Hi, everyone! I'm new to the forums, and I wanted to start sharing my fan fic. It's an episodic adventure that takes place parallel to the events of Mass Effect 3, featuring Shiala and Barla Von. Below is a link to my blog where it will eventually be published in its entirety (1 new chapter every week!) followed by a sample from the Prologue.
I'd love to hear some feedback on my work. Thanks to anyone who takes a look at it!
http://me3shadowagents.wordpress.com/
PROLOGUE
“Cautiously: the Broker has recently been acting strange. Don’t you agree?”
The elcor’s words came over the comm buoy in the familiar, ponderous monotone. Barla Von feigned disinterest. Caldor was a low level informant. Most of his contacts were located on Dekuuna, and he never had any direct dealings with the Broker. “Everything the Broker does is strange,” he said. “And isn’t that the point? In order to remain truly anonymous, he must leave no visible patters. That way nothing can be traced back to him.” Still, Barla could not deny the truth in Caldor’s words. Up until recently, the Shadow Broker had maintained a very steady operation. Information was bought and traded. The status quo was monetary gain. Entire worlds could rise or fall at the whim of a shadow-man that no one in the galaxy could locate or identify. And yet galactic stability remained intact. There was always a balance in the Broker’s dealings. For as much as he exploited it, it seemed the Shadow Broker preferred that the galaxy go on spinning as it always had. Business was steady. Work was good.
And then, for just a moment, everything went dark. Networks, feeds, all communications in the largest spy network in the galaxy were down. It lasted only a matter of seconds, but something was different when it came back up. Now the Broker was burning through resources like an adolescent with a credit chit. Had there been a coup, a change in power? Or was this merely a shift in the Shadow Broker’s agenda? And if so, what intel could have prompted such a paradigm shift?
Whatever the cause, it had meant more work for Barla. To make up for the increased spending, Barla Von’s services had been contracted to make sure that many of the most expensive dealings were expedient, legitimate, and – most importantly – untraceable. He was currently overseeing the finances for the construction of a frigate. Such a vessel was highly illegal in the hands of most private citizens. That was why Barla was expediting the construction to the elcor. The Citadel Council rarely kept tabs on the elcor military because of the race’s perceived slow, ponderous nature. Indeed, there is little reason for the elcor to maintain a large military fleet due to their self-sustained economy and conservative nature. It isn’t even known how many dreadnaughts – if any – that they have. No one would bother to look at what the elcor were building, and if they did, one small vessel would generate little interest. That was why it was the perfect front for the Shadow Broker’s new frigate. Hence, his dealings with Caldor.
“Woefully: perhaps it is too much for me to read into. I do what I am told.”
“In that case, you need only concern yourself with the construction of the Kōjin. The Broker is very eager for its completion. He has authorized me to transfer the next payment ahead of schedule if this will help to insure on on-time delivery.”
“Sincerely: I will endeavor to make it so. Regretfully: now I must return to my work. Farewell, Barla.” The holographic image of the elcor flickered out.
* * * *
Later, as he tried to focus on the accounts of several other clients, Barla Von could not help but think back to the Shadow Broker’s new frigate. Strange, he thought, considering the name: Kōjin. He wondered at its meaning. Earth-clan mythology, he knew. Specifically, Shintoism. Kōjin was a sort of hearth-spirit. Once wild and untamed like the flames he possessed, he was now mature and controlled. Kōjin had taken the destructive force of fire and tamed it, making it useful to civilization and the family unit. Barla Von always did his homework. He wondered if there was significance in that name. Was there a hidden meaning buried deep in the Earth-clan mythology? Or was it a clue to some bigger mystery?
Barla Von, above all else, enjoyed a good mystery. He delighted not necessarily in solving them, but in simply knowing of their existence. When he considered the possibilities, the variables, the unknown, it gave him a rush. That was why he worked for the Shadow Broker. All of his dealings had left him very well compensated, but it was the anonymity that excited him, the idea that he could be working for virtually anyone. He might sit next to him on the shuttle, pass him by as he walked through the Citadel, maybe even live next-door to him. He might see the Shadow Broker every single day and not even know it. He didn’t know why, but for some reason, that excited him, to think that he could be that close to so much power, and yet remain completely unaware of it.
That was why he enjoyed working on the Kōjin project, the anonymity. Because Barla Von did not lead a very anonymous life. He was a brilliant financial mind, his offices were a prominent fixture on the Presidium, and – despite the nature of his work – most people knew that he dealt with the Shadow Broker. No one could prove it, of course. Barla was an expert at avoiding a paper trail. But there was no point in denying it. And in truth, none of the work he ever did was illegal; he just simply lived among all the loopholes. That’s what he was good at, and that’s why no one would ever know about the frigate being built for his most important client.
Retour en haut
