The Red sun merc guild was in high spirits as people sang, drank and danced. Merc guilds were formed from the remnants of Eclipse, Blue suns, Blood back and others. But unlike the past ones, they have a loose organisation now allowing their members to focus on their own personal skills and decide their own bounties. They were an association, not a company this allowed them to operate more freely in the warlord's territories.
As people danced a man dressed in yellow armour, similar to the old Eclipse mercs, walked up to the bar with a smile.
"Hey Deadeye," the bartender said as he turned to the sniper. "Contract complete?"
"Yep," the merc smiled before turning to look at everyone in the guild hall. "Drinks on me!"
That made everyone cheer in response before he turned back to the bartender. "You sound in high spirits," the turian smiled.
"Yep, the bounty I got payed quite handsomely," his smile widened. "I took out Ashley Shepard,"
The smile the turian had dropped as did the glass in his hand. Shattering of the glass echoed in the hall more so then the music. People looked over to the bar to see the shocked face of the turian.
"YOU DID WHAT?" he yelled in a panic.
"I killed Ashley Shepard," he said again this time the same shocked face appeared on the other mercs of the guild.
"HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY MAD!? SHE'S THE WIFE OF COMMANDER SHEAPRD! WARLORD OF THE SOLAR EMPIRE!" he yelled. "Not only is she important, she's the second in command of the entire empire! Do you not remember what happened to Zeno and the New Olympus empire? Not only did he kidnap Ashley, he was turned into fucking paste!"
The sniper's brow raised up slightly. "I doubt that,"
"Errr guys," another merc said making eyes turn to him.
He pointed to the news screen and someone increased the sound.
"Yesterday, the Solar empire received a devastating loss," the asari news reporter said. "According to reports the Empire's secret lab exploded due to a terrorist bomb. Tali Zorah, the head of the lab, is currently housed at Chackwas memorial hospital receiving treatment," the eyes of the other mercs turned to him.
"Don't look at me," the sniper said. "I only took out Ashley, not the qurrian. Besides, bombs are not my strong suit,"
Eyes looked to him with suspicion but what he said was true. He wasn't a bomber, but a sniper.
"Another loss the empire faces, is the attempted assassination of the Empire's second in command, Ashley Shepard," the reporter continued.
"Attempted?" the sniper questioned.
"According to reports from the Rising Sun Empire, the commander was shot from an unknown location. Her arm and eye have been damaged beyond repair, but she has survived the attack. Supreme Commander Shepard has offered a bounty for any information leading to the capture of the assassin," at the mention of that all eyes in the guild turned to the sniper with hunger in their eyes.
"Hey wait guys…" he tried to say before the guild master walked out of his office. "Ahh master…." he said but the Korgan just looked at him with a stare that shut him up.
"I was wondering why it was so quiet," he said calmly. "Now I understand. Deadeye, you have betrayed the values of this guild,"
"B… betrayed?"
"Yes, it seems that you are not aware of some of the rules out guild operates by. One of them is quite simple, do not target the Warlords, their family or slaves. You have target them due to a bounty. Such bounties are to be ignored no matter the reward. Do you know why we have this rule?"
"Because you don't want anyone to get rich," he said smugly, but the Korgan shook his head.
"No, because if we did, we'd be making ourselves a target for the other guilds. Not to mention that we would be refused operations in the different Warlord territories. All guilds have this rule, it's to ensure that their operations continue in the territories of the Warlords. We do not target them because it's impractical and counterproductive. Because of this transgression I have revoked your guild membership and called the Solar empire," the master then looked to the human who was now cowering in fear. "Take him to the brig," he said before walking off.
OOOOO
John looked into the chamber with the terrorist who bombed his lab and nearly killed Tali. To say he was pissed would be an understatement. The qurrian who did the bombings, gave himself up almost immediately to the authorities. It seems that he wasn't interested in anything but killing Tali for some reason. He was going to find out why. One way or the other.
"Shepard," Garrus said as he walked up next to John. "We've checked his story with the Qurrian Admiralty, it seems that he was working with a splinter group who were operating with the impression that their actions were sanctioned. One of the Admirals seems to have gone off the deep end. A trail has been ordered, but we can do what we like to this one,"
"And the assassin?" John asked.
"We have got in contact with a guild master. Apparently, one of his guild members took up a contract against the rules of the guild. One of our ships has been sent to retrieve him. We have also but a partial ban on their operations in our territory as a warning to them and others," Garrus said before looking at the quarrian inside the interrogation chamber. "I assume no recordings of any kind and no people until you are done,"
"Yeah," John said before opening the door to the room while Garrus walked into the corridor and locked the door.
"I have diplomatic immunity," he said as John sat in front of him.
"No, you don't," John shot back. "Your government has abandoned you, and you are going to tell me why you tried to kill Tali,"
"As you humans say, fuck off," the quarrian said. "I'm not telling you anything. We are done here,"
John stood not taking his eyes of the terrorist. "One way or the other you will tell me,"
Outside Garrus fell silent. He knew what the commander was likely going to do. Not kill but turn the quarrian into a basket case. But his mind turned more to security now, how did the quarrian know or even get into Area 51? He was unlikely to get them but it did mean that they had a leak somewhere that needed to be plugged. He hopped the commander got that information from him, but given what the commander was likely to do he doubted it.
If you piss John off, then no matter what you have you will lose. Seeing Shepard angry before reminded Garrus of an old turian demon tale. One who was too angry to even die. A slayer of doom. He shivered at the memory of the tale, one which all turians are taught and all were terrified of it. But it told them to be careful around the ones who could make people fear for their lives and the ones in which rage is little more than something to be used.
Garrus stood outside for a good hour before John emerged from the room.
"Tali was targeted due to her father's experiments with the geth during the Reaper war," John said as he exited. "He didn't know who knew about the base, but it seems that we need to have a word with the disgraced admiral,"
"I'll set it up," Garrus said.
John nodded and walked away, allowing Garrus to walk into the room and look at the qurrian who was now cowering in the corner.
"No…. not the pen…. please father no…." he then broke out into laughter then cried.
Garrus just left before calling a team to take him to the mental ward. Rule one, ever piss off the commander and live to regret it.
OOOOO
Darkness surrounded Ashley as she stood looking around. Something was wrong here. She got shot, something she remembered clearly but something felt wrong.
"Hello?" she said and her voice echoed across the dark space.
"Major bodily trauma detected," a voice then said making Ash look around. "Activating regeneration nanites,"
"Who's there?" she asked looking around.
"VI activated," a voice said and a creature that appeared to be a Collector appeared before her.
But it looked less insectoid and more reptilian. It also wore red armour and had their aura of a commander around it.
"W… who are you?" Ashley asked.
"I was once referred to as Kalvak. Commander of the 4th prothean fleet," it said making Ashley's eyes widen.
"Prothean?" she asked in surprise. "I thought you're all dead, or got turned into the collectors,"
"This is true," Kalvak said. "But some of us still had our previous consciousness dominate our deformed bodies. I was one of them,"
"The how are we communicating?"
"Though the nanites in your blood stream. They have detected major trauma to your body rendering you unconscious. Currently your brain is flooded with chemicals in order to keep you alive. The nanites are fulfilling their program. When someone who has nanites in their system, and has received major trauma, this communication program is activated. It not meant for much but it's here to give you a message," Kalvak explained making Ashley even more concerned.
"What's the message?"
"The reapers are not gone," that alarmed her. "They are still around, but to a lesser degree. Harbinger's true form remains in this galaxy. When the Reapers destroyed the prothean empire, they were being controlled. The creature known as Harbinger, controlled them. Using them to supply him with life. He plays god of this galaxy and he will come back,"
"How do we stop him?" she asked knowing that was going to change everything.
"That is something we asked ourselves, but the only one who knows is commander Javik. I have his location, now so do you. Find him," as he said that he began to ripple as if he was just a mirage.
Ashley then opened her eye only to be blinded the light above her. She moaned and turned her head away. Soon a Salarian doctor came into sight. She couldn't hear yet, but the way he was moving made it clear he was happy with her progress. But the message was still fresh in her mind. She grabbed the Salarians arm making her look to him.
"It's not over," she said. "The Reapers, they are not dead yet," with that her consciousness left her again and she fell asleep.
Oda, who was also in the room looked down at the unconscious form of Ashley. He was surprised at her announcement and wondered what brought it on.
"Doctor," he asked.
"I don't know," the Salarian confessed turning to look at his monitors. "Could be the nanites. I did pick up some electrical signals from her brain and the nanites. I'm not sure what it was,"
Oda just nodded and sighed. If the warning she was true, then the Article station would need to send out the warning again. But Mikyle would likely take advantage. It was clear from the Xia incident, that he wasn't interested in committing his force or helping anyone. Like it or not, this needed to be kept under wraps until they would take out Mikyle. He gritted his teeth, that man needed to be stopped. As he began to think the Salarian moved over to Ashley's stump of a left arm.
The sniper to tried to take her out fired two shots. Likely in a panic, or because he wasn't a skilled sniper. But either way, her left eye was gone and so was her left arm. The eye couldn't be replaced, but the arm was another matter. The doctor was already making notes and measurements about the stub hoping that when they get back to Earth, one could be installed. She was not going to die, but become stronger.