A/N
Hi everyone. Sorry it took so long. I had hoped to have this chapter done for Christmas, then New Year, but life has worked against me. Still, I got something now. I have several thousand words moved into the next chapter so don't worry, it has started. I hope to have that ready in a few weeks but no promises.
On another note, people really seem to be keen on MC/Tevos. That is the most requested pairing I get asked for. I haven't even fully decided on a final pairing, or even if there will be one, but I would like to hear people's thoughts on the matter so mention it in a review.
Anyway, I am tired. It is late. I have an early morning and need to post this so not really going to waffle on.
On with the story!
…
CHAPTER 26 – TIMESKIP 2
In my previous life I had attended a few formal functions, though not too many. Those sorts of events were usually reserved for people in a much different social circle than I was used to. While most Australians would like to prescribe to the idea that classism wasn't a thing in their own country, it couldn't be denied that the wealthy had their own way of doing things, and the expansion of social media 'influencers' had meant that they put on functions to be able to show how important they believed they were, I was neither important enough or in the same social circles as the people that would attend them regularly. I did get to see news reports or movies and TV shows about how they looked.
Being invited to attend them now was a bit of a novelty. The fact that the invitation came from the office of the Asari Councillor made it even more so. `
I had received the invitation to attend a formal function, being held by the Citadel Business Directorate, in a high-class function centre on the Citadel. It was essentially a networking opportunity where billionaires would gather to show off and make connections so that they could do more deals and make more money from it. The fact that government leaders were invited merely widened the pool of potential candidates. Anyone that managed to snag a big government contract was considered to have been a big success.
My own deal with the Vol Protectorate for the ODP would normally be considered such a success, but ultimately wasn't, not really. For one thing, it was only the Vol. they only had a very small territory, less than ten total planets and outposts combined. They only had two planets with a proper population. It was a sad fact that their specific biological requirements limited their options for available planets.
The other reason is that I only had a contract for ten ODPs, greatly scaled down to be far less concerning to the other governments. Instead of the 300-ton projectile platforms we were capable of building, the volus were getting ones that fired a measly 180 kilograms. This was still more than three times heavier than what anyone else had, and the projectiles were fired at lightspeed, meaning that they were still going to be extremely effective against anything in Council space. It was just a problem that I was not really able to sell the large ODPs without the Council stepping in more than they already had. Either way, the sale was noteworthy, but such a small quantity didn't mean that I was considered a high roller in the scheme of things.
Still, the price for the ODPs was not insignificant and the volus were very happy. I was hoping to be able to make deals with the elcor and hanar for more. It would be a boost for them.
And I was still, slowly, continuing to build the larger 300-ton ODPs and keeping them with my shipyards. I had plans for those for when the reapers arrived. They would be needed to defend planets while my refitted ships were able to take the fight to the reapers directly.
The slight jostling of the aircar as it settled down at the private area in front of the venue brought my thoughts to the present. I picked at my cuffs, feeling a little grateful that the current fashion in the galaxy was longer sleeves and full body coverings. I wasn't ashamed of my scars and people staring at them didn't really bother me, but it got annoying having them ask questions whenever they were seen. I had just gotten into the habit of dressing up whenever I wasn't in armour to avoid having the same boring conversations over and over.
The door was opened and I stepped out. Then I walked around to the other door of the aircar, which had been opened by a turian valet, and reached out a hand. "May I help you out of there, my dear?"
Persei gave me a small smile and reached out a hand daintily to mine, allowing me to help her stand up out of the aircar without revealing her underwear through the slit in her dress. Then she stood regally, almost looking like she was a full ambassador again. It was a beautiful gown, worn off the shoulder, in a royal purple colour that didn't clash with her skin tone, and a slit on her right leg that went above the knee. The cut was slightly less revealing that I would have expected, though that was by design. So while she looked beautiful and stylish, she wasn't dressed as a romantic date.
I had chosen to use Persei as my plus one for this event, seeing as it was considered normal for people to attend with their personal assistants to events like these. Add to the fact that she had attended many similar functions during her time as an ambassador and I knew that she would be able to handle herself here as well as guide me if I needed it. After all, I had never been to a social event for the elite like this before. I did notice that Persei was my go-to person for dealing with other people on the Citadel, but she seemed happy with the job and rarely rejected my requests for help.
Getting Persei to agree to attend this function was harder than I had expected though. She had significant grievances against several members of the Asari Republics leadership for not doing anything to help her once she was caught. We didn't have the evidence to prove it right now but she believed that her capture may have been a set up by a political rival. She didn't specify any names, but I did notice that she was making sure that the Assistant Councillor for the asari was not on the attendee list before she agreed to come. It didn't stop her from happily dressing up in a fancy dress though.
Sure enough, she was turning heads as we walked into the function room. Her confidence and poise were certainly eye-catching, as were her looks. She had come a long way from the 'second-hand' slave that I had bought more than a year before. If a person was to look at her now, they wouldn't think that she had ever been stuck in that hell.
An asari maiden dressed in a uniform for the function centre welcomed us and checked our tickets.
"Thank you," she said. "Seating has been reserved for you on the green wall." With that, she turned to greet a turian couple that came behind us.
I stepped forward with Persei, getting out of the entrance area and looking around at the different people around the room. The venue was larger than it looked from the outside, enough to fit more than a thousand people comfortably, though there were only about a hundred and fifty guests, plus a band playing classical music of some unknown variety. It was none that I recognised at any rate which made me think it was likely asari-based. I had trouble seeing the turians as being overly interested in anything that didn't have a basis in the military. Any band from them I imagined being marching-band themed.
"Any idea on where to start?" I asked Persei casually, still looking around the room.
"To the hanar over there," Persei replied immediately. "We will want to meet with her to organise a meeting for their ultralight materials. Then to the elcor standing in the red zone so we can set an appointment for the heavy metals."
That is what we did for the next hour, flittered around different groups, making small talk with some that were mostly introductions about my ODPs, and in one place the Pokémon games, while making appointments for meetings to happen at later dates to get materials I would need to continue expanding production. There was even a turian ship maker that was willing to lease out a space dock for fifty years, with an option to purchase at the end of that time that I was looking forward to.
After making the appointments we needed to make, I went back to our table in the green zone to sip a surprisingly refreshing fruit juice of some kind that had been found on Surkesh and just looked around the room.
"Mr Nielson," a familiar voice said, "I am glad that you accepted my invitation."
I turned and saw that Tevos moved over to me and was standing a few metres behind me. She was dressed in what was clearly an expensive gown that hugged her body without revealing any skin. It was a significant difference to the asari that I assumed was the Consort, who was mingling with some guests, who had a backless dress with a lowcut cleavage. Tevos clearly was going for refined dignity and class.
"Councillor Tevos," I greeted politely. "Yes, I figured I should come and see what this little party would be all about." I looked casually around the room. "So far, it has met the expectations I had for it."
She tilted her head slightly as she looked at me. "Are those expectations positive?" she inquired curiously.
I just gave her a bland smile. "You are looking well this evening," I said. "May I introduce my personal aide, Persei." I gestured at my aide with a small wave.
"Councillor Tevos," Persei said with a polite head nod, her tone bland but not offensive. Certainly not a welcoming tone though.
Tevos' eyes flickered to Persei a moment before turning back to me. Then her eyes widened comically and her head jerked back to look at Persei. "Ambassador Persei Avanis?! You're here? You're alive?! How?! I haven't heard anything since your transport was attacked…"
"More than eighty years ago," Persei finished in a monotone. "When I was captured and sold to the batarians at a slave market on Khar'shan to a business owner and his family."
Tevos flinched. "I… I'm so sorry to hear…" she stuttered, clearly off balance. "But I am so pleased to see you." She made a valiant recovery.
"I thank you for your well wishes," Persei said, her emotionless tone drawing another wince from Tevos. "I am just glad that I was able to be saved by Mr Nielson. I work for him now as a show of my eternal gratitude."
Tevos looked like she wanted to say something but was afraid of saying something wrong. I decided to cut this awkward conversation off there.
"Right," I said, startling Tevos, who clearly had forgotten that I was even in the room, "on that cheerful note, I believe that there are some others in the room who need to have their tiny minds blown. Persei, dear, I believe that means they require my intervention to make it happen. Who is next on our list?"
Persei tore her eyes from Tevos and her face softened slightly to give a tiny amused twitch in the corner of her lips. "You next conversation is with the ambassador from the Vol Protectorate, Mr Nielson."
"Ah, of course," I said, continuing the charade. I turned back to Tevos and gave a flamboyant bow. "Until next time, Councillor Tevos."
As we were walking away, I heard Tevos speak to someone from her entourage. "Did her just say that I had a tiny mind?" It took a lot to hide the amusement in my face.
I pulled Persei into a nook on the way to the volus group. "How are you going after that little meeting?" I asked, all amusement gone from my face and tone. I just wanted to make sure that my helper and friend was ok.
The asari took a long breath and closed her eyes momentarily. She released her breath and opened her eyes, looking me directly in mine. "I will not lie. That was a meeting that I was reluctant to have, though I knew it was necessary. I had to look in her eyes to make sure that she had not had anything to do with my disappearance."
I reached out and squeezed her hand supportively. She grasped it like a lifeline. "And?" I asked expectantly.
She paused for a long moment, then sighed. "No," Persei conceded. "I saw shock, surprise and disbelief, but no fear, nor any other emotion that might lead me to suspect her. I will not be surprised if she reaches out to you though, to seek information on me and my current status."
I nodded, giving her hand one last squeeze before I let go. She slowly withdrew her own hand, brow furrowing as she did so. "Well then, unto the breach once more?" I asked with a lopsided smile.
She gave a tiny smile of her own in reply. "To fill the hole with our English dead," she replied in agreement, continuing the quote.
With that, I lead the way towards the party of volus.
About a half hour later, I noticed something that took me pleasantly by surprise. A group of human businessmen and bureaucrats had made an entrance at some point and were talking amongst themselves as they looked around the crowd, doing a fabulous job of standing out by not talking to any other groups. But that wasn't the surprise. No, the surprise was one of the people who had accompanied the mostly male group was an exceptionally beautiful human woman, wearing a royal purple dress, with single strap over the left shoulder and a slit that came up the right thigh to show off her amazing legs.
Miranda Lawson, once again.
Looking at the group I realised that I recognised one of the men from an earlier business deal in the Alliance embassy. I looked at Persei and tilted my head towards the musicians playing in one corner. She nodded, eyes flickering over to the human group, before walking off to the band. I turned and made my way to the group.
The bureaucrat I knew saw me approach and broke off his conversation as I reached the group.
"Mr Nielson," he greeted me, drawing the attention of the rest, including Miranda. "It's a pleasure to see you again. How are you?" He offered a hand to shake.
I shook the hand with a smile. "Oh please, mate," I said, letting my Australian accent be more pronounced. "None of that formality, Tom. That's for the business deals that mean something. This is just a party with less booze and even less fun."
That got me a responding grin. "Well, you're not wrong," he agreed. "Let me introduce everyone here for you." He made a short round of introductions and I greeted everyone in turn. I had fun pretending to meet Miranda for the first time, especially as she was going by the name Estelle for the evening. By that time, Persei had returned and stood behind me.
"Wonderful to meet you all," I said cheerfully. "And please, feast your eyes on this vision of professional loveliness that is my personal assistant, Persei." I made a grand sweeping gesture towards the asari, who looked at me flatly. "If any of you wish to make an appointment to speak with me over any business issues, or hell, even personal ones, just have a chat with her. She is the only woman I have to control my life right now and she does a damn good job of it."
"Ah," said one, forgettable businessman, "having a competent right hand is crucial and makes life bearable. I congratulate my on finding such a person." The rest of the group made noises of agreement. He gave what he clearly thought was a charming smile to Persei. She merely nodded back.
At this moment the music changed from some random background music, to music that could be danced to. I took the opportunity that I found presented to me and immediately turned to Miranda and extended a hand towards her. "Well," I said with an amused grin, "no need to waste time on loveliness. May I have the privilege of borrowing your lovely date for a dance or two? If you are willing, Estelle?"
My eyes flickered to the businessman that had been identified as her date for the evening, a slightly overweight man who was CEO of a Helium-3 processing company. The man was already sweating while standing there so I had my doubts that he would be dragging anyone along the dance floor.
Sure enough, the man gave a nod, followed by Miranda' slower one as she gently placed her hand in mine and we walked on to the dance floor. Persei stayed behind to make an appointment with the man. I needed Helium-3 and he was as good a contact for it as any. Plus, I was hoping that a beautiful asari would be enough to distract the man for a dance or two.
We joined a few other couples on the dance floor and we stood facing each other. I clasped Miranda's right hand with my left, putting my right hand on her waist while her spare hand rested on my shoulder. I have to say, the woman was absolutely gorgeous up close, and whatever perfume she had on was extremely pleasant.
"I didn't expect to see you here," Miranda said as we moved smoothly around the dance floor.
"You mean that you didn't have someone inside my company this time passing you information that I was going to be attending?" I asked drily.
Her full lips twitched slightly. "Something like that," she agreed shamelessly.
"To be honest, it was a fairly last-minute decision," I said, leading us out of the way of a turian couple. "I got the invite from Tevos a few weeks ago and had been caught up in other tasks that took a bit of time and planning to move around. Still, I have to admit that I was surprised to see you here of all places. I would have thought you would avoid places you could be noticed by someone who wouldn't like you."
Her response was just a single raised eyebrow. "Normally true but I have not been seen in public and we carefully screen the people that we approach," she explained as she stepped smoothly along with me. I am not concerned."
"Fair enough," I said. "By the way, you are an extremely capable dancer."
"Naturally," she said as we spun around the floor. "I trained a lot as a teen in all areas. My father," her tone turned stiff for a moment, "insisted that his daughter was to excel in all areas. I was required to be the best at everything I did." We sidestepped an asari dancing with a human female. "Though I have to admit, you are better than most dance partners I usually have."
I gave her a small smile. "Thank you." It was almost surreal that I was having a genuine conversation with Miranda that wasn't about manipulating her. Overtly at least. "My mother insisted. She said that if my father was going to have me playing 'brutish sports life Australian football and kickboxing then she was going to make sure that I had exposure to some culture', so she had me learn to play the piano and guitar and take dancing lessons." A strange thought came to mind that oddly did not cause me any anger. "Actually, that was how I met my wife."
Miranda stumbled slightly as her left foot hadn't moved with her. She quickly corrected herself. "I didn't realise you were married," she said, her eyes now looking around the room. "I am not going to have an angry woman thinking that I am going to steal her husband coming for me, am I?"
I gave an amused grunt. "Oh, don't worry," I assured her. "I find that the dead are not generally too objectionable."
She blinked in surprise but didn't misstep again. "I'm sorry, you have my condolences."
I shook my head. "Nah don't waste your breath. She decided to get into drugs while I was watching my son and working full time to provide for her. Our marriage was dead long before she was. Her lifestyle killed her and she took my son with her to the grave."
Her frown told me that she was either surprised that my backstory had missed so many details from what they had for me, or the remote chance that she was actually sorry for me. "I see," she eventually said. "I again give you my condolences."
I shrugged. "However, that is not a happy topic of conversation and should not be dwelled upon as I dance with a woman such as yourself."
Her frown disappeared and she raised an eyebrow, her full lips curling slightly in amusement. "A woman such as myself?" she asked, her tone suddenly teasing, surprising me for a brief instant before I grinned back at her.
"Of course," I said. "A beautiful, talented and capable woman. I am sure you hear it a lot so no doubt you are sick of it but you are clearly a special kind of woman."
"Trying to flatter me so soon after talking about your dead wife?" Miranda said with a dry smile. "Not exactly the nicest of compliments I have received."
I gave a loud laugh at that, slowing to a stop as the music had ended. I gave her a speculative look for a moment before I decided to have a little extra fun.
"Would you care for another dance?" I asked. "Perhaps something a little more… robust?"
Her eyes narrowed at me, as if she was assessing me for a moment. Finally, she gave me a coy smile. "If you think you can keep up, by all means."
I grinned and walked over to the band. After making a request and getting an acknowledgement that they could do it, I walked confidently back to Miranda.
Gripping her around the waist with one arm, my other hanging free to the side, we waited for the music to start. It was a version of the tango, though much more… sensual, than what most people would dance. I noticed that all other dancers vacated the floor as they could see that something was going to happen.
Once the music started, that was it. The outside world faded away and I gave my complete focus to leading the dance.
Let it never be said that Miranda was a poor dancer. Indeed, I could tell that she was far more graceful and skilled than I was. I had not danced properly for years, and it was really only the physical training that I had been forcing myself through that allowed me to keep up with the beautiful woman.
We spun, twisted, simply moved around the dance floor in perfect harmony with the music. Miranda responded to the softest touch, getting closer as the dance drew us together and twisting away immediately. I may have had some training but she was truly a master at this.
The music ended at a crescendo and I drew Miranda in to finish in an intimate pose, her right leg high up on my waist, my left hand high on her thigh, touch the skin directly, my right hand holding her in tightly. Her breath brushed against my face, smelling like strawberries. One of her hands was on my right shoulder and her other hand clenched against the back of my head, pulling me in. I took a small amount of joy in seeing that her face was slightly flushed, while my own breathing was also slightly elevated. She was staring me directly in the eye, unblinking and intense.
The cheers from the bystanders broke me out of my daze, and I let her leg down, sliding my arm away from her back. I gave her a smile before turning to the audience, noticing quite a few envious looks, particularly from some of the asari. I sketched a short bow to them, then turned back to Miranda and offered my arm. "Escort back to your friends?"
She took my arm but tugged me close. "Do you wish to join me afterwards?" she asked, her voice soft enough to not carry to anyone else. "We could have some… private discussion?"
I gave a tiny smirk at the very blatant offer. I brought my head closer so that I could speak directly in her ear. "Miss Lawson, you are a singularly beautiful woman. Any man would kill to have that offer from you. But I also remember our first meeting, so as much as it pains me to say, I won't accept because I simply couldn't trust you are genuine."
That said, I straightened up before she could reply and pulled her back to the waiting group of humans and my personal assistant, who's face looked oddly rigid as she watched me walking back. I had a feeling what that was about but it would have been considered weird if I had taken my personal assistant out on the dance floor for a dance that intimate. Not to mention that I was still not ready for any form of relationship, despite the flirting I had done with Miranda, so I wouldn't want to lead Persei on.
"Thank you, my friends," I addressed the group of business men as we arrived at the group. I let go of Miranda and didn't fail to notice Persei moving much closer to me. "For allowing me a dance with your friend here and for keeping my assistant in good company."
"Not a problem," Businessman Tom said jovially. "It was quite a show you both put on, and your assistant is a wonderful conversationalist. It was a true delight to speak with her."
"Wonderful," I replied. "Well, unfortunately, business never truly stops and it is time for me to go. Estelle," I addressed Miranda, who's face looked slightly sullen, as if she was trying to put on her mask and wasn't quite managing it right, "thank you for a wonderful dance. I had a great time." I turned back to the group as a whole. "Until next time, mates."
With that, I turned, heading towards the exit, Persei matching my stride easily. I could feel the stony silence my friend was giving off and knew that I had to do something to ease the tension.
"Sooo…," I began slowly, "too much?"
More silence.
"You know, I have found that I needed someone to dance with to get back into practice. I definitely felt rusty. Do you know of anyone on the crew that might be interested in being a dance partner?"
The asari next to me faltered slightly in her steps before resuming her normal stride. She still didn't reply.
"Because I was thinking, do you think Jurt would make a good dance partner? I know that he is a little taller, but I really think that I can squeeze him into a nice ball gown and high heels, then take him for a spin in the common room…"
"Alright, stop!" Persei exclaimed, trying to hide a smile.
I grinned at her. "Are you sure?" I asked cheekily. "Because I think that if we get Aleria to do his make up, I could rent him out to the female clans on Tuchanka…"
"I said stop!" she shouted again, her voice shaking with suppressed laughter. "I don't need that image to haunt my sleep for the next month."
I chuckled. "Well, considering that I just danced with a member of a terrorist organisation, I still feel like your reaction to Tevos and her reaction to you is still more important right now. Do you believe that she was involved in your abduction?"
Persei was silent for a few more steps. "It is hard to be completely certain, especially with a politician as experience and talented as Tevos, but I don't believe she is involved. She certainly seemed like she hadn't expected to see me again, but not afraid that I was there."
"Good. Now, do we have any meetings out of your conversations while I hit the dance floor?"
We talked all the back to the ship, the previous tension all but forgotten.
…
…
The granite wall I was crouching behind shuddered as another blast of gunfire hit it, stone shards and dust showering me and Ted.
"I have a sneaky suspicion that they aren't going to let us just leave quietly!" Ted shouted over the sound of gunfire.
"It's a shame!" I called back. I leant over the top of the wall and let off a long burst of rounds from my Butcher Assault shotgun. One of the attacking batarians' shields failed and they went down, missing a large part of their chest. Returning fire hammered into my own shield and I ducked back down behind my cover.
"One more down," I reported watching my shields slowly recharge.
"Only twenty left to go," Ted snarked. He let off his own burst over the wall. "Making it nineteen," he said, ducking back down.
"I just hope that Torrin and Beau were able to get the rest of the hostages out," I grunted as more of the wall broke off near my head. I was fully confident in both my own combat abilities and that of the Butcher, but I wasn't stupid enough to stand in the open and just let nearly twenty batarians with assault rifles just shoot at me. The shields would last no more than a second with that amount of concentrated fire hitting me at once. If I had worn my medium armour it might have lasted three full seconds at full charge with that many people shooting at me but I was only wearing my light armour because this was supposed to have been an infiltration mission.
Apparently, someone had leaked it to the batarian pirates because they were waiting for us when we got here.
Ted, Octavio and I were supposed to be doing a standard infiltration mission but once we had breached the compound, the batarian pirates had tripped their trap and we were now fighting for our lives. The only thing that was working in our favour was our vastly superior equipment, but there were only three of us and nearly thirty in the first wave of them. As the saying goes, quantity was a quality all of its own.
"How the hell did they know we were coming?" Ted growled, repeating what was nearly becoming a mantra.
"Something to look into when we get out of here," I barked back as I fired my weapon over the wall again. "And not something relevant right now!"
"Fine," he grunted. "Grenade out!" He flung a disc-shaped device side armed over the wall to a cluster of four batarians hiding behind a steel barrier. A loud explosion later removed them from the fight quite messily.
"Nice throw," I said. I turned on my SONAR vision. It wasn't really the most helpful thing in a combat situation because of the limited range but it was useful at being able to see where the enemies were without sticking my head out of cover. "Looks like they are trying to flank us. I will do what I can to discourage them." Without lifting my head out of cover, I raised my gun over the wall and fired, using SONAR to try improve my aim. Another batarian went down, missing everything above its chest. The rest dove back into cover. "Got another one."
Plaster metal from the wall blasted away again from renewed fire from the batarians, causing shrapnel to bounce off our hardsuits.
"Dammit," Ted snapped again. He keyed his comm. "Where is our backup?" he shouted into the radio.
"We have Mychek on route with Jurt in our gun shuttle about three minutes out," Hectar's voice came back over the comm. "Just hold tight."
I grunted. "Just hold tight he says." I keyed my own comm. "Have Ely start doing a trace. I want to know how they knew we were coming."
I got a confirmation and pulled out my own grenade. I only had the one because I didn't think I would need more on an infiltration mission. After a quick peek through my SONAR I threw it towards the most densely packed group, three batarians and surprisingly a turian all close together. Another explosion reduced the numbers facing us further. Just over ten now. Far more manageable.
I crawled to the far left of our defensive wall. "On my mark, lay down a wide pattern cover fire," I barked at Ted, who nodded and readied himself. "I will go to guy on our far left and try counter-flank them."
I adjusted my grip on my Butcher and took a deep breath. "Mark!"
Ted reached up over the wall and started firing wildly at the batarian positions. The aliens ducked back behind their own cover and I took off, heading to the batarian to my far left, firing as I went. The first shot blew apart his shields, collapsing them instantly. The second blasted a massive whole in its armour on the right side of its chest, the third making it collapse as the fully automatic shotgun rounds punched straight through its body, ending its life.
I slid behind the pillar the dead batarian had been using as cover. I blinked in surprise as I saw my shields recharging. I hadn't even noticed that I had been hit. Once they were full again, I used SONAR to check again where the aliens were. Then I leaned out slightly from around the pillar, keeping it between me and the majority of aliens, and let off a burst at the next closest batarian.
"Heads up," Aleria's voice came over the comm. "We read enemy reinforcements are heading your way. Estimate another fifteen or so, maybe another twenty. It looks like they are going to get there just before Jurt does. Can you get free?"
I shared a grim look with Ted. "Not anywhere that the shuttles can't get to without a problem," I said, feeling like I needed this day to just be over. "We are going to have to get back behind cover and try and hold out, but I am out of grenades and our cover has taken one hell of a beating."
"I have one grenade left," Ted muttered. "Not that it will make a difference compared to their numbers and how spread out they have been so far." He hesitated. "Octavio's down. He got hit early in the last wave. He's dead."
I felt a wave of sadness and fury, looking over to where the turian's feet were sticking out.
"It will have to do," I growled. "It's not like we have any decent cover between here and the next building that's still standing. I wasn't expecting them to just destroy the slave quarters and I don't want to get stuck in a place they could so easily flank us."
Ted grunted in agreement. Our current cover is the best thing that we could scout in the area within ten kilometres. The only other place was the slave pens, which would be counterproductive as that was where we would be raiding and it had no defensible positions, which was by design so that slaves would never be able to fight against their masters successfully.
It wasn't good.
"Only thing I can think of," I said, "is that someone leaked the mission to the batarians. There shouldn't have been any way for them to know we were coming."
Ted grunted in agreement. "We don't have any patterns that we follow in choosing our targets, we don't make obvious scouting missions and no one has been able to see us coming before. Something doesn't add up."
The whine of a shuttle engine approaching had me dropping back behind a pillar that was only slightly damaged. I peeked out from my cover and saw two in-atmosphere troop carriers inbound. They looked like slightly larger versions of a Kodiak shuttle and were capable of holding ten fully kitted soldiers each.
I gave a resigned sigh. The odds of being able to hold out until Jurt got here were dropping every moment. I stared at the incoming craft for a moment longer, before I started to refuse.
No. no way was I going to die here and lose to a bunch of slavers. No way was I going to let my weapons fall into the hands of the batarians, even if the failsafes would destroy them before the batarians could use them. I felt my anger growing. There was no way I was going to lose today. I didn't lose in the dungeon, I have never lost to the slavers yet. I refused, with every fibre in my being, to let them win today.
"Take cover, start firing at the engines on the lead shuttle. Focus fire and bring it down with the Butchers."
I sighted down the scope on my HUD and took a deep breath, switching my shots to slugs with Hi-Ex mods. Then I started firing, with Ted's weapon sounding just after mine.
Hi-Ex rounds were still intended to be used only against armoured infantry. Against vehicles it was decisively less effective. Nevertheless, the small explosions were dealing damage to the front and underside of the lead carrier. Smoke started to trailer and it lost attitude, wobbling as the pilot fought to keep it steady.
It was all for naught as the overpowered weapons, for infantry carried weapons, continued to rain minor explosions all over the vehicle, the power of the slug rounds allowing for some minor penetration that increased the damage as it made its way through the armour. The smoke increased and the vehicle dropped sharply, careening into the ground with a booming crash. There wasn't an explosion though so it was likely that the soldiers aboard had not died. That meant I need to watch out for them.
The second shuttle had altered course and came to ground level in a controlled manoeuvre that let it deploy its passengers without issue.
"I count ten," Ted shouted over the gunfire as the batarians took aim at us even as they tried to sprint to cover. We took advantage of the lack of cover between the shuttle and managed to take out three and injure a fourth. "Make that seven combat capable."
"Try twelve," I grunted, as I saw five more soldiers pull themselves out of the wreck of the other shuttle and make their way towards. I took aim and held down the trigger of my Butcher. The shields on three of the new batarians flashed and went down, the batarians quickly having chunks torn off them completely. The other two scattered and managed to get to some cover behind some broken walls. "Make that nine." The pillar I was hiding behind had some small chips of concrete smash off it as one of the batarians fired at me. Several rounds pinged off my shields and I ducked back to let them recover.
The batarians were pushing closer and I could feel the cover slowly disappearing under the sustained firepower of the assault rifles firing in our direction. Things would become dire if we didn't do something fast.
"Grenade out," Ted shouted, throwing the explosive into a group of three that were bunched together. A shout of alarm was all that was heard before it exploded in a bright flash. "Six lef…"
A burst of fire came from one of the batarians and Ted's shields failed with a flash, the next few shots puncturing his armour. He fell back behind the wall with a shout.
I grit my teeth, knowing that there was no way to get to him without facing the guns of at least six batarians. It was starting to look hopeless. I didn't think I had the chance of facing a firing squad on my own in my medium armour. If I made it out of here, I was going to get Chop to add another couple of shield generators.
Finally, I heard something that gave me hope. The sound of an incoming shuttle. If I was right, it was our shuttle with Jurt here to reinforce me.
Sure enough the shuttle dropped to just over three metres high and the side door opened to show Jurt standing there with his minigun ready. With a long burst of extreme-high-rated fire, the batarians were either cut down or forced back into cover. His raucous laughter could be heard over the loud buzzing of his weapon.
I burst out from behind my pillar and headed to the left, taking the batarian there by surprise and gunning him down before he had a chance to even lift his weapon. Without pause, I turned my gun on the next closest one.
A few seconds later it was all over.
I ran over to where Ted was lying on the ground. His armour had been breached and he was bleeding, but going by the groans he gave, he was alive.
"Hold up there, Ted," I said, pulling out some medigel. "You'll be right as rain in no time."
"Uuugh…" Ted moaned. "As fun as it is to throw grenades… being on the receiving end… hurts."
I gave a relieved chuckle and continued trying to patch him up while Jurt looked around, occasionally putting a few hundred rounds into the enemy corpses.
"Looks like you gave them hell," Jurt praised in his gruff voice. "And those assault rifles you got held up in a proper firefight just fine."
"Yep," I said, without looking up. "I'm sure that Horaxes will be pleased that his weapons completed a full combat situation and not just raids with full marks."
Jurt grunted. "Also, looks like Torrin and Beau are coming back now. They got less slaves than we thought though."
Satisfied that Ted was as good as I could make him in a combat zone, I stood up and looked to where Jurt was pointing towards where the slave quarters were located. Sure enough, Beau and Torrin were leading a small group of aliens towards where we were standing with the shuttle.
"Sir, we need to get out of here quickly," the human shuttle pilot Mychek's voice came over the radio. "We risk being hit by more reinforcements. Aleria says they are about twenty minutes away."
I took a look out at the group coming in. "We won't have the room to take all of us and the slaves in one shuttle run. You can take Ted and the slaves. Make sure Liserias is ready for him. Me, Beau and Jurt can steal the batarian shuttle. I will remove the tracker mid-flight."
"Copy."
Beau, Torrin and their scared-looking slaves arrived without any complications and Beau immediately began loading them on the shuttle.
"Liserias reports that she is ready and waiting in the docking bay," Mychek said as I helped a batarian female into the shuttle. Jurt came behind me, carrying Ted carefully and depositing him on the floor of the vehicle. "I can be there and make a second trip inside fifteen minutes if necessary."
"Roger that," I said. "Head out."
With that, the last of the newly liberated slaves had boarded and the door shut behind them. I stepped back with Beau and Torrin, feeling the wash of the air blasted out from the shuttle as it made its ascent.
Then a rocket flashed out and blew up the shuttle.
The shuttle exploded completely. The rocket must have hit the engine mount or the fuel tank because the size of the explosion was far larger than what a rocket should have been able to cause on its own.
I followed the smoke trail the rocket had left to its origin and saw that another batarian had crawled out of the wreckage of the downed shuttle. It was holding a launcher that was still smoking.
Beau showed his clear mastery of combat situations and before I had even started to raise my rifle, he put two shots into the batarian. Jurt followed suit by turning his minigun onto the downed craft and fired for a full minute straight, absolutely shredding the vehicle.
I looked back to our downed shuttle. There was clearly not going to be any survivors from it. It had been totally destroyed. Ted was gone, as were Mychek and all the slaves that we had liberated. I felt furious. I felt my very blood calling for the complete destruction of all the batarians who had attacked us, all. Every batarian still alive from the raid, if there were any.
And the person that leaked the information from my crew.
I clenched my fists so hard, I could feel the knuckles trying to pop, even in my armoured gauntlets. I wanted to punch someone, to keep punching them until I had worked through all my anger, to make them hurt.
"Torrin," I ground out. "You and Jurt check for anything of value that survived the shuttle being destroyed. Me and Beau will go check out the spare batarian shuttle. If someone on my ship sold us out, I want them found and I want them to pay for the lives we lost here today."
Torrin nodded grimly, having a hard time tearing his eyes away from our destroyed shuttle. He and Jurt walked off to check out the crash site. I took one last look at the wreckage before heading off to the shuttle.
Somebody was going to pay for this.
….
Aria was sitting in her office above the club, the by-now familiar beats of the music that Brock Nielson had gifted her thumping in the background as she read the information on the latest reports of Blood Pack movements in the Terminus systems. Apparently they had been pushing into Blue Suns territory, which meant she would have to keep watch of their groups on Omega. It wasn't something unheard of, though with the raids that have hurt Blue Suns groups in the Terminus by Nielsons people, they were pushing back harder to show they hadn't lost their edge.
As long as they obeyed Omega's one rule, she didn't really care too much. They could kill each other off completely, so long as they didn't do it on Omega.
A small disturbance and the stairs where Griff was standing guard drew her attention away from the reports and she brought up the security feed. A batarian woman was speaking emphatically to her guard, going by the way she was moving her hands. Griff threw a look towards Aria's office and touched a hand to the comm in his ear. Aldo responded.
"What?" the batarian grunted.
There was a long pause. "You sure?" Another pause. "Then go check it out. I'll cover you for five minutes. Better hurry your boney ass."
He turned to Aria. "Someone just called in something to one of our informants for you near the lower docks, in one of the more public areas, near the markets."
She blinked. That area was firmly in her own control. The gangs and mercenary groups knew better than to cause trouble in her territory. Surely none of them would be stupid enough to start something.
She tapped at her omni-tool, bringing up whatever camera feed she could of the area. And stopped in surprise. Not shock, not fear. Just surprise, as she stared at a salarian that had been executed in a manner she had only heard of before.
The salarian was tied between two posts that had been set wide enough that the lizardman's arms were fully stretched. The ropes were holding the full weight of the dead salarian, preventing it from falling. But that wasn't what caught her attention. What did catch her attention was the fact that the back of the salarian had been cut open from the centre and was swung out wide. Not to mention the slight bulges that were resting on top of the salarian's shoulders which, although the quality of the holographic display was a little grainy to properly see on her omni-tool, she knew had to be the alien's lungs. The salarian's face was untouched but frozen in a rictus of agony, evidence of the fact that it had still been alive when someone had done this to it.
It was a Blood Eagle. Done exactly as Brock Nielson had described. The punishment of traitors.
There was a sign attached to one of the poles that she couldn't read from here. At least her people were competent enough to know that she would want it taken down.
She watched as Griff appeared on the cameras with a few others as they came to clear the area and cut the corpse down. She watched the entire time as one of the men was visible queasy, even with the low-quality vid. She kept watching until they had finished watching and cut down the body. And ten minutes later, when Griff returned, she was still staring at the images that she had saved on her terminal, evaluating how bad things must have gone for the man who had done this to go beyond threatening and actually acting out on this.
People might think that she was a heartless person, and truthfully, she mostly was to the idiots that ran around on her space station. Despite that, she was still an asari matriarch and was adept at reading people. Killing like this was usually done as a message for someone, but there were so many ways to send a message with a body. But to kill someone in this way, it was cold. Hot rage would mean a lot more broken bones, this was cold blooded and done methodically. Add to that, Brock had said that kills this way were done for the worst of criminals and for traitors. Knowing what she knew about the movements of different criminal groups in the Terminus systems, and Brock's own activities, this was extremely likely the latter.
"Aria," Griff's voice broke into her thoughts, "there was a message with the body."
She looked over at the turian and glared at him in a certain way. He got the message and handed it over to her waiting hand. It was a small sign that had been written in a black marker of some kind on a piece of hardened plastic.
For traitors who cause their crew to die
Ah. She was right, a traitor's death. Still, she could appreciate someone who was willing to get their hands dirty. But if this was done in-house, then who was the message for? Most likely the people who convinced the dead salarian to betray his boss. Still, that meant she needed to make a call.
"Everyone out," she said, turning away and sitting down on her couch. She waited until her people had gone down the stairs, with Griff returning to his post in the club. She brought up her omni-tool and accessed her contacts. It took only a few seconds, but the face she was looking for came up on her display.
"Aria," Nielson greeted with a smile on his face. "I take it that you saw the message I left behind."
"Nielson," she responded neutrally, which was about as friendly as she was willing to get with witnesses. "I hope that the message wasn't meant for me. I would have to take that as a threat."
He gave an amused grunt, but the smile slipped from his face. "No," he said with a shake of his head. "That salarian, Mipas, leaked our travel destination to an information broker who was on the payroll of the batarian businessman that we were targeting. It turned into a trap and we lost people and a lot of slaves. When Carlos had done it, no one had died and they had not used the information against us. I could let that one be painless. This one needed a stronger message."
"Hmmm, I agree," she said, accepting what was said easily. Messages needed to be sent but she doubted that the information broker cared all that much that they lost an informant when they had already got what they wanted. Still, it might make them think twice, in case Nielson decided to track the broker down. Unless it was the Shadow Broker. Then he, or she, wouldn't likely care at all but was probably smart enough to not waste resources. The Shadow Broker wasn't known as a wasteful being.
"Do you know who the corpse was giving information to?" she continued.
The human nodded. "A female salarian information broker based on Omega near the market we put our corpse at," he said. "Fairly small time but still she was clearly able to cause me problems. Apparently they were related and Mipas thought that I would think that it was just a family reunion. I didn't touch her, but I did send her his heart with a spike in it. I have her monitored closely so if she tries anything I will know."
She blinked. It was almost like that vid that she had seen recently, The Godfather, and the horse head. Still, probably would have just been better to kill the broker and be done with it. She said as much to him.
He shrugged a single shoulder. "The salarian is one of yours. I didn't want to step on the 'one rule'."
That made sense. At least he was smart enough to not overstep his bounds.
"You've certainly changed things from the last time you did this," Aria remarked. "Last time all you did was talk. I really didn't think you had it in you."
The human shook his head. "Last time, all that happened was information being given away. This time I lost my people because of this. The response was justified due to the magnitude of the betrayal."
Aria couldn't help grunting. "You still talking too much."
The human gave a snort. "Fine. Salarian betray. I kill. Send message. Send heart to other salarian." He raised an eyebrow at her. "That short enough?"
Aria rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just inform me next time that you pull a stunt like this again."
He waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you around." The display went blank and Aria looked away, frowning in thought.
This display of violence was more blatant than what the human usually got involved in. Sure, he had mentioned that he had physically torn people apart before, but until now, she had thought it was mostly hot air. After all, there was a difference to killing in combat than there was to killing in cold blood and sending a message this way.
Something must have happened. It was the only explanation. Something the salarian had done had led the human to performing this worst form of execution. Then to display the body the way he had. She wasn't going to lie, she was re-evaluating what she knew of the human. Someone who had a hero complex, but now it had a more sinister twist to it.
She still didn't have any idea what his background was. Tevos had been looking into it for more than a year now and still didn't have a clear idea. The supposition was that it was black ops of some kind. This wasn't the type of behaviour that one would expect to come from a standard Alliance soldier, but was not out of the potential scope of any number of human mercs. But mercs didn't fight to free slaves without a good pay waiting for them on return.
Another mystery, but one that could wait. She should call Tevos and give her this update. The more sensitive woman would likely not appreciate this in the way that Aria did, but she would probably understand. Maybe.
"Aldo, head to the salarian and kill her," she ordered. If the salarian gave out any information then someone was likely to put Brock together with Aria for the introduction that she gave him for the slave markets. That was a hassle she didn't need. Better to remove the obstacle before it stuck its slimy horns anywhere they didn't need to be.
…
A/N Please Follow/Favourite/Review as you please.
Not going to lie, I did do some editing but not a whole lot. If there are too many mistakes, let me know and I can fix it, but for now, my pillow is calling me.
Happy New Year everyone, even if it is a few days late.