Aaaaand another dishonorable discharge. Decapitating POWs. Budget won't allow for a real professional but the cut rate mercs will probably cause a galactic incident. Luna swiped passed what felt like the hundredth dossier her informants had given her for the job. Pirates had raided a Sirta site providing relief to the war torn parts of the Blitz. All she wanted was one or two extra people to recover the medicine and supplies. Normally she was fine going in alone but this pirate band was at least a dozen and a half, with their own ship. One other person was needed minimum to fly the ship with the supplies back. She ran her hands through her long, blonde hair and took a long sigh. Time for a break.

As she walked out of her office on the SRS Hope, one of the doctors, Ivan waved at her.

"How's the search going Security Chief?"

"Not great. Anyone we can afford is just as likely to steal the supplies and/or kill the entire band of pirates as they are to actually do the job."

"They are pirates. Probably have a lot of people gunning for them."

Luna gives Ivan an annoyed stare and brings her posture up to her full 6'.

"That's fine, but it's not my job, or your job for that matter, to be judge, jury and executioner. They illegally stole relief supplies. The job is to get the supplies, collect evidence, and bring back the pirates if possible so the courts can judge them."

Ivan rolled his eyes a little. "Well we're here for another two weeks at least. Kerry, Anjali and I are heading out tonight. You should join us. Take some stress off."

Luna relaxed a little. "I guess so. A drink would be nice after reading through the dossiers of the scum of humanity."

Ivan tilted his head and held his hand out before she could move outside. "What about not humanity? Maybe not Turians but what about Asari or Salarians?"

Luna paused, frowned. "That could work. I'm not sure what the recruiting channels would be for that but I could try. I need a cigarette and you have work, talk later."

Ivan moved his hand away and moved down the hall to the bio lab. Luna worked her way through the ship and down the ramp to the docking bay.

Fuckin a. She'd been in that office all day. She went for a run around sunrise and exiting now, it was late afternoon, the sun heading for the western horizon. Terra Nova wasn't too much different from earth. Longer days and longer seasons, but not that far off. A cool autumn breeze rattled a stack of dry leaves on the ground. Luna lit up her cigarette and noticed a woman talking to one of the dock workers, the worker was pointing in the Hope's direction. Seemed like a polite interaction, the woman might even have known the worker. As the woman moved towards the ship Luna could see that she was a merc. Light armor, some basic weapons, a large brimmed hat and a leather duster. Nothing fancy. Might be in the price range. Time to see if she's in the moral range.

Luna walked up to the woman and met her at the edge of the dock bay, she spotted her and waved. Her voice had a lower tone to it.

"Hi, uh, I heard there was a Sirta crew looking for help?"

"Yeah, where'd you hear that?" Luna took a long drag and blew the smoke out the side of her mouth. The woman's face was weathered and sun tanned, her hands calloused, dark brown eyes and long black hair hanging down.

"Overheard some mercs in a bar. Something about captured medical supplies."

Hm. Overheard, not told about. Probably not associated with the mercs. Is she local? "Yeah, that's the basics. Was bound for where the frontlines of the Blitz. Job is to recover the supplies. Bonus if the pirates are incapcitated and handed over to Alliance authorities."

"I mean, sounds easy enough. Still need guns?"

Now for the real test. "Sure as long as those guns aren't lethal. It's the authorities' job to judge them, not ours. We just bring em in."

"Of course. This isn't my first bounty. I mean it's the most dangerous so far, but not the first."

Luna raised an eyebrow. A green merc. Great. Well, she at least won't kill anyone. "Alright, we need help but we need better than green. You have a badge on you or are you one of those 'honorable mercs'?" The woman fumbled through one of her duster coat pockets and produced a leather wallet with her ID in it. Turns out it was a Council Bounty Hunting License, definitely carries a bit more weight than a simple, regional license. Luna scanned the ID with her omni tool.

Name: Winona Malloch

Race: Human

Age: 27

Homeworld: Terra Nova

Skills: Marksman, Pilot, Ship Tech, Survival in adverse conditions

Bounties Complete: 18/18

Dead: 0

Alive: 18

Luna must've subconsciously given an approving nod because when she looked up the woman had a sly smile on her face.

"So I'm hired?"

"Almost. What/who do you have experience against?"

"Mostly small-time gangs and pirates. One of them did have Blue Sun ties. In terms of species, Human, Krogan, Batarian, Turian and Hanar."

"Hanar?"

"Yeah, religious extremists that had formed a cult. They were kidnapping passing travelers to try and convert them to the ways of the Enkindlers."

Luna figured she'd ask more about that later. "So, do you tend to stay close to home or back for the hell of it?" The woman, Winona, bounced back and forth a bit. Didn't seem nervous. "If it's too personal that's fine, I don't need to know."

"Nah, it's fine. Just back on some business. Finished the paperwork to fully turn the family soy farm over to my cousin. And then I overheard those mercs."

Luna held out her hand. "Well I'd be glad to keep you out of the unemployment line now that the soy industry is behind you."

A small smirk, looks like Winona at least had a sense of humor. She took Luna's hand and gave it a firm handshake. "Well thank you. Do I need to go fire up my ship or am I traveling with you?"

"How large is your ship? This is a stealth operation so the plan is to leave the Hope in dock."

"Well, it's an older Alliance SX-3." Winona looked past Luna for a moment. "I'm assuming yours is that Trishul interceptor?"

Luna gives an approving look. "Yeah, that's mine. SX-3 isn't a bad all rounder, but do you think you can keep up?"

Luna is taken aback by how much side eye Winona throws at her but then Winona starts laughing. "Oh, don't worry I can outrun that. Probably can still outgun it too. Installed some aftermarket parts awhile ago. Had to remove some weapon systems to get the power draw right but she's solid now."

"Fair enough. Have you spent much time on the Citadel?"

"Other than dropping off bounties and some quick stops, not really why?"

"Just curious if you know any other mercs that share your disposition. If we could get one more I'd feel a lot better about the job."

"Hmmm. I do know an Asari, Leena. She's done way more work than I have, she's like 250ish, but always adheres to the client's parameters. Whether it's to not touch a fly or to slaughter every single person in sight. She usually stays busy though. Here's her info if you want to try her."

Luna's omnitool lights up as Winona sends the data over. She'll try that in a moment. "Do whatever checks you need to do and we'll leave at sunrise tomorrow. Here's the coordinates for the rendezvous."

"I'll be there." Winona turned and walked back towards the port. Luna smiled to herself, finished her cigarette and went back inside to try that Asari.

Weapons systems were good, drive core was tuned. Luna was doing last minute adjustments to the maneuvering flaps on her interceptor. So focused on getting the precise fit, she didn't even hear Kerry walking up behind her. "HEY! YOU READY TO GO?!"

Luna jumped and nearly fell off the fighter. "GODDAMIT!" As she recovered she could already smell alcohol on Kerry's breath. He'd been pregaming. Instead of strangling him she just gave him a look to sear into his soul. He swayed back and forth a bit.

"Damn, sorry, didn't know you were so into those flaps."

"Just...try not to be obnoxious tonight. I've got a job tomorrow and don't have the energy to deal with whatever shit you start tonight."

He burps. "Fine, geez, whatever, see you at the bar."

Luna rubs her face with her hands as he walks away. Kerry wasn't her favorite, he always seemed to get into some kind of trouble. Flirting with the wrong person, starting fights, it was always an adventure. An adventure that Luna preferred to watch and not participate in. Luna turned back to her adjustments, finished them up, then headed out herself.

At 4 million residents, Scott was by no means the biggest city she'd been in but Luna was impressed with the night life. A lot of travelers on layovers, Alliance crewmen on shore leave before heading to the Batarian border, and mercs. Took a little bit to find the place Ivan had said they were going. He claimed it was a local place, "Soya." Definitely looked local. A little run down, looked like there were a number of residents around. Workers form the local Exogeni facility, dock workers, farmers in town for the night. As she swung the two free hanging doors inwards she easily spotted her crew mates. They had claimed a corner table and Kerry was gesturing wildly, probably talking about what his bacteria samples did that day. Ivan was genuinely laughing and Anjali was just head in hands, who knows how many drinks deep.

Luna walked up to the bar to get a drink, after just a few seconds the bartender gave her a drink and told her it was from the lady down the bar. Caught off guard she looked around and spotted a woman in a wide brimmed hat. Winona raised her glass in her direction. Taken aback, it took Luna a second to realize she was with two other women. One looked a little younger and the other quite a bit older. The older woman looked like Winona's mother. Luna raised her glass and then went over to the table with her crew.

She slid into the chair next to Anjali and whispered, "Don't worry baby, your saviour is here." Anjali slowly took her face out of her hands and glared at her. Luna leaned in and loudly sipped her beer.

"I'd rather finish hearing the saga of Larry Leptospirosis"

Luna was just barely able to not spit her beer out. "What the fuck Kerry?" Kerry stopped mid sentence, arms still held wide.

"THIS IS THE FASCINATING TALE OF THE BACTERIAL CELL, LARRY, THAT WILL CREATE THE VACCINE TO END MENINGITIS!"

"Ah, of course, continue."

When Kerry finished his embellishments of his work day, he stumbled to the bathroom. Anjali downed the last of the cocktail she had. "I'm going to grab us a deck of cards."

Ivan looked over at Luna. "So, any luck?" Luna took another swig to finish her beer and gestured at Ivan. He shrugged. She made a waving gesture to the bar.

As they walked up she told him "Yeah, actually found a local to do it. Has an official Citadel bounty license, all non lethal jobs. Smaller jobs, not fully proven yet but I'll take it."

"Nice! How'd you find her if she's small time though? And any luck with other races?"

"I didn't find her, she found us. Found her walking around the dock looking for the ship. And nah, she did have a recommendation for an Asari but she was already on a job."

"Well one is better than none."

"That's where I'm at." Luna looked around and saw Winona still at the end of the bar, the older woman had left but the younger woman was still around. "She's actually here now. Might see if she wants to play cards."

Ivan gave her an OOOOOOOOOOOO look.

"What? No. Please no."

"Ah yes, of course business first."

"Or just like let people be, man."

Ivan laughed a little and got them a couple of moscow mules. "As long as you think she can handle Kerry, feel free to invite her over." That did give Luna a moment of pause but she figured Winona would be fine. Ivan walked back to the table and Luna walked up to Winona.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, not used to having a drink bought for me before the job. What's up?"

Winona had fully heard her walking up and calmly turned. "Yeah, just wanted to get to know you better. Might be unprofessional but I get the sense you're more of an operator than a typical client." Luna felt the heat rise in her cheeks but nothing visible.

"Yeah, I'd be happy to talk. It's not easy to find mercs that won't just pull the trigger on sight. Valuable connection to have, even if you're green." Winona laughed and looked down at her drink. She then shot up like she just remembered something.

"This is my sister Jessie by the way. Little celebration night. My employment news is a coincidence but she got herself a promotion today!" Jessie was slighter than Winona. Looks like she hasn't worked the farm in awhile. More than likely works a city job. Her shoulders were not as broad as Winona, her face more pointed rather than square. Her hair more of a chestnut shade. Luna felt a little awkward.

"Congratulations! That's great! What do you do?"

Jessie turned to face Luna and her eyes saw past Luna's and just directly into her soul, reading her, analyzing her. Luna was a little uncomfortable. "Oh I just work at the local news station. Got bumped up to a newsroom job from being a reporter."

Luna laughed nervously. "Well we're off the record right?"

Jessie smiled. Her voice was eerily calm. "Unless you say otherwise."

Winona's eyes were darting between the two. "Hey, your buddies are waving you back over."

Luna snapped back into reality. "Oh yeah, we were going to play cards. You're welcome to join!"

Jessie rolled her head over to Winona and gave her a knowing stopped mid sip. "What? She's paying me, I don't care about fleecing the rest."

"Well Kerry could use a beat down, so please do as you wish." Luna gestured towards the table.

The trio made their way to the table and sat down. Winona, Jessie and Luna only stayed until about 11pm but Winona managed to scalp a few credits off of everyone. There were some good laughs, Jessie was really prying Kerry about Larry. Looked like Kerry might get a little fame for his work. Anjali just enjoyed watching Ivan squirm as she and Winona started to squeeze his pockets. The last few hands before they left, Winona showed Luna some sleight of hand tricks to cheat at cards and Luna almost had them down by the time they left.

The next day Luna woke up, grabbed her gear and got to the rendezvous. Winona was only a couple minutes behind. Once together, they headed to the Skyllian Verge to hunt down the ship. As they come out of warp, Luna comes over the comms.

"You're not the only one with aftermarket parts. Let me try the long range scanner, can't move much when using it though. The supplies were in layover at a research station on Sidon. Going to see if there's still a carbon trail."

"What kind of ship?"

"Small Batarian corvette, not sure what the class name for it is."

"Hm. Yeah, haven't been able to get too close to those to study."

The scanner pinged a trail leaving Sidon and heading towards the Viper Nebula, Batarian Space. This was about to get tricky.

"So looks like they're heading for Batarian space."

"We still going non lethal?"

"Yes. Will that be a problem?" Luna felt her blood rush. Really?! Now this merc has to have an issue. Sure, she's from the colonies but seriously? She knew the job parameters. Those apply no matter the species. There's a moment of silence over the comms.

"No. Just checking."

Thank fuck. Luna linked the trail to Winona's ship computer and started following it. Winona was close behind her. "Thank you for being professional."

"Oh it's not professional, it's personal. Hearing dad talk about the First Contact War, they're not that different from the Turians."

Luna paused for a moment. She thought this woman was from the colonies. Was she just oblivious to what Batarians had done? "I mean many would argue with that, myself included honestly."

"Well, think of it this way. Some random aliens showed up and started colonizing. Then blasting the Batarians anytime they tried to get close. And are they brutal? Yeah. But so are humans. And Turians. And Krogan. And Vorcha. Asari seem alright, but I'm sure there's some skeletons. Krogans tried to wipe Turians out of the galaxy, so the Turians responded with doubled down brutality. Vorcha are just a bit fucked. How much longer do we have?"

"About an hour. You have to admit that the Batarians can take things too far though."

"Absolutely. So do humans. Just look at our own history. How we exploited each other, enslaved each other. Fought wars over religions and the whims of kings and queens. We're a very reactionary and emotional species. So are Batarians. Personally I think the thing that terrifies people the most about Batarians is that they're the most like us. Of all the weird, crazy aliens we've met, the most brutal and hateful are the ones that remind us the most of ourselves."

"You are a very cynical person." There was a pause. "I'm not really disagreeing but damn."

A small laugh from across the comms from Winona. "Yeah. Always wanted to see the galaxy, meet all the people. But do it on my own terms. My brother joined the Alliance and loves it but that's not for me. Rather make my own way."

Luna went deep into thought. She was honest on the comms. She didn't fully disagree with Winona but she found it hard to see through the cynical optimism. The lines were less blurred in her head. Turians had been following orders, Krogans were acting out of desperation, Batarians acted out of depravity. Before she could get too deep in her own head, proximity sensors went off.

The Batarian ship turned their guns towards the incoming fighters.

Winona's voice cut through the comms. "SHIT! They saw us, MOVE!"

Luna sent her ship into evasive maneuvers, as did Winona. A double volley of anti fighter lasers fired at them. They weaved through the energy storm, twisting and rolling. Luna collected herself. "Take out the engines, then we'll board at separate points." Still barrel rolling, she fired on the ship. The first volley pinged off the shield and the second seemed to start cutting in. Luna rolled away to brace for more maneuvers.

Winona followed up with a PKR, a solid hit and the shield flickered. While Luna went up, Winona spiraled down to try and break up their fire.

The tactic worked, the gunners weren't quick enough to track both ships. Luna released her flaps and drifted around for another pass as the volley went by her right side, the lower volley on Winona was nowhere near her as the turrets weren't quick enough to turn around.

Luna's volleys bounced off the shield into space. "I can't get through the shield!"

"No shit, you brought a .22 to an artillery fight!" Winona came back from underneath and fired a rocket at what looked like an engine supply line. The rocket punched through the shield and ruptured the gas line. As it exploded part of the engine separated from the back and a small explosion carried into the ship. "Fuck, didn't get it right."

"It's fine, find a hatch and start securing the ship!"

Luna spotted a maintenance hatch on top. Probably lead right into Engineering, hopefully the fire wasn't too bad. She docked her ship and made sure the seals were good so the vacuum wouldn't kill anyone.

As the hatch opened, Luna readied her Lancer, set to stun. Four unconscious bodies on the floor. Luna set down her gun and dragged the closest two away from the spreading fire. Frantically looking around the room she couldn't find a fire extinguisher, she took a deep breath and looked again. She found it and put out the flames. "Fire is out, engineering is clear." Gunfire on the other end, then heavy breathing

"Came in under the floor, two are knocked out. Stun rounds."

"Make your way to the bridge. Meet you there."

Before leaving the room, Luna put a stun round in each downed Batarian.

As she went down the hallway she heard someone yell "Get to engineering!" Luna pressed herself against the wall as a Batarian ran by, apparently oblivious. She tried to take him out before he noticed but was running faster than she anticipated. He turns around, prematurely firing his shotgun into the ground. Luna tried to push him away to be able to hit him with a stun round but he's a mountain. This time the shotgun is pointed right at her, luckily her shield catches the blast. She uses the recoil to put distance between her and the Batarian. A stun round into his shoulder, it slumps. Another shotgun blast. This time she starts to move out of the way and it grazes her armor, doing much less damage than it could have. She fires an electric charge from her omnitool at a lower voltage to avoid killing him and the Batarian falls to the ground twitching. She places cuffs on his hands and feet.

Weaving down a few hallways Luna makes it to the bridge, which is sealed off. She hears footsteps from around the corner and raises her gun, Winona comes around the corner gun raised. They both lower their guns.

"You hit?" Luna asks

"Yeah, just grazed though. 5 bodies on my end, how many for you?"

Luna can see the tearing on Winona's clothes around her hip and a little bit of blood coming out. "Just 2. So that leaves 5. Safe to assume they're on the bridge. I can send an overload charge as a taser, hopefully take a few out but at the very least it should bring their shields down if they have any."

"Sounds good. I have a grenade for the door and I can give us cover."

"Set it."

Luna backs away and watches behind them as Winona sets her charge. She stands up and touches Luna's shoulder. "I'll detonate it, you send in your charge then get behind my shield." Luna nods.

The explosion blows the door open, Luna sends in her charge, Winona's arm swings past her and throws a device. A hex shield pops up a few feet away from the door. As they move in Luna can see two Batarians down, one barely standing and two looking fine. The most heavily armed one fires two heavy assault rifle rounds, the hex shield absorbs both. Luna raises her Lancer and downs the one kneeling Batarian, two left. Winona leans out from the shield and fires two pistol rounds at the smaller Batarian, he goes down in an unconscious crumple. The big one, seeing all of his comrades down, tosses aside his assault rifle and goes for a harpoon gun. He sends an overload charge at the hex shield then raises the gun to Winona, now exposed. A harpoon shears the left side of Winona's chest, she gasps in pain. Luna sends an omnitool burst to sabotage the gun and then fires on him, hitting him squarely in the chest. The Batarian is paused for a moment but recovers. Winona's first shot pings by the Batarian's head, the second hits his shoulder, he slumps slightly. He walks over and tries to grab Winona, she dodges out of the way. He tries to follow up with a back hand but he misses but catches some pipes. A chunk of pipe hits Luna as she tries to aim, bruising her hand and causing her to miss. Winona tries to fire twice, but is still dodging the Batarian. Another attempted grab, this time the Batarian loses his footing as Winona flows around him like water. Seizing the opportunity Luna recomposes herself and fires a stun round at the base of his skull, and the Batarian drops. The bridge is clear.

Winona slumps against the wall, breathing heavily. She applies medigel to herself and does a good enough job to stop the bleeding. She looks up at Luna. "Still need a doctor but that'll stop the bleeding."

Luna offers her hand, impressed that even in the face of death Winona chose to stay non lethal. Winona takes it and Luna pulls her up. "Impressive. Now we just need to get this back to Terra Nova."

Winona puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hear me out. No one likes Batarians, I doubt any court would be free of bias. But. If we drop these guys off to the Alliance they'll just fake the whole thing and execute them. We don't know why they took medical supplies. Could it be soldiers? Sure. Could also be kids and displaced refugees. Let's eject these guys in the escape pods and let them wake up in the Viper Nebula."

Luna considers this for a moment. She asks over to the main control panel to pull up the flight data of the ship. As she scrolls through the places it's clear none of them are military operations. She doesn't know enough about the Batarians to know exactly what environments these places were but they weren't military installations. She lets out a deep sigh "No. Regardless of intention they attacked a neutral outpost. However, this ship is too damaged to use to haul them to a bounty office and we can't fit them all in the fighters. We can get them safely to escape pods but then I'm reporting the location. If they get picked up before Alliance forces can grab them, fine."

"Okay."

The pair loaded up the storage compartments of their fighters with the supplies, gathered the Batarians into the life pods, reported the coordinates and then headed back to Terra Nova.

After they land and unload the supplies onto the Sirta dock Luna walks up to Winona to pay her. "Didn't go quite as planned but the supplies were returned and there was enough bio evidence on the crates to register some fingerprints for the pirates."

Seeing the transfer go through on her omni tool Winona looked up at her. "As long as you're good, I'm good."

Luna holds out her hand, Winona shakes it. "I'm good. Where to next for you since you're out of a home?"

"Probably start making my way to Ilium then maybe the Terminus. Should be plenty of work there there."

"That's for sure." Luna gives her one more look, she's good but it'll be interesting to see if they cross paths again. Those are some nasty bits of space she's looking at. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Winona gives a slight smile, climbs into her ship and blasts into the atmosphere.