront."
Dominic put down his glass and clapped slowly with grim cheer. "Astute observation. You see it too, then."
"I agree that suffering should be minimized and happiness maximized, but death itself…"
"You resign yourself to the paltry continuance given to you by the wily forces of nature?" Dominic asked.
The being formerly known as the Wanderer didn't respond - knowing that he was thinking from the point of pure hypocrisy. He was not linked to that ever-emptying hourglass of one's life - and his companion this evening, Shepard, had hers turned over even after it had prematurely run dry.
Dominic walked away from the wall and over to an adjacent one. Pictures of his younger self were on the wall, engaged in daring feats and accomplishments.
"Do you know what I think of the king in the tablets? He was too weak - I think he did not try hard enough, couldn't perhaps, given the times. Acceptance of my fate? No, I think not. I find the very idea abhorrent. We no longer live in mud huts, toiling on the ground, breaking our backs all our lives, hoping to live one more day. We've bent the once untamable forces of nature to our command, broke into the homes of the gods and tore them all down. The gods may have made us in their image, but they're dead now; we killed them. We can now remake ourselves into something greater."
Arius had seen this exact argument times before, as he had once had, always standing on the precipice of technological singularity as they did now. With some exceptions, organics were doomed to die - philosophical debates aside, there always seemed a distinct and genuine possibility that given a few more centuries or millennia of uninterrupted progress, an organic race would achieve negligible senescence by virtue of their own work and will.
"There is much to see. There is much to do," The host declared. "To exist as a single, fleeting consciousness at only one point in time is unacceptable to me."
Arius also heard the words Dominic didn't say: with every passing year as he aged, he got weaker, and for every year he grew weaker, he also became increasingly bitter.
"I admire any efforts to break the bonds of the past and further the benefits of all - we would not be where we are without the collective efforts of those who have devoted their lives to us, but due caution," he warned, "while you spend all your time and efforts worrying and looking to the future, the present will pass you by and become a memory not even lived in. It would be most unfortunate to become an old man filled with regret, waiting to die alone."
Dominic looked at him queerly, not expecting his words. "Dangerously sententious. And what do you know about such things? Do not presume that reciting lines from some old clay tablets makes you a sage."
He accused him of moralizing, but Arius took little heed to the strike. He walked over to the small table and placed his now empty snifter upon it.
"I am not presuming myself as anything more than I am. The reason those clay tablets sit in their case downstairs and are not forgotten under the sands of Earth is a testament to the voice and message that speaks through them. It is a great work, and great works capture the things we all know but fail to articulate. Would you casually throw away fifty-thousand years of human wisdom? We may have harnessed powers once unimagined and reign supreme in our numerous worlds, but we are still the tree-dwelling primates of our ancestors at our core. Those particular stains do not wash out so easily."
"All the more reasons to remake ourselves. Those stains belong to an ancient place time lost. We could be so much more than what we are." He waved his hand dismissively. "You attach too many sentimentalities to the past, Arius. Memory is a means to avoid mistakes, that is all."
The next shot was his, but Arius didn't take it. His younger self had once held the same arguments for the same reasons. He saw himself in the man and knew that opposing views could only be proven with experience and time, not words.
"That could very well be true, Dominic. It would not be the first time I've been accused of such mawkishness," he admitted and chuckled. "My date earlier this evening expressed a similar remark... and I am inclined to agree."
With Arius' light-hearted admittance, the underlying hostility vanished.
"Ah, I just realized if you brought a companion with you tonight, then I have been selfishly occupying you."
"That is kind of you to consider, but it is all right. She understands the scope of my work, and truth be told, this evening has proved far more interesting than I had originally anticipated."
"Indee-"
Dominic was interrupted by an alert on his omni-tool.
"Hmm. My next appointment draws near - come, let us take a long way around. I wish to show you something that you may find interesting."
Dominic led the pair of them down from the heights of his office through a series of doors and hallways to the lab facilities behind the villa. They passed rooms and hallways, all empty and bare.
"I will not ask for details, but I take it you have some experience handling weapons and have seen some combat, yes? I thought so. What did you think of the units handling the armaments we trialled earlier?" Dominic asked him as he opened a lab door and stepped through. The interior was a stark white lab, of which most equipment had recently been removed, judging from the marks on the floors.
"They seemed veteran - no hesitation, shots struck true, fluid, practiced movements," Arius answered him.
"I thought so too. I'd like to reveal something - the demonstration was as much for my benefit as it was for yours."
Dominic walked over to a nondescript locked drawer, unlocked it with a pin pad, and opened it. He pulled out a collection of small vials, each arranged next to one another, each of different sizes and colours.
"What if I told you that all were greenhorns having only completed some basic training? That the graces of their capabilities sprung from these vials here?"
Arius looked back at him with puzzlement. "Truthfully?"
Dominic nodded. "Phase one of three on my roadmap - if we cannot stop death, we accelerate experiential uptake and save time on mental training. Artificially strengthen neural networks and perceptual capabilities. Achieve mastery in a fraction of the time."
Arius raised an eyebrow. "Brain hacking? Interesting. More advanced than what I imagined it to be."
"Phase two," Dominic continued explaining, "enhance physical capability - override the natural limits the body places on muscles. Save time on physical training. We're just about there - we anticipate completion in a few months."
"Another brain modification application. Hmmm. Dare I ask, three?"
Dominic leaned forward over the counter, both hands placed apart, wearing a deadly expression. "Phase three - we halt natural senescence."
"There's a bit of a jump there, but regardless, do you believe that you can?"
"Yes, I do. I can see the doubt in your face and voice, Arius, but I will not take offence. I cannot divulge much, but I've…" he corrected himself, "we've... recently made several breakthroughs. We're in a very unique position to finally rid ourselves of those formerly mentioned stains."
Arius crossed his arms in silence, thinking about everything the Eclipse leader had said. To give humans the lifespan of an asari, krogan or beyond, he wondered, would it change them? In which ways? Modern medical advancements had produced plenty of stims and enhancements, but for Dominic to reach so far ahead, how? Would these advancements be shared with the wider galactic community at some point? How would they be used? The fact that this advanced research was done by a security company and not a pharmaceutical one puzzled him, and he knew not the true motivations of his host. These thoughts left him with an uneasy feeling in his gut that something sinister was playing out, but he didn't know enough to draw any conclusions yet.
To usher the advancement of those around them, he, too, had tried many times with varying degrees of success. A memory from long ago tugged at the edge of his mind, and he closed his eyes to reflect on it. He tried finding the words for it, a small admonition to warn Dominic of the potentially slippery slope that he descended, a final consideration shared with those standing on the edge of the abyss. Behind his eyes, he saw the cuneiform script of the tablets and searched them for a specific line - the name of the fabled plant the king had quested for and lost in his search for immortality. He found the passage and then saw the markings: sham-mu an-nu-u sham-mu ni-kit-ti.
"It may come to pass that we find that a life free from all limits can quickly become an eternal hell unimagined. Still, I hope you find your 'Plant of Heartbeat', Dominic," he wished him as he looked back up with weighty countenance, "but know that regardless of the outcome of your quest… make sure you have a city to return to."
Dominic narrowed his eyes at him and had already formulated a dismissive response, but he paused before he could retort, halted by his acquaintance's body language. Arius' gaze had wavered not, nor did he break the silence that now lingered between them. There was a sudden awareness on his part of the careful articulation of Arius' words, free of sanctimonious tone and contemptible expression, a look in his green eyes of a warning, no, a plea, of a man who had once made a grave mistake and had lived to regret it.
Dominic straightened, smoothing the front of his suit with his right hand, trying to decipher just who this man he was speaking to was. There was an age to him that he could not understand - like he was the naive child and this younger man was the elder.
"I do not know much about you, Arius, but I do know one thing - your tongue speaks with words far older than your face would suggest."
A faint and despondent grin was the only response he received before his omni-tool gave an alert. He looked at the appointment and frowned. "Hmm. I'm afraid our time draws to a close. Allow me to escort you back to the main atrium."
Arius nodded back, and while they walked out he discretely dropped a waypoint beacon on his omni-tool for Shepard... and the pin combination for the drawer.
