Family Ties - [C.3]

By Tylea002 December 13, 2008 5 Comments

Authors Notes

More of my Mass Effect 'Fan Fic' set in its EU on the citadel. I didn't update last week, but I do have two more chapters. If you do read, please do tell me what you thought of it.

1 - Promotion

Decryption level: AMBER
Passcode Accepted: *******

FROM: EP.C-SEC.HEAD.104
TO: OR.C-SEC.INVES.1824

Message is as follows.

Following your recent promotion, your account and MS have been upgraded to Investigation level. Based on your current record, qualifications and recommendations, Citadel Security have seen it fit to give you lead of one of our investigative teams.

Your team shall consist of:

    Ganex Railus (TURIAN)
    (GR.C-SEC.INVES.1824)

    Jaden Jennings (HUMAN)
    (JJ.C-SEC.INVES.1824)

    Asi’ra Tassev (ASARI)
    (AT.C-SEC.INVES.1824)

This promotion means our expectations of you have changed. Don’t expect any emergency calls, you aren’t an Enforcement officer anymore. Your main aim is to gather intelligence and evidence on suspects on the Citadel, and if required, beyond. You, as team leader, have been given minor Special Response training, but if things get too hot, do not hesitate to contact SR.

Due to the nature of investigative teams, you will not be dealing with one type of crime only. Be prepared to investigate everything from homicides to narcotics operations.

Do things by the book, you aren’t the law. When you have sufficient evidence against a suspect it is your job to bring him in for questioning, not take him down yourself. If you have sufficient evidence against the suspect, report them to me, and I shall submit them to CCC. 

You have permission to use force to bring in suspects, but only if the force is necessary – I don’t want you gunning down innocent men in the hope you shoot a bad guy.

Now good luck, any cases shall be sent straight to your MS via your Omni-Tool.

Executor Palin.

2 - Original

The Presidium had the usual hum to it; people running about, back and forth, to get to where they needed to go. The markets were packed with people, and there was a rather long, and therefore unpleasant queue outside of Barla Von’s office. There was some valuable information obviously on sale today.

That wasn’t why Oran was here, however. It was his first day on the Job, and he was on his way to get his official badge and other commodities. Oran didn’t exactly like Executor Palin, and wasn’t too happy about being prised from his bed so early to allow him to get there. He wished the Executor could have at least shown some consideration for nature’s preference of when you wake up.

Oran didn’t let this bother him too much, he needed the credits, and he needed a walk. He always walked this way, even though through the wards was much quicker. He was conscious of his problems, and knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the odd game of quasar at flux. He had more important things to do this morning – drowning his sorrows would have to wait.

The Presidium’s constant daylight also helped to get him truly awake. Oran would have preferred a natural sun any day, but C-Sec paid well, and he always wanted to bring dirty bastards to justice. He still didn’t know what to expect though. There was never a shortage of scum, and therefore no shortage of things to investigate. Murders, Crime Syndicates and Smuggling Rings – it could be any one of those, though he secretly hoped it was the first; Infiltration never was his strong point.

He checked his watch, and there was no rush, though being early never hurt anyone. Well, not most people. Oran had a strong, not hate but more distrust and dislike of technology. While he had an Omni-Tool installed, he always preferred to use basic earth technologies, like his watch. An analogue one, he could probably sell it as a relic for rather a lot of credits, but he wasn’t going to.

Oran paused for a moment, and looked over the edge into the artificial river. Well, he guessed it was artificial because the likelihood of a natural water source inside the citadel was highly unlikely, but he could never be truly sure. This station was full of surprises. He caught his reflection in the water, his brown eyes seemed to stare back up at him.

His new armour was custom made; an old friend at Kassa owed him a favour. He saw it on himself for the first time, Colossus VIII Medium armour. It was military grade, and Oran was worried he would appear a kiss-ass showing up in this. However, like all C-Sec investigators armour, it was disguised to blend in. Human armour stuck out like a sore thumb, whereas many other species wore it all the time. Oran knew that humans would come round to this way of thinking eventually; the galaxy was a dangerous place.

His armour was actually concealed beneath basic clothing. Unlike most, his clothing was, shall we say, unique. He wore rugged Denim jeans, an all but defunct style of clothing in this day and age. His shirt was just that, a shirt, with an undershirt beneath it.

Oran’s choice of clothes didn’t really stick out any less than his armour, but he certainly didn’t look much like someone who would be dangerous in a fight. And he probably wasn’t considering the main reason he had custom built armour was to make it able to be removed before his clothes. It helped with the ladies, he said. It probably did, because someone stripping down to their pants but actually having a whole set of body armour on wouldn’t go down very well.

His hair matched the rest of him perfectly. It was wild, and he had died it to a light red colour. Oran liked his originality, and short dark hair was one of the most unoriginal things in this age. However, he had visions of people telling him to smarten up, now that he wasn’t forced into Enforcer uniform every day. And he knew the day would come where this hair would go for when he had to infiltrate a gang or something like that.

He checked his watch again, and it seemed that time had flown by while he was lost in his thoughts. Thankfully, he wasn’t too far from C-Sec, and it was barely 5 minutes before he had walked down the slope and into the lift that took him down. A lift he had taken many times before, but this one would take him further down than any.

3 - Ashes

Feet were pounding on the hard metal floor. An Asari was running. Her breath was heavy. Her heart was beating fast. She wasn’t just running – she was running for her life. That much was obvious, and would have been to any passers-by. That is, if there were any around.

If there was someone, they would have seen her slim, blue body, leaving faint footprints of blood behind her. If there was someone, they would have seen her torn clothes, the ruined fabric around her. If there was someone. But there wasn’t. She was alone.

The Asari ran down the streets of this empty ward, trying to get away – to safety. Unfortunately, safety didn’t seem to be anywhere near her, as she ducked and dived at top speed through every conceivable alleyway in existence, not showing any sign of slowing down, or the look of fear that was imprinted on her face disappearing.

However, something made her stop. A glimmer of light. A sign of hope, maybe. In less than two seconds, with sweat running down her face, she managed to dive on her front, and swipe a pistol from the floor. She was on her feat again in no time, running away from someone, or something. 

She turned down another alley, ducked down another and twisted down a third. She never knew she had this much energy, she never thought it was even possible. She thought she had to have run for miles; she must be near some signs of life. Alas, it was not to be. This part of the wards was still nigh on empty, and it was a long way before she got anywhere near the sections that weren’t.

She paused for a moment, weighing up her options. Clasping her gun tightly, she risked a quick glance behind her, and stopped dead. Her eyes, normally calm and majestic turned bloodshot. She readied her weapon, and aimed it. She pulled the trigger, and, unaware that she had the courage to do so, pulled the trigger. The gun was empty. Confused, the Asari wondered why this one wouldn’t shoot, for they never ran out of ammo, and was forced to stare blankly into her attackers eyes.

“You know, I didn’t even have to run.” The voice sent shivers down the Asari’s spine. “And I see you picked up the gun; I thought it was a nice present. You might want to keep hold of it.”

And with that, the Asari was blinded by a flash of light. It happened so suddenly, but seemingly in slow motion. Her eyes showed signs of remorse, and forgiveness, but mainly sorrow – before turning red hot with the rest of her blue body, which eventually turned to ashes.

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