DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect video game is the property of its respective owners and the author has no financial gain from it. Original Characters and story concept are mine though.
A/N: Here is the second part of Chapter 7. The first meeting with Zaeed Massani didn't go according to the plan, so now it's up to Dubois and his bullshit skills to make it right. This part is about 7k words long. Hope you enjoy it!
My beta is still the one and the only Redentor
Despite my difficult situation I could not stop my growing amusement. Could you believe that of all the nooks and corners on the Citadel, Zaeed Massani chose to lead me to the exact same back alley where in more than ten years' time, Saren's thugs would set a trap for a quarian admiral's daughter – Tali'Zorah nar Rayya? Seeing as I was a glorified Self-Insert and she tended to be paired-up with SI characters only added fuel to the blazing fire of irony. Oh well, even if I died here I'd be able to say that I saw some famous game spots. It had to count for something, no?
Zaeed pushed me lightly toward the large trash container aiming at the center of my body with his pistol. My own sidearm was still securely attached to his armor. Despite his threatening manner, he was still a professional merc through and through – he did not manhandle me needlessly. When I gathered enough wits to inquire about it, he simply quoted Winston Churchill at me.
"Even if you need to kill someone, it costs you nothing to be polite."
That obviously did nothing to improve my disposition, but I'd looked death in the eye so often in the last few months that I did not really feel as threatened by it as I probably should have been. As time passed I recognized how reckless and carefree I was at the time with taking risks. I knew that I had no family or friends that anyone in Mass Effect galaxy could threaten me with.
"So Dubois, in this back alley there are no monitoring cameras. Fist has an agreement with some of the agents in the C-Sec – they don't see anything of what happens here and he cleans up after himself and gives a monthly payment to their retirement fund. We can make use of their accord for our own purposes, what do you say?" he said conversationally.
It seemed like Fist was much smarter than the game fans gave him credit for. Not smart enough to stay loyal to the Shadow Broker as any person with half-brain would do, but not a complete dunce either. You don't build a full money-laundering brothel under the noses of the C-Sec without greasing a few hands and getting at least some measure of protection from local law enforcement.
"What do you need to know, Mr. Massani?" I responded promptly. For some reason I did not feel threatened by him in the slightest. It was as if I knew that he wouldn't kill me here, even though it was a distinct possibility at the time.
"Who are you, Dubois and who do you work for?"
"I am Lieutenant Peter Dubois, eight-eight-oh-four-two-six-oh-niner, 3rd Battalion, 213th Infiltration Brigade, sir."
For some reason I kept adding 'sir' to all my sentences even though Massani distinctly told me not to do that. Deeply ingrained habits die hard, I guess.
"I served with the Alliance Marine Corps and the Special Forces for five years, Dubois and I've never heard of 213th Infiltration Brigade. The name sounds like part of their Naval Intelligence, but they haven't got any brigades within their structures. Who do you work for? Some Alliance black operations, I guess? That sounds about right."
"I'm afraid that's privileged information, Mr. Massani." I said with a shake of my head.
"You're not helping your situation, lad. Whatever clusterfuck you're trying to organise here, I can smell the bad stink from a mile away. What do you need the Blue Suns for? Even with that prick Santiago in charge, I won't let these people die for no reason."
So Zaeed Massani still held some sort of loyalty to his old outfit? I filed that observation for future use. I just looked him in the eye and repeated my previous statement.
"I just said that I can't tell you that, Mr. Massani. But it doesn't mean that you won't learn about it. Are you familiar with the Asari Mind Meld techniques?"
He was still aiming at me as he responded.
"Sorry kid, but you have too much hair and not enough boobs to be an asari, so the mind meld is out of question. Besides, even though I'm flattered I don't swing that way if you catch my drift."
I didn't even react to his jab. I raised my right hand and told him, "Touch my hand, Mr. Massani and everything will be explained."
I took a step forward toward the mercenary, still looking him straight in the eyes. He raised his pistol to a prepared firing position and warned me.
"One more step kid and you're history."
I stepped forward once more and few things happened all at once. Zaeed fired his pistol at the center of my body mass, my shields absorbing the force of the shot as the shaving bead fell harmlessly to the floor. The cloaked drone fired a concussion beam at Zaeed, which most of his personal shields absorbed too, but it gave me a split second window to strike. Before the distracted mercenary could press the trigger once again and do a proper double-tap I jumped in his direction and grabbed the wrist of his left hand, which he used to support his weapon arm.
Neither Lox nor I had any idea how Zaeed Massani would react to a sudden data-transfer. It might cause no adverse side-effects or leave him with a slight headache. It might as well cause his neurons to overcharge and leave him completely brain-dead. My knowledge-transfers were painful, but they were never life-threatening, other than the issues with memory overwrite. But my new body was specifically prepared to accept them and it was still physically young. Zaeed on the other hand would be reaching his 50th birthday in a few years and his body had never experienced a data-transfer before. For the first time I gambled with someone else's life, the few military exercises notwithstanding and I couldn't bring myself to care. I was just doing what needed to be done for the betterment of the Multiverse, right? Of course I was.
Zaeed dropped his sidearm and fell down. I managed to grab his dropping body mid-fall and ease it down to the pavement. The orange glow of my wrist-comp (omni-tool, damn it!) still surrounded my right arm and a blue beam of light that went out of it connected to Zaeed's forehead. Having never seen data-transfer performed on someone else I did not know whether it was supposed to look like this or not.
My omni-tool beeped twice and a small wormhole formed in the back alley. Lox in his Terminator chassis stepped through; in his hands he held a plasma-coil submachine gun. He approached swiftly and squatted down next to us, his hand already scanning the unconscious mercenary. He turned to me and said quietly, "Lieutenant, Mr. Massani's vitals are off the charts. I strongly recommend ceasing the data-transfer immediately, otherwise we risk losing him altogether."
I looked back at his skull-like 'face' with a serious expression. Were the people who designed his android chassis completely blind to the fact that he looked hostile and dangerous? It couldn't have been made to look like that on purpose.
"Negative, Lox. We maintain the data-transfer until it's 100 percent complete. That was the plan, and we are sticking to it." I responded coldly.
The current amount of transferred data might be sufficient to get Zaeed on our side, but I was taking no chances. As we were stuck in the inbound traffic jam, waiting to dock on the Citadel, we spent an hour or so preparing a carefully edited data transfer. It glossed over details regarding myself and the Confederacy, but it contained everything we had on the Reapers and the threat they presented to the galaxy. If that wouldn't make the mercenary change his mind, nothing would.
"It is my duty as the ship's medical officer to remind you that should Mr. Massani expire you will be held accountable, lieutenant. He is considered vital to the strategy agreed upon by the General Staff of the 213th Infiltration Brigade."
It was a warning, even though I did not begrudge Lox his words. It was his job as a second in command to question my decisions after all.
"Understood. Maintain the data-transfer, Lox. Let it be noted that I take full responsibility for the consequences of this decision."
The android's red, Terminator-like eyes bored into mine as he answered crisply, "Acknowledged, lieutenant."
We didn't say anything afterwards as we squatted in the dingy back alley near Chora's Den. Lox kept monitoring Zaeed's vitals, holding an adrenaline syringe in his hand just in case, while I scanned both entrances to our hiding spot to make sure nobody was coming. It wouldn't do to get ambushed by Fist's thugs now, however unlikely that was.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, my omni-tool ceased the data-transfer and the blue beam of light dissipated. The android's hand moved above the unresponsive mercenary's head scanning for his vital signs. I waited with trepidation for his diagnosis. Lox turned toward me once again and said.
"Mr. Massani is only unconscious. His vitals have stabilized, but he will need some rest before we can wake him up."
Relieved, I let out a breath I didn't even know I had been holding. For some strange reason, the possibility of a video game character dying bothered me more than my own death. As I got up and gathered my bearings I issued my orders, "Take him to the med-bay on 'Coronado', Lox. Open the worm-hole and get us there, along with the drone. We can't be seen dragging an unconscious man. C-Sec has monitoring cameras everywhere. We would have one of their patrols on our asses in no time."
"Acknowledged, lieutenant. May I inquire as to what are you planning to do now? Despite the data-transfer I cannot help but think that Mr. Massani will remain hostile to us. After all, we are unlawfully detaining this man."
I smiled at him.
"Zaeed lives for his revenge on Vito Santiago. The idea of killing the man that wronged him is the force that drives him forward. I will deliver him Vito Santiago tagged and bagged as I promised and it will secure us Zaeed's loyalty."
"This is not the scripted video game that you played, lieutenant. There is no guarantee that Zaeed Massani will remain on our side, even if we remove Mr. Santiago from the equation."
"We will never know if we don't try, Lox and we haven't got time for pussyfooting. The Reapers are coming and our job is to minimize the damage done to this galaxy. Whether we like it or not, we will step on someone's toes more than once. Let's go!"
I picked up my pistol, which was still attached to Zaeed's armour. I was glad that he was too distracted to notice that it wasn't the mass accelerator design otherwise he would have been even more suspicious of me than he already was. I also picked up the single shaving bead that Zaeed managed to fire at me – as I inspected the small projectile I recognized how lucky I was that it failed to penetrate my defences. Meanwhile the AI opened another worm-hole and in a few seconds we were back aboard the corvette.
As Lox carried the unconscious mercenary to our small med-bay I sat at the pilot's armchair and activated the connection uplink. I was determined to go after Vido Santiago and it was high time to call for some backup. I would need my squad to roll out again.
Orbit above the planet Acheron (LV-426)
Hourglass Nebula
Terminus Systems
We'd been observing the cloaked drone for about an hour now, operated by Specialist Salmia Fahri. Her careful movements kept the drone, directly under the ceiling of the vessel's corridors, out of sight of the crew and away from the monitoring devices. My squad was armed to the teeth, seated in the loading bay of the 'Coronado', waiting for the Specialist to map the interior of the cruiser. The heavily armed ship belonged to the Blue Suns, so we took our time and paid close attention to the drone feed as Aberswythe and I took notes. The preparations were always the most tedious and uninteresting part of the combat mission, but they were also the most vital. Careful planning and well-rehearsed execution saved lives and beat improvisation on any day.
We were deep in the Terminus Systems, orbiting one of the worlds that was largely controlled by the Suns. The planet was called Acheron, but the formal Citadel designation was LV-426. The Blue Suns had a few mining operations here, which provided raw resources for the whole star system. To my surprise they even had proper miners there – one would expect them to use slaves. They also operated several repair and conversions shipyards. They were maintaining the Blue Suns' respectable fleet and repairing ships for clients who did not want to show up in Citadel Space for one reason or another. Vido Santiago might have been a soulless bastard, but he had knack for making good business decisions. He knew exactly where and when to invest to get the best profit margin. The Blue Suns under his leadership had diversified from a rather straightforward private security company to a multi-planetary conglomerate that provided services that ranged from heavy industry to wholesaling pharmaceuticals and that's excluding their less-than-legal undertakings. Obviously, their most important and most invested branch was still the security, but others had been generating steady income over the years. If it were possible I would have kept Santiago as a Chief Financial Officer, but I knew that Massani would never agree to such a thing.
Still, it made taking control of the Blue Suns assets all the more crucial for my long-term plans. Their mining operations located here would provide us with a steady influx of raw materials. Their repair and conversion shipyards could be easily upgraded to fully-fledged construction docks if someone invested a respectable amount of money in it – and money was one thing which External Affairs Bureau had in spades. While I was certain that we would have the Blue Suns withdraw from their current undertakings in slave trading and smuggling illegal materials, their other branches would be maintained. Company owned heavy industry with the Confederacy's liquid assets and know-how would provide us with the stable base of operations in our future campaigns against the Batarian Hegemony and finally the Reapers. If the situation allows it, I would prefer to turn the Blue Suns into a quasi-government in parts of the Terminus Systems. As they said, it's better to deal with the devil you know and all that.
That was for the future, though. The ship we were currently infiltrating was named 'Omega Blue' and it was a former turian light cruiser. It was supposed to be decommissioned and scrapped early due to the problems with its mass effect drive core, but it was sold on the open market instead – Turian Hierarchy's administration despite its meritocratic approach was by no means free of corruption and greed. The Blue Suns purchased it on Vido Santiago's insistence, as he believed that as a Vice-CEO (or whatever he called himself these days) he should have his own flag vessel. The Blue Suns invested heavily in upgrading the armaments and armour of the cruiser and they even replaced the faulty drive core with a state-of-the-art engine. No matter what they did with the 'Omega Blue', though, it was no match for the technology that the Confederacy possessed – the difference between us and them was simply just that large. Warping in with the cloaked drone was child's play for Specialist Fahri.
Technological superiority or not, those were nerve-wracking hours all the same. The slightest mistake on our part could alert the security detail, force the vessel into a lock-down and send the alarm signal to other ships stationed in the area. Our job was to infiltrate the vessel quickly and decapitate the command center of the Blue Suns, by taking Vido Santiago hostage. If we succeeded in this mission, it would allow us a seamless transition of power, just like Vido did with Zaeed all these years ago. Blue Suns troopers were good at what they did, but they were loyal to the pay checks they received. They couldn't care less about the identity of the person that signed them.
Finally, Specialist Fahri signalled that she was done. We now had a holographic display on one of the briefing tables that showed us a simple map of the corridors in 'Omega Blue' mapped by the drone. Sergeant Aberswythe used it to mark places of interest such as areas suited for possible ambush and visible choke-points that would allow us to box in the Blue Suns security squads should they be alerted to our presence. Once we were done the Senior NCO gave me a silent nod and I turned toward Corporal Steven Kowalski – our covert infiltration specialist.
"Kowalski, you're up first. We will open the wormhole that will place you in the vicinity of our drone. From there you will proceed up to the bridge where our target is presently located. Maintain cover and avoid enemy contact unless there is no other choice."
I pointed at one of the corridors with a blinking dot.
"This is the insertion point. You will have support in the form of two additional cloaked drones with light weaponry. This is the basic route." A blue line indicating the straightest path toward the cruiser bridge was highlighted at my behest. "It will take you directly to the target. Once there you will give the signal for the rest of the squad to deploy. There are also alternative routes should the primary one was inaccessible." A green line and a red line appeared on our 3D-map. They were much less straightforward and thus less desired – time was of the essence.
"Is everything clear, corporal?" I asked, just to be sure.
Kowalski, ever the man of few words when on the job simply nodded.
"Crystal, el-tee."
Kowalski had foregone his light machinegun in lieu of suppressed weaponry – a PDW and a pistol. He also wore the light Interceptor Armor with an in-built cloaking device. As he stood in the middle of the loading bay I signalled Specialist Fahri to open the worm-hole. She didn't even look up from her screen as she manipulated her cloaked drone into one of the smaller rooms on board of 'Omega Blue' and activated the device.
The small worm-hole swallowed the crouching Kowalski, who appeared immediately on our 3D map in one of the storage rooms on the Blue Suns cruiser. His indicator started moving instantaneously along the blue line, only stopping a few times at the intersections.
I moved toward one of the screens which showed Kowalski's helmet feed. I was very impressed with his abilities as he expertly avoided all the cruiser's crewmembers. True, the Blue Suns felt quite confident seeing as they were among friendly ships and near one of their most important spaceports, but their security was still extremely lax. None of the mercenaries on guard duty left their posts, most of them either playing cards, talking or simply sipping on some beverages as Kowalski passed them by like a shadow. Even the vessels of the Confederate Merchant Marine, which had a reputation for being very liberal when it came to security measures, would not allow such an obvious lack of discipline. Obviously, it was one of the issues that should definitely be addressed if we succeed in our mission and re-establish Zaeed Massani as a leader of the Blue Suns.
In fact, their security was so relaxed that the good corporal didn't have to leave the designated pathway even once. As he crouched by the door he used his wrist-comp to access the holographic door lock. At the same time Gunnery Sergeant Polyakov uploaded one of her viral programs through Kowalski's wrist-comp to the Blue Suns network. It gave us direct access to their power grid, which we quickly used to turn off the lights on the cruiser's bridge and adjacent corridors and open all doors accessing the bridge. Through Kowalski's helmet feed we heard shouts of surprise and anger from the crew.
As Kowalski slipped through the now opened door we noticed Vido Santiago himself cursing and shouting at one of the ensigns.
"Another goddamn power cut! This is the third time this week! Get on the horn with the fucking engineering and tell them that if they can't fix it properly, then they can all look for new jobs starting tomorrow!"
Kowalski reached one of the corners of the room and gave us the signal we agreed upon earlier. He whispered through his subvocal receptor, "Code Jessie is a go. I say again – Jessie is a go." I decided to name our small combat op 'Jessie' in honour of Massani's infamous Avenger rifle. It just seemed fitting.
This time there were seven more wormholes appearing around the sides of the cruiser's bridge, as we all went in apart from Specialist Fahri who maintained drone overwatch and Gunnery Sergeant Polyakov who kept eye on the cruiser's power grid. The moment we all appeared inside the command room Gunny Polyakov accessed the vessel's VI and closed all doors to the bridge. Two shots were fired – Sergeant Major Aberswythe and Corporal Freeman took down two armed guards – a turian and a human – that were stationed on the bridge. I stood up from my crouching position and said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear me.
"Everybody, drop your weapons now!"
The Blue Suns naval crew did not have to be told twice, after registering what happened to two security guards. Their paychecks did not cover dying when they were given an option to surrender. The closest to me – a young batarian navigator – dropped his pistol like a hot potato and knelt on the floor without any hesitation. He blinked owlishly at me with all four of his eyes, clearly fearing for his life. It almost made me laugh, but I also felt sorry for the lad. After making sure that my squad had everything covered I said to him quietly.
"Don't worry, mate. We're not here for you."
The batarian navigator nodded dumbly, fear in his eyes replaced with hope that maybe, just maybe, he might survive this crappy day.
I left him on the floor and approached Vido Santiago. Contrary to Zaeed's contemptuous opinion of him our target did not cower behind any bodyguards and he didn't seem to be afraid of us, despite our sudden appearance. He was also clearly unfazed by the fact that we'd just seized his bridge crew as hostages, preoccupied with eyeing our unfamiliar weaponry and armour. He gave me a calculated look as he addressed me with a lazy drawl.
"If this was your idea of getting my attention, then you succeeded. Blue Suns need people like you in our ranks, mister. We can offer you and your team a competitive salary, full health coverage, possibility of further promotions and as much coffee and booze as you can drink every day."
His sales pitch was actually pretty good and I had to give props to a man who would not give up on recruiting you, even when you held a knife to his throat. I answered with a short laugh.
"As interesting as it sounds, Mr. Santiago, I'm afraid that I have to refuse."
"You seem to know me, but I don't know you, mister…"
"It's Lieutenant Dubois." I supplied helpfully. "And we are here on behalf of someone who is just dying to meet you again. He's an old friend of yours I believe, and he will be joining us shortly, Mr. Santiago."
The timing couldn't be more dramatic even if I tried. As I was saying that, a large worm-hole formed in the middle of the room and Zaeed Massani stepped out of it. He still wore his rusty armour and his eyes shone with the fire of well-controlled anger. He had his Jessie mounted on the back of his armour and he held his pistol in his right hand. He gave me a quick look, but I didn't know whether he recognized me in my full body armor. He slowly approached Santiago's armchair. Vido's eyes widened in recognition and for the first time this evening I saw something akin to fear in them.
"Well, well, laddie. It seems like you made good on your word after all."
There was no grand ceremony, no famous last words and not even the last cigarette – this was not Zaeed Massani's style. He simply walked up to Vido Santiago, raised his pistol and put two bullets in both of his eyes – probably for the sake of irony. Two sharp shots rang out in the in the confined space of the cruiser's bridge, but neither us nor Blue Suns flinched. Each of the pellets came out of the back of the mercenary's head with blood and brain-matter splattering the wall behind him. Santiago's body slid off the chair and I saw a large puddle of blood forming on the floor. Out of habit I came up to Santiago's body and checked for a pulse on his carotid artery. I wasn't surprised to find none.
As I turned toward Massani I saw that he had his pistol aimed at me now. Out of the corner of my eye I saw half of my squad shift their assault rifles and aim them at the old mercenary.
"You just can't take 'no' for an answer, can you Dubois?" Zaeed was aiming at me, but he sounded more amused than angry.
"What can I say Mr. Massani? I guess I'm like a bad penny."
"I admit that at first I wanted to break your neck, just on principle, Dubois. But then I took some time to process this mind meld bullshit and well – those Reapers don't sound very friendly somehow. And I admit that the squad you have here are proper professionals that can deliver."
He eyed Santiago's cooling body and said.
"You got me my revenge and I can see that you want to put me back in charge of the Blue Suns. It would be awfully ungrateful of me not to help you out now. After all, how often can you save the world, lieutenant?"
'You would be surprised, Mr. Massani,' is what I silently thought. Nonetheless, I smiled at him as he lowered his pistol and attached it to his hip. My men lowered their weapons as well, but they still kept their eyes peeled to all the entrances to the bridge. If I ever had any doubt that they were the best squad in the whole brigade, they were gone now. I was also updated by the Specialist Fahri, who monitored the corridors that some of the Blue Suns security sections joined us, standing outside of the doors . They were stacked up by the entrances, but they did not appear hostile so far and they did not enter the room.
Zaeed seemed to be aware of the precarious situation we found ourselves in. He turned to one of the crewmembers who cowered by the communications console.
"Who is in charge here, soldier? Who was Santiago's second in command?"
The redheaded human female stammered at that.
"Uh, that would be, uh Commander Tarak. He is in charge of the Acheron District, sir."
Zaeed nodded thoughtfully and said to me with a grin.
"That's good. I've met him a few times and he's a good officer, for a batarian. At least Santiago had enough brain to place someone competent in charge of the operations here."
The name Tarak sounded mildly familiar, but I would have to check my tablet later to confirm it. I signalled my team to watch the door, and allowed the bridge crew to return to their stations. We had stripped them of their sidearms by now – they might have been cowed so far, but they still outnumbered us by a rather large margin. There were also the security detachments still standing by the door to worry about. If we let them overpower us before Zaeed managed to re-establish himself as a clear successor to Vido Santiago then all we'd done here would be for naught.
Meanwhile, Zaeed turned back to the woman he was talking to. She sat back at her communications console and watched him expectantly. The old mercenary checked his omni-tool.
"Are you the Communications Specialist here?"
"Yes sir, Comms Operator, Corporal Tabitha Rakehal, Signal Corps."
"Alright, Corporal Rakehal, call Commander Tarak and put him on my line. I have to inform him that a small changeover had occurred in the company's top management. From this day onwards Zaeed Massani takes Vido Santiago's position as Co-Executive Officer of the Blue Suns."
So Santiago's position was just that of a Co-Executive? Although seemingly a demotion from his previous duties it actually made a lot of sense. By placing the batarian – Solem Dal'Serah – in the spotlight, as he did after removing Zaeed from the company, Vido could still have influence over the executive decisions. But unlike his batarian counterpart he remained in a relative obscurity and out of harm's way. In addition, the batarian executive would be an incentive for other Hegemony mercenaries to join up with the Suns and they could be put to tasks that humans or turians would refuse to do. Santiago had it pretty well planned, I had to admit.
I took a moment to look around the bridge and I noticed that a few of the ranking mercenaries did not seem too happy with Zaeed putting himself in charge. I could hazard a guess that many of them remembered the circumstances under which the veteran mercenary was expulsed from the Blue Suns. Zaeed was respected among the old guard for his initial contributions to the company, but it was Vido's leadership and business sense that brought the Blue Suns wealth and prosperity. I was also sure that his objection to hiring batarians in force did not endear him to the aliens. If Zaeed tried to purge the Blue Suns of non-humans they would resist him.
Nevertheless, whatever happened now, it was out of my hands. My squad and I put Zaeed Massani in a position where all he had to do was grab the figurative crown lying in the gutter (or rather in Vido's blood and brain-matter). I hoped that the old mercenary had enough sense to alleviate the fears of the Blue Suns, as we could hardly afford the manpower drain or, even worse, the open conflict. At the moment the mercenary troopers didn't seem hostile, but everything depended on how Zaeed handled his conversation with Das'Maral Tarak, commander of the Acheron (LV-426) Military District.
Corporal Rakehal opened comms for the bridge of the other Blue Suns vessel. On the screen in front of Massani appeared the face of a batarian officer. I wasn't affluent in knowledge of batarian physiology by any stretch, but even I could recognize in Tarak the veteran that he was. I also remembered him as the batarian officer who was in charge of hunting down Garrus Vakarian, when he was the Archangel on Omega. Tarak wasn't looking at the camera at the moment, as he was speaking to someone off-screen. He was in the middle of the sentence when the audio caught up.
"… Don't know what happened there. There is a complete comms blackout aboard 'Omega Blue'. I want an armed team on stand-by. If we can't hail them in ten minutes we are sending our men in."
"That won't be necessary, Tarak." said Massani.
"Belay that order!" The batarian barked at his unseen subordinate not noticing the opened channel yet. "I've got someone from 'Omega Blue' on the horn. Whoever's there, identify yourself!"
Tarak took a single look at his own screen and did a surprised double take as his eyes widened comically.
"Zaeed?" He asked incredulously.
"No. I'm the geth and I just came from beyond the Perseus Veil." The old mercenary answered sarcastically to an astonished batarian and added smugly.
"This 'Omega Blue' is a fine ship. The discipline among the crew is a bit on the loose side, but nothing that Massani Boot Camp wouldn't fix." It seemed like the marine detachment of the cruiser was in for a world of pain and misery.
"What are you doing on 'Omega Blue'? Last I heard you were blowing up bases in Terminus Systems? Where is Vido Santiago?"
Zaeed gave a quick look to Santiago's lying body and answered wryly.
"Seeing as I'm here and he's not you can take a wild guess where he is. Let's get to the point, Tarak. I have a team that is currently in control of the bridge and Santiago is dead. I could simply take what is mine, all of Vido's liquid assets and leg it. But I started the Blue Suns with that bastard and I still care about this bloody company. I received a very lucrative proposal that would put a new wind to us. And by that I mean to all of us – including you, Tarak."
I could nearly see the cogs in batarian's head starting to turn as he processed what Zaeed told him. Tarak leaned into the camera and said shortly.
"Explain."
"There are certain people that are willing to throw money at us and all we have to do is withdraw from our few less-than legal ventures. I am talking a proper and long-term government contract, Tarak! Forget scrapping it together from guarding fat businessmen and their bitchy daughters! Forget smuggling slaves and guns for those smug lowlifes in Terminus! The Blue Suns could finally be all that we ever wanted it to be."
But Tarak remained unimpressed.
"I respect you, Zaeed. You started this company and everyone that matters knows that. But Vido gave us a good run. We've grown big and we're only growing bigger now, government contracts or not. And I didn't forget that if you stayed in the company I wouldn't be where I am now." He finished on a cold note, his face serious.
Tarak had actually made a good point and I was curious to see how Massani handled himself. Zaeed's refusal to hire batarians in numbers was still a sore spot for many of them and they now constituted about a third of the total workforce. I could see that all Blue Suns aboard the 'Omega Blue', and probably on Tarak's vessel as well, were listening intently right now. I kept my fingers crossed for Zaeed, but I was beginning to wonder whether I'd bet the house on a right horse in this race.
Meanwhile, my horse growled and gave a good impression of an angered tiger.
"We've all made mistakes in the past, Tarak. I was afraid that by hiring so many batarians we would become dependent on the Hegemony's goodwill. It didn't happen. Yeah, Santiago was right and I was wrong – even a broken clock shows the right time twice a day. I'm not here to dismantle everything you have built so far. I'm not even here to piss on Santiago's legacy – my beef was with him, not with his accomplishments. But I know that the Blue Suns have what it takes to be the best private fighting force in this goddamn Galaxy. Are you going to say no to the money, Tarak?"
The Commander of the Acheron Military District gave us all a contemptuous smile.
"You know me better than that, you old bastard. I was dealing in slaves, guns, Red Sand and teenage prostitutes. You know I'll do everything for good money – even become an honest citizen. You can count on my support, Massani. Many of the regional commanders still remember going to fight at your six as do I."
Everything seemed to be under control and I decided that it was a good time to interrupt their conversation with the issue that was bugging me.
"Commander Tarak, what about Solem Dal'Serah?"
I'd already taken off my helmet, seeing as we were out of danger at least temporarily and also so Tarak could see me clearly. As the batarian briefly looked at me with a raised eyebrow, I cursed, not for the last time, my youthful appearance.
"Is that some new boy-toy, Zaeed? I thought the asari were more of your thing." He asked with a chortle.
Zaeed barked a quick laugh and responded amusedly.
"It's Lieutenant Dubois. He is the one who pays our bills from this day forward. Don't underestimate the kid, though. He got a good drop on me and on Santiago too."
It appeared that by beating up the mercenary – which was actually more due to pure dumb luck, than any particular skill on my side – I'd gained some rep with him. I really missed my home sometimes; everything there was reasonable and normal and I didn't have to beat up people so they would give me the time of the day.
The batarian officer shrugged and responded to my question.
"Solem Dal'Serah? Zaeed and I can convince him. He doesn't care about the sources of the Blue Suns money as long as he can get a good fight once in a while and Vido delivered him just that. And if he doesn't want to play ball… well I was long overdue for a promotion."
At times the Blue Suns felt more like a Byzantine palace than a simple PMC. The last thing I wanted now was unnecessary bloodshed (it generated so much paperwork!), but if the push came to shove I would make Solem disappear. I simply nodded at the smiling batarian, acknowledging his idea.
It would be a real shame to kill Solem, though. As far as I'd read about him he was a solid field commander. Unfortunately, at the moment the commanders' loyalties were far more important than their skills. Solem Dal'Serah was in fact one of the Hegemony's golden boys back when he served in the Batarian Navy. He had an unfortunate habit of sleeping with the wrong women though, and that cost him his carrier when he bedded the daughter of an important Asari Matriarch. She agreed to avoid the public scandal under the condition that Dal'Serah would never again set a foot aboard the Hegemony ship, hoping to break the career of the horny, four-eyed bastard who'd deflowered her little princess. Fat load of good it did when Solem joined the Blue Suns where he was swiftly promoted by Santiago to a much higher position than he ever held in the Batarian Navy. Later on, the Matriarch's daughter ran away with him to the Terminus Systems and they were together since then, still going strong.
So yeah, call me a hopeless romantic, but I wasn't particularly keen on killing the man, even though he probably had tons of innocent lives on his soul.
Lost in my wandering thoughts I nearly missed the exchange between Tarak and Zaeed. Both men agreed to land their flagships and meet on the planet surface to discuss their plans in-depth. Both human and batarian turned in my direction and gave me a questioning look.
"We'll be there." I said simply.
I turned to Sergeant Major Aberswythe and said, "Let's bring the 'Coronado' around and get back on board."
As my squad swiftly gathered their bearings and returned weapons to the previously disarmed crewmembers I took a last look at Zaeed. He was still in a deep discussion with Tarak and he was completely immersed in his new task that he wasn't paying any attention to me. Two LOKI mechs came to the room to clean up the remains of Vido Santiago and the two shot security guards. As I looked at the Blue Suns slowly returning to their posts I felt like we'd finally achieved some small victory.
And if any of you are wondering how it feels to play the kingmaker, let me just tell you – it feels very damn satisfying.
END OF CHAPTER 7
A/N: So here it is, the conclusion of Chapter 7. There was a little bit of action in it, but mostly hard negotiation - as much with words as with bullets - but such is the life in the shady world of mercenaries. Stay tuned for more of Multiverse Effect and hope to see you again in Chapter 8!
Have a good one!