4: The Mercenary

'You two stick out around here, you know.' The voice carried little in the way of the expected accent, a sign that perhaps this particular environment suit wearing individual had been away from home for quite some time.

'And you don't?' Major Neva Gavian scowled, looking at the quarian's partially transparent faceplate. Granted, it was not transparent enough to actually offer a good look at the kind of face under there, although as seemed to be the norm with the species this one's eyes glowed a near phosphorescent white.

Around the group, the modest and musty bar was quiet, populated only by a handful of patrons. It was an out-of-the-way place, located off of a remote highway some miles away from a human settlement. It was little more than a glorified rest stop, appearing from outside as an otherwise standard rectangular brick building far removed from any other structure. Judging by the rubble piled about outside, Sevarn had to assume that this place had either somehow survived the Anhur Rebellions or been rebuilt in the years since.

'I'm a regular here.' The quarian, his suit adorned with a patchwork of repairs and modifications that made it almost unrecognizable compared to the typical environment suits worn by his kind, motioned with one three-digited hand to the old man standing behind the bar counter. That old man was portly and bald, with a thick and long grey beard. His shirt and trousers were visibly faded and worn, and for the moment he was busy wiping some glasses clean.

'Viktor there, he knows me.' The quarian turned his head, gaze going to the old man. 'Isn't that right, Viktor? We're friends, you and I.'

The old bartender looked up, locked eyes with the quarian seated halfway across the barroom floor and then frowned.

'Fuck off.' The old man barely offered the quarian a second glance, before he returned his attention to the glass he was wiping clean. At his back, shelves lined the wall upon which all manner of liquor was arrayed. Not all of it was human in origin, and Sevarn thought he saw at least one pitcher of turian horvask in the mix. What the hell would that be doing in here? Dextro-based booze was likely to plunge any human into a coma.

'Yeah, you see?' The quarian had to have been smiling under his mask. 'That's just Viktor's way. He's real nice once you get to know him.'

'You're Kanen?' Major Gavian, dressed in an unassuming set of blue civvies typical of female turian fashion back home on Palaven, regarded the quarian with her brow plates creasing further. 'I was expecting a human.'

'Well, sorry to disappoint you.' The quarian had evidently done a great deal of customisation to his environment suit, from what Sevarn could tell as he examined him some more: armour plating for one, which was perhaps the most obvious addition. The helmet was different, the respirator not jutting out in the manner common to others of his kind. There was no patterned cloth helmet cover either, rather he had opted for a plain black shroud of sorts comprised of a material that was both heat and cut resistant. Despite the fact he wore an environment suit, the quarian had a glass of foul-smelling liquor in front of him. Sevarn noticed the straw poking from the glass, and with that in mind he did not need to guess as to how this quarian intended to enjoy his drink.

Like Gavian, Sevarn wore a set of plain civilian clothes, black ones in his case with stark white trimlines. He had decided against wearing the fringe hood, for it was an addition he had often considered tacky at best.

Outside, evening drew near, their second night on Anhur proving to be slightly more interesting than their first. After all, their first night had seen them slip quietly into the countryside in which they had established their command post in the ruins of an old batarian foundry. They had not even interacted with the locals in any way, not until now and even here it was just Sevarn and the Major. There were fourteen other turians on the team, including the three additional Cabalists Sevarn had chosen at the Colonel's behest.

'What's the matter, turian?' The quarian had to have been frowning under that faceplate, it was damned hard to tell for sure. 'Don't like suit rats?'

'I never said that,' Gavian countered. The quarian chuckled, before he motioned to the two vacant chairs before him.

'Come on, then. Sit down. We have a lot to talk about.' He then turned towards Viktor the barman again, waving at him.

'Viktor, two rounds of that horvask, please.'

The old man scowled at him, before he slowly shook his head. Even so, he plucked the glass bottle of ageing turian liquor off of the shelf and began to pour two glasses.

'You're going to have to pay for that, by the way,' the quarian added, turning to Gavian and Sevarn. 'I'm kind of short on credits.'

'The Hierarchy will pay for it,' Gavian said, keeping her voice low. She no doubt worried about eavesdroppers, perhaps even listening devices. As it stood, the bar was quiet, and the half a dozen other patrons scattered about paid little attention to the unusual trio seated among them. Sevarn suspected that the others here were already drunk or close to it. He did find himself scanning his surroundings carefully just to be sure: one man played a billiards game in the far corner, his demeanour lethargic and his movements with the pool cue uncoordinated. Even as he pocketed the cueball once more, he downed another glass of liquor as if to celebrate this mistake before he fumbled about trying to fish that ball out of the corner pocket.

Another man was fiddling with the obsolete terminal up against the wall nearby, cycling through the songs available before he finally settled on the one he wanted.

'So, my name is Kanen'Jaslek, just to be clear. Most people call me "Kanen".' The quarian regarded Gavian curiously. 'You must be Neva Gavian.'

'That's Major Neva Gavian.'

'Yeah, sure, why don't you say it a little louder?' The quarian shook his head slowly. 'If it hasn't occurred to you since arriving here, you're a little out of place. Turians aren't common on Anhur. I've seen plenty of turian mercenaries, but your kind always seem to turn heads in a place like this. The batarians hate your kind almost as much as they do the humans.' He then looked to Sevarn. The Lieutenant got the sense that Kanen was frowning his way, as if he was not pleased with what he saw.

'And who's this?' Kanen asked, his tone a little too dismissive for Sevarn's liking.

'Sevarn Valus, Lieutenant. Cabalist.' He made sure to add this last piece of information with some extra emphasis. A thinly veiled warning: mess with me and I will throw you across the room with a wave of my hand. Whether the quarian was even fazed or cared at all about Sevarn's biotic potential, he did not show it.

'I'm curious, Kanen.' It was Gavian who spoke then, and the quarian turned to her again. 'Quarian names tends to be a mouthful. Yours—'

'Isn't?' Kanen shrugged. 'I'm not with the Migrant Fleet anymore, turian. Haven't been for a very long time. I have no ship name.'

'And how did that happen?' Sevarn figured he was prying too much here. Judging from the way he saw the quarian's glowing eyes narrow into a hard scowl, he knew he was right.

'That's none of your damn business,' Kanen stated, his voice taking on a much firmer tone. 'We're here to talk about your mission, not my past mistakes.' He put a hand to one of the pouches attached to his environment suit's chest plate. There, he plucked a small, blue disc from within. An optical data drive, compatible with most omni-tool systems. He placed it upon the tabletop between them and pushed it towards the Major with one gloved finger.

'Everything I've found out about the facility is there,' he said. 'From what I can tell, the real nasty stuff happens in the basement. It looks like Cerberus repurposed some old batarian bunkers from the days of the Rebellions and expanded upon them. There are security codes on that disc, recent ones. They can get you past the main gate. Thing is, they change them regularly, so there's no guarantee they will work.'

'And if they don't?' Gavian asked him.

'Well shit, I don't know? You'll be in a whole lot of trouble, won't you?' Kanen audibly sighed through his helmet. Sevarn could tell that this quarian, for all his apparent bluster, was still very much anxious.

'What's your stake in this?' Again, Sevarn was prying, but he had to satisfy his curiosity. This time, the quarian did not react as sourly as he had done with the Lieutenant's previous question.

'My stake?' Kanen huffed out a short laugh. 'My stake is that I get paid. Not only that, but my other stake is to ensure that Cerberus suffers a serious blow. They did kill quite a number of my kind, not too long ago. I may not be part of the Migrant Fleet anymore, but they're still my people.'

'How did you get the codes?' The Major was the one to ask this, and Kanen shot her what Sevarn assumed was a wry smile. Of course, he could not be sure seeing as how he was unable to actually observe the quarian's face.

'That's a trade secret. Besides, my position here does offer me avenues not accessible to the general public.'

Nearby, the music still played. Sevarn had not heard too much human music in the past, and he assumed what was playing now was quite old. Something about "purple rain", or so he thought he could hear.

'I suggest you turians do what you came here to do soon,' Kanen added. 'The codes may no longer be valid, and the longer you sit on them the greater the chance of them not working at all.'

'Thank you for your assistance, Kanen'Jaslek.' The Major took the optical data drive, slipping it into her tunic. 'I'll send word to my superiors that they can transfer you the rest of the money.'

'Yes, please.' Kanen rapped the fingers of one hand urgently against the tabletop.

'That is, after the operation's success.' The Major added this last part abruptly, and she rose from her seat. Sevarn followed suit, not at all surprised by the way in which the quarian shot out of his chair.

'Hold on a second,' he snapped, and even through the partially electronic filter over his voice, his sudden anger was all too clear. 'That isn't what we agreed on. Colonel Venarus told me I would be paid the remaining half on delivery of the information.'

'We need to ensure that it's genuine,' Major Gavian countered, her tone level. 'And the only way we can truly be sure of that is when we get into that facility.'

'You bitch,' Kanen snarled. Sevarn saw his hand go for his hip. Even though the quarian carried no visible weapons, there was no telling what he might have hidden on his modified environment suit. Acting purely on impulse, Sevarn allowed his biotics to flare, wisps of blue energy rippling off of him. He reached out with one hand, focusing that power into his palm, allowing it to build into a sizeable ball of deep blue brilliance. Kanen saw this and paused, his glowing eyes widening noticeably.

'Whatever you're reaching for, I suggest you put it on the table. Slowly.' Gavian almost smiled as she said this, all the while Sevarn allowed the energy in his hand to simmer. With a flick, he could launch it straight into Kanen, and in turn send him flying several feet across the room. By now, the bartender and the other humans in the establishment were all watching the scene unfold, eyes fixed on the very uncommon sight of a turian biotic in action.

It appeared that Kanen was not one to back down, not even when faced with superior firepower. He remained still, hands still by his sides. His eyes darted from one turian to the other and then back again. He was sizing up his options, contemplating his chances…

'Please, Kanen. Let's keep this civil.' Sevarn saw the way the quarian's eyes narrowed as he spoke, the prior shock vanishing from them altogether. Instead, they hardened into something more akin to determination.

In a flash, the quarian's hand came up. There was a small pistol clasped within, just one of a few weapons he had stored away on his person, tucked into compartments built into his suit. Sevarn flung the ball of biotic energy at Kanen, striking him squarely in the chest. Before the quarian could let off a shot, he was lifted off of his feet, grunting from the force of the impact that for him, felt as if a charging krogan had headbutted him right in the sternum. Kanen was sent sailing through the air and across the barroom, before he skirted the top of the counter and slammed into the shelves at Viktor's back. Glass smashed and liquor spilled, leaving a very pained and dazed quarian in a sprawled heap upon the floor amongst it all.

'We should leave, Lieutenant.' Gavian was up on her feet quickly. Sevarn, taking a brief moment to survey his handiwork, offered the other patrons a small smile before he raced after the departing Gavian. Most of the onlookers simply stared at him dumbfounded. By the time Viktor had fished his shotgun from under the bar counter, the two turians were gone. With them gone, he instead turned his attention to the dazed and moaning quarian by his feet, who lay amongst the mixed spill of dozens of kinds of liquor.

It was a few hours later that Sevarn found himself seated in the makeshift operations centre within the old foundry, an otherwise secluded structure overgrown with local plant-life, complete with entire sections of the complex reduced to little more than rubble. The conflict that had torn apart this particular colony world had passed through this region at one point, and the foundry had, for a time, served as a field hospital; first for the batarians and then after its capture, by mercenary forces. Given its relative seclusion now, far and away from any economic centre, it had been chosen as the Blackwatch team's temporary headquarters. For as long as they were on Anhur, this is where they would meet. And given the secrecy of the mission, few on the team had even set foot beyond the boundaries of the factory since their arrival on this planet.

They were preparing to head out. Every member of the team was in their armour, and they slowly filed into what had once been a warehouse space. Now, the concrete floor was cracked, the windows shattered and boarded over, with any machinery having long since been stripped from the place. A few rows of chairs had been arranged before a bank of computer terminals and a large, holographic display. The Major paced before that display now, outfitted in her black and blue Blackwatch armour. Sevarn wore his regular Cabalist armour set, as did the three of his fellow turian biotics who started to sit down in the seats just to his left. Gradually, the entire team filed into the room, with Captain Korlevus remaining by the door. They already had a good idea of what awaited them at the facility; however, now they had the information from the quarian, they would be able to better determine their approach.

Sevarn's three fellow biotics were slightly younger than he was. Two were young males from different ends of Hierarchy space, and as such their colony markings were far different. The third was a young woman from Palaven, hailing from the capital of Cipritine and as such her pale features were adorned with a set of simple but stark dark blue markings. They were all from the same Cabal as Sevarn and had been chosen by him at the request of Colonel Venarus to provide biotic support for the mission. They were, in Sevarn's view, the best biotics he knew other than himself. And from what he had learned of Cerberus, they had many powerful biotics in their ranks. Venarus was right in wanting similar support for the strike team in order to level the playing field.

'All right everyone, here's the deal.' Gavian, with a motion of her omni-tool, activated the display behind her. A computerised layout of the facility appeared, three-dimensional in form, and she was able to rotate it with some finer manipulations of her omni-tool in order to highlight points of interest. 'We have some solid intel on the interior of the facility: it's broken up into three sections. The forward wing, which takes up half of the surface level, is an administrative complex. Here is where the legitimate business occurs, all as part of the front Cerberus has put up to shroud their activities here. There is a security guard barracks in this section, which would make it a priority target of ours. If we can sneak in and take it out with a few well-placed explosives, we could cripple their security response right away.'

She adjusted the computerised layout further. At a glance, it was a simple layout, mostly blue shapes against a black background. Points of interest were marked. The layout gave no indication as to the positions of the enemy or how many hostiles they were likely to face. From all appearances, it seemed the quarian had delivered on his part of the deal: his information was solid and useful and about as much as they could hope for in these circumstances.

'The next wing consists of a laboratory area and, from what we've determined, continues underground. However, the bulk of that underground section is where the real serious work takes place. We're talking biological weapons, experiments on live subjects, that kind of thing. What Cerberus does best. And it's down here that we're likely to find our target. That is, we must access their network here and uncover all that we can before we raze the place to the ground.'

Expectant faces looked on and the Major offered the team a small smile.

'You all know what we face. Cerberus is paramilitary, terrorists to most, but they have resources. More so than they have any right to. Here, we can strike them and we can strike them hard. We know where they are and the Alliance doesn't. And unlike the Alliance, we aren't compromised by Cerberus assets. The Citadel authorities won't touch this place since we're way out in the Terminus Systems. That leaves it to us, the Blackwatch. The best of the best.' She glanced over to Sevarn then, who had been sitting quietly and attentively.

'And our Cabalist friends, of course.' She looked back to the others. 'They're here so any human biotics in Cerberus' employ don't get the better of us. They're our support and until this operation is over, they are to be treated as part of the team. I can personally vouch for Lieutenant Sevarn Valus, who assisted me on an operation six months ago.' She gave him a small smile then. Sevarn felt all heads glance his way and he shifted uncomfortably. He had never liked being the centre of attention, no matter how much in good humour it may have been. He would rather keep his head down and attend to his assigned tasks, not draw a crowd of spectators. Nonetheless, he nodded in acknowledgment of the Major's unexpected comments.

'What we do here is off of the books altogether,' Gavian continued. 'Like it usually is.' She motioned to the layout on the screen again, this time zooming out to what looked to be a map of the facility's outside areas. 'We have a way through the gates and the necessary cover to get close. The security codes we have may not be valid, but we won't know until we've tried them. As such, we need to expect trouble before we're even through the door. That is why I will be sending Tech Sergeant Lasiac to isolate and disable the facility's power grid.'

Lasiac was a burly turian male of about thirty-five years, his face mostly bereft of colony markings. Nonetheless, he was apparently the team's tech expert and as such it made sense for him to have received this duty. He stood up as the Major mentioned his name.

'I have a V-I ready to go, ma'am,' he stated. 'I just need to isolate a hard-line connection.'

'And this intel has them marked out plain as day,' Gavian said. 'Study it quickly, Sergeant. We'll be heading out there within the hour.'

'Understood, Major.' He sat down again. Sevarn got the impression that more than a few of the Blackwatch team members were actually excited to get into a real fight for a change. Sevarn supposed there were only so many training exercises one could do before it started to become a real chore. Even so, he was never actually excited himself to plunge headlong into a situation where he might get killed. As such, he had hardly been in a real fight, with only one prior operation seeing him caught in a firefight. Somehow, he suspected pirates and slavers were significantly less organized and even dangerous than the notorious paramilitary group that was Cerberus.

'If we can get into the mainframe here, we could blow the lid on Cerberus completely,' Gavian added. 'There are some of those near the top who are very concerned about humans in general, even more so when it comes to Cerberus. We need to stop them before they gain anymore traction. This is our chance to do just that.'

'How much of a force can we expect in that place, Major?' One of the Cabalists, the young female Corporal by the name of Sivera, spoke up then. Major Gavian looked her way and narrowed her brow plates as she pondered her answer.

'We have no solid number on that, Corporal. Estimates according to the intel provided put actual professional security personnel to twenty, maybe thirty. Be aware that Cerberus has many former military personnel in its ranks. Some of those security guards will have been professional soldiers previously and are not to be underestimated.'

'Rules of engagement, Major?' One of the Blackwatch Lieutenants asked this.

'We're on a lawless planet in the middle of the Terminus Systems. No one, save for a few officers back home, knows we're even here. Our rules of engagement are simple: kill or be killed. If they fire on us, respond in kind but tenfold. I do not intend on seeing anyone here die today, not on this backwater and not at the hands of a bunch of uppity humans.' Her voice adopted a far sterner tone as she continued on this point, and all eyes in the room had locked firmly upon her in turn: 'Make no mistake, if we succeed here we will be doing the galaxy as a whole a great favour. Colonel Venarus picked this team because he believes we are the best for the job. I don't know about any of you, but I don't intend on disappointing him.' She leaned forwards then, quirking one brow with curiosity. 'Do any of you intend on disappointing our commanding officer?'

'No, ma'am.' The Blackwatch team sung this out in unison. Sevarn and his fellow Cabalists were taken off-guard by the unified response. He exchanged glances with them, the unspoken question between the group being whether or not they should join in.

'And who does the Hierarchy rely on to do the dirty work necessary for the safety of our people?'

'The Blackwatch.' Again, the team answered in unison. A chant of a dozen voices, all set upon one goal, all sharing the same creed. Now Sevarn really did feel like a clueless outsider, as did Corporal Sivera and the other Cabalists.

'We all know that for the continued security of our people and of our worlds, it is down to people such as ourselves to do the things that no one else should need to do. If that means taking lives, then so be it. If it ensures the safety of our families and friends, then that is a small price to pay for having blood on our hands.

'Contingencies are as follows, everyone: take prisoners where you can, but do not make it a priority. If the codes can't get us into the compound, then we crack out the heavy weapons and blast our way inside. The rendezvous point is at the coordinates I am forwarding through to you all now.' Her omni-tool activated, shrouding her left forearm in the familiar, transparent orange shapes. Sevarn heard his own omni-tool beep at him as the message came through.

'We get in, we take what we need and we plant the explosives. And then we get out by whatever means necessary. Cerberus is unlikely to have any backup on standby. The local police are corrupt and ineffective at best, which would go some way as to explain why Cerberus has so much support amongst the human population on this world. However, we must be prepared for anything. There's no telling what they might be keeping in the basement of this place.'

Sevarn had read the reports, seen the images himself: Cerberus had become known for their ever-expanding influence about the galaxy, and documents slipped to them by sources within the Alliance had revealed something to the kinds of experiments the organization had engaged in. It was as if they were actually becoming mainstream, putting forward the notion of caring more for the humans scattered about the galaxy than the Alliance itself. They had a seemingly bottomless pit of money to draw from, and their membership numbers continued to only increase day after day. Clearly, not many of those who joined actually knew of the shady and dubious practices of the organization. Somehow, Sevarn suspected that even if more of those members uncovered the truth, they were unlikely to change their views. After all, if Cerberus was experimenting on aliens, what did it matter to their predominantly human membership?

'And let's be clear, team,' Gavian announced, interrupting Sevarn's train of thought. 'Let's do this one by the numbers. No heroics. We do what we came here to do and we clear out as soon as it's done. The sooner we're off of this planet the better I'll feel.'