Special Thanks to Nitwhit for helping me out with his chapter and dealing with my insanity as a whole.

Eld Gelorte watched from the shadows as the shuttle took off into the night. As the area calmed down the human operative stepped out calmly onto the landing zone before another group of armored mercenaries began gathering their gear and seeing to their wounded. Moving from body to body Eld looked for any survivors of the area. He didn't have any care for the well being or lives of any of the Red Guard mercenaries but the group was used in too many of the organization's galaxy spanning operations to anger the higher ups and as easy as it would have been to erase all traces of using the merc squad during the attack it might add more difficulty in securing more muscle for when the organization needed it. Besides him marching with slow lumbering steps the krogan kept step behind him.

Passing over a particularly injured mercenary Eld looked up towards the Omega Sky with a neutral uncompromising gaze. "Seems Mr. Fields isn't the helpless Alliance thug you made him out to be Vulern." Eld said in his slick professional tone before signaling another mercenary that they'd found a survivor.

"His continued existence is only a matter of you wanting him to escape Gelorte. If you were paying me to kill him, I would have just killed him." The krogan snarled cruelly as he fought the urge to teach the insolent human to show some respect.

"I suppose. But we still have much to do before they arrive at Elysium." Eld turned swiftly to a salarian wearing the same armor as the mercenaries around them and continued. "Is everything working as it should be?" Eld asked inquisitively while keeping his hand ready to reach his pistol if the salarian's plan had failed him and his masters.

"Of course, that pitiful excuse for a tech specialist might have managed to disable part of the devices but without a true understanding of their technological designs it will be too late before they realize what they're actually carrying." The salarian Jiyu said in a fast rapid response as he checked a bit of data on his Omni-tool. Though he was a member of the Red Guard the salarian was also one of the organizations most regarded agents in the mercenary outfit and so he had been brought on once it was realized that his special capabilities and expertise would be required. Using technology created from reverse engineering of some of the tech the organization had 'acquired' the salarian had helped create the tools that would lead to the unraveling of the Cohort.

Eld maintained his gaze on the space settled above him and allowed a deviously evil grin to spread across his features. He rarely let things personal because he knew just the kind of effects it could end up having on a person but the Cohort's interference in a number of the organization's operations had begun cause Eld no short amount of agitation. Once again everything was on track and in a short amount of time he felt firmly confident that the Cohort unit would be dealt with in the most vicious fashion.

With their FTL drives already engaged and the ship zooming along its way toward their goal the Cohort squad occasionally studied their chronos as prepared their weapons and gear for the coming mission. Arteries worked on patching up a few chinks in his armored suit caused by the armed retreat on Omega while Cahleura appeared to be meditating over the events as they had unfolded for the squad. James knew that constant activity was sometimes the best way to keep your mind from wandering about what could happen on a mission, what mistakes that might keep you from doing your job and what setbacks you might experience. Just like during their time on Omega they were operating with little backup and even less tactical understanding of the situation and the squad leader didn't need to be a combat veteran to know it could keep you at a constant state of unease. He begrudgingly knew however that they had little choice in the matter.

Besides the need in him to bring Troaviel to justice he knew that any sort of demonstration that the turian and his organization would be involved with could have the capacity for nothing short of outright decimation to many innocent civilians and he wasn't about to let it happen if he and the squad could stop it.

Elysium was one of the largest Alliance colonies and any sort of attack or incursion against it would not only hurt the Alliance but the trade that was supported in the system by other council species as well; making their success there all the more pertinent. Before they'd made the jump James had instructed Nina to send a coded transmission to the General to inform them of the team's advances in the investigation and bring him up to speed on their plan. What little details they had were transferred via com buoy over the extranet along the Cohort's priority channel and received aboard the Phalanx. After reviewing her report the general had his navigators set course for Elysium as soon as they were able and reported back to Nina that they would do all that they could to reinforce the squad but Nina knew then that the General and other Cohort squads were already several hours behind them and if they were unlucky it would be too late. As she'd reported the information back to James he'd concluded that the squad would have to be enough.

Now Nina sat around with the others and made sure that the heat sink on her pistol would activate properly when it needed to. During their escape from Omega she'd been forced to switch to the Karpov III Pistol after her assault rifle caught the brunt of mass accelerated pellets from one of the attacking mercenaries. The backup weapon had managed to halt the attacking mercenary but the blasted thing had heated up at an alarming rate and Nina almost got caught by another pair of mercenaries with no weapon as she'd waited for the pistol to cool down. Only the timely intervention Cahleura and her biotics had saved the human during the firefight and Nina knew the next time she might not be so lucky.

Nina looked for a moment towards James as he reviewed the information on a data slate that Bacek had handed him after finishing off his last interrogation session with Domus. From what she'd gathered the arms dealer clung to life barely after the repeated quick and painful sessions with Bacek and had awarded the turian's effort with continued silence.

The former Alliance marine pushed aside the thoughts of what Bacek might be planning to do to the human next and had to remind herself that her duty was to help safeguard the life of the citizens of Citadel space and if she couldn't deal with the harsh reality of what that entailed at times than she had chosen the wrong career. Nina steeled herself against her doubt and realized now more than ever James needed her and the others to be strong resolute if they were to come through for those on Elysium.

James looked up for a moment and caught Nina glancing his way while she worked on her pistol. James gave her a reassuring nod as he caught the subtle yet existent worry on her face before returning his attention to the information Bacek had provided him with.

Domus had given up no information about a possible plot on Elysium but he had dropped a few phrases about some safe house in the Hades Gamma Cluster. When pushed about the items hidden within the rifles the human had shouted with all his waning strength that he knew nothing about the concealed articles and that he'd simply been instructed to sell them to the buyer at the spaceport. James internally cursed that the Cohort's attack had unfortunately caused the buyer; a salarian pirate to experience a face to face meeting with a shotgun burst from Tholam but he couldn't dwell on that now. They had to move forward with what they had and deal with the other ramifications once they found out what Troaviel was planning for the human world.

The freighter emerged from its FTL jump and began a slow a calculated trip to the outer watch perimeter of Elysium's traffic zone. James and Tholam sat at the pilot and copilot station respectively as they guided the ship in towards their newest battlefield. Once they entered the perimeter a human voice came alive from the communications unit.

"Unidentified ship this is Elysium Flight Control. Please identify and report your purpose here."

"This is Specialist Fields aboard the Atinum. I have urgent business on Elysium and I need to speak to the highest ranking Alliance officer right now Control." James said in a curt and orderly fashion. After a bit of a pause the control officer replied.

"Atinum I'm not seeing you as a registered SA starship so I can't just link you onto a military frequency it'd have to be an emergency."

"Control, tell whoever's in command there that this is a JTOP Unit and that there is going to be a massive attack on a bunch of innocent civilians if I don't get some damn cooperation right now." James almost shouted as he began to loose his patience with the control officer.

After initial delay the controlled patched him onto an Alliance frequency and a grizzled hardy voice answered back.

"This is General Van Astor of the Systems Alliance, currently in command of the SA forces operating on Elysium. This channel is restricted for military emergencies son so this better be good." The authority in the man's voice was direct and astute as James considered how he was going to convince the man.

"Sir this is Specialist James Fields of the Citadel JTOP Unit Cohort. We've come here right from a mission directly off Omega with all speed. General we have good reason to believe that there is going to be a terrorist strike on a civilian target within the next few days. The organization that is responsible is known to have highly high grade and highly volatile weaponry at their disposal and they are not afraid to use it. I will need your help to locate the targets as quickly as possible and neutralize them." Looking up and to his right James watched as Tholam discharged their drive cores before continuing along its path. The freighter continued downward towards the planetary surface before James heard a reply.

"That's a tall order Fields. We're already on task to support a number of battle groups operating out of the sector and most of our marine forces have been galvanized over the past months. I'll ask around amongst my intelligence assets and see if they've heard anything peculiar. I'll contact the planetary security forces as well and see about helping your investigation out."

"Appreciated General, keep me informed." James said and transmitted the squad's communication codes before closing the link. The former Alliance marine just hoped that what help the general could provide might help the squad accomplish there mission. Soon enough the ship landed in the main spaceport and Tholam began shutting down the systems of the freighter as James alerted the squad to prepare their gear and be ready to get a move on.

Moving back into the main space of the ship James found the squad gathering up their gear and supplies. Some affixed extra armor plates to their suits while others made sure their kinetic barriers. James knew that given their experience with the organization being ready for anything was the best possible defense. Moving to one of the weapons lockers James calmly grabbed his pistol, shotgun and rifle and then anchored them efficiently to his back and his sides. As his gear clicked into place he looked around to the various squad members and Tholam finished up setting the ship into standby mode before regrouping with them. Standing at the head of the unshapely circle formed by the squad James breathed a calm breath and spoke to his friends and allies.

"Everyone needs to stay focused out here, and keep your mind on the enemies that lay ahead. Troaviel was one of us so he's going to be ready for us and each chance he gets to hit us hard he's going to take; so we need to be faster stronger and do whatever necessary to keep him off balance. This is going to get ugly long before it gets any better, so you need to look out for each other and keep yourself ready for everything. Remember that we are a unit of the best, we were chosen from amongst thousands to be the vanguard against any and all threats against the civilized galaxy and it is our duty to combat them no matter what the odds, no matter what the cost. If it means that today we meet our end they damn well better be feeling it tomorrow. Let's get to it." He wasn't normally one for speeches but James knew that everyone had their limits and the squad had been going full tilt ever since getting reactivated. Even they had their limits and he knew sometimes you needed to make sure to do everything you could to maintain morale.

Soon after the Cohort squad descended down the ship's landing ramp right as it lowered. Immediately the calm afternoon light of Elysium appeared around them as James took point in bringing the heavily armed and heavily armored team toward the nearest exit. Around them departing and embarking passengers gawked while technicians and service crews stopped mid task to watch as the special ops group made their way across the spaceport's well weathered floor. James kept himself alert for any threats but none presented themselves, at least not yet. Up ahead he saw an exit and the human quickened his pace a bit, every second wasted was another that their enemies were possibility getting closer to accomplishing their task. Over his ear piece he suddenly heard General's Astor's determined voice once more.

"You there Fields?"

"Just landed, what have you got General." James said as he passed through the exit under the watchful eyes of a pair of Systems Alliance marines who stood guard near the section of the spaceport.

"It's not much but it's the best I could get on such short notice. I've got reports here from the local security force that a large number of the Red Guard mercenary unit arrived here about a day ago but never came to them or any SA base looking for jobs or work assignments. Security forces thought it was fishy and investigated for any trouble but didn't find anything solid enough to get the go ahead for arrests. I don't know if these are the guys you're looking for but as my memory serves me the group's never really been seen this far out. People here are telling me they've known to do a few jobs on Omega as the rumors go." James thought it was too much of coincidence not to be the group who had fired upon him and the others hours ago he immediately began searching for an air cab as his steps quickened yet again.

"General I need the address of any and all buildings that they've been using and make it quick."

"Already on it son, they rented space in the industrial district. A bit removed from most civies but if they're your targets its prime real estate for a prep zone. Don't worry about the address I've got two marine fireteams en route to you, they should be pulling up now." The general said before James spotted two treaded assault carriers sporting SA colors speeding their way over to the spaceport with their top mounted sirens blaring. "Sgt Vut and his men will take you the rest of the way. Be careful out there Fields and watch out for my marines."

"Will do, thank you general." James said quickly as their new rides pulled up. The canopy opened quickly revealing a tanned skinned man with an angular narrow face wearing the armor of a SA marine.

"You Fields?" The SA sergeant said before James nodded curtly. The man quickly stepped out as the storage compartments on the carriers opened up along with the rear access doors. Holding out his hand quickly to James he introduced himself "Sgt. Dantu Vut of the 42nd Division. General Astor said you might need some help in the industrial district sir." He said as James shook his outstretched hand and then loaded up the squad and their gear into the armored vehicles.

"Sounds like a plan Sgt." James said as the sergeant hopped back into his vehicle. James followed suit and exactly 10 minutes after arriving at Elysium the Cohort squad leader shut the canopy door behind him and the two vehicles sped off heading away from the spaceport and out towards their targets.