Detention
Martin sat in a small room no larger than eight-by-eight. He sat on one of the chairs on either side of the table; a sizeable double-sided mirror was on the wall facing him. He was surprised when they detained him. They didn't cuff, shackle, or restrain him in any way. He stared at the mirror, watching his reflection.
"What do we have on him?" Colonel Gaissac asked. Lieutenant Hathaway handed him a PDA with the information.
"Not much, He confirmed his name was Martin Winters; their transport landed here a week ago from Omega; its home port is registered as the Citadel as expected."
The Colonel inquisitively asked the Lieutenant, "Are we absolutely sure this is our man?"
"AIS did say he would be landing on the day he arrived; he matches the general description and even verified the weapons he would be carrying." Gaissac returned the PDA to the Lieutenant and entered the room.
The Colonel took his seat in the chair directly across from Martin. Hathaway and an armed guard followed Gaissac into the room, taking positions on the wall.
The Colonel straightened out his neatly pressed blue jacket and shimmed the chair closer to the table.
"Mr. Winters, I believe you know why you're here." Martin slumped in his chair, his face projecting his annoyed mood.
"Actually, I do not, Colonel."
"You are under investigation for your involvement with a known terrorist organization."
Martin's left eyebrow raised questioningly.
"I think you are mistaken; my partner and I killed two Cerberus agents for the leader of Omega."
He paused, thinking back to everything that had happened on Omega.
Gaissac had the LT pass a PDA to Martin; it contained photos of him and Dallas meeting at Afterlife and shaking hands during one particular mission: his mind flashed back to the Colonel.
"Were you not aiding a known Cerberus operative by releasing their scientists back to them?"
Martin remained calm; there wasn't too much he could do otherwise, but he also didn't want to act too defiant.
"Unfortunately, yes, we didn't know at the time who they were."
"So you take work without knowing your employer?" The Lieutenant butted in.
"Working in the Terminus systems tends to be that way, and to repeat myself. I was not knowingly working for them."
Martin knew he had to be careful what he said. He wasn't an Alliance citizen; hell, he wasn't technically alive. They could hold him without a trial until the end of time, and he did not want to piss off any major government.
For all their hype, you could get away with having a Terminus 'government' or organization gunning for you; You could always find another organization or planet to hide in. But Council governments had ways of hunting you down; if they wanted you.
Martin hoped his half-truths would be enough to convince them; his thoughts were starting to drift to Velpia's safety.
Velpia was alone driving the buggy back to a rented Motel room on the outskirts of town. It started to snow lightly.
She felt horrible leaving Martin alone with the Alliance, but what more could she have done? She could only wait and hope he could get a message out.
Velpia also had to worry about herself; she was an Alien, a Turian for that matter, on a human colony. It wasn't so much a problem with Martin around; he could handle the xenophobes, but the looks the other humans gave, weren't very welcoming.
There were several occasions after they landed; she would ask a question, but the humans would respond to Martin, purposefully ignoring her. She also remembered when someone in a bar called her a "skull face," Martin threw the man up against the wall and threatened to rip the skin off the man's face with his bare hands.
As she was reminiscing, heading for the edge of town, she noticed a shuttle fly by. Velpia slowed down to focus on the ship. It looked like it had markings similar to the one they chased off the mountain. She decided to follow it.
The buggy was fast but not as fast as she needed. She sped down the paved road as quickly as she thought she could handle, trying to keep the shuttle in her sight. It was flying a bit slow and low, still out-pacing her. She did manage to lock onto its ion signature to track it when she would lose it.
She followed the trail to a small village fifteen miles south of the capital for several hours. She took the buggy offload, parked it behind a snow-covered hill, and grabbed her equipment. She took Martin's DMR rifle and his pistol and headed for the top.
The sun was setting to her left, casting an orange-ish hue on the snow covering the ground. She was careful of her shadow's position not to have it seen.
Once she reached the top, Velpia laid down on her stomach and set up the DMR.
She saw a crew offloading a few supplies and their wounded through the rifle's scope. She thought these were the ones they chased off.
She holstered the rifle and headed down the hill and around the side of the village.
Velpia waited for the gap to open in their patrols and moved in. She headed for the closest building and climbed a small balcony. She could hear faint voices off in the distance; those voices sounded like leadership to her.
She scanned her surroundings, watching patrols pass by. Her thoughts began drifting to the consequences of being caught. It was just her with no backup, feeling strange about working alone again.
She readied the Viper rifle and climbed to the ground, sliding behind the next building and pinning herself flat to the wall. A small two-man patrol was heading by her. She heard the crunching of the snow as they approached. Velpia instinctively held her breath and brought the weapon up halfway. They walked by without incident, stopping momentarily before continuing, not noticing the six-foot-two Turian less than four feet away.
She moved quickly between the structures, using her long stride to limit her exposure, moving silently across the village. The voices grew louder as she approached one of the center homes.
"- You mean to tell me two people took out a platoon-size force in less than five minutes?" The first voice snarled.
"That guy; wasn't normal, and the Turian was just as bad!" The second voice stammered.
She heard a loud thud as if one of them had thrown something against the wall.
"What do you mean not normal?!"
"The guy fought like a damn Spectre!" the second man responded with hysteria. Velpia had heard enough; she needed to talk to the leader. The sun had set just as she moved around the former home, keeping watch for any patrols.
The door split open as she rushed in, shooting the lone guard with Martin's pistol, blowing his neck apart, nearly decapitating him. The recoil was strong for her to fire one-handed, and she was forced to pistol whip the terrified second man sitting in the chair. The leader bum-rushed her from the other side of the room and tackled her. The human pushed her into the wall and straightened himself to attack; Velpia blocked him, then hit him in the face with the bottom of the pistol.
The man was dazed and stumbled onto the floor. Velpia held the gun toward him as he tried to recover. He looked up at her while holding his head.
"You Skull-faced bitch!"
Velpia kicked the man in the face repeatedly, forcing him to curl up on the floor. She was growing tired of the racist remarks on this planet.
"Say that again, and I'll make you eat your teeth!"
She removed her helmet and held it in her open hand. "Tell me who you are working for?" She demanded. The man remained quiet and refused to look at her. Velpia holstered the pistol, knelt down over the man, and began punching him on the side of the head. After more silence, he grabbed him off the floor and threw him against the wall.
"Tell me before you end up like your friend on the floor!" She shifted, placing her forearm on his throat and unholstering the pistol.
"Alright! We're contracted!" The man paused to swallow some blood that had pulled into his mouth. "We were hired to move and protect the stuff; some hotshot that works for New Dawn Pharmaceuticals."
She pushed into the man's throat harder, "I need a name!"
The man struggled to draw air into his lungs. Velpia let go of his throat, grabbed the collar of his armor, and kneed him in the chest.
She stepped back to watch the man recoil and land on all fours on the ground. Tiny drops of blood pooled on the floor.
"The guy's name is Sören!" The human pushed himself up on his knees; she saw his face bleeding and swelling from the damage she had inflicted. "I don't know anything else; he contacts us when he wants something. He's expecting another shipment in four hours!"
"Where?" Velpia forcefully asked.
"I'll give you everything just-"
Colonel Gaissas was seated in his office. After conducting the interview at the behest of Rear Admiral Kahoku, the conversation with the young man uncovered no new information. The man seemed to have an explanation for everything. What disturbed him the most was just how elusive and calm he was. As much as he answered, he left three more questions. It was fair to say he was hiding something but what?
If Kahoku hoped being gentle with him would get the information he needed, he was sorely mistaken.
The Colonel also had several other concerns; if he thought he was Cerberus, why parade around with a Turian? It didn't fit Cerberus' MO.
They did have more information on the Turian than her partner. At least they had a life history to work with if they needed it.
The Colonel opened his vid caller on his desk, and the face of another human appeared on the screen.
"Rear Admiral Kahoku, we have completed the interview as you asked. We haven't found any new information." Colonel Gaissac was speaking to the vid caller.
"I read your report; he claims he had no connection besides these two incidents?" The Admiral responded.
"That is correct, sir."
The Admiral looked down as if reading something.
"Admiral, we should run in the Turian and see what she knows, and I'm sure Palaven would appreciate turning her over."
"That won't be necessary, keep an eye on them; nothing else. I have another concern I have to deal with. Kahoku out."
Martin was eventually released about four hours later. He had sent a few messages to Velpia, but she hadn't responded; she was probably sleeping, so he started walking.
After about an hour, he was given a ride by a few Marines from the base. They were an energetic bunch, rowdy, loud, and proud, barely in their twenties. Didn't seem like things had changed too much since his time. He felt too old or cynical to match their energy; it was clear that this was probably their first post.
They dropped him off at their first stop at a bar near the motel. He began walking again when he got a panicked text message from Velpia.
"Meet me at coordinates, now!"
He began running; the area wasn't too far.
Martin ran for about an hour until he reached the building. It was a small office building on the outskirts of town; he noticed their buggy and knew he had to be in the right place. He grabbed some gear and headed inside.
It was the middle of the night, so the building was empty of traffic
He noticed dead bodies on the ground floor. As he ascended, the signs of a firefight became frequent. Bullet holes in the walls, carbon scorning, more bodies. "Someone was having fun," he thought.
He climbed to the top floor to see Velpia in a large office and approached her from behind.
"Everything all right? He asked.
"No." she quietly responded. Her singular reply concerned Martin and sent a chill up his spine.
"What happened?"
She holstered her gun and took a deep breath.
"This was a setup, and I fell for it." She replied angrily. He stepped to her side to see the three dead bodies slumped in their chairs, sitting around a desk.
"The two humans are pharmaceutical reps; they were meeting with a Turian Hierarchy representative."
Martin seemed perplexed. The Turian government rep meeting with a human company, getting mixed with red sand?
"Why did you attack the building?" He questioned.
"Didn't originally; I came to talk with a human named Sören. He wasn't at home, so I poked around a bit. Found these three here already dead." She didn't move, staring at the three bodies as if in a trance. "Then I was attacked." She paused for almost a minute.
"Martin, we need to leave the planet; this is gonna get bad." She turned to him with panic in her eyes.
"Why? I don't understand."
"This was a Turain Investigator."
"Wait, this isn't adding up. "what the hell is he doing here? And two; where the hell was his escort?". She paused as she looked back at the bodies.
"I don't know; we should alert the authorities to avert suspicions."
Velpia turned to leave the room while Martin looked over the corpses with his flashlight.
Judging by their wounds and the holes in the window, the shots came from outside. The shots also came in from about the same direction, so it looked like one shooter.
"Vee, I think you are right. These bodies had been shot after death; there's barely any blood."
She returned to the room, "We need to leave now; the Local PD is coming, and a Council Spectre."
Martin peeked up from behind the desk.
"What the hell is a Spectre?" He asked.
"Special Tactics and Recon, they're agents that serve the council, and they're assholes, and we don't want to be around them."
They started heading down to the ground floor, "Sounds like this Galaxy has too many assholes and not enough helpers."