Setting of the Sun Part 2
"A bombing occurred overnight on Watson. A planet located in the Terminus System that is populated by the Council races. The bombing occurred just inside the city limits of New Tokyo." The reporter was Emily Wong, her young face filling the screen of every news terminal. "Authorities state that this incident could very well just be an accident. Sources state that it is possible the Blue Suns are planning on making a comeback since their disappearance nearly twelve years ago. We'll bring you information as more becomes available. This is Emily Wong, Citadel News."
Shia'va shook her head as Garrus poured his lifemate a cup of coffee. "What do we do, Garrus? What if it's more than just that?" She took the cup from Garrus and sipped it.
"We take it a step at a time, Shia. We'll think of something." Garrus thought a minute and grinned as something crossed his mind. "You could contact Emily Wong and ask what her sources know and how she got the information. Put a few feelers out there."
Shia'va chuckled. "There you go again, Vakarian. Thinking like Archangel."
Garrus caught himself laughing at what he said. She was right. "Old habits die hard as you humans say."
It was a Saturday and the girls were in their room playing. A knock came at the door. Shia'va pulled her Predator pistol and slowly opened the door. The shock on Shia'va's face said it all. "Samara?"
"Shepard, it's been a while. I hope all is well." The Justicar smiled at her friend.
"Everything is fine. Please come in!" She welcomed her dear friend inside. Garrus already hearing the name had prepared an asari morning drink for her. Shia'va studied Samara for a moment, noticing she was a bit more well-armed than normal. "Samara, I know your Code prevents you from telling me some of your duties, but what's going on? You usually never left Asari space."
Samara looked towards the end of the hallway where the children's room was. "To be a mother with children is the greatest gift life can give you. And to be a child, your mother and father are your greatest protectors and the greatest source of love and security. To lose those, is to lose everything, Shepard." Kiyoko peeked her head around the corner seeing Samara. Samara smiled. "Shepard, your children are scared of losing your and Garrus. They contacted me." Kiyoko and Mikazuki ran from their room, both gleefully welcoming their Aunt Samara with hugs and kisses.
Shia'va wanted to be upset at her children. She had figured Mikazuki hacked into her terminal the night of the bombing. And if Mikazuki was there, so was Kiyoko. She would have to talk to Mikazuki about the hacking. But at the same time, she couldn't be upset with them. Her children were so worried about her and Garrus that they, even as children, thought this was important enough as to contact a Justicar. To contact Samara. She knelt down next to her children who looked at their mother like they were about to be grounded for a week, or even a month. But they watched as a tear fell down Shia'va's cheek as she drew her children in and gave both of them a kiss and a motherly embrace. "Thank you, girls." Was all Shia'va whispered to her two children with a wavering voice. The girls in return held onto their mother tight. She understood.
The Migrant Fleet:
A shadowed figure watched the terminal in the debriefing room. The figure lowered its head as it took in everything Emily Wong had just told the galaxy. Arms crossed over its chest in thought. Two Quarians stood with the figure and turned to look at it. The figure was clad in Kestrel Armor. But the helmet was a Death Mask. A female Quarian stood at the other end of the table.
"Captain, what are you thinking?" The younger of the two Quarians asked. Her name was Avel'Jal. She had just completed her pilgrimage and was stationed on this ship.
The other Quarian stepped forward. "If the Blue Suns are making a return, then why attack a world that is populated by the Council races?" The young male Quarian was Kal'Shon, a marine and security chief for the ship.
The figure was still deep in thought. Kal'Shon was right, why attack a world populated with so many different races? And a major city at that? Unless…unless they had located something on that planet that would warrant a bombing to draw that something out. New Tokyo. Watson. Japanese. The thought finally hit the shadowed figure. The Quarian woman at the other end of the table watched the figure. She had remained quiet this entire time. But noticed that he knew what was happening. She watched as the figure's 'eyes' finally opened. Four eyes, two in either eye slat in the helmet, opened and began to glow with biotic power. And when the voice spoke, it was a voice that only a few people would recognize. The voice of a long dead Reaper. "They have found her. And now they want to draw her out to kill her and any of those she may hold dear." The figure's body began to glow with immense biotic power. "We will be the harbinger of their salvation."
"Keelah' sehli." The three Quarians spoke in unison.
"Prepare the Maelstrom to break off from the fleet." Two of the Quarians saluted and left. But the third stayed. She walked over to him and took his hands.
"Are you sure you wish to do this, Dyson?" She asked quietly. She pulled his hands close and held them to her chest. "You know how she'll react when she sees you. Commander Shepard might even try to kill you, my love."
"There is little choice, my bondmate. We must do this." The biotic power from the figure faded as he held his Quarian bondmate. Dyson Cortland was once a Spec Ops soldier for the Alliance as well as a very powerful biotic. He was put on a co-op mission that kept him with the Quarian people for a stint of four years. In that time he was "adopted" by a Quarian family with the end name Kreeza. During that time, he was put on a dangerous mission on the planet Rannoch that had caused him to learn the truth about the Alliance and humanity itself. He later left the Alliance with a close friend who was with him and went back to the Migrant Fleet to continue living his life among the Quarian people. When Sovereign was about to attack the Citadel, Dyson was called to aid the Citadel in defense against the Geth. He did go back, but not for the sake of the Alliance or humanity, he did it only to protect the innocents aboard the station. During a battle with a large Geth force that attacked Shanakeba Ward, Dyson was killed when parts of Sovereign rained down on the station. He was near the Dillenaga Concert Hall when the debris impacted the ward. It was at that point that his body was recovered by Cerberus and taken to a facility in the Far Rim of the galaxy.
After the Reapers' assault on the galaxy, the Illusive Man had made one final attempt to kill Commander Shepard. Using some of the technology of the Reapers and the recovered "memories" of two of the most infamous Reapers, Cerberus spent every last amount of funds they had to create two "soldiers" with the Lazarus Project. Dyson was the first to awaken. Cerberus had implanted him with some very experimental Amp technology that nearly increased his biotic abilities by nearly five times its normal strength, matching the power of the Justicars. But what Cerberus did not expect was his will to be much stronger than their other failed test subjects. The small few bits of Reaper technology and the memories from Harbinger only served to strengthen Dyson's position about humanity. His voice was changed from the Reaper tech and sounded exactly like Harbinger, itself. The scientists named Dyson, 'The Harbinger'. What Dyson himself considered; 'A fool's attempt to control something that was never in their control in the first place.' The second "soldier" created was Dyson's closest friend who was implanted with the same Reaper tech but with the memories from Sovereign used. His friend was dubbed "The Dark Sovereign". Again, the voice sounding like the Reaper that Commander Shepard faced before. The Illusive Man had considered it sweet irony. But again, he had not taken into account the fact that both men held no love for humanity. Both Dyson and his closest friend had fought their way out of the Cerberus facility, escaping on a ship that was built to the specifications of the Normandy SR2. Dyson returned to the Migrant Fleet after three years dead with the ship and renamed it the Maelstrom. The Dark Sovereign, for the time being, went to Thessia to understand what was done to both men with the help of the Asari. The Illusive Man had failed.
Dyson was now known as Captain Harbinger vas Maelstrom, the only human, besides Commander Shepard, to be welcomed into the Migrant Fleet as a surrogate member of the Quarian race. His name among his "family" and bondmate was Dyson'Kreeza. But among other Quarians, he was known as Harbinger.
Valna'Kreeza, his bondmate and formerly known as Valna'Dasna, leaned into her beloved. "I cannot lose you again. Not for a second time."
Harbinger held her close, rubbing her back. "You will not lose me, that I promise." The comm in the debriefing room crackled to life as the navigator reported that the Migrant Fleet had granted them permission to break formation. Out of all of the ships in the Migrant Fleet, the Maelstrom was the only ship allowed to leave the Fleet for missions. But only select Quarians were allowed to serve on the Maelstrom. Harbinger was still holding Valna'Kreeza as he spoke. "Set course for Watson." The Maelstrom hit the mass relay, the estimated time was seven hours to arrival at Watson.
New Hiroshima, Watson
Border guards were set up at the village limits. The authorities were not about to have an interspecies incident with the bombing. Samara stayed close to Shia'va's home as Garrus was on the link to his people, trying to set up surveillance in the area. The Blue Suns were not going to harm anyone while Shepard was still drawing breath. She had made a few vid calls to Zaeed and Kasumi. She would feel better knowing that some of her strongest allies would be here to help protect the children and the village.
Balak was watching the build-up of the security forces in New Tokyo and New Hiroshima. He smiled. This was going better than they planned. Vido was already setting up a secondary base on the other side of the village, out of view of the security forces. He knew Shepard might try to contact some of her old friends to help. But by the time they would arrive, it would be too late. Balak had some of his people set up bombs in tunnels they had prepared under the city. Years' worth of planning was slowly coming to fruition. He was going to make Shepard regret what humans did to the Batarians on Elysium. A call came over his terminal. "Yeah?" He answered gruffly.
The face of a Turian appeared on the screen. "Is everything set to move forward, Batarian?" Jorum Talid's mandibles flared.
Balak scowled. "You're not dealing with amateurs, Talid. Don't even think of talking down to me. You want Shepard out of the way. So do I. I owe her for thirteen years of being hounded by the Alliance."
Talid really hated Balak. He was a slaver bordering on murderer. He had to make sure he wasn't tied to this. His new political career depended on it. "Just get it done. No survivors, understand?"
Balak waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Just stay out of our way and let the professionals handle this." He cut the feed. "Asshole." He cursed. As much as Balak hated Talid, he couldn't ignore the amount of credits he paid for this job. Both him and Vido were paid well for this. He would tolerate the Turian, for now. But something was starting to bother Balak. He saw the security forces moving into the positions at their posts. Checkpoints were being used and people questioned about what they saw. But even in the village, he saw no sign of Shepard or her family. Could she have been tipped off and she was digging in? Something felt wrong. He would inform Vido of this….maybe. But something was still nagging him in the pit of his stomach. As well planned as they had been, Balak felt there was an unknown. And he always wanted to be prepared for any eventuality.
He looked out a window and up to space. He wondered who else would come. Which of Shepard's team would arrive?
A/N: I apologize for the delay in posting. I was wrestling with this chapter as I'm introducing a new character and trying to not make him sound like some kind of superman. I have a backstory for this new Harbinger and the Dark Sovereign. I'm sorry if the names sound cheesy but the names were given to them by the science teams. Like Jack was named Subject Zero. It was a project name and it just stuck. The backstories on the two will come. But I also wanted to let you know that I am working on a second story based off the new game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. So I'll be writing two stories at once. Check under my name for when the other story is posted. Again, I hope you enjoy this chapter.