A/N: Enjoy. Timeline on this is well before Garrus starts doing his Batman thing, much less Shepard.
-STG – STG – STG-
STG Report on ALTERATION-47c , aka "Tazzik".
Senior Agent Vessi to the STG Master
You know, I'm beginning to wonder why you send my cell on such suicidal moss-runs, but I'm also beginning to wonder if Danith is requesting them or something. This is the fourth time in as many months as we've been dispatched to trace some Broker monstrosity.
Midnight's Kiss. The Immutable. The Scourge. Now, the One We Let Go.
I have no idea what in the Collapse the SIX were thinking selling A47-C to the Broker, but whatever it was it probably didn't work out the way they wanted. In that regard, everything we found out about him in recent months suggests he's not even remotely the same being we gave to the Broker.
I'd feel sorry for the kurka if he wasn't slaughtering us by the score every time we cross paths with him. Who the hell takes out a Shieldbreaker on foot?
Anyway, as requested, I've put together an initial briefing document covering everything we currently know regarding this psychopath. As with all reports, by necessity, this document is not all inclusive, blah blah blah, rely on it at your own risk, all of that.
You don't like my attitude? I'm not likely to finish out the year in this Cell, so you can go lick a breeder if you don't like it. Danith is talking about putting a file together on the Broker himself, so I'll probably be dead in the next month or two. Allow me my venting.
This file is classified Black Collapse Nine for all the obvious reasons, with a bunch of Red-Flags and at least one spot that really should be Salaris-White.
I shouldn't have to spell those out, especially given this is the third revision of this file.
Caution : Read FIRST:
Ugh.
As usual, most if not all information on is based on the same Collapse-damned four sources we've used for a thousand years: existing historical accounts records, eye-witness accounts, extranet information, and accumulated scans and examinations.
Under no circumstances can this file be assumed complete, and as always assume that this file is a baseline of his abilities, not a comprehensive coverage. Or you can pretend it is comprehensive and end up a splatter on the floor.
Read the entire file.
And then take all that with a fingertip of salt and assume you underestimated this big jharogni. Tazzik is so far beyond any other salarian cyborg that he makes Shift look like Baby's First Cyberware Project. Whatever happened to him on Omega during the Burning ended up with him being taken farther into being cybernetically upgraded than any other living being we know of, although rumors about both Richard Williams and that crazy turian lady that works for the Palavanus remain.
Tazzik is the strongest and toughest eggsplitter in the entire galaxy. He's walked off mortar fire, laughed at anti-material weapons, survived being thrown into an incinerator, and faced off (and beaten the shit out of) at least one war priestess and several Spectres, not to mention that gigantic Geth Prime on the Citadel.
-STG – STG – STG-
"TAZZIK", no formal name, no clan name. Formally ALTERATION-47C Batch 16 Run 1,282
Overview:
Formal Titles: The Fist of the Broker. No other ones known of. Not like he needs one.
Nicknames: Tazzik Eight-Pack, Tazzik the Bloody, (internal STG) The One We Let Go
Race: Genetically altered salarian monoclone (see subfile 92YG, Project Alteration sub-records). Full conversion cyborg.
Age and sex: Male. Twenty five years old.
Wealth: Completely unknown, possibly none. Unlike Tetrimus, Tazzik does not appear to have any assets beyond his personal equipment and wherever he lives (suspected to be the Broker's HQ). He does not value cash, objects or wealth in any fashion.
Psychological Summary: Amusingly, he seems to fall in the Affable/Hateful quadrant of Destructive personalities. Tazzik's hate is not personal. He often jokes, taunts or even converses with his targets and does not (usually) engage in killing for the sake of killing. On the other hand, he is frighteningly brutal and will kill loved ones of the target for the simple value in shattering their minds or making them fight angry and stupid.
Tazzik has no real use for altruism or other positive concepts, but he does admire those who can retain a sense of humor in a fight, and will very rarely even spare someone if they fight hard enough to impress him (and weren't the primary target).
Military Summary: All specimens in A47-c were hypnoimpressed with package seventeen – sniping, close quarters combat, girthu and san-seltcha martial arts, explosive construction, trap-making, ambush and trap tactics, level III combat engineering, poison and chemistry and omni-blade combat.
Additionally, Tazzik was the last viable product of the group and was trained extensively by several Solus War Specs as well as by Transcendentals in anti-biotic tactics.
Since his acquisition by the Broker, we can safely say he has expanded his education and now also can pilot ships, operate heavy siege equipment, perform high level info-war hak scripting, custom drone design, and is at least familiar with the tactics, equipment and abilities of almost all black ops groups.
Tazzik has never had any 'formal' military position or rank. His rank in the Broker Network is unknown but is likely very high.
Education: Outside of the Basic Level V information package impressed into all subjects in A47-c, none that we can firmly identify. It is very likely the Broker has taken some time to educate Tazzik – fragments of conversations indicate he is familiar with batarian music, GASCAR racing, astronomy, ancient sword making, and botany, among an array of other bewildering interests.
Some of these may be hobbies – analysis unclear.
Employment: The Broker Network.
Significant Family: None. Seven cloned 'brothers' hatched from the same induced egg clutch were destroyed or lost in training and workups, no other extant relatives. Due to loss of A47-C subfile sixteen, the identity of the patents of the egg clutch has been lost.
Overall Threat Rating: By the stars, at least Black-Collapse-Nine. More like BC-50 if you ask me.
Historical Notes:
Must we?
Very well.
As you damned well know, your predecessor (long may his... her... its... body parts rot in a shallow grave) sought to form some kind of detente or rapport with the Broker, considering hostilities as waste of resources and effort in the face of asari maneuvering after the Relay 314 incident. The SIX got involved, and somehow decided to do something completely moronic.
ALTERATION-47c was a failed project to create the next generation of 'super soldier', a concept we apparently got from, of all people, the humans. While the overarching goal of ALTERATION as a whole is re-mastery of the salarian genome, 47c explored more outre options – specifically, salarian toughness enhancement to a degree that would allow a salarian to not only survive but win CQB and melee combat with most aliens.
By all accounts, most of 47c's genetic package results were very good – many have been incorporated into Phase Fifteen STG War Spec upgrade packages and flash-clone personnel. But the larger phase of the project, to produce viable salarian heavy combatants, was deemed a failure. The resulting creatures were freakish in size – standing well over two meters tall in some cases, heavily muscled and with more bone than you'd see in a swarm of bonefish. Mentally they were not well adjusted – by our standards, most of them were idiots, the rest were maybe on par mentally with an average human or turian.
The biggest problem we had was the glandular changes that made them so big and fast also made them incredibly bloodthirsty, aggressive, and warlike – to the point that they could not and would not take orders from anyone or anything that couldn't defeat them. Eventually, further testing also revealed their genetics were unstable and likely to cascade into cancer in the long term, and the project was shelved.
Except for Tazzik, who was sold to the Broker in exchange for Shego only knows what. I don't have the clearance to know. Danith doesn't have the clearance to know, and he's cleared for LoZ! All we know is the STG master was against it by the time of the deal, which was too little, too late.
Regardless of whatever stupid cloaca-drip idea the SIX – or the old Master – had, Tazzik was moved to the Broker and in a few short years became a terror to behold. Kitted out in cybernetic armor and equipped with a custom lance cannon, Tazzik swiftly became the sledgehammer to Tetrimus's dagger. Where the Broker favored subtlety, he used Tetrimus – where he wanted open slaughter and terror, he used Tazzik.
Five years after Tazzik joined the Broker, he and Tetrimus tore through the RRC's remote study facility on the moon Varvai, on the edge of our space. It was working on ALTERATION-82c, which is related to (I believe) embryonic adjustments. Fragmentary records and intercepts seem to indicate some of the data stolen was sold (or given) to Doctor Okeer.
Ten years after we sold him, Tazzik butchered most of Matriarch Trellani's acolytes and family members in her flight from the Asari Republic. We have some video segments of the fight they had – and that Trellani lost, most likely due to the fact she was both wounded and exhausted, not to mention mentally shattered. Even so, Tazzik lost an eye, and had to have extensive cybernetic correction performed on his legs.
The last major appearance of Tazzik happened six months after the Burning of Omega, and it was alarming. Prior to this point, Tazzik, while clearly a cyborg, was mostly organic. His armor was inset into his body and his legs and left arm had augmentation, as well as his right eye, but that was believed to be the extent of it.
Tazzik after the Burning now stands 2.4 meters tall, and is covered head to foot in thick, black heavy armor. A covert scanning array that managed to get a full scan of his body indicated that he is a total conversion. All organs are sealed into an armored container in the torso, while the brain is encased in a cranium of salaris-reinforced laser steel. Arms, legs, spinal column, lungs and all surfaces are completely artificial. His entire body is now armored subdermally as well, and based on his recorded performance since then he has strength rivaling that of some of our yagh specimens.
Tazzik's speed has gone from 'formidable' to 'beyond the speed of our fastest Transcendentals'. He has been recorded multiple times evading and dodging heavy suppressive fire, missiles, rockets and even biotic strikes.
Keep in mind that I'm skipping literally hundreds of brutal murders, killings, bombings, ripping-peoples-heads-offings, and all manner of disgusting violence that would make a teenage krogan blanch. Tazzik's official body count is in the low thousands, and that includes a very large number of very dead STG teams who tried and failed to stop him.
Motivations:
As always, divining why a nutjob is nuts is a tricky business, made more complex by the fact that Tazzik was probably insane from experiments and abuse before we sold him. I would argue that whatever the Broker is, Tazzik seems to have imprinted on him to some level, and his highest motivation seems to be loyalty to the Broker.
Beyond that, Tazzik lives for the fight, for the thrill of life and death, and to challenge himself with increasingly outlandish and impossible situations that he still manages to survive. It may be he is chasing death, or it may be he is simply what the turians call a urthras-caa, or 'seeker of the thrill of the edge of dying'.
He doesn't seem to care about money, or possessions. His very few non-combat public appearances would seem to indicate that he sees 'goals' themselves as pointless.
Organizations and Affiliations:
I hate the fact I can't modify this breeder-reeking template. What do you think? Do you see him joining the local Guild of Trades and Crafts? His only affiliation is the Broker Network.
Tactics:
So, here's where I tell you how you're going to die.
Tazzik has five things you should keep in mind. He's faster than you. He's stronger than you. He's a full conversion borg – which means you can wound him all you like and he won't feel pain, or bleed, or get tired, or run out of breath. He's been killing constantly for the past twenty years.
And he thinks a lance cannon is a rifle.
He carries several other weapons – a hot-shotted turian war-cannon (usually with armor piercing explosive APP rounds) and at least one hold-out pistol in a leg compartment. His cybernetic armor also includes a drone pack (ten drones, at least), micro-missiles, plasma sprayers (these are waaay above the common spec, with a twenty meter range and hot enough to melt laser steel!), embedded omni-armor and deployable arm-mounted omni-shields.
If that wasn't enough his arms incorporate two extremely high-TeV omni-blades, a meter in length and strong enough to repeatedly parry warp swords and cut through an eezo whip.
Specific Tactical Methods, Ground Combat:
Long range:
Look, this nut can easily kill you at any range, but long range is your best bet for not dying instantly and turning into a pile of ashes. His lance cannon is the only thing he has in his arsenal that is really useful beyond a few dozen meters, and while his accuracy with it is pinpoint, it's a lance cannon. Damage drops off rapidly past fifty meters.
That being said, most long range attacks back at him aren't doing to tickle a hatchling. He's going to bounce any kind of impactors 3mm or less, no matter what you are firing. We pinned him last year in a crossfire of Widow fire and he walked it all off.
Tazzik will use drones to scout and identify snipers at long range, then rapidly close the distance. He will also, if he has cover, engage in info-war hacking and possibly the use of explosive traps if you are stupid enough to go after him.
Drawing Tazzik into closer range and into a range of high explosive traps (preferably fuel-air-eezo or M/AM) is the best way to cripple him or drive him off. Dug in units in heavy armor with gunship support can also usually force him to disengage.
Keep in mind that he is carrying a weapon that is not necessarily anti-material at long range but that he can close the range in literally seconds.
Medium range:
This is where the shower of pain begins.
At ranges under one hundred meters, Tazzik basically has 100% accuracy with his lance cannon, which will penetrate six to eight inches of plasma-hardened combat steel or up to two inches of laser steel. At ranges less than fifty meters, his lance cannon can and will penetrate any thickness of even Silaris armor.
Never mind the fact that getting hit by this thing will knock any salarian clean off his feet and into a coma from the impact shock alone. At forty meters Tazzik has snapped the spines of STG operatives with torso shots.
He typically deploys drones at this range to spray missiles and/or tie up additional combatants while focus-fires a single target at time down. Expect him to use far more mobility at this range, although it will mostly consist of rapid movement rather than dodging. Also expect tech mines, especially if for some reason you are fool enough to close range on him.
The only real counter tactic at this range is somehow disabling his lance cannon, although if you can't open range that will put you into short range with a cybernetic killing machine who is likely to be irritated.
I really can't recommend that, and don't call me for help.
Short range:
What could you possibly hope to achieve at short range except a very messy, bloody and probably hilarious death? If you want to show up on eVidCap as a jaunty meme joke, try short range.
Let me be blunt: Tazzik engages in melee with krogan and kills them with single blows. A salarian in short to melee range is dead, it's only a matter of time and how many chunks you'll scatter across the landscape in.
At short range Tazzik will spray missiles indiscriminately and use plasma sprays for effect. He will also engage in extremely high-speed acrobatics – like dodging all your shots and then cutting off your head, or diving through heavy machine gun fire to kill the gunners with a single shot. Achieving a hit on him in CQB is practically impossible except for very skilled and fast operatives – and is likely to achieve nothing.
Again, he has engaged in a fight with a war priestess in single combat and he wasn't the one who ran away.
Tazzik has an ugly tendency to use excessive leaps, jumps and other high-tempo re-positioning tricks to confuse and disorient foes – but has also been able to use such things to take down SKYTALON battle-suits in mid-air and smash a diving DACT into paste with a leaping kick.
I'd like you to think about that image for a moment before bothering me about short-range counter tactics. There are none except running away, except as I told you already he's faster than you.
Warning Advisory:
For the love of Shego, please read this.
Letting Tazzik within one hundred and fifty meters of your position is death. You will not survive. No one has ever survived except one Praetor and one War Priestess and they both ran and used tricks to keep him from chasing them.
You can throw grenades all day. You can come up with a cunning plan involving a Transcendental strike, remote targeted missiles and snipers until your brain hurts. You are not going to win if you let him get close. Use whatever methods are necessary to avoid that.
He can and has killed Shieldbreakers on foot and broken a batarian's spine through his powered armor. You are not even close to being tough enough.
(As an aside: in theory, augmented Series Fifteen flash-clone agents with dura-weave upgrades can take CQB/melee hits from Tazzik... assuming he doesn't use his full power to retain his speed. I still really don't recommend it unless you want to know what flying feels like... to a thrown bottle.)
Physical Abilities:
Monstrous, yahg level strength. Incredible speed. Supernatural reflexes. Sniper-level aim at all ranges, with the ability to engage multiple targets at multiple ranges simultaneously with no visible distress.
A working knowledge of explosives, poisons, and anti-STG tactics that will nullify most plans that you can come up with on short notice.
Basically, we made this person to be the strongest, toughest and meanest salarian ever, and then we gave him to a psychopath who turned him into the most cybernetically enhanced being we have firm confirmation on.
And he loves to fight and kill.
Mental and Psychological Notes:
Not as much here as you would think.
Tazzik does not strike me as a complicated thinker. He has very simple tastes, very simple goals, and a lack of concern about anything 'higher' or more 'important'. Given the changes to his genome he probably is mentally inhibited compared to most salarians – the baseline test we gave him rated his intellect at Yurtha-5, roughly an IQ of 110 on the human/asari scale.
Psychologically... what?
He's pretty simple to figure out, actually. He prizes and values strength, endurance, lack of fear, and the ability to put up a good fight. Nothing else wins respect from him, and even if you get his respect you're still going to die if he can kill you.
I'm aware PsyProf thinks there's more 'hidden depths' to him, but there isn't. He doesn't specifically go after STG teams more than any other race's agents – in fact, his hatred seems to be reserved mostly for the Unseen Cloud and the Nightwind, rather than us. He doesn't engage in anything we could grasp as 'living a life' because he's a living weapon.
Stop trying to salarianize that, and just deal with it, preferably with an orbital bombardment.
Notable Allies:
You know, the ability to void out certain parts of this template (and the AC044 Post-Mission Template, come to think of it) would be very useful.
His 'allies' are the Broker Network, assuming you can call them that. While the Broker doesn't always liquidate forces the way, say, P. does, all too often we've found the ashes of Broker strike teams after sensitive ops.
One of these days, the ash pile will probably be Tazzik's. Can't come soon enough.
Political and Social Notes:
Curiously, while Tazzik himself is not a social or political figure, there are certain ramifications you should consider.
Tazzik is deployed to send a message – usually a violent, messy, unsubtle one – and seems to prefer that role. There are hints that he was once more openly used in different methods and failed repeatedly, causing him to lose standing with the Broker.
While this is not worth trying to exploit, it does raise the possibility of a counter-play – using political or economic assets to setup a no-win situation that fits Tazzik's specialty and making him fail, suffering increasing displeasure from the Broker.
How we'd go about doing this, eh, I'm not the guy you come to for planning, now am I?
-STG – STG – STG-
Warnings:
The following advisories are considered mandatory reading. Or don't, and then wonder why you are an array of shattered limbs on the ground.
Combat of any kind is not advised.
If you are an agent in an STG cell reading this, I shouldn't have to point it out to you. But we are so far ninety-two to zero in encounters with Tazzik. That is ninety-two dead STG teams, just like yours. Four Shieldbreakers. Six Transcendentals. Twenty seven War Specs, including a grandson of Muvai Solus trained by her brothers for four years and who had three Spectre kills to his name.
We have never won a single fight against Tazzik, and the only time such a thing has ever been claimed – by Aria – he turned up two months later stronger than ever. This isn't a fight you can win. I know standard ops guidelines suggest irregular and creative tactics can beat any foe.
That's a lie.
The only way this nut is going down is he gets blown up a lot then hit by either Dancers, war priestesses, super-heavy cyborgs or preferably all three at once. He's going to require a simply stupid amount of killing, and he's going to take people with him.
The use of any of the following is contraindicated due to lack of successful deployment:
Hacking
EMP (burst, grenade or ion cannon)
Poisons
Acids (including high grade industrial acids) (he has neutralization gear built into the armor)
First, Second and Third level nano-reprocessing agents (he has an auto-EMP routine)
Standard and core-breaking armor piercing rounds (Silaris-core works, however)
Explosives, standard weapons loads, laser shotguns, mines less than 45.59 jurtha, or any form of melee combat.
Please stop trying any of the above. You want to engage him? High explosives in huge yields, anti-material fire with silaris-core rounds from a rifle bore 4mm and up, or large M/AM explosions. Orbital bombardment and immersion in plasma slurry should also suffice.
Anything else? Don't bother, or better yet, do a flashy Protocol 19 and use it on yourself.