The Starheld Compendium - Down to the Thieves Below

Chapter 2

Fayneer T'Lees – 2179

Omega

"Are you certain this will work?" T'Lees whispered.

Ram looked down to check the clock on his omnitool. "You had plenty of time to bring up your concerns while we were planning this," he pointed out.

"Everything made perfect sense at the time," she muttered, thinking back to the evening before. "How in the world did I agree to this of all plans?"

"That's what we humans call 'peer pressure,'" Ram said with a hearty grin. "Seelyn, are you ready?"

"Lognus and I are ready and waiting, boss," the turian radioed.

"Then we're just waiting on you, Callon," Ram said.

"I'm well aware," the drell replied. "Now are you going to let me finish this work or are you going to keep asking me if I'm done every fifteen seconds?"

Ram snorted in amusement and glanced over to T'Lees. She was fiddling with the scope of her newly acquired harpoon rifle, attempting to get it in focus for the inevitable action. They were perched on a rooftop down the street from the front entrance of the trade center, tasked with keeping the coast clear for the rest of the team. From their prone position they had perfect coverage of the front and side of the building that housed the small trade center. Ram watched as the asari continued to make minute adjustments that only served to irritate her more and more as she failed to find exactly what she wanted. Finally, he reached over and tapped on the scope.

"Mm?" He grunted. "May I?"

T'Lees let out an annoyed sigh and relinquished the rifle. "I was getting close."

Ram readied the weapon and looked down the scope. "I'm sure you were."

Somehow he didn't sound condescending. He reached up and made a few tiny turns of the nobs on the scope. Then he repeated the motion again. And again. After the fourth attempt he grumbled and shook his head.

"This thing is a bitch to adjust," he admitted. "You should get a goddamn modern, digital scope fitted on this thing."

"I have not had the time, but it is something I wish to do sooner rather than later," T'Lees replied.

Ram's fingers tickled one of the scope's adjustment knobs. "Ah hah! Perfect."

He slid the harpoon rifle back over to her. She accepted it with a thankful nod and brought it back into position to look down the scope at the location they were supposed to be keeping an eye on.

"I have never been much of a riflewoman," she said sheepishly. "Biotics and shotguns are my areas of prowess."

"You picked that thing up from a friend?" Ram asked.

"Correct," T'Lees answered. "My personal firearm was destroyed at the same time he was killed. I reasoned that carrying along this weapon would be fitting way to honor him."

"As long as you can shoot it," he said bluntly.

"Okay, I think we're ready," Callon reported.

T'Lees and Ram focused in on the building with their weapons in position. Though they were barely visible, they had vision of the alleyway where Seelyn and Lognus had been patiently waiting. On the the roof of the building, three stories up, they could see the shadowy movement of their drell companion as he darted into position.

"Ready check," Ram announced.

T'Lees tapped a button on her omnitool to change her status on their HUDs over to "Ready." The others quickly blinked green to match her status until all five of them were indicating that they were ready to proceed.

"That's green across the board," Ram announced in his curious accent. "Starting the countdown."

A timer appeared in the top-left corner of Fayneer's HUD counting down from ten seconds. She took a deep breath and stretched her fingers before wrapping them around the grip of her rifle and bracing to wait for zero.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

She held her breath.

One.

An explosion rocked the alleyway where Seelyn had placed her ordinance. The block shook from the shockwave as smoke and dust billowed up and out into the street.

"Hahaha! That was good one!" Seelyn shouted, clearly pleased of her handiwork.

"Come on, Claws, we're moving in!" Lognus ordered.

"On you, big guy," she replied.

Their waypoint indicators began moving toward the epicenter of the recent explosion. If it were not for the smoke, T'Lees and Ram could have watched as they jumped through the newly-created hole in the wall of the trade center. The other squad position indicator, Callon's, had sunk down through a grate on the roof of the building.

"Any way we can verify your network jam is working?" Ram asked.

"It's working," Callon said very matter-of-factly. "Believe me. It is working."

"It is difficult to argue with that kind of confidence," T'Lees commended.

"Easy to be confident when you know you set up the routing and jamming perfectly," Callon said cockily. "I'm in the vents by the way. Lognus, Claws, how you two doing down there?"

"Just fine," Seelyn replied. "Seeing if we can snag any loose credit chits before the kiddies show up."

Ram chimed in like a patient father. "Stay focused, everyone. Security is sure to arrive any second now."

"Don't shoot them right away," Lognus reminded them.

"Yes, yes, the longer they focus on you two the better the distraction will be in the long run," T'Lees recalled.

"Right. But I also want to get a chance to shoot them myself," the batarian added.

"Kodiak!" Ram shouted.

Fayneer's eye darted up to see a shuttle come sweeping down from one of the skycar lanes above the surface of the city. It was emblazoned with the familiar blue and white colors of the Blue Suns.

"And just as we suspected, we can confirm Blue Suns have the security contract!" T'Lees reported.

"Great," Seelyn muttered. "And here I was hoping this one was cheap and gone for one of the shitty security firms."

Ram let out a grunt of concern. "If things get hairy-"

"We'll be fine," Lognus interrupted. "Just keep your guns ready for when we feel like sharing."

The Kodiak landed hard in the street as the side hatch flew open. Ten figures in Blue Suns colors came rushing out to take cover behind various skycars, poles and crates in the street. One of them, clearly female and most likely human, took up a commanding pose and began pointing and shouting orders to the others. The squad split into two groups of five with half of them moving toward the hole that Seelyn had blown in the wall and the others following the Blue Suns officer toward the front entrance. As the distraction unfolded, Callon had made his way down to what T'Lees guessed was the second floor of the building. The drell's indicator was moving quickly now that he had most likely exited the ventilation shafts. They had received no updates from him, however, leaving T'Lees to believe he was still in search of the hard-line connection that would connect him to the account network they needed.

"They're about to come inside," Ram warned. "Be alert."

"Always," Seelyn replied.


"They're about to come inside. Be alert."

"Always," Seelyn said.

She and Lognus had taken up position in a kiosk at the center of the trade center's main floor. The turian held her rifle's sights on the hole they had blown in the wall while the batarian watched the front door. Her heart raced in anticipation as the shadows of the Blue Suns security team flickered on the alley wall through the hole.

"Come on, come on, come on," she muttered rapidly under her breath.

Seelyn's eyes widened as the first Blue Suns soldier appeared and bounded through the opening with his gun spraying bullets down on her position. Her left hand broke from the side of her rifle to grab a cylindrical object on the counter beside her. With a quick flip of one finger the lid opened to reveal a small red button. She waited. A second Blue Suns soldier dove through the opening, then another. Gunfire peppered the kiosk around Seelyn, forcing her to jump behind the cover of a large pillar to protect herself.

"All fighting and no talking?" Seelyn shouted in mock-disappointment. "Fine!"

Just as they began to fan out for cover her finger slammed down on the detonator in her grasp. An explosion ripped through the badly damaged wall sending the three Blue Suns troopers flying through the air. Seelyn jumped out from behind the pillar and sprayed gunfire at the only one still moving causing a Blue Suns engineer standing in the alley to back off and dive for cover. Quite suddenly her shields wavered and dropped from a hit on her right side. Seelyn snapped her eyes to the side to see that the front door had been breached, allowing half a dozen Blue Suns troops to come filing through and into cover inside the building.

"Damn it, Lognus! Control your sector!"

The batarian was too busy unloading gunfire toward the Blue Suns to answer right away, but after priming and throwing a grenade he ducked down to allow his heat sink to cool and growled.

"Next time bring enough explosives for both points of entry!" He snarled.

He rose back up to stand at her side as they suppressed their enemy, but it did not take long for the Blue Suns to realize they had the numerical advantage. The Blue Suns soldiers popped up one by one and began hosing the kiosk in effective bursts. Seelyn and Lognus managed to drop one of their riflemen before they were forced back into safety.

"We could use that sniper support now!" Lognus called into his headset.

"That didn't take long," Ram teased.


"We could use that sniper support now!"

T'Lees sighed in relief as the words she had anticipated finally came through her headset. She had been holding a shot on the Blue Suns commander for nearly fifteen seconds now. The enemy officer was standing just outside the front doors of the trade center barking orders at her subordinates, and Fayneer was hoping that a well placed but non-lethal shot would prompt her to call a retreat.

"That didn't take long," Ram said, stifling a laugh. "T'Lees, take the shot."

Fayneer drew in and held her breath before pulling the trigger. The rifle kicked back violently into her shoulder as the harpoon shot forth and struck the Blue Suns commander square in the shoulder: right on target. She could hear the commander roar in pain as she was thrown to the ground. Red blood poured from her wound. Human, T'Lees noted to herself.

"Nice hit," Ram commented as he readied his rifle.

"Hold your fire," T'Lees ordered.

Ram gave her a sideways glance. "Excuse me?"

"Hold your fire," T'Lees repeated firmly.

He did not dissent again. T'Lees fired another harpoon at a target standing just inside the doorway, punching clean through his leg armor and penetrating his calf. She loaded another bolt, but held her fire as they watched the Blue Suns commander clutch her bleeding wound and shout for the others to fall back. T'Lees grinned and looked over to Ram with a cocked brow.

"The Blue Suns are not as tough as they like to think they are," she cooed. "They will cower, call for backup, and by then we will be long gone."

"Hmm. We'll see," Ram said. "Callon, what's the situation?"

"I'm almost into the accounts," he promptly replied. "Give me a few more seconds."

"If you're almost done then we should get the hell out of here," Lognus declared. "Claws, you ready to go?"

"Yes, sir! On you," Seelyn answered.

T'Lees slowly lifted her finger off her trigger as the last of the Blue Suns stumbled out of the alleyway to take up positions behind their Kodiak. The commander appeared to be arguing furiously into her comm, most likely calling for additional troops. The two squad indicators for Seelyn and Lognus began to move toward the back of the building.

"How's our exit look?" Lognus asked.

"We didn't see anyone head toward the back of the building, but we also have no visual on the next street. You're looking good, but stay on alert," Ram replied.

"Got it."

"Callon? Anything?" Ram asked.

"Yes, yes, sorry. I'm in and sorting through it all now. I've located your accounts, T'Lees."

T'Lees smiled enthusiastically. "Goddess, you are a wonderfulman, Callon!"

"Don't get excited just yet," the drell said.

"Fuck! I was just thinking that this heist was going way too smoothly," Seelyn lamented.

"All I said was to not get excited!" Callon reminded her. "Okay, I'm wrapping up here. Is the rooftop still clear?"

"Affirmative," Ram replied.

"Then I'm moving to exfil now."

"Lognus, what is your status?"

"We're out the back door and headed to Seelyn's skycar," the batarian replied.

"Excellent." Ram collapsed his rifle. "I want everyone at the safe house in thirty minutes."

"We need to circle through the mining tunnels a few times in case someone tries to pursue," Lognus argued.

"Fine, make it an hour," Ram conceded. "Callon?"

T'Lees moved her sights to the roof where the dark figure of the hooded drell was already bounding from point to point of cover.

"I'm out. Safe house in one hour." He affirmed.

Ram glanced over to T'Lees. "That would be our cue to leave as well."

She nodded and secured her rifle onto its holding point on her back as the two of them crawled back from the edge of their perch to ensure they would be out of sight from the street. They quickly and quietly made their way to the ladder that would take them down to the street where Ram put on an inconspicuous saunter and headed toward the lot where they had stored their skycar a few blocks away.

"Fine work up there," he complimented.

"Thank you," Fayneer replied. "But what do you think Callon meant by 'do not get excited just yet?'"

Ram waved a hand dismissively. "Never know with him. Could be upset that he tripped a security firewall and it took him an extra fifteen seconds to hack through it."

"Mm." She looked ahead. "I suppose we will find out in an hour."

"I suppose you're right."


Ram and T'Lees decided to take a detour through one of the markets before returning to the safe house just in case they had been spotted and followed leaving the scene. After seeing no indication that they were being tailed, and having spent nearly a full hour pushing through the densely populated market, the two of them returned to Ram's skycar and were whisked away toward a seeder part of the town. The group's safe house was a rather dingy office located near the back of an abandoned warehouse in one of the old eezo mining sectors of the station. It was small, barely big enough for a team of five to fit comfortably with all their gear, but the locks on the door were quite strong and cleverly hidden. Ram and T'Lees stepped inside to see Seelyn and Lognus had already arrived and were busy arguing over how the batarian had failed to secure his point of entry during the firefight. Ram quickly broke the argument up only to replace it with an anxious silence. Finally, a little over ten minutes past their established meeting time, a drell slid through the door.

"About time," Lognus remarked.

T'Lees frowned immediately upon seeing the drell's face. A look of disappointment and irritation hung on his green and red scaled features before he spoke a single word.

"Sorry," he muttered. "The Blue Suns intercepted me a few blocks away from the trade center. I ran, they chased, I escaped."

"You could have called us for help," T'Lees said with a sympathetic frown.

Callon shook his head. "Then there would have been a gunfight and things would have gotten messy. No, I knew I could get away just fine."

"He always does," Ram admitted. "So, what's the situation? Are we rich beyond all comprehension?"

The drell walked to a nearby crate and jumped up to sit on top with his legs hanging off the side. "That's what you'd like me to say, isn't it?"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Lognus growled.

"Callon," T'Lees began. "Please, what is the problem?"

He looked down and shook his head. "There was nothing, T'Lees. All three accounts were completely empty."

The asari's eye widened. "What? That is impossible!"

"Not impossible," Callon corrected her. "It is in fact reality. The accounts were emptied by a 'G. Edsonn' ages ago."

"Edsonn?" T'Lees asked.

The drell nodded in affirmation.

"So what is our takeaway here?" Seelyn hissed at T'Lees. "That we just got fucked out of our payment? That we just did that whole operation for scraps?"

"Settle down, Claws." Ram ordered. "T'Lees, you know the name?"

Fayneer snarled. "Yes. A disgusting man and one of my fellow lieutenants. He was one of the few who knew of these accounts, but it seems he took the chance in accessing them before I did."

"Long before," Callon chimed in.

"So that's it then?" Lognus asked. "We walk away with nothing?"

"No! No." T'Lees quickly assured them. "I know Edsonn. I know how to find him." She looked around the group. "I get bring him to us and we can get what we need out of him."

"'Get what we need out of him?'" Ram repeated. "What are you suggesting?"

"Hopefully Callon can work his magic," T'Lees answered.

Callon leaned forward and raised a brow. "And if I can't?"

T'Lees swept her eye around the group. "Then the situation could get messy. And I will handle it."