Chapter 14. Crew Expendable


11. June 2388 AD, Citadel, HSA Embassy

"So they are already pushing for a withdrawal?" the chancellor replied, his voice somewhat altered by the comm buoy network.

"The salarians are, the turians continue their support of our actions though. Ioventus still has our back."

"What about the asari?"

"Still quiet, as expected,"Goyle replied. "Tevos's trial is coming up in a few weeks and the Republics have yet to elect a successor. Right now they basically lack a voice in this, although we both know how they feel about it."

"It's almost been a month since her arrest. You'd think they'd want to get that done as fast as possible."

"Asari are not exactly known for fast action, Chancellor. Furthermore the last four times they elected a councilor it was Tevos. I can imagine it's kind of hard to find a replacement for someone who's been on the job for 168 years."

"Living long really took a toll on their society," the man on the other line sighed. "So right now it's a deadlock, they can't force us to pull out yet?"

"Not exactly but once the asari send a replacement, we'll have to go. This whole thing has been an embarrassment for the Republics and as far as some are concerned it's our fault."

"Great. So we're the bad guys?"

"In the eyes of most matriarchs? Yes. We went against the establishment. Asari hate that," Goyle replied, it was true. Asari society, while placing large value on individual freedom, had been stagnant in the ways they do things for generations. Generations that translated into thousands of human years. Few things were as unpopular with the most powerful asari than radical change. A military intervention smashing a mercenary company incredibly popular with many ruling asari was something they considered a 'radical change'.

Eclipse had been on the payroll of many asari worlds in the Terminus, providing security and enforcement for the rich colonies, protecting them from raiders and slavers and only expecting a little leeway and credits in return, both of which worlds like Illium had gladly provided.

"And they had nothing to say about the fact that all kinds of criminal syndicates, slavers and Terminus nations are going to rush in to pick up the pieces of the Blood Pack and Eclipse?"

"Only that we should've known that beforehand."

"So your advice is to react before they force our hand?"

"If we want to get anywhere besides this embassy, we'll eventually have to play nice, Chancellor Noé," Goyle argued. "I know that you fear that other powers are just going to fill the void left by Eclipse but it's going to happen either way. It's what the Terminus Systems do, they throw themselves at every opportunity to become more powerful."

"You're more experienced with alien matters than I am, Goyle, so I'll ask you something."

"Anything, Chancellor."

"Who are the most powerful players in the Terminus and who of them will pick up the most pieces?"

Goyle considered it for a moment. With two major powers gone, the Terminus was in upheaval, warlords, gangs and rogue nations all scrambling for power. With Eclipse gone, organized crime had lost one of it's major protectors, therefore causing other mercenary companies to draw in more recruits, with the Blood Pack gone, warlords now had to sent their own rank and file to fight rivals. The situation was chaotic, truthfully she could think of dozens of groups that would profit from this.

But the chancellor asked for who would come out on top eventually and that limited the candidates. Most of the groups struggling would simply weaken each other until the true victor would rise from the ashes of the fire currently burning in that particular part of the galaxy.

There were only a two groups that would truly be able to come out on top.

First there was Omega, ruled by Aria T'Loak, but she had never made a move outside of her asteroid. She was only interested in being the 'queen' of that wretched place, no galactic ambitions that Goyle was aware of. She'd probably stay in her club, get richer thanks to her Element Zero deposits all the while being connected to leading matriarchs across asari space. Rumor had it she even had Tevos on the leash, something Goyle found all the more likely given recent events. Ignoring all of that, Omega wouldn't be the victor in this, it could be, but Aria had nothing to gain from fighting of others, her power was as secure as ever. Aria didn't act unless her power was in danger, a trait common in asari society.

Then of course there was the Batarian Hegemony. The Terminus Systems were a major playing ground for them, many warlords and pirates relying on batarian backing to stay in power and in turn serving as the Hegemony's secret enforcers, keeping non-batarians away from places of interest while staying clear from unregistered batarian colonies. However the Hegemony was a council associate, they were be able to fill the void but they would not dare to openly act against the Council's stance on the matter, the threat of turian intervention in case of conflict ever present. But the Hegemony would still fill the void, for one simple, disgusting reason.

The 'rogue' slavers, secretly supported by the Hegemony, or as some called them 'the scourge of the galaxy'.

Officially, the Batarian Hegemony condemned them for some of their crimes but everyone was aware that the slavers were one of the major pillars of the Hegemony's slave market, bringing in independent colonists, people the Council wouldn't even know were missing. The slavers, deeply loyal to the Hegemony, would fill the void. They could easily replace Eclipse's criminal network, smuggling and enforcing being not exactly mutually exclusive with slavery, instead even improving their working conditions by giving them more sources of income. They could also put any warlord into their place thanks to having access to a sizeable fleet and low-key military equipment.

"The most likely candidate would be slavers. They have the means, batarian backing, the motive, new slaves and other sources of income, and the opportunity now that other warlords are fighting each other, once they are weak, the slavers will move in for the kill and take their price."

"Exposing our colonies to these scum bags. Good to know," Noé concluded. "Just how extensive is the batarian support?"

"The slavers get hand-me-downs from the Hegemony. Ships that don't work quite like they should, mass accelerators that overheat a bit to early, low-tier barriers and similar things. Still makes them a force to be reckoned with now that the professional mercenaries of Eclipse and the hordes of the Blood Pack are gone."

The chancellor remained silent, causing Goyle to wonder what he was thinking about.

"We can only assume the Hegemony will increase funding even more to fill that void, after all that way they are still pulling the strings from the shadows, letting the slavers lose on whoever is bothering them."

"You just gave me an idea Goyle. There's someone I have to call. Keep the salarians of our back for now, you're doing good work over there. We'll talk later, Ambassador."

With that the chancellor vanished leaving her very confused and somewhat unsatisfied. The comm buoy feed shut itself down as it was disconnected from Arcturus, leaving Anita Goyle alone in the conference room of the embassy, only her thoughts keeping her company as the blue light completely faded. She just hoped that the chancellor wouldn't make ending their talks abruptly a habit from now on.

Somehow she didn't like how talking about slavers gave the head of the HSA's government an 'idea'.


2130 CE, Dis System, THS Umbra

Rolling his neck, he felt the joints pop back into place. Hospital beds truly were terrible to sleep in but he simply had to be careful. After all, he wasn't exactly sure what he was dealing with. He hated not knowing his enemy, the more a hunter knew about his prey, the more likely he was to succeed in his pursuit.

Desolas let a slightly frustrated growl escape his mouth as he continued his stride through the lower deck of the Umbra.

As far as the medical officer had been able to tell, Desolas Arterius was completely fine, a day of quarantine turning up no change in his body or his mind. Apparently the device hadn't done to Desolas what it had done to Haliat.

At least for now.

He pushed those thoughts aside for now. If one didn't go into battle as a clean slate, instead carrying other burdens with him, he'd lose focus and suffer for it. He couldn't allow that.

He opened the door to the armory, his golden-black armor placed on the table. Having just left the briefing room, he'd just have to get into gear now. His unit was already waiting for him, ready to continue their mission of tracking down the rogue Blackwatch officer.

He locked the last maneuver thrusters in place, making his armor somewhat reminiscent of a Havoc assault suit worn by the Armiger Legion, and folded up the Phaeston before making sure that it was secured on his back, a habit he had developed after losing his original rifle during training and spending the next day doing grueling exercises under the watch of his instructors.

Next he picked up his helmet, the violet visor reflecting his white plated face and giving him a good look at himself, small burns and scars lining his face. He could've gotten them removed, the technology existed, but for Desolas all of them were linked to a story. Every scar was part of who he was and what he had done in the past. One round tearing of parts of his helmet, the pieces of the protective gear injuring his left mandible. A grenade detonating a little to close, burning his neck in the process, a ricocheted round tearing of the end of one of his fringes during a raid on a pirate base.

All attempts to kill him, all failed attempts.

He sighed and lifted the helmet, rotating it so the violett visor faced towards the ground before placing it on his head and making sure the seals were locked. After all, dying due to a lack of oxygen was hardly a fate worthy of a Blackwatch operative. That would simply be embarrassing.

Picking up the curved talon from the table, 32 small scratches in its grip, and placed it in the sheath attached to his armor, taking care to secure the blade just as he had done with his Phaeston and his pistol before walking out of the armory and into the hangar, his personal guard already waiting for him at the same shuttle that had taken them. Their heads turned as Desolas armored boots made a thud with every step he took towards them.

"Ready for this?" he asked, receiving nods as the unit climbed into the passenger compartment of the shuttle. "Good," he brought up his omni-tool. "Let's go over the briefing, we'll sit here for a couple minutes anyway."

The orange light assembled itself into the shape of a Hensa Cruiser, it's blocky form known to everyone in the shuttle due to having trained on similar batarian ships in the past.

Just because the Hegemony was officially an associate of the Citadel Council and technically an ally of the Hierarchy, didn't mean that the Primarchs weren't aware of the fact that the batarians were the most likely enemy turian soldiers would face on the field of battle. Slavers, pirates and despotic Terminus rulers all used gear provided by the Hegemony, therefore training on batarian models made sense.

In Desolas's opinion it was a near miracle the Hierarchy hadn't put the Batarian Hegemony into its place already, slavery being a crime punishable by death in every turian code of law for thousands of years. The fact that they could only be productive if held at gunpoint simply meant that they lacked discipline, something turian society didn't.

"Our technical specialists have breached batarian security and we now have confirmation that corpses were transported to our target, the Kha'Dahan. The cruiser is currently on its night rotation, we'll have roughly three hours until its corridors start buzzing with activity," Desolas reasoned, receiving nods from his team.

"We'll close the majority of the distance between us and the cruiser via shuttle and drift the last ten minutes with the help of our maneuver gear, same process for the exfiltration," Desolas spoke as the omni-tool displayed four points moving towards the cruiser.

"We'll enter through one of the maintenance entrances, overwriting its lock quietly before making our way to the medbay," Desolas said as the inner working of the cruiser appeared, small tunnels in its hull used to maintain the complex inner workings of the ship. "The Kha'Dahan has sent its ground troops to the surface, meaning we'll move through the deserted lower caste quarters, the rank and file grunts are on Jartar, we shouldn't run into anyone down there."

The omni-tool began to show four dots moving through the corridors, one room up ahead marked as 'medical bay'. Then a close up of the medical section revealed a part named 'storage unit', the place in which their target was most likely located. "Once we're inside, we'll check the corpses and any terminals we can find, then we jump ship the same way we came."

"What about the crew?" one of his comrades asked.

"Crew expendable, Sergeant Veltax," Desolas simply replied. "Our priority is the intel, therefore weapons free, although I'd prefer for us to simply vanish as undetected as we'll arrive."

"Any alternative ways of evacuation, Sir?" Lieutenant Callius asked, her voice altered by the helmet covering her face.

"Rapid exfiltration via the laws of physics."

"Blowing a hole into the hull and hoping we get sucked out faster than they can shoot us?" Galviat questioned.

"I found my phrasing to be more optimistic, but yes Sergeant, 'Blowing a hole into the hull and hoping we get sucked out faster than they can shoot us' is also a way to put it."

"Already have the charges," Veltax injected as he held up one of the explosives, the grey metal cylinder clashing with his black-golden suit of armor as he clipped it back into place on his belt. "It's gonna be great."

"Let's just avoid that, alright?" Galviat countered.

"Just because your stomach can't handle it you wu-" Veltax was about to continue but Desolas decided to continue his briefing. Sure, his personal guard were the best but they were as prone to teasing each other as any unit.

"However," Desolas interrupted the banter. "If we encounter crew members, I'd prefer simply avoiding them if possible. A couple batarians dying in a cave in? That's one thing. Batarian servicemen murdered on their own ship? That's a different story, a story I'd like to avoid. Are we clear on that?"

Three nods was all he received.

"Alright. According to my timer, we'll reach the drop off point in two minutes. Check the locks on your gear, the seals on your armor and run a final diagnostic scan. I don't want vacuum casualties," he reminded them out of habit, although he was certain his personal guard would not make such a mistake.

Following his own advice, he checked his equipment one last time and was finished just as the timer ran out and the lights on the inside of the shuttle turned red, informing the four Blackwatch operatives that the atmosphere was starting to vent.

The hissing of the air escaping into space was still an uncomfortable noise for Desolas, having been subjected to uncontrolled decompression during his early years of service. Being sucked out of a damaged shuttle and floating in space, waiting three hours for rescue, was hardly pleasant.

As the light turned green, the soldier closest to the door, Galviat, rose from his seat as the locks of the door came loose. He pushed it aside, revealing the blackness of space to his team and Desolas stepped forward, the display inside his helmet outlining the path to the cruiser.

"With me," he said as he disabled the magnetic fields of his boots holding him in place. He pushed his feet of the ground with little force and began to float out of the shuttle, his maneuver thrusters beginning to position him via small oxygen bursts.

Then he began to accelerate, little force needed to get him to the speed he required to swiftly cross the distance between the drop of point and the Kha'Dahan, the brown, bulky, batarian cruiser growing ever closer right until he began to decelerate, not wanting to die upon impact with the metal hull.

Coming to a stop just as he could grab onto the cruiser, magnetic fields in his palms activating and allowing him to climb across the hull, the service hatch outlined with red colour as he turned his head to see his team arrive.

Desolas skillfully used his hands and feet to climb across the brown armor of the warship, the entry point now in reach.

"Overwrite it, Lieutenant," he ordered and Nilia Callius floated past him, only activating her magnetic palms when she was in reach of the hatch. She grabbed on to a bar, most likely used to open it once the locks were disabled and brought up her omni-tool. The orange hologram began to display various access codes as the Lieutenant overwrote safety protocol after safety protocol to ensure that the hatch would first decompress, then unlock, allowing the Blackwatch team to enter, and then once more regain atmosphere without the bridge crew noticing any of it. As air began to stream from the entrance, her task seemed well in progress. The Lieutenant let go of the bar, deactivated her omni-tool and took her Phaeston of her back, pointing the barrel at the hatch.

"Try it now," she said as Desolas grabbed onto the bar with one hand, while a pistol held by his other hand hovered over the entry as well, his own Phaeston still folded on his back. Lifting the hatch, Desolas kept his pistol trained on it as Galviat and Veltax entered through it, the tunnel luckily big enough for a batarian to walk through and work in, meaning that the turians could walk through it as well. Entering last and making sure to close the hatch behind him, Desolas's night vision gear once more turned on, the tunnel now appearing through a green filter. Cables, pipes and access points were lining the walls of the part they had entered, grey airlocks separating the area from the rest of the maintenance tunnel.

"Atmosphere?" he asked as the Lieutenant turned to him.

"Any minute now, batarian technology is not that fast."

Just as the words left her mouth, he heard a hiss that let everyone present know that the compartment was once more filled with air, followed by the noise of the tunnel's blast doors moving up

"Let's get moving," Desolas said as his HUD began to draw a path in his field of vision. "50 steps forward there's another hatch, should lead us right to the barracks." he informed his unit as he attached the service pistol back to his hip, instead drawing the folded Phaeston, which had not been lost to space this time, from his back. The rifle unfolded in his hand, small lights on the guns side informing him that it was now ready to be fired at any one Desolas wanted dead.

He began to walk forward, an almost inaudible metal thud echoing through the tunnels with each step he took. The HUD's outlining began to focus on another hatch, a red filter laying itself on top of the entrance to the barracks, Desolas stepping past it to allow the lieutenant to take care of this one as well.

"This is the spot," he said. "Barracks just below us."

The lieutenant began her work as Desolas turned his head back into the direction they were walking in, after all a lone technician could still stumble upon them. Being detected after having retrieved the intel was one thing, being detected before was another.

The hatch came loose and he heard the sound of it being lifted as he kept his eyes on the corridor ahead of them. Then he felt someone tap against his helmet, signifying that only the turian that had just touched him and Desolas himself had to get through the entry. Counting down in his head, he waited five seconds before turning around and climbing down the ladder.

Just as planned they were inside the barracks of the lower caste foot soldiers. Bunk beds, all of them basically metal grids covered by one blanket and a lone, hard looking pillow lined the room in five rows, old footlockers placed next to all of them. The temperature of the room appeared on his HUD as he took in the noticeable sound of the drive core. It was below the zone comfortable for batarians thanks to the fact that the barracks were located next to the cooling unit of the drive core.

Comfort was not something given to the lower castes of batarian society.

Scanning the room for any sign of batarians, Desolas turned his head, a green filter laid over his vision as his HUD helped him to look for the outline of any stragglers that hadn't deployed to the surface, however he found nothing but the metal boxes in which the lower caste soldiers stored their gear. Not even spare parts or personal affects had been left behind by the soldiers occupying these quarters.

He'd be impressed with their tidiness if it wasn't for the fact that it was probably literally beaten into them by their superiors.

As his personal guard began to move forward, the exit of the barracks already in sight, they began to check the beds for batarians that might have remained hidden due to their position relative to that of Desolas's unit. Taking each step carefully, he checked bed after bed, the three members of his team each moving through another corridor between two rows of beds.

The unit managed to get through the barracks undetected, the room as abandoned as Desolas had predicted.

Moving up to the unlocked door, a green circle showing as much, Desolas ordered Veltax to take a peak, the door opening with an unavoidable hiss as the Blackwatch operative stepped into the dimly lit corridor, night rotation causing the lamps on the ceiling to shine less bright than usual.

Checking both left and right, Veltax gave the all clear and Desolas's guard stepped outside of the room, their general once more taking the lead as his HUD began to draw a path to the medical section and it's adjacent storage section. Hurrying down the corridors of the cruiser, the door of the medical bay was already in sight when Desolas heard voices not belonging to his unit. By the sound of it there were two and soon they'd come around the corner up ahead.

"To the left," he declared as his unit moved out of sight, taking a turn at the intersection of corridors, just fourty steps shy of the medbay.

Desolas pressed himself against the wall, his hand traveling for the curved military talon as he saw Lieutenant Callius's biotic energy manifesting around her, ready to take down whoever was walking up on them. The other two turians, their Phaeston's still in hand, were preparing themselves to shoot anyone they came across.

Desolas took a deep breath and began to focus, senses honed by years of experience kicking in.

"Did you hear? There was a cave-in at the old research outpost." one said, the typical deep, guttural voice of a batarian echoing through the empty, dimly lit halls of the Kha'Dahan.

"Did anyone get injured?"

"A few lowborns from the External Forces were crushed, too much trouble retrieving the corpses to check exactly how many. Probably five or six by the headcount of our ground commander. No big loss really."

"Luckily we evacuated the scientists," another, equally deep voice replied as the steps drew closer, causing Desolas to lift his blade on the approximate height of a batarian neck. He needed to be ready. "One of them is related to Ambassador Jath'Amon. Imagine having to break the news to him that his nephew died in a cave in."

"He'd put you in shackles and work you to death in the mines of Aratoht," the first batarian replied as he walked into view, his eyes not yet noticing Desolas, a military talon only one jab away from ripping his throat open. He was exactly as tall as the turian had expected him to be, the blade perfectly aligned with his greenish neck, the insignias on the reddish shoulder pats of his uniform making him out as an officer.

The other batarian, his head tilted to left, generally a sign of respect for a superior officer or member of a higher caste spoke up again. "We don't need to concern ourselves with that though. It didn't happen."

"Truthful words," the first spoke as the couple passed by Desolas, slowly moving towards a corner, their speech becoming inaudible.

He waited for a few more seconds before putting his blade back into its holding and stepped out of the corridor.

"Close call," he whispered over the squad intercom. "Let's get into that medical section."

Closing the distance as silently yet as swiftly as possible proved to be an easy task for the Blackwatch veterans, their steps fast yet quiet. They moved up to the door and Lieutenant Callius once more overwrote a batarian security protocol, stepping into the darkness of the medbay.

Desolas helmet once more laid a green filter over his surroundings, empty beds, metal tables and medical gear filling the room. He could see the door, behind which the corpses they were looking for were being stored.

"Veltax, cover the door. Lieutenant Callius, collect everything you can find on the incident. Galviat you're with me. Five minutes."

"Yes, Sir," it rang in his ears as the personal guard executed their orders, Lieutenant Callius walking over towards the first terminal at the same time as Galviat and Desolas himself opened the more primitive door towards the storage unit.

Moving the metal barrier out of the way, Desolas immediately spotted the cut up pirate, a salarian, on the table situated in the center of the room.

"Apparently they don't just store them here," Galviat said as he moved over towards the man-sized cabinets built into the wall, red lights marking which one were occupied. The turian began to open them one by one, revealing asari, batarians, salarians, turians and even one krogan, all wearing different clothing but all sharing similar, mass accelerator caused wounds.

They began their search, minutes going by and Desolas growing more frustrated with each report only going over the nature of the wounds. He was about to call it off, believing the batarians to be completely clueless, when the voice of Nilia Callius delivered him good news.

"I've got it," the Lieutenant said as Desolas began to read over the reports given to the cruiser's captain by the chief medical officer of the Khar'Dahan.

Apparently the medical unit had used trace elements found on the bodies of the pirates to locate potential bases, determining the elements with the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, using this knowledge to narrow their search perimeters and combining these perimeters with known pirate activity and likelihood of staying hidden in the determined locations. The batarians were very serious about tracking the pirates down so much was certain. Their motivation most likely to keep whatever they found on Jartar a secret from the rest of the galaxy.

"Looks like they got a fix on the pirates main hub from the last autopsy. They are completely certain that they found the place. It checks off every single point on their list."

"Where is it?"

"Nonuel, a volcanic world in the Plutus System's asteroid belt. Mostly unmapped. It's rich in Samarium, traces of which were found on the corpses," Callius explained, ticking of the criteria set by the batarians. "Apparently they are making their move soon, reconnaissance units are already in place, they've found an underground complex built into a dormant volcano. The captain of this vessel just executed someone for leaking this information to the Shadow Broker though." the Lieutenant kept reading. "Also says something about a vessel carrying another artifact to the surface. A turian was spotted arriving after it."

"Haliat," Desolas concluded.

"Could be him, could also be any other turian. I've got two copies of the report and I suggest we get out of here," the Lieutenant reasoned as she shut down the batarian terminal, resting her hands on the metal table as she turned around and faced Desolas.

"No it's him, we never found the artifact. It has to be Haliat," Desolas replied "We got what we came for. Let's move. Good work Lieutenant," Desolas ordered as Galviat finished cleaning up their traces in the storage unit.

The four turians moved out of the medical section of the Kha'Dahan, the cruiser still in it's night cycle, and back into the corridors.

"Barracks up ahead, the hatch should still be free," the turian on point, Veltax, informed his unit. However his words were immediately followed by a raised up arm, his unit already expecting the next words.

"Batarians up ahead."

"Go left," Desolas said, the unlocked door to what his HUD called a 'storage compartment', in his line of sight.

The four turians swiftly dodged the incoming batarians, jumping into the small room. It was dark, tight and filled to the brink with boxes.

It was still better than a turian special operations unit being spotted on a batarian military vessel.

Desolas once more switched to his service pistol, the trusty assault rifle too big to lift inside their current hiding spot. He kept the pistol on the door, silently listening as the steps of at least five batarians became louder every second. At their loudest, the steps stopped. Had they been spotted?

When the batarians began to chat, that lingering feeling of being exposed died down. Minutes passed, the batarians apparently in the mood for talking, yet the Blackwatch operatives waited. Patience was something drilled into your head during the grueling training it took to earn the golden Mexta. The patient hunter would be the one to succeed. When a few minutes turned into half an hour, Desolas grew frustrated. Night rotation would end in less than fourty minutes, they had to get moving.

"Spirits do these guys work at all?" Galviat asked over the squad intercom.

"At least you weren't point man. You are slowly but surely making certain I never father offsprings, Galviat." Veltax joked, his position as point man meaning he had been the first inside the tiny room and the unlucky one to have the least amount of space.

"Probably for the better of the galaxy."

"Cut it out," Nilia Callius commented, tightly squeezed between Galviat and Desolas himself.

"We have to get out of here." Desolas simply replied. "Lieutenant, can you squeeze past me and prepare to place a stasis on them?"

"What exactly is the plan?"

"Make it look like a freak hull breach. Put them in stasis, expose them to the vacuum when we make our escape."

"Brutal, but smart," Veltax commented. "Can we get it done quickly?"

Desolas pressed himself against the boxes as hard as he could, creating as much space as possible for the smaller Lieutenant to move through. Normally he wasn't one to complain about close relationships to his comrades but when the Lieutenant's elbow started to bend his arm in a funny way however, he really wished for a little more personal space between his unit. The pressure on his joints decreased as Callius actually managed to get past the general, who now placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping his pistol aimed at the door.

"Execute," he said as the door opened via the press of a button, revealing a surprised group of batarian engineers to the four Blackwatch members.

The Lieutenant had always been an impressive biotic, any cabal sent to Blackwatch was by turian standards incredibly powerful.

However putting a stasis on five batarians truly was impressive.

With their mass decreased, Desolas and Galviat both grabbed two of the crew members and began to drag them to a point adjacent to the outer hull of the cruiser, pipes lining the brown walls on which Veltax began to work.

The struggling grunts of the Lieutenant equaled the struggle evident on the batarian's faces as they tried to fight what was about to happen.

"Nothing personal," Veltax argued as he lifted the detonator, fear growing evident on the batarian faces.

"Umbra, we'll need pick up," Desolas said as Galviat connected himself, Veltax, the Lieutenant and Desolas with a sturdy wire, ensuring they wouldn't drift apart.

"Stand clear," Veltax called, more a habit than a warning, and right afterwards the breaching charge tore both the turians and the batarians, only one of the groups having access to an oxygen supply, into the darkness of space.

"Umbra, get a shuttle to the coordinates of my suit's emergency transmitter," Desolas said as he activated the silent beacon. "Mission accomplished."

They began to distance themselves from the slowly freezing batarian corpses with the help of maneuvering trusters, now drifting until a shuttle could pick them up. The vastness of space, their small size and the distraction caused by the sudden hull breach ensuring that they wouldn't be detected.

"I shouldn't have eaten so much for breakfast," Galviat began. "Biggest mistake of the day."

"Spirits, Galviat, if you throw up in your suit again, I'll have you do zero-g training until you have nothing left to hurl," the Lieutenant injected.

"Please don't Ma'am, I can't stand the smell of his 'mistakes'," Veltax begged.

Desolas chose to simply listen to the banter, it was a welcome past time. Personally, he had never liked floating around either.


12. June 2388 AD, Arcturus Station

"That could work," Harper replied, his bluish form leaning back in the chair, sitting in Cronos Station with a glass of bourbon in his hand. "Of course, it's incredibly questionable whether or not we should do it, but it could work."

"I didn't think you of all people would voice ethical concerns." Chancellor Noé chuckled. He hadn't expected this reaction.

"This isn't about ethical concerns, it's about accountability and control. Running a black ops division is one thing, we might be deniable and we might do a lot of wetwork but we are still part of a chain of command," the director of Cerberus countered. "They won't be. They have to be independent for what you propose. This isn't the same as Cerberus, Chancellor. They would in no way be obliged to follow their purpose."

"I know, Harper but I believe this to be the best course of action. I came to you with this because I have faith that you'll work around these issues. It's why I gave you this job in the first place, you get things done," Noé replied, trying to explain his reasoning. "You just need to put the right people on it."

"If we are doing this, it'll take a lot more planning. Years of drawing up contracts, erasing trails, finding the 'right kind' of people, establishing the necessary networks," he said as he made air quotes with his hands, "and so on. But as I was saying the principle behind the idea is logical. Fighting fire with fire."

"There's a 'but' in there, what is it Harper."

"This could go wrong, very wrong. You are talking about creating a mercenary outfit targeting batarian slaving guilds to keep them away from our colonies, who's to say they won't go rogue themselves?"

"That's where the 'right people' come in, Harper. I don't want you to recruit criminals, I want you to recruit people who focus their anger on criminals. Look for ex-law enforcement, veterans, people who lost someone to crime and possess the training such an outfit would require. Give them an opportunity for vengeance." Chancellor Noé countered, repeating Harper's air quoting to reinforce his point. "Find me people who have a working morale compass but are still willing to get their hands dirty for the good fight."

"To summarize, you want me to establish a mercenary outfit dedicated to fighting slavers and pirates, doing all of that without becoming criminals themselves, and at the same time they are supposed to fill the gap that was left by not one, but two major criminal syndicates? People who are driven by the need for justice, justice they themselves didn't get and therefore feel the need to ensure others get it?"

"Yes."

"So you want me to create an organization made up of vigilantes?"

"Yes."

Harper sighed as Noé lit a cigarette. "I'll get to it, however in the mean time I propose to increase patrols in the area and reinforce the Colonial Watches. We'll have to reassess the level of threat for each colony now." the director replied as he took a sip of his alcohol, looking at the glass in his hand.

"I already gave the orders to do that, but there is one more thing," the Chancellor said as Harper lowered the glass and threw him a suspiscious look. "I want you to bring in turians."

"Excuse me?" Harper asked surprise while Noé drew smoke from his cigarette.

"I want you to make it a turian-human thing. Kind of an anti-thesis to Eclipse," Francis Noé explained as he exhaled some smoke. "Turian culture teaches them all about civil virtues, give them the opportunity to fight against criminals, slavers and pirates? Most will take it. Find the people that want to make a difference but didn't quite get the opportunity to do so. There are tons of turian C-SEC rejects and discharged soldiers. We are going to need all kinds of personal for this. Turian society creates a lot of people qualified for these tasks. No need to restrict this to humans."

"Turians would also be seen as more approachable compared to the new kid on the block," the director added, his hand rotating his glass, a habit Noé had observed in the past. Even a specialist had some habits, for Harper it was swirling his beverage when he was thinking.

"Now we are on the same page, can I count on you to do this Harper?"

"Of course, Sir. I'll put my people on it," Harper replied "They are going to need a name though."

"I already have something in mind," Noé chuckled. "I'd like to stick with the whole anti-thesis thing."

"Something tells me I won't like this name." Harper said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Blue Suns."

A smile crossed Harper's face for a second before the man pinched his nose. "Complementary colours and a sun pun? Really?"

"Hey, I spent the better part of an hour coming up with that name. You better not ridicule it, Director."

"The thought never crossed my mind, Chancellor," Harper said, a faint chuckle in his tone. "I'll start working on it right away. One more thing though," the man added after leaning forward to cut the feed, "You really want them to have a white sigil? Its kind of boring, don't you think so?"

"It just fits the whole anti-thesis thing that's now stuck in my head," the chancellor shrugged. "Can't fault a man for being a bit poetic, can you?"

"I'll get to it," Harper replied with another chuckle.

"We'll speak soon, Harper."

"We will, have a good day, Chancellor Noé."

With that the Cerberus director cut the feed and Noé extinguished the cigarette he had lit minutes before. Now he just had to endure a staff meeting and the day would be done.


13. June 2388 AD, Hades Gamma Cluster, HSASV Lake Trasimene

"Specialist, Task Force Lightbringer had a breakthrough," the captain of the scout frigate, specifically designed for ambushes, stealth deployments and long range reconnaissance informed Tao.

Specialist Tao Rei opened his eyes at the news. "Where are we going?" he questioned as he turned around to meet the man in the typical blue naval uniform, his brown face covered by a black mustache, dark, almost empty looking eyes betraying his age.

"Nonuel, a world in the Plutus System."

"I'll need your briefing room, Sir," Tao said, his respectful tone evident.

"It's already prepared Specialist," the captain replied. "This isn't my first dance with Section 13."

"Thank you, Captain West," the asian man replied, rising from his kneeling position, the dark room only illuminated by a few candles. Normally he hated being interrupted during his meditations, but this was different. This was important. He took a step towards the captain, offering a sharp salute he didn't need to give, before he began to walk towards the Lake Trasimene's briefing room. He had a superior to report to after all. He used the short time it took him to get to the room to read up every little detail he could get about the world and the mission he was about to head on. Nonuel, a volcanic dwarf planet, was the biggest object in the asteroid belt of the Plutus System. Volcanic activity of the world was off the charts, causing the atmosphere to be a deadly mix of carbon and sulphur dioxides ejected from countless of vents. It was a source of eezo, poorly mapped, and incredibly hazardous.

Sounded like a fun trip.

The base was built into a series of cooled out volcanic caves, meaning he wouldn't have to spent all his time on the ash and cinder covered surface of this hell hole.

Close quarter fighting however meant that the reason he had earned the nickname Ryōshi wouldn't be much use. No point in bringing his trusty DMR-7 into that mess. He'd have to rely on his skill with a pistol and a blade. Possibly a M-83 if things go south. Definitely a lot of demo charges to blow up the Object Omnicron and to drown the base in lava if the need arose though. He'd also take a lot of Mark 14 grenades, the shuriken-like disks were a perfect way to make up for his lack of numbers should he be detected.

However there was another thing he had to worry about besides the pirates and the Object Omnicron. If the batarians had gathered this intel, they were going to raid that base. A couple of pirates? He'd slip in and blow them to kingdom come.

A batarian assault pressing him into a three way fight between himself, angry pirates and professional batarian soldiers? That made things complicated. Of course he saw the potential of the situation, sneak in while the batarians and pirates killed each other and burry both of those issues under rubble and lava. If he timed it perfectly, he'd be able to infiltrate before the assault began, reach the artifact just as the pirate rallied to fight the batarians and slip out when both sides had weakened each other, allowing him an easy escape before he destroyed the base and the artifact.

True, the last one had been sturdy, but the environment of Nonuel, the amount of explosives he'd place on the thing and the location of the base, a cave just asking to be flooded with lava, would do the trick.

"I assume my orders haven't changed?" he began to speak after entering the room and activating the comm link. Instead of a person, only an audio feed constructed itself. He knew how the person he was talking to looked like, after all he had met the director hundreds of times, however he understood why the head of humanity's elite division preferred to keep visual apperances to a minimum. After all, a good spy was not someone who made himself a public figure.

"No, your orders are still the one's the Illusive Man gave you," the voice replied. "Search and destroy."

"Understood Director." Rei replied.

"Ryōshi, you know how dangerous these things are," the voice added, concern evident. "Don't take any chances with an Omnicron."

"I didn't plan on it, Director."

"I shall leave you to your mission preparations then, you are dismissed, Specialist."

As quickly as the short exchange had begun, it ended. The director was never a fan of long talks anyway.

"Captain, when will we arrive in the Plutus System?"

"Roughly twenty hours."

"Inform me when we reach the system. I'll be in my room."

"If you burn it down with your candles, you're paying for it. You don't leave those things unattended," the captain deadpanned.

"I'd hate to ruin the beautiful furniture, Sir. I'll do my best not to cause a fire hazard. No hard promises though." Rei chuckled as he entered his room, the candles now extinguished. He lit them again, the smell helping him relax as he knelt down again and began to clear his mind.

Tao Rei had a very unique way to prepare himself for a mission. Some worked out, others meticulously checked their gear, created contingency plans, practiced movements like reloading, switching weapons or went over hand to hand drills with the unfortunate marines onboard whatever vessel they were occupying. He even knew one agent who'd simply read super hero comics to relax.

Lal Qila truly was an odd one though. That particular habit was one Tao had never seen anywhere else.

He himself meditated, slept for precisely eight hours and awoke as a man without burdens or attachments, after all a warrior that carried his personal troubles into battle would be distracted, less deadly. Tao always took care to sort out his personal life before he deployed. Preparing a letter for his sister in case something happened, keeping his will up to date.

Things like that helped him.

A warrior had to live like he was already dead after all. That much had been passed down to him by his late father.


Codex: Human Systems Alliance Frigates

Frigates, serving the HSA Navy as escorts, scouts and flanking vessels, make up the majority of vessels flying under the banner of the Human Systems Alliance. Usually placed in 'wolf packs' of four vessels, the modern day vessels of the Iwo Jima- Class, first deployed during 2388, are armed with long range torpedoes, point defense guns and several smaller mass accelerator guns. In battle they provide screening for carriers and dreadnoughts while destroying targets with the help of their Disruptor torpedoes. Older models were slowly replaced by the newer Iwo Jima class following their effectiveness during the Human Mercenary Intervention.

Two of the first five Iwo Jima-class frigates were modified to serve as long-range reconnaissance vessels, the Lake Trasimene and her sister ship rumored to have served as the human base on which the joint turian-human warships 'Normandy' and Ain Jalut were built. Their design, classified to the public, is said to include a drive capable of storing heat, a feature said to be the one major human contribution to the otherwise rather turian designing of the Normandy Class.

Human frigates differ from those of Council races in the way that they were designed with carrier support in mind, the concept of carriers not being present in the galaxy until contact with the HSA was established. Aiding in the attack of the strike crafts by exploiting the vessels damaged by the torpedo runs of fighter wings, HSA frigates are given a role not found in the other fleets. Human commanders consider frigates to be a swift, deadly blade while other races see them as auxiliaries and screening vessels to the much more important dreadnoughts.


A/N: So, chapter 14. The plot lines are drawn the pieces are in place, things will happen next chapter.

304 follows, we cracked my wish of 300, but only 96 reviews. Really wanted 100. Maybe next time.

Keep the reviews coming, I love talking to you people about what you think! I reall do

As of right now we are at 304 follows, 96 reviews and 244 favorites. Niiiiceee.

Now, the final weeks of school are coming up for me and I'll have to prepare for a final, oral exam. Therefore I'll have to study, I want a good grade and all that jazz, so I might slow down the updates till the end of march... which is when Andromeda comes out. I don't know when I'll update after that but since I'll have loads of free time, I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze in a lot of stuff between then and July, which as you may recall is when I'm starting basic training at which point I won't be able to update once a week.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, having a blast with Semper Vigilo.

Let me know what you think about this one though, I feel like I made a huge change in the origin of the Blue Suns here but I really liked the idea. Hope it works for you even though it was a somewhat silly exchange given the rest of the chapter.

oh and ... REVIEW!

See you around next time.