Chapter 3
He didn't move, just continued to look down the barrel at her with that grim, passive look. After a moment it became clear he wasn't going to speak, so Jill tried to take what initiative she could, determined not to be intimidated by the admittedly harrowing gaze.
"I work for an organization that wants… no needs you to help us, all of the galaxy as a matter of fact…"
"Cerberus." It was not a question, but a statement of fact. "I have been directly responsible for exactly ninety three deaths in your organization, and each one of them deserved the end they received. You are not helping your case, miss." The neutral, almost detached voice sent a thrill down her spine as he continued to regard her coldly. "In general I've found their penchant for racism is overstated, but their penchant for operating outside the law is not."
Yeah, this was not going well. She had tried to do as the Illusive man had directed, but somehow she had still underestimated him, even with all her precautions.
"Cerberus was organized to do what had to be done. What no one else could do. You're a specter, isn't your mission very similar, to do what's necessary to protect the peoples of the universe, even if it means skirting the law?"
"Quite a sweeping statement. Not to mention a gross oversimplification. Perhaps I deem your death, and the death of your commander, in the best interests of the universe?"
Jill swallowed, still trying to hold his gaze. "You're a Klausian, and a man of justice, would you really shoot an unarmed woman?" She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them, as the gaze from the one eyed man went from chilly to impossibly cold.
"Lying to me has proven to be a very unhealthy proposition in the past, miss. Do it again and the consequences will be dire."
Jill was at a loss, her first impulse was to say she wasn't lying, but the Klausian didn't seem like the type to make empty threats. Before she could decide how to react he spoke again.
"One Kessler heavy pistol under the crook of your left arm, large and powerful, but bulky. You had your tailor extend the shoulder stitches on your jacket, allowing the weapon to sit without a bulge giving it away. One serrated combat knife, eight inch blade, in your right boot. Serrated edges make it harder to pull the knife in a hurry, personally I prefer a smooth edge. And finally a stiletto mark 3 slim pistol strapped to the inside of your right thigh. Small, quiet, deadly."
Maybe he had seen the pistol under her arm when she raised her hands, and maybe he'd seen the hilt of the knife protruding from her calf high boots, but she was wearing simple blue jeans, seeing the very thin, very discreet stiletto pistol beneath the thick denim seemed impossible. She had almost forgotten it was there herself. While wearing pants the damn thing could be hard to get to, but she had always found its presence comforting.
"Normally I'd relieve you of such items, but one must try and be a gentlemen at all times."
She couldn't tell if he was having fun with her or not. A small half smile seemed to be tugging at the corner of his mouth, but the stare remained ice cold. Klausian humor maybe? Despite all the files she read the race was as mysterious to her as it was to most of the galaxy at large.
"The only reason you're still alive miss is I can tell from the way you walk, talk, hold yourself, and conceal your weapon that you were at one time law enforcement. And yet now you are in Cerberus, an illegal pro human organization that you say is as dedicated to the preservation of life as I. I have one question for you miss: Why?"
It was a questions she should have expected, and yet it still gave her pause. She couldn't make something up, if she did she had a feeling he'd know.
"You'll need to reveal something of yourself." The Illusive man had said before she had departed on her mission. "He will not trust you unless you do. He probably won't even then, but at least he will be more trusting of your motives." With a deep sigh, Jill began to speak.
Jill tried to pull herself out of the muck, the rain pelting her where she had fallen, mud and water penetrating her uniform and body armor. She had to live. She was the only one who knew, the only one who could make them pay. Behind her, the moans of the creatures were becoming louder, their shuffling feet drawing nearer.
"Get up." She told herself, trying to get her legs underneath her body. "GET UP!" She yelled aloud, pulling herself up by force of will. After a few hours of heavy rain the dirt road leading to the space port had become a mud hole, the standing water in the ditches by the road filled nearly to over flowing. The small cargo shuttle lay fifty yards in front of her, the rain sliding down its white sides. The bright white lights of the landing pad cutting through the darkness of the forest around her. Behind her, the orange glow of the fires even now ravaging the colony was still visible, and as she cast her eyes back towards the settlement, it framed the horrors that even now were shambling through the mud towards her. There were hundreds, nay thousands, of them, drawn by some primordial force to the last uninfected human on the face of this once peaceful planet.
At last Jill found her feet, staggering as she rose. Any second now, the plasma cannons would begin to fire, and every last living thing within a hundred miles of this place would be annihilated. The shambling abominations behind her, or the purifying energy weapons of the Turian fleets even now taking firing positions in higher orbit, it was a toss up over which would bring her nightmare to an end.
But the will to survive was strong in one Jill Valentine, as was the desire to exact revenge. She had always been a kind, straight forward person, that was why she had left the alliance special forces to join the special tactics and rescue service, better known as STARS. When she and her team had responded to the Albion IV colony's distress signal, they couldn't have imagined the horrors that awaited. Now they were all dead, her team, the colonists, all were dead, or worse yet, had been turned into shuffling monstrosities right out of an ancient earth monster film. The walking undead. Nearly a hundred thousand people, mostly human, had perished because of the evil experiments of the Exogeni corporation. This horrible biological weapon that turned sentient beings into mindless, soulless killers had been their creation, and she alone had the means by which to punish them, a small data disk with details of Exogeni's heinous experiments was tucked inside her body armor.
Jill pushed herself to a jog, trying to wipe away the blood and grime around her eyes. The first of the undead monsters was only a few feet away now. Praying the weapon wouldn't jam due to the wet conditions, Jill pulled her side arm. The undead creature, a Salarian with half his face missing, reached for her. She gunned him down as she continued to jog, the ramp up to the shuttle only a few yards away. She was almost at a full sprint now, the wound in her leg burning like mad. At last she reached the ramps top, and the pristine white side door to the shuttle came open automatically as it sensed her approach. Jill stumbled inside, slapping the door close button behind her. She collapsed on the floor of the shuttle, unable to rise. She shouted at the pilot VI as best she could in her prone position.
"Launch…the goddamn…shuttle…" She gasped. Outside, the undead were slapping at the sides of the shuttle, desperate to get in. To get HER.
"Destination please." The VI voice intoned cheerfully.
"Orbit… just take us into…orbit." Jill was too tired even to yell at the idiotic interface.
"Acknowledged. Preceding to low standard orbit."
The whoosh of thrusters could be heard through the shuttle's thick paneling, along with the feeling of gentle movement. Jill clawed her way slowly to the pilot's seat, her muddy blood stained clothes leaving marks over the white fabric of the seat. Above her a thousand points of white and orange light erupted, streaking down towards the colony below. The Turians had waited long enough, their fleet of battleships opened fire on the small patch of the green planet, eradicating everything within a hundred miles of the colony.
On the edge of passing out, Jill reached within her body armor, pawing at the data disc inside. Her hand met nothing. The horrid realization hit her. She turned quickly in the seat, hoping beyond hope the disk had fallen out when she had stumbled inside the shuttle. Her eyes met nothing but streaks of grime leading to the seat. When she had fallen in the road then? It couldn't be! Her only hard evidence against Exogeni, gone.
The Turians would investigate, right? They would come up with something, they had to. A Turian cruiser was already moving to intercept the small shuttle, the long nose moving lazily through the void of space. At last Jill passed out, exhaustion overcoming all else as the cruiser moved to retrieve her shuttle.
She was almost finished with her story when she realized the Klausian was no longer pointing the gun at her. It had disappeared behind his back, and he was merely looking at her, his intense gaze was still hard, but Jill still counted this as progress.
"But they didn't find anything, did they?" He whispered, almost to himself.
"No." Jill looked at the ground. "I went to the alliance, hell I even tried to go to the council, without hard evidence they didn't want to do a damn thing. They said it was my word against theirs, and Exogeni is a multi billion credit corporation with the lawyers and advocates that that kind of power retains. All those people, my team, all of them, I thought they wouldn't get justice, so…"
"Cerberus recruited you." Again, it was more a statement than question. His fingers rubbed his chin as he seemed to ponder her story.
"Actually, I sought them out. Humans had died. Thousands of them. I needed… well I thought what I wanted was…"
"Revenge." The one eye glinted. "I've killed enough to know that expression, Jill Valentine. Justice wouldn't have been enough even if you'd gotten it."
Again her initial reaction was to deny it, but after a moment, she nodded. "I wish I could describe what went on there, but it seemed no 'civilized' punishment would be enough. Neither STARS nor the alliance military would have me back after the hearings. Exogeni attacked me, smeared my good name and service record. Made sure I would never hold a weapon for a legitimate organization again. In essence, they left me no choice but to go to Cerberus."
"And did you get your revenge?" His voice was low, and had an almost far away quality to it.
She bristled, her patience nearing its end. "I'm not sure how that's your business…"
"Right now, you are my business, Jill Valentine. By following me and having the audacity to ask for my help, you have made yourself my business. Now answer the question."
Again, Jill couldn't help but look at the ground, the alley walls, anything but that piercing gaze. "More or less." She said at last, still not looking up. "A transport carrying the lead scientists on the project was intercepted by a Cerberus ship commanded by me. I had killed many times in STARS and in the alliance, but on that day I felt like a murderer for the first time." Still holding her composure she at last met his gaze. When she looked up at him she was shocked to see the gun back in his hand.
"Turn around." He ordered coldly.
Momentarily at a loss, her eyes flashed angrily. "I guess I'm not the only one comfortable with murder."
"Turn." He pulled the pistol's hammer back to emphasize his order.
Raising her hands again she did as she was told, her mind racing. Would he really kill her? Was this how it was going to end?
His voice came from behind her, so quiet it was barley audible over the night time noises of Zakera Ward. "Congratulations, Miss Valentine, you've convinced me not to kill you."
She whirled around, anger getting the best of her once again, but the alley behind her was empty.
At six am the almost legendary bar and strip club known as Chora's Den did not resemble the exciting and boisterous hot spot it had been a mere six to eight hours before. The Citadel's most seedy and infamous den of iniquity was mostly empty now, just a few booths occupied, mostly by the unconscious. Despite the limited crowd, two attractive dancers, an Asari and an Expellian, were working the twin poles on the circular stage above the bar with considerable enthusiasm, competing with one another for the attention of the only bar patron currently capable of standing upright.
The Klausian looked up at them with subdued interest, as most of his attention was focused on the black Krogan liquor in his glass. Ryncol was fatal to most species if ingested, but not unlike the Krogan who had invented it, the Klausians found its mixture of mind numbing pain and high alcohol content strangely pleasing.
The Klausian finished the remaining ryncol with a long swig. Pouring himself another glass from the bottle on the bar, his gaze lifted upwards toward the two performers. The Expellian caught his eye and he gave her a half smile. The Expellian purred audibly, her long cat like tail curling slowly around the pole. The Asari gave her a glare, then wrapping her leg around the opposite pole, threw herself into a spin that ended with her resting on her knees. The Klausian's smile broadened a little, but the two competitive dancers were forgotten as the door to Chora's Den opened slowly, admitting another early morning guest.
The Klausian took a long swig, then turned to face the new entrant. "Tenacity is a virtue, Miss Valentine, but in this case its wasted." A datapad clattered onto the bar next to the bottle of ryncol, wobbling a bit before coming to rest.
"Read it." Jill was still pretty damn angry, she felt like she had revealed a lot of herself, and for what? But all that meant was she was not going to give up, if anything that had made her more driven. When she had discovered the empty alley behind her she had gone to the one place all her sources said was his favorite. "It's been a long time since I told anyone that story, about what happened to me on Albion. I did so because I wanted you to know where I'm coming from, Specter. And why when there's something this big at stake, I can not and will not give up." She was done playing nice. She fixed the Klausian with what she hoped was an intimidating stare.
The Klausian studied her for a moment, then to her surprise and dismay, actually laughed. "Alright, Miss Valentine, let's see what you have to show." He spent the next hour studying the files on the datapad, never stopping to drink, or asking her any questions, merely absorbing the information contained within.
When he finished, Jill was explaining to an Asari dancer (the third to approach her in this time frame) that she did not in fact want a dance, and that no, not all human women were as uptight as she appeared to be.
"You're an interesting study, Miss Valentine." The Klausian spoke as he lowered the datapad. He stared straight ahead for a moment, then, forgoing his glass, picked up the Ryncol bottle and drank from it directly. "Walk with me." Scooping up the discarded datapad, she followed him outside.
Outside, the day cycle of the Citadel had begun, and an increasing number of shuttle cars could be seen crisscrossing the sky, their occupants beginning their work days. The Klausian looked out on the speeding traffic, his hands hanging over the railing that guarded the sidewalk outside of Chora's Den.
After a time he spoke. "If we do this, we're doing it my way. I select the team, I select the crew. I have the final say. This isn't Cerberus's operation, its mine."
Jill stood beside him, following his gaze. "We wouldn't have it any other way, Specter."
The Klausian nodded as if her response was expected. "Good. Now we're gonna need a team. And their gonna have to be the best…"
He continued outlining ideas to her as the two figures departed the Ward.
Fael'Elos vas Ornion sat by the wards exit, the increasing pedestrian traffic oblivious to the Quarian's presence. She had started a fight in the shelter and been thrown out, and in the end simply hadn't gotten any sleep, floating from one boulevard to the next. She wanted to go home so badly it hurt, but she simply couldn't return to the fleet with nothing, she had to have at least that much pride.
She was still in deep thought when two figures passed by nearer than most, the first was a tall human woman, thin and very beautiful, with short brown hair, and the other was.. Oh Keelah! It was HIM! Fear froze her for a second, she hadn't gotten a very good look at the shadow that had saved her the previous night, but she had seen enough to know the man striding past in the long black overcoat was he. She was rendered speechless, her eyes locked on his face. She nearly fainted when he crouched near her for a moment, and with an outstretched hand, offered her what looked like a credit chit. Disbelieving, Fael took it, her hands trembling. The man straightened, then continued walking at a brisk pace. Looking down at the chit Fael began shaking for another reason. The graphic across the front of the chit read almost ten million credits.
Fael stared at the chit for a long time, unable to comprehend the turn of events. Eventually she made her way to the dock, to purchase a ride back to the flotilla. With this money the admiralty board could buy fuel, armaments, maybe even a new ship, and Fael herself would be welcomed back as a hero. She departed the Citadel for good that day, but would not soon forget the shadowy figure that had twice changed her life.