Onboard the SSV-Normandy
Several days prior to meeting Fireteam Black
Enroute to Omega Station
Jenna Shepard was in her quarters sitting on the side of her bed. She had a throbbing headache for days now and it hadn't gone down but it wasn't her fault. She had just awoken from her death bed few weeks ago and had been hit hard with information and waking up from the dead only to fend off an attack wasnt exactly a warm welcome back to the mortal realm.
She had been dead for two whole years. Shepard had found out that Cerberus developed the Lazarus Project just for her and her brother while they plunged in billions to bring her and her brother back. The Lazarus Project, a reference from the Christian Bible when Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead. Cerberus wasn't the savior in this story. She was given more information on the project from her XO, Miranda. The bitch was a looker though and that would have stirred up Shepard's dead sex drive pretty quick if it weren't for her attitude and pridefulness. The things Cerberus did to her body, she couldn't believe it herself at first but it was to be expected. She was more synthetic on the inside than she was on the outside. As a bonus from the Illusive Man she was given slighly augmented strength and and slightly faster reflexes.
She had dealt with the issue on Freedom's Progress and had found out that a myth known as the Collectors had been the ones behind the attack on the human colonies. Well, myth or not, if they attacked a human colony then its more than enough of a reason to hunt them down.
Looking to the small table on her bedside, she grabbed a painkiller from its bottle and ate it with a sip of water that was next to the painkillers. The pain in her head just felt worse and the pills didn't seem to be working at all. To make matters worse Joker pinged her.
"Commander, the Illusive Man just pinged us. He's waiting for you on the QEC in the conference room."
She grunted and closed her eyes. She didn't want to deal with him right now and the timing couldn't be worse. She could feel some sort of primal rage growing. But before she could tell Joker to send a mesaage to the Illusive Man that he could suck her non-existant penis, she heard a voice beside her.
"Come on, Jenna. Let's not keep him waiting."
She looked up her shoulder to see a man with a white Alliance PT shirt, blue duty pants and combat boots with a pair of dogtags that hung from his neck. It was her brother, Johan. Dark brown buzzcut hair and deep green eyes with broad shoulders, thick forearms and biceps, he looked like any man that had gone through military training at 6 foot 2 inches tall. He was there for her when they were kids, when their parents died, when they went through training the 'N' selection. He was there with her throughout their service, being a Spectre with her side by side. He and her died together with the original Normandy that day. He was even there when they woke up from the dead. She loved him, more than what she wished between a brother and sister but he never felt the same way. She knew it wasn't right but she couldn't lie to herself.
She smiled at him and spoke
"Sure, Johan."
In the conference room
Jack Hopper was rubbing his temple with his hand that held both his half smoked cigar and his almost empty glass of Scotch. He hated waiting but as he did he pondered on his thoughts, as a former ONI spook for the UNSC which he was now head of a "rogue agency" of the Systems Alliance.
News of Shepard's revival after the incident on Freedom's Progress had spread and yet there were some...complications. While physically she was fine but mentally? From Yeomen Kelly Chambers's psych-evaluation of her she seemed mildly sociopathic with schizophrenic and mild out bursts. She had even reported that she might have impaired judgement due to just waking up from her recent revival. She may be compromised from being in contact with Sovereign but he was not going to start jumping to conclusions. He had faith in her.
As he took a sip from his glass, the digital form of Commander Jenna Shepard appeard. Jack eyed her momentarily before beginning the conversation.
"Ah, Jenna. So glad you could finally pick up."
"Well if it wasn't for the fact that you're my only information gatherer on the Collectors activities, I would have told you to shove those cigars that you love to suck on to be shoved up your ass. But we all can't get what we want."
She didn't even try to be professional nor hide her spitefulness. Jack just sighed and ignored her childish behaviour before continuing.
"Jokes aside Shepard, I have a little gift for you in your fight against the Collectors."
Jenna raised an eyebrow in interest. This was getting interesting for her.
"Go on."
"I contacted Admiral Co-. Sorry, I meant Admiral Hackket. Told him about your revival amongst the living and that you need all the help you could get against the Collectors. In addition to me giving you a list of associates to recruit, this bunch is coming with you free of charge."
"Alright, where do I have to pick them up?"
Jack took another puff of his cigar.
"They'll be waiting for you on Omega Station. Pick them up before you go after Arcangel and Doctor Solus. For now they're your top priority."
Shepard folded her arms and glared at him before asking.
"Are they marines? If they came from Hackket they shouldn't be abunch of trigger-happy thugs. I'd take any 'N' ranked jarhead over any other thug because atleast they follow orders and know discipline."
Jack just chuckled before finishing the last of his Scotch.
"They're more than marines Jenna and even better than that 'N' designation that the Alliance is so proud of. They'll help you save Humanity in more ways than you could fathom."
He puffed his ciger once more before taking a deep breath. He'd giver some minor details to ease her thoughts because from the glare and body language she was showing, she might as well have flipped him the bird.
"They're from a covert branch that no one else besides me and the Admiral are aware of. We were the ones who founded the branch before I broke off with the Alliance. They are the men and women who would put genetic modding of today to shame and their combat prowess has had their deployment lists go as thick as a law book. They only respond to their codenames, callsigns are 'Sierra' and 'Oscar'. You'll be able to tell the difference just don't be intimidated by them if they look down on you."
The Illusive man chuckled to himself at the thought of Shepard with her short stature staring at the overgrown Spartan Commandos. This got Jenna to having more questions on the Illusive Man than she had initially thought but before she could inquire anymore the call was cut. With that, Jack terminated the QEC and turned back to face the dying star. He poured himself another glass and thought about how this war would soon get more interesting.
On shuttle enroute to Omega Station several days later.
Joker was relaxing in his leatherseated pilot's chair while drinking hot chocolate. They had nothing to do for the next hour as the ship cruised it's way to Omega Station. It was calming to Joker, hot drink in a cool cockpit on his leather chair listening to a classic song, 'Something's gotta give".
"Flight Lieutenant, Jeff Monroe. We will soon arrive to our destination. Do not fall asleep."
Welp, so much for peace and quiet. Joker hated the fact that he had to share his ship with the damn A.I. Shackled or not, he always hated A.I thinking that they'd rule over all organic life and after learning of the Reapers, that reality was closer than what he liked.
With an exagreated sigh, he placed the cup of hot chocolate down and lazily spoke to the A.I. with sarcasm that would have irritated any organic.
"Thanks EDI, I loved being reminded about that every 5 minutes."
"If that is what you wish then I shall remind you again in 5 minutes Flight Lieutenant."
Joker just sighed again and decided to watch some of his "extreme" pleasure content to relieve the stress, with the cockpit sealed of course. He rubbed his hands together and unzipped his pants.
"Welp, time for some alien hentai."
In Omega an hour later.
Shepard got off the Kodiak shuttle with Miranda and Jacobs, she had a newer model of her N7 armor systems. While a replica made by Cerberus, it was a complete copy of the original meaning it wasn't that cheap crap that a black market volus would sell to you. She had a Carnifex handcannon on the hip, an M8 Avenger assault rifle and a Katana shotgun on the lower back of her. Jacob and Miranda had their standard loadouts as well and while they didn't need to carry weapons on them, this was Omega where crime is as ripe as a virgin.
Not even minutes of leaving the shuttle, they found dead bodies in the hangar. Thugs, a batarian and two turians. The batarian had some armor on while the turians had Blue Suns armor. Most likely security for their client. So much for security.There were no weapons on them and had good groups of two bullet holes in the chests of the turians with a single shot to the forehead, with the batarian having a broken neck. His armoured neck brace seemed as though a large hand had squeezed and broke through it before leaving a large hand imprint on the skin of his neck. The batarian got off easy by the looks of it, it seemed more of an execution to the turians. Their legs seemed to have been blasted off at the joints while running and judging by the long blood trail, they must have been dragged by something large .What made it more interesting was the fact that the faces of the turians seemd to have melted after the gunshot making then nearly unrecogniseable. Whoever they tried muscling on must have not liked it enough to kill them and taken their weapons. Aria wasn't going to like this.
30 minutes earlier.
Sierra-051 was staring at his own omni-tool on his left forearm. It was easy to intergrate the thing onto his suit and had learned how to use it within a few days. The glowing device had a universal translator so it was easier for him ti deal with any non-humans. After reading up and being taught by the former Everest-crew members on the xenos species, they seemed more humanoid in appearence in comparison to the xenos that he once fought against.
He was standing in front of the Kodiak's side door with Spartan Buck on his side. Kurt's olive green and grey armor shined in the dim lighting of the shuttle while Buck's grey ODST-styled Mjolnir upgraded armor system made him look like a scaled down rhino. They were both taller from their nanomachine-induced augmentations that reconstructed their bodies but that didnt change the fact that the Spartan-IV was still shorter than the Spartan-II. Kurt was naturally large since the day he was augmented and standing at 2 and a half meters tall was something no other spartan in his class could beat. When he was modified and given armor upgrades he stood at 284cm tall making him larger, heavier and stronger. He could have fought a horde of Brute Chieftans with his bare hands if he wanted with how he was now.
Behind the giants in the shuttle were two marined...well, more than average marines. Sergeant Major Vass Fredrickson, approximately 6 foot tall, brownish complexion, buzz cut dark brown hair with brown yet tired eyes due to sleep deprevatiom from constant deplyments non-stop and at 42 he had the body of a man scarred from war. Big with broad shoulders and the body of a mountain man and the heart of a Chimera, he'd seen action from Dratheus IV to Callio II and even a survivor of the Jehrico V counter offensive. A marine, Force Recon, ODST and also an Orion. He was part of the original 65 volunteers and had gone through the augmentations. A veteran of insurrection and alien warfare with espionage training from being embedded with Special Operations Group under ONI Section-III, Gamma 2 Combat Applicatiom Division. The woman that stood beside him was Gunnery Sergeant Alison Traynor.
5 foot 10 inches in height, blonde short hair and a face that had seen death, destruction and sleepless nights in the burned out ruins of cities and a chisled body for a woman at 31 from combat and training. She was part of the second Orion class candidates and had been fighting insurrectionists and Covenant for years before being attatched to the Everest with Vass and a few more Orions as security detail for Admiral Cole, now Admiral Hackett. Unlike Vass, she didn't get embedded with Gamma 2. Instead she got sent to Special Activites Division, SAD. Working for SAD was demanding and because of her work she developed mild schizophrenia and had been behind enemy lines on her own while under cover.
Both soldiers wore an updated version of the standard BDU that troopers serving on the refitted UNSC Spirit of Fire were wearing which was a standard light woodland camoflauge BDU under composite armor plates that were reinforced with nanomachines. While they didn't wear the colours of the Alliance it would make it more easier to not have them seem as though they had ties with the boys and girls in blue. They'd be mercenaries as their cover stories, former Colonial Alliance militia from the treminus colonies. They were also modified by the nanomachines given by Spartan-051 as part being an Orion/Spartan-Is, the deserved it. They had Energy shields that were made by the nano machines and while not as durable as what the Spartans had, they'd be able to atleast have a layer of defence which was coupled with Kinetic Barriers as a first layer and a Jackal-styled shield gauntlet on their left forearms. They had been in this universe longer than the spartans so their knowledge on the current universe was vital to the spartans if they were to complete their objective.
Vass spoke up with a grunt yet serious, no-nonsense voice.
"Commander, Lt.,since we're on Omega try to keep your weapons in check and heads on a swivel. Lots of criminals wanting to steal what you have and to not be underestimated. Orders are to find Commander Shepard and her squad."
The spartans just nodded without so much as a peep behind them.
"My advice, sirs, is standard RoE. Shoot unless shot at. No law enforcement on Omega, only mercenary gangs that try to police the innocents through extortions for protection."
Kurt and Buck didn't like what they were hearing and Omega seemed like a cess-pool for bullies and people who could do away with crime however they pleased. Reminded them abit of the Inssurection in the Outer Colonies where the police forces was corrupt and the independant military contractors were the people's only chance of security.
Alison gave her advice and the spartans took it in and placed their rifles they were holding on their back mag-plates but they'd keep their fingers close to the Forerunner sidearms clamped on their hips for close encounters if they sensed danger. Alison and Vass had done the same thing and were already ready to get off the shuttle.
The shuttle landed with a soft thud and as the doors hissed open the entire fireteam had taken a good look of their surroundings as they exited the Kodiak. They were in a narrow hallway and not 5 minutes of walking out an alien came to greet them. It was skinny and had large black eyes, digit hands and two horns on its head with a lightish grey skin complection. Alison's voice had pinged through the team's helmet radios.
"Sirs, its a Salarian. They are nimble, quick and intelligent with a high metabolism and a short lifespan of 40 years. Their government, the Salarian Union, is responsible for the Citadel Council's intelligence division known as the Special Tasks Group. Think of them as ONI, secretive and would fire first if it meant accomplishing their goal."
Kurt and Buck took that in to account and had their hands ready to spring. Both of them had read up on the the Citadel's races and its client races but it didn't hurt for a refresher. The alien showed no hostile intent as he walked up to the group and from the body language it seemed that he just decided to try on his little scheming. With its arms open wide it spoke with a gittery voice that you'd find on crack heads.
"Welcome to Omega, you're new here aren't you? I can tell fr-"
"Fuck off Jaroth, before I put you in a box to your friends at the Keep?"
Another voice appeared and this time it was a hoarser and deeper one. There was a humanoid looking alien with four eyes. It looked hideous to the spartans. Flanking the four eyed freak of nature that had sharp teeth that looked like large toothpicks were two avian looking xenos with digitigrade legs, two fingers and a thumb that were clasping what appeared to be rifles in their claws and wore blue armor with a white circle on their chest pieces. The leader of the group, the four eyed monster with razor teeth looked up at the spartans with a glare before eyeing on with a smug grin at Alison to which she internally shivered but held a stone face knowin that the Batarian was undressing and violating her with his eyes. She needed a shower after this. The guards were awed by the size of the spartans and tried hard to keep their cool. It wasn't everyday that you'd see giants that could be heavier and taller than an Elcor in heavy duty armor everyday.
"Sirs, no matter what you do don't be intimidated by the Batarian. They hate humans and have been raiding and slaving the colonies in the Terminus since the Skyllian Blitz. The Turians beside him are Blue Suns mercs, they work security and transportation of legal and illegal resources. Every turian goes through military service to be a citizen. They have good discipline."
Vass informed them before Alison spoke up.
"Sir, permission to cut the eyes and dislocate the jaw of the batarian?"
Kurt denied her request with a quick shake of his head and she just sighed internally.
The batarian looked up at Kurt with a disgusted look on his face which made him tighten his fist abit. It was something about that arrogance that made him twitch. The batarian seemed unfazed by the intimidating height and size of Spartan-051 and spoke as he looked back at Alison.
"How much for the slut from your freakshow you overgrown ape?"
That made the whole fireteam have a twitch in their eye. To immediately berate them and call one of their teammates a derogetary term made Kurt feel hate. Just as the batarian opened his mouth to add another insult, Spartan-051 grabbed his throat so fast that his brain didn't have time to process what happened while the rest of the fireteam unclamped and trained their sidearms onto the two guards with such unmatched speed that the turians had barely time to register what happened to their client. The batarian was chocking as Kurt's overly large hand squeezed slightly which was enough to cause the batarian to panic and struggle even more while his bodyguards had their weapons aimed at Kurt, albeit slow in their response. Spartan-051 lifted the arrogant batarian off the ground a good two feet off, high enough that he could see the batarian closer and face to orange visor.
"You...ack...overgrown primate! Put me..chk...down now human!...huk...Do you know who...I am?!..Who I...work for?! You'll be...dead if you try anything on me!!"
Kurt had to give the arrogant alien a little credit. He was still defiant and talked down to him while being choked by a near 9 and a half foot Spartan. But, Kurt didn't frankly care about what the batarian said and didn't like the fact that he spat at his visor. With that Spartan-051 labeled him and his guards a threat/obstacle and just like with any other that blocked his path to his objective he resolved it. A quick squeeze and immediately the feeling of bones snapping reveberated in his armoured hand before dropping the limp body to the ground. He fell like a sack of potatoes and with the turians standing still, frozen in fear of seeing a giant breaking the neck of their client without saying a word. Death by a single hand. They slowly the turned to looked at each other and noded before carefully disarming themselves and began to slowly stand back with their arms raised. Fireteam Black looked to their commander for their next move and he simply nodded his helmeted head. The two turians got the message and ran for their lives knowing they'd be executed. They were fast but not fast enough. Kurt pinged on the team's comms, "Take out their legs." Vass and Alison had aimed ther handguns and fired two shots from each gun in rapid succession. Both security guards screamed and howled in pain as their bones were shattered and left immobile. "Buck grab them and place them side by side next to the batarian." Kurt ordered and he followed without question. Edward had dragged them and forced them to kneel on their dismembered limbs. They were crying and begging to the fireteam. "Please human, we didn't fire a shot. We didn't even like the batarian bastard. We just liked the fat paycheck he gave us!" They were crying so hard for their lives that it became pathetic. The tower of metal and muscle of a man looked down on them and to the turians who were now kneeling on their wounded knees, the spartan seemed to grow taller and taller. The thought of letting them go had crossed his mind. They were hostiles but are now unarmed and have surrenderes. Standard proceedure would be to send off to any local police station for being part of a mercenary band that dealt in illegal activites. But since there was no sort of law enforcement it left him with few options. To him they were working for a criminal organisation. He was used to dealing with executing unarmed and surrendered hostiles in the past if they held no purpose. Ambrose opened up their comms. "Vass, Alison, get behind them." Vass and Alison did as ordered and unholstered their sidearms. It reminded them of Operation Trebuchet. Spartan Buck stood beside Kurt awaiting orders. Kurt turned away from the turians and walked past Buck but not before switching to a private channel to him. "Your call Lieutenant."
Buck had worked with ONI before so he knew what needed to be done. He looked to the Orions and turned on his external helmet speakers and uttered a single word. "Execute." The turians' eyes widened and before they could do anything 6 shots were fired in rapid succession with good profeciency. Two shots to the chest and one to the head of each of the security detail. The guns were too close for their kinetic barriers to activate and had inly their armor to protect them and even then it couldn't save them. The wounds inflicted by the sidearms were gruesome. Hardlight jacketed rounds containing liquid plasma was fired from their ZX-22 PHAPs. It had enough kinetic energy to smash through the guard's armor in the first two torso shots while the plasma in the rounds dispersed and melted the flesh from the inside. As long as a round had hit a target, the plasma would continue burning until it dissipates or melts through its target. A guaranteed kill. The unhelmeted turians had a large part of their faces melted from the rounds which left a gorey sight.
Kurt ordered his team to police their weapons and take any credits or information they had on them. They were solo and cut off from any sort of supply line until they could find Shepard. They proceeded towards the doors leading to the hanger bay exit and into the inner part of Omega but not before testing their strength on the fragile bodies of the dead group. As they emerged into Omega they were greeted with dull lights, dirty and dark brown metal flooring with buildings hanging from the ceilings. In front of them was a club with people lined up awaiting to enter with several guards on the perimeter. Above the entrance of the club was the name "Afterlife" in neon red lights.
The club was a place to do business for criminals and gang leaders alike with this club in particular housing the legendary Queen of Omega.
The group had surveyed the area and scanned for possible threats the moment the doors had split open. By Kurt's count nearly everyone was a potential hostile with noticable sidearms and rifles in either hand or hip. He could feel his trigger finger twitch slightly while his body tensed at the amount of eyes slowly staring at their direction. Buck on the other hand seemed lax with Vass and Alison kept their eyes out for anyone stupid enough to try something.
Vass didn't like where this was going and spoke on the team's comms.
"Sir, we're starting to attract a small crowd. What's your order?"
Kurt thought of a few possibilites, hold up in an abandoned building and leave a trail for Shepard to follow, stay here and wait but attracting attention in a criminal hub isn't what they need especially with two large armored behemoths. He wasn't sure which option would yield in the most favorable outcome so he asked, "Anyone got any bright ideas?" As quickly as he asked Buck finally spoke "Kurt, you and me go into hiding while Vass and Alison will be our eyes out here. They'll radio in when they spot the Commander. That ok with you?". To the Spartan-II it seemed like a good plan.
Author's note: Not my best and could have been better. Happy holidays and see you next year...or maybe earlier.-Mr.SmoothOperator