Just shy of one year of no updates. Yeesh. At least I managed to get this out.
Anyway, on with the show!
-Ismar Frontier, Elysta System, Planet Hesano – June 22nd 2181 CE, 15:47 pm Terran Time-
"We'll be entering hot zone in 5." Emma notified me. "It's not pretty down there, boss." She added grimly.
"Nothing we didn't expect." I replied, my tone matching hers as I secured my jump kit. "Tiruns, how are you and the others holding up?"
"We're making the bastards pay in blood for every step they take but we're loosing ground." The Turian said across the channel. "I'd ask what we did to piss them off but- GRENADE!" Shuffling followed by the muffled sound of an explosion. "Anyway, backup would be appreciated!"
"Hang in there, I'll join you soon." I checked my gear one last time. Satisfied, I headed out of room and started making my way toward the back of the ship. "Kasumi, how much more time do you need?"
"A bit longer. I'm a master thief, not a master hacker." The woman answered. "Thankfully, I've dealt with better security before. I'll be done by the time you get here."
"Much appreciated."
"As always, Aria's information is on point." Emma said. "Still, only Batarians would be brazen enough to set up a slave labor camp in the middle of Council Space."
"I'm more worried about the fact that it's been left unchecked for so long." I said as the door to the loading bay slid open. "I'll be first to say the council can be a bunch of morons, but that kind of shit is one of the big reasons why Spectres exist. They're supposed to be on top of this stuff."
"Which means either someone in high places decided they wanted a piece of the pie for themselves... or this is part of something bigger." Kasumi concluded. "I'll see if I can find a money trail."
"Keep me posted." I stopped and looked at BT, who was crouched down beside me. "Ready for this?"
"I am always ready, Ethan." The Titan answered. "However, it has been a long time since I have last physically joined you on a combat operation. I am... looking forward to it."
I blinked at him for a moment before a smile grew on my face. "You're right. It has been a while, hasn't it?" I couldn't exactly take BT with me on Omega, for obvious reasons, and the missions that had been outside of the station hadn't required his support. So the last time we had properly linked up was when we had arrived on Cyrene. "I'm looking forward to it as well, partner." I said, putting my helmet on.
"AA guns offline, you guys are clear for landing." Kasumi chimed.
"Oh we'll be landing alright." I grinned as I climbed into BT's cockpit. "Emma, as soon as we're on top of them I want you to open the loading bay."
"What?" The pilot said, confused, and I could just picture her eyes widening in realization. "Wait, you can't mean...?"
My grin turned feral as Kasumi softly laughed across the radio, having also divined my intention.
"Standby for Titanfall."
"You guys are crazy!" Emma shouted, even as the hatch opened. "Don't blame me if you end up splattering on the ground!"
"Titans are designed to be dropped from orbit heights with minimum damage. The probability of this particular scenario happening is of less than 5% in current conditions." BT replied. "We will be fine, Emma."
"Trust us, we know what we're doing." I added. "On your signal."
"Fine, fine." The blond grumbled. "Reaching drop zone in 3... 2... 1... GO!"
"Dropping!"
With a single activation of the thrusters, BT and I exited the ship, falling down to the battlefield below.
-Unknown Location - June 23rd 2181 CE, 10:06 am Terran Time-
The Illusive Man silently watched the video feed as one moment the Batarians advanced for yet another push against the mercenaries' defenses and the next a meteor fell from the sky into their ranks, kicking up rocks, soil, and dust as it sent the aliens close to the impact flying. He imagined a few of them had probably died from the impact itself.
A light blue circle lit up from inside the dust cloud as the Batarians scrambled and began pointing their weapons at the hulking form barely visible in the footage. A sound not dissimilar to a gunship's main gun was heard as the figure began firing at the aliens. Shields, barriers and armors alike were shattered in a couple shots at most and the Batarians started dropping like flies. Some stood their ground and tried to fight back, others dashed for cover and a few simply fled as fast as their legs could carry them.
All were gunned down in the span of a single minute by a hail of sustained gunfire supported by salvos of guided missiles.
As the dust settled, the figure became more distinct. A dark grey chasis about three times the size of a man, with orange highlights and the image of an unknown quadrupedal beast upon an inverted triangle painted on its chest, its single blue optic looking around in search of threats. It held in its hands the massive rifle with which it had annihilated the Batarians, its barrel smoking, and on its back was a just as massive sword. Finally, two pods jutted out from its shoulders, ready to spew more missiles.
The Illusive Man paused the footage, gazing upon the mech as he took a drag of his cigarette. A few dexterous movements of his fingers brought up another display, this time of a man in a red suit with an armored chest, protective pads on his knees and elbows, and one of the most unique helmets he'd ever seen. Another couple gestures and a third display, this time of a man's face with stubble on his chin, sharp light grey eyes and spiky brown hair staring back.
"Ethan Wolfe." The Illusive Man exhaled, smoke rising from his lips. "What a troublesome individual you are."
The leader of Cerberus was proud of the intelligence network he had cultivated through the years. He would even go as far as to say it was second only to those of the Shadow Broker and, perhaps, the Salarian STG. So when he'd sent out feelers for any information on the unknown mech and its pilot, he had expected his operatives to have a dossier ready in a matter of weeks, if not days.
Yet, after close to two months since the first images had taken the extranet by storm, there was still nothing but rumors and hearsay. The only information that his agents had managed to ascertain as true was the pilot's name, those of his crew, the ship they used to go to and from Omega, and that they were mercenaries in the personal employ of the Pirate Queen with a vendetta against slavers. That was it.
No one knew anything about Ethan Wolfe. No one knew anything about the mech and, despite its obvious human design, even the deepest and darkest archives of the Alliance didn't have a trace of any blueprints that might've been used to develop the thing. It was most... infuriating.
The fact that even the Shadow Broker seemed to be just as in the dark as the rest of them was of little comfort. Everyone wanted information about Wolfe and his mech and the price for any real bit of intel was going up by the day. It wouldn't take long before someone decided to get cocky and try something stupid, he knew.
The question was, should he act preemptively or wait for the situation to escalate before making his move?
"Miranda."
"Sir?"
"I have a mission for you."
-Valhallan Threshold, Paz System, Asteroid Base – Same Time-
It had taken two weeks after we'd begun doing jobs for Aria around Omega, and the Terminus Systems as a whole, before BT finally managed to track down the contact information of the person of interest I'd been looking for.
Namely: Kasumi Goto.
The Master Thief and her partner were at the top of the list of people I wanted to get on my side, mainly for the fact that they were some of the most capable people who could gather information outside of the Shadow Broker's network. In other words, I wanted spies whom I could send into Council Space. And I desired to recruit the best of the best for that task.
I was surprised, however, to learn that Keiji was already dead, and had been for several years, once I managed to set up a meeting with Kasumi on Omega. It had never been clear when exactly the first Donovan heist had occurred, but I'd assumed it was during the gap between the events of the first and second games. Obviously, I'd been wrong.
At this point in time, Kasumi had yet to assemble a motley crew and was still running solo. Which is where my partnership with her came in.
The Master Thief had no real interest in money, that much was clear. What she desired was backup for her heists, and most of all she wanted someone who could help her retrieve her dead partner's graybox.
So we made a deal.
For every job I would send her way, which she was free to reject or accept, and that she completed, I would lend her my aid for a heist of her choosing. Of course, I also agreed to provide her with a safe-house during her downtime, which more or less made her a part of the crew.
The Athame's Grace bottle's retrieval, as well as the last raid on that slavers' camp and a couple other jobs, had been a test drive to see how well she could mesh with the team in combat. And as much as I liked my usual cloak and dagger tactics, I had to admit I Kasumi made me pass for an amateur. She moved through the environment like a ghost, there one instant to lay out an enemy or two with quick punches or kicks and gone the next without a trace. Whereas I used my own invisibility to drop inside the enemy lines and sow chaos in their ranks, Kasumi kept them guessing by striking at weak points and isolated targets with a methodical precision that honestly scared me just as much as it impressed me.
In another life, I had no doubt that she could've become an assassin on par with, if not beyond, Thane's level.
"Is this really necessary?" The Japanese woman asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. I focused back on her as she lined up another shot with a Predator pistol. "This isn't exactly my style, you know?"
"I do." I agreed with a nod. "However, I am a firm believer of hoping for the best while being prepared for the worst. Your infiltration failed once, Kasumi. You cannot expect me to believe that Donovan won't be prepared for when you come looking for Keiji's graybox. If we can get in and get out without trouble, then that's great. If," I carefully did not say 'when'. "we get foiled halfway through, then we'll need to fight our way out. And in that case, our usual bag of tricks might not cut it." I thought about the gunship. "We'll be under-equipped and, of course, outnumbered. So yes, I do think it necessary to make sure your accuracy is up to par. Because we'll need to make every shot count."
"I understand, even if I don't like it." Kasumi sighed as she fired again. "Couldn't you just ask that mech of yours to bust us out if things go south?"
I snorted. "BT isn't exactly stealthy, they'll detect him coming from miles away. Still," I continued, aiming toward the target with my left arm as my omnitool display appeared. "we are not without options."
The fabricator finished its job and a firestar launched at the target, hitting it dead center and igniting it with the released thermite.
The Japanese woman whistled. "Nice toy you've got there. How effective is it against shields?"
"The thing, about kinetic barriers, is that the projectile needs a certain velocity speed and cannot exceed a certain mass for it to be blocked." I said. "Shields won't block a firestar any more than they'd block a thrown rock and the thermite eats through personal armor. The only way someone survives if you hit them with one dead center is either they have biotic barriers strong enough to block the thermite or they're a Krogan."
In a sense, the firestar was simply a better incinerate, though without the ability to home in on a target.
"What about security mechs?" She asked. "They've become quite popular since videos of yours spread on the extranet. Donovan is bound to have a YMIR model or two."
"Aim for the head, it will blind its optic sensors." I replied. "That will make our job easier at the very least. Might even cause it to explode if it damages something important enough past the plating."
Kasumi hummed as she shot at another target, farther this time. "You've really thought about this."
"Of course. I don't want either of us to die." I gave her a smile. "Any other heist I'd happily let you take the lead without question. But this is important enough to you that I feel contingencies must be planned in case things turn bad."
Kasumi turned, her golden eyes peering at me through the shadows of her hood for a moment. "...You care, don't you? I don't know why, but you care about this succeeding. Why?"
'She's a sharp one.' I thought as I shrugged. "I want this partnership to mean something. By no means do I want to take Keiji's place, but I intend to prove that you can trust me to have your back." I paused. "What I- what we are doing is no small endeavor. It's going to take time, it's going to be dangerous, and it's going to be on a large scale. I will need people to advise me, people to be my eyes and ears in Council Space because I will be focused on the Terminus Systems. People to manage that which I will not have the time or the ability for.
"Right now we're small, but that won't last. Which is why I want to gather people I can trust and who will trust me in turn, who I will do right by and who will do right by me." I looked back at her. "I hope you can be one of them."
"Sheesh, do you have those kinds of expectations for every girl you meet? Talk about high standards." She said teasingly and I felt myself flush slightly in embarrassment, which she of course noticed and prompted her to laugh. I narrowed my eyes.
"What can I say? You're the best at what you do and that's why I want you." I fired back with a grin, cutting her laughter short. "I'm greedy like that."
"That you are." She chirped. "But it's a quality I like to see in my partners. If they aren't as greedy as I am, then what's the point?"
"Alright, you win." I conceded, raising my hands, palms open, as I took a step back. "I should know better than to get myself into a battle of wits with you."
She sighed theatrically. "So quick to bow out of the game." She said as she fired one last shot, hitting the target's bullseye, and put the gun down. "Was there anything else, boss-san?" She asked, turning to face me. "If not, I'll take my leave."
I raised a brow and crossed my arms. "Honorifics now? Should I call you Goto-san then?"
"Hah! Please don't." She snorted. "Besides, I'd rather not hear my mother tongue be butchered."
"Come now, Goto-san. I'm sure my accent isn't that bad." I replied in Japanese.
"It is." She deadpanned. "See you around, boss-san." And with a jaunty little wave, she disappeared beneath her invisibility cloak. Try as I might, I couldn't see the slightest shimmer in the air or hear any footsteps. It was as if she'd vanished without a trace.
"There she goes again, making me feel like an amateur at stealth." I muttered, shaking my head as I tidied up the makeshift firing range. "You got anything, BT?"
"Negative. None of my scanners have been able to keep track of Gotto once she activates her cloaking device. It is... vexing." The Titan confessed.
"No kidding!" I laughed. "Anyway, with that done is there anything that requires my attention?"
"There have been signs that our enemies are preparing to strike back at us. Aria has reported an increase in communications between the various warlords and slave traders, along with men and resources shifting at a rapid pace from and to Omega itself."
I gave a thoughtful hum. "Nothing we didn't expect, sadly. We've been hitting slavers pretty hard in the past few weeks, they were bound to try to seize the initiative for a change." I sighed. "We're not ready to face them openly. Not yet. We need more time, more people, more resources. More... everything, really."
"Perhaps we should seek allies, then."
"The question is: who?" I said, crossing my arms. "No doubt there are several opportunists who'll look to take advantage of the situation by leveraging their help for a steep price, one I don't think I'd be willing to pay."
"Should we contact Matriarch Bathythia?"
"I doubt she has a private army at her beck and call." I shrugged. "But sure, why not? It's not like we have anything to lose. Perhaps she can point us in the right direction."
As a matter of fact, it turned out that Bathythia did own a private military force.
"I can have a few commandos join you within a couple weeks. I could reach out to more like-minded people if I had more time but..."
"That's... plenty." I said, mentally struggling with the fact that Bathythia had casually agreed to send Asari commandos to help. Either commandos were a dime a dozen if every Matriarch had a personal squad of those or I had severely underestimated the her true influence. "But really, just like that?" I snapped my finger.
"I have not been idle since my return to Tessia, mister Wolfe." Bathythia replied across the line. I got the distinct impression that she was smiling. "Of course, there are many who call me a fool for dedicating actual resources into this endeavor of ours. But with each news of another sentient trafficking ring being destroyed by you, the more support I get. There are many of our people who have lost someone to those scumbags, and we Asari have long lives and equally long memories."
'And boy do you know how to hold a grudge.' I internally added. "I appreciate the help, Bathythia. Hopefully, we'll be able to expand our operations once things have calmed down a bit. I've finally collected enough raw materials to get some projects properly started but I need the warlords to back off."
"Oh? That took less time than I expected." The Asari Matriarch hummed. "Either these lowlifes must have more resources than we thought or the... market is very profitable." She said darkly.
"A bit of both." I replied. The Terminus Systems do have plenty of planets with hidden deposits of rare materials, after all, and it was inevitable that people would eventually stumble upon some of these by chance. "The market was already profitable but as the supply drops, so does the price rise." I grimaced. "Which, unfortunately, will in turn attract more people who think they can make a quick buck. While the large-scale raids will decrease, I fear that the number of missing person reports are going to get worse before it gets better. And even with her influence, there's only so much Aria can do without compromising her position with the Warlords."
"Ah yes, the Queen of Omega..." Bathythia drawled, a hint of disdain in her voice. "I have been meaning to talk with you about her. Can she be trusted?"
"I trust her to keep her end of the deal. As shrewd of a person as she can be, Aria knows to be straightforward when it suits her." I said. "So long as we keep to our mutually beneficial arrangement and neither of us tries to double-cross the other, there won't be any issue."
"Then let us hope your assessment of her is right." The Asari sighed. "Back to those projects of yours, what are you going for exactly?"
"Well, seeing as mechs are in very high demand at the moment..."
"I wonder whose fault that is?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I deadpanned, causing her to chuckle. "Anyway, I have a few designs I intend to introduce on the market. Take a look." I said as I forwarded her the blueprints.
"Let's see... Geist and Stalker? Interesting names. And they both look rather similar."
"They have the same base, so it's not surprising." I explained, drumming my fingers on the table. "Both are automated infantry but, while they're fairly comparable to the alliance's Loki model, one side has better mobility while the other has better armor. In a sense, they're two different paths of upgrade."
"And while both cost more than a Loki, the difference isn't so big that en-mass purchase would be an issue." Bathythia said, approval coloring her tone. "Interesting. Would you mind if I shared those designs with my daughter? She has always expressed an interest in robotics and recent events have only made her more passionate about the subject."
"So long as she doesn't share them with other people, I'm fine with it." I chuckled. "How is she doing, by the way? How are you both doing? I know you're an ex-commando and all, but captivity is never easy, especially knowing what would have happened." I asked softly.
"We're... dealing, I suppose." She sighed. "I have both of us meeting with a mind healer regularly. But despite the relief of being back home and the knowledge we are fortunate of being alive and in good health... we are both plagued by night terrors. And the barely veiled comments of my rivals are not helping."
"You are not broken." I said, my tone brooking no argument. "Whatever they say, remember this. You fought for your freedom, you were prepared to die standing rather than live on your knees. And while some people may never completely recover, you are not one of them and neither is Nis'sa. So long as you are there for each other and you have people to support you, you'll be fine. I'm sure of it."
"When you say it like that, I can almost believe it." Bathythia chuckled softly. "Only time will tell if you are right or wrong. Still, I won't forget your words, Ethan. Thank you. Keep me updated?"
"You're welcome, Bathythia." I replied warmly. "And of course. I'll talk to you again soon."
As the call ended I couldn't help but reflect on how, despite the fact that Bathythia and I had nearly nothing in common aside from our mutual disgust for slavers, we had quickly become confidants. Our personalities just clicked together, for lack of a better explanation. I didn't know exactly how many personal friends she had, but I knew she was glad to have someone to talk, other than a psychiatrist, who didn't judge her and understood what she and her daughter had gone through. Meanwhile, I was glad to have someone who I could come to for counsel on matters where my crewmates weren't exactly knowledgeable about, such as economics, logistics, and management. BT was, of course, very good at math but the subtleties often escaped him.
'Look at me, trying to get a proper militia up and running.' I thought ruefully. 'I wonder what commander Briggs would say if she could see me now?'
-Omega Station - June 25 2181 CE, 18:22 pm Terran Time-
"You understand I must stay neutral on this." Aria said as I sat across her, looking as relaxed as she usually did, arms casually splayed out on her sofa's spine. Still, I didn't doubt for a moment she could fling anyone, probably everyone, in the lounge across Afterlife with a but a flex of her biotics if she wished to. "So why did you come to me?"
"Simple, I'm asking you to enforce said neutrality." I said, my helmet's visor staring at her. "The only place where they can actively ambush me is Omega itself. So when things get out of hand -and they definitely will, no doubt about that- I want you to come down hard on everyone, both them and I."
A blue eyebrow was raised. "Elaborate."
"Let me be honest with you, Aria. Omega's layout itself makes it my favored type of terrain." I said, my smirk audible in my voice. "Lots of choke-points and verticality that I can use to my advantage to take out much larger forces. So what do you think will happen when they see they can't pin me down and I keep leading them on a merry chase while killing their men by the dozen?"
"They'll start bringing out the heavy artillery, of course." Aria replied, eyes narrowing at me. "So that's your objective. The moment the fight start causing too much of a mess on my station, I'll be forced to intervene."
I nodded happily. "That's about it, yeah. After all, we're only allowed to be on Omega by the grace of its Queen. Of course, you'll have to punish everyone involved, including me, and I leave that at your discretion."
"Not a bad plan... for a human." Aria sniffed. "Yet this will only succeed if you can survive long enough. Are you that confident in your odds?"
"You tell me. Have I failed any mission you've given me yet?"
Aria silently peered at me for a moment, pondering the pros and cons, short and long term consequences that could come from this. At last, she gave a short nod. "Very well. But it'll cost you."
"Oh, don't worry. I have every intention of making sure the prize is worth the price." I said, rising to my feet and departing from Afterlife.
"Stop right there, human." A voice stopped me in the corridor and I turned to find a vaguely familiar trio of Batarians pointing guns at me. "You're gonna pay for what you did to Pralark!"
I tilted my head slightly. "...Who?" Then it hit me and I snapped my fingers. "Oh yeah! Your slaver buddy who tried to hide his side business from Aria, was it? What about him?"
"He's dead because of you!" The lead Batarian growled, jabbing his pistol in my face.
"...I fail to see the part where this is my problem." I replied bluntly, causing the three to bristle in anger. "In my opinion, he got what he deserved. If you seriously think some 'cultural heritage' bullshit entitles you to enslave sentients in this day and age, in this galactic community, then you Batarians are really fucked up as a people."
That was evidently too much for him as, with a roar, he pressed the trigger.
My head snapped back as my body fell backward... and glitched out of existence as it hit the ground.
There was a moment of confusion among the three Batarians before I uncloaked behind them, grabbed the head of the furthest one between my hands and snapped his neck. As the two others turned, I drew my data knife with one hand, plunging the blade at an upward angle from below the jaw of the one closest to me, and threw a flash-forged firestar at the last one.
In the span of five seconds, two of the three Batarians had crumpled to the ground without a sound while the last one howled in agony as the thermite melted through his armor and burned his flesh to a crisp, causing him to shortly join his fellow aliens in death. With a weary sigh, I cleaned my knife on the clothes of one of the corpses and sheathed it.
"Impressive." A new voice said in the silence, one I clearly recognized this time. "You certainly live up to your reputation, Wolf of Cyrene."
'So the Illusive Man has finally made his move.' I thought as I turned to see one Miranda Lawson standing a few steps behind me, arms crossed and giving me a look that wouldn't be out of place on a bird of prey.
"And you are?" I asked before immediately cutting off my helmet speakers. "BT, I need you to highlight every human in a radius of one hundred meters. Now."
"Acknowledged. Marking your HUD." My Titan friend replied and suddenly my radar pinged with about thirty signatures as all humans within my field of vision got a green outline. "Analyzing... Marking possible threats."
I smiled behind my helmet as certain green silhouettes took on a yellow hue. As expected of my partner.
"My name is Rachel Frey, mister Wolfe." Miranda said as she took a couple steps forward, hips swinging from side to side and her white catsuit leaving nothing to the imagination. I had to give props to her, that woman knew what she doing. "I represent a certain party that is very interested in working with you... May I have a moment of your time? I'm sure I can make it worth your while." She all but purred.
Damn. Even though I knew what her angle was, I couldn't help but feel heat creeping up my cheeks.
I cleared my throat and clapped my hands a couple times. "On a scale of one to ten, I give it an eight point five. But please, miss Frey, I am not one for mind games and I'd prefer to not lose time on those." I replied and was rewarded with a single blink. Her poker face was on point. "Besides, I can already guess what the three-headed dog wants from me." An almost imperceptible widening of her eyes. "And my answer is no. I don't care much for working with terrorists."
"How..." She shook her head slightly, eyes narrowing at me. "I'm afraid I'll have to insist on you coming with me, mister Wolfe."
I raised an eyebrow behind my helmet. "And if I refuse?"
A corona of blue energy surrounded her body. "Then I'll stop asking nicely."
"Quite heavy-handed of you." I hummed, putting a hand to my chin. "But there's just a slight issue with that."
The biotic aura flared slightly. "And what would that be?"
My grin was audible as I replied "You see, Rachel..." I drawled. "I'm already gone."
A split second later, I disappeared from view as three holograms burst forth from me, all heading in different directions. To Miranda's credit, she only hesitated for a couple heartbeats before she flung an orb of dark energy at one hologram and drew her pistol to shoot at the other two, causing all three to flicker and disappear.
The brunette frowned as she put two fingers to her left ear. "All units, be advised. Target is on the move and I have lost visual. Switch to infra-red and set up a perimeter around the Gaea's dock. Do not let him escape or there will be consequences."
'Clever girl.' I thought as Miranda power-walked away. There was a reason why she was one of Cerberus' top operatives. 'Now, how do I want to do this?'
Suddenly, I had an idea. An awful, terrible idea that would probably come back to bite me in the ass but the occasion could not be better. Thankfully, it was only Emma and me today and she had decided to stay on the ship, so I didn't have to worry about anyone else besides myself.
"BT, I assume you heard all that?"
"Loud and clear, Ethan. I assume you have a plan?"
"Yep." I grinned. "Alright, put Emma on the line. Here's what we're going to do."
Miranda couldn't help but feel a hint of irritation at how easily Wolfe had managed to give her the slip. The dossier the Illusive Man had given her had, of course, included descriptions of her target's capabilities, including the use of holograms, but there had been no indication that he could spawn several of them at once while using his cloaking device at the same time. The energy consumption alone should be enough to drain even the best omnitools out there twice over.
Unless, as had been theorized by their analysts, Wolfe's tech abilities used a separate power source. What she had just witnessed certainly hinted toward that theory being correct.
Still, even if he had managed to evade her, her net was set and now all she had to do was wait for her prey to enter the trap. And then she'd get answers as to how he knew about Cerberus. If he knew about their existence, what else did he know? Such a security breach could not be tolerated.
"Alpha One here, I have a visual on the target." One of her fellow agents reported to her. "Currently approaching from the north and heading toward the spaceport, should I take the shot?"
"Negative," Miranda replied as she quickened her pace. "Hold your fire until-"
"This is Alpha Three. Target spotted on the west side." Another agent interrupted. "He seems to be heading toward the transports to Council Space. Should I pursue?"
Miranda blinked. "Confirm, Alpha Three. You spotted our quarry on the west side?"
"Affirmative, ma'am. There's no mistaking that helmet and armor." He paused. "Orders?"
What was this? "Target is most likely a hologram. Take the sh-"
"This is Alpha Five! Target coming in from the east and moving fast!" A third agent, female this time, said. "He's headed... towards an empty airlock?"
"Targets are holograms." If Wolfe thought she'd fall for such a simple scheme, he was gravely mistaken. "All units, engage."
"Roger." "Firing." "Taking the shot." She heard the sound of firearms firing across the radio.
"Target has disappeared."
"Same here."
"Mine as well. Good call ma'am."
Miranda's lips twitched upward. As expected. "Don't forget he can cloak. Stay alert and sweep the area." As the other agents gave confirmation, she pondered what Wolfe's next move would be. He couldn't stay hidden forever, after all.
More surprising was the fact that he hadn't gone for a frontal assault. From the reports, he wasn't one to shy away from fighting outnumbered. So why the misdirection? What did he gain from it?
Her eyes widened in realization. Intel. He didn't know how many people Miranda had hunting for him or their position. And her giving the order to fire had just revealed their position to him!
"Alpha team, reposition to point delta!" She barked.
"Acknowledged. Moving."
"Beta team, status report."
"Beta One here. Nothing on infra-red and ship hasn't moved or opened its airlock. All clear."
Miranda's eyes narrowed, a challenging glint in them.
Your move, Wolfe.
"Beta One here. Nothing on infra-red and the ship hasn't moved or opened its airlock. All clear." I said, biting my tongue to keep myself from laughing as I spoke. Beside me, Emma was shaking with repressed laughter.
I ended the call and we both collapsed in our seats with peals of laughter.
"How -hehe- how mad do you think she's going to be?" I asked as I slowly transitioned from full-blown laughter to chuckles.
"Hah! She's going to hold a grudge, judging by how stuck-up she sounded." Emma replied, still laughing as she guided the Gaea to the Mass Relay. "Little miss perfect is gonna be feeling that one for a while."
If only she knew how right she was! For all that Miranda really did want to distance herself from her sperm donor (I refused to use the term 'father' to describe Lawson senior) she really had a stick up her ass and took at least some measure of pride in the fact that she was 'perfect'. Knocking her down a peg or two would do her some good. I also very much doubted it would be the last time I'd see Miranda, now that Cerberus had decided to actively approach me through her.
Still, I couldn't help but wonder what the fact that the Illusive Man had decided to make a move now could mean. I didn't doubt for a moment that he knew some of the Terminus warlords wanted to take action against me. Perhaps he hoped to leverage Cerberus' support against some of my technology? Or maybe he just thought I stood no chance against the warlords and simply wanted to try and take the secrets of BT before they might end up in someone else's hands than Cerberus.
The only way that would ever happen would be if someone hacked BT's firewalls. And outside of Tali'Zorah, the girl who could hack Geth and actually recover some data off their memory core before they purged it, I very much doubted that would happen.
And if we were ever in a situation where the choice was between surrendering the data or death... well, I had a few packages that would be sent to Anderson, Shepard and a couple other people in the event of my demise.
…That train of thought sure turned dark pretty quickly. Back to the Illusive Man.
I would prefer to stay neutral with Cerberus, at least until Shepard's (eventual) revival, but if he forced my hand I would not hesitate to destroy his organization brick by brick. Something which was bound to happen anyway as I did not want Cerberus to become the huge thorn in everyone's side that they would be in the war against the Reapers. But that was still a long way off.
For now, I would simply enjoy thumbing my nose at Miranda and try to avoid Cerberus as much as possible. Unless TIM sent Leng after me, in which case all bets were off.
"That's a scary face right there." Emma peeped, glancing at me. "Ethan, these people are bad news aren't they?"
I gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. And it's less bad news and more they make things complicated." I paused, thinking. "It also means more people are gonna come knocking soon. The sooner we can openly finalize our alliance with Aria the better. Our timetable is going to be tight, but so long as we get the ball rolling properly, then we should be fine."
Tiruns had really come through for me. His contact within one of the worker unions that operated both in Concil and Terminus space had been able to provide me with workers, engineers and mechanics for the first factory that would be producing Geists and Stalkers, which was currently under construction on Cyrene.
'I really need to do something nice for Hektor once that business with the warlords is over.' I mentally noted. The man had sold me the plot to build the factory for almost nothing and I intended to pay him back for that generosity.
Once the Geists and Stalker would start to generate profits, I would then build a second and third factory for them before introducing the Mäher (the tentative new name for the reapers of the Titanfall universe) as an alternative to the Ymir. After that... well, we would see.
"But enough about that." I waved a hand dismissively. "How's my favorite pilot doing? I feel like we've been so busy recently there has barely been any time to just talk."
Emma nodded, blonde hair bobbing up and down with the movement. "It certainly has been busy, between missions for the Queen of Omega, the raids and all the other side projects everyone is working on." She turned to me, smiling. "But it's been good. Productive. I've even got people come to me for piloting lessons, if you can believe it." She shook her head incredulously. "Never thought I'd be a flying instructor. At least not so soon."
"Well, as our little band slowly gets bigger, there will be need of more ships. And as much as I like to rely on you, you're only one person, Emma. The more pilots we have, the more things we'll be able to get done and faster too." I said, rubbing my chin. "How many do you think will be good enough to fly a ship soon?"
She hummed. "Two of them show a lot of promise, so I'd say give it a month? The rest I'm not so sure about. It would help if we had a proper simulator though."
"I'll defer to your expertise then." I chuckled. "Just, ah, please don't pick one that's too expensive? We're still rather short on cash at the moment."
The rest of our trip back to base was spent in quiet conversation, the two of us talking about everything and nothing.
-Valhallan Treshold, Paz System, Asteroid Base –
"Welcome back, you two." Tiruns greeted Emma and I as we exited the ship. "Any trouble?"
"Some, but I'll tell everyone at dinner tonight." I answered. "I trust nothing happened while we were gone?"
"Everything critical is proceeding according to schedule, boss." The Turian replied as he handed me a datapad. "The recruits are coming along nicely and Fan'Tis thinks he might even be done sooner than he'd expected with that project you gave him."
"Excellent, I'll have to thank him." I said as I quickly skimmed through the information written on the screen. "Has Aerarth made any new progress?"
"Unfortunately she seems to have hit somewhat of a wall." Tiruns grimaced. "All the biological jargon goes way above my head but, the way I understand it? She's having trouble isolating what, exactly, the Quarians are missing to boost their immune system. She said it'd be easier if she had more people or access to information about Rannoch's ecosystem but, well..."
"Unless we can go on the planet itself or get the Migrant Fleet to trade information with us, that one's not happening." I finished with a sigh. "Still, slow progress is better than no progress at all. I'll see what I can do about recruiting some scientists and biologists to help her but that may take some time. Anything else?"
"Our first guest from Matriarch Bathythia has arrived. She's in the cafeteria right now."
I blinked. "Already? Damn, that was fast."
"Indeed..." Tiruns trailed off, seemingly hesitant. "Boss, I know we can trust Bathythia but that one... There's something about her I'm not sure I like."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow at that. Tiruns wasn't exactly distrusting but he had good instincts about people. That was how he had managed to keep his own little band of mercenaries alive so long, as he'd told me. "And does our guest have a name?"
"Yeah." He paused, watching me. "Tela Vasir."
I almost stumbled at the name. Tela Vasir. Asari commando, powerful biotic vanguard. Spectre.
Agent of the Shadow Broker.
This... was going to be a problem.
Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed this chapter. A bit shorter than the previous ones, but I've been struggling with writer block on this so I just wanted to try and move on.
As always, do leave a review if you'd like. I welcome constructive criticism but baseless flames will be ignored. And again, sorry for the wait.
This is MidnightFenrir, signing out.
Until next time!
