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Those Who Fight – Chevalier Edition

Doing something a little different with this edition, namely it will actually recieve weekly updates alongside its parent story. In addition to the usual informational and reporting sections, it will also feature side-story additions from Nikita Korolev and Magnus MacKinnon's points of view. This story will update every week, typically very late on Mondays.

As usual, credit to Logical Premise for a lot of what he's done with Mass Effect cultures and biology. Using some of his work with permission, but I'm also modifying it heavily to match my own ideas about the ME-AR verse.

Cerberus Threat Index: Trena T'Laria

Compiled by Mars Cell

Security Level Red

Illusive Man,

After hearing the reports coming out of the Lazarus Cell, I have elected to go ahead with this particular report ahead of schedule. Trena T'Laria is, after Cieran Kean, likely the most individually connected member of the Silver Blades corporation given her parentage. If anything were to happen to him, it is likely that she would be his successor in all senses of the word.

Operative Chambers

Basic Profile

Name: Trena T'Laria

Species: Asari

Race: Illium Clanless, pureblood

Skin tone: Dark-Blue

Markings: None

Age: 356

Height: 5'1" / 1.54 m

Weight: 128 lbs / 58 kg

Eyes: Blue-Green

Homeworld: Illium

Parentage: Jona Sederis (father), Armenial T'Laria (deceased)

Siblings: None direct; numerous on father's side

Offspring: Ethanya T'Laraia

Languages Spoken: Low Batarian, High Batarian, Thessian Standard

Medical Analysis

Chambers

From a strictly physical perspective, T'Laria is a healthy young matron. Her only major medical complication is the lingering effects from a wound taken to her back during an engagement with the True Sons in 2180. While she has largely healed physically the blow largely destroyed the Asari equivalent of her ovaries, rendering her sterile. This hasn't seemed to effect her psychology, possibly due to her nature as an Asari allowing her to father children with her own species.

History and Psychological Profile

Chambers

Official records has T'Laria as the pureblooded daughter of Herala and Armenial T'laria; it is only in recent months that we were able to uncover messaging between the Silver Blades and the Eclipse indicating that her father is in fact Jona Sederis rather than Herala. It isn't known if she was aware of the deception, which was likely some form of agreement between Sederis and her 'parents' in an effort to conceal her existence from the Eclipse's numerous enemies.

In either case, T'Laria spent her formative years steeped in the Eclipse corporation during its own relative youth. Public records has her attending Eclipse training sessions, I-Sec sponsored competitions, and spending twenty years in one of Aethyta T'Voth's militaristic communes.

She is recorded as having passed her Eclipse initiation, but we have no firm evidence on how. The mostly likely crimes recorded by I-Sec in the right timeframe are the murder of a Volus businessman, the murder-suicide of two Salarian technicians, or a missing Turian couple who were presumed dead after vanishing on a camping trip north of Nos Astra.

I believe whatever her chosen victims, it seemed to effect her badly. From that point out, records having her as being both an alcoholic and extremely 'womanizing' amongst her own species. While she did tone down the drinking after perhaps a decade, all records still have her as being extremely active sexually.

Returning to her history, after passing initiation she was placed in command of a commando team, a position that she would go on to hold until Illium's Black Night incident. Her unit was primarily active in the spinward Terminus as enforcers and a policing team, ensuring that the lesser Asari warlords bowed to the rising power that was Sederis.

They were largely a 'clean' unit, a relative anomaly given the excesses that many high-end Eclipse units give in to, and achieved a notable reputation as a worthwhile sub-contracting option. They visited Council space on at least three occasions, all employed by Volus corporations as extra muscle against one another, though they took pains to never violate Citael law during those time periods.

Said Black Night incident caused her to leave the organization along with a great deal of other Eclipse sisters, though her pain was likely more significant than most. Her entire team, including a possible bondmate, were present in Sederis' mansion during the attack that razed it to the ground, causing her additional pain in addition to the loss of her parent's deaths and Sederis' rising instability.

All records of her vanish for nearly eighty years after this point, until she quietly opened a small mechanic's shop in the River District of Nos Astra. It was there that she met Cieran Kean, acting as his first employer. Something seems to have clicked between them during that short time, with the pair becoming all but inseparable until Kean's exile.

Currently I would characterize her as mentally stable, and despite her apparent uncouth nature as being highly supportive of what friends she has. This may be a legacy effort from her former team, or perhaps it is merely in her nature. In either case, to her enemies or those who would harm her companions, she is extremely dangerous. This is not an inexperienced being when it comes to dealing with violence and loss, and the same kind of psychological blows that General Petrovsky recommends against the other Blades will likely not have any short-term effect.

Biotic Capability

Chambers

In terms of her biotics, T'Laria appears to have inherited only a moderate quantity of her father's legendary talent. This is still more than sufficient to push her far beyond the usually moderate reserves seen in other Illium clanless, something she seems to enhance by having vastly above-average levels of control.

This finesse, some levels of power she has shown, and her general fighting style, all seem to be extremely similar to her half-sister Leska Sederis, possibly indicating that the pair trained routinely during their time together in the Eclipse. Further, Operative Leng reported her usage of a warpfire lance on Omega during their engagement with Tazzik, along with reasonable if not extreme talent with an Asari short sword.

Singularity – I-Sec recordings from the True Son conflict show a stable utilization of singularities, primarily employed in what Operative Lawson calls flank-control methods. Apparently it is a common battlefield control technique used to prevent enemies from moving in a direction, while avoiding the problem of the singularity warping gunfire trajectories.

Warpfire – Until her engagement with Tazzik, we had no open recordings of her utilizing this biotic talent. Operative Leng's helmet camera recorded her flinging traditional 'gouts' during the initial engagement, followed by a two-second duration 'lance' that removed Tazzik's right arm and would have likely killed him had he not partially dodged.

Stasis – I-Sec records have her using this technique to imprison captives for short periods of time.

Throw/Pull – We have no known mass limitations for her throws or pulls, but they are likely within normal parameters for an Asari of her age and parentage. As with her other powers, there seems to be very little wasteful expenditures of energy.

Charge – Oddly, we have no known records of her using any known charge / flash-step technique.

Barriers – Like most Asari, she is capable of throwing up a power curtain-barrier. Again, according to Operative Lawson, her relatively deep reserves make this a viable battlefield tactic in terms of covering her team's advance or their setup.

Unit Cohesion

Lawson

Her command style and tactics are largely unknown, save for historical instances now several centuries old. While she did fight in the Redcliffe campaign alongside the other Blades, her official role was as a riflemen and biotic support specialist. Further... apart from the sealed archives at the Xenthan Academy, there are no public recordings of the battles that took place on that planet.

It is likely that she played an important role in the fighting, but without evidence I cannot speak to her exact role. I would suggest it is likely that she acted as Kean's de-facto second in command, given ul Massa's injuries during that time, and that he likely still relies heavily on her for support.

Much like Shyeel T'Voth, killing her in a direct fight would likely be extraordinarily difficult. As Operative Chambers noted, she is unlikely to be affected in the middle of an engagement by combat losses, but her combat style is heavily reliant upon biotics which at least opens a method of attack.

Nullification grenades should be used liberally and often if she cannot be lured within range of an emplaced nullifier. After which, heavy weapons should be used to breach her light armor and cause sufficient damage to send her small body into shock (see medical reports on Asari vulnerability to hypovolemic shock).

Threat Index

Leng

T'Laria is not Kean.

I feel the need to repeat that despite this medium.

Trena T'Laria is not Cieran Kean.

Kean is a human trained in Batarian techniques. While he has heavily adapted his tactics based upon experience, and blended in SIU routines likely learned from Ayle ul Massa, any attempt to combat T'Laria's new team as one would engage Kean will likely end in a humiliatingly fast death.

Close Combat – Highly lethal. She is sufficiently adept with an Asari blade, and talented enough with her biotics to make close range combat a losing proposition for most enemies despite her diminutive stature. If barriers or shields are breached, a single warpfire lance would likely spell an immediate end to any engagement.

Rifle Range – Unlike Kean, she is at her most dangerous at short-to-mid ranges where she will be able to utilize her full biotic talent in addition to ranged weaponry. She will most likely utilize her biotics to control her target while she hammers at their protection. Once they are vulnerable to direct attacks, warpfire would likely end the engagement at once.

Defenses – Like the other Lancers, she seems to prize maneuverability over extreme levels of armor. This plays into her commando-huntress fighting patterns, giving her maximum agility in close quarters and good speed when shifting between covered positions.

End Report

Figured I would start off with the reports I promised in the last Those Who Fight. We'll also be hitting Ghai and Ayle next, while the newer Lancers will likely come later. Once these first three chapters are done, we'll move onto the side-POV chapters that I promised above. Likely a three-chapter section from Magnus's POV about life on Xentha and what Shyeel and Voya are up to, followed by a similar length section from Korolev's and what they're doing.

Credit to GreaterGoodIreland for the name of Trena's 'father'.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

P a treon Zach_K2V

Thanks, Kat