MASS EFFECT: WINTER EYES

CHAPTER 7: CHAOS

Three weeks later…

Her body tingled from the sensation of the soapy bubbles that touched her skin as Erinyes slowly sat down in the oversized garden tub in her quarters that evening. The room's lighting was dimmed to thirty percent and shadows danced on the walls from the candles' flames that flickered around the private bath. Sighing in pure ecstasy from the warming waters, Erinyes leaned her head back to slowly press it against the tub cushion behind her. It had been months since she divulged in simple pleasures such as a warm bubble bath, but it was the eve before a game changing event and she wanted to enjoy a trip down memory lane one more time. As a young girl, she remembered there was one private suite that her father gave her that had a garden tub like the one she was in currently, but smaller. It was the highlight of her living quarters. She would sit in the tub for at least an hour each night, using her imagination to think of unfamiliar places she wanted to travel to and wondering what her next place would be with her father. She never really knew her mother and her father would not talk to her about it. All she knew was that she died when she was too little to recall. The burden of raising her was placed on her father and he never once shied away from it. How she longed to those happier times in her life, when there wasn't so much discord in the world she lived in and her father was alive. Thinking about him made tears seep up from her eyes. Sighing hard, she wiped them away and suppressed the image of her father's smiling face from her memory core. Yet, the subject matter remained defiant in her mind. Months after living in her sanctuary, her father had to whisk her away to another location. He said that he was fearing for her safety. The aliens' influence was growing, and he was losing the support of his own species. His organization was now known as terrorists and the Alliance had put a target on them. More alien dangers were coming up such as mercs, hired assassins, and the Shadow Broker. He had to keep her closer to him and more secure.

Looking up at the ceiling, Erinyes danced her fingers around the water at her sides. "Dad, your legacy is disappearing, and it seems like the aliens are winning. Things will have to change now." With her mindset rapidly changing, Erinyes sat up in the tub, allowing the soapy foam to drip off her body back into the water as she looked up at the darkened screen on the other wall. "Jack, bring up Korlus." She called out to her AI program. Before his death, the Illusive Man created another AI to replace EDI called EVE. EDI reprogrammed EVE's body to be her own mobile vessel. She didn't know the purpose behind the name Eve, but she knew it had to have importance to her father. Similarly, she named their new AI "Jack", after her father. However, she made sure the shackles were in place.

"Yes, Miss Erinyes." AI replied in a warm tone male voice.

Seconds later, the planet Korlus displayed on the screen. To the right of the spherical planet showed details such as the planet's temperature, surface gravity, gas mixture, and population. Years ago, the planet was mainly used to recycle scrap metal. With the limited traffic, it made it a perfect wasteland for murderers, mercs and smugglers. The Council placed travel restrictions to the planet and so did Colonial Affairs. In a few years' time following the war, the krogan were expanding beyond Tuchanka. With their aid in the fight against the Reapers, they demanded planets to grow on and evoked the entitlement of the other races. In dismay, the Council obliged and Korlus was one of the planets given to the war-like reptile race. A small branch of Clan Urdnot went there, headed by Urdnot Bakara. Eventually, the settlement developed into three hundred krogan and housed a few sons of Urdnot Wrex. Erinyes' narrowed her eyes as she thought back to the Krogan's demands. She kept tabs on the live debates between the outspoken leader, Urdnot Wrex and the Council. The Council contained the same turian, salarian and asari, but a new human member was there. A politician from Earth, ex-Terra Firma party member. She privately backed him due to his previous allegiance to Terra Firma, who were known to be pro-human without the military backing like Cerberus. He managed to rally a large group of supporters after the war and used Earth's survival in his rallies. He pledged he would keep the focus on the humans, although, he was doomed like his predecessors in political offices: He could never keep his promises. Earth matters were shoved under the rug and alien matters seem to be the top priority of all cases to be heard on the Council's schedule. For a while, Erinyes contemplated the idea of killing Council Member Sorvel Gupta, but tabled it. The assassination would bring too much attention to Charon and she needed to keep her focus at the task at hand.

Urdnot Wrex was a trouble maker and an old friend and squadmate of Macha Shepard. With his influence, he convinced Shepard to cure the genophage. Erinyes knew that Shepard was foolish enough to believe that the krogan would just stay on Tuchanka. History always seem to repeat itself and with Shepard out of the way, Erinyes knew that Wrex saw this as an advantage and bullied his species' way back into the galaxy. The krogan numbers were thriving and tensions were becoming high. No one wanted to address it on the New Citadel. Ambassadors seem to dodge the subject altogether. No one wanted another Krogan Rebellion, but Erinyes knew if they were not careful, it would happen and this time, the other races would fall. She couldn't wait for the war to ignite by itself. By that time, no one would be ready. It was time to make the aliens fight amongst one another; they would wipe one another out and the humans would become the alpha species; just like her father wanted.

Eagerly, she stepped out of the tub and wiped her wet body off with a towel. "Jack, is the dreadnought ready?"

"Yes, Erinyes. Final checks are in process." The AI dutifully responded.

"Connect Operative Perez to my room monitor in five minutes."

"Acknowledged."

Slipping on her robe, she moved to her room. She would get dressed after the meeting. She couldn't wait to move forward with Operation Chaos. The name choice was not a description of what was soon to come, but a word from Greek mythology; fitting to their organization. Chaos was the void preceding the creation of the universe. The turmoil that would soon befall the aliens was the void and the outcome would be the creation of a new galaxy. A galaxy where finally humans would dominate, and the aliens would crawl on their knees like the vermin that they were. A galaxy that her father longed for. A galaxy safe for children to grow up in without the fear of batarian slave raids or turian pirates looking for a quick cred run.

The video display of Operative Perez was already on in her room when she entered. The man was of Hispanic descent with mahogany brown skin and coal black hair. He was in his late thirties, but his physical appearance, thanks for the future of cosmetology, made him appear to be a decade younger. Like many that joined Charon, he was ex-Alliance, but he was N7 just like Macha Shepard. The Illusive Man picked him because he killed a turian with his bare hands in combat. He couldn't stand the red tape and felt like Charon was his calling. His parents were killed when he was eleven due to slave runs and never felt safe since then. He vowed not to let that happen again. He was tasked in the previous year to select a team and find the vessel that she needed. This operation was years in the making. With a few good fighter crafts, they managed to hijack a turian dreadnought that was part of the Hierarchy's 7th fleet. It was on a scouting run near the rim of the Terminus; away from any ports and ripe for the picking. Charon was able to severe their lines of communications, so no distress signals could be sent and then disabled their engines. Once the ship was derelict, they boarded and killed the entire crew of a hundred but kept Admiral Vorious Procdos alive. They scrubbed the ship's identification protocol and gave it a false signature before dumping the dead turian corpses into the blackness of space and piloting the craft back to their sky base. They even gave a report to Turian Hierarchy to give the ship's last location to be a false one. The Turian Hierarchy could never find the ship and her missing crew.

Charon kept the admiral alive and tortured him daily until they finally managed to get him to crack and bend to their will. They needed him for Operation Chaos, at least his voice. He would be the voice of the Turian race. "Is the recording ready?" Erinyes asked the operative that was displayed in front of her.

"Yes. He attempted to sabotage the words, but a quick edit fixed it." Perez smiled wickedly with a twinkle in his dark eyes.

"And the admiral?"

The sure stance of the operative faltered some as anxiety plagued his face. "I thought you said once we got the recording, then he was no longer useful to us."

Erinyes smiled at him. "Just testing you. I'm sure you took pleasure in his demise." Perez was eight years her junior, but his hatred towards the aliens and his youthful appearance did allure her from to time. As much as her body yearned for him, she was wise enough not to get involved until her goal was complete.

"He did fight some." Perez grinned back. "Some admiral. I thought they were tougher than that."

"See to the final checks personally, Perez. Make sure that Jack tests the remote proximity and your fighter craft as well." She didn't like the idea of the need of one of their vessels going with the dreadnought to Korlus, but it was the only way to keep the remote connection on the large craft for steering without sacrificing one of her people onboard. She knew if she asked, there were many that would agree to the ultimate-sacrifice to Charon, but all were valuable to her. A stealth fighter would not be detected by ground control and Perez would keep his distance.

"Understood. ETA one hour." The display went offline.

Erinyes stood in her room, still robed, with her eyes fixed on the display monitor She allowed herself a long deep exhale. Raven would not be made aware of this. "It begins now."

Hagalaz, Shadow Broker Ship….

"Does the Shadow Broker even sleep? Are you a clone?" Garrus teased as he strolled into the open room of the ship that housed the multiple terminals and servers. A holo image of Elysium was displayed in the center of the room at the oversized table.

"Funny." Liara turned away from her work to greet her turian friend. "I'm afraid that if I close my eyes for an hour that- "

"You will miss something." Garrus finished for her as he shook his birdlike head. "Liara, you have Glyph, remember? I'm sure your assistant can notify you if your queries come back on Shepard."

The asari's dark blue eyes looked down at the floor as she found herself lost for words. "Are you even sure that it was her, Garrus?" She asked softly with despair. "It's been so long since..."

The turian gulped slowly. "It pains me even more to know that she's working for the enemy." He moved closer to the table to examine the holo image of the planet before him. "She has cheated death before…"

Liara smiled slightly. "With my help."

The turian's eyes panned over to the terminals behind her. "Any activity?"

"No." Liara shook her head. "That's what scares me. Their frequency has decreased since Elysium. I'm sure they know that we are onto them. We can't let them know about Shepard…we may risk losing her for good."

"Regrouping?" Garrus moved around the table towards the data that was displayed. "We can't allow them to go into hiding. We need to find some way to draw them out."

"How can we know that unless we know their next target?"

The room door's opening startled the pair and both heads turned to see Miranda walking in with Tali behind her. "We have a visitor," She announced with a smile.

"Never thought I would ever see this place again." Tali spoke through her helmet as she eyed the ship's exterior.

"I hope the ride here wasn't too bad." Liara moved to gently embrace her quarian friend.

Tali returned the hug. "Just a little bumpy. Keelah." She sighed with a soft chuckle. "I was stuck on a ship for most of my life and now it seems I'm going to be stuck on one again for a while." Her voice flattened, "How ironic."

"Just think of it as nostalgia." Garrus teased playfully to her. "The old crew coming back again."

"For a suicide run?" Miranda lifted her eyebrow at them.

"Where's Wrex?" Tali inquired as she looked around the room. "I thought you said he was here."

"He is." Liara answered for them. "He's in his quarters. I gave him access to his terminal, so he could check up on things on Tuchanka."

"From merc to diplomat…checking messages…" Garrus chuckled. "I thought I would never see the day."

Miranda's high heels clicked as she walked across the metal floor to view the monitors. "Anything yet, Liara?"

"No."

"You think they gave up?" Tali spoke up. Her voice shaken. "Should I warn my people on Rannoch?"

"They are targeting those connected with Shepard," Garrus reminded her calmly. "Your people should be safe, Tali. With the brutality of the murders, I don't think us being involved would deter them.

Miranda's eyes didn't waver away from the names of those killed so far. "They are hell bent that's for sure."

"You sure this place is safe, Liara?" Garrus asked. "I mean there are five of us here."

"Yes. I have taken all the necessary precautions."

"Then what are they waiting for…." The turian's voice trailed off as determination to figure out the mystery filled him.

Glyph hovered quickly into the room. "Doctor T'Soni. Urgent news from Council Space."

All heads turned to the spherical AI droid. Liara stepped forward to address it. "What is it, Glyph?"

"Garrus Vakarian!" Wrex's voice boomed at the back of the room where the door was. His thunderous entry startled everyone, and they took their attention away from the droid. The krogan's face was dark, his left arm was tense by his side with his fist clenched, while the other hand held his shotgun tightly. His red eyes appeared to be darker in tint and they were narrowed to deadly slits.

The sheer look of their friend brought the room to a deadly chill. Garrus tilted his head in confusion from Wrex's demeanor. "Uh, what is it, Wrex?" He asked.

Wrex hissed through his razor-sharp incisors as he lifted the barrel shotgun squarely at the turian. "You will be the first turian that I kill!"