Hey guys, I'm back.

So, I'm back.

Some of you probably didn't notice I'd left, but, yeah. I've been away. Specifically, I went to Ashki. For those who don't recognize the name, it's a Terminus world that you need to slowboat for three fucking weeks, that’s one-way from Omega, in order to get to it. Never was really important on the Terminus political landscape, but there’s been a bit of a dust-up there for the last few months. There was a local guerrilla problem, and now there’s not a local guerrilla problem.

Anyways, the reason I was on some Terminus backwater - this is gonna be a long story. Let's rewind a minute.

There's groups on Omega that...kind of function as temp-agencies for freelancers looking to get their feet beneath them in the mercenary industry when they start off. These agencies sometimes form cobbled-together [TRANSLATOR ERROR: Did you mean 'foreign legion?'] units from freelancers that sign on with them, usually about battalion-strength (sometimes only company-strength), then ship them off to serve as auxiliaries for Terminus state military units, with the employer's own officer corps taking on command roles in the new merc-auxiliary unit. Anyone still alive after the deployment gets paid, and then the unit is disbanded when they leave the warzone. Anyone who wants to sign up with another one just has to talk to the agency.

I've done my research - it's a fairly reliable practice, even if it doesn't get as much attention in the media as the big names like the Blue Suns or Eclipse. T-States get bodies and guns that are (usually) halfway-competent on the cheap, and the freelancers get consistent pay and something good to put on a resume. Freelancers who do well enough on a few of these auxiliary deployments tend to get picked up by PMCs later (y'know, assuming they don't die in the meantime). Some eventually get picked up by one of the Big Three, others do alright for themselves in one of the small-time units out there.

And yes, it works. It's not ideal for anyone, trust me, but it works. The agency only ever really covers transportation and hammering out the contract details with the employer; everything else is on the employer or the freelancers. So it's not that expensive compared to hiring one of the Big Three, but the whole 'freelancers, BYOG' angle makes it less effective than just calling a PMC and saying 'yo varren, we need doods.'

Anyways, you can probably guess why I’m bringing this all up. After a bit of deliberation, some research, and a little nail-biting as I considered other options at the time (I had to disappear for a little while, anyways - personal matters; worse ways to do that than slowboating to someplace off the grid and trying not to die in the meantime while things blow over back home), I signed up with the biggest such temp-agency on the station, Jehkt-Sana Personnel, and shipped out to Ashki two days later with about a thousand other guys on a Behemoth for three weeks.

So, yeah. I had an eventful vacation, and I brought back holos.

Anyways, what’d I miss?

Good to see you back, man. As for what you missed, well, there was a little thing with the rachni.

...Hah.

Hahahahahaha. That's kinda funny Will.

No, not really, that's not fucking funny, that is not a funny joke to pull on people, WHY.

Welcome back, Mekan. Good t' see ya back.

My fellow batarian, what the person with the flammable avatar is telling you is very much the truth! They have returned, and the Rachni hold their tendrils and claws with the Geth, who in turn delivered a most veritable slap onto the faceplates of quarians who thought they had some resemblance of authority over their homeworld.

fucking shit goddammit
EVERY TIME I LEAVE AND COME BACK GALACTIC SOCIETY FUCKS IT UP SOMEHOW

I-

nghr

I need a drink, excuse me.

No one else has asked yet, and I being exhausted but nonetheless curious, would like to see your holos, Mekan. Provided they are are safe for casual viewing and not something horrible.

I too would be interested in hearing what all went on from one who was there. If you're inclined to share. What prompted mercenary auxiliaries on the planet?

Well, I mentioned a guerrilla problem before we showed up, but that's not the whole story.

Basically, elements of the Ashki military garrison went rogue over some local political issues. The colony's largely batarian, still very heavily focused on the caste system (with a few tweaks that break from tradition, namely granting slaves freedom in return for their owner 'volunteering' them for military service). From what I gathered, some kind of difference of opinion on some foreign-policy matters high up in the colonial government that had been snowballing ever since the end of the Reaper War eventually led to a minor civil war within the ranks of the colonial military. When a few military companies mutinied with backing from some of the oligarchs in the community, everything went to hell.

The government-backed loyalists had control of most of the defense budget, and they decided to call in some auxiliaries whose loyalty was actually less questionable than that of their own troops. I happened to be signing up with the agency at the same time, and they offered me a chance to join in with the rest of the freelancer auxiliary battalion heading that way. I still don't know the full story behind it all, but, I was signed up for a three-month deployment, plus transit time to Ashki and back to Omega. Four and a half months total, and that wasn't enough time for anyone to condense several years of political and social turmoil on a backwater colony nobody's going to remember one month after its civil war hits the news. Besides, I was getting shot at, so I really wasn't inclined to talk.

All things considered, I figured it was as good a place as any to go, given my situation on Omega at the time.

Anyways to answer your question:

tl;dr insurrectionists prompted auxiliary support


Well, define 'horrible.'

I've got a few that are just interesting shots or downright nice to look at.

FOR EXAMPLE.



This is a shot of Ashki as our troop carrier made its approach when we got to the Ashki system. Those ships you see there are some of our escort fighters; some of the other ships are there, but out of the frame or too far away to see. This shot was taken from an airlock-viewport by helmetcam. Ashki's the planet behind the one in the foreground.



Ashki's a planet without a lot of high mountains, and this is the highest collection of them on the planet. Not exactly huge, but it's on the outskirts of the capital city: The Nar'kash Mountain Range, long but not very high by the standards of mountains on most other worlds. It runs along most of north-south equator, and separates most of the western hemisphere from the east by overland routes, making air transport the more viable option.

On the western side, near the planet's northern pole, is the capital city of the Ashki Colonial Protectorate, Iost'um. The unit I was assigned to didn't get deployed up here for anything important (we were passing through on our way to the capital city, this shot was taken by helmetcam from a gunship side-hatch), but the view I got is awesome. Those structures you see there are listening posts occupied by loyalist military forces.

Welcome back, Mekan. Glad to see you're still alive.

Your LACK OF PRESENCE was not ACKNOWLEDGED, MEKAN.

You have ABSOLUTELY NO IMPACT ON THIS BOARD WHATSOEVER.

It's a miracle that you WEREN'T BRUTALLY MURDERED while you were away (Because GOD KNOWS how inept you are at self-preservation.) but that's no problem because NOBODY WOULD REMEMBER YOU OR EVEN MOURN YOUR DEMISE but if you can send me some links to those temp agencies that would really be appreciated kudos in advance and what not

i really really need the money

Looks like a rugged but beautiful land.

Unfortunately marred by the civil discord, but that can't always be helped. I always find it interesting to study what fellow batarians from other societies have done. How they've changed the caste system, or how they relate to one another.

Aside from that, however, I have to ask. What prompted the switch to the mercenary lifestyle?

WAIT WHAT

BUGS

I TOLD FRUNGEY DEM RACHNI WASN'T GONE

NOW HE OWES ME LIKE

A HUNNERD CREDITS

Also, you better have a tonna stupid-ass stories, Fatty. I ain't takin' no NO REALLY I WAS ONNA BOAT AN' NUTHIN' HAPPENED" shit from you.

You are still on my list, Shitlegs. My shit list. So don't get too comfy yet because I'm going to probably (most likely) murder the fuck out of you with your own legs


You have like a hundred thousand credits you stupid fuck. Why in the shit do you care about a hundred?

Also where the fuck have you been and how the fuck didn't you about the bugs? Did you fucking fall on your fat ass for two months and just now managed to hobble over here and start posting your dumb shit again fucking dumbass

k


[Here ya go], you'll want to move to the Terminus to really get consideration for the agency I'm with right now. They don't tend to take guys living in C-Space. Omega's your best bet.

The trick to joining these things is finding veterans to show you how to do this stuff the smart way. If you happen to be a veteran or can't find one to help you out, then managing to not die will do the trick just fine (easier said than done).

That said, enjoy dying, because the instant you sign up for this crap, your job description is officially 'rearline patrol and guard duty' unless you're some kind of specialist or everything goes to hell for the employer's regulars. In such an event, your job description changes to 'bullet sponge.'

In my case, shit went to hell for the employer's regulars before we even got to our intended area of operations. So, tip from a rookie: Pack extra guns and some spare parts for your armor - they will not cover that shit. You are going to need it.


A combination of 'I need to fucking hide until this blows over', some minor money issues I was dealing with at the time, and a lot of thinking that had been going on for a while by the time I signed the contract. After some of the crazier crap I've been through the last few years...I figured, 'fuck it, I'm basically doing this on-and-off as it is, might as well make the career shift official.'

Besides, a lot of my existing skills carried over and have practical applications, and I'd...I guess you could say 'been going to some classes', but it was just the one training course (I refuse to elaborate any further on it, but it helped). I figured I could do alright if I got a bit more field experience under my belt. I've gone on some missions as a security specialist in the past as part of a squad before, usually keeping a bit further back during shootouts, but this is the first time I've done it for any extended period of time. Waaay different experience.

But, at the time I signed the contract, I figured it couldn't be that much different from what I've been doing. On that point, I was right. A temporary career shift seemed like a good idea at the time, if only to get off the radar for a few months. It was a combination of factors, and it felt like it was a long time coming anyway.

Wasn't too bad.


...Well, alright then, since you asked.



This shot's a still from some combat footage from my helmetcam. My first sight of the colony's capital city when we touched down. This is near the city center. At the time, it was occupied by the insurrectionists. That building on the left was hiding a few enemy heavy weapon teams. You can kind of see them, top floor on the right. Nearly got mowed down right then and there by a machine gun, since I was the first one off the gunship, so I ran for that wreckage you see there on the right and hid until the rest of my squad got on the ground or died.

One of our guys had a rocket launcher and managed to pop 'em before they killed too many of the other merc-auxiliary squads that were caught in the open behind us. From there, we just kinda pushed forward, lots of street fighting. I took a few rounds, managed to keep from pissing off our squad leader so much that he put me on point. My squad got assigned a loyalist junior officer to take charge (standard procedure for the agency, apparently), and the guy was a dumbass. One of my squadmates said he 'had the stupid greenie ell-tee routine all worked out.' His game plan consisted entirely of 'wait for orders from higher up and then CHARGE.'

Picture that you're rushing to try and keep up with Lieutenant Shithead (seemed like a good idea at the time - it wasn't, but it seemed like it), then this happens.



This douchebag you see in the holo gave me a new arm.

Insurrectionist mech smashes through the wall, one of the heavier chunks of rubble crushes my left arm and pinned me to the ground (hence the weird angle here; this was right when I got hit by the falling concrete, so I wasn't looking up at the mech), and goes after the Lieutenant (he's behind that rubble on the right side of the frame). Here I am, pinned to the ground and on my ass, in the open, wounded badly enough to be taken out of the fight, arm's crushed and snapped at a weird angle, armor's damaged, I'm damn near blacking out from the pain, and our medic (a salarian named Polcus, nice guy) is rushing over to get the rubble off me so he can get me to some cover and check the wounds, and I just hear everyone shooting at the mech.

That's right about the point where I passed out and woke up in a field hospital about twelve hours later one block away from where I almost got crushed, with a cybernetic replacement for my left arm from the shoulder down.

And that was Day 1 of my time on Ashki, with a little over 89 days to go.

Affected incredulity: You and your various limbs have a difficult relationship, do they not?

Answer me when I talk to you, you fat--


Fucking lol

Pretty soon you're going to be more shit than blink, shitlegs. Gonna have to think up a new nickname for you at this rate. If I can find something that rolls off the tongue better than shitlegs.

Wouldn't 'shitlimbs' or 'shitsticks' be just as eloquent for our obese cyberblink?

Fuck off Bighead you don't get to throw fucking names around.

Shitsticks is a good name though so I'm taking it, bitch

Good idea, Doctor.

Glad you thought of it.