Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 29

Milky Way/Omega Nebula/Sahrabarik/Omega

Earth year: 2185 CE --- May

After docking on Omega, Callie had taken Jacob and Miranda to the station's surface to track down and recruit the three squad members the Illusive Man had given her dossiers on. While waiting for clearance to dock, she'd spoken to both of them and been thrown off-balance by the changes in their behaviour.

Prior to boarding the Normandy, Miranda had been a cold, unfeeling bitch whose only focus was the mission to Freedom's Progress and not making friends. Jacob had been friendly and accommodating, answering her questions with patience and understanding. He'd done what he could to put her at ease. But that changed after they  boarded the Normandy.

Miranda began by volunteering information about herself, her past and Cerberus. She was friendly and casual to the point where Callie thought she must be imagining it. But Miranda's behaviour wasn't nearly as surprising as Jacob's.

When she found him at his station in the ship's armoury, it went as she'd expected, at first. But when she asked again about his history, he'd become  cold and distant, keeping her at arm's length with his words and posture. He had gone on to say that he wasn't big on socializing and could they could do this some other time, insinuating that she was being intrusive.

When she realized she had to bring him as part of the ground team to Omega she wasn't happy about it. She found Miranda easy to figure out. No matter how Miranda might feel about following Callie's lead, she knew Miranda would do her job. Jacob though... Callie shook her head. The abrupt, antagonistic change in his behaviour made her feel like she had a target on her back while he walked behind her and she didn't like it.

She hoped that of the three recruits they were to pick up on Omega, at least one of them would put her more at ease than Jacob had. She didn't want him in her ground team again until she knew he could be trusted. If not as a friend, but as someone who wouldn't turn on her like a rabid dog.

They didn't go far before finding the first recruit on her list. Zaeed Masani, a mercenary bounty hunter, was holding a gun on a cowering batarian as they stepped onto the station after leaving the docking tube.

Callie smiled to herself as she watched him browbeat his captive. Masani was an older man with close-cropped greying hair.  When he turned to look at her, Callie was struck by the huge scar down the right side of his face, his eye milky white with blindness. She wondered how it had happened and whether or not he'd  tell her if she asked. As she watched him with the batarian at his feet, she was struck by his imposing energy. Zaeed might be a gun for hire like Jacob, but from what she saw so far, she liked his style.

"Zaeed Masani?" She asked, a faint smile on her lips.

"That's me." He said, keeping his shotgun trained on the batarian. "You must be Shepard."

"Cerberus didn't mention I'd be picking up two of you."

"This is just a little unfinished business." Zaeed grumbled, his voice sounding like gravel. "Chased him halfway across the system before I caught up to him on Omega."

"Please..." The batarian begged. "You have to help me, he's crazy."

"Shut up jackass." Zaeed said, kicking him in the leg. "No one said you could talk."

"Taking on the Collectors doesn't seem like something a mercenary would be interested in."

"Your mission doesn't sound like good business. But... your Illusive Man was offering some serious credits for signing up." Zaeed answered. As they talked, the batarian on the ground scrambled away and without blinking Zaeed shot him in the back.