HEART OF DARKNESS
CHAPTER 1:
AUTHORS NOTES
'This' means someone is thinking.
Italics alone means the name of something, i.e. Mass Effect core.
'This' means Shepard is narrating, like in noir style movies.
Horizontal ruler (a line across the page) means a page break or timeskip, it may be a few minutes, it may be a few hours...
-X- means a scene change, i.e. we start with character A in a warehouse. Then we go to character B in an apartment- a scene change from a warehouse to an apartment.
Disclaimer; I do not own the Mass Effect franchise or any of the characters or ideas involved. This is nonprofit-I am making no money from this.
Omega, 2184 …
'Some asari matriarch said… 'The stars shine... even on the heart of darkness…' someone needs to shoot that bitch.'
Through the red shimmering sky, an armored gunship flew. One of the enforcers of Aria T'Loak. The gunship scanned the boxy slums of the Utulu district (that didn't have plumbing or heating).
Crouching in a dark spot creating by broken lighting a black armoured figure glanced around at the debasement and chaos all around her;
'Omega… scarred, twisted…blinding bright and deepest dark... if that makes any fucking sense...'
'Deep within the lawless regions of the galaxy… outside the bubbles of luxury the galaxy's elite and fortunate make for themselves... are warzones… and a beating heart…'
In one district a group of combat drug-charged thugs fought each other, beating each other into bloody pulp with pipes and duraplast knuckledusters.
'Chaos… depravity… pumping the blood of a dozen sapient species… mercenaries, runaways, criminals, terrorists, dissidents, the inconvenient... seven point eight million people living in a nightmare web of metal and plastic and blood. Some trying to escape the lies and false paradise of citadel space, some seeking new opportunities… or prey…
In the adjacent district, a food riot was taking place against the Blue Suns overseers who had cut supplies this month.
'Thrashing. Choking. Poisoning itself.'
The Eclipse PMC tested their new super-heavy mechs by having them slaughter newly freed slaves from the Batarian Hedgemony 'saved' via the Khar'Shan abolitionist movement.
In a lab that was once a food market a disgraced Salarian biochemical weapons specialist grinned as he cooked up a horrific chimeric blend of Palavan 'Black Mist Fever' and earths AIDs 2.
A pureblood asari maiden was burnt alive by 'Athame's light' an asari hate cult expelled from citadel space and condemned by all asari. They wore white masks of ancient asari war priestesses that glinted as they chanted at the murderous pyre they had created.
All across the station, gangs of thugs waged war, gunning each other down as an armored woman watched from the shadows.
'The black and horrid and honest counterpart of the Citadel. The heart of darkness. Where one false step gets you killed or mindraped of harvested. This. Is my home…'
-X-
The closest thing to order on Omega was the rule of Aria T'loak, but there were always those who went against the order…
In a charred, heavily modified and fortified warehouse in the Niftu district, three incredibly dangerous sapients convened. They were part of an eight-man team hired by parties unknown (perhaps the Shadow Broker, perhaps the Asari republics) to kill Aria T'Loak. The eight were some of the finest mercenary operators in the Terminus Systems, over two thousand murders existed between the eight.
And now five of them were dead with Omega's Pirate Queen untouched.
The first of the survivors was a massive krogan named Pok. He carried a massive customized Maw Tongue anti-material rifle in one gigantic arm. On his tree-like legs were two Eviscerator shotguns, with a belt of grenade discs around his refrigerator-wide waist. On his back were a Gant, one of the few sniper rifles krogan ever made and a Deglaz rocket launcher. On his armour's chest plates were two Yakk krogan pistols- hand cannons so powerful firing one even with a double grip would break most non-krogans wrists.
Pok was famous for the Juliri police station massacre, and considered himself one of the few krogan with a brain, fighting using a combination of primal power and skill.
"You think we were set up?" The massive krogan rumbled playing the dumb brute, a trick that had cost many opponents their lives.
The digitally distorted response came from a salarian covered in illegally modded and customized grey armour equipped with strength-enhancing exoskeletal braces and a helmet that projected false faces via holocamo. He was a highly skilled and secretive saboteur and assassin known for discretion- until killing two C-Sec officers on the Citadel made him a galactic fugitive. He had long since renounced his family and race and was known simply as Tusin.
"No. The amount of money paid to our accounts was so high it could only have come from a very powerful and connected enemy of Aria's. Although there may have been a leak on their end-"
The third intervened; an asari named Danania T'Jono. Once a sheltered aristocrat smothered by a controlling mother, who she later discovered planned to sell her off as a trophy mate to a turian politician, Danania had fled to Illium using money stolen from her family to buy multiple ID's. After decades of clichéd maiden antics; dancing, whoring, merc jobs, before mating with a disgraced failed Spectre candidate who trained her to become a lethal assassin.
"This doesn't matter. Aria knows we're coming, probably knows where we are. Our best bet for survival is to either run or throw in with a big player like the Broker or-"
The alarms of illegally modded omni-tools blared and flashed as their owners pulled up holo windows feeding into all mech and stealth cams previously stationed around the warehouse.
The trio saw a ridiculous sight; the giant front gates of the outer property had been smashed open by a Badger D20 track-type tractor- a bulldozer vehicle built for construction and demolition purposes constructed from metals that made it heavier armoured than some light tanks (the crappy hover scout ones at least) and this one looked to have been modified. The beast had kinetic barriers that repelled the small arms fire Tusin's combat mechs sprayed the juggernaut with.
The stolen heavy equipment could not however handle a LAW hit- a straight on shot from a Morningstar Light Anti-Armor rocket equipped missile drone blasted through the kinetic barriers and straight into the armored cockpit, turning it into blazing slag and surely killing whoever was inside.
Several battle mechs surrounded the now ablaze vehicle while several other ran to the opposite side of the building, their simplistic VI's deciding this suicidal attack was simply a feint.
-X-
High above, the three hired killers watched the burning wreck with no expression showing on their faces.
Tusin spoke up first;
"No way was that the real attack. Will the attack be from below? The sewers? Above? A jetpack or Skycar perhaps? Or-"
The krogan Pok saw in the corner of his eye that Danania had gone to the covered window to get a look at the blaze with her own eyes.
'Stupid asari!'
"Get away from-"
KRRAASSSHH!
Through the window exploded a Kishock harpoon, modded with a phasic generator in the shaft rendering the shocked asari's barriers useless. The monomolecular point pierced her commando leathers, her chest cavity and exited her back. Ramrods on the mid-point of the harpoon erupted and dug into the matron's chest cracking bones and driving the skewered asari into the opposite wall. And the hideous device wasn't finished yet. It exploded, ripping the impaled matron to meaty chunks.
Both Tusin and Pok exited the room as more harpoons fired into the room, one of the new ones erupting into black (and likely poisonous) gas.
Neither mercenary was bothered though, they had multiple exit routes and Tusin's mechs surrounding the perimeter had programs to calculate the location of snipers from the impact of their shots and were no doubt zeroing in on whoever was firing on them…
-X-
Outside the mechs simplistic VI's had zeroed in on the shooter; a figure under a black tarp laying in prone position inside a crashed transport a block away.
The automatons fired, shredding the figure.
Which was a mistake as they entered a bottleneck to get a shot at the figure.
And because 'the shooter' was actually a corpse shot full of drugs to fool infrared sensors and the sniper rifle was on remote control.
-X-
Tusin observed the mechs battle cams in the corner of his eye as he and Pok reached their primary escape route; a Turian StriderClaw IFV.
The Salarian got behind the controls and pressed the ignition just as his mechs got close enough to the sniper to see that he wasn't holding the gun that was still firing….
He realized his mistake the instant he pressed the IFV's ignition button.
'Bleeding cloaca…'
BOOOOMM!
Which detonated the bomb that their attacker had attached to the vehicles Eezo core after sneaking through a hole in the perimeter defences.
Scarred, burnt and near blind, the krogan Pok crawled away from the now blazing vehicle. The alien behemoth had survived the pressure wave, heat and shrapnel, any of which alone would have killed almost any none-krogan in the galaxy.
But he was now blind in one eye, his lungs were burnt, his eardrums were ruptured, shrapnel had dug into his neck (at a depth definitely fatal to none krogan).
'Am I going to die here? I'm glad I had all that sex…'
Those were the six hundred year old krogan's last thoughts as his struggles were ended by an armor piercing bullet to the head.
Stepping out of the shadows, the former Lieutenant Katsu Shepard, dressed in chaotic looking personally customized armor stared down at the rapidly cooling corpse.
"And now for the messy part of the job…"
'I know what you're thinking. Why's Shepard here alone? Where's the rest of the crew? The fancy ship? And why's her armour not have the shiny red N7 logo on it? That's because I'm not Lieutenant Commander Shepard, paragon hero of space… I'm Katsu Shepard, dishonorably discharged fuck-up of space. A traitor to humanity and enemy to civilized space…'
She activated her Omni-blade.
'There are no heroes in this story…'
-X-
Afterlife…
Systems Alliance top ten most wanted and galaxy renowned hitperson (hitman went out of style when it was noted how well asari did throat slitting) Katsu Shepard entered the Afterlife, exclusive entertainment for Omega's elite and base of Aria T'Loak. In her hand was a white plastic bag and she walked stroking the massive Yakk pistol she had stolen from Pok's corpse. She liked big guns. Liked looking at them. Liked touching them, feeling their weight and girth… pulling the trigger and feeling their power and hearing their different sounds…
Feeling inappropriate arousal, Shepard walked past the clubs security; scanners, hidden cameras and guards. Past the body double that served as Aria looking over Afterlife and up many storeys higher in the tower to the real Aria's private domain passing a second Aria double, Asata she believed given the pleasant hello and warm smile she briefly received from her.
'And here she is. My boss since telling the idiot politicians to fuck off. Lounging in her depraved tower fortress. Aria T'loak, galactic crime boss, bane to the citadel, personification of all evil present within the asari soul… watching a goddamned elcor attempt rap?'
"(Arrogant pretense) My dick cost a late night fee.
Your dick got the HIV.
My dick plays on the double feature screen.
Your dick went straight to DVD."
'Tomorrow night's entertainment? Or maybe a really sadistic new form of torture?'
"(Continued arrogance) My dick bigger than a bridge.
Your dick look like a little kids.
My dick large like the chargers.
(Explanation- The whole team).
Your shit look like you're fourteen."
"You look bored." Shepard blandly noted as Aria clicked the agonizing droning off.
Aria vaguely turned her attention to her.
"Well?" She asked curtly showing no sign of experiencing auditory torture.
"I'm handing you your head."
From the bag Shepard retrieved the severed head of Danania T'Jono, she had handed the other two to Anto, but Danania had particularly pissed Aria off for some reason.
"Did you strain yourself thinking up that joke?" Aria spoke dismissively.
"I've also got 'giving head' 'don't lose your head worrying' 'I'm working to get ahead'…"
"Humour is not one of your assets Shepard. But what a thoughtful gift to liven up a boring evening." She picked up the head and studied it not unlike a shopper considering a melon. She then pitched it across the room into a trash can.
She grabbed Shepard, pulled the armored woman in and harshly kissed her.
"You smell terrible. The shower in room F2, Be thorough."
Shepard wanted to scoff in disgust but knew better. Especially given what she knew was next.
END CHAPTER 1
STG REPORT; OVERVIEW (See full file for in-detail information)
Katsu Shepard.
Species; human, minor cybernetic and neurological alterations.
Born; Vancouver, Canada, Earth, Sol System.
Relatives; mother; Hannah Shepard (deceased), born Hana Nakano, former prostitute at Vancouver Inferno pleasure club (legalised brothel).
Battle classification; Soldier (N7 rating), extensive crosstraining in sniping, demolition, piloting, combat engineering, info-war, engineering, ground command.
Background;
Born 2154 as the child of a prostitute working at the Inferno brothel and an as-yet unidentified System Alliance officer (see file Shepard patriarch suspects). Psychoanalysts believe Hana impregnated herself in an attempt to blackmail officer for money or political advantage.
Officer instead attempted to murder Hana. She fled country with new born daughter in tow.
Following several years unknown.
Hana Nakano, then known as Hannah Shepard was murdered in 2160, in sight of Katsu, then six years of age. Unknown if subject is aware of father's identity or his involvement in mother's death.
Subject then became homeless, fell into gang culture, heavy criminal background with multiple arrests until arrest at age 16. Due to change in human laws Shepard given choice of prison sentence or service in military (minimum of 12 years, execution if breached).
Conduct during military service exemplary until battle of Torfan.
Combat record;
Childhood involved in heavy urban warfare including New York civil war (human year 2168) and extensive gang war activity (reported activity as accessory to murder at age 14, committed first degree murder age 15).
2170; Katsu Shepard enlisted to Systems Alliance (Penal corps). Graduates from Camp Orcus at top of class.
2171; Caleston riots, 57 confirmed kills, 6 with bare hands.
2171-2174;14 confirmed operations as part of Tactical Response Force Garuda under command of Admiral Tadius Ahern.
2175; Commences ICT training, graduates at rank of N7, with several records set at urban assault and survival.
2176, Skylian blitz; on Elysium as part of large-scale trap for Batarian Hegemony (see file Operation Abyss for more details). Especially of note in battle subject fought and defeated Lance of Crusher-class Battlesuits in ambush in Thompson woods. Successful urban combat against Unraveller type Batarian biotics in capital city of Illyria.
2178, Battle of Torfan (Operation Frost Sidewinder), Killed Major Wilson Kyle and assumed command of surviving SA forces. Desertion and dishonorable discharge immediately after battle.
Brief career as mercenary performing hits exclusively against extreme criminals.
2179; Incorporated into Aria T'Loaks organization, conflicting reports as to whether this process was done via coercion or Shepard's own wishes. Note; uncertain relationship between Aria and Shepard- financial investigations show Shepard receiving higher payment than other members of T'Loak's organization doing same job. Also note multiple sexual liasons between Aria and Shepard, exact nature unknown considering differences between human and Asari philosophies on sex.
AUTHORS NOTES
Camp Orcus; facility located in radlands- area of North America left as a radioactive wasteland after the Apocalypse War (a crisis beginning with global terrorism on an unprecedented scale, the collapse of the global economy after petroleum reserves went dry, environmental death and culminating in a nuclear exchange. Estimated death toll 2.8 billion). Purpose is to train penal corps troops (criminals rehabilitated as soldiers and used as cannon fodder). Named after the god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Italic and Roman mythology.
Caleston Riots; an attempt by workers and colonists (secretly aided by batarian SIU) to overthrow the colony and declare independence. Part of the Hegemony's 'Pillar of fracturing' plot to incite SA civil war.