Telesetea found that the planet Lluvia really grew on her. The planet was named, in one of the more prominent Gaian languages, for the near constant rains that fell all over the planet, and had originally been established as a mining town for rare material that was quite useful in the construction of room temperature superconductors.
With the current Gaian-Citadel situation however there'd recently been a push to add some sort of space port to accommodate the expected orbital traffic that would spring up through closer relations. Similarly, this was one of the few Gaian systems were aliens were allowed, a resolution passed four months after the Gaians had first visited the Citadel. Already aliens from all over the Citadel had begun moving here in anticipation of that expected economic boom.
That's why she was here. She opened up an asari diner, hoping to capitalize on the foreign flavor that her kind offered. Telesetea grinned as she heard the rain pick up. Her diner and girls offered all sorts of foreign flavor. Their only competitors in the alien food market were the turian bakery over on Pino Suarez and Juarez. Of course, they beat out the turians since the locals either loved asari food or they loved Asari women, either way business was good. She'd already heard that one of her girls was going on some dates with a local boy. Good for her.
As she continued to look out the window, she realized why she was starting to genuinely like the planet. Beyond the rain and fog, up in the mountains she could see the towers and lights of the mining operation peek out from above the fogs that rolled down the mountains. It was all so very gloomy, one of her girls had said, but that was fine with her. She loved gloomy. Lluvia always felt perpetually cool, there was always a reason to bundle up in clothing, and there was always the sound of soft rains or great downpours to keep her ears company.
Which meant that it'd all be harder whenever her and her girls were pulled from the op.
Telesetea signed, wondering if she could come back and settle down for real. She felt a twinge of sadness as she realized that the city would be much different in a century or so. A big bustling city. She saw Amese through her window and called her into her office. A few minutes later Amese, now in her waitress uniform, walked in, a sheepish look on her face.
"Sorry boss, I-uh. Slept in." she offered.
"Right," Telesetea smiled. "Just don't let it get too serious. Did you get any useful information?"
"Of course," the younger asari answered, "I got lots of good things. But yes, it turns out that large families are common. It's a side effect of a government law that went into effect during that so-called Golden War back on Gaia. Julio told me that it's no longer in effect, but since it's was in effect for nearly a millennia…" she shrugged.
Telesetea nodded, opening a file on her console that she added more information into. Of course, this was already known about the Gaians, but her employers were paying her for anything and everything, even things that were already known. They wanted to be thorough, they had told her, and they'd rather she tell them things they already knew than withhold information because she "assumed" they knew.
"Also, most of the Gaians, even the non-human ones, can use that weird shit. Their magic." She made a hand gesture that conveyed what she felt about that term.
Another good piece of information, even if already known. Whatever, Telesetea thought as she added that information to her report, they still send paychecks.
Amese continued, adjusting her uniform as she realized she'd missed a few buttons. "Those big mechanical guys they sometimes lug around, those uh…" she began snapping her fingers, attempting to jog her memory, "the big volus… the Custodians! Julio says they aren't built by humans, he claims that they come from Gaia herself."
"That's new." The older asari said, adding that bit of information to her report. "Though it's hard to tell what it actually means. More religion speak, or is that Machine of theirs some sort of lost Prothean VI? Maybe it gives them those machines."
Amese shrugged. A proper response, Telesetea realized that they weren't being paid to think, just to act and spy. The report was sent, their paycheck arrived. Good enough for her. It was honestly a bit exhilarating to learn about a new species, even one that seemed as familiar as the humans. They were all a bit creepy of course; almost all of them had that weird religion of theirs, not to mention their odd abilities. She wasn't a scientist or biologist or bioticist so many of the theories they were publishing back home about the Gaian "magic" were far beyond her, and were admittedly working off of very limited interaction with Gaians, but she got some of the basics. Some sort of telekinesis or variant of biotics that worked without eezo. She'd seen a few people light cigarettes and candles with their ability, a street urchin continuously guessing which side an old coin would land on, a dock worker somehow lift things far too heavy for him to realistically lift and a group of runners somehow boost their speeds. All odd, but not amazing in relation to biotics.
The Citadel had discovered that while most Gaians had some of this ability, it wasn't used excessively in everyday life in the same way that asari weren't all floating around on biotics and moving tables with their mind. On the other hand, separating the fact of these unidentified abilities from the fiction was what the Citadel was still puzzling over. So all Gaians could use their so-called Anima, fine. That was acceptable. But ghosts, ancient monsters, living gods, psychic prophecies? It didn't help that this religious seemed to ingrained in their lives, she remembered a few weeks ago one of their patrons had mentioned that some sort of criminal had been killed over on Independencia and that she may consider buying wards against poltergeists. Apparently it was believed that some people could linger on after death and so buildings had to be specially "warded" against spirits.
Searching the Gaian extranet equivalent, she'd found wards against fire, reasonable, against bad luck, odd but not unreasonable, ghost incursion, what, faerie infestation, double what and something called homunculus restriction wards. Cities were built in such a way that the streets and buildings all formed something called an Anima Circuit, which, Gaians claimed, gave the entire city a second layer of defenses against "hostile cryptids, outsider entities and all manner of non-benevolent Anima effects". There were all sorts of laws on this magical use, illegal magical use, legal forms on exhuming the dead for so-called necromantic purposes and all other forms of unbelievable things. The Gaians seemingly took their religion to extremes that would make a hanar's sensory globe spin.
It was all tedious work, attempting to find the truth in a pile of madness. She noticed Amese was still fidgeting in her office since she hadn't been dismissed yet.
"Well, go put on a show then," she said to the younger asari, "and don't come in late again."
Amese saluted, "Yes boss! One ditzy asari waitress coming up!" and walked out of her office.
She's had to keep an eye on Amese, she realized. The young asari didn't take her job as seriously as her colleagues, unsurprising given that she was the youngest and newest member of their group. She'd also have to make sure it didn't become too serious between her and this Julio. Missions like these could become complicated if emotional attachments were involved. What she didn't' need was her operation being tossed out in the open because a young love-struck girl couldn't keep her lips shut about the mission. Though maybe keeping her mouth shut wouldn't do much good on a world of supposed mind-readers.
She leaned back in her chair and clicked a button on her console, her office's windows opening up and fresh rain air sweeping into her room. She closed her eyes, heard the sound of the rain and of the early morning bustle. She could just hear some of the conversations of the morning patrons, some of them ordering food, some of them talking among themselves, the sounds of her own girls calling out orders. Shit, she realized, forget Amese, I have to keep an eye on myself. She realized that this was one of the more comfortable missions they'd been given. Certainly one of the less debasing ones. asari girls in this line of work were often asked to pose as strippers or prostitutes, running a diner was certainly a much more enjoyable change of pace. Behind the rain she heard the sounds of a nearby ship flying overhead, a regular occurrence. At that sound she decided to stand up and walk out of her office, it was time for her to check up on her fake job. She began in the kitchens, seeing Keidra and Suiir both working hard at some breakfast orders. Suiir mumbled and complained about the Galabean cakes, one of their more popular breakfast options, before turning and nodding at her.
"You girls doing fine?" she asked them. Suiir continued to complain while Keidra answered.
"Not as many people today," she smiled, "middle of the week usually slows down a bit."
"Thank the Goddess." Suiir added. "These damn cakes are a pain to prepare. And my mother would die if she found out the humans ruin them by adding their honey all over them."
"That fusion food earned Irel a bonus," Telesetea replied, "She's proud of her invention."
"Good for her," Suiir went on, flipping the Galabean cake over gently, hoping none of the traditional jam would leak out of the sides, "Maybe she can come back here and cook them. I'd rather be stripping than cooking these things."
She continued on her way, leaving the two girls who'd pulled cook duty to bicker and complain, though most of the complaining was supplied by one of them. She made her way past the dishwashers, past the waitresses weaving in and out of the kitchen and finally appeared behind the counter. She counted eight patrons in three groups, the group of five men who always shared a table, an elderly couple and a lone turian. Amese was taking the elderly couple's order, the girl struggling through their accent. Amenra was working the men's table, joking with the group of men before walking over to her. She moved with an extra sway on her hips, causing some of the men at the table to send appreciative glances her way. Sexual attraction made men more likely to talk about things they shouldn't. Telesetea's attention was on the turian, something she made clear as Amenra approached with a subtle tilt of her head in the lone turian's direction.
"Don't know what you're doing here boss," she said happily, an empty tray in one hand, "I've got it covered."
She caught Amenra's message, "Looks like someone's ready for their check," she gestured over to the turian, "Get that tray to the back."
Amenra nodded, a quick glance at the lone patron before she hurried off with her task. As Telesetea approached she noticed the turian was female with very decorative facial markings. Her eyes were drawn to the turian's arm, her omni-tool lit up with several pictures of the diner and her food; the turian was uploading pictures of her food to one of those idiotic social networking sites.
"Ready for your check sweetie?" she asked the turian girl. The girl was startled by her voice, and stammered that she was, taking the electronic check and paying immediately, promising that she'd return for lunch. "You new in town?" Telesetea asked, confirming the girl's payment went through.
"That's right. My family runs that turian shop, they thought it'd be good for me to help them out."
"Oh, the Sevecus boys over on Lluvia and 8th?"
"That's them. I should get back; I'll be in deep if they find me eating at our competitors place."
Her check came through, and the turian girl gathered her belongings before heading out into the rain, her umbrella deploying as the rain picked up again. Amese, who had been delivering the Galabean cakes to the elderly couple and had overheard the conversation walked over.
"She said she works at Sevecus?"
"Yup." Telesetea answered.
"On Lluvia and 8th?"
"Yup."
"But the Turians are on Pino Suarez and Juarez." She stumbled over the alien street names.
"Yup."
"We expecting trouble?" the young Asari asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
Telesetea sighed, it was entirely possible that the young turian girl simply wasn't used to the city yet and got the street names wrong. It was also possible that the selfies she'd taken had simply included all the waitresses' faces in the background by happy coincidence. And it was also possible that the picture she'd taken of the menu that included the diner's name and address had simply been for her own convenience, a way of finding her way back for lunch.
"Yup," Telesetea finally admitted, "We're expecting trouble."
About half an hour passed by, the group of men had paid and left and the elderly couple seemed to be finishing up their meal, with the elderly man excusing himself to use the restrooms. The girls were all on the lookout, all of them were within easy reach of the hidden weapons stashed all over the diner. They all wondered who was on to them, STG, SPECTRES, AIA? Or maybe Eclipse, Talon Sisters or some other merc group? Admittedly, it could be any of them, given their long history in the business, but they hoped it was some of the formers. Usually government groups like those would either call up the company and sort out the paperwork on the sly or there'd be some arrests, bail payment and maybe at worst a loss of payment for a failed op. Merc groups usually started shooting. SPECTREs could go either way depending on who you got. They learned who had found them a minute later, when they saw the Turian girl walking towards the diner through the front windows, a group of krogans and turians in tow.
The bell rang as they entered the diner, the krogans immediately playing into their stereotype by knocking over a nearby table as their first act, a turian's omni-tool lighting up as the diner's lights flickered, the blinds closing a second later. The group fanned out, a krogan and turian both walking over to the elderly woman's table and sitting themselves down, the krogan taking the man's half-finished food and gulping it all down in one go. They pulled a gun on the poor woman as she began to complain.
"Why don't all the blue whores come out to the front?' the turian girl bellowed as Telesetea finally recognized the facial markings.
"A Nazacus girl," Telesetea spit out. "I thought you were all taken out."
"You missed one." She responded. "Caepia Nazacus. My father was-"
"Octater Nazacus." Telesetea cut her off, the name leaving a vile taste in her mouth. "You sound proud to be the daughter of a slaver fu-"
A loud crack from a nearby turian's pistol and Amese was on the ground, purple blood spilling out of the large hole in her stomach. The girls in the back yelled out in anger and moved forward, though they were all stopped in their tracks when two other turians drew their rifles and surged forward, using the lunch counter as cover. The turian that had shot Amese lazily leaned over the lunch counter as he pointed his pistol at her again, taking some nearby baked goods and eating them over the sounds of Amese' frantic whimpering.
"I was damn proud!" Caepia barked, "And I'm not going to let the family tradition die out. Bring out all your whores right this damn instant or that one dies." Telesetea did nothing and her eyes narrowed in response. The turian bitch nodded over to her gunman who lined up another shot on the nearly dead Amese before a biotic push jerked his arm away, snapping it in half as several shots rang out from his pistol as it flailed uncontrollably around. One round flew directly into a nearby holo-console, music suddenly flooding the diner, another round bounced harmlessly off of a heavily armored krogan's kinetic barriers, and the third shot punched through a nearby door, which flew open, the elderly man falling through it and clutching at his neck as blood poured out of it in streams. For a split second nothing happened.
And then the turian across from the elderly woman exploded.