Another chapter, another attempt to entertain you all. I honestly do not have anything else to add, so on with the show!
Halo belongs to Microsoft Studios
Mass Effect belongs to belongs to Bioware
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XX Omega Space Station, Omega Nebula – 2775 XX
Seven point eight million sentient beings called this station home; slavers, smugglers, pirates, mercenaries. It was often said that firing a gun into a crowd had a ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine percent chance of the rounding a criminal and a zero percent chance of hurting an innocent soul. The station ran on power and the will to use it… Which explains why the human/batarian coalition that was the Blue Suns could work so well there. The private security organization, which operates throughout both the Skyllian Verge and along the Terminus/UEG Border systems, made its fortune offering to protect Independent Human Colonies from pirates and slaver attacks without the colonists being forced to accept UEG/UNSC subjugation. The fact that many of these pirates and slavers learned about the colonies from the Blue Suns in the first place was a closely guarded secret.
So, as one would expect, the idea of UNSC personnel waiting on Omega to do a deal with the mercs should have been simply ridiculous. Which was why it was actually very common for Department of Research and Development officials to go undercover as Insurrectionists looking to use the Blue Suns to purchase stolen Relay Race weaponry. ODSTS, primarily those who come from criminal or Innie backgrounds themselves, would be assigned to act as fellow Insurrectionists and provide cover.
That was how First Lieutenant John Shepard found himself sitting in a dang alleyway, in civilian clothing and a cheap shield harness, waiting with his squad and their VIP. The squad was led by Captain James Rodgers, who thankfully did not hold a grudge against Shepard for breaking his nose following the revelation that he'd been deliberately trying to cause trouble aboard The Ruthless Domination. Rodger's second-in-command was a Corporal named Brady, who served as the squad's medic in normal operations while Private Collins made up the fourth member.
Normal callsigns for the squad were Cap, Patch and Boomer. Shepard, as the new guy to the squad and having only just qualified as a Helljumper, would be Rookie until he earned a better name… Or someone else joined the squad which would make them the new Rookie by default.
The team's VIP, a DRD scientist named West, was a condescending bitch who felt that since she had about six letters after her name and should be referred to as Doctor it meant she was better than the rest of them. That arrogance was gonna cause problems, Shepard felt it, but the fact that he had gang tattoos and had served in a Penal Squad meant West felt perfectly okay with ignoring every word that left his mouth. Rodgers agreed with Shepard but had his hands tied since their orders were to follow West's instructions.
The backstory for their little motley crew was that West was a representative of an Insurrectionist group planning to stage an armed uprising. Rodgers and Collins being fellow Innies assigned to protect her. Brady and Shepard would claim to be members of criminal and terrorist organisations willing to offer bodies and advise in exchange for money… Fact that Shepard was the 'terrorist' just made the ODSTs groan.
"Now remember, the Blue Suns are selling us weapons manufactured by Batarian State Arms. These things are normally impossible to acquire outside of the Batarian Military." West droned on. "We've seen weapons damage from slaver and pirate attacks that we suspect are from these kinds of weapons but so far have had no real chance to study them. This deal will therefore not only give the DRD more alien weapon systems to study for ways to improve our but it will also allow us a chance to investigate if it was batarian weapons that were used in the attack."
"We do we care what gun was used? All that should matter is finding who pulled the trigger." Collins grumbled as he checked over the small, and mostly crap, shield harness the team had on for protection.
Sure they had lightweight, 'so small an asari could almost wear it', hardsuits on under their civvies but they'd been ordered to leave them powered down so as to not alert the Blue Suns via energy signals.
"If BSA built the guns, then the Batarian Hegemony most likely supplied them to the raiders involved." Rodgers explained as he inspected the M-3 Predator he carried, trying to familiarise himself with it before the Blue Suns arrived.
"Which would mean that the Hegemony most likely directed those raiders against UEG and Independent Human colonies." Shepard added in as he played with his M-6 Carnifex, it being a similar size and design to the old hand cannons he'd used with the Reds. "That's something the spin-doctors can use to convince the Independents to just shut up and fall in line easier."
"But we're here to buy BSR weapons illegally… So how will the pirates having used them prove the Hegemony supplied them?" Brady asked as he familiarised himself with his own Carnifex.
"Because multiple attacks, across such a wide area, could not be all from the same raider party." West replied. "And considering all the trouble we're going through just to get our hands on a few rifles it is highly unlikely some simple slavers could get their hands on them. Ergo, the weapons must have come from the Batarians themselves."
"Anything on sensors?" Rodgers asked.
"Nothing out of the norm yet, Blue Suns not expected for another five minutes." Shepard replied after glancing at a tablet beside him that provided data from the numerous motion sensors he'd set up. It was impossible to not have a motion sensor triggered on Omega, the sheer number of people meant the very walls shuck, but by getting a baseline reading ahead of time Shepard was able to tell normal travel apart from any approaching individuals.
"I don't like this, we're too exposed here… Too under armed and seriously under-armoured." Collins muttered as he leaned over to double-check the Lancer, a civilian grade version of the Misriah Armory ICW, he had hidden behind one of the dumpsters lining the alleyway.
"Contact." Shepard announced as his HOLOPAD flared and the firing mechanism in the Carnifex reactivated, gun safety was literally beaten into you in the Penal Squads. A minute later a large, nondescript truck pulled into the alley and a pair of Blue Sun mercenaries got out.
"Which of you is Tarak?" West called out as the pair of mercs made their way towards them, scanning the area constantly for any signs of a double-cross. When neither would reply she called out again.
"Shut it human." One growled before looking to the other. A brief silent communication later the speaker was turning and signalling to the truck.
Three more Blue Sun mercs emerged from the truck, two unidentifiable due to their armour and one batarian without a helmet. The batarian marched up to their group, looked them up and down and then simply snorted.
"Come on, I don't have all day." He growled before turning and walking back to the truck. Walking to the side the batarian opened it up to reveal shelves upon shelves of weapons.
"Tarak's bazaar!" The batarian grunted, speaking in English as opposed to his own native Khar'shal dialect . "Prices are in 'Eezo' and iridium units. They are non-negotiable.
"Nice!" Brady whistled as he climbed in the back of the truck and began looking about.
"This looks interesting." Shepard muttered as he picked a large, bulky rifle from its display.
"That's a Kishock Harpoon Gun, a batarian rifle." One of the Blue Sun guards supplied, outing himself as human. "We've got footage to show its effectiveness if you're interested."
With a nod Shepard tapped at a small panel beside where he'd taken the Kishock from and began to skim through about a dozen vids of the weapon in action – against everything from varren and vorcha through to humans and batarians who'd made the mistake of angering the Blue Suns. After rewatching the human and batarian vids a few more times Shepard nodded to himself and made his way over to West and Rodgers, both of whom were busy talking with Tarak about payment and delivery of their orders.
"This rifles, get them." Shepard grunted, shoving the Krishock into West's hands.
"Wha-hey!" West snapped indignity as the weight of the rifle nearly caused her to fall over.
"How many of these things you got?" Shepard asked Tarak, completely ignoring West. He was a 'terrorist-for-hire', not some idiotic idealist who wanted liberty from the 'fascist authoritarian system' of the UEG… He was being paid to assist in planning a rebellion, not be nice.
"Including the display, five… We salvaged them from a BSA transport that had engine trouble." Tarak explained, his voice dripping with mock sadness. "By the time our ships arrived, the entire crew was dead… Such a senseless waste of life."
"yeah, a real shame." Rodgers snorted as he took the rifle from the struggling West and made a point of looking it over. Rodgers wasn't much for sniper rifles, being more of an assault rifle kinda guy, so it was more for show before he agreed to get them some batarian tech to study.
"Everything else was already sold, these rifles are all we've got left." Tarak went on. "Don't know why they didn't sell already, damn good rifle and deadly against everything I've ever seen them shot at."
"We'll take them, add them to the order." West cut in, clearly annoyed at Shepard's actions and wanting to re-establish that she was in charge. "We'll also take two dozen of those turian assault rifles, forty of the sub-machine guns and a hundred handguns."
"That's a pretty big order." Tarak chuckled, clearly looking forward to taking in so much for the Blue Suns in one sale.
As the two continued to discuss the order Shepard took a moment to step to the side and check the tablet linked to his sensors, paranoia was always good on missions like this. Flicking back through the data Shepard noted that nothing had tripped them for the last few minutes… That wasn't right.
Glancing up Shepard spotted the dark yellow armour just as a barrage of gunfire tore through the shields, then the armour and flesh, of a Blue Suns guard.
"Contact! Eclipse!" Shepard roared, Carnifex seeming to appear in hand as he took cover and began firing on the advancing attackers.
The Blue Suns rushed for cover before returning fire, hoping a wall of bullets would halt the enemy advance.
"A double cross!?" Tarak snarled, rounding on West with his own weapon drawn.
"Shit, how'd they sneak up on us?" Collins yelled as he and Brady moved to assist against the Eclipse.
"We got distracted looking at all the pretty guns, that's how!" Rodgers snapped as he pushed West back further into the safety of the truck. "hey Tarak, these guns good for a test run?"
"They're loaded but I had the firing mechanisms deactivated." Tarak growled, angry that such an important safety feature during blackmarket weapons deals was actually working against him. "And I don't have the reactivation codes on hand."
"Shit! Alright, Rookie get back in here and get to work!" Rodgers ordered as he and the others provided covering fire for Shepard to fall back.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit." Shepard muttered over and over as he tried to hack the systems of the displayed weapons so he and the other Helljumpers could use them to survive.
"Another Blue Sun down." Brady reported before a lucky Eclipse shot took out half his face.
"Fuck!" Shepard hissed before he managed to reactivate the rifle. Tossing that one to Rodgers Shepard set about working on another for Collins.
"Damned Eclipse bastards!" Tarak snarled as holographic markers, the kind Relay Races overlaid atop their HOLOPAD created force fields, formed around him. Stepping out and unleashing a barrage of weapons fire Tarak snarled as the last of his Blue Suns lackeys was dropped.
"Oh crap." Tarak gulped as he spotted an Eclipse Heavy, a rocket launcher carrying asari, came into view.
"Focus Fire!" Rodgers roared as he, Tarak and Collins all opened fire on the Heavy.
While they held off the attackers Shepard made a judgement call; instead of hacking an assault rifle for himself he set about trying to reactivate the Kishock, for two reasons. Reason one being that long range precision weapons was where his expertise lay and reason two being it gave him a chance to scan and retrieve as much information on the rifle as he could in case they had to ditch the weapons and retreat.
"We need to get out of here." Shepard offered as he took up position and began scanning for an important looking target, batarian programming left a lot to be desired.
"Great idea Rookie, any idea how?" Rodgers snapped.
"The truck is good to go, just needs someone to drive it." Tarak pointed out. "One of you run up front and get it, the rest can provide covering fire."
"I've got an idea, someone get ready to run." Shepard grunted as he spotted, what had to be, the most confidentially placed fuel tanker in the history of time and space. Ducking back into cover to let the rifle completely vent its heat buildup Shepard glanced at Collins, who nodded. Counting to three in his head Shepard popped up and fired off two shots, overheating the rifle, and detonating the tanker.
The resulting flaming explosion sent the Eclipse diving for cover and gave Collins an opening to rush forward and get into the truck's cab. As the truck started up and was thrown into reverse Shepard caught a grip of Brady's body and hauled it away from the still open doors.
"So…" Tarak panted as they escaped the Eclipse. "… I trust you're satisfied with the quality of the weapons I'm offering?"
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Okay, one more chapter [showing the events on Tyran in full] and then I'll be getting to the events of Mass Effect 1.
Sorry for the delay, don't know how long the gap before the next one will be as I'm gonna work on Thunderstruck and Team Nightmare next.
I'm dyslexic, so please point out any mistakes in spelling or grammar [I spell things the way they do in England and Ireland, so some things may look off to Americans]. Please leave your opinion via review or send them via PM, I'd like to know what you think. Well, I think that's everything I've gotta say so, hope you enjoyed the chapter.
This is Highvalour saying bye and thanks for reading