On the hunt.
Tuesday
Lower wards.
Urdnot Wrex
Krogans found little to be happy about.
While most of the galaxy swept the problems of his kind under the metaphorical rug his own people did little to enkindle any kind of sympathy towards krogan-kind.
And as such they acted purely as savages and brutes, forgoing any semblance of a culture that made their traditions a thing of the past. Where they once revered the hunt and made every kill to honor their ancestors they now fought and bikered between each other as mere whelps.
It was due to this that Wrex had given up on his own people centuries ago. He promised to never return to that accursed world… not until he had found something of worth that is.
Wrex had seen many things in his long centuries of self imposed exile. Many enemies that had tasted the heel of his boot and many others who cowered under his rampage.
But he always found some idiot who dared to cross him…
Such as the taxidermist in front of him. A salarian of all things.
"What do you mean it's gone?" Wrex asked as he aimed his gun directly at the scared amphibian.
"I'm sorry Wrex" began the scared salarian "I don't know what happened to it. One of my apprentices must have sold it" Wrex glared at the two scared humans as they began to shake their heads.
"Don't play games with me. I only told you of that work" Wrex punched the counter with his free fist "AND YOU SOLD IT, DIDN'T YOU?"
"I-I-I…" The salarian stuttered "I was working o-on it w-when a customer entered through the d-door" he pointed to the concealed entrance. This place was obviously an illegal operation, but to Wrex this only meant that this little establishment kept the privacy of its customers.
A fact that Wrex really liked until about three minutes ago.
He pointed his gun towards one of the employees "Names".
"I-I'm sorry Wrex, I can't…" he shot towards the scared employees, missing them on purpose as a way to scare them even more.
"Names" He pointed the gun to the Salarian "NOW" his employees screamed for him to give Wrex the names.
"All right, all right…" he closed his eyes as he tried to remember the names of those customers that had been to his store since yesterday "T-there was Lutius Maldos, a turian from the bachjret ward… Then there was Aluna, an Asari from the presidium and then there was Torkan, a batarian mercenary… I-I don't remember who I sold it to, I swear!" The salarian continued to shake as Wrex continued to aim at his head. He growled a little to scare more names out of the fool but found that his list was complete.
Wrex snarled as he turned towards the exit but just as he was about to leave the establishment he saw an empty mount which was ready to be occupied. He took the unused mount and exited the store "I'm taking this" his word as he exited the store and began his search for the corpse of the Zergling.
His trophy.
Wrex immediately hailed a cab and got to work. The Bachjret ward was the closest place from where he was so he decided to go there for a nice chat with Maldos…
Thirty minutes later.
The trip was uneventful to his great disappointment. The accent from the place in the ward he had been and his eventual trip towards the little wretch's hideout was still a little long due to the sheer size of the citadel.
Once he arrived in the particular dump where this fool resided he could see that something was… wrong
Even in these low places were the light never reached and where the high and mighty never dared to walk there always was some kind of activity… or even people
The place was deserted.
Where orphans and beggars usually filled the street at this hour there was none to be found.
Wrex approached one of the doors and began to bang on it "OI. Where's Lutius?!" No response. He continued to explore and made his way towards the only alley in the street. There he found a single door with a viewing slit. He was sure that this was the right place.
Once he entered he saw several bodies that covered the hallway. These kills were recent, the foul odor of decomposing flesh had only begun to settle in.
Wrex needed to work carefully and quickly if he did not want to be associated with this place.
He made his way through the corridor as carefully as a lumbering krogan could. Guessing that whoever this Lutius was must have been the leader of this gang he made his way towards the dead end of the corridor.
He guessed correctly on that regard but found that the office did not hold what he wanted. Wrex got a little bit angrier the more he searched for his trophy, as he searched every nook and cranny he eventually made his way to the corpse of the Turian.
Without any regard for the dead he tossed the corpse aside and decided to check his drawers but found nothing. Checking his private terminal he found a 'receipt' from the store.
"Damn" he had not bought his trophy as he had hoped. Leaving instead an order for some mounted game.
Wrex kicked the Turian before leaving the hideout entirely.
Neither finding his trophy nor anything of use in that rickety excuse for a base he made his way towards the cab station and waited for his designated vehicle as the automatic responder processed his request.
While he made plans in his head to storm whatever place this Asari laid he hoped that she held his trophy. After all, tracking the last name on his list would be a pain in the ass since the batarians knew fairly well how to cover their tracks on the citadel.
He snarled once more as the cab finally arrived and he boarded it.
Unbeknownst to him a scared civilian had witnessed his entry into the hideout of the gang and guessed that he was the one who had killed one of the most feared drug lords in the local ward.
To the residents of that forgotten place he would become that of a local legend even if he had not been the one to end those thugs. But the retelling of this legend would reach the ears of the local authorities who wouldn't take kindly to what he had allegedly done…
The day after tomorrow his visage would appear on a wanted poster once more for another reason.
Kaidan Alenko
Kaidan was taking a stroll through the citadel.
His wandering had taken him to many places along the station that day. From the replica of a mass relay that stood as a beautiful piece of art as several passing people stood in awe of it's design and the wisdom of the ancient protheans to the beautiful vistas a stroll through the wards could show you.
But he wasn't enjoying any of it.
The previous day he had committed the grave mistake of meeting with some of his old buddies from what they had fondly dubbed 'brain camp'.
Being basically coerced into leaving your home and being placed along other scared children in a top secret facility to 'become the shining beacon of humanity' was not how he or any other of the subject would like to refer to that cruel experiment.
Regardless, his old friends had lived a good life in the citadel. Each talked about how their lives had improved ever since their dismissal from the army. All spoke fondly of their lives with their new jobs and spoke fondly about their partners and bondmates.
Kaidan felt sick just from listening to the droning love talk.
At the end of the day he did not resent any of them for the lives they had chosen. He was the friend of these fools and he would support them no matter what.
But as the focus of the groups turned to him and they began to hound him with questions as to why he remained single one of his now drunk friends committed the mistake of mentioning a name:
Rahna.
The mention of that name sowered the night for the whole group. Kaidan had become comfortable with speaking of that person a long time ago, her rejection now a distant memory.
What made the whole group recoil and cringe at the mention of that name was the fact that the person who mentioned her did so to take a stab at Kaidan's personal feelings on the matter.
This left him in a contemplative state, walking helped him deal with the issue. When any experience left him in such a state he tried to go on with his day and reflected on the experience and how inconsequential it was to him.
But the down side of shore leave is that you are left with so much time and so little to do that it becomes the perfect environment for this kind of thoughts to prosper.
In truth, Kaidan was searching for something to do. His work usually kept him busy but this time he was looking for something else.
And then he found it.
"Hey, commander" Kaidan began as he approached the silhouette of the commander. Hoping that a conversation with his leader, who he had bumped with, would help him dispel those thoughts from his mind. But once he began to approach the commander a sense of dread began to settle as he saw the first human spectre… defeated.
"Oh… hey" Shepard answered in the voice of a broken man "What are you doing here Kaidan?" he continued in a monotone voice as if he was nothing more than an automaton.
"Eh… nothing much commander. Just taking a stroll" he looked at the ground next to the commander and saw the silhouette of several packages next to the commander "Gone shopping?" Kaidan asked as he pointed towards the pile of boxes next to the commander.
"No" he answered in an annoyed voice. Kaidan smirked a little and decided to have a little fun at the expense of the commander
"Having a date with Liar…" right as he was about to finish his sentence the commander covered Kaidan's mouth with his own hand and began to look around frantically. Once he was sure that the person he did not want hearing that wasn't near he sighed in relief and released the lieutenant.
"Sorry man. It's just… nevermind" he shook his head and leaned against the wall. But just as Kaidan was about to ask what had happened a sudden noise from the door next to the commander alerted him that somebody was exiting the store besides them.
"Alright John I'm bored. Where can you take… us?" a redheaded woman turned to search for the commander and stopped as she saw somebody next to him "Um… Hello?" she saluted with a face full of confusion and began to analyze him.
"Kaidan?" a familiar emanated next to the unknown woman and this made Kaidan turn his gaze away from the redhead and found…
"Ashley?" the gunny had been looking at him with a sight of slight confusion and a little bit of trepidation. What were they doing here? Who was the person next to Ashley?
As if she had been reading his mind the unknown person began to glance between the commander and his squadmate. She then grinned with a smile that offered nothing but trouble.
"So you both know him…." she extended a hand while she waited for Kaidan to shake it "Jane Shepard, a pleasure to meet you. I'm John's sister" Shepard's sister?
Kaidan extended his hand to shake hers "Ahh.. Kaidan Alenko… a pleasure" after a moment Kaidan tried to let go of the handshake but she was not letting go. Kaidan began to feel fear as she just continued to smile and no matter how hard he tried, he could not release his hand,
"SO KAIDAN!" she said out loud as she continued to look at the Lieutenant "I know this might be a little bit rude on account of us just meeting but I would like to ask for a favor" she released her grip a little and allowed Kaidan to retract his hand.
Ashley began to shake her head as if trying to warn Kaidan to not engage but the cold stare that Jane gave him forced him to ask anyway "What kind of favor?" Ashley slapped her face at his idiocy.
"Well.. my friend here refused to accompany me here to a party I wanted to go to… she said that she could not go since she did not have a date…" Oh… he saw where this was going.
"Oh did she now?" Ashley glared at him as she removed her hand from her face. He realized his mistake and tried to deflect. Where… the commander "But what about Shepard?" the commander raised an eyebrow as his subordinate tried to push him into this.
But to his surprise Ashley and Jane began to laugh at the meer notion of the commander going to a party with Ashley "Oh Kaidan, you are funny" Jane said this as she stopped laughing at the meer notion "But in all seriousness, he won't be able to join us" she clasped her hands "So… Can you do this lady a solid and accompany my sister for the night?" Kaidan now had a choice. He could either: A) take the smart rute out and say he was busy or B) he could be an idiot and do something stupid.
What would a calm and reasonable person do?
"Sure, why not" he went with B.
"Perfect" Jane smiled as she turned to her brother to speak with him "Let's go John. I have tortured you enough for today" he acquiesced and began to follow his sister while carrying her things. But as he began to depart he placed a hand on Kaidan's shoulder and looked at him with both pity and gratefulness.
Ashley remained behind for a little longer and began to approach the lieutenant. Before he could ask what was the matter she punched him in the face harder than what he thought would be appropriate for his conduct.
As he turned his gaze towards his teammate since he was beginning to recover from the strike he saw a smile on her face as she began to clean his blood from her fist "Wear something nice, LT" Kaidan just nodded and began to clean the blood from his nose.
Kaidan smiled and spoke again "Pick you up at 6?" She just shucked her head with a smirk and left the lieutenant alone.
Kaidan looked as Ashley departed and his eyes began to wander…
What was he doing again?
Edge of the ward
Xiltar
The task at hand wasn't something he was pleased with doing.
After he recovered the sample of terrazine from the clutch of those criminals he made his way to a particular spot...
Xiltar had determined that the best place for him to channel the energies of the void uninterrupted would be on the furthest possible place from any living being, in the far edge of one of the station's wards.
Xiltar saw something curious, as he traveled further and further down the length of the ward he saw as more and more houses and buildings remained empty. Not even the criminal elements along this station dared to remain so far from the presidium…
He managed to take this journey in a short amount of time due to an unknown feature of the station…
In certain spots at the edge of a ward one could find blocked entrances that led to a tram system that traveled with relatively great speed, these trams responded to his presence without any concern and it responded to his request to travel to the far edge of the ward at his bidding.
It may have been due to the use of flying vehicles that the trams along the substations of the citadel remained unused. This was good for him as he enjoyed the peace and quiet of his travels.
Once he reached the edge of the station he felt the atmosphere become thinner and thinner. As a Protoss this wasn't much of an issue since his kind could survive in the vacuum of space for an extended amount of time. If one added his extensive augmentations as a judge of the Ihan-rii he could in theory survive for years without needing water or other sustenance.
He reached the very tip of the ward as his journey came to an end. Xiltar found the sight of empty space in front of him as something inspiring but he noticed a massive shadow loomed right behind him.
Turning around he saw as the citadel shifted its pose and the star that laid behind the station was obscured by the ward he rested upon. But he also saw something even greater than the void of space or the shining of a star…
In the same ward where he would do his grim task he saw countless lights coming from the buildings and structures within this part of the station. Some mobile lights betrayed the presence of vehicles as they made their way along straight lines.
He thought of them.
Countless individuals who lived and existed along creatures from different races and different beings. Some would live long enough to see the marvels he intended for his kind to show…
Others would not live to see the next day break.
Speaking of the departed…
Xiltar bowed to the living beings that created these lights in the void and then turned to face the true face of oblivion: emptiness…
The orb had instructed him on what he needed to do with his ingredients in order to forge his new conduit, but it wasn't something he was particularly proud of…
Reaching into his now useless gauntlet he extracted the core of the crystal he intended to replace.
Closing his eyes he began to reach for an object which he had carefully wrapped along some discarded cloth.
He felt as his hand began to unwrap the cloth in a careful and slow manner for he did not want to be careless with its heretical cargo.
He reached for the object and recovered the orb of Terrazine.
He had to commend whoever devised a way to contain the accursed substance with the limited technology of this civilization. For the gas was housed within a circular membrane that self repaired itself along certain microfissures designed to allow the flow of the substance if force was applied.
Xiltar gathered his nerve and with a fell and decisive motion he crushed the membrane for the terrazine to flow free.
As this substance was attracted to all living tissue it wasn't hard for the accursed gas to find a fixture along his skin.
With great pain he felt as his skin allowed the Terrazine passage into his bloodstream.
And as the terrazine interacted with his blood it began to be turned into the volatile energies of the void.
As an adept in the conjuration and use of the void he knew of the dangers prolonged use of the chaotic power could incur should he abuse its open manipulation and as such he always limited his use to a certain degree.
He couldn't do that now, raw undiluted power from the void began to pierce into reality as it clawed its way onto the material realm and looked for his body as a vessel.
As this energy threatened to overwhelm him he commenced the ritual as had been instructed.
With extreme care he began to pour the void energies over the small metal core and as the raw energy began to coalesce into a crystal form, the metal core began to shape it into a form that would suit his needs.
The battle that raged in his mind was greater than what his body now endured. The pure connection to the void opened his being to the realm of the dark one. He prepared all manner of tricks and deceit he could muster so the dark one could not track him to the new sanctuary of his people.
But his fears were unfounded for when he entered the void he found the presence of Amon… lacking.
Most likely gorging himself on the victory over his people, the dark one must have begun a campaign of annihilation along his original realm. Such a task would take much time for any army and as such Xiltar had only to steer away his mind and presence from a token force of void beasts.
Yet as the crystal grew he found that the rate at which it began to manifest was a slow endeavor that would take time.
As such Xiltar would spend his next days focused along this task growing the crystal and avoiding the shadows in the void as his body struggled with the substance that freely flowed through his being.
But unknown to him the void peered back…
As familiar beings saw his work from beyond the grave.
The previous day…
Garrus vakarian
His vacation began on an unexpected note.
Garrus was traveling towards C-sec headquarters in order to get some stuff he had forgotten there when he found himself trapped in an elevator.
One might think that he was trapped due to a certain number of reasons: maybe he was stuck in the elevator due to a malfunction beyond his control, maybe he was stuck because the elevator was full and he couldn't wedge his way out or maybe… he was stuck due to a lunatic smashing all the buttons in the elevator panel and thus he was forced to bare the full weight being stuck in an elevator with a stranger…
The human who entered as he was making his way towards C-sec was not one that Garrus had seen before. But her red hair and green eyes certainly made her stand out from the crowd of humans he had met in his life.
The moment the elevator door opened this woman gave him a weird smile, proceeded to enter the elevator and then smashed her hand against the panel, thus setting off the command that they would stop at every level of this particular trek.
"Opps… how silly of me" she said while she continued to smile and turned away from him.
Garrus began to feel a little nervous for some reason. While he did not dare look towards the human he nonetheless knew that she was glancing at him.
Staring at people was a rude practice even among the turians. Once his plight was done he would be sure to speak with Shepard and ask him if such behavior was also rude among the humans.
"Ahem…" a sudden noise broke his focus and he turned to find the human still glancing at him with that smile. For some reason she extended a hand while presenting herself "Hi. I'm with the alliance, my name is Jane" Garrus hesitated to make any kind of response. But he considered that leaving the woman hanging would consist as a slight against her honor, a thing that the turians respected vigorously.
"Garrus" he answered drily as he shook said hand.
"Not much of a talker I see" Jane then turned towards the elevator entrance and waited for the elevator to continue its journey.
Garrus would make his play and leave the elevator as soon as they reached the next floor. Fortunately for him this did not take long.
Unfortunately, as soon as the door opened he saw that a pair of Asari were trying to get in.
"Sorry could you make some…" one of the Asari began to speak but as she saw something on the elevator she grabbed her companion and pulled her away from the elevator.
Garrus turned to the only other person in the elevator car and saw as a murderous glare was plastered in the face of the human.
She turned her gaze towards him while hiding her murderous frown with a fake smile "Guess they will catch the next one" she pressed the button that closed the doors and continued to wait while she began to hum a tune.
Garrus was scared.
The elevator stopped on the next floor and he thanked the spirits as a Krogan tried to enter the elevator while he glared at them both.
To his horror and surprise Jane just grabbed a spot along the crest of the hulking men and proceeded to stab it with a pen, then without much effort she pushed him out of the elevator.
The krogan seemed that he wanted to charge at the human but as he began to turn he found a gun barrel glued to his face.
"Piss off" Jane answered coldly.
The krogan complied as he turned tail and ran.
She pressed the close button once more and retook her position next to him.
Garrus stiffened his back as Jane proved that she wished for them to take this trip together… just them.
"So… Garrus" she began ominously "I have some spare time while I'm being reassigned. Think you could keep me company let's say… Wednesday?" Garrus was about to refuse but as he turned to face the human, whatever valor he had gathered evaporated in an instant.
She wore nothing but a cold smile as she faced the turian. While another person might have mistaken this as nothing more than an innocent smile Garrus understood that this smile bore a secret but clear message:
Accept or die.
Garrus began to nod as this human now began to give him an honest smile "Perfect. Here is my number, mister Garrus" the elevator stopped at another floor "Oh. This is my stop, it was a pleasure to speak with you. See you on Wednesday" she waved as she left the elevator car.
Garrus waved back and made a mental note to not forget that he had a date on Wednesday. Either that or he would need a burial mound by next week.
Garrus was worried… and somewhat excited.
What a woman…
Afterword.
-w-