Zaeed Massani

**Zaeed Massani** is a freelance mercenary, bounty hunter, and former head of the Blue Suns mercenary company.

## Biography

### Mission to take down the *THV Verrikan*

Zaeed Massani once headed the Blue Suns "private security outfit" along with his partner, Vido Santiago. They dealt in gun running, extortion, some arson, and "knocking heads that needed knocking." As the organization grew some of the Suns wanted to get involved in the batarian slave trade, and Zaeed vehemently disagreed. Like any other "civil organized body" they "respectfully discussed their differences and had a vote", resulting in Vido shooting Zaeed point-blank in the face. In his own words, he was "overruled."

Most guys in Zaeed's age can't handle a career change at that point in life, he claims. Zaeed survived the hit and took to drowning himself in alcohol as he recovered, calling it "adjusting just fine." Not a day went by without him thinking of revenge, initially, but as time went by it did happen eventually.

Zaeed kept hearing from people how he ended up being a washed-up has-been that no one would hire even to "scrape vermin shit out of a trash block." He would have none of it and started taking advertised jobs as an independent contractor after pulling himself together. The work got him by, but he figured the only way to restore his name and reputation is to do something big. It eventually landed him a stint as a Shadow Broker hireling.

The Shadow Broker tasked him to crash the turian frigate Verrikan. Zaeed saw it as a chance to restore his name, but asked the Broker for job specifics. The Broker didn't care how the ship was to be brought down as his client was willing to pay a large fortune for it, so Zaeed accepted the job eager to claim the bounty.

To that end, Zaeed recruited three freelancers as he reckoned anyone from established merc gangs would be out of the question. He asked the salarian Kendo Holin, the asari Tristana, and the ex-Blue Sun human Jace Reyn to join him while they were all in the middle of their own jobs. All of them accepted, but they had reservations against taking on an entire frigate with just the four of them. Zaeed called them all together and elaborated on his plan. The team won't be taking the Verrikan down by strength, they'll be doing it with stealth and simplicity.

The team laid low at the refueling depot in the Trebia System, anticipating the Verrikan there and the flurry of activity to conceal them. Thrusters strapped to their backs, the team then performed a space jump from depot to frigate, flying like bullets and careful not to deviate in trajectory. The jump took ten seconds and they hit the target location spot on.

Zaeed had an inside turian named Polonis who was supposed to open the airlock for them. The entire plan hinged on the turian letting them in, as the next steps were to head straight for the bridge, lock themselves in, and crash the vessel into the nearest planet. Zaeed thought he anticipated everything, but he had not counted on the Verrikan's chief of security Garkko catching Polonis in the act. The landing team were flushed right back out of the airlock's outer door, where their tethering cables secured them all except for Kendo Holin.

The element of surprise blown and the distance from the target too far, Zaeed thought a sane man would just abort the mission. But with the amount of money at stake, he reckoned he'd be crazy to leave it all behind. The remaining three mercenaries found another way into the ship and split up: Zaeed assigned Tristana and Jace to be the distraction team while he headed to the bridge. Garkko and Zaeed crossed paths, resulting in Zaeed taking him hostage as the turian's soldiers were obliterated by an explosion.

Zaeed made it to the bridge door relatively unharmed as the "abandon ship" call was sounded throughout the Verrikan. Holding Garkko at gunpoint, he forced him to override the bridge security protocols. The pair were met by at least a dozen turians when the door opened, all with weapons trained at Zaeed. Garkko's head exploded as Tristana came to Zaeed's rescue at the moment. They slaughtered the bridge crew in short order.

Tristana and Zaeed had a thing in the past, but Zaeed claimed he broke it off before it killed him. Instead of kissing Tristana he asked her about Jace, but it appeared the payoff was now split fifty-fifty. With the job almost done, he thought he could live with that. Zaeed set the frigate on a crash course to Impera, relying on the turian garrison there to shoot the vessel down before it happens. Tristana unexpectedly blasted him with her biotics as she revealed herself to be under Vido's employ.

Zaeed mused to himself he had terrible taste in women, but he did have great luck. Impera's gravitational forces acted on the crashing ship, freeing him from Tristana's biotic grasp. Zaeed managed to stab his ex-girlfriend in a scuffle while the ship itself was being fired upon by the garrison. If nothing else went wrong, he thought he still might get out alive. But then a hole opened up on the hull, nearly sucking them both out until their arms found protrusions to grab. Zaeed took the opportunity to kick Tristana completely off the ship, luckily finding another object to grab before plummeting to the surface with her.

He hoisted himself back to the ship, located an escape pod, strapped himself in, and ejected to safety as the burning ruins of the vessel streaked across Impera's sky. Zaeed busted open his pod just in time to see the Verrikan explode, deeming it one of the most satisfying sights he's ever seen. There's nothing like a man well paid for a job well done.

## Armament

Zaeed utilizes an M-8 Avenger and an M-29 Incisor while in combat, both equipped with concussive shot launchers. He also carries with him a stash of inferno grenades, as well as modded disruptor ammo. Although he cannot use it in combat any longer, he carries with him his original M-8, Jessie, as a memento.