Since their founding in the early quarter of 2165, the Blue Suns Mercenaries had carved a bloody path across the galaxy, one that did well to establish them with a reputation for being utterly ruthless and discreet in their work. Though they began as a small force numbering in the hundreds and operating within the territories of the Skyllian Verge, free-lancers from everywhere quickly began to rally to them and line up for a chance at some extra credits. Shortly after Vido's betrayal, the treacherous co-founder of the Blue Suns signed a partnership with their batarian founders, which succeeded in adding the numbers of the 4-eyed aliens to their organization as well as preventing any unwanted conflict with them.
One of their very first and most prestigious opportunities came in the later months of 2165 from a batarian aristocrat named Edan Had'dah, who hired them to perform a raid on a Systems Alliance research facility at Sidon, which was seen as a bold move by many, including that of the late turian spectre Saren Arterius, who was partly responsible for Had'dah's death shortly after.
Under Vido Santiago's command, the Blue Suns took up an offer handed to them by the nefarious Collectors, which required them to deliver the body of none other than that of the formerly deceased Commander Shepard, though their contract was ultimately foiled by the combined efforts of Liara T'Soni and Feron.
In the end, the Blue Suns were not broken and continued to build and expand beyond the verge to the surrounding star clusters where they sought out new and more profitable opportunities. After twenty years in the business, they currently hold the title as the most cut-throat unit in the galaxy. Neither the legions of the Eclipse Sisters, nor the brutes of the Blood Pack dare question their infamy or challenge their muscle. There was however, one man who feared the pain or the chance of gruesome death that would surely follow in his quest for vengeance.
Zaeed Massani, the true commander of the Blue Suns, who had already sacrificed his right eye for what was rightfully his, made a deal with devil for another chance to avenge his pride and kill Vido Santiago. Though many would call Aria T'loak just that, the devil, he and even Shepard knew better that she had never actually committed any atrocities against the innocent. She had even disappeared and reinvented her life once to avoid being forced to kill someone she cared about. Only the scum of Omega who had the nerve to cross her met the crushing force of her biotic prowess.
Now with her most experienced free-lancers at his command along with the assistance of his former love interest Aranya T'konis, he had the sheer firepower required to make a tactical assault on the Blue Suns primary base of operations where he knew Vido would be waiting for him. Santiago was a coward, but his long entertained idea of taking Zaeed alive to shoot him in his other eye would keep him there.
"Heavy fire…repeat taking heavy fire…enemy reinforcements…engaging enemy mechs at…get some rockets on those mother…" Anto's transmission trailed off into static.
"Distance to the control room?" Zaeed said while leaning around a corner so as to scan for enemies.
"Twenty-three meters, three-O-clock next corner," Aranya replaced a spent thermal clip, letting the empty cartridge fall to the floor, hissing as it burned into the tritanium tiling.
The vast establishment that made up the structure of the Blue Suns base had gone on full alert since the deactivation of their orbital defense towers. Though they knew not of the nature of the threat, what they did know was that they were now vulnerable to low orbit bombardment as well as attacks by enemy infantry should they be dropped in by way of shuttle craft. With Anto and Grizz's squads of freelance mercenaries diverting base security away from the central structure, it would—at least in theory—create a window of opportunity and leave Vido's guard partially diminished, assuming he would actually be in the command center. Though even if they managed to terminate the target, the sun's forces would still have them severely outnumbered and without means of escape, which is why they had to strive for a secondary objective.
The two rushed forward ten meters down the following corridor and sidled the next corner at the end of it, both nearly holding their breath in anticipation of the defense systems that no doubt protected the objective.
Aranya carefully poked her head out around the corner, mere inches of her face exposed before several bursts of machine gun fire clipped the corner. She retreated quickly to avoid injury, only catching a glance of the offender then turned back to her human comrade. "Emplaced weapon eleven meters, I count two, maybe three troopers."
"Too far to rush and were short-handed on cloaks. Is there a way around them?"
"Not unless you can walk through walls." It was then that Zaeed noticed the vent cover on the wall they huddled against and his plan came into focus. "Cutting torch," Aranya provided him with the requested tool which he used to cut away the seals and pull away the grate. "It'll be easier for you to squeeze through there, better get moving."
Without protest the agile asari crawled into the air shaft, barely fitting through to the other end. Quietly removing the wall cover, she crawled out silently and approached the three troopers, one on the emplaced weapon and one on either side of him. Mere inches to their backs, she grabbed took her pistol in her right hand and knife in the left. The first she dispatched with shot to the back of head, the other by shanking him in the throat with her omni-tool blade, and the one on the machine gun, she took before he could turn around and with a violent twist, snapped his neck.
"Area clear of hostiles, get down here and help me open this door!" Zaeed complied by sprinting to her where she stood at the next blast doors that looked thoroughly reinforced. That and the holographic hand-print & eye scanner hovering in front of it supported her observation. "Door's too thick for charges. Looks like a mixed tritanium alloy." While she stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at the door in a thoughtful manner, Zaeed paced back to the bodies of the recently deceased soldiers. Hearing shuffling from behind her she turned to him and quirked an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
"One of these buggers has got to have some form of clearance. Get over here and help me carry this bloody sack!" Aranya rolled her eyes and joined him. Kneeling down next to the limp corpse, she activated her tech-blade and slashed off his dead hand then used the tip of the synthetic blade to pick out his eye. "Was that really necessary?"
"No," the asari tossed the slimy eyeball in the air and caught it, "but much easier," she finished with a wicked smile. Using both the palm and retina scanner simultaneously, the hologram flashed and made a simple chime. Slowly the giant rods locking the doors in place slide into the wall and the blast doors segments retreated to allow the authenticated user entry.
The pair rushed into the room, checking each corner for possible enemies who may be lurking in the shadows. The room was designed in a dome like fashion. Haptic interface computers lining the walls and security monitors hung from the ceiling. There was also a sign on the wall with an arrow pointed straight ahead that read "Automated Defense Control." This was exactly what they were hoping for, a few screens even showed detailed stats of the active mechs in the base.
Coming around the corner of the room, they peaked into the next room and spotted two scientists in lab coats and one armed guard protecting them. Zaeed held up his hand and silently counted down from three to one with his fingers before they rushed in weapons ready. Just as the one sentry glanced at them, Zaeed put two shells in his chest.
"Both of you get the fuck up!" he yelled. The scientists nervously rose with their hands up. "Get up against the wall now!" The two human scientists quickly did so. God forbid they made any sudden movements. Zaeed turned back to the control console the men were working at, displayed on the screen was live feed from the optics of multiple Blue Suns mechs. Infrared vision highlighting each of the freelance mercenaries engaged in brutal conflict with troopers and mechanical sentries alike. "I don't suppose you're an expert on mech programming-"
"Look out!" Aranya exclaimed. Zaeed hadn't noticed one of the scientists snag a pistol from a desk, though the asari quickly dropped with a single shot of her own pistol. She then aimed at the other cowering against the wall. "Your buddy just blew it for you, pal!" she said before firing a slug in his upper leg.
"What the bloody hell are you doing!" Zaeed shouted.
"I'm taking out the garbage! What does it look like?"
"He's unarmed! Stand down, that's an order!"
"Since when did I ever take orders from you?"
"Since I started pointing a gun at your head!" he said while leveling his rifle at her. "Stand down now!" Aranya clenched her teeth in frustration, arrogant bastard that Zaeed was, always trying to dominate the situation. He didn't own her, not now, not ever. Sadly, she did believe that he would do it. He never bluffed, not in his life, and they still had a mission to complete.
Stifling the urge to growl, she lowered her weapon, letting Zaeed storm pass her and knock the frightened human unconscious with the butt of his rifle. "Get over here and get the automated defenses reprogrammed!" The asari stood motionless seething with anger. "Now, Aran!"
Huffing, the enraged asari took a seat and went to work. Zaeed watched the live feed from mechs, seeing several of their men being gunned down by heavy chain fire and rocket barrages. As soon as Aranya finished breaking through the system's firewalls and deep encryptions, the mechs shutdown momentarily to reboot and establish new protocols. When they came back on, the two watched with pleasure as the machines turned their fire on the Blue Suns personnel, annihilating everything in their wake.
Aranya stood and loaded a fresh thermal clip in her pistol. "Let's not dance just yet, we got one more stop to make. "
"Vido… Well then what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go get the bastard!"
…
"Shepard… Shepard, come on man!" Garrus ruffled the shoulders of his unconscious commander who was sitting slumped over in an alley. "Come on, buddy, snap out of it!"
It had been nearly 12 hours since the spectre had answered his com-link which aroused suspicion from Miranda and the rest of the crew. Therefore, she had sullenly requested that the turian follow up on her concerned notion. Though after witnessing Tali storm through the halls of the Normandy to the elevator, practically leaving craters with each step, he assumed they had had a falling out of sorts. When he tried to stop her, she had said something like, "Garrus, kiss my…" the last word didn't translate very well; most likely a derogatory term in khelish.
"Crap…" Shepard wouldn't budge. Whatever he drank, it was disagreeing with him in more than one way. "Alright, sorry to get physical here, commander, but…" with a gloved hand Garrus slapped the spectre on the right cheek, instantly leaving a red, turian hand-print. Shepard remained reactionless.
"Ah hell…" Garrus said as he cocked his hand back for another blow. Just as he swung, Shepard grabbed him by the wrist.
"Hit me again, and I'll make that slur, 'skull face,' literal for you." Garrus began helping the hung-over commander to his feet, supporting the smaller human on his shoulder.
"Damn, Shepard. I can't decide when you were more messed up, now, or after that run-in with the Collectors. "
"Ugh…just shut up and get me back to the ship. I got something you all need to see…"
…
Once back inside the Normandy, Garrus hauled Shepard into the tech lab per his request, Mordin, strangely being absent. Shepard at least expected the salarian to be watching over the growth progression of their Prothean specimen. The eccentric salarian had apparently thrown a cloth covering over the breeding tank, stating that the alien was sensitive to light in its current state of gestation.
Garrus helped the weary commander over to the desk and set him down in a chair, the human spectre slouched and let his head fall back. "How many fingers am I holding up, Shepard?" the turian asked, extended the only two fingers he had.
"Ugh… Two?" Shepard replied, massaging his forehead. "I'm not that out-of-it, Garrus…"
"Just making sure you didn't kill all your brain cells, commander. Now, you want to tell me what happened out there?" Miranda barged into the room just as Shepard opened his mouth to speak.
"Shepard, it's been 6 hours since you last checked in! We thought something happened…" the former Cerberus operative paused upon seeing the bruises on either side of the spectre's face; one from Garrus, and a deep purple one from Tali. "What happened to your face?"
"Ask me when I can actually hear you through this throbbing in my head, and why are the lights so damn bright?" Miranda looked to Garrus who scratched the back of his neck and shrugged.
"Whatever, Garrus said you had something to report?"
"That and a whole lot more…" the spectre reached into his uniform and delivered Roman Able's data pad to the irritated woman. She began glancing over it, confusion becoming more evident on her features with each second she studied it.
"This is… That's impossible… Where did you get this? Who gave it to you?" She finally asked. He well expected her to react in such a way. It was hard for him to accept as well. Garrus on the other hand, remained oblivious, waiting for an explanation.
"A new acquaintance of ours, Roman Able, he claims this information validly points to corruption within citadel security as well as the ambassador to earth and his staff. " The spectre straightened himself in his seat.
"Let me get this straight, the man suspected of stealing the body of councilor Anderson, a man we know next to nothing about, wants you to believe that ambassador Udina is a Cerberus agent?" Garrus asked with a quizzical expression.
"Not me Garrus, all of us. If the data is telling the truth, then there's a high likelihood that it was the illusive man who conspired to have Anderson killed. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the why."
"There is one possible reason for his plot. Because the ambassador represents humanity on a prestigious level, second only to the late councilor, by right of succession, he would the one to take his place as the next human councilor…" Miranda said as she paced around the room; arms folded together.
"…And thereby giving Cerberus a foothold among the galactic leaders and control over humanity and all its interests!" Garrus exclaimed, walking over to stand beside Miranda.
Shepard found the strength to stand up, leaning on the desk for support. "If that's their plan, then we need to do everything in our power to make sure they don't succeed. For now, we need to keep this information between us. Anyone else we involve could be put at serious risk."
"Agreed, we need to acquire hard evidence that will prove Udina's involvement in the assassination. Otherwise, it won't be long before they decide to…" Miranda paused. A deep humming sound emanated from the Prothean orb sitting on the desk. They watched in pure awe as it hovered a few feet off the table before blurring its way over in front of the breeding tank. An excessive tapping on the glass came from inside the tank, getting louder and heavier by the second. "What is that?"
Shepard cautiously stepped over to the tank, stopping inches from it. With one swift motion, he pulled the cloth covering down and quickly stepped back, nearly falling down in the process from the shock. There, standing in the tank, was a much larger than before, Prothean in a hysteric state of panic and glowing with a blue aura."
"Get Mordin, get…" A biotic shockwave interrupted her as it exploded from inside the tank, sending shattered the glass everywhere and knocking the three off their feet.
Shepard lay on floor, tiny shards of glass on his clothing. His vision grew dark as he struggled to remain conscious. Hearing soft footsteps in front of him, he slowly looked up with blurred vision at the extremely tall creature that stood over him. It said only three words as it stared down at him.
"I am…reborn."