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Vala Buchan

Commander of the Deliverance

0 · 962 views · located in Mass Effect Universe created by Bioware

a character in “Mass Effect: On the Edge”, as played by Guilty Carrion

Description

Vala is a natural reddish blonde, although she has dyed it raven black during her stay with the Phoenix Project. It hangs just below her jaw line, and Vala often ties it into a low ponytail slightly reminiscent of her old style. Her eyes are a sharp topaz, cold and proper as her image demands, although when her composure cracks or on even rarer instances, is lowered, they're the first thing to falter and expose the thoughts inside. She keeps in good shape, and has a well toned body to show for her efforts. Where once Vala was mostly scar-free, she has earned several new ones after the Project. The right arm lacerations remained her most obvious scars, but her knuckles now boast dozen of small markings, as well as her shins and knees. Her face is still largely untouched.

Personality

Vala conducts herself with an air of professionalism, or at least she tries to. Driven with a reckless determination to achieve and improve, Vala is loathe to admit her own weaknesses, even as things spiral out of control around her. Every imperfection feels like a personal failing, truly embodying the mentality of "my own worst enemy." An admitted workaholic, Operative Buchan is quick to occupy herself with something when left to her own devices, be it re-reading mission reports, training or badgering the unfortunate souls who've earned her ire. During 'business' hours, Vala likes to stay 'professional' when dealing with people, although irritating her enough will earn some dry sarcasm.

There is little doubt that Vala suffers from an inferiority complex, most likely due to her weak biotic abilities and status a the 'prodigy' of her former Commander and ex-fiance Benjamin Slatton. While she may seem overly critical of others, Vala holds herself to the highest standard, one that she likely cannot reach. While others might buckle under this self pressure, Operative Buchan seems to use it more as a drive to overcome and push forward, doubting every step, but making them all the same. In situations that threaten or break her composure, Vala is quick to withdraw into isolation, nursing her pride with distraction until she feels confident enough to resume the appearance of flawless control.

When her guard is down, Vala is far more personable. To those she ranks as her friends, Vala has a much more relaxed temper, becomes surprisingly open about herself and her past, and reveals a sense of humor that one would be hard pressed to draw out in the average situation. To those not used to such a sight, she might seem to be an entirely different person.

Equipment

Prototype "Nyx" Combat Armour - Vala's Nyx armour is a one of a kind suit of medium grade combat gear. Far more protective than her old light armour, the Nyx boasts full body coverage and has fully reinforced joints to brace it's operator for the jostles of a hard infiltration. Designed for usage by biotic operatives on stealth assignments, the Nyx is coloured almost completely black, save for small white 'highlight' strips along the joints and edges. It's visor is decorated with the image of a Jaguar's face, a personal touch from the development team that Vala hasn't had the heart to remove.

While seemingly made of standard armour materials, the Nyx has the odd 'side effect' of seemingly swallowing light. It's surface barely reflects light, instead seeming to draw it in and snuff it, almost like a black hole. This effect extends to the 'glow' of Vala's biotics, although not as quickly or thoroughly as it would with regular 'light'. A remarkably handy feature, as the Nyx has no cloaking systems to speak of yet, meaning Vala must rely solely on her own stealth skills to avoid detection. Vacuum sealed, the Nyx is combat capable in all environments.

The true bread and butter of the Nyx, however, is it's Detection Pulse hardware. A prototype that is, as of yet, untested but has been designed to send out a biotic 'pulse' that spreads outwards from the user, mapping out the surrounding area and relaying information back into the mind directly. It's lead developer, Professor Rhodes, makes frequent mention of feedback overload in his notes, citing the risk of too much sensory input having negative effects on the mind, at least temporarily. Migraines are likely to be a common side effect of use, and there runs the risk of seziure if the Detection Pulse is used for an extensive period of time or is extended over too great an area. This is, of course, all speculation, provided the pulse works as intended.

Edge II Emergency Sidearm

History

Born on Terra Nova, in the capital city of Scott, Vala was raised predominantly by her mother, Johanna, as her father, Ramsey, served in the Alliance fleet as a combat pilot, notably in the Fifth Fleet for most of his career. Despite rarely seeing her father, Vala has always been close with both of her parents, although she has a notable difficulty telling them no when it comes to her personal decisions. This fact largely contributes to Vala's rather odd skill set from her youth, as her mother insisted on raising Vala as a 'proper young lady', whilst her father was content to rough house and teach her how to shoot when he was on leave. Since she refused to deny either of them, Vala was both a young lady, and a tomboy at the same time, or at least as much as a young child could be.

While she has clearly focused on her combat skills since joining Cerberus, Vala still maintains a surprising amount of skill in the 'finer' things, making her deceptively efficient at infiltrating high end social gatherings and the like. It is of note that Vala has, on Cerberus credit, often had scar removal surgery, to help maintain the image of a 'refined woman'.

Her entire career with Cerberus has been almost completely classified, an understandable precaution due to the highly... sensitive nature of her work. Aside from what she is willing to reveal, it remains difficult to piece together an accurate timeline of her career and associates. Some of whom no longer swear fealty to Cerberus.

Of those, most pressing is Commander Benjamin Slatton, former Cerberus Commander and now an enemy working to sabotage it for reasons unknown. Vala originally served on Slatton's frigate, The Arras, and he served as her mentor, later on also becoming her lover. The exact details of their relationship and it's effects are unknown, and those who might be capable of parting with such information are slim, namely being Vala and Benjamin. Vala is rare to reveal anything about her time with Ben, and those that bring him up will likely encounter stiff resistance until the subject is dropped. His apparent betrayal, and subsequent abandonment has left it's scars however, and Vala feels the need for answer before any of them are allowed to truly heal.

Vala has spent the last two months in the fabled Phoenix Project, training her biotics and body to a new height. The full extent of her training has yet to be scene, but she is notably more capable with her biotics than before, and has even toned up considerably. Freshly reactivated, she has been given command of the Deliverance, a refurbished Vindicator staffed by a new crew, with some familiar faces hidden in the mix.

So begins...

Vala Buchan's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Operative Kelly Invaru Character Portrait: Vala Buchan Character Portrait: Commander Jason Horn Character Portrait: Carly Laren Character Portrait: Nerita  T'Lar
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With the call cut, Horn stood there for a moment, facing the direction that Commander Buchan and her assistant had been simple moments before. Kelly was already typing information into her omni-tool, most likely directing the information side of the entire conversation to the most relevant members of the Call of Victory staff. After a couple of seconds, she noticed that Horn had not moved, and pried her eyes away from her tool to look at him. "Something the matter sir?" She asked, her tone inquisitive and nothing more. Horn gave a smirk as this seemed to break him out of his reverie. He turned around and started walking back to the hallway.

"Nothing's the problem Operative." Horn paused for a second, and looked back at her smiling. "It's been far too long since I've had a good competition." Horn gave a laugh to a joke that only he seemed to understand. Kelly's brow furrowed as she tried to understand exactly what he meant, and as he made his way through the door she clicked almost immediately as she took after him.

She caught up to him in the hallway, still typing away on her omni-tool as they walked. "So you assume that Commander Buchan meant to goad you into a one-upmanship?" Kelly asked as they rounded the corner into the CIC.

"What else would you see it as Operative Invaru? I hate her, she hates me. The only reason we were even talking is because the Illusive Man ordered it. There is only one natural evolution to this path." Horn rubbed his hands together. "A good ol' 'I'm better than you' competition." Horn looked over the map. "Lieutenant Bretton! Take us to the Mass Effect Relay linking to the Daedalus system and hold position."

"Affirmative sir." Came the Lieutenant's response and he started preparing the necessary calculations and preparations of the ship.

"Nikki, give me ship wide." There was a slight beep as the AI did as she was told. Horn had a permanent smile on his face as he started pacing around the CIC. "Attention beautiful and handsome crew of the Call of Victory, this is your ever present and badass Commander speaking. We are about to embark on our most daring, our most dangerous, and our most pivotal mission to date. Some of you might be hearing this, and getting scared. Others, excited. Even more, horny. Kinky, I know, but it happens." Horn stopped pacing for a moment.

"However! Now is not the time for feelings, good or otherwise! Because, ladies and gentlemen! We are needed..." Horn placed his hands on the CIC console. "To show Commander Vala Buchan just how a ship and her crew should operate! We are needed to explain to her, and her crew just how much marines kick ass! We are needed to show that this ship, her crew, and her illustrious Commander get shit done!" Horn paced around the CIC once more. "So marines! Prep yourselves! Battery officers! Load the weapons! Techies! Write me some god damn miracle code! Ladies! Hand me your numbers!" Horn reached the head of the CIC, stepping up to the command balcony.

"Brace yourselves Men and Women of the Call of Victory! We're going to war." Horn made a slashing motion across his neck, and Nikki cut the connection. Horn looked over to Kelly, his smile beaming. Kelly simply stared at him for a moment.

"Sir, you do realize you made it sound like we are going to attack the Deliverance..." Horn paused for a second.

"Nikki!" Without needing to be told, Nikki activated the ship wide comm. again. "Right, to clarify, we're not actually going after Commander Buchan, it's a joint operation and we're going to show them up...That is all." Horn cut the call again, and looked to Operative Invaru who had a slight smirk on her face.

"You are such a buzz kill Kelly."

________

It wasn't long before the Call of Victory was just outside the Daedalus system, awaiting the go ahead from the Deliverance. Horn stood on the bridge in full combat gear. His visor was retracted as he paced around the CIC. Nerita leaned against a wall, also in full combat gear. Carly was standing at an 'at ease' posture near the head of the display table. The entire bridge was tense, no one really saying anything and no sounds being made aside from the occasional clicking from the CIC techs, and sounds being made from Kelly's omni-tool as she managed the flood of information between the officers of the Victory.

"Lieutenant O'Ryan and both companies are ready for departure sir, awaiting your go ahead." Kelly stated. "Lieutenant McKrain has confirmed that all weapons are loaded, greased, and, according to her report, 'prettied up for the coming ball'. Nikki has our cyber-warfare suites working at full capacity. Sergeant Jaconis reports that the engines are 'good to go' and, if necessary, can be pushed operational limits for more than 20 minutes should we have the need." Horn already knew this of course, having read the report simply ten minutes ago. Kelly was simply filling the gap of space that was full with the utter impatience of her Commander to get started.

"Yeah..." Jason stated, his teeth grating slightly. "Now if Mrs. BlackieOps could figure out how to command her troops, and finish up whatever the hell she wanted to do with the frigates, we could do our fucking jobs." Jason stated, Nerita and Carly looking to each other but not saying a word.

"Imagine how I feel." Daniel replied, leaning against the wall next to the elevator, going largely unnoticed by the crew. Horn pointed a finger at him.

"Don't start with me. You're barely standing, so I don't need you going gung ho and asking me to put you into this op."

"Sir, with all due respect, pot calling the kettle black." Daniel retorted, his voice slightly sarcastic.

"That may be, but I have one thing you don't." Horn stated, giving him a smirk. "Command over this vessel and her crew, so there." Daniel simply shook his head as Jason gave a beaming smile at everyone as Harold yelled back from the bridge.

"Uhhhh...sir, incoming call from the Deliverance." Horn slapped his hands on the CIC.

"Finally! So did they fuck up? Are we needed to clean up the shit storm?!" Jason yelled. Harold hesitated.

"Um, not entirely sir. She's sent a video message, linking it to the CIC display now." Horn cocked his head slightly, before watching as the display lit up in front of him. At first, it was nothing more than a ship's outer hull camera. It wasn't long before they figured out it was from the Aurora frigate.

"What is this shit?" Horn asked quietly, watching as the space distorted around the camera to show FTL speeds. Within less than a second, the other Aurora frigate came into view. Another second and both ships collided, leaving the screen with nothing but static. Horn stood there, blankly staring at the display. Kelly's eyes shifted to the Commander, as did everyone else's. From the bridge came the only voice courageous, or stupid enough to speak.

"Holy shit, that was badass!" Harold stated as he looked back at the display. Horn's head snapped to the side, his eyes screaming murder at the man who shrunk to half his size under the gaze. "I mean....uhhhh, bad...bad Commander Buchan...who does that...right?"

"Daedalus! NOW!" Horn yelled and Harold nearly squeaked in his seat as the ship lurched for the Mass Effect Relay. Horn put his hands on the display console, taking deep breaths as he silently cursed underneath his breath. Kelly looked at him for a moment before Kelly wandered up to the bridge.

"Brace for Relay jump." Harold stated, his voice still slightly shake. There was a moment before the ship was enveloped in blue static, and instantly the Call of Victory was in the Daedalus system. Kelly looked through the windows, not being able to physically see the remains of the frigate, but able to know where they were due to the radar system aboard the Call of Victory.

"Get me a secure line to the Deliverance." Kelly instructed. Harold complied without a word, and soon Vala's face appeared on the screen.

"Operative Invaru." Vala stated. Kelly gave a light smile.

"Commander Buchan." Kelly stated, all business. "We are en route to our first objective, good job on clearing out the frigates." Vala gave a nod.

"I take it you received the feed then?" Vala inquired, and before Kelly could respond, there was a crash in the background. Kelly looked back to see Horn prying his fist out of one of the technician consoles.

"Fucking cunt of a whore! It's on!" Horn stormed out of the CIC, Nerita and Carly following him into the elevator. Kelly looked back at Vala.

"He congratulates you on a job well done. I will contact you should the need arise Commander. Victory out." Kelly cut the connection. Harold looked up at her, then back at the elevator.

"Ma'am, permission to speak, or I guess permission to ask permission to do something...is that a thing?" Kelly looked down at him.

"What is it you need Lieutenant?"

"A change of shorts! Commander Horn scares the shit out of me...ma'am."

__

Lieutenant O'Ryan stood in the hold, once again standing in front of nearly the entire compliment of the Victory's manpower. Marines stood in an at ease posture in front of him, everyone formed into their individual fireteams behind their company commander. Leonard said nothing, for he didn't feel the need. His helmet rest on the crate directly behind him, his eyes glued to his omni-tool as he read and re-read every single mission objective. It was straight forward, there was nothing disputing the fact, but after Ontarom, he wanted to be as prepared as he physically could.

He would spare a glance at his marines every so often, noticing the slight twitches from a few marines, the nervous ones that despite having fought one hell of a battle a few days ago, were still not sure of their own combat abilities. There was nothing O'Ryan could do to shake that feeling, he knew that from experience. The only thing he could hope for is that they would bring themselves out of the dark cloud of self doubt in time before they caught a round to the chest or a shell to the brain.

Despite not a word being said, O'Ryan knew that marines were using private channels to talk back and forth, every single one of them having their helmets donned. That was good, being able to talk was a sign of either confidence, or an attempt to gain some. Leonard gave an inwards sigh as his eyes returned to his omni-tool, only to be interrupted by Commander Horn's voice over his comm.

"Lieutenant O'Ryan?" Leonard put a hand up to his ear.

"Yes sir." He stated.

"We're moving into position, are the joint ops teams ready?" Leonard looked to the Kodiaks in the shuttle bay, already filled with fireteams ready to mobilize at a moment's notice.

"That's affirmative sir, ready to launch when you give the word."

"Alright, one minute 'till launch." With that, the channel was cut, and O'Ryan was left staring at the Kodiaks. He had hand picked the teams for these specific missions based on several aspects due to their working together with black ops soldiers. One of the main things he had to keep in mind, would be their ability to survive should the black ops soldiers leave them high and dry with no backup and no way out. Which left out a lot of rookies.

In the end, he picked Victory 2nd Platoon to take over the Joint Ops. Two fireteams per each joint op, leaving another 2 to be temporarily assigned to another platoon. Fireteams Cockatoo and Lory were going after the base general, teams Aracari and Eagle were to flush out the corporate paranoia man, and Rosella and Dove were to push their way through the Oracle gauntlet. Leaving Vulture and Osprey as the floaters. Despite them not voice it, he could feel their resentment of not being sent with the majority of their platoon. The problem being is that he knew how black op soldiers operated. Give them a few troops to help, but any more hinders them.

O'Ryan stopped looking at through the window long enough to grab his helmet and attach it. In the upper corner of his HUD, a timer revealed 20 seconds remaining. He quickly connected a channel to the joint op fireteams. "Alright marines. You each have your duties, so I'm not going to bother restating them. What I will say though, is watch your backs out there. These are joint ops, but don't expect the Deliverance's special forces to bail you out should you get into trouble. Keep your head, do what you're needed to do, and assist wherever necessary. Understood?"

"Yes sir, we got this one." Sergeant Lowavich said. A solid man with a light sense of humor in the best of times. He was a people person, making O'Ryan sometimes question exactly how he got into the marines in the first place. The Kodiak doors closed, and when the timer reached zero, the doors opened, and the Kodiaks dropped out into the reaches of space. Mere seconds after that, the elevator door opened to reveal Commander Horn and his entourage of Nerita and Carly, each one suited up for combat and ready to go. Leonard noticed that Horn's face shield was down, revealing his now iconic red devil smile. That was never a good sign.

"First teams are away sir, they will let us know when they make landfall." Horn took up a spot beside the Lieutenant.

"Yep, good, yep..." Horn stated, clearly agitated about something. O'Ryan refrained from asking about it. Asking him what was wrong would only spike his anger, poking a tiger with a stick and seeing if it will talk to you about it's life's problems only leads to you getting mauled, eaten, and shit out in a matter of minutes. It was a good few minutes before the first teams reported back.

"Overwatch, This is Cockatoo and Lory, we've touched down and are making for the rendevous. Will update on an as needed basis."

"Roger that Cockatoo and Lory, good luck out there." Kelly replied over the comm. to the teams. The other two weren't far behind.

"Overwatch, Aracari and Eagle on the ground and moving to kick some ass!"

"Overwatch, Rosella and Dove here. En route to rendezvous." Each one was responded in the same manner as the first from Operative Invaru, and shortly after the Kodiaks were back in the hangar and the ship was moving again.

"Titan first platoon! Load up!" O'Ryan shouted as the marines moved to comply wordlessly.

"Two minutes until arrival." Kelly stated over the hangar speakers. O'Ryan waited for the entire platoon to embark before speaking.

"Alright marines! Your objectives are a set of listening posts that Oracle has set inside the city of New Grankshaw. It's not a metropolis, but expect some civilian interference. Each listening post is designed, and functioning as a commercial building. As follows; A clothing store, a sports paraphernalia outlet, a restaurant, and a drinking establishment. Aurora presence in the city is predicted to be minimal, but hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The biggest obstacle will be the collateral damage that is, without a doubt, bound to happen. I will leave the ROE on that matter up to you Sergeant Lewana."

"Understood sir." Lewana stated, not saying anything more than she had to. O'Ryan gave a nod through the window.

"You each have enough explosives on you level each buildings yourselves, but don't get trigger happy with them. A bigger explosion means more notice. More notice, means more alliance grunts coming to stop you."

"Twenty seconds." Kelly stated, O'Ryan looked up for a second before addressing the marines once more.

"Alright, close the hatches! Get down there! Get the job done! And come back alive! Understood marines!?"

"Sir yes sir!" They stated with a practiced measure. The Kodiak's doors closed, and soon the ships were plummeting to the planet beneath them. There was an awkward few minutes with no one saying anything, and nothing really being heard except for the Commander's now pacing steps. He was getting antsy, and wanted to move.

"This is Titan first platoon. We're on the ground and en route to our first objective. How copy?" Lewana suddenly came over the comm.

"Good copy, good luck down there. Overwatch out." Kelly returned, and shortly afterwards the Kodiaks returned. This pattern repeated itself 3 more times, each time another platoon being selected and given targets.

Victory first platoon had been given the target of a series of Aurora outposts within city limits. Moderate resistance, but they wouldn't know they were coming. Besides the fact that their size limited the number of marines on station, they deemed it manageable. Titan third platoon was issued a manufacturing plant that was under the ruse it was creating commercial grade building equipment, when in reality, it was crafting military grade armors and weapons for Oracle special forces troops. Located in the industrial district of a smaller town on a separate planet, civilian resistance was projected to be relatively low. Lastly, Victory third platoon was issued one of the tougher ones. An Oracle operations center, set up in the middle of a metropolis to look like a corporate headquarters of a law firm, was set for demolitions. The problem being was that it was filled with civvies and oracle agents alike, and was three stories tall. O'Ryan didn't like the target, felt it was more like a terrorist attack than a legitimate military target, but he had his orders and so did Oberacker. She was to have that building leveled, regardless of collateral damage.

And so that left O'Ryan with Titan second platoon plus two teams from Titan first platoon. They were the assassins of the bunch. Assigned to take out oracle agents in easy to reach, but heavily defended zones. O'Ryan stood with his men, awaiting the Kodiaks to come back from deploying Victory third platoon. Horn was practically bouncing by this point, but wasn't deigning to say anything. By the posture of Nerita and Carly, they were glad he wasn't voicing his anticipation and/or frustration.

"Alright Titans." O'Ryan started. "We have our targets, we have our ROE, and we have the means to accomplish our mission." Leonard looked up at them through the visor of his helmet. "I understand you didn't sign up to be assassins, you didn't sign up to carve your way through humans to get at another human. We're Cerberus, we're pro-human, and in the end, you signed up to advance humanity." Leonard looked at his gun once more.

"Our original objective in this cell, was to stall and/or stop the collectors from taking our people. These agents, this Oracle Alliance agency and their attack dogs, Aurora, are stopping us from doing just that. Unprovoked attacks on our people, our ships, and our facilities have proven that we can't simply ignore these people. They won't go away of their own free will." O'Ryan slid his gun onto his back. "So it's our job to make them."

He brought up his omni-tool. "We have several targets, split up throughout the system and with no doubt a large compliment of Aurora marines at least on station. We need to be fast and efficient if we want to get this done before the Alliance sends their fleets to investigate the area." O'Ryan turned at the sound of the Kodiaks coming back into the bay, and already Horn and his team were moving to one of the Kodiaks. Leonard looked back at his marines.

"We have our orders, our means, and our transportation." O'Ryan started walking towards the Kodiaks. "Let's get this done so we can get back to work." The platoon followed in his footsteps, walking into the hangar as Horn's team hopped into one of the Kodiaks. O'Ryan's team stepped into the same Kodiak as Horn's team, and immediately took a seat. The door closed, and within moments, everyone could feel the gut churning feeling of the Kodiak dropping out of the Victory's shuttle bay.

Horn was the only one left standing, his one hand on the bar above him, and the other flexing in front of him. "How's the hand sir?" Carly asked, a slight amount of humor in her voice.

"A little sore." Horn stated, looking down at it slightly. "But not enough to not smack some sense into smartass corporals...corporal." Carly looked down slightly.

"Understood sir." Carly stated, and the Kodiak became absolutely silent. O'Ryan looked between the Titan soldiers, to Horn's group, to the ground. He had nothing to say, nothing to offer, and wasn't one to really talk when he didn't have to. It wasn't long before the tremble of atmospheric re-entry was felt throughout the hold of the Kodiak, and minutes later the door opened up.

"Lieutenant O'Ryan." The pilot stated. "Your stop. Good luck." O'Ryan nodded, standing up and stepping out the door. The Titan fireteams followed his lead. Once all of the Titans were out, he looked up at Horn, who simply gave a thumbs up.

"Don't get dead Lieutenant." Horn stated.

"You too sir." O'Ryan returned as the door to the Kodiak shut, and soon the dropship was flying back into open space. Leonard simply checked his weapon once more before turning towards his objective marker.

"Alright Titans, let's move."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Horn's team didn't have long to go after they dropped off O'Ryan and his Titans. Their target, a corporate executive by the name of Nicolai Breshnov, was stationed out of a mining outpost large enough to be a small town hovering over the single gas giant in the system. According to the man's profile, he was supposed to be a nice enough guy, but was still known for being a ruthless business man when it came down to it. It was also noted that Helium-3 deposits mined from the gas giant were also used to fund the Oracle war effort against Cerberus, which was enough to get this man, Nicolai Breshnov, on the list.

It was meant to be simple. Aside from a lightly armed security force, the mining station was to be unguarded from such assaults. Horn's hand never left the railing as the sight of the station appeared in the distance. "Do we have a plan?" Nerita asked, opening her mouth for the first time since Horn had picked her to accompany him on the mission.

"Oh you know, generally we kill anything that gets in our way and take out the target in a very timely fashion."

"Won't the station go into lockdown the moment we step on board?" Carly asked, Horn gave a smile.

"Well, timely fashion really just means moving really fast. I have Nikki running interference on their command line input things that close the station up, so that should buy us some time. Otherwise, we really have to hope we're faster at fucking up their dudes then they are at pushing buttons." Horn couldn't see Carly's eyes through the visor of her helmet, but he knew she was rolling them right now. "And don't roll your eyes at me corporal, I make my best plans up on the spot." Carly paused.

"So wait...you made this up just when Nerita asked sir?"

"Of course not, I ain't some kind of rookie." Horn stated, watching as the Kodiak came closer to the airlock, and finally clamped on. "If I was, I wouldn't be so damned confident! Not to mention good looking and generally a badass." Carly shook her head, while Nerita simply said nothing to that statement. A moment later and the Kodiak shook with the feeling of clamping down on an airlock.

"We're latched sir. Patching Nikki into the system now." The pilot stated, a few moments later, and the door to the Kodiak opened to reveal an opened airlock seal.

"Commander. I am inside the system and running interference on their lockdown systems. This is a temporary measure, I will not be able to stop them from initiating quarantine for longer than ten minutes." Horn gave a nod, making sure his gear was all in place before stepping off.

"Goody, that means nine minutes of fucking around. C'mon ladies! Let's kill us some assholes." Nerita and Carly stepped off the Kodiak behind him as they jogged to the airlock.

The inside of the station was slightly more luxurious than Horn would have pegged it to be, seeing as it was supposed to be a mining oversight station. Artificial plants littered the lobby that the airlock was attached too. An almost blinding white was used in every facet of the building's color scheme, along with some ornate artwork and sculptures. Benches, chairs, and even a small eating area with full blown tables and what looked like waiting staff was farther in the lobby.

Oh yeah, there was also a dozen or so security guards bunkered down behind any cover they could grab, every weapon currently trained on the Cerberus team. Horn stopped, his two teammates came to a stop as well.

"Drop your weapons and surrender!" One of the closest guards yelled, his eyes peering through his helmet and over the sights of his avenger. Horn gave a smirk.

"Nerita, do what the man said...Oh wait, let me change that a bit...Make them drop." Nerita flashed blue for a single moment before a pulse was sent out, catching the nearest guards and lifting them into the air. Carly was already moving before the pulse was sent, sending a quick rebuttal to the guards in the form of concentrated avenger fire. Horn launched himself forward with a small burst from his jets, catching the first guard lifted into the air. With a roundhouse kick, he sent the man flying into another one of his compatriots and saw the two men fall head over heels.

The guards returned in kind, their rifles barking death to the Cerberus team as they were all forced to find some cover. Nerita had her Karpovs barking as she was forced to duck after only a few shots. Horn looked over to her. "Nerita, give me a barrier!" She nodded, holstering her pistols and shoving out her hands to create a bubble around them. She flinched with every impact from one of the guard's weapons, so they didn't have long. "Corporal! Let's kill these degenerate fucks!"

"Aye sir!" She stated as they both popped up from behind their cover and started firing from the relative safety of the biotic bubble. Several guards dropped as the rounds shorted out their shields and pierced their armor. By the time that Nerita couldn't hold the barrier up any more, there were only six guards left.

"Alright, rest up a bit Nerita. Carly, give me suppressing fire on the left flank. Do not let them shoot me." Horn stated as he holstered his rifle.

"Shoot you sir?" Before she could get an answer, Horn was already jumping over his cover and sprinting to the guards on the right. Naturally, they stood up to fire at him, but Horn raised his carnifex. The first few rounds killed one of the three soldiers that he was charging at as another boost of his rockets sent him flying over the other two. He landed in a roll facing them, and before the two guards could turn to shoot at him, he fired his thrusters again, tackling one of the men back over the cover. A quick flick of his knife into the man's throat ensured that he was out of the action. A few rounds peppered his shields as he looked back at the last man who was desperately trying to put Horn down. Horn dived for cover, waited a split second, before rolling over the cover and planting a vicious left hook across the man's jaw which sent him stumbling back slightly.

Horn flipped his knife so he was holding the blade, and threw it with enough force it solidly planted itself in the man's shoulder. The guard gave a well of pain, but was quickly silenced as Horn punched him three times in the stomach, causing him to double over. A quick jerk on the knife, spinning it so the blade was down, a quick twirl for dramatic effect, and he had buried the knife up to the hilt in the man's neck, right below the base of the skull, severing the spinal and nerve columns to the rest of his body. The guard dropped without a sound.

Horn looked at the rest of the guards, who were now trying to force a retreat through the suppressing fire. They were panicking, and it was without doubt that the original guard that had tried to get them to lower their weapons was, at the very least, their on-duty security chief. There was no order to this retreat, they simply broke and tried to run. Horn switched to his rifle, and with the help of Nerita and Carly, quickly wiped up the rest of the guard detail. Horn rolled his shoulders as his two squad mates came to join him. "Well that was invigorating. Nothing like a good fight to get the blood pumping, am I right?"

"If you say so sir." Carly answered while Nerita paced slightly. She would never admit it, but Nerita loved a good fight almost as much as Horn did. Jason gave a smile behind his helmet, before turning a map overlay of the station on in the corner of his HUD. It displayed where his target was located to be, and a path to get there.

"Alright, I doubt that's the only security they have on board, despite the station being smaller on the inside than I had imagined. C'mon, we only have about seven and a half minutes before this place locks down." Horn stated as he took off down the corridors. Nerita and Carly followed suit.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A couple of isolated guard fights and a short jog later, the team found themselves in an administrative area. Desks littered the main floor, complimented with fake fauna and computer screens. A pair of staircases twisted to meet on an upper level, where a single door lead to the head administrator, or CEO in this case. Computer screens, emulating a tropical environment were showcasing a jungle as if it was just outside, and benches littered the entire area. This place was meant to be busy all the time.

And of course, it was.

This time, however, it wasn't guardsmen. Civilians huddled in fear with their family or coworkers as Horn, Nerita, and Carly walked in slowly to the lobby. Everyone saw them, and immediately went quiet.

"Guard!" Carly yelled, their weapons coming to bear, but the man immediately put up his hands. He wasn't wearing his helmet, showcasing his baby smooth skin and youthful eyes. The man couldn't have been more than nineteen years old.

"Woah! Woah!" He yelled. "No man...no! I...I don't want to die alright." Horn stared at him down the sights of his vindicator for a moment, before nodding to Carly. She holstered her weapon, wandering over and securing him of his weapons, of which there was none. He must have dumped them and just given up. Part of Horn was disgusted at this guardsman, so easily giving up on his duty. Another part was simply glad he didn't have to waste a bullet on the man. Yeah, he was only nineteen possibly, but by nineteen Horn had already been fighting Cerberus's enemies on the frontlines. Carly looked over to Horn, who tapped his temple. Carly gave a nod, delivering an elbow to the man's head. There was a few gasps and screams as the man dropped, unconscious. It could have possibly killed him, but there was no time to perform a less effective method.

"Nerita, Carly. Stay here and make sure no one tries to play hero." Jason stated as he started jogging up the stairs. They had two minutes to spare before Nikki estimated she would lose control of the station, so Horn was rushing when he came to the final door. When he pressed the button however, the door simply gave a rude beep in response. Jason tried the button a couple of other times, and was met with the same thing.

"Nikki, why is this door locked. I thought you were still in the system." Jason asked, walking to the balcony to overlook the administrative area.

"The door, and the cameras surrounding that office are on a closed circuit. I have no access to their workings." The AI stated. Horn gave a silent curse.

"Alright, he doesn't have a way out of there, does he?"

"Negative."

"Is there a way for me to blast through this door?"

"Negative, the door is reinforced and would take too long for conventional arms and explosives to expedite an entrance." Jason gripped the bridge of his nose, squinting his eyes as he could feel a migraine coming up.

"I suppose the system that controls the doors and cameras is also inside the office."

"Affirmative." Jason paused in thought for a moment, looking over the civilians and then looking back at the door. On the side, there was a keypad and retinal scanner, one that looked like Daniel would even have trouble with it if he were here. Just thinking of that reminded how much the man would have come in handy right at this moment. Another idea sparked in Jason's mind.

"Nikki, aside from Nicolai, bring me up a list of the administrative staff. Specifically, I want his second in command." There was a slight pause, before a name popped up along with a picture of woman in her late sixties showed up on his visor. Jason switched to his speakers.

"Brenda Killson!" Jason yelled, jumping over the banister and giving a short boost of his jets to land safely. Utter silence permeated the lobby. Jason continued his slow walk towards the civilians. "Brenda Killson!" He stated again, looking at the eyes of every one. Jason looked to his team. "Find her." They gave a nod and started wading through the civilians. The team took a few moments to search the faces, but after a quick search, they turned up nothing. They reconvened in the middle of the lobby.

"She might have fled already." Carly stated over a private channel to them.

"Nah, if she did, Overwatch would have let us know an escape pod had jettisoned from the station. I don't remember killing an old hag, so she's somewhere on this station." Jason rubbed his jaw for a second, an idea forming in his head however nasty. "Alright ladies, I need you to follow my lead. This is going to get messy, but you need to trust me, alright?" They both gave a quick nod, and Horn switched to his external speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen of this fine establishment! How's everyone doing? Good? That's good." Horn looked around to the civilians, all still huddling in fear. "Now, I need to ask you a question, a very serious question, in which case a very serious answer will be needed. If anyone answers with some stupid ass remark like 'your mom' or the like, I will boot you in the face so hard your head will implant itself in your ass." Jason looked to everyone again, before taking a breath.

"Where is...Brenda Killson?" Jason looked around, everyone was quiet and nobody was pointing anywhere. "Anyone?" Jason asked again. "I really don't want this to get nasty." Jason stated one last time, before giving a sigh as he was met with the same response. He switched to a private channel once more.

"It's going to get dark in here, just play the part." Jason looked through the crowd, and saw someone who looked to be higher up in the food chain. He walked briskly over to the man, and yanked him out of the crowd by his collar. A few people around him tried to cling to him, but another firm yank quickly made them lose their grip. Horn's carnifex was in his hand now as he held the man down on his knees.

"Seeing as we have no volunteers, I would like to present to you forced entry number one." Horn stated to the rest of the civilians. Jason looked down at the man. He was younger than him, no more than his mid-twenties. His jet black hair was swept back, and his suit was immaculately pressed, save for Horn's rough grip around the collar. The man's eyes, a mixture of fear and pain were darting around the room, looking for salvation where there was none. "Now, I'm going to ask you a very simple question." Horn stated.

"I don't know anything man! I don't! I'm just an accountant! A financial advisor! I do-" Horn belted him across the face with his gun, creating a gash on the side of the man's face and shutting him up.

"I haven't asked a question yet, so do my bleeding ears a favor and shut the fuck up until I do." Horn looked up to the civilians to see if anyone looked like they were going to try anything. After a moment of ensuring they weren't, he looked back at the man. "Where is Brenda Killson?"

"Look! I-I-I don't know! I've never met the woman! Everything from her was done through a sub-manager! Honestly! All I do is shuffle money! I swear!" Horn made a 'tsk' sound.

"Really? You sure you don't see her in the crowd? Your life kind of depends on your answer." Horn stated, his gun creeping up to the man's head.

"I DON'T SEE HER MAN!" The man yelled, clearly in tears now as the barrel of the gun rested against the financial advisor's temple. Horn shook his head.

"Well then, I see how this could go." Horn stated, looking to the other civilians. "See, I'm going to bring each and every one of you up here, and I'm going to ask the same question. If I get what I want, you live. If I don't..." Horn looked down at the man, his eyes shut tight and tears streaming down his face. "You'll end up like this guy." Horn halfway pulled the trigger when a voice in the crowd pierced the room.

"That won't be necessary." Horn looked up, his finger relaxing as Brenda Killson appeared from whatever hiding spot she had been cowering in. Jason looked her over once. She wore a grey business jacket and matching skirt. Horn had seen people hide their age well, but on this woman it showed. Wrinkles littered her face and was matched with snow white hair, which was pulled tightly into a professional looking bun.

Professional women and their buns. Jason thought, looking at the man once more before roughly shoving him back into the group of people. Horn nodded to her, which brought Nerita and Carly grabbing her by each arm and dragging her before Horn. "Ms. Killson." Jason stated, letting his visor's paint job do most of the work for him. "You're going to unlock the door upstairs for us."

"And if I don't?" She stated, rather matter-of-factly. Horn cocked his head, and faster than anyone could react, he raised his arm and fired a single round. Everyone screamed, and looked to where the round had went. The man was paralyzed in fear as a smoking hole was permeating heat inches above his head.

"The next one makes a hole in his face rather than the wall, along with everyone else in this room." Jason stated, being as matter-of-fact about it as Brenda was. She glared at him for a moment, before walking of her own accord up the stairs. Horn switched to a private channel. "Ladies, make sure no one becomes a hero while I'm gone." They both gave a nod, and broke off to watch the rest of the civilians while Jason climbed the stairs with Ms. Killson.

They reached the top of the plateau, and made their way to the keypad and scanner. She paused for a moment, looking over her shoulder at him. "Who are you? Mercenary? Assassins?"

"I'm the guy with the gun who makes the rules. Rule number one: shut the fuck up and open the door." Jason stated, pushing the gun against the back of her head. She complied without stating another word, and with a couple of beeping sounds, the door's holographic interface flashed green. Jason grabbed the woman by the shoulder, forcing her to walk in front of him.

"A human shield. How noble of you." She stated, Jason simply looked at her.

"I never claimed to be a good person." Jason stated as the door opened and they walked through. Nicolai peered over his desk, his aging frame seeming youthful enough for his job. He gave a small smile, and stood up.

"Well, it appears my work has cau-" Without hesitation, Jason shoved the lady aside, and pumped three rounds into the man's chest. Without a word, he dropped, making a soppy squish sound as the remnants of his body crashed to the ground. Brenda's eyes went wide, tears instantly forming in her eyes as she desperately tried to grasp what had just happened while Horn made his way around the table to confirm the kill. The man's body was a mess, the carnifex's rounds on an unarmored targeted decimating it to look more like a bad cafeteria meatloaf than human remains. Just to be sure, Jason pumped another round into the man's head, completely destroying the skull and leaving nothing but blood splatter where the cranium was supposed to be.

Jason took a moment to stare at the man, then walked around the desk past the crying Brenda Killson without a word. As Jason exited, Brenda whipped around and screamed at him. "I HOPE YOU BURN YOU SADISTIC SON OF A BITCH!" Jason looked back at her, contemplating killing her as a potential Oracle asset, but decided against it.

"Lady, I burn on a regular basis, so Hell can get in line." Jason stated as he calmly walked back down the stairs to the mass of civilians who were either crying or shielding their loved ones from any retribution. Nerita and Carly looked to Horn, who simply nodded towards the exit. Without a word, the three of them made their way back through the hallways to the waiting Kodiak.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once aboard the Kodiak, everyone was still silent. Jason had taken to sitting this time around, his helmet sitting in his lap as he stared up at the ceiling. Carly's helmet remain on, as did Nerita's goggles. Carly seemed to stare at Jason for the longest time after they left, and finally Horn gave a sigh. "If you have something to say Carly, say it." It took a few moments, but finally she blurted something out.

"Sir, that was some dark shit." She stated quite bluntly. Horn gave a slow nod.

"Yep." Was all he said in return. There was an awkward silence between them as Carly expected more, but Jason said nothing else.

"Does it not bother you at all? Scaring those people half to death? Threatening their families? Their lives?" Carly stated, looking for something that Horn wasn't willing to divulge.

"Carly, do you know how many people I've made either so scared they literally shit their pants, or so sad they cry themselves to sleep every night?" Jason stated, looking at the woman, who replied with a stare. Jason sat forward, clasping his hands together. "Being a soldier doesn't necessarily mean being the good guys. Hell, we have the dirties jobs known in the universe. We kill people for a living Carly, and justify it as 'orders'. How many times have you thought 'that mercenary might have a family' or 'that soldier is a good father or mother'?" Carly looked down for a moment, providing the only answer that Jason needed as he sat back once more.

"I'm not proud of what I did in there Carly, if that's what you're implying." Jason stated. "I had a job with a time constraint, so I didn't want to waste any finding a woman when there was a faster way."

"Would you have actually killed that man sir?" She asked, Horn stared at her blankly.

"I'm trying not to take that as an insult. Despite the man being a banker, and I hate bankers, my carnifex had it's safety on." Horn stated, staring at her. "You are thinking too hard Corporal. Thinking's dangerous for the enlisted, they start questioning things...like orders, missions, and morality when the truth of the matter is this. When you are told to shoot, you shoot. When you are told to rest, you rest, and when you are told to kill a man through whatever means necessary, you take that to heart." Jason looked to the both of them now. "I'll tell you what I told Brenda Killson right before I pulled the trigger on Nicolai Breshnov...I never claimed to be a good person." Horn sat up now, his hand reaching for his ear piece, deigning the conversation finished.

"Overwatch, give me our next target

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Vala Buchan Character Portrait: Charlie Welles Character Portrait: Dusk Trafford Character Portrait: Wyatt Sinoff
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With the opening salvo to Horn's ego delivered, Commander Buchan had wasted little time boarding the lift to head for the hangar bay where the forces selected for the operation had been told to muster. During her descent, Ronas quickly passed along the incoming transmission from the Call of Victory to her, a small display hovering off the device to display the caller. To her disappointment, it wasn't Horn but Invaru on the other end. Without pause, she greeted the woman. "Operative Invaru."

"Commander Buchan." The redheaded woman betrayed no thought, as she was rapidly growing to expect from the professionally minded 2IC. "We are en route to our first objective, good job on clearing out the frigates." She nodded, trying to keep the small grin she felt growing off her face.

Curiosity got the better of her for a moment, and she quickly inquired, "I take it you received the feed then?" Before Invaru could properly respond, Vala heard the unmistakable crash in the background. There was a brief moment of silence before Horn's voice echoed from who knows where.

"Fucking cunt of a whore! It's on!" The words shattered her attempts at restraint, the grin she'd been suppressing in full display on her face as Kelly looked back to her neutrally.

"He congratulates you on a job well done. I will contact you should the need arise Commander. Victory out." The line went dead, and Vala lowered her Omni tool as the lift reached the hangar bay. The various crewmen on the deck were either finishing last minute preparations or simply killing time until the operation was ready to begin. Flicking her eyes over those gathered, she noted that more of the Hell Hounds were present than Sinoff's marines. Judging by the numbers, there were no more than two fire teams that would be participating in the action today.

Vala had yet to actually see any of the marines in combat, or even in armour for that matter, so she took a moment to examine them as she quietly crossed the bay towards the collected group. Each was fully armoured from head to toe in some of the thickest armour she had ever laid her eyes on, save for two who she assumed were the respective leaders of the teams, conversing quietly with their helmets tucked into the crux of their arm. Clearly these marines were meant to take massive amounts of fire, judging solely by the sheer bulk of their equipment, and she wondered briefly how difficult it was for them to move in the slabs of ceramic plate.

Each seemed to be carrying a Vindicator battle rifle attached to the magnetic clip over their right shoulder, and a shotgun tucked just below the small of their back. She wasn't overly familiar with the designs of shotguns herself, but she was pretty certain that it was an M-22 Eviscerator; a design considered technically illegal for military use. Several compartments along their waistline no doubt stuffed to the rim with thermal clips and grenades.

One of the marines noticed her approach as she drew closer, giving her a better view of the helmet as the soldier turned sharply and barked out "Officer on Deck!" The bay quieted for the most part, as most present turned and gave her the salute she was due. The feeling of it still made her shiver slightly with excitement, and she gave a light "As you were." before continuing her examination of her marines.

The helmet didn't match completely with more 'modern' designs' she noted curiously. Most helmets favoured a sleeker exterior all the way around, where as the helmets upon the soldiers had a much older feel to it. It covered the majority of their face, with only a narrow 'Y' shaped visor in the center of the helmet allowing you to see the soldier within, and most of them had it tinted to obscure them completely. For the most part, their armour was pure white, with only the slightest detailing in soft orange-gold as 'trim' in certain places.

One of the team leads, an older-looking man with greying brown hair and sharp eyes, turned to her as he finished his conversation with the other and nodded politely. "Commander Buchan, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." He offered his hand, which she took politely. His handshake was like a vice-grip, and she knew that if wasn't for her armour, it would probably hurt with the pressure he applied. The man certainly seemed the type who would do well under someone like Sinoff. "Major Tarrick; I lead fire team Ophanim and also assist Commander Sinoff with the day to day work involved with marines."

"A pleasure." She looked to the marines for a moment. "We have a platoon's worth, correct?" There was a brief pause before she looked back at him with a confused expression. "Wait...Ophanim?" The major nodded quietly.

"That was pretty much my reaction. All of the fire teams have call-signs based on one of the ranks of Jewish angels, and the platoon as a whole is called Sephirot." She stared blankly for another moment, and he just gave the slightest shrug of his shoulders. "The idea was Commander Sinoff's, Ma'am. He chose it after you decided on the Deliverance for the ship herself."

"I never expected him to be one for symbology." Heavy footfalls sounded behind her, and it didn't take much to decipher the source. She half-turned to the titanic figure of Sinoff, who was sharply saluted immediately by all the marines. He seemingly paid them no mind, leaving them as they were while he regarded her. "Perfect timing. I was just introducing myself to the marines."

He nodded, looking to those present. "They'll be tasked with handling extractions for all the teams in the field. One team per transport, regardless of what the mercenary girl says." The former mercenary looked sharply over Vala's head towards the woman in question, but she didn't really want to inquire after what had happened between the two to cause their displeasure with each other. "Ophanim will be assigned to the Kodiak, Seraphim to the Mantis."

"They'll provide cover for the Hounds to get aboard, I assume?"

"Yes, and if you find yourself needing a stable extraction point, they will provide it without hesitation." He turned partially to her, cold eyes flicking down to meet her gaze. "They are more than capable of handling whatever grunts these targets intend to throw at us." She nodded, gesturing away from the marines and the two fell into step. Wyatt's massive gait easily kept pace with her quicker steps, and they quickly took their place at the head of the assembled group.

Those present took the subtle cue; marines forming into a pair of ranks while the Hounds took a more casual and loose standing arrangement scattered before the ship's leaders. Vala took a moment to look over them all, before nodding to Wyatt. The 2IC cleared his throat, before the thick bass of his voice thundered through the bay. "This operation is now officially underway. The Call of Victory is mobilizing, and it is time we begin our actual objective in this system." His eyes shifted to the gathered hounds, voice never wavering in volume or clarity. "Each 'pair' has been given a specific target that they will be tasked with eliminating. Three are solo operations, while the other three shall be working in joint operations with the marines forces of the Call of Victory."

Vala had never heard Wyatt give orders properly before, but she could immediately tell the man had the talent for it. His voice demanded attention, not to mention the sheer sense of overwhelming authority he seemed to project over everyone gathered. The officer was already large, but the way he spoke, the way he carried himself just seemed to swallow as much space as possible and make you take heed. It made it rather clear why he was considered a commander in his own right. "Operative Tachi and Operative Arcsberg; Agent Letsinger and Agent Alto; Agent Wilshire and Agent Larick. You six are on the joint ops, as you know. I cannot vouch for the ability or talent of the Victory's marines; as such none of you should rely on them beyond their designated function."

"Focus on eliminating the target above all else, and let the marines handle the heavy lifting. Once the target is down and the kill confirmed, head to the designated LZ and signal for pick up. Assist them only as absolutely necessary, but refrain from risking yourself." His features were cold, betraying that these instructions were not made out of compassion. The logic was rather plain to see, if one had the mind for it. It was infinitely more difficult to replace a skilled commando than it was to replace a marine.

The commandos mentioned nodded lightly in understanding as the 2IC shifted his gaze through the remaining pairs. Each had a target that they would be handling independently of every other operation on the field, leaving them with more ground to cover in a shorter time. "As for the rest of you...speed is of the essence. There is only minimal, but do not rely on her. Extractions are her priority, and the more damage she does, the more countermeasures we can expect to be deployed against her.”

Across the hangar there was a sharp laugh, and everyone glanced towards the source for a moment. Dusk, comfortably seated inside her gunship, grinned confidently back at them all. "Anything they've got, I can handle it. I've flown through more shit storms than any one of their jockeys can dream about." Wyatt stared impassively, while Vala chuckled lightly at the mercenary's confidence.

"Regardless of her perceived skill, handle your assignments as discreetly as possible." His omni-tool chirped once, and he raised it to his ear. After a moment, he nodded sharply and lowered the device. "The Kodiak has returned; all non-essential personnel clear the flight deck.” He barked, turning partially to Vala. "Good hunting, Commander."

"Thanks." She replied as he followed the few remaining flight staff out of the immediate bay. She took a moment to fasten her helmet, and ensure everyone remaining had their own on before the bay hissed open and the atmosphere vented in seconds. The Kodiak hovered into the bay; floating inches off the floor as the hatch opened and Welles's team emerged from the cabin. She gave a quick thumb up to the man, which he returned as Major Tarrick’s team embarked with the other Hounds following close behind. A few of them traded gestures with their commander as they climbed aboard, although the man looked rather exhausted even in his full combat gear.

Pulling her eyes from the commando, she trudged over to the gunship as Seraphim finished their boarding. In the corner of her eyes she could see the slight scowl on Dusk's face at their presence, but she decided to leave it alone for the time being. Provided the merc was willing to work with the marines, she wasn't going to make any waves before a major operation. Vala climbed into the rather cramped transport cabin, which was already mostly dominated by the marines’ massive armour.

Along the wall that separated the cockpit and the cabin, a small screen flickered to life displaying Dusk's slightly irritated face from the side. She glanced at the small camera for a moment before looking back to the controls. "This is why I didn't want the jarheads." She gestured at the screen. "Mantis gunships are meant to carry small teams. Key word: Small. 12 people is really stretching Deadra's capacity limits."

One of the marines looked to the screen, face obscured by the helmet. "I thought you were supposed to be something of a hotshot pilot." The surprisingly feminine voice teased. "Can't handle a little extra weight in the back?"

"Please! You could stuff a pair of rutting krogan in there and I'd still be able to fly this better than any Alliance jockey could ever dream." Vala raised an eyebrow as Dusk continued. "Not to brag or anything, but I'm not really going to see much of a challenge against some hotshot military boy."

"Easy on the Alliance pilots." The commander started, turning her helmet to look fully at the mercenary. She looked ready to continue when Vala held up a cautionary finger. "My father happens to be a pilot in the 2nd Fleet, Dusk." Several of the marines sucked in a breath, one even giving off an 'Oooooo' as Dusk flicked her eyes away from the camera awkwardly.

"Ah. Well...shit. Insert foot into mouth."

"Make sure it's properly stowed, pilot." One of the marines called, earning a few laughs from the group as Dusk flipped them the bird and tugged on her helmet and sealed the G-suit completely. With that conversation seemingly done, Vala looked out the small hatch as the Hounds began to board. Her HUD quickly displayed their names. The first pair to embark was Operatives McNeary and Cottam, neither of which said much of anything as they climbed into the ship and took seats opposite each other. The commander gave the odd 'splatter' like markings along their armour a curious look, but decided against asking. Neither of them looked overly chatty.

Following right behind were Agents Mutz and Buday, who seemed to be talking on private comms judging by the slight motion of their head. Mutz hopped into the gunship before her partner and turned to offer him a hand up, which he took after a moment's pause. Their armour seemed to have...veins running along their body in the same golden colour as the helmet markings. Maybe it was another tradition in the unit, she thought.

The last pair to board moved slowly, although each seemed to have their own reason for doing so judging by their strides. The leading one, Agent Alto, had a rather arrogant stride, and seemed perfectly content with making them all wait while his partner, Agent Letsinger, moved with a much more skittish step and kept herself firmly behind the broad shoulders of her partner. Vala noted with dry interest the marking atop their helmet that resembled a crown. “Someone has a high opinion of themselves
” She thought to herself with a soft scoff. With all the pairs present, she gave wall a solid thump and the hatches on the gunship hissed shut and sealed them in the darkness.

A moment later, dim lights flickered on inside the compartment, and they felt the ship begin to stir beneath their feet as Dusk woke Deadra from her slumber. "Systems are green across the board, and we are cleared for departure. Permission to take us out, boss?" Dusk asked excitedly over the internal PA over the gunship.

Vala nodded once. "Permission granted. Let's go hit Oracle where it hurts."

"I like that plan!" The ship lurched for a moment before the inertial dampeners kicked in and the ship lifted out of the Deliverance's hangar bay. It was odd, she noted, to not have any immediate view to the outside like they did in the shuttles. It robbed her of anything to occupy herself with for the duration of their descent.

Tapping her foot once, Vala’s eyes drifted over the occupants of the crowded cabin, wondering briefly what sort of pre-mission rituals each might have as the gunship rattled roughly through the atmosphere towards their first target. They were all rather still, she noted, the marines largely resting back against the wall while the Hounds seemed to speak quietly amongst themselves judging by the slightest movements of their heads.

The cabin stayed in silence for the first few minutes as they approached their destination, only to be broken by the odd mumbles and half-audible talking of their pilot over the small screen. As the ship came to a slow halt, she glanced over to the camera. “First drop-point reached. Letsinger, Alto, you’re up.” The panel beside Vala hissed open and revealed the small skyline of the small city below. From the panel, a pair of rappels descended and neither of the Hounds wasted anytime hooking it to the systems built into their belts.

“Good hunting.” Vala offered, earning only a momentary glance from Alto before he dropped down the rappel and out of sight. Letsinger gave a timid nod before following after her partner. The commander peered over the edge after the odd pair, watching them unfasten the rappels and start across the small rooftop that was their drop point. Alto spared a glance upwards, and she swore their eyes met for a split second before the man shook his head and disappeared into his tactical cloak. “Pleasant one, isn’t he?”

The rappels retracted as the panel clicked shut and the gunship hummed off again. The cabin remained as silent as it had been before, and she doubted anyone was really going to liven it up anytime soon. Maybe this is why a pair like Jones and El were appreciated, she mused. They certainly had no trouble dispelling any sense of quiet, be it good or bad. Before she could think any further on the topic, the gunship came to a stop once more. “Mutz and Buday, you’re up.” Dusk called, the panel once more opening and deploying its rappels.

Buday took only a moment to secure his rappel, glancing idly at his partner as she fiddled with it repeatedly before finally getting it to co-operate and click in. His gaze shifted to Vala, and she could hear the smile on his voice. “Don’t let Vern stop you from wishing us well, Commander. I’d actually appreciate it.” She blinked as Mutz elbowed her partner in the ribs.

“Don’t sound too desperate now
” The woman growled softly, as Buday just shook his head with a light sigh. “Oh, but best of luck, Ma’am.”

“Same to you.”

The pair pushed off the lip and dropped down to the ground below, something more reminiscent of a parking lot than a traditional office complex or building serving as their drop point. They lingered only a few seconds longer than their predecessors, as Mutz once more fought with her uncooperative rappel before Buday simply undid it with a swift flick of the wrist. After a brief stare down, the pair trotted off towards their objective with their cloaks soon obscuring them from view.

As they set off towards their final destination, Vala looked to the remaining occupants quietly, surprised to find both the Hounds rapidly tapping their feet and drumming their hands on their forearms in impatience. Before she could say anything, McNeary’s neck straightened as she looked to her partner. “Better watch your 3 better today, Cottam. I can’t afford to cover for your shit on a real job.” It was surprising the intensity with which she hissed the remark at him, although Cottam wasted no time making an irritated sound as he looked off at nothing in particular.

“My 3 would be fine if I didn’t have to keep cleaning up after your sloppy ass footwork and making sure everything is actually dead.”

“I wouldn’t have to rush if you could actually learn to predict how a two-bit grunt is going to ai-”

“Oi, Lovebirds, we’re here.” The two stopped, looking in tandem to the monitor where Dusk’s helmet stared impassively back. “So get the fuck out.” Something like a guttural growl sounded in perfect unison from the pair, both practically leaping from their seats and throwing themselves out the freshly opened panel without delay. It almost looked like they were racing.

Neither had bothered fastening their rappels, simply grabbing the cord as they dropped and sliding down its length with a practiced ease that spoke highly of their ability. No sooner had their feet hit the ground then they both broke into a dead sprint. Their cloaks rippled and flickered for several seconds trying to process the speed before they ripped around a corner and disappeared from sight.

One of the marines, the female from earlier, laughed lightly to herself. “Christ, the Major wasn’t kidding when he said these guys were eccentric.” Vala glanced towards the woman, who titled her head in some sort of greeting. “I don’t think I’ve properly introduced myself, Commander. Service Chief DePaul, I’ll be your back up today.”

The commander took the handshake and gave it a light shake, noticing DePaul’s lacked the force of the Major’s. “Pleasure to meet you, DePaul. You lead Seraphim, I take it?”

“That I do, Ma’am. Hopefully you won’t need us much, but don’t hold back for our sakes.” She leaned back slightly, helmet glancing towards the various marines. “The boys want to show off for you, after all.” A majority of the other marines immediately looked to their leader and shook their hands in rapid denial. “And suddenly they’re bashful.” DePaul laughed heartily, the last marine who hadn’t reacted joining her quietly. Vala even suppressed a chuckle at the marines.

“Well, I can think of better ways to impress a woman than getting shot at
” She paused for a moment, looking away from the fire team while tapping a finger to her visor. “But if that’s all you’ve got then I suppose I should let you hold onto it, hm?”

“Ouch, Ma’am. Ouch.” One of the men commented, as Vala shook her head in amusement before looking to Dusk’s screen. The mercenary glanced over through the displays on her visor, which was obscured partially by the light reflecting off the darkened canopy behind her.

“We’re getting close, boss.” The pilot looked back to the control’s, hands moving across the panels rapidly for a few moments before she gripped the flight stick again and banked the gunship to the right. “I can put you down as close as you want.”

The commander nodded. “Keep some distance. I’d rather not tip them off.” Dusk grunted an affirmative, and it was only a few moments longer before the panel hissed open beside her. Vala stepped to the lip, coiling the rappel around her hand and pushing off the ship as the cord dropped lower to the ground. “After this, best keep out of sight.”

“Can do. Have fun.” Dusk commented with an almost bored drawl. Perhaps the mercenary wasn’t the best choice for playing ferry, if her confidence was anything to go by. “Make sure to smash some heads together for me.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Buchan out.” Dropping from the rope, Vala landed in a low crouch as the gunship wasted no time peeling away from her location. Her cloak wasted no time materializing over her body as the commander straightened to her full height. The area around her was rather quiet, filled with little but countless industrial warehouses.

After a moment surveying her immediate surroundings, she looked to the small clock displayed within her HUD. 13:17. It wouldn’t be long till the operation was properly underway. She thumbed the pistol at her hip as she crossed the deserted lot, eyes methodically scanning for any signs of movement. The only sound she could hear, save for the occasional flash of noise that accompanied a passing sky car, was the subtle scuff of her own feet upon the ground.

The silence gave her a moment to review her own objective, recalling the quick briefing she’d gone through with Alexis as she’d geared up. The target was a man by the name of Obadiah Vandenbroek, the project director at a new Oracle facility that had been constructed within the industrial district. Far from just a simple warehouse skeleton with a lab inside, they’d apparently bankrolled an extensive remodelling to the foundation to enable the facility to stretch underground.

Info on his work was sketchy at best, other than a focus on developing equipment in-house for Oracle Special Forces as well as something known as Project Durus. While the exact details were something of a mystery, information suggested that Obadiah was in the process of retrofitting a Triton ADS into something more akin to a combat walker. She wasn’t overly familiar with the design herself, but Triton’s were apparently an older military design that was more commonly used for deep sea exploration these days.

Suffice to say, letting the man finish his work wasn’t exactly high on Cerberus’s priorities, given Oracle’s stance against the organization. Her eyes drifted to the clock. 13:20. The agreed upon time for the operations to commence. Setting her lips in a grim line, Vala crossed the final few meters to the designated warehouse.

The basic encryption on the warehouse wasn’t difficult, and after a few moments of peeling back the various security measures, she slide the door open just enough for her body to squeeze through the crack before pushing it shut softly. The warehouse was rather dark, despite the time of day, and after a few moments her visor switched into a low-lit setting that made the area clear.

The facility was filled with dozens of storage units, each one labelled and organized into ceiling high stacks that made the supposedly ‘vast’ warehouse tight and claustrophobic. Moving quietly amidst the crates, Vala combed the area for any guards or even security features, but there wasn’t anything really in sight aside from a few basic, low end security cameras that she’d overwritten along with the warehouse security.

The entrance would likely be hidden, she concluded, tapping a few keys on her omni-tool. A second later, her visor flickered for a moment as she looked down to the ground beneath her feet. Sure enough, various cables, now highlighted in vibrant colours, ran in perpendicular patterns beneath the flooring. Following the wires, tedious as it was, would likely be her best bet for finding the access into the facility below.

A few tedious minutes of dead-ends and backtracking later, and Vala found the slightly larger than average ‘clearing’ amongst the crates, and the wires suddenly ducking down and running deeper underground until the readings couldn’t filter back through the concrete. “There we are
” She murmured, crouching down to trace her fingers along the faintest seam that obscured the access point from view.

A few inches to the right, a small access flipped open and a tiny screen blinked open. Tapping a few keys, it wasted no time prompting her for the password, and she quickly brought up her omni-tool. The connection took only a few seconds, and with a few keystrokes she activated the decryption program that Jo had provided to bypass the security.

As the machine did its work, she opened a channel back to the Deliverance. “Hades, this is Nyx. I’ve reached my access point.”

“Copy that, Nyx. Please be advised, we’ve been apprised of additional objectives. Updating your HUD now.” A soft tone sounded from the HUD, before Govern continued. “High Command has expressed interest in the recovery of information pertaining to Project Durus, as well as ensuring its destruction. If at all possible, the Oracle facility is to be destroyed as well.”

The commander’s eyes flicked over the information methodically, before focusing back on the program. “Copy that.” The task list growing didn’t help with the speed the mission required, but she refrained from vocalizing the complaint. Her omni-tool chirped, and the panel flashed green as the floor began to part with a hiss. “I’m in. Commencing radio silence.”

“Copy that, Nyx. Good luck.” The line went dead and the suit’s comm lines went dead, leaving the commander alone with her mission. A small lift rose up to greet her, and she embarked with a tentative test of the machine. She pressed the controls for the lift, examining the presented floors. Ignoring the floor she was presently on, the facility on had four others. The laboratories, personnel quarters, armoury and testing facility.

After a moment of thought, she thumbed the key for the laboratories. As the lift whirred to lift and began it’s descent into the bowels of the warehouse, she glanced up to watch the floor above hiss and seal shut overtop of her head again, plunging the shaft into darkness.

A simple but crude plan began to form in those quiet moments waiting for the lift to reach its destination. The laboratories would likely hold all the relevant information that the Illusive Man was after, and it wouldn’t take much for the programs stored on her omni-tool to handle the retrieval and deletion. Flicking her eyes down into the darkness below, she frowned slightly. After she’d located Obadiah, a quick trip to the armoury would hopefully yield enough demolitions to level or severely damage the structure.

If she’d known about the demolition aspect, she’d have insisted on bringing some proper high-yield explosives along, but it appeared her improvised plan would have to suffice. The lift came to a stop, and she ran a finger along the interface to open the door into the laboratories. The soft din of movement and conversation echoed from within the dimly lit halls, no doubt the scientists working on their pet projects.

With a flick of the wrist, Vala pulled her pistol from its magnetic holster, grip loose and relaxed on the weapon. Eggheads. Nothing too difficult. There was no immediate direction present on the walls or floors, and she moved slowly deeper into the facilities ‘heart’. It wasn’t long before long plexiglass windows began to dot the corridors, revealing countless researchers and technicians working away in their respective laboratories.

She paused by one of the windows, peering in at the work being done on what appeared to be something of a giant arm, save for the hand being converted into some sort gun, judging by the barrel. Stepping tighter to the glass with a squint, she looked at the barrel of the weapon for several long moments. It was far longer than most conventional infantry weapons, which undoubtedly translated into more power behind the weapon’s slugs.

Echoing steps made her freeze, eyes flicking to the corner of her visor as a twin patrol of Aurora guards stepped out of the small lab to her immediate right and started towards her. They chatted cheerfully, talking about the most recent game of biotiball and the office pool. Vala was as still as death, watching the men draw closer and closer with every passing second. She sucked in a low breath as the gaze of one of the men lingered on her back, footsteps coming to a stop.

Her hand tensed on the phalanx, every muscle tensing in preparation. Distract and disorient the closer guard with a low kick to the stomach, bringing him over the limb and likely out of view to the scientists within the lab. Eliminate the second guard with the phalanx, aim low to prevent upward splatter onto the windows to alert the scientists. The plan snapped through her head in seconds, and her body began to turn sharply to put it into action.

“Hell of a gun, ain’t it, Douglas?” She froze in place, turning her head ever so slightly to see the men. “Can’t wait to see when it’s all rigged up to the machine.” The guard who hadn‘t spoke, Douglas, was the one looking, although he was seemingly staring at her
or rather, through her at the laboratory she’d been observing herself.

“Yeah, yeah it’s going to be something else.” He murmured slightly, the slightly glazed look in his eyes as if something was making him hesitant but his mind couldn’t exactly place what. After another moment, he rubbed his eyes and she took the split second distraction to instantly duck low to the floor. Douglas blinked once or twice, before shaking his head to himself and hurrying a few extra steps to catch up with his colleague.

Her body remained still until the pair finally disappeared into another one of the labs, exhaling heavily as Vala straightened up to her feet. The guards were observant, and she’d allowed herself to get distracted in such tight quarters. Muttering a few scolding words under her breath, the commander moved briskly to the door and hesitated over the access panel. Peering back ever so slightly, her hand tensed above the panel as she waited for the scientists to arrange themselves in such a way that didn’t let them have an obvious view of the doorway.

It didn’t take long, surprisingly. They hovered about the room in a buzz, constantly shifting between dozens of stations and it took only one moment for her to hit the key and slide through the entrance before any of them even processed that the door had opened. One spared a glance at the seemingly empty doorway, raised his brow before shrugging and resuming his work. The room was large, but heavily crowded by machinery and the research team who continued their work blissfully unaware of the predator suddenly in their midst.

It was with some satisfaction that she moved amongst them, knowing from basic observation that they were no doubt identical to the researcher she had aboard the Deliverance. The moment their work began, the rest of the world didn’t matter until they were satisfied. Sinuous movements carried her through them like a ripple in a storm; the feather light moment-long contacts were dismissed from the focused mind without a second thought.

One of the terminals, solitary along the rear wall and obscured by various contraptions she didn’t bother trying to name, suited her purpose in the lab and her finger brushed the interface lightly to wake the machine from it’s slumber. Eyes flicking over access screen, she began to tedious work of breaking through the encryption. While her training had included all the necessary skills an assassin and commando would need, hacking was one Vala rarely practiced; often preferring to find alternate routes around heavy encryption instead of tackling the problem head on.

The code flashed along as her fingers calmly navigated through the mess to find the necessary information. A few tentative strokes brought her minor success, peeling back the basic login and revealing several more firewalls already in place. Frowning at the task ahead of her, Vala selected the immediately pertinent information, the weapon being constructed right behind her.

It took another few minutes to bring down the primary and secondary encryptions on the data, nearly trigging several alarms in the process due to poor timing or selection. Mentally reminding herself to brush up on her hacking back on the ship, she made the connection to her Omni-tool and began uploading the information. Her eyes flicked lightly over the information on display, reading about the development process with only partial interest.

As the download finished, there was a soft tone from the machine and her eyes widened partially at her blunder. Snapping her head to the side, two of the scientists were already looking her way at the terminally seemingly using itself
and beginning to delete the records of their precious research. One of the men started forward immediately, but staggered to a stop as he seemingly spotted the shimmering ripple of her cloak.

There wasn’t time for a plan, so Vala didn’t make one. She ripped a single grenade from her belt, tossing it in the same motion sideways towards another of the work stations handling the weapon’s more
explosive payloads. Her training put her reaction time leagues ahead of the simple civilians, diving down to the ground whilst she conjured a biotic shield around herself. There was a muffled shout, but she didn’t hear it, as the detonation engulfed the small laboratory. The glass shattered and blew out from the concussive force, throwing shards of metal, glass and bloodied bits about the hallway.

The force slammed her painfully into the wall while the flames licked hungrily at her barriers, but Vala remained huddled despite it. Fire suppression systems kicked in seconds later and several emergency warnings began blaring through the base. A VI began to rattle off its warning of the detonation as she pulled herself up with a pained groan.

The room was filled with the billowing black smoke, obscuring her far better than her cloak could hope to in the small downpour caused by the sprinklers deploying from the ceiling. The terminal, damaged as it might be, was miraculously still functional, likely protected by its odd positioning within the room. There wasn’t the time to waste decrypting it, but she hadn’t come this far to just leave the data behind.

Gripping one of the lifeless forms, she pulled up its omni-tool and synced the information to her own. The download took seconds, and the moment it was done she turned to the terminal, promptly barraging the console with every password recovered from the device with little concern for subtly. The system would be focused on the explosion, she hoped, ignoring the rather brute force method she was resorting to. Heavy, rushing footfalls sounded, panicked shouts sounding from the first responders. One of the passwords clicked, and she didn’t hesitate in commencing the download of all remaining files while simultaneously uploading the virus to destroy the info.

Bodies began to become apparent through the smoke, and she crouched lower to avoid detection for a few precious extra seconds. ‘Faster, faster!’ She hissed mentally, watching the download move closer and closer to completion as the figure began to step through the smoke to her. Her HUD blinked a quick download complete, and Vala needed no extra prompting to immediately move.

Re-engaging her cloak, she kept low while crawling sharply around the workstations. The moment a clear path presented itself, she took it. Breaking into a dead sprint, Vala cleared the mangled work table before vaulting through the ruined window. She landed in a dead sprint, already racing down the way she’d come. “The bomb’s next,” She muttered to herself. “Hopefully Obadiah doesn’t rabbit before I can track him down.”

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Something wasn’t right.

As she crept through the armoury, Vala painfully noted the total absence of any and all guards on the level. The base may have been a secret, but to leave an entire stockpile of weapons and ordinance unattended didn’t fit with the Alliance.

Flicking her eyes to the shadows, the commander strained her ears for any sign of the personnel, but was rewarded with only her own breathing. ‘This isn’t good
’ Swallowing the forming knot, she approached one of the storage units, quickly picking through its security and tugging it open to reveal the payload. Military grade, lock on tracking missiles. Examining the horde, she reached for one of the missiles when the PA system crackled to life in the armoury’s vaulted ceiling. There was static silence for a few moments, before an austere, yet somehow ‘jovial’ voice called down from above.

“Two frigates going dark in the exact same moment, an unidentified cruiser appearing in system, and nearly a dozen simultaneous strikes across an entire system
and you really thought wearing a fancy cloak was going to keep you hidden, Assassin?” There was a humourless snort from the voice, almost mocking. “After you blew up one of MY research teams and started feeding viruses into our mainframe? You didn’t think I’d check the feeds? That I wouldn’t notice the lift moving by itself? Do you think I’ve been living in a CAVE for my entire life?!”

‘I’d hoped, honestly.’ She thought to herself, tripping one of the grenades off her belt into the storage unit. The commander stepped back, already hearing the tell tale thundering of boots from every possible direction. Setting her jaw, her pistol reattached to her magnetic holster as the guards finished their encirclement.

“I’d expect better from a Cerberus assassin, honestly
this whole approach lacks
finesse.” The voice, which she was rapidly coming to suspect was Obadiah, murmured dryly. “Regardless, I think you’ve caused me enough headaches for one day. Wrap this up.” The speakers went dead, and the guard’s took aim at her shimmering figure.

“Gladly.” Her speakers crackled, hands thrusting out from her side as solid biotic energy pulsed out from her body. Every rifle opened fire in tandem, throwing a metal rain at the assassin ‘caught’ in their crossfire. The bubble rippled and pulsed with every impact, but the ‘shield’ held as her arms drew in tighter to her chest, dark energy violently rippling across her frame as her eyes pulsed with dark blue light. As the first of the guns hissed it’s overheat warning, her hands flared and swept backwards sharply; it was only a moment later that the bubble erupted outwards like a tsunami, greedily devouring the bullets fired into it’s approaching tide before hammering the nearest guards off their feet.


The brief reprieve wasn’t wasted, biotic whips materializing out from her wrists and slicing in glowing arcs through the air to grip one of the recovering men by the torso. The dark energy tore painfully at his skin, before a violent jerk of Vala’s wrist ripped her towards him at blinding speed. Her knee crashed into his stomach, buckling him over the limb as the assassin weaved past his body with a dancer’s grace. Twisting like a serpent, her hand gripped under his chin and with a volatile pulse of biotic energy, ripped the skull upwards until it cracked.

Biotics wreathing her frame in dark light, she launched off the crumpling body with feline speed, closing the distance to her next opponent in seconds. Slamming the barrel of his rifle downwards, she gripped his arm at the wrist before ramming the elbow joint upwards till it buckled with her free hand. Another moved to shoot, but the mangled arm gave her unprecedented control of her victim, dragging him through the rounds meant for her before discarding him like a spent thermal clip.

With a swipe of her hand, she drew her knife and flung it at the startled man, burying the weapon nearly hilt deep in his arm. She spun to face the fourth, rounds slicing along her shields as her hand straightened and sliced past the barrel of the rifle into the soft meat of the man’s trachea. The force buckled it inwards, his eyes bulging as his breath became a choked gasp. Her hand recoiled, striking the butt of his rifle to jerk it from his weakened grasp and slamming the barrel up under his chin.

She jerked the trigger roughly as she shifted her attention back to the wounded man, paying no mind to the gore splattered along her visor as the injured guard fired sharply from his predator. The first pair of rounds were stunted by her shields, but the proximity made the weapon much more dangerous as the third found its way through and punched a hole through her shoulder.

Medigel instantly deployed, flooding her system with adrenaline and painkillers to mute whatever pain the wound brought. Palming the pistol aside, Vala’s hand coiled around the knife still lodged in his other arm, weaving past his retaliation to drive the blade into the base of his skull with rehearsed precision. With a sharp jerk and a trail of crimson, the weapon was free and her attention shifted to the other guards who, despite the display of superiority, managed to hold their ranks and opened fire with their rifles.

Thrusting one palm forward, she crafted a biotic barrier, the hexagonal shape resisting the barrage as she drew deeply upon the energy in her body into her other hand. She’d never really used the singularity outside of training drills, but there wasn’t time for doubts.

Thrusting the hand forward, the air near the guards rippled before the singularity ‘solidified’ into place. Within seconds, the energy was gripping and tearing at the man, dragging them out of cover. Recognizing easy prey when she was it, Vala allowed the barrier to fade, drawing her phalanx and carefully sighting the 4 exposed men. Punching two rounds through the first’s BDUs, she snapped the gun to the second and repeated the process before she felt the singularity begin to destabilize. Drawing a small sphere into her hand, she launched it into the heart of the miniature black hole, which responded by promptly and violently detonating; smashing both it’s remaining victims like rag dolls across the armoury.

If they survived, neither was going to be a threat any longer, and Vala quickly retrieved a pair of grenades from the fallen guards near her as another fire team rounded on her position to deal avenge their butchered allies. Smirking under her mask, she raised her omni-tool and thumbed the detonator. A spilt second later, the crate of missiles she’d investigated earlier went up in a plume of fire, shredding those unfortunate enough to be close to it in a hail of metal shrapnel.

She was far enough away to avoid the thick of it, but several shards of metal sliced along her armour, leaving gouges in the ceramic plate and one lucky piece burrowed painfully up her forearm. Gritting her teeth as the fire from the missiles began to spread; Vala gripped the metal shard and ripped it clear from her skin. Biting her lip, she shook the limb tenderly as medigel worked quickly to seal and disinfect the wound. Another detonation drew her attention, several damaged crates of munitions falling victim to the spreading blaze. Thumbing her looted grenades, the commander darted past a few other storage units and primed the grenades as she sprinted for the lift.

“It’s just one assassin! Bring her down, dammit! Disable all lifts! Lock her down!” The intercom boomed, as one of the guards took a knee to fire. Gritting her teeth, Vala pushed her legs to go faster, as she snapped the phalanx forward and squeezed off her meagre suppressing fire. The man winced as a round clipped his shoulder, but fired back with the avenger, pelting her shields and armour with its furious fire.

Summoning more biotic energy to strengthen her shields, Vala thrust her fist forward, pushing a biotic throw towards her assailant. He rolled sharply to the side to avoid the energy, but she aimed for the end of his roll and fired as he righted himself. The next two rounds punched clean through his chest, and he collapsed backwards as Vala let the barrier fade.

Another guard rounded to intercept, but unlike the one prior, didn’t have the distance to get into a good firing position. Not bothering to slow her pace, her shin pulsed with energy before she slammed it painfully into the woman’s jaw. She could feel the bone shatter from the impact through the armour, driving the woman off her feet inches from the powered down lift.

No time to waste, Vala ignored the lift entirely as she draw the rappel gun from her hip and fired it into the ground as she jumped from the edge and into the shaft. The line tightened momentarily into her fall before settling into a fast descent towards the bottom. A tremor shook the compound as flames licked the shaft by the armoury floor. ‘Shit. That’s a new time limit.’ She thought darkly, panting slightly as she approached the final floor where she hoped Obadiah would be.

Landing in a half crouch, Vala stalked into the surprisingly barren chamber cautiously, eyes scanning for any sign of her target. After a moment, she spotted the silhouette of a man, and she popped the heat sink for her phalanx before inching closer. Surely it wouldn’t be this easy..?

“It seems Cerberus doesn’t fail to disappoint. One assassin against almost 15 of my men, and she dispatches them all? I can’t say I’m impressed with their results.” The figure half turned to her and Vala swore loudly as his outline shimmered faintly. “You didn’t actually think I’d just be waiting for you like this, did you? Never trust an assassin; I’ve learnt that lesson many times.”

Obadiah Vandenbroek wasn’t a particularly old man, his features only slightly wrinkled in a way that did nothing to dilute the solid intensity of his brown eyes. A thick grey beard boxed his chin, whilst his head was completely clean shaven to an almost polished shine. The holographic image flickered as the man flicked away the cigarette he’d been smoking, rolling his shoulder slightly in his dark blue armour.

That gave her pause, sweeping the area around her cautiously for any sign of the man. Why would a researcher be wearing combat gear? And more importantly, why did it seem like the man wasn’t moving or making any attempts to get away? If it wasn’t a pre-recording then it would have to be showing a real-time image.

“You’ve damaged tens of thousands of credits worth of Oracle personnel, equipment and infrastructure. Particularly, MY personnel, equipment and infrastructure. That’s just simply unacceptable. I’ll have to deal with you myself.” Straightening, his hologram looked as if it was walking for a brief moment before it sat down. “Computer, engage VR simulation. Randomize.” There was a sadistic grin on his face before the hologram vanished; several dozen small pillars rose from the floor moments later, but Vala paid them no mind as the wall across from her parted open with an echoing hiss.

“Oh
oh shit.” She breathed, as the towering figure of a Triton ADS lumbered through the doorway. The machines had looked intimidating enough in their old model, but this ‘Durus’ version lumbering into the arena made the older walkers look like slabs of scrap. The gun mounted on its right side was familiar, likely the one she’d seen being worked on earlier in the lab. The other looked far more foreboding, a trinity of barrels gleaming with a massive looking drum attached to the bottom as what she could only assume was its ‘magazine’. The fact that such a large one needed to be attached made her dread the weapon’s fire rate.

Behind the light blue canopy, she saw Obadiah’s face grinning darkly from the heart of his creation, and the assassin steeled her resolve. Things were suddenly looking a lot harder. As the mech slowed to a stop, its creator’s voice boomed arrogantly over the speakers. “An outdated piece of weaponry, but we’ve improved the design in every way! You’ll have the honour of being its first live opponent!”

As he spoke, the VR environment kicked in, the blank room shimmering for only a moment before it was replaced by a burning cityscape. Half toppled buildings ‘towered’ above her in the optical reality, and countless bits of ‘debris’ lay strewn about the area as makeshift cover. There was a momentary whirring that filled the air, and she dove behind the nearest piece of cover on instinct as the ‘Gatling’ opened fire.

The rounds screamed through the air, slicing past her meagre mound of protection in the very definition of a bullet storm. Pressing her stomach as far as she could into the dirt, Vala clutched her head tightly as the weapon continued its assault. The Durus was online. This was the worst possible outcome this entire mission could have had!

How long had this base been operating to get a working prototype up this quickly? Heavy footfalls lumbers closer and Vala hauled herself up with a grunt of exertion to move for another bit of cover. The simulation system was state of the art as well, with adjustable ‘cover’ that was like being projected onto retractable surfaces from within the floor.

The machine fired relentlessly after her, and she felt a stab of pain as one of the rounds punched clean through her leg as she weaved in behind a ruined wall. “Shit! SHIT!” She hissed painfully, touching the wound as her lungs panted for air. Her suit’s medigel systems did their work, but she couldn’t afford to take hits from a weapon that size. Her squish skin could only repair so much.

“Where’s that bravado, assassin? You charged my men without a second thought! Don’t tell me you’re afraid of only one measly man?” He baited, and she felt the anger well in her stomach at his insults. Leaning out from her cover, she fired at the massive target several times with her phalanx, but its kinetic barriers absorbed the shots with little difficulty. The machine lumbered forward, its weapon hissing steam as cooling systems vented the excess heat.

Vala had no chance to capitalize on the mechanical failure, as the second arm raising its weapon and she noticed light welling up inside the barrel. “What in the world..?” She murmured, before it erupted in a surge of light that nearly blinded her even through the reactive visor. It was a second later that the impact struck her cover, and the sheer force of the projectile flung her forward as it tore the terrain asunder. “Fuck!”

Scrambling up to her feet, adrenaline pounding her senses as her heart beat a million miles a minute, Vala ignored every groan and ache in her body as she thundered towards the nearest piece of cover. Halfway to her target, the cityscape burning around her snapped out of existence, replaced immediately by a surge of blinding white.

It took only a few moments before she adjusted, and she barely suppressed a grin. The area had been changed into a full on blizzard of howling white winds, making visibility almost nothing and filling the air with whistling winds echoing off the enclosed walls just out of view. It would have been a rather brutal environment for the standard marine to adapt to. Unfortunately for Obadiah, Vala wasn’t a marine, she was a Phoenix Operative. And the brutal blizzards of Mavigon had honed her for exactly this kind of combat.

Pivoting on her foot towards the silhouetted Durus, Vala’s cloak rippled over her frame, vanishing into the blizzard like a wraith. The machine fired a burst at the location she had been, but the rounds found nothing but air and the machine thumped cautiously through the storm in search of its prey.

It had barely lumbered three steps when the first lash materialized out of the winds and slashed against its barriers. Staggering slightly to the side, the mech pivoted quickly and fired its machine gun but she’d already moved again. Another lash appeared; striking against the machine’s now exposed back before vanishing into the winds again. The pilot slowed it down, looking cautiously through the blizzard for his opponent. No other strike came, but then the machine lurched slightly. There was a pause, before the canopy above his head shook, rattling the entire cockpit.

Perched atop the mech like a cat, Vala grinned darkly behind her visor, biotic energy encasing her arms as she began to hammer against the canopy with thunderous blows. Whatever material they’d used was highly resistant, but just as her hands ached with every strike, she felt it give slightly more and more as her assault continued.

The Durus lurched backwards, pivoting it’s upper body about furiously to try and dislodge the phoenix operative, but every time it threatened to dismount her, Vala would tighten her hold and right herself to continue the attack on the mech. As her hand began to numb from the hits, hairline fractures spread from the impact point and her eyes lit up with renewed vigour.

The machine rumbled beneath her; a deafening roar rising above the howling blizzard as the immediate area was bathed in a red-orange glow. It was at the last second it dawned on her, as the Durus’s massive frame successfully began to hover off the ground. Not willing to be pancaked against the ceiling, she leapt from her perch and landed in a roll; spinning back around to her feet to see her targets plan.

The mech dropped down like a stone, its massive legs threatening to crush her beneath the ton of electronics and weaponry. “Shit!” Diving swiftly to the side, she avoided the impact zone by the skin of her teeth, the floor groaning under the machine’s titanic weight as it shook from the force of impact.

Ending her dive with a fluid handspring back to her feet, Vala didn’t have a moment to catch her breath as the machine charged through the snow like a bull; shoulder lowered into a battering ram. It wasn’t in her interest to take a hit like that, but dodging meant she’d likely just run into the same problem again. Stepping back, she felt her heel touch something, and she flicked her eyes over her shoulder for only a second before smirking.

Shrouding herself in the glow of her biotics, Vala surged forward towards the machine. She could see Obadiah’s near maniac grin glinting through his cracking canopy, although there was little doubt she’d be wiping it from the smug man’s face shortly. The gun slammed down like a clothesline intended for her head, but the operative was one step ahead of him. Dropping swiftly to her knees, she arched her back as momentum and the light field over her body pushed her through the titan’s massive legs.

Her hands tapped swiftly on the ‘belly’ of the machine in the split second they passed each other, before finishing her slide out of it’s path and spinning herself about with the momentum into a standing position. The Durus skidded to a stop, trying to turn to face the assassin who simply waggled her finger and keyed the detonator on her omni-tool.

Twin explosions staggered the machine backwards, toppling onto one of the VR towers which were promptly half-crushed by the proto-types sheer weight. External systems crackled on the Durus, slowly ripping itself off the mangled machine which was already beginning to falter in its blizzard projection; snapping between countless different biomes in the blink of an eye. “You think those little cherry bombs will damage something like the Durus?!” Obadiah roared as his machine straightened.

“They’ll kill you well enough.” She spat, biotic whips coalescing out of her wrists as she charged the mech once again. It swept with its arm roughly, dodged swiftly by Vala ducking under the limb and slamming her whips sideways into its flank. The Durus brought its other arm down like a hammer, and she leapt deftly to the side before striking the machine with both tendrils from opposite directions. The machine gun spun up and barked its volley as it swept back towards the target, forcing Vala into a dead sprint to stay ahead of its targeting systems.

Whips trailing and pulsing behind her, Vala barely noticed the slightly blow glow growing in the Durus’s secondary armament. The moment she saw, it was too late. The weapon had been tailing as well, and fired its payload directly in her path. She skidded to a stop, pushing for traction but the barely avoided taking the blow dead on. The blast flung her from her feet, flying backwards as her shields failed and she smashed like a rag doll across the facility floor.

Groaning, the commander’s hands tightened into fists and she began to push herself from the floor. With most of her body sprawled out, she noticed something the intensity of her fight had blinded her to. Everything was shaking. There was a thunderous boom, and her eyes dashed to the entrance of the lift, watching a small plume of fire lick the immediate area before vanishing back inside the shaft.

“The armoury
” She hissed, eyes flicking to the Durus which was still; likely having noticed the same thing she had. The VR systems around them were beginning to react to the damage of the facility, flickering and shifting without rhyme or reason. The failures were likely the only reason a follow up shot hadn’t been sent to finish her off. As the machine turned towards the shaft, she staggered up to her feet; briefly clutching her side with a wince at the heavy bruising she felt swelling up.

With a slow intake of breath, she started forward, feeling the detonations echoing through the structure’s framework. The VR masked her slow pursuit of the Durus, which was steadily heading for the only real escape from the inferno this base was about to become. “Hades, this is Nyx, breaking radio silence!” There was only silence, and she swore into the comms. “Hades, this is Nyx, the target is heading for the surface! The Durus is operational! I need close air support!”

There came no reply, and Vala wanted nothing more than to scream a litany of curses at whatever was holding their tongues or interfering with the signal. Breaking into a sprint, Vala drew on her dwindling reserves of energy to form a whip once more and brought it to bear on the machine. Unlike before, her intent wasn’t to damage, instead forcing the energy to take hold of the metal as the Durus’s thruster began to fire. Gripping the whip sprouting from her wrist with both hands, she drew on more energy into a barrier around herself before the whip went rigid and dragged her after the suddenly airborne machine.

Obadiah and his passenger shot up through the shaft like a rocket, flames licking their shields as more of the volatile equipment was brought into the inferno. Inside her armour, Vala felt herself practically cooking alive, her barriers only just keeping the flames from engulfing her armour. Sweat dripped down her brow, but the concentration required maintaining her biotics was the perfect distraction from the blaze.

Their flight was short, but didn’t end as she expected. Instead of landing inside the warehouse that had hidden his facility, Obadiah continued the Durus’s climb as its cannon trained on the roof and punched a hole clean through the concrete. The mech flew through the gap and landed with a deafening thud on the roof, almost slamming her into the surface with its abrupt stop.

Wobbling on her feet, Vala watched as it turned towards her. The white portions of its armour almost glowed with the heat of its escape, and smoke hissed from its exhaust. The cracks along its canopy had widened and grown into a spider web of thin lines, but the man instead remained confident. He had every right to be, she admitted grimly. The roof was completely exposed and she was already reaching a point of exhaustion from using her biotics so heavily.

“You’ve put my prototype through its paces, assassin. Even if it cost me the facility, I can’t be more grateful for the work you’ve done today. An excellent stress test for the Durus, don’t you agree?” He taunted, raising the guns in unison. “Take pride in that, even if you’re about to die. You’re helping create one of the greatest weapons to have ever existed.”

Sinking into a crouch, Vala shrouded herself in biotics once more, lips set in a grim line. Was this how she was going to go down? Fighting an over-sized tin can just a few days after she’d gotten her own damn ship? “Boss! I’d get the hell off the roof!” The thoughts were interrupted by Dusk’s eager yell, and Vala looked sharply in the direction of the gunship that appeared on her HUD. The Deadra swept in low out of the clouds, and two of its four missile pods opened to deploy their payload. It wasn’t a matter of thinking; she leapt backwards on instinct as the Durus began to fire. The movement bought her only a second, but before the systems could realign to find their target, the missiles impacted.

Dusk hadn’t used basic rocket pods, as was much more common with mercenary groups. The missiles deployed quickly from their pod, but within seconds of launch fragmented into a half-dozen smaller warheads each. The guidance systems rapidly adjusted to minimize allied damage, the barrage swerving to impact more directly on the mech. The roof was engulfed in the fire from the warheads, and the damaged concrete beneath her feet groaned before crumbling. Fumbling for a ledge of a surface to grip, Vala found little as she dropped into the rafters of the warehouse.

The first impact was by far the most jarring, one of the metal bars clipping the side of her helmet and making her head rattle painfully before crashing into another on her stomach. The raining concrete made it a poor idea to remain on the little outcropping, and with a pained grunt she pushed off the metal and dropped the remainder of the way to the floor.

Her biotics slowed her fall, but she landed with none of her usually grace, instead partially crumpling over as she gripped her head groggily. Dozens of cracks marred her vision like a broken mirror, and she lamely tapped the key to retract the damaged visor. Ignoring what felt like a trickle of blood on her forehead, she surveyed the damage as she hobbled slowly into the center of the collapse. Half buried in rubble, the Durus lay in a heap, and its canopy shattered open and slightly smeared with blood.

“Boss? Boss, you alive in there? Please tell me I didn’t just blow you up.” The pilot called worriedly over the comm, which sounded much too loud in Vala’s ear as she grunted a reply.

“Confirming kill.”

“Whew
had me worried there for a second, Boss.” She didn’t bother with a reply, climbing up the rubble and peering into the cockpit with a displeased frown. Obadiah stared back, somehow still arrogant with a piece of rebar lodged through his stomach and one of his arms mangled beyond repair.

“I suppose you can take pride in this, Obadiah.” She muttered, eyes lazily watching him as she pulled her phalanx from her hip. “It’s one hell of a design, and I’m sure we’re going to get a lot of use out of it.” Despite his condition, the Oracle agent lashed out with his good arm, almost striking her across the chin before she jerked back to avoid it. “Pain in the ass till the bitter end.”

“You haven’t won anything. All you’ve done is eliminate a cog in the machine.” He grinned through bloodied teeth. “When you’re done here, go back to your Illusive Man and learn nothing has changed, you stupid bitch.”

“There’ll be one less of you, and that’s good enough for me.” The phalanx ended their conversation with an echoing shot, and Vala rose onto the wreck to gaze up through the collapsed roof. “Dusk
pick up.” She muttered, watching as the rappel descended from the hovering gunship.

“No offence, but you sound like shit, Boss.”

“I feel like shit, thank you very much.” Attaching the rappel to her belt, she gave it a tug before the system began to lift her out of the ruined warehouse. In the distance, she could hear the echoing sirens and was thankful they would be leaving the area before any civilians arrived. Tapping her helmet, she opened a channel to the Deliverance. “Hades, this is Nyx, target eliminated. Break radio silence.”

“Welcome back, Nyx. Your signal was weak earlier; we could only receive your audio barely.”

“I got what I needed.” Gripping her side with a groan as one of the marines pulled her into the waiting cabin, Vala continued with a half-hearted mutter. “Give me an update. What’s happening out there?”

cron