Chapter 6 : The Shadow war
Great are the spires of the Asari planet Kamana. It is said that the beauty of this planet is rivaled only by that of Illium, as its silver spires reach for the heavens. But that is where the beauty ends, and the reality begins.
Great spaceports manufacture merchant and other vessels daily, and its people are preoccupied with their daily struggles of surviving the cutthroat competition of the planet that hosts merchants and bankers around the cosmos, each worse than the other.
There are rumors that the entire galactic debt could trace back to Kamana and its banker clique who are rich beyond belief, but yet still subvert the young and old races alike, all in hopes of earning just one more credit.
Entire sectors of the planet are dedicated to pursuits of pleasure, as rich denizens of the planet are all too eager to spend unimaginable amounts of credits to acquire various pleasure toys, be they materialistic, or be they of the flesh.
Home to many races, but mother to none, to exist on Kamana is to struggle against those who would seek to make riches off of your misery.
Everything is a commodity on Kamana, military and political secrets are traded daily as a common good, and slavery is hidden under contracts of work that have no expiration dates.
Organ extraction is common, as to fall from grace and into poverty, is to sign your death warrant to the hunter gatherers of the Underspire life, prowling the streets at night, seeking their next prey that has no home to hide into when the shadows cover the purple megacity.
Only one rule exists on Kamana. Do not screw with the lords of Kamana. To do so would result in faith worse than death. For the lords of this dreaded place defend their power as a child would defend its toy from other children.
It is here that the Imperium sought to learn about its enemy. Contacts are made through proxies and their proxies, and agents sent by Romeluss searched for ways to tap into the well of information that the planet possessed. It was common for imperial agents to take their own life upon discovery, for to expose the rising Imperium is to sign its death sentence. The process is simple, upon discovery the agent would take Dissolutio pill, devised by the Officio Assassinorum, upon taking, it would melt the flesh and clothes of the agent, along with his equipment, making the compromised agent theoretically disappear, as only thing left in Agent's wake would be a puddle of organic and inorganic matter. The process is also quite painful, as a way to inspire agents to complete their mission, successfully.
One of the agents failed in both his mission and his cover up. He was now held by the Asari Republican guard of Kamana, whose attempt at interrogation failed to bring results, the agent was silent. He was caught trying to buy information about the fleet positioning of the Asari and other races. Nothing that wasn't done before, only difference, this man would go out of his way and kill 7 people in the process and then mutilate the information broker who wasn't cooperative to just hand him the information willingly.
The broker notified his employer by signaling the alarm, too late for the broker, just in time for the employer, who sent his mercenary detachment to apprehend the agent. To say the agent didn't surrender would be an understatement, as the ensuing firefight claimed 5 more lives before the agent was incapacitated by a well-placed sniper shot filled with Krogan tranquilizer.
This sparked the curiosity of Matana, the employer of this web of brokers. The being was obviously human, but its skills are unlike those of any normal alliance trooper, almost equal to that of a spectre. The male human was augmented with crude buth powerful bionics, his eyes namely looked normal at first glance, but checking them were proven to be bionic, his eyes could see in all spectrums of light, perfect for a spy.
Was he a Cerberus agent she thought? They have been very active as of late, she even sold information to them, everything was fair game to her, but this was uncommon, this man openly engaged her web and attempted to extract information, whether he succeeded in doing so or failed, she didn't know, and torture proved noting, as the man kept his mouth silent even as the asari mistress of pain inflicted wondrous wounds upon his flesh with her omni knife.
She called in a few favors, and one of her friend the Asari spectre Axia was on her way to the planet Kamana. She was a master in extracting information from her query, and was well kept secret of the council when they needed her to do their dirty deeds. Only problem was, she should have arrived days ago, and contact attempts failed, this combined with that fact she had a potentially dangerous individual in custody caused her no respite.
Contemplating what to do , she was shaken from her thoughts by a personal communicator. She picked it up, and said. "Hello?"
"Matana, it's me."
"Axia? By the goddess, why haven't you answered the com hails!?"
"My com system is damaged, Matana. I had a slight trouble on the way."
"Trouble, what trouble?"
"A hostile ship engaged me in transit, the fire from it damaged my com system, but I managed to evade it. Losing its trail was a bit more difficult. Apologies for the delay."
"What happened to the ship that trailed you Axia?"
"They won't bother us, of that you may be certain. i am in the system, and will be docking in less than half an hour."
"I understand. I will wait for you on my personal dock."
"Understood, Axia out."
The com beeped, and went silent. Matana was relaxed as the worries seemed to leave her, but until she learned of the man in her basement, she couldn't relax.
Getting up from her cushy chair, she took the turbo elevator and went to the lower floor, and waited for her friend to arrive.
She wouldn't have to wait long as the small asari craft landed on the Matana estate dock, the ship had a serious laser burn across its hull, but still it landed gently on the pod.
The small ship opened and from it stepped a dark blue asari woman, clad in typical Spectre armor. Her gaze was cold and piercing as she scanned everyone around her, step by step she approached the assembled group, cold as ice. Her aura inspired dread, as was expected of spectres.
Matana approached her with open arms and spoke "Axia, by the Goddess, it has been a long time. "
A small smile appeared on the face of Axia with a great effort as she embraced Matana. "indeed it was, competition giving you trouble?" she asked, not removing the smile.
"Hah, like those salarians could do anything, they couldn't hurt the tibezian fly, let alone me. What about you, your ship has seen better days."
"I had a small detour, a spectre has many enemies." Axia spoke casually.
"Never a dull day in your life Axia." Matana laughed " Come, i would explain the reason for your visit. As you know, I couldn't openly speak about what ailed me, but now that you are here, I am sure you will have more success than me. " They began walking towards the building.
"What is this about Matana, you spoke in code words. your nephew came to visit? You mean to tell me you have a prison that tried to break into?"
"I wouldn't call you if it was an ordinary break in. this one wouldn't speak even when subjected to tortures of Tsana."
"Tsana failed to make him speak? what makes you think I will have a better chance in doing what she failed to do?"
"Axia I know you for three centuries now. There is nobody better suited for this job. Your skills are unmatched."
"hmm, if you say so, let us see this prisoner of yours."
"we are almost there, he proved quite troublesome to catch. I will give you a detailed story about what happened as we walk."
As they walked Matana explained what happened, the duo walked towards the jail cell, and Axia noted that there was 6 asari guard so far, seems like Matana was quite confident in the security of this place.
"We are here" Matana spoke and opened the door guarded by 2 asari to a small white cell, in the middle of it, sitting on a chair is a hurt human, his eyes defiant and unbroken even after days of torture, inside was a single asari guard and Tsana, the personal torturer employed by Matana. Total count of asari being 8 now.
The two asari slightly bowed as they entered the door, Tsana began speaking.
"Mistress, this monkey still refuses to speak, nothing comes out of its mouth even as I cut him piece by piece, he is no stranger to pain, I find it quite exhilarating to see when he will break. "
"We have no time for that Tsana, we must know if he has stolen anything, Axia will take it over from here."
Barely hiding her angry gaze from Axia, Tsana slightly bowed again and said "As you wish mistress."
"he is all yours Axia." Matana spoke.
"Thank you." Was all she spoke as she approached the captured human.
"Tell me, human, how strong is your faith?"
At that moment the human spat in her face, his saliva red with blood.
"As strong as steel, alien bitch."
"hah, he speaks" excitedly shouted Matana. "now tell me what do you know! Who sent you!" she yelled at him. He spoke nothing and just kept looking at Axia, who returned the gaze equally as cold as his.
"we have a tough one here. Shame really, I would test your endurance gladly, but we have no time for that." Axia spoke.
"What do you mean by that Axia? I brought you here for this reason…" Matana didn't have time to finish her sentence as power died down, electrical impulse impacting the building, and frying electricity inside.
The emergency generator kicked in and the room was dimly lightened by red lights.
"What in the name of Goddess happened!?" Shouted Matana as she looked all around her, other asari equally confused.
"that would be my ship causing an EMP explosion." spoke Axia, and before anybody could utter anything else, her left hand swung in a chopping motion and impacted the throat of Tsana, breaking her wind pipe as she collapsed gurgling and spiting blood, such was the volume of impact that she died with her eyes wide open, in utter horror and confusion.
The asari guard didnt have time to raise her weapon up as Axia jumped on top of her bringing her to the ground, and with a swift move of her hand slit her throat with a hidden knife.
"You bitch!" was all Matana uttered as she tried to reach for her pistol. She was intercepted byAxia who threw a knife impacting Matanas arm who screamed in pain and fell to the ground, her pistol flying in the opposite part of the room.
This was all observed by dumbstruck human who saw Axia running towards the beeping door as the guards from the other side attempted to open it, and jumping above, attached herself to the roof just above it with magnetic gloves.
Moments later the guards burst open their eyes seeing their dead comrades, before seeing that their mistress is wounded, and in all haste attempted to assist her. Axia detached from the ceiling and silently dropped behind the two of them.
Matana couldn't even scream a warning to them , as the arms of Axia grasped the neck of one of the guards, snaping it in a violent crack.
The second one turned with her gun raised, the right hand of Axia hitting it and it fell out of the guards hand, who tried to use her fist to fight back, dodging easily axia grasped one of the extended arms from the guard, snapping it violently with her other arm.
The Guard yelled for a moment, but not for long, as axia used her left leg, hitting the knee and shattering it, the guard feel to her knees still howling from pain, before axia simply used her holstered pistol and fired a bullet between her eyes, ending her suffering.
She came to the tied human ,and unlocked the omni cuffs with the keycard from the guard she just killed.
"You are coming with me" Axia said to the human, who barely stood up.
"Why would i? replacing one torturer with another does not suit me well. " he said.
Before axia could respond Matana yelled. "You crazy bitch, what madness grabbed hold of you!?"
Axia calmly approached her. "You will find I am doing this willingly." She responded.
"Did you sold out Axia? After all these years, you would back stab me? How much are they paying you , I will double it!"
"Ah the hubris, Axia also had it."
The eyes of Matana extended as she spoke. "What do you mean?"
Autoinjectors inside Axia's suit worked as polymorphine was injected. Then the horrid transformation began, as the face of Axia and her suit changed, taking a latex like shape, her asari head tentacles morphing into a long red hair in a pony tail falling freely on her backside.
In front of Matana stood one of the most efficient spies and assassins of officio assassinorum, the Calidus Assassin.
"Axia is dead Matana, she, much like yourself had an especial amount of pride. So much so that she thought it was a good idea to engage me in melee. She fought well, but not well enough, her corpse now feeds the barren planet I left her in, after she gave me the necessary information of course. For someone who prides herself in providing information, you send your messages badly encrypted. But we spoke enough, The imperium sends their regards. "
"Wait!" was all Matana said before her brain ceased its function, disturbed by the oncoming bullet from the Calidus Assassin.
She took position by the door as the two asari guard came running towards the jail cell, oblivious as to what is happening. Their haste was ended by two well-placed bullets fired by Callidus.
"That leaves two." She spoke, while looking at the dead bodies.
"Now, can you walk? This facility will go in flames, a courtesy of the explosives I left along the way that these supposed guards didn't notice. "
"I can manage; I didn't survive this long to die now. Why did you come for me anyway?" the human spoke.
"You possess the information critical to the success of the expedition, the information takes priority, and you had the luck of being attached to it."
"What makes you think I have any information at all?
"You are alive." She spoke looking at him. "That means the information you possess is more important than you ending your life in an event of your capture. "
"Very perceptive" he spoke. And extended his point finger on his left hand, the skin on it fell apart and revealed a bionic finger that served as a data drive. "we are lucky it is resistant to Electromagnetic pulses, or else all of this would be for nothing, Officio builds them like nobody else" saying this he handed her the drive.
"Follow me" she simply spoke.
They ran through the dim building and as they reached the corridor leading to Attrium, she said to him "Stay here"
"Where are you going?"
"to clear a path" was all she said before opening the vent above them and going in.
In the Atrium two of the remaining guards were reinforced by four more of Matana's dock security. Knowing that their mistress is either dead or badly wounded, they have set a trap for the would-be assassin as the only way out led through them. They waited for them before hearing a near silent clang behind them as it fell from a ceiling.
At that moment the mini bomb exploded and flashed, blinding them.
Then the Callidus jumped from above and with a grace of the cat landed and began her holy work. Her knife made a quick work of two of the guards shielding their eyes, stabing one in the neck and throwing it afterwards into the eye of another.
The third guard aimed and fired blindly, she slid towards him, before tripping her and jumping quickly to her feet, stomping harshly on her head, breaking the skull.
Extending one of her poison nail like needless she threw it against the fourth guard who screamed in pain as the poison melted her in her armor.
Grabbing her pistol she extended it and shot both of the remaining guards in the head. Before again holstering it. She came for the wounded agent and carried him outside. They were met with the burning aircraft that she came with, it wouldn't be long before police and fire department came.
"What now? Our ride is bust" the wounded agent said.
"Were you under the impression that we were going to leave in that?"
At that moment one of the dark clad shuttles approached. And opened its side doors, inside a human in agent uniform waved them to come.
"Huh, smart" is what he said as he was helped by Callidus into the Shuttle.
And not a moment too late, as they escaped, the facility went up in flames, the mini bombs set by the assassin proved enough to engulf the building in impressive flames and explosions.
They escaped and hid their tracks as the police and fire department swarmed over the building.
Their emissions set on low, they were moving towards the relay to reach the imperial system and deliver their report.
His wounds being tended too, the agent asked. "This is a mess, now they will be onto us."
"They won't be" the Callidus assassin spoke as she removed her face helmet, reveling a beautiful green eyed woman of pale features who sat down. "There was a reason my arrival was postponed, we have planted the information beforehand inside the burnt shuttle, accusing Matana and her Spectre agent of plotting to take another lord house down. They will assume that it was another competitor attack, common to this planet, and will end up blaming one another. The EMP fried all camera footage and we dealt with the witnesses. They will believe what we want them to believe.
"But… that makes the question, if such an elaborate setup was made. How did you know I had the bio data finger?"
She looked him coldly and spoke "Every Agent worth his art has one of those. Your agent profile spoke of your pride and stubbornness. It was normal to assume you would survive long enough just to spite the enemy while succeeding in your mission."
He lowered his head and smiled warmly. "Nothing eludes the watchful eye of the Officio it would seem." Looking at her again he spoke "What now?"
She opened her data pad, reading it quickly, before closing it and placing her mask on her face again.
"We have another mission."
Leaning back, and smiling, his injuries still fresh, he spoke.
"Another day in the Imperium it would seem. Where to next?"
"You will see."
She spoke as the ship entered the mass relay and warped towards its next destination.