Although the turian guards are understandably apprehensive about Vayex’s varren, the krogan is right – they could only glower in irritation as the fishdog follows its master into the room. The big turian shakes his head slowly, and does not take his eyes off Chomp since then.
“Taciturn bunch, aren’t you?” Director Aparakis muses after the turian’s response. “Good, I suppose. We didn’t hire you to talk, for the most part.” His eyes flit towards Vayex after the krogan speaks. “I’ll get to that in a moment, Mr. Quash. Rest assured, I’ve been informed of that part of our arrangement. First, though, there is something that I must make absolutely clear.” He pops another pill into his mouth, while the other salarian behind him holds his hand to his face and shakes his head in a universal gesture of exasperation.
Leaning in a bit closer over his narrow desk, the salarian Director looks the four of you over again as he talks: “I don’t know what my recruiting agents might have implied to you or what you might be thinking. But you are not Council agents. You are not Spectres. You are mercenaries who were hired to take care of some matters by a wealthy and well-connected employer, who can help you in return so long as you follow his instructions and defend his interests. As far as you should care, this is just another mercenary job. And the same goes double for anyone who asks. You have no official authority, and you may not reveal your arrangement with Project Viper to anyone else.” He glances at the krogan again. “I trust this shouldn’t be an unfamiliar concept for you,” he says, addressing both him and the other mercenaries.
“And now, let’s get down to business.” The Director swallows another pill, smiles and heads towards the computer terminal, wobbling slightly as he does.
His salarian aide looks at you for a bit longer and shakes his head slightly. “He’s always like that,” the aide informs you. “I am his clutchmate, Velmet Mekelu. His secretary and… errand boy, I suppose. The big guy is Domitar Avakinius,” he glances at the turian, who ignores him. “And the one who’s stuck to the computer is Gavril Wiras; he’ll be providing you with mission control and technical information. We’ll be working together from now on, if all goes well.” And with that snappy introduction, he goes to rejoin his superior at a holographic map of the galaxy that sprung up on next to the terminal.
Evidently either oblivious or indifferent as to Mekelu’s efforts at an introduction, Aparakis stands near the map with his omnitool at ready. He presses a button to bring up a
somewhat intricate rotating holographic symbol over the galaxy map, in an eye-catching red. “Your first assignment is dealing with a certain criminal cartel that’s been causing Citadel authorities some problems in the last few months. We know them simply as the Void Network, though they may also go by different names. It’s a coalition of mercenaries, pirates, smugglers, raiders, slavers – and, we suspect, a number of ‘legitimate’ corporations and Terminus planetary governments as well,” Aparakis begins, finger-quoting ‘legitimate’. “A fairly loose alliance, but… surprisingly good at keeping its secrets,” he continues, with a hint of irritation in his voice. “They’ve been dabbling pretty heavily in smuggling things to Citadel Space since they first appeared on the scene. Not as many slaves or drugs as you’d expect, though they deal in those too. Instead they seem to focus on illegal technology, modified weapons… and Prothean artifacts. We suspect they have considerable contacts within the black archeology market.”
“All of this is bad enough, but recently we’ve also managed to link them to a series of terrorist attacks in Citadel Space.” A number of small red circles pop up on the galaxy map. Leryn, if you look closely, you soon realise that most, if not all of the attack sites are turian or volus colonies: Taetrus, Aephus, Talis Fia… “They didn’t carry those attacks out directly, as far as we could tell, but they provided extensive assistance to the people who did. Obviously the Council could not ignore them after that – though if you ask me, they seem to have been more concerned about the artifacts. Be that as it may, they started an investigation, trying to either eliminate the group or at least shut down its smuggling routes.” The attack sites fade, a slightly bigger blue circle emerging around the Citadel.
For a moment, you see the hint of a gleeful smile on Aparakis’ face, as he continues: “But neither C-Sec nor the Spectres' measures saw any real success! They shut down some specific operations and trading posts, arrested or killed some of their more visible confederates. But the Void Network remained both intact and profitable; they simply relocated their operations to different spots on different planets, improved their encryption protocols and brutally executed a number of informants in their ranks.” Aparakis pauses and rubs his chin, for a moment apprehensive. “In fact, I strongly suspect they must have had some help from inside C-Sec, or maybe even the Spectres. Be that as it may, all efforts to shut this cartel down via the Council’s usual means have been frustrated, and so it has been decided to attempt to deal with the Network from the opposite end, so to speak.” The blue circle around the Citadel fades, just as a green one emerges around Omega.
“My own agents have been gathering information on the Void Network in secret, separately from C-Sec. They worked cautiously, and so avoided exposure or retaliation, though as a trade-off their progress has been somewhat… slow.” The Director frowns, then swallows another pill. “Until today, that is. I’ve learned that within two hours, the Void Network’s operatives are going to carry out a highly important, top secret transaction here on this station.” The galaxy map and the Void Network symbol both fade, giving way to a holographic schematic of Omega. Aparakis highlights a particular area less than halfway down Omega’s metallic stem. “It is going to happen in a half-abandoned slum district. Blue Suns territory, technically. But as an added precaution…” the salarian pauses and glances at the krogan. “They decided to hire the Blood Pack as security.”
He waits a moment for that to sink in, then finishes: “I need you to intrude on this transaction. Deal with their two outer layers of mercenaries as you see fit, but be careful with the Void Network operatives and the people they are meeting with if you could. I would greatly appreciate it if you could bring one or two of them back alive. Aside from that, I want you to secure the merchandise and their ship if possible, and learn as much as possible about this transaction, the Network, its operations here… and where they were planning to go after this meeting. Now do you have any questions?”
