November 29th
I had stopped mid-transit from the clinic to the apartment complex and sat down, trying to figure out this universe's latest attempt to fuck me.
This was bad.
My omni-tool was barely functional. At most I could get it to work for a few seconds before it would freeze for the next two minutes. This would fuck everything up. I couldn't steal with this. I couldn't buy anything with this, even if I had the credits.
I was starting to freak out, but I stopped and took a few deep breaths.
I needed to get this fixed as soon as possible. I needed a method of getting credits quickly that would require little or no usage of my omni-tool.
There was only one thing I could think of, but it wasn't borderline crazy; it was taking a flying leap over the line between sanity and insanity. Stealing from the Eclipse again.
I couldn't believe myself, that I would let myself think that was at all viable. Stealing from the Eclipse nearly got me killed, it made me a target, it made them send someone after me-
Break line of sight, hack mechs, let them disable salarian.
The mechs came around the corner. My omni-tool was active and launched the hacking program the moment they appeared in my vision. The salarian was right behind them and ran in, placing himself between the two. They turned to him and began firing. The salarian was in shock and didn't take cover or fire back. His shields dropped in two seconds and his flesh was punctured eight times, three times in the torso, twice in the abdomen, once in the left thigh, once in the neck and once in the head. The trajectory of the shots caused a light blood spatter on the opposite wall and my clothes. The body slumped to the ground, and green blood pooled out from it. The mechs put their guns down and stood silently, awaiting orders. My world shattered.
Break line of sight, hack mechs, let them kill salarian.
-my throat was burning from stomach acid. I had thrown up.
I couldn't do it again. I couldn't put myself in that situation again. But I didn't know what else to do. I might be able to convince someone to hire me, but the probability was low and they likely wouldn't pay me in advance. Everything I could do that someone would hypothetically pay me for I needed to use my omni-tool for at some point.
…or my gun.
I had an idea. Not the best idea, but it was a superior idea to starting shit with the Eclipse again. After weeks of little sleep and increased target practice I had managed to reach an fourty percent hit rate. I was also in pretty decent shape, had a good set of armor that I could take on and off with ease and knew how to move in. I could try signing up with the Blue Suns. I didn't know what the procedure was or what the pay was like, but it was worth looking into.
I decided that tomorrow I was going to stop by their representative and ask some questions, but today I was going to sleep as much as I could. I would need to be sharp if I was going to try my hand at being a mercenary.
December 1st
The representative said that they were currently hiring and that I should go to the screening with any armor and weapons I had. So here I was, pacing in front of the building he told me to be at 08:15.
If at all possible, I liked to be early. And my omni-tool was still unreliable, so better safe than sorry.
I was in my armor, helmet collapsed and attached to my lower back. My pistol was on my left hip. My right side felt incredibly sore, but there were no fresh blood spots on the bandages after all this time and the armor helped protect it from unnecessary bumps or jolts.
The armor was helpful for other things too. As I had been getting in it this morning, I attached my gun to it for the first time. When I did, a status indicator popped up on the HUD for it, as well as a targeting reticule. Feeling that I had done something very dumb, I went to my practice range with my helmet on and fired twelve shots. Eight of them hit almost perfectly, one missing by an inch and the other three by three inches.
The facepalm that commenced afterwards lasted at least fifteen seconds.
I spent several moments ranting about how stupid I was to forget the HUD and the armor's targeting VI and just how much time I had wasted and why couldn't I have thought about this before and various other tangents. Eventually I calmed down and simply decided to wear the helmet from now on if I was intending on using my gun.
All of this did mean I felt slightly better about my chances for getting in if my accuracy rating was closer to sixty percent than forty.
I was turning to start another lap of pacing when I saw some people coming my way. Two batarians. One was in armor that looked like a medium Gladiator pattern and had an assault rifle on his back. The other was lightly armored in the same model and didn't have any visible weapons. I suspected he was either a tech expert or a biotic. They seemed to know each other and walked close together. They stopped at the front of the building and leaned against the wall to wait, casting glances at me while I paced. I did my best to ignore them.
A few minutes later a salarian showed up. He seemed more nervous than I was, because he was twitching at every noise and stared at the rest of us like we'd pull out our guns out any moment. He had no armor and one pistol. For his sake I hoped he was either very good with it or had something else up his sleeve.
Shortly after the salarian a turian appeared. He was wearing a dark, thick plated armor I didn't recognize and had an assault rifle and what looked like a sniper rifle. He looked over everyone present with a calculating glance and went to stand a few feet away, perfectly still and observant.
We all waited; me pacing, the batarians quietly talking to each other, the salarian twitching and the turian silently watching. One minute before 08:15, another turian came up. This one had an obvious swagger to him, his chin held high. He wasn't wearing any armor, but he did have a rather large shotgun.
The newcomer sauntered up to the only other turian there and tried to start a conversation which the quieter turian rebuffed; pointing out that the door was open.
I stopped my pacing and looked to see that the door was indeed open. Wanting to avoid causing any collisions, I waited until everyone else had entered before I followed them in. Inside, the building appeared to be completely empty besides a desk in the far left corner and five armed Blue Sun troopers. Three of them were turians; the other two were either humans or batarians. All but one of the turians had helmets on. The unhelmeted turian was standing in the middle of the room. His plates were a light tan color, but he had no colonial insignia. That made me pause slightly, and I saw one of the turians ahead of me pause as well.
If I remembered correctly, turians believed that 'barefaced' turians were untrustworthy, synonymous with being a politician. Saren was barefaced. It was an interesting tidbit, but ultimately unimportant.
The prospecting mercenaries lined up in front of the turian, and I followed along. The tan turian spoke, sub-harmonics low and gravelly, "This is a screening for joining the Blue Suns, if you're not here to join get out now." No one left. "Alright then. You." He pointed to the unarmored turian. "Step forward."
The turian practically swaggered over to the tan turian. "I'm here to sign up. You won't regret it." His voice even sounded arrogant.
The tan turian's left mandible twitched. "Mm-hmm. What combat experience do you have?"
"Oh, plenty. I take my baby," he gestured to the shogun on his back, "down to the firing range all the time!"
"I didn't ask if you'd been to a firing range. I asked if you had combat experience." The older-sounding turian seemed unimpressed with the other turian's showboating.
This put the younger turian off, but he regained his confidence quickly. "Well, I haven't shot at anyone before but that's because people are too scared to mess with me! I make up my lack of experience with skill."
Apparently the recruiter had enough, because he suddenly had his pistol out and pointed at the boastful turian. He hesitated for a second, in which the younger of the two didn't respond, and then he fired one shot that grazed a cheek.
The unarmored turian grabbed at his wound with his hands and cursed colorfully, probably in a good deal of pain. The tan turian watched his victim writhe dispassionately. "Get out of here, kid." He didn't need telling twice, he just brushed past the rest of us as he left. The barefaced turian pointed to the batarian in medium armor. "Next."
The batarian went to stand in front of the turian. Unlike the last candidate, he said nothing, waiting for the recruiter to start.
"Do you have combat experience?"
The batarian answered in an even and measured tone. "Some."
The recruiter seemed less testy now that he had someone who wasn't an ass. "What weapons do you know how to use?"
"I know how to use my rifle."
"Have you killed anyone before?"
"Yes," answered the batarian, who seemed to prefer to use the least amount of words possible.
The turian nodded. "Go stand over there." He indicated to the area behind him. The batarian went to stand in the back, expression unchanged. The recruiter pointed at the other batarian. The lighter-armored batarian approached slower than his friend, appearing wary.
"Do you have any combat experience?"
"Pretty much the same as my friend over there." He nodded his head to his fellow who had already passed.
"What weapons do you know how to use?"
"I haven't used a gun before, but I'm a biotic." He briefly flared blue to validate his statement.
The turian seemed pleased. "A biotic batarian? That's rare. Now, have you killed anyone before?"
"…maybe," he said, sounding a little uncertain. "I might have hit this one guy hard enough to snap his neck, I never went back to check."
The turian pointed his thumb behind him, and the biotic went to join his friend.
The recruiter motioned that the salarian was next. He was a ball of nerves, practically vibrating with anxiety. The turian looked at him a while.
"Calm down." The salarian seemed to shake less. "Now, do you have any combat experience?"
"N-no."
The turian's mandibles lowered slightly. "What weapons do you know how to use?"
"I-I can use my p-pistol. I-I al-lso know how t-to rig ex-xplosives and I c-can hack a bit."
This made the turian happier. "Okay then. Have you killed anyone before?"
"N-no."
The recruiter hesitated, but eventually waved the salarian in. Next up was the turian with the sniper rifle. My stomach suddenly knotted up when I realized that I was next up after him. I had a strong urge to just walk away. Rejection here seemed to come with a bullet graze on the cheek, and I couldn't afford more medical bills. But I couldn't afford to leave either. I needed the money.
The older turian began his questioning. "Do you have any combat experience?"
His voice was low and quiet. "I was in boot camp for a year."
This caught the recruiter's interest. "What weapons did they train you in?"
"Assault rifle, sniper rifle and pistol."
The tan turian's mandibles twitched in what I was guessing was a smile. "And have you killed anyone before?"
"Yes."
The recruiter nodded, and the black-armored turian went to the back of the room. My stomach was twisting itself into double-helixes now. Seeing as I was the last one, I didn't wait to be called and walked up to where the others had been.
The barefaced turian, whose green eyes I could finally see from up close, looked me over. "Do you have any combat experience?"
The adrenalin burst I felt in combat rushed through me, and I was somehow able to answer the question calmly. "I've been in a few firefights." Perfectly true.
"What weapons do you know how to use?"
"I know how to use my pistol, and I have several combat programs on my omni-tool. It's malfunctioning right now, though."
"Have you killed anyone before?"
The icy calm I had been holding on to before shattered and suddenly all I could see was green blood everywhere and the body falling and-
The recruiter was pointing his gun at me, within the protective barrier of my shields. Everything froze over again and almost in slow motion I watched myself simultaneously knock his gun hand to the side while pulling out my own. I started to point the barrel at his head, but with a sudden jerk I aimed for the arm holding the gun instead. He stepped back in the split second it took me to fire; making my shot hit his shield. I nearly fired again, but the turian put down his gun and backed off. I didn't take my eyes or my gun off of him. He was unperturbed.
"Good reflexes. Aimed for a non-lethal shot, though. At least you pulled the trigger." He gave me a piercing look. "You have killed before, haven't you?"
I lowered my pistol. My voice was soft but it carried through the room. "Yes."
He nodded at me. "You're in."
[Edited 3/4/2017]