December 1st

09:43 OST

It was a bit crowded in the transport, what with ten people crammed in it, but the vibrations caused by the engines were soothing. The vehicle reminded me of the Kodiak a bit, but it was a good deal larger and was more aerodynamic shape, having a slightly pointed nose and soft edges.

The four other recruits and I were sitting toward the back of the shuttle, casting nervous glances between the four Blue Sun troopers in here with us, the view outside and each other. The tension between us had gone down a notch, but we still kept a safe distance away from one another. Everyone who had a helmet had put it on. Hyrn was alternating between fiddling with his aquamarine omni-tool and rocking back and forth. Javern was clenching and unclenching his fists, sparks of blue biotic energy forming around his hands. Vilnius would have appeared the perfect image of calm had he not been examining both guns in his possession for the smallest speck of dust. Brek was the only still one of us, his assault rifle on his lap and his unwavering gaze on the wall opposite.

I spent the first few minutes double and triple checking my suit, gun, omni-tool and programs. After that I tried closing my eyes and regulating my breathing. It seemed to work, because when the recruiter came out of the cockpit I wasn't shaking as much.

"Alright, ladies," he began, sounding exactly like I would imagine a turian drill sergeant would, "we found you a nice easy job. Apparently some idiots over in Zeta District decided to start their own little gang and shake down the locals. We normally wouldn't give a damn but they're starting to bother the shopkeepers and businessmen, people who pay us protection money. So, you're going to go in and 'convince' them to stop."

"How many members should we expect?" Vilnius queried in his usual neutral tone.

The barefaced turian made an approximation of a shrug. "Somewhere between ten and fifteen."

Outnumbered two to one at best. If they're a start-up, though, they probably don't have much in the way of equipment.

Javern spoke up next. "When you say 'convince', do you mean kill them?" He sounded slightly unnerved at the thought.

"It would be the easiest solution, but really we just want them to stop. However you manage that, you'll get paid regardless. But," he fixed us with a warning look, "if you say they're done and we hear they're not, you'll pay for it in more than credits."

No one asked anything else after that.

The turian turned to look outside and announced, "We're here."

The shuttle came up along the sheer side of a district I'd never been to before. It resembled a cross section of a bee hive, consisting of many streets and alleys that were cut vertically and exposed to the hollow inside of the asteroid. Walkways hung loosely from the 'ceiling' of the station and connected various portions of the district together. I recalled that a similar view was the first thing I saw when I first 'arrived' here. The transport flew in a bit lower until it came to a stop at a walkway.

The recruiter's omni-tool lit up, and simultaneously Vilnius', Hyrn's, Javern's and mine were pinged with a download. "I'm giving you the coordinates of their base. Last we heard they were all holed up in there. We'll be keeping an eye on you." We were all ushered out of the vehicle and onto the walkway. As soon as we were off the shuttle left.

I turned on my 'tool and look at the coordinates we'd been sent. From the look of it, the gang's base wasn't that far. I looked up at the others. Vilnius was also checking at the data we were sent. "It seems like they're two hundred meters in that direction," he tilted his head towards the buildings, "We can get there in a few minutes. First, we should get on the same comm frequency."

"Why?" Javern asked, sounding a little belligerent.

I couldn't see Vilnius' expression behind the helmet, but the look he gave the batarian biotic seemed disdainful. "So that we can communicate in combat without having to yell at each other." There were no more comments, and the turian sent us all a comm number that we tuned into. "Okay, can everyone hear me?" Everyone nodded. "Good." He started walking in the direction of the gang's base. The others and I followed him shortly after.

The neighborhood we were walking through was similar to Gozu District in many ways. It was filthy, with trash and grime on nearly every surface, and had very little light. The moldy, rancid smell was exactly the same, and had I not become inured to it over the months I might have gagged a little. The light breeze that was present within the hollow core of the rock faded away as we headed into the thick of the buildings that lined the asteroid's walls. Oddly enough, there were fewer people out on the street. If the gang did cause problems in this area, the locals might have started keeping away from here and staying inside.

I was more than a little uneasy with the fact that I was in an area I had never been to before with people who were most assuredly dangerous and with no way to get back to 'my' district, but what's done is done. There wasn't much I could do to change this now; the only thing left to do was move forward.

I shook myself out of my introspection and noticed Hyrn lagging a bit behind, looking at something on his oddly-colored omni-tool. I slowed my pace to walk next to him. "So," I began, making him twitch and glance up from his device to stare at me, "your omni-tool's a nice color. How'd you manage that?"

He was quiet, seemingly trying to gauge whether I was serious or not, but eventually responded. "I-It's a program I-I found on the s-store. Th-here's a lot o-of customization p-programs there."

That was news to me. I hadn't really looked in the store a lot and instead focused on making my own programs. "Really? Thanks, I'll check that out later."

He switched his gaze from his 'tool to me, then back again. If it were possible, he sounded even more hesitant when he spoke again. "U-um, i-if you don't m-mind me asking… h-how'd your omni-t-tool break?"

I guess there's no harm in it. "A guy was shooting at me. One of the shots hit my omni-tool."

Hyrn put down his arm and openly gaped at me. "D-Didn't you get s-shot?"

"Yeah." My side was aching from the walking but it hadn't reopened by the feel of it. I'd try to avoid damaging that side further, however much good that would do.

The salarian blinked at me rapidly, seeming shocked, before nodding and looking away.

Did I upset him? I didn't mean to.

Rather than push my new teammate for more conversation, I faced straight ahead and sped up.

After another minute we came up on a small two-story building made of the same metal alloy as everything else here, with a couple windows, a few side doors and one large door that looked big enough to fit a skycar in. It could almost pass for a typical sci-fi-esque house, were it not for the graffiti, bullet holes and scorch marks adorning the walls.

Vilnius stopped and led us off to the side of street, where we were out of the line of sight from the house. "The coordinates lead to that building."

Javern slightly leaned around the corner of the alley we'd ducked into to look at the house again. "You're sure? I don't see anyone around."

"Positive." Vilnius crossed his arms over his chest. "How are we going to do this, just go in and kill them?"

I'd rather not kill anyone.

I knew going in that it was part of the job.

But we don't have to kill them. We just have to make them stop.

Can we really make them stop without killing them? We go in and threaten them they'll attack us, no question. If we try to take them out non-lethally we're just putting ourselves at more risk, as they probably won't have the same moral compunctions. And if we manage to beat them without killing them and just tell them to stop they'll probably be back in business in under a week, pissing off the Blue Suns. It's safer all around to kill them.

It's just not something I want to do. I still remember the salarian sometimes; do I really want more of that?

I am trying to become a mercenary. If I can't handle killing people then I'm not going to get far.

It's not okay. This isn't right.

It doesn't have to be. It's just something that's going to happen. If the Blue Suns want someone dead, abstaining on my part isn't going to do jack shit. This way, I get a paycheck. I knew when I went to the meeting that something like this would happen.

It just didn't really sink in…

I've already killed someone to assure my own safety. In the end, this isn't very different.

I put a hand to the bullet hole in my side.

Don't hesitate.

I pulled myself out of my inner debate to see the rest of the rookies in similar thought, Javern staring at the ground, Hyrn wringing his hands and Vilnius tipping his head left to right, as though listening to the angel and devil on his shoulders.

Brek seemed indifferent. "Why not? It's faster."

"Brek." There was a quiet warning tone in the other batarian's voice.

Brek didn't speak up again.

Something about those few words they exchanged made me uneasy. He had seemed cold before, but now Brek was, without doubt or concern, advocating killing upwards of ten people. The pale batarian was making me more and more uneasy the longer I knew him. Fortunately it appeared that Javern had some semblance of a conscience and kept his friend in line.

I waited for the others to come to their decisions. Vilnius took the lead again. "I think it's best if we kill them. We're not going to intimidate them if they outnumber us by a factor of two each."

Javern nodded. "Yeah. And if we manage to scare them, who's to say they don't start again and get us all in trouble?"

"I-I don't k-know. K-Killing them seems… h-harsh." The dappled greenish-beige salarian winced a little at the word 'killing'.

I sighed. "Yeah, but it's our best option. Our safest option."

Brek nodded once.

It appeared that we had made a decision, with Hyrn completely outvoted.

"I suppose we should come up with a plan for attacking that place." I turned to Vilnius, who had been taking command so far and by the sound of it had the most combat experience out of all of us.

He poked his head around the wall we were behind to examine the house and then came back to us. "Well it looked like they're not expecting an attack; there are no guards or watchmen in the windows. There's a couple garbage bins around that'd make for decent cover and the doors look flimsy, one grenade would destroy them." He looked at each of us in turn, and I might have been able to hear the gears turning in his head. "I think I have a plan. Hyrn, you said you needed materials to make your explosives?"

"Y-Yes."

"How much do you have on hand?"

Hyrn pulled out a container from his belt that was slightly bigger than a water bottle and

looked at it. "U-Um, I-I don't know. A-A few o-ounces, maybe h-half a pound."

"What can you make with that?"

"A-A half-d-dozen mines. A l-lot of g-grenades. O-One really big b-bomb."

Vilnius tapped his talons on his thigh. "Make a bunch of mines. Make sure they're remote-detonation."

"O-Okay. W-Why?"

"We're going to stick one of them to that big garage door and put the rest in a semi-circle around it. Then, you're going to activate the one on the door, scaring the people inside and giving us a clean shot at them. The rest I want you to detonate only if someone tries to charge at us."

That's a smart plan.

Hyrn twitched a little but nodded and fired up his fabricator. Vilnius then focused on Javern and Brek. "Brek, I want you with me. We're going to move one of those dumpsters to the middle of the street and fire at them from there." Brek made no complaints about his assigned job. He seemed pleased. "Javern, do you think you could knock people out of cover, work crowd control?"

The impassive face of the helmet the batarian was wearing gave nothing away. "Sure."

"And you," I straightened a little when I realized Vilnius was addressing me. "I need you to shut down their weapons, shields and omni-tools for as long as you can. We need every edge we can get."

I nodded. "Got it."

"You two," he gestured at Javern and I, "should find some cover off to the side. Once Hyrn's done I'll set the explosives up and we will get into position. Brek, start moving a bin over, I'll join you soon."

There was a half-minute of quiet activity as I found an abandoned building with a good view of the target, Vilnius snuck up to the large door and planted the mines and the garbage dumpster was positioned in the street. Hyrn joined me in the building and Javern set up behind a convenient bit of architecture on the other side of the street. During that whole time none of the inhabitants of the house noticed us, but I saw someone pass by the windows once or twice and heard the sounds of loud music coming from within.

I checked over all of my equipment again and took a few steadying breaths.

It's okay. I'm not alone. I've got armor. I've got a gun. I am not on the defensive. I know the way out of here. They probably don't have very good equipment. They're not even going to be shooting at me. It's okay. It's still smarter than stabbing a krogan. Oh god, what if they have krogan fuck fuck fuck- CALM DOWN. BREATHE. It'll be okay.

I crouched by the window and readied my omni-tool. A few seconds later, Vilnius' voice came though the speaker in my helmet, icily calm.

"Go."

Hyrn, set up right next to me, pushed a button on his 'tool and there was an explosion followed by the sound of buckling and shredding metal. I peeked out the window and saw that the mine had destroyed the door completely. People were stumbling around inside yelling at each other, several batarians and turians along with what might have been an asari. I didn't wait for them to notice us, I started hacking any weapons or armor I could see. A few spotted Brek by the dumpster and tried to fire, but their guns were overheated and Vilnius picked them off with a few careful shots. I carefully buried my reaction to their deaths and forced myself to ignore the bodies.

The initial group went down quickly, but the next wave was far more prepared. They were all armed and armored, and were making use of the limited cover inside the house. It was harder for me to target their equipment, and the return fire was forcing Vilnius and Brek to keep down. Vilnius called out over the radio, "Javern, a little help?!" Suddenly a wave of blue energy grabbed one of the gang members and pulled him out from behind the table he'd been hiding behind. I quickly sabotaged his shielding and Brek finished him in a few shots. We utilized similar tactics to eliminate the rest of them. At one point it sounded like Vilnius had been hit, but he didn't say anything and kept firing.

Another group poured into the garage from deeper inside the house, this one having some turians, a salarian and a krogan. I immediately tried to take down the shields on the krogan's armor, but the salarian spotted me and with a wave of his omni-tool mine was forced into a shutdown. Fuck fuck fuck. "Fucker turned off my 'tool,", I shouted over the radio. I pulled out my pistol, but the subtle shaking in my hands I hadn't noticed before made it very hard to aim. The enemy salarian had his gun pointed at me and seemed to not have the same problem, so I ducked down behind the wall and heard bullets whiz just over my head.

I looked over at Hyrn, who had barely moved since the beginning of the combat, warily glancing out his window every few seconds. "You okay?"

He jumped and stared at me before merely nodding.

I heard my omni-tool chime as it came back online, and I looked through the window again. The turians were taking potshots from behind the furniture inside, while the krogan seemed perfectly at ease standing out in the open. His shields had gone down by the look of it, but he was shrugging off the gunfire like it was nothing. The salarian had lost interest in me and appeared to be trying to do something to Javern, who was refusing to come out of cover.

Seeing an opportunity, I waited until he tried to target the biotic again and hit him with my version of dampening and making his omni-tool sputter out. He glanced around with a scowl on his face before setting his sights on me. I wasn't quick enough this time and he fired two shots at my head. One hit my shield, but the second hit the left side of my face. I had ducked down felt along the left side of my helmet before the pain finally kicked in and it took everything I had not to scream.

God this fucking hurts why does it hurt so damn bad agh fuck damn bitch fucker!

Hyrn scurried over to me but I waved him away and he backed off, shooting me worried looks.

There was a sudden burst of activity over the radio; I could vaguely hear the voices coming from Hyrn's omni-tool and my helmet. The others had been making small comments throughout the fight, but I'd mainly tuned it out unless it pertained to me. This time I focused on it, wanting to distract myself. "Pull the tech out… salarian down. Focus on krogan now. Damnit, he's just ignoring us, Shawna, do something about his gun!"

Still nearly blinded by pain, I clambered up to the window and tried to see what was going on. The tech who had shot me was dead don't look don't think about it along with one of the turians, but the krogan was still standing. I fumbled with my omni-tool for a few seconds before managing to target his rifle and make it overheat. Instead of retreating, however, the krogan threw the useless gun aside and started to charge at Vilnius and Brek's cover. Vilnius was shouting over the comm again. "Hyrn! Blow the mines! Now!"

Hyrn hastily complied, and there was a thunderous boom and plume of smoke accompanied by a slightly squishy noise. When the smoke cleared the charred body of the krogan was visible. He was still wriggling and moving, but he seemed to be having difficulties with both his legs and one of his arms blown off. Pale orange blood pooled around his thrashing body. Look away, ignore, don't watch. One of the turians had been standing when the mines had gone off, and now he was on the ground bleeding out. The last one poked his head out to look at the carnage and was shot by Brek. Everything was silent.

I sat down again and took off my gloves and helmet so I could feel my cheek. It still hurt like hell, and I could feel blood running down my face and neck, but the wound felt shallow. I was about to call myself lucky when I traced the graze father back and felt what remained of my left ear.

My first thought was I'm glad my translator's on my right ear. My second thought was AH! Holy fuck my ear! It's practically gone! Holy fuck holy fuck shit what the hell?! That's not okay! That is so not okay with me!

I was just sitting there, in state of shock, when I heard low whimpers coming from a few feet next to me. I gingerly turned my head and saw Hyrn staring out the window. He was shaking twice as hard as usual, and a strange, sad crooning noise was coming out of his mouth. Eager to distract myself from my new lack of ear, I sidled over to him and gave him a nudge. "Hey."

He didn't respond. I followed his gaze out the window and to the krogan and turian that were lying dead in the street.

Why is- oh.

I grabbed the salarian by the shoulders and pulled him away from the window to face me.

"Hey, stop looking, you shouldn't watch."

His voice was hoarse and hollow-sounding. "B-B-But I-I-I-"

"I know. Don't look. Trust me." I pulled him farther away from the ghastly view. He didn't resist at all.

"H-He-He-H-He's s-d-de-ead-d." Hyrn's breathing was harsher now and his orange eyes were wild.

"Shh. Stop."

He tried to pull away from me. His speech was barely understandable at this point. "I-I-I k-killed h-hi-im. I-I Ki-illed th-them."

"Hey!" I grabbed him a little tighter. "Just listen to me, okay. Stop for a moment and breathe."

"Is he okay?" I nearly jumped when Vilnius' voice appeared right behind me. I hadn't even heard him enter the building.

My voice was a bit harsh from pain and worry. "No, he's not. He's just killed someone. What did you think he'd be, fucking happy?"

The turian walked into my sightlines and stared at what had been my ear. "Are you okay? That doesn't look good."

Hyrn was still muttering and fighting my grasp, and I had no patience whatsoever. "No shit, I lost an ear! Now, unless you're going to be helpful instead of asking dumb questions, go away!"

Vilnius' helmeted face offered no expression, but he left without a retort.

It took a while of holding him still and muttering meaningless comforts before Hyrn finally calmed down enough that I didn't think he'd run off and do something stupid like shoot himself. I heard two solitary shots coming from the house, but otherwise it was quiet. I picked up my helmet, walked out into the street and saw Brek, Javern and Vilnius sorting through a pile of weapons and miscellaneous objects. The turian was scanning each gun and commenting aloud.

"-six assault rifles and a sniper rifle. It looks like some of them have mods on them and different ammo blocks. The krogan had a sledgehammer block in his rifle, and the asari had several toxic-based blocks. The salarian tech had phasic rounds, I wonder where he found those?"

That would be how he got past my shield, the fucker.

I scanned the others for injuries. Javern was unharmed, but seemed a little shell-shocked, staring into space and looking nervous. Brek was a bit scraped up but was otherwise fine, not bothered at all by the violence. I hadn't noticed when he came to check on Hyrn and I, but Vilnius had gotten shot in his shoulder. It looked like he'd treated it himself with medi-gel. He appeared unconcerned, so I didn't bring it up. "What were those two shots?"

"There were two still alive." Vilnius didn't look up at me. I didn't need to hear more.

I felt at my ear again. The blood was clotting, but my ear had not miraculously reformed and it still hurt like a bitch. Goddamn, my ear. I can't believe… I just had an ear and now I don't. It was extremely surreal to have lost something I once thought was integral to my being. I wasn't sure how to feel.

It could have been worse. I could have lost an eye. I shuddered. That would have been horrible. I could have died. Also horrible.

The four of us looked over the weapons until a familiar shuttle flew over and landed a few yards away. The recruiter and his team exited the vehicle and looked the scene over. "Well, you got the job done." He looked slightly surprised. "Congratulations. You've been accepted into the Blue Suns."

[Edited 11/6/2017]