Today is February 5th 2168 CE It has been a month since the mission that destroyed our team and today is finally the day of Polnia Agnian's funeral. We traveled to Palaven and I'm currently pushing Destia along in her wheelchair, since she still needs time to recover. We both take our places and sit through the funeral to pay our respects. Multiple people come up to speak, some family and some officers that knew her creating a mix of heartfelt speeches and generic ones. Before long the official ceremony is over and everyone is getting ready to leave when I'm suddenly stopped by two Turians, a man and a woman.
"Hello, may we have a word with you? You're Vakarian correct?" The male says as I nod before letting go of Destia's chair and turning around.
"Yes, I am, is it ok if she stays with us? She's still injured from the mission." I say with a neutral tone as I look at them and see their facial marking, the same as Polnia's. "I'm assuming you're the commander's parents?"
"Yes, and of course she can stay, I'm not going to force you to send her on her own." He says as I look at him and the mother and I can see and feel the pain they're going through.
Destia speaks up at this "No sir, it's fine I can wheel myself back to the station, I'll see you there Velius." I move to her quickly and press my head to hers for a moment before letting her go, I can only assume she didn't want to potentially intrude on what these two have to say.
"I'm incredibly sorry for your lost... she was an incredible commander and a remarkable soldier. I truly wish there was more we could have done." I say attempting to as respectful as possible to the two grieving parents.
He nods before speaking once more and I can hear is sub harmonics strained and pained as he does. "Thank you, but frankly we've heard that a thousand times today, we're actually here on account of Polnia, for multiple reasons in fact." He says as the mother speaks up.
"Yes, Polnia talked to us often even while she was out and moving, she talked to us as much as she could about things that weren't classified. One of the things that came up often, is you Vakarian." I feel my brow raise in confusion at this, I know we talked a bit but I didn't think I was too notable, that wasn't my plan at least. My thoughts are broken as I respond.
"Really? I feel surprised about this and honored, I can only hope she said good things, it would be a shame if I turned out she gave you two her frustration about me" I say attempting a small joke that gets a chuckle from the two.
"No nothing like that, if anything she had praise, though she did call you often a weird and confusing Turian." I chuckle at that news, not too surprised. "But the most notable thing she said was that in the future she saw you being a true leader, both in peace and crisis." I feel taken back at that, that's high praise and one I wasn't expecting.
"Thank you, ma'am hearing that she had that praise for me is an honor, and I will do my best to live up to it." They nod as the father pulls out a sheathed weapon that I recognize.
"She did have a request that she told us long ago, she told us this when she received this weapon. She said that no matter what that she wanted to never be forgotten and to leave a legacy, so she said if she died to give her Talon to someone who deserved it and could be trusted." He put the impressive sword in my hands and I feel it, even though the scabbard and he continue. "She spoke great things about you and I could feel that she expected great things from you, and I feel the same just from speaking with you, call it a hunch but I feel like you will put this blade to good use."
I can't help but pause for a moment, dumbfounded at this honor. "Thank you so much sir, I swear on my spirit that I won't disappoint you or the commander." He nods before patting my shoulder.
"I trust that you won't, so keep her memory alive." That's the last thing he says before he and Mrs. Agnian leave, and I'm left holding this sword and I know that I'll keep her memory alive, I have to.
I make my way to the station and find Destia, the sword and scabbard in my hand as we prepare to make our way back to the Citadel. "Did they give you that sword?" I nod and sit next to her as we get on the ship as I let out a breath, I didn't know I was holding.
"Yes, it's Polnia's sword apparently, she didn't want it to just be put away and rust, she wanted to keep in use, so her parents chose me, they decided to trust me with her weapon in hope I'd put it to good use.
"I'm sure you will Vel" I nod as hold onto her chair, unable to really embrace her while she's in the chair as we sit through the ride and take a long rest after an emotional evening.
March 16th 2168 CE
So, it's been about five months now and Destia has returned to working, with a few restrictions, mainly being that she can't do field work and is stuck being a ship medic, I can tell it's eating away at her since she can't leave the ship she's been stationed on.
"I'm able to walk and move without problem now so I don't know why they won't let me into the field like before." I say as she's currently video calling me as I sigh and respond.
"Well I can say this much, you've only been walking for about two months now so you're still a bit fresh, and besides I can see your body shaking as you stand right now." She notices her shaking body and sits down giving me an annoyed look. "You know for a medic you really don't pay attention to your own health." I say with a joking manner giving her a smile.
"Oh yeah laugh it up, but I guess that's fair, I just hope they let me onto the field soon, I'm getting locked up so badly I feel like a Quarian in their suits." I raise a brow at the comparison which is quite amusing for some reason. "Anyway, it looks like I'm being called so I'll be stuck working for a while on two idiots that decided to fight, so I'll talk to you later, love you. Vel."
"Love you too Destia." I say as the call ends and I sit back and let out a sigh as I look at the walls of my work room that are riddled with ideas and blueprints, the main ones being the two weapons I developed. Since they're the first of their kind I took the liberty of naming them. I pick up the weapon in the form of a rifle with the word Valkryie engraved on the side, activating a program on my omni-tool I watch the rifle shift and turn into a sniper as I see the longer range scope come out and look down the sights to make sure it works correctly before returning it to its rifle form and putting it down. I then pick up my pistol and look the word Rapture engraved on the grip of the weapon, I make it transform as well and hold it with two hands as I completes the change into a shotgun. "These two turned out well."
I put it down it watch as it turns back into a pistol as I look at the prototypes currently scattered on the floor half of them stuck mid-way and mistakenly developed, it took a bit of time and practice but I was finally able to create those two, sighing as I look at the ceiling. "I need to relax." After leaving the military I'm currently devoting all my time to preparing and developing myself for the hard battle against the Reapers. "I feel disgusting." I say before getting up and taking a shower.
About an hour later I grab my Rapture and conceal it before walking out onto the Citadel wards in my simple hoodie and pants and checking my account to see how many credits I saved up and see I only have about 5,000 credits and given that my rent is 500 credits a month I only have about ten months' worth of rent left, I walk into Flux just needing a little bit of time to get my mind off the preparation for devastation. As my thoughts are racing, I take my seat and order a light drink, not wanting to get blackout drunk, especially not alone.
For a few hours I have a few shots and sit back to enjoy the music that is the classic electronic music Mass Effect is known for in their clubs. While I'm sitting and relaxing with my eyes closed, I don't even notice a scarlet haired woman sit next to me. "Hey there bud you still alive?" I hear a small chuckle after that.
"I would hope so, it would be a shame to be dead and not know it." I say before opening my eyes to see who is currently talking to me, and I have to contain my shock and mild panic. Before me I see goddamn Commander Shepard nearly looking like the classic Female Shepard, we all know aside from her deep purple eyes and long styled hair compared to the normal short hair she rocks for default.
"I would have to agree with that, though it's a bit unusual to see someone sleeping in Flux, unless they're knocked out drunk." I nod unable to dispute this as I see she already has the N7 hoodie that was a personal favorite of mine in the games.
"Very true, I suppose I have to ask what brings you here, I'm guessing you're like most of the people here and simply bored and was searching for a bit of fun." I say as I see Flux is actually quite vacant today before looking back at Shepard wanting to learn as much as I can about her.
"Yep, finally got some shore leave, been too damn long in my opinion." Ok, good she brought up military before me that makes my job easier.
"Oh? You're in service? I suppose that makes sense with the N7 hoodie you have, so what are you? A Commander?" I say trying to find out just where Shepard is in her career and I can see her brow raise clearly curious about me asking for her rank.
"Nope, still a Lieutenant, what are you? Only fair I know your rank since you asked mine." She says as she leans forward intrigued and I give a light chuckle.
"I'm nothing special, in fact I left already, I was only a Corporal though." I say hoping that satisfies her curiosity. "Also, yes, I know it's strange for a Turian to leave so early, but I just felt like I had a different purpose." I say trying to cover my bases.
"Well I suppose you're a unique one." Her omni-tool suddenly dings and she takes a look before letting out a loud groan of annoyance.
"Duty calls?" I say as she nods and pushes her glass back to the bartender.
"Yep, only two days of shore leave and now they think we need to get back to work, I suppose I can't complain too much." She says before getting her stuff and pausing for a moment. "Oh, right that reminds me, what's your name, I'm Cassandra Shepard." I stand up and realize our height difference as she can't be more than 5ft 5in while I'm 7ft.
"I'm Velius Vakarian, it was nice to meet you Shepard." I shake her hand before she takes off and I let out a sigh hoping I didn't fuck myself over somehow in the future.
I return home and lock the door before taking my hoodie and shirt off before laying down in the bed as think about what to do next, checking my omni-tools before remembering the current plan. "That's right, I need to go to Omega." I say before falling asleep and moving onto the next day.
"I wake up about nine hours later oversleeping a little as I get up and do my morning routine, not having to deal with bed hair is very nice I have to say. I finish my morning and gather my equipment taking a breath after yesterday's run in with Shepard. Putting on my armor as I make sure to lock my door behind me and making sure everything is working properly, calling out Flint and Patriot as I check their systems. "You two working well?" Flint pops out his shield in response and Patriot simply flaps his wings rapidly to say yes. "Great!" I call them both back, with the addition of a second omni-tool I was able to summon both of them without overloading my systems.
I travel to the station and pay for a trip to Omega, it takes about a half day of travel but I finally arrive, the ship quickly leaves afterword and I start to walk into what is arguably a circle of hell in space.
"Hey! Turian, have you paid the fee?" I hear as I look to my left and see a two Humans and a Salarian, god I didn't want to deal with this first thing.
"Yeah, I paid the damn ship, as far I as remember I don't remember you being a part of that." I say as look at the three and see their low tier equipment, I could just kill them but I would rather not kill three people first thing on this damn place.
"Don't you know? Eclipse is taxing everyone who comes onto the station, and those who don't listen" He pulls out his pistol and shoots the ground in a poor attempt to make his point as I simply sigh.
"Fine, I don't want trouble here you go." I say getting closer before messing with my omni-tool and sending out a mass overload shocking the three of them as I break the Salarian's helmet with Polnia's Talon and knock his head into the wall before kicking the other human in the knee to force him down before taking shocking him harshly with two omni-tasers, leaving just the leader as he finally recovers but before he can even point his gun at me my Rapture is point straight at the back his head.
"You know you would have been more convincing if you hadn't brought of the Eclipse, your armor barely looks like theirs, you're lucky I don't feel like killing you three as a welcoming move, so take your buddies and fuck off." I say as he quickly leaves his friends behind and runs away. "What a surprise." I say as I activate a program on my omni-tool and see it work as I see 500 credits add to my account. "Wow a little hacking program and I can already pay an extra month of rent." I move on as I get into a relatively safe area which happens to be the Afterlife club.
Once I walk in, I can see multiple eyes looking at me, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised both a newcomer and a person with shiny black armor and helmet. I find a seat and start to work on my omni-tool as I figure out a plan. My main reason for being here being investigating The White Death, and there's one person I can think of that's basically guaranteed to know something about them, Aria T'Loak. I spend about an hour inside the Afterlife as I get a plan, if I gain a name and reputation word should spread to Aria and give me the chance to talk to her.
So, I got to work, I try to remember the layout of Omega from the games, though that's not extremely reliable due to the jump in size compared to the games. I look around in the area outside the Afterlife and notice some blood covered armor, mainly Vorcha which means Blood Pack. I don't mess with the Vorcha as I search for a certain group of people that I want to gain info on as I walk around deeper into Omega and finally spot them, Blue Suns.
They're my best bet to get started and gain info, I know that even their recruits take part in smuggling and illegal trades and we all know that recruits tend to be the biggest talkers. I walk over to the group that's discussing something I can't quite hear yet spotting at least five different Turians. I move and get nearby and look busy as I pretend to work on my omni-tool as I listen in.
"All ready recruit? Don't be an idiot and follow orders and everything will go smoothly." I hear him say as I slip Patriot out where nobody can see him as I see Patriot activate his new cloak as I assume direct control of him. It seems I caught the end of the conversation since they quickly leave after the obvious leader.
I keep Patriot following after them at a higher height keeping him close to the ceiling as they go into a warehouse, I search and mark everyone inside, totaling at 20 men, it seems that the five I found was actually four recruits and that leader was giving a pep talk. In the warehouse stands at ten Blue Suns and ten of looks like Aria's men if I had to guess. I cloak Patriot once more before sending him close by but still covered as I listen in, closing my omni-tool as I get out of the open and get closer to the warehouse, looking around to make sure attention is off me as I climb up and get onto the roof of the warehouse searching around for a entrance as I hear them speak.
"So, are these the packages Aria ordered for?" The Turian in front nods as he opens one of the packages which seems to be an order of weapons mods most clearly being illegal, he then opens a second package that contains a drug I don't recognize as I finally find a nice window, activating my improved cloak which lasts for 12 seconds, slipping in through the window that opens up silently. I get on a platform that gives me an easy vantage point as I look in on the trade, as I quickly formulate a plan. I hear the Turian speak once more.
"Now then, you've seen the product now give us our payment and we'll be on our way, give Aria my thanks in advance." The Batarian rolls his multiple eyes which looks almost comical as I position myself and see Patriot has found the source of power to the warehouse. The Batarian hands the payment to the Turian and it is handed to his second in command from what I can see as I have Patriot shut off the power and lights in that moment as I take out Valkryie in its sniper form and quickly shoot my round straight into the leading Batarian which starts an all-out panic.
"Damn you Blue Suns!" I hear as I see a soldier in the back of Aria's group fire at the Blue Suns troops, who in turn quickly roll away from the fire they can barely see, even the Batarians who can see a bit better in the dark panic and move into cover as an all-out firefight starts. The cries of the Turian leader being ignored.
"What the hell! We never fired damnit!" I take advantage of the fight and commotion taking shots at them as they're distracted at fighting each other. There's only about ten men left now six of Aria's men and only four Blue Suns left. I feel like the numbers are low enough as I see the light finally come back and calling Patriot back and gettign rid of him as I get behind cover and put Valkryie away and pull out Rapture and drop down behind Aria's men quickly blasting one away with Rapture before cloaking as I see two look at their suddenly dead ally, getting behind one and kicking his knee as I reach around and stab under the helmet and into his head with Polnia's Talon as I drop him and blast another Batarian. With that done that leaves three more of Aria's men and four Blue Suns, but now they all know I'm here.
I see the focus of Aria's men shift to me as I take cover behind a few crates, calling out Flint as I have him summon his shield and cover me before charging at the remaining three who are grouped up, I blast one with Rapture but his shields block it at my current range, not able to use a mass overload due to Flint I send a tech net that wraps up one Batarian. Once I do, I see the Blue Suns have begun to fire on me as well and Flint's shield is barely holding as I slip into cover and order Flint to fire at the Blue Suns with suppresses them and stops their fire as I focus back on Aria's men, sending out a Sabotage which stops one man from firing and hurts him as well. I see the first Batarian still struggling to get rid of the net so I focus on the remaining threat, charging him as he fires at me with a rifle which lowers my shields dangerously as I finally get close enough to blast him and devastate his shields and body. I switch hands with Rapture as I summon an omni-blade and finish off the second Batarian before sending a final shot into the Batarian trapped in the tech net which overheats Rapture and forces me to put it away.
I look at my Hud and see two enemies remaining as I jump over a few crates and get to the Turian leader and stab him in the back with the Talon ending him and leaving just one enemy left, a recruit just like I needed. I pull out Valkryie and bark an order to the recruit.
"Hands up now or I won't hesitate to put you down!" The recruit complies very quickly and I put my gun away as I have Flint keep an eye on him and set to fire if he attempts to attack me. "Now then, my demand is very simple give me the info you have on Blue Suns warehouses."
He quickly shakes his head. "I don't have that info sir! I believe the sergeant there had a layout of a few warehouses!" I turn around and scan the Turian's omni-tool and snatch the information and download it to my omni-tool, pulling up the map to see a few highlighted areas detailed with weapons and mods.
"Thank you, that helps plenty, now then time to finish things up." I say walking back over to the new recruit and look at him, I can see he is young, likely similar in age to me. "I don't know your story but I suggest you skip town and get off this hell hole. Find a different line of work and stop being an idiot." I say before pulling out Rapture and shooting right by his head at the wall. "If you don't, you're not going to last for more than a day, I promise you that." I swear I see his face go pale after I fire, he then runs away and I can only hope he listens to my recommendation.
I recall Flint and look at the packages of smuggled items planting a few bombs on all but one package, taking it for myself along with the money that Aria's men had brought before activating my cloak and leaving swiftly as I send the place sky high, destroying 90% of the trade goods while the other 10% is with me.
I rent an apartment on Omega, needing a base of operations, no matter how crappy it is. I store the money and materials in a hidden space of the floor that is barely hanging together. Over the next three days I spend my time by gathering info to who might be most connected to The White Death, which ends up fruitless. I also raided four storage centers of the Blue Suns, cutting into their income and getting the gang panicked. I can see how a good amount of their soldiers are feeling worried and uneasy, which is also seen in their patrols.
It feels very satisfying to see them worried, however what's more problematic is that they are increasing their security, increasing their security to the point that there's at least 30 men per warehouse, most of them looking experienced and well geared. So, I've had to stop my operations temporally to plan things out. Since stopping my attacks it's been two days, both days I've had Patriot scout the Blue Suns area and the dock to Omega to keep myself up to date.
I haven't been completely inactive however; I've disrupted more deals that involved Aria's men and collected the materials and money. During this time, I have run into the Blood Pack which I found more difficulty with than the Blue Suns simply due to their brute force. These deals led me to an important discovery which is that the White Death is connected to all the gangs, and Aria. I found this out when I saw a White Death member meeting with Aria herself along with a few soldiers mixed in along the ranks of Blood Pack and Blue Suns groups, likely for favors are closer relations.
Today I'm going to be taking a risk and I'm going to try to make contact with Aria, which if I'm not careful could get me killed. I grab a prepared bag full of various materials I've raided from the deals along with the credit chips. I leave the apartment cloaked, leaving nothing behind as I do and make my way to the Afterlife. As I make my way into the Afterlife, I get stopped by two Afterlife security, they look me over checking my armor and helmet before nodding to each other.
"You, go up and meet Aria now, she is expecting you, I wouldn't stall." I nod in agreement as I walk up the stairs and see the infamous Queen of Omega herself, Aria T'loak. Along with Aria I see two soldiers covering her just like in the game.
"Hello mystery man, come and sit, I believe you and I have some business to speak about." I look at her sitting, relaxed and confident as expected. Her face details a mix of interest and anger signaling I'm not completely screwed as I take a seat across from her, setting my bag next to me. "Now then, you have some explaining to do, mainly on why I shouldn't kill you right here and now for fucking with my income." I look at her directly through my helmet my face is hidden but my body language isn't, I lean back and attempt to sell myself as relaxed.
"Well, I can tell already that you know I pose as a potentially valuable ally otherwise you would have shot me on sight." I say as I call out a cloaked Flint before continuing keeping myself safe from trigger happy guards, I pull my bag out and open it up, luckily the guards seem simply alert but not about to shoot me. I pour out its contents onto the table showing a bit of material from all the raids I've done. "Hear you go, that's a little bit of everything you were supposed to get, all for the low price of a few guards." I say as I also pull out all the credit chips and slide them over to her effectively returning all her money.
She looks at everything before smirking and snapping her fingers as a few Batarian's gather the materials and credit chips. "Well then, count me surprised, well I'm more inclined to feel less pissed at you, however before we continue, I must ask, who are you." she says as I have to quickly come up with a name.
"I desire to keep my identity at least partly secret, makes some jobs a lot easier." I say as I consider some options as one comes to mind remembering a special mythological creature from my past life. "For now, just call me Phoenix." She raises a brow but accepts it.
"Alright, Phoenix, here's the situation you disrupted multiple of my deals with the gangs here, however you returned my money and even secured a good amount of materials for me, and due to the fact I agree and believe you can be useful I'm willing to let you go." I let out an internal sigh of relief glad that things went well so far. "But, Phoenix In the future you better remember the one and golden rule of Omega, don't fuck with Aria." She says as she leans forward nearly bumping against my head, before leaning back again as I nod in agreement.
"Understood, don't fuck with the Queen of Omega." I say as I get up preparing to leave as I get ready to speak about the reason, I wanted to speak to her. "There is one thing I need to ask you about before I leave, It's about the White Death." I say as she seemingly narrows her eyes.
"I suppose they have gotten more infamous recently, very well ask what you need." She says as she looks back the Afterlife clearly couldn't care less about this group.
"I know you have dealing with them, so I wanted to ask do you know where they're located?" She looks back at me looking a bit surprised at the question.
"I don't know an exact location; however, I do know general areas where they operate, including here on Omega." She says taking a breath before continuing. "Here they operate deep in Blue Suns Territory, it's one of the reasons the two parties are as well-equipped as they are" She continues on after taking a shot of some type of Alcohol. "As for outside Omega, they seem to operating somewhere Between the Artemis Tau and Voyager Cluster, as for specifics that's up to you to find out."
I nod before speaking. "Thank you for the info, that's beyond helpful." I say before starting to leave. Just as I'm going down the stairs, I hear her call out to me.
"Goodbye for now Phoenix, I'm sure it won't be long before we meet again." She says as I leave the Afterlife club, my heart pounding away as I'm finally out of that situation and came out with heavily important information. As I leave the Afterlife and prepare to return to my apartment, I see something that has me in shock, Nihlus Kryik, a Turian I expected only to hear about, never to see or meet the Turian infamous for dying on Eden Prime.
What's worse about seeing him is the fact that I'm in an area with limited space, and he's charging straight at me, I can't shoot him and risk fucking something up so I simply activate and shoot a overload at him which connected but doesn't affect him due to his Spectre level armor. He grabs and slams me against a wall as he pulls out a shotgun and points it pointblank at my head trapping me.
"You just met with Aria; chances are you know something. So, spill it, what do you know about the White Death." I look at him confused, why the hell does a Spectre need info about them.
"Satisfy my curiosity would you, and tell me why a Spectre wants information about the group I'm currently hunting down." I say trying to slowly defuse the situation as I see his mandibles shift showing his curiosity.
"Well, if you're hunting them, I'm sure you know they've grown infamous in the past years, and enough of a pain that the Turian Hierarchy has requested the council help solve the problem." That explains it, and I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner.
"Look I do have information on their operations, but we're on the same side so could you kindly let go of me and stop pointing a shotgun in my face." He lets me down trusting me enough to move, god thank you, he keeps the shotgun pointed at me. "Thank you, it's a bit dangerous to speak in the wide open, I have an apartment rented, if you follow me, we can talk there. Keep the shotgun trained on me if you want." I say as he nods and I lead him to the apartment of which he sees plans and connections posted on the wall as he has by this point put his shotgun away.
I pull out two chairs and we sit down. "First off, I'll go ahead and tell you that the White Death does have a base of operations here on Omega, along with dealings with the gangs and Aria herself, tech and weapons I believe." I say as I take off my helmet showing my face, knowing that I can trust Nilhus. "Also, my name is Velius Vakarian, since you've been nice enough not to shoot me in the face." I say with a slight bit of annoyance
"Nihlus Kryik I figured as much; I can't go on a blind search since that would take too long." He says as I can tell he's frustrated with the situation which I can't blame him, knowing first hand that this group is a pain to find.
"Yeah, they've made their base of operations somewhere in Blue Suns Territory and the two have close relations, I'd expect a fight from the both of them but as for information on where they are, that's all I have." I say laying back taking a moment to relax as he takes in the information. I don't want to tell him too much yet, if possible I'd like to have him never come close to the source of the group, the less people at risk of indoctrination the better.
"I see, and both groups are well equipped, that makes this... more difficult." He says though I'm pretty sure he's talking to himself at this point.
"I have an idea, let's work together and eliminate them from Omega, we have a better chance at taking them out if we do, I have experience with them and I'm a good soldier, I can help guide you with fighting them." I say, knowing that the two of us makes this attack easier, if not actually doable
"I tend to work better alone, however this is an enemy I have little information about, if you're serious about hunting the White Death then there are worse allies I could make, just don't slow me down."
I nod in agreement. "I can promise you, I'm not going to slow anyone down," I say reaching to him and presenting my hand which he shakes. Only a few moments later and we are starting to prepare to explore and find the base. Hopefully with this incredible addition, my attack on the White Death's Omega base will be successful and I get closer to the source of this group and the Reaper artifact behind this damn cult.