A/N: I've fleshed out the organization Shepard used to work for a bit in this chapter and to preserve continuity, I've retconned bits of Chapter 1 and 2 to make it fit. This entire chapter is a flashback.
Chapter 6
Five years ago
"Damn politicians."
Shepard watched as Admiral Cullen emptied his pistol into the holographic image of a batarian raider. Cullen loaded another thermal clip into his pistol and called up another target with his omnitool. Another batarian. It's always a batarian. Shepard didn't think he'd ever seen the Admiral select anything else, despite the ability of the firing range's sophisticated VI to generate a fully articulated holographic target of any conceivable adversary a marine might have to face.
"The Council wants us to make nice with the batarians. Have a little 'meeting of the minds' with them to discuss our 'differences in opinion'."
Again, the holographic batarian was peppered with a barrage of mass accelerated rounds to its face and upper torso, its simulated blood fountaining as a round went through one of its eyes. Admiral Cullen might be getting up there in age, but he could still outshoot most of his subordinates, even if he couldn't quite keep up with them anymore in their daily physical workouts.
"They say it's essential to 'galactic peace and stability' that we keep a lid on things with the batarians out in the Terminus. The reality is they're too afraid to confront the batarians openly. They want us to pretend we accept the Hegemony's story that they're unconnected to the pirate raids on our border colonies... even though all the slaves the pirates take end up back on the batarian core worlds."
Admiral Cullen's jaw muscles noticeably tightened.
"What we should really be doing is sending the Arcturus fleet in and take the fight to the squint bastards. Give them a beating so bad that their grandchildren will still be talking about it. But that's obviously not an option." Cullen sighed and nodded towards a crate of thermal clips. "But that doesn't mean we're going to do nothing. The Epsilon Program was created specifically for situations like these, to do the necessary things quietly when no else can."
Shepard handed his superior a fresh thermal clip from the crate.
"Sir?"
"The meeting's supposed to take place in three weeks. The batarians don't trust us and we don't trust them so some asari crimeboss offered to let them hold it on Omega. Claims she can keep an eye on both parties and keep things from getting out of hand. The pukes in the diplomatic core thought that sounded like a good idea and accepted the offer." Admiral Cullen fired a few shots and then lowered his pistol. "The asari's going to get paid well for this. She'll also be able to use the opportunity to observe the negotiations firsthand and maybe even tip them to give her a... competitive edge. It's a no-win for us though. Normally I'd send those idiots an 'are you fucking kidding me' warning message but I think we might have an opportunity here to send a message to those damned four-eyed squints instead."
Cullen put away his pistol and walked towards the exit, gesturing for Shepard to walk with him. The older officer didn't say anything more until they'd reached his aircar, where he motioned for Shepard to get in. As the engines whined to life, Cullen finally resumed speaking. Old bastard doesn't want anyone else to hear this part of the conversation. Shepard straightened with interest.
"Chorn Kel'merah, a high-ranking officer in the batarian Special Intervention Unit, will be there. Kel'merah also happens to be the liaison officer between the Batarian Hegemony and some of the most notorious pirate and slaver gangs in the Terminus. Rumour has it he used to be a slaver himself and may have helped plan and lead some of the larger raids including..." Cullen looked Shepard right in the eye, "... the one on Mindoir."
Shepard felt his blood run cold. The memories of that night came flooding back and for a moment he could hear the screams and taste the blood again. He blinked hard, forcing the nightmare back into the shadows of his mind. You're manipulating me with the memory of Mindoir, you miserable son of a bitch.
Nice recall.
A small voice in his head was telling him just to get out of the car, to let Cullen find another pawn to do his dirty work. A much louder voice told him he could finally exact his revenge against one of the ones responsible for robbing him of everything he had ever held dear. Emotion won over reason.
"You want me to kill him," Shepard said, slowly opening his eyes. Admiral Cullen shook his head.
"Not just him. Nobody in the batarian party gets off Omega alive. The parties will be small, probably two or three officers per side plus security. Intel suggests the batarians will be sending Kel'merah and a member of the Batarian Hegemony's ruling council. Taking out Kel'merah will cripple the Hegemony's ability to coordinate its activities in the Terminus." Cullen pulled one of his omnipresent cigars from a pocket inside his coat and lit it. "Killing a member of the Batarian Hegemony's political elite will send a message to the Hegemony and the rest of the galaxy: Humanity will do whatever it takes to safeguard its interests."
"Backup?" Shepard asked, knowing the answer before the word had left his mouth. Cullen shook his head again.
"This is an unsanctioned mission. Nobody outside this car even knows this discussion took place. Screw up and the Alliance will deny you even exist."
So business as usual then. Admiral Cullen pulled out an optical storage device. "The mission details are on here."
Shepard took the OSD and slipped it into his coat. As he turned to get out of the car, he felt Admiral Cullen grab his arm.
"This one's not going to be easy, Shepard. Good luck."
The room smelled like despair. There was really no other way to describe it. Feels like the walls are closing in. The small room Shepard had rented was on the top floor of a rundown building located a few streets away from a busy marketplace. Close enough that he could use the cover of the crowds to mask his presence from unwelcome eyes when he left his apartment but far enough that he'd be able to pick out a tail easily on his way back. Now he just had to find his quarry.
Shepard laughed bitterly to himself. Easier said than done.
Both the Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony had kept plans for the talks secret, and none of the information brokers he had approached for help seemed to know anything useful. Several of them hadn't even known a meeting was going to take place at all. One of them had even offered Shepard payment for the information.
Attempts to find out more about the asari crimeboss Cullen had mentioned had also come to naught. All Shepard had gotten was a name - Aria T'Loak. When pressed for information, a shady looking salarian broker had offered up a moniker – the Pirate Queen of Omega - before scurrying back into the shadows, as if the very mention of Aria's name could summon the asari's assassins to the speaker's location. Three days left, then this mission is a wash.
Shepard decided to try going over the logs of ships flying into Omega's major spaceports again but doubted he'd find anything. That would just be too easy. With no official government, recordkeeping on the station was unreliable and incomplete at best and completely nonexistent at its worst.
Just as Shepard was about to fire up his VI console, the surveillance monitor he had hooked up beside his cot beeped. A tiny pin-sized camera he had carefully placed in the doorway of his building had picked something up. A krogan, a turian, and two batarians, all of them well armed and clad in combat armour, were making their way up towards the entrance. How the hell did I not notice them before? Cameras strategically emplaced along the two streets leading out of the market to his building should have picked them up long before they'd gotten as far as they had. He realized too late what had happened. Omega had dulled his senses. He'd gotten so used to the sight of heavily armed gangs patrolling the streets that seeing yet another armed group of aliens had failed to attract his attention.
Flipping his cot over, Shepard grabbed a heavily modified Armax Arsenal combat shotgun and watched the aliens' progress on the surveillance monitor. When the quartet reached his room, one of the batarians walked up and pounded on his door.
"We know you're in there, human! Open up!"
Shepard glanced at his window, wondering if he'd be able to escape through there. Seven stories... probably not. He'd have to fight his way out. Taking a deep breath, he switched off the safety on his shotgun and leaned against the door. At such a close range, the highly illegal modified tungsten pellets could cause horrific damage to an unshielded target and possibly even burn out kinetic barriers. Placing the barrel against his flimsy metal door, he was about to pull the trigger when something made him stop. Why did they knock? If they were here to kill him, they would have just kicked in the door and hosed him down with automatic fire. Heart pounding in his chest, Shepard kept his shotgun pressed against the door and slowly eased it open. Even if I'm wrong, I can still get the jump on these guys.
"Yeah? What do you want?" he asked, trying his best to sound casual and unconcerned.
"Aria wants to know why a human is nosing around asking so many questions about her. We're here to bring you in to explain yourself."
So they're messengers. Judging by the number of them though, that probably wasn't a request. Shepard silently flicked the safety of his shotgun back on and tossed it on his cot. Wherever they're taking me, I doubt having it with me would do much good. He threw on his jacket and opened the door.
"Let's not keep your boss waiting, then."
The moment Shepard cast his eyes upon the lithe asari lounging on the couch in one of the private rooms on the top floor of the Afterlife nightclub, he knew this was the infamous Aria T'Loak. He had never been a xenophile, but there was something very alluring about this particular asari.
Her outfit left very little to imagination, revealing just enough of her magnificent curves and toned muscles to allow his imagination to run wild filling in the rest. Her supple skin was a warm purple, a colour he had never seen on an asari before. Her lips were curled into a sensual smile but it was her eyes that caught his attention. They were a beautiful azure colour, bewitching in the way they seemed to sparkle, yet there was a cold cruelty in their depths that filled him with both dread and desire.
"He's taller than you described him, Anto," she said, her voice warm and velvety. The batarian who had first knocked on his door looked like he wanted to say something but she waved him away.
"Leave us." Anto hurriedly backed out of the room, sliding the door shut as he did so.
"Ms. T'Loak, my name is..." Shepard began but the asari cut him off.
"I know who you are, Commander Shepard. I also already know why you're here. Wine?"
Shepard shook his head but immediately regretted it. Is it considered an insult to refuse when an asari offers you a drink? To his relief, Aria didn't seem to take offence as she simply shrugged.
"I have it imported specially from Thessia. Each bottle costs more than you'll make in a decade of working for the Alliance."
Shepard swallowed once to clear his head before speaking. The asari was wearing some sort of perfume that was making him dizzy, despite the olfactory filters he had been implanted with.
"If you already know my purpose for coming to Omega, why did your man say..."
Again Aria cut him off. Normally that pisses me off but why does it seem okay when she does it?
"I trust Anto's discretion more than that of most of my employees, but trust is a relative term on Omega. I had you brought to me because I believe we might be able to help each other. As for how I know so much about you and your mission, John..." Aria paused momentarily and regarded him appraisingly with her mesmerizing blue eyes, "I've only survived for so long because I make it my business to know about everything and everyone of significance on my station."
Shepard blinked. Did she really just call me by my first name? It had been so long since he'd heard it that for a moment he'd thought she was addressing someone else.
"Ms. T'Loak..."
"Call me Aria."
"Aria," Shepard corrected himself, "What is it that you think I could help you with? If you're as well informed as you say you are, you already know my mission isn't going as planned."
Aria rose to her feet and walked over to the darkly tinted window overlooking the rest of the club. The way she moved reminded Shepard of some sort of predatory cat – graceful yet deadly. There was a lightness in her steps, a barely perceptible tension in her muscles that he had only seen once in his life when he had witnessed a unit of asari commandos in action.
"The meeting you've been sent to interrupt will be taking place in an abandoned missile silo on the lower levels of Omega. I can get you in, but once you've completed your mission you'll have to do something for me."
Shepard eyed Aria warily. "What do you want me to do?"
Aria finally turned her head back to look at him.
"When you're finished with the batarians, I want you to kill the Alliance negotiating team as well."
Kill the Alliance negotiators? Why? Shepard masked his confusion as best he could.
"Why do you want them dead?"
Aria poured herself another glass of wine and swirled it around for a moment.
"One of the Alliance negotiators met with an information broker shortly after he arrived on Omega and purchased an OSD. That OSD contains information about some of my past activities that I'd rather the Alliance not get their hands on. My people covertly searched the apartment the Alliance negotiators are staying in but couldn't find it. There's also been no evidence the data was transmitted offworld. That likely means whoever purchased that OSD is carrying it on their body for safekeeping."
"And you have no idea which negotiator has the OSD so you want me to kill all of them just to be sure."
"Precisely," Aria said, taking a sip from her glass.
"What's keeping me from taking the OSD for myself or making a copy? I work for the Alliance too."
The asari settled back in her seat and crossed her arms.
"I'll have to recover the OSD and hand it over to you," Shepard said, answering his own question.
Aria smiled. "You're smarter you look. Anto underestimated you."
"And if it's not there?" Shepard rubbed his forehead, trying to clear his senses. Aria's perfume was seriously starting to affect him.
"Kill them anyways. My people will find it eventually." Despite the temperature in the room being turned up, Shepard suddenly felt very cold. The casual manner in which Aria could order the deaths of others chilled him to the bone. A little voice in his head reminded him that he had carried out similar orders from Cullen without any hesitation but he quickly silenced it by pouring himself a glass of Aria's wine. The asari arched an eyebrow but didn't comment.
"One last question."
"Hmmm?" Aria purred.
"Why me? You have men. Why don't you send them to do the job?"
Aria looked surprised at the question.
"The Alliance and the batarians are watching me. I can't betray them without their knowing it. I could hire a freelance assassin but any assassin skilled enough to do the job is also infamous enough to bring unwanted attention." Aria's eyes captured his and he found he couldn't look away. "But you, you're a complete unknown. A faceless killer working for a shadowy unit in the Alliance military that doesn't officially exist."
Aria leaned in towards him, a strange smile he couldn't quite read flitting over her face.
"And I'm familiar with some of your work, John. You're so... thorough. I don't have anyone on my payroll quite like you."
"I'll uh... take that as a compliment," Shepard managed to stammer. What's wrong with me? He felt like he was drunk but he'd only taken a few sips of Aria's wine. How potent can it be? Asari can't be much tougher than humans, can they?
"So you'll agree to help me?" Aria asked. Shepard felt himself nod but couldn't remember telling his body to do so.
"Good. Now that we've gotten the business out of the way, perhaps we can move onto the more... stimulating part of our meeting."
Aria smiled sensually and slinked slowly towards him, undoing the top strap of her formfitting bodice with one hand as she placed the other on his chest. Shepard could hear his heart pounding in his head as he half-heartedly resisted.
"Aria, maybe this isn't..."
"Shhh..." she shushed him, pressing her glistening lips against his, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth. His body seemingly acting of its own accord, Shepard wrapped the asari in his arms and ravenously returned her kiss.
Gasping for breath when she finally unlocked her lips from his, he noticed her hands suddenly flare with a quick burst of biotic power and he was suddenly thrown backwards onto the couch.
"Relax, John. Let me enjoy this."
Aria undid the rest of the straps holding her bodice closed. Straddling his lap, she placed her hands on both sides of his head and pressed her forehead to his.
"Embrace... eternity!"
Shepard staggered into his apartment and slumped onto his cot. His head was pounding and he felt drained, physically and mentally. His body was crying for sleep but there was one last thing he had to do before he could grant it its wish. He opened a fixed FTL communications link to an encrypted frequency he had been given shortly before arriving on Omega.
A grainy holographic image appeared on his console.
"What is it, Shepard?" Admiral Cullen asked.
"There's something we should discuss," Shepard said and proceeded to recap what he could remember of his meeting with Aria. Cullen didn't interrupt, only nodding occasionally to show he was still listening. When Shepard finished, Cullen finally spoke.
"None of this affects the original mission objectives. Proceed with Aria's plan."
Did I hear that right? Shepard leaned forward on his cot, unsure he had heard Cullen's orders correctly. "Sir, her 'plan' involves me wiping out our diplomatic team on Omega."
"If we can't hit the squints before the meeting, this is the only way. If anyone on the diplomatic team witnesses the op, this mission is a bust. Their deaths will be unfortunate but necessary. Acceptable losses."
Shepard looked at Cullen in disbelief. The older man stared back at him with hard, unblinking eyes.
"When I recruited you, I warned you that you would have to do things that seem to go against everything you've been conditioned to believe in. Our race is involved in a war for survival – a war we cannot afford to lose. I selected you specifically for this mission because I believe you know the stakes."
Gritting his teeth, Shepard slowly nodded. Is this what I signed up for? Fratricide in the name of necessity?
"Understood, sir."
"Good." Admiral Cullen paused and frowned. "Shepard, you didn't tell me everything that transpired in your meeting with Aria."
The memory of what Aria had done to him after their agreement brought his headache back in full force. How the hell did he know?
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Son, you look like shit and your eyes are wider than a FNG's on his first day in basic. What happened in that meeting?"
What happened? I was raped and mindfucked by an asari she-devil!
"After our conversation Aria... seduced me. We got uh... intimate and she did something with my head."
"Interesting. She melded with you," Cullen said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Melded? As in mind melded? But why?"
"We've always known the asari have an unusual method of reproduction, but some of our eggheads have speculated that the asari mind meld can also be a means for mental conditioning and manipulation. I suspect some of our operatives have been affected this way, but none of them were ever able to remember it. Maybe your brain functions differently in some way." Cullen looked uncertain. "As for the why... Aria was probably attempting to break down any remaining doubts you might have about her proposal after you agreed to it. I suspect that if you'd turned her down, you wouldn't have left her place alive."
"And the... physical part of it?" The unnaturalness of what Aria had done to him still unnerved him and Shepard couldn't bring himself to call it sex. But why does it bother me so much? It wasn't... unpleasant.
"Aria T'Loak is known to possess certain sexual fetishes that could probably explain it."
"Sexual fetishes? Towards humans?"
Cullen shook his head.
"Sex and power. She had you under her thrall and she used you. Be careful, Shepard. Aria has given us a way to complete the mission, but don't turn your back on her."
Shepard acknowledged the warning and Cullen cut the link. Leaning his shotgun against the head of his cot, he lay back and willed himself into a fitful sleep.
Shepard straightened his uniform and secured the Alliance issue Hahn-Kedar pistol hidden under his tunic. Wary of betrayal, the batarians had insisted on strict limitations on the personnel the Alliance could send and what kind of equipment they could bring into the meeting. No kinetic barriers, no ablative-armour hardsuits, no biotics, and no lethal weapons. Not that their paranoia will make a difference this time.
Satisfied that his disguise as a regular Alliance Marine was adequate to pass inspection, Shepard climbed out of the skycar and walked up to the nondescript apartment the Alliance negotiating team was staying in. He knocked on the door and answered the challenge with the pass phrase he had extracted from the Alliance Marine he'd kidnapped the night before.
At least he died quickly. Shepard hadn't tortured him. He'd simply knocked the unfortunate soldier out by drugging his drink and extracted the pass phrase for the day by administering a truth serum. The Marine had died peacefully, a cocktail of drugs putting him to sleep and shutting down his vital organs one by one.
You've killed innocents before. Why does this one bother you so much? He glanced at the Alliance insignia on the lapels of his stolen uniform and got his answer. You've never killed one of your own before.
The door opened and Shepard was greeted by a wary looking man dressed in the uniform of an Alliance Navy commander.
"What's your name, Marine, and what are you doing here? Where's Corporal Chaudhary?"
"I'm Service Chief Lee Sommers, sir. Corporal Chaudhary came down with a bad case of food poisoning and was evacuated. I was ordered to Omega to replace him."
Shepard saluted smartly and handed the commander the falsified medical report and transfer orders Aria's people had given him. The major scrutinized the datapad for a few moments before grudgingly handing it back to Shepard.
"Food poisoning. You gropos and your lack of discipline. I'll be filing a report with Chaudhary's superiors as soon as we get off this godforsaken rock." He turned and yelled into the apartment. "Evans! Get in here!"
A haggard-looking young man in his early twenties ran into the room and gave a sloppy salute. The commander glared at him for a moment, then looked back at Shepard.
"This is my aide, Lieutenant Evans. I don't have time to give you the rundown so he'll be briefing you." Without waiting for an acknowledgement from either Shepard or his aide, the commander disappeared into one of the rooms. Lieutenant Evans shrugged sympathetically.
"Commander Bucelli isn't normally like that." Evans chuckled to himself. "Well, actually he is and..."
The young lieutenant noticed Shepard looking oddly at him and cleared his throat. I guess Bucelli wasn't exactly looking for the best and brightest while selecting an aide.
"Right um... the briefing. Well, there's not much for you to do, since Commander Bucelli and Major Peluso will be doing all the talking. The way Commander Bucelli tells it, you gropos are mainly there just to fill out the numbers and impress the batarians. Nothing much to it."
"Understood, sir." Shepard responded blandly.
"It should be a boring few days of negotiations, then back to Alliance space for us. Uh... well, back to Alliance space for me, I'm not sure where your usual posting is. You're probably used to getting more exciting missions than escorting a bunch of desk jockeys like us, right Sommers?" Evans said, nudging Shepard in a joking manner with his elbow.
Shepard laughed politely. You have no idea.
"If you say so, sir."
"... so I figured I'd get a law degree and move out to one of the new colonies. It's funny because my dad really wasn't crazy about the idea but my mom..."
Thirty minute shuttle ride and the guy's already told me half his life story. Lieutenant Evans seemed oblivious to Shepard's disinterest and kept talking.
"The recruiter told me the Alliance would pay for my education and that's what got me here. Why'd you join up, Sommers?"
The question caught Shepard off-guard but he quickly recovered. The recruiter told me I could avenge my family by killing batarians and get paid for it. "Family pushed me into it, sir."
"Ah, had a parent in the service?"
"Yeah, something like that," Shepard lied.
"It's not a bad life, but I'm probably not going to re-up when my term's over. My girlfriend's not crazy about all the travel. We only moved in together last spring but she's had to pick up and move twice already."
Evans pulled out a holo and leaned over to show Shepard, inadvertently jamming the butt of Shepard's pistol into the bottom of his ribcage. Shepard winced but managed to resist the urge to throttle the over-talkative lieutenant. More to placate Evans and get him to stop leaning on his sidearm than out of interest, Shepard looked at the holo.
Evans and his girlfriend were standing in front of one of the ubiquitous prefabricated habitats that covered every Alliance facility in the galaxy. The girl was pretty, but not really so attractive that he would have turned his head to look at her if he'd passed her on the street. Why's she standing like that?
"Your girlfriend... she's... she's pregnant?"
"Yep, she's due in eight weeks. I'm saving up my leave so I can spend some time with her and the little one when it arrives. When I get back I've got something special planned for her," Lieutenant Evans beamed.
Family. Shepard's looked across the shuttle at Bucelli and Peluso huddled over a dataslate, discussing final points for the opening negotiations. They all have families. Families whose lives I'm about to shatter as thoroughly as the batarians shattered mine. He didn't know why it had never occurred to him before.
Focus on the mission. Sacrifices have to be made. Humanizing targets was a rookie mistake. He hadn't made that mistake in a long time. They're just targets. Eliminate them and move on. The light lunch he'd had before the shuttle took off suddenly wasn't sitting so well in his stomach.
"Hey, what's the matter Sommers? Feeling sick?"
Evans shoved a motion sickness bag in front of him but Shepard waved it away.
"No, probably just something I ate. Alien food doesn't agree with me."
"Geez... first Chaudhary, now you. If I didn't know better I'd say the aliens are trying to kill us."
Shepard forced a laugh.
"Yeah... aliens. Can't trust'em."
Shepard stepped up to the makeshift security checkpoint Aria's people had set up just inside the entrance of the abandoned missile silo that would serve as the meeting place for the talks. Once a part of Omega's fixed defences back when the station was still a major mining operation, the abandoned silo was isolated and easy to defend. And also impossible to escape from if an assassin managed to slip in.
Looking around the area, Shepard noticed that there were no batarians amongst Aria's security. Worried about mixed loyalties? He held his arms out and allowed a salarian to scan him for weapons. Nobody else in the Alliance party seemed to notice the salarian had turned the scanner off before waving it over Shepard's body.
"Go on through," the salarian said brusquely. Shepard nodded and walked through the massive blast doors into the large chamber where a long table and several chairs had been set up. Finely honed instincts taking over, he immediately began scanning the room for possible escape routes and useable cover. To his satisfaction, the room was perfectly round, having once formed the base of the silo, and the only cover was the furniture, none of it thick enough to stop a mass accelerated round. There were a few vents set into the walls, but none of them low enough to reach from the ground and they were too small for anybody to climb through.
The batarian delegation came in through the doors. Shepard tried to identify them but it was difficult. Batarians always look the same. The asari, with their softer, more human-like features were relatively easy but more alien species like batarians and turians were always a challenge for humans to differentiate. At least turians have facepaint. Fortunately Kel'merah had a deep scar running across his brow ridge but the batarian counsellor had no such distinguishing marks. No wonder Cullen wanted me to kill them all. It's impossible to tell them apart. When they got closer, Shepard saw that two of the batarians were dressed identically in slightly less ornate uniforms. Bodyguards.
"They look like a cheerful bunch," Evans muttered but a look from Commander Bucelli shut him up. When salutations were exchanged, Shepard and the other Marine grunt were ignored, just as he'd expected. Being lowly security personnel, the batarians likely saw them as little more than furniture.
As the two parties sat down, Shepard took his place behind the Alliance side of the table beside the other Marine and started doing the math. Four batarians, four Alliance. His heavily modified pistol was good for only ten shots. After ten shots it would overheat and he wouldn't be able to use it for at least thirty seconds. In a situation like this where speed was the key, thirty seconds might as well have been thirty minutes. He would have to make every shot count. Hand-to-hand takedown on the Marine, then hit the batarian grunts first or the HVTs? The batarian bodyguards were already standing, meaning they would be able to react the quickest and were the greatest threat but if he was unlucky enough to be taken down himself before he could kill everyone, the batarian officers would escape. Aria's men had confiscated lethal weapons from both parties but the Marine and the batarian bodyguards were probably wearing non-lethal stunners. Bodyguards first, then HVTs. Now about the Alliance personnel...
The beeping of Evans' communicator distracted him from his thoughts. Evans frowned and pressed his comm bead to his ear.
"I'm sorry, there's something I have to attend to," he hastily apologized and got up to leave. Kel'merah stood up abruptly and barked something in batarian.
"Human treachery! If he is allowed to leave this meeting is over!" Shepard translated smoothly for Evans, noticing the lieutenant had forgotten to turn on his automatic translator. Bucelli and Peluso managed to calm the batarians down and Evans stepped out of the chamber.
Damnit. Aria was supposed to seal the blast doors. Sealing the blast doors after both parties had arrived had actually been the batarians' idea, ostensibly to keep the Alliance from bringing in more personnel to spring an ambush, but it would have made Shepard's job far easier as well. Now if I can't find that OSD, I'll have to track down Evans.
As the talks began without Evans, Shepard glanced out at the open blast doors periodically, hoping the lieutenant would return but when the blast doors belatedly closed half an hour later, he was forced to accept that Evans might not return until the meeting was over. Let's get on with this then.
Casually moving slightly behind the other Marine, Shepard suddenly snapped the man's neck. Using the limp body as a shield, he drew his pistol and dropped both batarian bodyguards. Kel'merah shoved his companion to the ground and reached for a stunner clipped to his belt.
"Assassin! I knew it! We should have..." The batarian never finished his sentence as a high calibre mass accelerated slug blew his head open.
"Sommers! What the hell are you doing?" Bucelli shouted as Shepard dispatched the batarian councillor. Bucelli's eyes widened as Shepard turned the gun in his direction but he had no time to react as Shepard shot him and Peluso in quick succession.
Replacing his pistol in its holster, Shepard was surprised by the sound of gunshots outside. As the blast doors slowly reopened, he saw one of Aria's thugs go down. Lieutenant Evans stepped over the body, wielding a shotgun in one hand and waving to Shepard with the other.
"Aria betrayed us, we've got to get out of here..." Evans stopped mid-sentence. "What happened..."
Terrible timing, Evans. Before Evans had time to fully take in the carnage, Shepard grabbed his shotgun and kneed him in the stomach. Discarding the shotgun, Shepard hauled the groaning lieutenant to his feet by his collar.
"Where's the OSD, Evans?" he demanded.
"You... you're working for Aria," Evans wheezed. His eyes hardened. "I hid it. You'll never find it."
Shepard drew his pistol and shot the man in the thigh. Evans screamed.
"I'm not going to ask again," Shepard warned menacingly.
"What are you going to do? Torture me?" Evans challenged, his tone defiant despite the tears filling his eyes.
Shepard blinked. He had the training to make Evans talk. Even without specialized equipment or chemicals, he could inflict such horrors upon the lieutenant that the man would be begging to die. So what's stopping you? Blood was starting to pool around the bodies of the dead Alliance officers, soaking into their navy blue uniform, turning them a deep purple. Their dead eyes stared lifelessly at him, questioning him. Is this what you signed up for?
"No," Shepard answered unsurely.
Evans laughed weakly. "So what now, Sommers? Are you going to hand me over to Aria? How much did she pay you to betray us?"
"I don't work for Aria," Shepard said quietly. "And my name isn't Sommers."
A look of confusion came over Evans' face.
"My name is John Ethan Shepard. I'm a member of a covert Alliance special operations unit known as Epsilon." Shepard rolled up his shirtsleeve to reveal the emblem tattooed on his upper arm, a stylized 'E' turned on its side to form a trident, enclosed in a ring of stars with 'Epsilon' and a Latin motto emblazoned below it. "Facta non Verba - deeds not words. My mission here was to cripple the Batarian Hegemony's ability to coordinate its pirate strikes and raider attacks and send them a message that the Alliance would go to any lengths to protect human interests."
"But... why us? We're Alliance – we're on the same side!"
Shepard lowered his gaze, unable to meet Evans' eyes.
"The price Aria demanded for helping me infiltrate this meeting was that I recover the OSD you're hiding. My superiors deemed you and your colleagues an acceptable sacrifice to ensure the success of my primary mission."
Acceptable sacrifice. The word sounded so clinical, completely at odds with the gruesome scene in front of him. How many 'acceptable sacrifices' can we make before they're unacceptable?
"Why are you telling me all this?" Evans asked, eyes starting to glaze over from blood loss. The wound on his thigh where he had been shot was bleeding heavily.
"So you know there was a reason for all of this... carnage. And that there's a reason for this..."
Shepard pressed his pistol against Evans' chest and pulled the trigger twice, the high speed slugs killing him before his body hit the floor.
"It's just the way it has to be," Shepard said softly, unsure whether he was assuring the dead man at his feet or himself. Getting down on his knees, Shepard dug into Evans' pockets, in case he had been lying about hiding the OSD. His hand closed around a velvet box. Shepard pulled it out of Evans' pocket and opened it. An engagement ring. He was going to propose to his girlfriend when he got back.
Closing the box carefully and putting it in his pocket, Shepard gently closed Evans' eyelids and hurriedly searched the other Alliance bodies. Unable to find the OSD, he tore off his Alliance disguise and left the silo.
Mission accomplished.