Three months had passed since Zack's last conversation with TIUO. In the meantime, Zack had largely been busy privateering. Intel had been a lot more challenging; the Guild was simply not as good as the Nexus. And payments on the Vagabond had been burning a hole in his pocket. Loan fees, crew salaries, ship upkeep, prostitutes, guild dues, and so on- the expenses were no joke. For now, he and his crew were in the black, but not by much.
Zack still wondered what TIUO was on about. How would he become Guildmaster? Zack despised Barbaros, but he was generally well-liked by other members of the guild. Even if Barbaros were to disappear, Zack almost certainly would not get elected Guildmaster. In any case, Barbaros was doing his best to limit Zack's influence within the Guild. Barbaros had never really gotten over the fact that Zack had outbid him for the Vagabond, and had made a few offers later.
The one upside of the Guild was Zack was getting paid to bring along inexperienced privateers. The Guild had something of a racket going on, owning ships directly and hiring personnel as staff rather than captains with ships. In spite of that, business was booming. Due to Tann's wonderful economic management, there were a lot of unemployed or underemployed people. Many of these had come to the Guild looking for work, and that salvage was still in demand.
Zack was standing in the CIC, looking out of the window. He had a mug full of coffee. They discovered this Kett freighter by accident, and weren't going to pass up the chance. A few hits sent the ship critical; there was almost certainly no one alive left on board, but most of the cargo should have been intact. Cargo transfer was about to be underway.
"Sleeze, anything coming up on sensors?" Zack asked.
"No, sir!" Sleeze responded.
"Send out the transfer teams," Zack ordered.
All was going well. The Kett occasionally sent response forces to engage privateers, but that took time. To play it safe, Zack would head to the hills in about an hour. In the meantime, it was all about grabbing what they could.
Something was suspicious about this ship though. It was not close to any known Kett supply routes, and there was no information regarding new Kett movements. Whatever it was doing out here, it was easy pickings.
Zack walked over to the sensor and comm displayed. The colonies shared some intel, but not everything. The merchant marine refused to share any information at all to the privateers. Tann was trying to sell the Nexus intel to the Guild, and the Guild had declined. His information was admittingly incomplete, but it looked a lot like this freighter had no reason to be here.
"Wolfe! We don't know what we're looking at!" someone yelled over the radio.
Time was limited, so the transfer teams were assigned to prioritize high value cargo. The Kett were typically pretty simplistic with what sort of cargo they carried: weapons, prisoners, rations, etc. so finding something they did not recognize was rare.
"Snap a picture and put it on the display," Zack replied.
A second later a picture came up on the main display. It looked like some kind of remnant tech, but with Kett sensors and devices all over it. Zack frowned a bit. There were a select handful or remnant tech enthusiasts, but generally it was hard to sell remnant tech. Most buyers did not trust it. Still, apparently the Kett thought this was interesting… so maybe someone else would?
"Can you get it clear of the wreck?" Zack asked.
"Yes, Wolfe. It'll take us about 90 minutes," the transfer team responded.
Zack forwarded the picture over to Nexintel, a semi-private Nexus intelligence group. He had a few contacts there who were generally pretty good about telling him what was going on. Maybe they could help him line up a buyer for whatever this was.
A call came in from the transfer teams. Approximate size, estimated mass, and so forth. Pretty routine. Zack looked back out of the window. The transfer team had already cut the hull open and were dragging the object clear. The Remnant certainly had a taste for visual style.
Zack's omni-tool began to blip. Zack looked at it. TIUO was giving him another ring at last. He instructed Sleeze to oversee the rest of the operation, and headed into the empty conference room. Zack took a deep breath, and sealed the door behind him. He accepted TIUO's call.
"Agent Wolfe! We see that you are hard at work, looting the helpless!" TIUO jeered.
"What do you want, TIUO?" Zack responded dryly. Zack was still annoyed and unhappy about the loss of the Pathfinders.
"We have secured two additional dossiers to build your squad," TIUO stated.
"Will they be any good to my current operation?" Zack replied skeptically.
"Of course! They will be essential to complete the next objective we give you," TIUO said. "Don't forget, we got you here."
"What would that objective be, TIUO?" Zack asked.
"We'll let you know when the time is right. TIUO out."
Zack sighed. He was tired, and his coffee hadn't really kicked in yet. Still, no time like the present. He sat down, and opened up the first dossier. A batarian, interesting. Batarians had a bad reputation in the Milky Way, but Andromeda wasn't the Milky Way. In Andromeda, they had wasted no time re-establishing a negative reputation: exiles, privateers, and so forth. Apparently this Batarian was on Eladeen, doing who knows what between the Krogan Colony and the Initiative Colony there.
Another blip on his omni-tool. Nexintel was interested in that Remnant piece, and they had an office on Eladeen. Zack rested his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his chair. He could sell the artifact and pick up the batarian! Serendipity was a beautiful thing. He called Sleeze over the intercom, and told him to chart a course to Eladeen.
A couple days later, Eladeen was in sight. Nexintel had been touch, and were offering to pay generously for the Remnant tech he'd picked up. Whatever it was, they were interested, and that was all Zack needed to know. He was already cleared to land, and the Vagabond was closing in rapidly. It was time to get paid. Everything was coming together.
Just as the Vagabond came in to land, an alarm went off. The colony on Eladeen was under attack, and a small Kett Warship was in orbit. The Vagabond was well equipped enough to engage it, but Zack decided against it. That fight could go either way, and he had to protect the Vagabond. Besides, he wasn't obligated to protect it. Zack was not Pathfinder Wolfe anymore. An emergency request soon was picked up by the Vagabond's sensors. Zack activated it.
"Hello, this is Sara Ryder! Requesting support from anyone! The colony is holding, but we don't know how many enemies are out there! Requesting support-"
Zack turned off the message off. Fuck, he thought. He left the captain's cabin and walked towards the conference room. Killal and Sleeze ran past him and into the conference room ahead of him.
"Wolfe, we got to save her!" Sleeze said, visibly upset.
"Fuck that, she's a self-righteous hard ass!" responded Killal. "She's been a prick on every occasion-" Sleeze pushed Killal, roughly, interrupting him.
"Shut the fuck up Killal! We've got to save her Wolfe!" Sleeze said again.
"How do you propose we do that, Sleeze?" Zack answered calmly. "We got about a 50/50 shot against their ship in orbit, and I don't like those odds."
"We don't need to, Wolfe. I can fly over the attack sites in the Vagabond and shoot down all their shuttles," Sleeze replied.
"We don't have passable ground attack weapons on the Vagabond," Zack said. This was true. The Vagabond's two cannons were intended to engage other ships. He had no way to shoot the invaders on the ground from the Vagabond.
"You can land with Killal and fight them in honorable combat!" Sleeze exclaimed.
Zack stared at Sleeze for a moment. Zack then turned his head and stared at Killal for a moment. Killal stared at him back. Then Killal and Zack began to laugh, while Sleeze stood their frustrated.
"Honorable combat, eh? There's only two of us," Zack said.
"You know you're a pirate, right?" Killal said to Sleeze.
"We need to do something," Sleeze said.
"Sweep through the clouds and take out those shuttles. If that warship figures out we're here we bounce and reassess," Zack ordered.
"Yes sir!" Sleeze said dutifully.
Zack followed Sleeze up to the CIC. Despite the Vagabond's lack of any stealth technology, the heat of Eladeen's atmosphere made it easy to hide ship signatures. The Kett would only see them if someone messed up. A Kett ship of that size likely only had 2-3 shuttles, so sweeping them shouldn't be hard. It would be hard to shoot them while they were on the ground, but in transit shouldn't be hard.
The guns discharged. The first salvo was underway, and… a KIA hit. One shuttle down. Zack walked over to the sensors. It appeared the Kett Warship only had 3 shuttles, but it could have more. The remaining shuttles could still be onboard the enemy ship, or they could be hidden in the same atmosphere that was hiding him.
Another distress call came in.
"Wolfe! Another-"
"Turn that shit off and focus on the objectives! Whack those shuttles!" Zack ordered.
Zack took a look at the ground. Initiative settlements typically weren't well fortified, open to direct entry on all sides. This one was no exception. The kett appeared to be surrounding it for a siege. It would be hard to run a siege without any shuttles, but there were a lot down there. And Sara Ryder was down there with them, though he could not see any trace of the Tempest. What was she doing down there? And was his Batarian recruit still alive?
Regardless, it was time to focus on the present. The kett warship was aware of something-it had suddenly changed course-but was moving further away in the system. Whatever it was doing, it wasn't supporting the siege. Zack hesitated for a moment. This was an opportunity to land.
"Killal, shuttle up!" Zack said.
Killal turned and looked at him. "Fuck that, Wolfe!" he said loudly.
"I'm not asking, Killal!" Zack said. Killal scoffed and walked away.
About 15 minutes later, they were in the shuttle, flying in to land. The Kett had guns around the settlement, so landing directly probably wouldn't work. They would have to land and advance on foot. The kett warship was keeping its distance, so the Vagabond was safe. There was only the question of the settlement.
"All I'm saying, this reminds me a lot of the Kett observation post!" Killal said. Killal was visibly disturbed by Zack's plan.
"Not asking, Killal!" Zack responded. The shuttle left the hangar of the Vagabond. The initial boost of speed when the shuttle went in motion was something you never got used to. Soon they would be on the ground, assaulting an enemy siege. How the hell are we going to assault an enemy siege? Zack thought. There couldn't be that many Kett – the warship wasn't that big and the shuttles had only gotten a few runs done – but the settlement likely wouldn't be of that much help. Plus, there was that idiot Sara Ryder in there providing moral support or whatever it is she did.
The shuttle came to a halt, and the door opened. Zack stepped out on the Eladeen sand. He looked back in the shuttle at Killal.
"This is fucking stupid, Wolfe!" Killal yelled.
"No one asked, Killal! Get your ass out of the shuttle!" Zack yelled back.
"Fine!" Killal said, and stepped out.
Zack looked forward. It wasn't far to the siege line. Zack shouldered his sniper rifle, and looked down the sights. There really weren't that many Kett at all, but they had brought a lot of gear. They were dug in. Zack sighed. He tried to look into the settlement, but couldn't get a good look. Whatever was going on inside the settlement, that would come later.
"Killal, see if you could flush them out!" Zack yelled over the radio.
"Pfffftt!" Killal said in response.
Killal ran towards the Kett's position. The Kett were focused on the inside of the settlement, and didn't seem to notice him or Killal. A tongue of flame shot out of Killal's flamethrower, and two Kett were alight. Zack shot one of them, but it didn't go down. He shot again. Kill. Zack scanned the area with his scope. The Kett were retreating, leaving their equipment behind. The settlement saw the disruption and attacked the siege line, sending the Kett running.
Zack lowered his weapon, and jogged towards the siege line. There was a person behind some cover- Zack could see the top of their head but nothing else. Zack walked up and turned the corner. Fuck! It was Sara Ryder.
Sara walked up to Zack and gave him an unwanted, affectionate hug. A very unwanted hug, but it was better than a punch.
"Wolfe! Thank goodness you're here!" Sara said.
Zack stared for a moment. He did not come here for Sara… but… maybe he could keep up appearances?
"I heroically came here to save you Sara, but of course, I claim all this Kett equipment as salvage in return for my assistance," Zack said, struggling to sound casual.
"Of course, Wolfe! Anything you need!" Sara said enthusiastically. Score! Zack thought.
"So, what are you doing here exactly, Sara?" Zack asked. Sara looked at Zack and took a deep breath.
"Scott and I came here for Nexintel. When the Kett warship came around, we decided to take the Tempest and hide it. We decided to leave Scott on board the Tempest. Then the Kett set up, and then you shot down their shuttles, and now they are running off in the wilderness somewhere," Sara said.
Could that be why the Kett ship withdrew from orbit? Zack thought. Was it chasing the Tempest? Regardless, Zack pressed on.
"I came here to sell a Remnant artifact salvaged from a Kett ship. Also, I need to sell all my recently acquired salvage," Zack said.
"Yeah, sure…" Sara said. Sara continued speaking, but Zack wasn't paying attention. It was all white noise. Zack was looking a figure in the distance in the colony. Not just any figure – the batarian from the dossier. She was talking to someone, her stance full of innuendo and provocation. She briefly looked in Zack's direction, all four of her eyes glistening in the distance, and then turned and resumed her conversation. Sara was still talking, but Zack began to walk away, and towards the Batarian, lured by her presence. Sara yelled in protest, but Zack didn't hear her. He was only looking forward at the Batarian, entranced by the sight of her body in the distance. Zack slowly closed the distance, one step after another, each step feeling like an eternity, and was soon within a conversational distance. He tried to speak up, but was distracted by the feeling of his heart pounding in his chest. Zack gulped, took a deep breath, and spoke up.
"Nikkal Fuggla, is that you?" Zack said, his voice quivering.
Fuggla turned, and looked at Zack. She paused for a moment. It was hard to read her response – batarians were so difficult to read.
"Who the fuck are you, creepy rando?" she said.
"Hey, hey!" Killal said as he slapped Zack's arm, trying to get his attention. "This isn't our new squadmate, is it?"
Zack turned and looked at Killal. "She certainly is, Killal!" Zack said, grinning ear to ear. Zack turned back towards Fuggla.
"I'm Zack Wolfe, captain of the Vagabond. I would like to welcome you to the team," Zack stated triumphantly.
Fuggla stared at him for a moment, and then promptly hunched over laughing.
"What makes you think I want to go on your ship?" Fuggla said.
"Didn't TIOU contact you?" Zack replied, confused.
"Yes, he did, and I'm packed and ready to go." Fuggla said.
"Excellent! Report to the Vagabond immediately!" Zack said.
"Oh, no, I can't go right now." Fuggla replied calmly.
"Why's that, Fuggla?" Zack asked.
"Well, my old sugar daddy owes me six months of allowance. I need the money," Fuggla said. Her voice was totally flat.
"Look Wolfe, she can't go. I think we should cut our losses and run," Killal quipped.
Fuggla turned and looked at Killal.
"Didn't you get busted on Kadara?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah, but it's not really a problem-Wolfe can we leave now?" Killal asked, his voice a bit frustrated.
"Wolfe, you didn't tell me you had my old drinking buddy on your ship? It's so cool to see you again, Killal!" Fuggla goaded.
Zack turned to Killal. "You know her?" he asked.
"We used to go to the same bar on Kadara. She was with the bar owner, and she ran when I got busted." Killal said, his voice downtrodden.
"I did not run! I asked them to let you loose and no one listened!" Fuggla said angrily.
"Anyway," Zack interrupted, "What's the deal with this person who owes you money?"
"An asari out in the wilderness. She liked to go by Daddy for some reason." Fuggla said. "Can you shake her down for me?"
"Give me the location and amount," Zack said. Zack saw the amount and scoffed. "She spent that much?"
"I'm worth every credit, Fuggla said. Fuggla walked up alongside Zack, and slowly rubbed her hand along his chest. "Never forget it, Wolfe."
"I'll-keep that in mind," Zack replied, mildly turned on. "Time to go to work."
