Baker Street
London City
Earth“This is getting ridiculous. I don’t care if they’re not all here yet, I’m putting an end to it, Aegon.” The voice was too low for anyone in attendance to hear over the commotion they were causing. A tall black man wearing the now iconic N7 armour stepped out of a shadowed alcove.
“What the hell is wrong with you people!” There was no missing the voice this time, elevated to parade ground volume and reverberating around underground tunnels, not quite as loud as the earlier explosion but close to it. The man stood glaring at the assembled mercenaries with an unmistakable military bearing, his hands empty of weapons but his whole frame seeming to vibrate with barely constrained violence.
Rol'Naaris was right about one thing. The mercenaries and soldiers-of-fortune currently causing mayhem under the Baker Street terminal were being watched, but if it had been a test, the vast majority of them had almost certainly failed.
“You people are supposed to be the best of the best, and yet it’s the Krogan gun-for-hire and the Batarian political assassin that are keeping the peace!”A seemingly ruined section of wall suddenly detached and slid open to reveal a shadowy hidden compartment.
"I agree, this was a complete farce." A white-skinned Turian with a long crest, fringe, and mandibles emerged, violet eyes nearly shining in the darkness. He had no weapons save for a mexta strapped to his hip, and his armor was black and red. The Turian was calmer, more relaxed in posture than his comrade but as he examined the group around them, the discerning onlooker could practically see the scorn oozing from his gaze as he took position next to the human.
"It's a good thing, we had the patrols rerouted from this area, else-wise you people probably would have ended up causing a galactic incident. You're supposed to be some of the best warriors the galaxy has to offer, and if that's the case, I realize just how much of a goddamn miracle it was that we survived the Reaper War. With some exceptions of course." The Turian nodded slightly at those who had been calm and level-headed in the encounter.
He glared at Vella,
"You in particular. Is that what they call fire discipline in the Lance of Light? You're lucky I don't have you court-martialed for nearly blowing this place to kingdom come. Were you under a rock during the war? The Geth are our allies now. All the Reaper-coded Geth have been driving away. You have better chances of getting hit by lightning than meeting one of them on the human homeworld for spirits sake." The Turian also glared at the asari and all the others who had caused the situation to escalate, ignoring the ones who had just sat on their hands.
The man shook his head in disgust,
"Despite, your stunning lack of discipline, you lot are unfortunately the best we can get our hands on for the moment. So be quiet and listen to our offer, simply put, the fate of the galaxy is at stake." The human, Staff Lieutenant Jake Anderson of the Systems Alliance and newly minted Spectre agent, had managed to master himself while his colleague berated the gathering. This wasn’t how he’d expected this meeting to go, not in the slightest. Hell, he and Aegon hadn’t even particularly wanted this detail. It was ludicrous, assembling the galaxies oddest collection of assassins, engineers, biotics and soldiers to try and form them into a team that could maintain the fragile peace of the post-Reapers war. Unfortunately, Shepard had set a trend by leading his own gang of misfits in a mission that had saved the known universe from the greatest threat it had ever faced, and now the Council figured that the best way of solving any problem was to give a Spectre a crew of oddballs and throw them at the issue. It was destined to end in disaster. Jake was a professional though, and when he had his orders he acted on them the best he could.
Even if he disagreed with them wholeheartedly.
“As some of you might have figured out already, we’re Spectres. I’m Staff Lieutenant Jake Anderson, my partner here is Aegon Partinax. As you all might have noticed the peace that the galaxy is enjoying isn’t as sturdy as it might be,” he paused a moment, hard eyes fixing on the assembled warriors, the unspoken criticism being that their own gun-ho tendencies, which some of them had so recently shown, was part of the problem.
“Now we’ve been tasked with maintaining this peace, through any means we deem necessary. We’ve also been instructed to recruit any operative with the skills and know-how to complete this mission. For reasons that are escaping me right now, we picked all of you.” He paused a moment, to let his words sink in. Jake figured that even in their wildest imaginations, this wasn’t even close to what the group thought they were being called here for.
“I wont lie. The job will be dangerous. The pay abysmal. We’ll be dealing with the worst scum that the galaxy has to offer, travelling deep into the worst reaches of space to complete the kinds of duties that people like us have nightmares about, and even if we do everything right no one is ever going to thank you for it. Hell, no one respectable is even going to know you done anything. . . ”
“But, and this is a big but, this is your chance to make a difference. This is your shot at redemption. This is a call to adventure like you’ve never heard before. Trust me when I say that you will never get an offer like this again.”Aegon picked up where Jake left off,
"If we succeed, peace is preserved. If we fail, innocent blood will be spilled. You have a choice now, save lives or go back to your old ones. This is a one-time offer. Accept and you will be our crew, above and beyond the reach of the law as long as you're in our service. If you refuse, you're free to part ways with us. Some of you have open bounties, but we will not pursue." "For the moment."The Turian looked them all in the eye, trying to get the measure of them, sizing up their worthiness for such a task,
"All of you who accept, step forward and come with us. We will get to work immediately. The rest of you can go. May the spirits be with you." Aegon waited patiently, waiting to see who would answer the call and who would ignore it.
Collab with @MrDidact