2185 CE, 2255 hours...

Normandy SR-2, orbiting Omega...

2 months,2 days after First Contact...

Shepard sagged his shoulders and scratched the back of his neck again, like back in his quarters, damn itch! he thought.

"To be honest, I've only been rebuilt less than a week ago, and now you're asking me a question I'm very alien to. So you tell me,"

The Cerberus leader blinked once, either startled at his sudden backlash, but continued all the same in calm and professional manner he had mantained since the founding of Cerberus.

"The War Pigs, are a new addition of mercs in the galaxy, 2 months ago, they appeared in Omega, just like that," to emphasis what he meant, the Illusive Man snapped his fingers,

"No history on them, nothing, just plain appeared in Omega, from what my agents gathered, they pack highly advance tech, advanced enough to be on par with the Collectors,"

That got Shepard interested, "Hmm, you got me, so...tell me more about these War Pigs," The screen was filled with snapshots, some in higher quality than the others, in the background the Illusive Man continued his explanation,

"To be honest, it's not just them, more and more of these were sighted all over the galaxy, however, in 2 months they've gone into hiding, untraceable, Citadel and Systems Alliance are using whatever resources they have to locate these guys, If humanity, were to gain access to these tech, mini-fusion reactor, power suits, we could jumpstart humanity another 100 years in technology and have a chance to go toe-to-toe with the Reapers, in terms of Infantry."

Shepard stared hard at the photo in front of him, trying to make out heads or tails, apparently the suits resembled 21st century space explorers, but heavily armored, no doubt someone would need one hell of a power supply to feed the suit juice.

"So where can I find these-"

"Like I said, Shepard, it's not that simple, everyone of these anomalies has gone underground somehow, I've got dealings with the Shadow Broker to help locate them, it's a matter of time so at the moment you start off with them, in just 2 months they've not only integrated well with the society on Omega but carved a bloody empire on their own, Blood Pack, Blue Suns, Eclipse, as tough as they are, steer clear away from the War Pigs, they currently are under Aria's contract as enforcers, Citadel wants to send a Spectre in to bring these guys in, we have to get to them first before whoever it is they send does. They live in the populated area, West of Afterlife, they call their place, Hell's Teeth, apt word for that, the surrounding buildings and windows, narrow alleyways give perfect opportunities for boxing anything into killzones, I want you to recruit them, all 31 of them, if you can."

The ressurected Commander crossed his hands, "31! my ship can't take that many people, another 31 people aboard would be too much for the Normandy, she's got a max number of at least 70 crewman, and we've already got close to 40!"

Illusive Man twirled the icy mysterious drink in his hands before continuing, "I said if you can, get all 31 of them you can take a squad o two, I'm willing to finance their price but you have to do the recruitment yourself."

There was silence as Shepard suddenly let fly another question,"When I went to Omega, for Garrus and Mordin Solus, why didn't you tell me about them?" The Illusive Man leaned out, "Simple, you had too much on your hands, further burdening you would not be constructive for us both."

The connection was cut, Shepard shuffled aimlessly back to his room, that comfy, cozy bed waitng for him.

"Get Garrus, Mordin and Taylor in the meeting room, 5 hours from now, I need a nap, can't start a meeting if I'm gonna be falling asleep every 5 minutes, I barely held on with the Illusive Man just now,"

Miranda merely nodded curtly before strutting off.

2185 CE, 0325 hours...

Normandy, orbiting Omega...

2 months,2 days after First Contact...

Shepard had to apologise to the team for being a minute late, Miranda had taken it upon herself to brief the team on current objectives, "need-to-know-basis" as she puts it, as Shepard took over, he picked up where the Cerberus Officer left off.

"...Frankly, I don't know much about their combat capabilities, strengths, weaknesses other than their history spent on Omega for the past 2 months. So, Garrus, during your time as Archangel, did you ever hear about them, maybe even exchanged fire?"

The Turian straightened himself, a cold game face on, "Yeah, I did. Once. All started when I overhead couple of Eclipse guards talking about losing one of their security their contract to some new Mercenary group known only as the War Pigs, of course since Eclipse lost something to a small time gang must surely mean it's bigger than it looks, I bribed my way to find these War Pigs, one of Aria's guards, whom I won't name, told me they were dealing with a couple of Vorcha gangers, not Blood Pack by the way, still, this sort of dealing just begs for a visit from Archangel, just as the guard told me, Vorcha, talking to some Humanoids, I didn't know they were humans at the time, helmets sealed shut and all, but their armor, really, really big, the kind that can take on a Krogan in a fist fight and walk out alive, not kidding, They exchanged something, I don't know what, I don't care why, I was about to take the shot on the War Pig's in charge when all of a sudden..."

Garrus gritted his teeth/mandibles in anger.

"All of a sudden i felt something circular and cold imprint itself on the back of my head, bastard, got the drop on me, I was careful enough, how the hell did they knew I was coming? course I manged to overthrow the guy that gotten the jump on me, but what I was up against, I wasn't ready to face, humanoid, black armor, skin tight, it's face was masked by this Tactical Helmet, scary lookin' too, some sort of long barreled rifle strapped on his back. He stepped back, fast, damn real fast when i swung at him, he did something unexpected, he disappeared, like stealth tech, or cloaking of some kind, but there was no generator on his body armor, just skin tight, I dunno, maybe it was something in the suit but I had no time to react, bastard came at me with a knife, I ducked, fell off my hiding place, the air around me was filled with gunfire, I managed to escape via underground tunnel. I'd definitely advise you to be on your guard, they're dangerous stuff I tell you."

Shepard nodded as he took in his squadmate cum old friend's recount, sure it just tells him how dicey these Pigs can be, the Salarian, somehow never heard of them, too busy taking care of the sick, however, was hitting it off making assumptions and theories behind the Pigs' technology. He spoke too fast for anyone to even understand, even for Miranda with her genetic enhancements. For Christ's sakes the man was spitting 200 words per minute, a joke, John and Taylor started.

With arrangements to go back to Omega were being made, Shepard stood up, therefore signalling the end of the meeting.

"We're going back to Omega, do what you have to do and meet me in the hangar for dust off in 10," he announced triumphantly, the Slarian, the ex-Alliance Corsair and the Cerberus Officer confirmed their orders before leaving the meeting room, the Turian stood at the doorway, craning his neck and sighed sarcastically, "And I thought we would finally leave this place,"

John could only pat his friend's armored shoulders as they both left the meeting room.

"Not yet Garrus, not yet."

The War Pigs were no longer as wet behind the ears as compared to when they first mysteriously appeared on Omega, they learnt the ways of the galaxy, don't piss off the Shadow Broker, don't piss off a Krogan Battlemaster, to survive on Omega, one must use a gun at least 3 times a day.

For the War Pigs, it was almost like 10 per day, considering their Merc jobs, under Aria alone, they've squashed several underground organisations that planned to usurp her, settled disputes between gangs before things got bloody and sometime escorted shipments of alcohol, Turian and human made alike as security officers. They've carved a large chunk of clients and cash from the big 3; the Blue Suns, Eclpse and the Blood Pack and managed to snatch hundreds of their deals and security contracts, and having a nice profit numbering in the tens of thousands every month.

From there, they would invest heavily in ammunition, private fridges with alcohol and food and companies specialising in synthesizing metals, of which were very few on Omega for none could sythesize neo-steel, too complex for them to understand when the galaxy back home, every Tom, Dick and Harry could synthesize neo-steel much less acquire it from Solonoid crystals.

Nevertheless the Pigs have yet to have their armors properly damaged and a fatal casualty on their side. The Ghost, Swash or Operative-409, has become more relaxed than he was before, and has taken the time to mingle with the War Pigs, Falks and Eddie was busy locked in the poker game representing Delta Squad, against Charlie and Alpha squads.

All of a sudden, his suit's communication device beeped, and the Mercenary had to excuse himself to take the call, it was Aria.

"Yeah, boss?...I see, yes ma'am, you have? What, why? sure, sure o..okay...okay..gotcha, I'll radio ya' back when it's done,"

'Diamond', the field tester for the kinetic barriers 2 months ago slapped his leader's massive shoulder plate.

"So, who was it? Asari stripper? Vorcha bum buddy? heheh?"

The others joining in, whooping and laughing. Falks cleared his throat, his face stern, and his game face screwed tight.

"Boys, Aria called, We got a new employer, goes by the name, Commander Shepard."

Okay, this chapter is up and running, so, to those confused like 2 months, and Shepard's 1 week HE was resurrected a week ago, in this story, the War Pigs came here 2 months ago, in this story. And I hope I got Shepard's character well, using the Paragon male, Earthborn guy. Team has Jacob Taylor, Miranda Lawson, Garrus Vakarian and Mordin Solus, soon they're gonna get Grunt, Jack, ... anyways RnR, yeah?