Blue Suns

The Blue Suns are a "private security organization," in reality a mercenary outfit, operating in the Skyllian Verge. The Blue Suns have a reputation for being both discreet and ruthlessly efficient, and as such charge a sizable fee.

Blue Suns mercenaries often have a tattoo of a blue sun somewhere on their body. During high-risk jobs, the tattoo would be removed with an acid wash to prevent them being identified, then reapplied once the job was finished.

Blue Suns consist mostly of Batarians, Vorcha, Turians, Salarians, and Humans. They are also known to employ mechanized support on occasion: YMIR, FENRIS, and LOKI Mechs.

History
The Blue Suns were founded by Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago in 2160 CE. Zaeed led the men while Vido did the administrative duties. Disagreement between the two over the inclusion of Batarians on their ranks led to a power struggle, resulting in Vido taking sole control and Zaeed's near-lethal expulsion from the group.

After betraying Zaeed, Vido hired as many batarians as he wanted, even naming Solem Dal'Serah his head of operations while relegating himself to the position of "Co-Executive Officer". This act was little more than a PR stunt: it was calculated as a sign of cooperation to placate his Batarian benefactors and to draw away fire from potential assassination attempts.

It worked on both counts and the partnership lasts to the present day. Solem is known to the general public as the Blue Suns founder and leader while only a handful of trusted mercs even know who Vido is, let alone his old partner Zaeed.

Over the years the Suns grew into a fearsome combat force spanning dozens of systems.

Mass Effect: Revelation
In 2165, the Blue Suns were hired by Edan Had'dah to carry out a raid on the Systems Alliance research facility at Sidon, as well as to provide security for Had'dah himself during some of his more unscrupulous activities. However, to take the job for Had'dah they had been forced to pull out of an arms deal, which attracted the attention of Saren Arterius. During his investigation he killed several Blue Sun mercs, including Groto Ib-ba. Another Blue Sun mercenary tried to arrest Kahlee Sanders under the pretense of being an Alliance MP, but she realised he was an imposter by the type of pistol he had and escaped.

Later, the Blue Suns assigned to Had'dah went under the command of Skarr -- despite the fact he had killed several of their number when he was first hired -- and were dispatched to intercept the SSV Iwo Jima and finally capture Kahlee. The operation was successful and Kahlee was taken to an element zero refinery. The refinery was subsequently destroyed, resulting in the deaths of Skarr, Had'dah, and most, if not all, Blue Sun mercs assigned to them.

Mass Effect: Incursion
In 2183 CE, the Blue Suns attempt to exchange a group of humans with the Collectors for payment on the space station Omega. The asari queen of the station discovers the meeting underway between Blue Suns mercenaries and the Collectors. She interrupts it and attacks with two of her bodyguards. All Collectors, humans, and Blue Suns are killed. Later, Aria's agents give her a datapad containing information about the Blue Suns' deal with the Collectors. The information consists of human population totals on various planets and space stations.

Mass Effect: Redemption
After the destruction of the SSV Normandy in 2183 CE, the Blue Suns are hired by the Shadow Broker to recover the body of Commander Shepard. After finding Shepard's corpse on Alchera, they place it in a crude stasis pod and transport it to Omega. Having been tipped off by the Broker that Liara T'Soni and Feron were attempting to stop the exchange, the Suns send a team to intercept them, though they are killed by unknown shooters.

The team handling Shepard's corpse was killed when Liara and Feron ambushed them at an old mining processing plant, though they were successfully able to deliver the pod to the Broker's representative.

Mass Effect: Foundation
A contingent of Blue Suns soldiers are hired by the Illusive Man to stop Subject Zero's rampage on a Cerberus training facility. They are meant to be the containment crew in case the agents dispatched on the scene, Kai Leng and Rasa, fail. They suffer heavy casualties attempting to face the powerful biotic head-on, until they resort to tactics like holding her companions hostage behind their lines.

Their krogan leader manages to subdue Subject Zero by going behind her and knocking her unconscious. Before pulling out of the facility with her in tow, the Suns inform the Cerberus agents that Subject Zero is to be ransomed at triple the usual pay to cover for the mercenaries' losses.

Mass Effect 2
Of the three major mercenary groups, Shepard comes across the Blue Suns arguably the most in the course of recruiting allies to stop the Collectors in 2185, alternatively taking part in or acting as the main focus during several missions, assignments, or otherwise, either as enemies to be killed or antagonists to be overcome.

Gozu District
The Blue Suns control the Gozu District on Omega, running protection rackets and earning credits from the slums' citizens. When the slums are entered, it is commented by the citizens that the Blue Suns kept the district tightly run, and some will even state that they preferred the Suns over rival mercs for the order they imposed. When the Collector-spawned plague struck the slums, the Blue Suns' non-human members began to succumb and lose their strength, giving the vorcha (who were immune to the plague) an opportunity to take control.

The Suns were forced into combat with the vorcha and krogan Blood Pack warriors; this fight, along with the plague, depleted their numbers and eroded their control of the district. They also carried out attempts to execute humans within the district, as it was believed that the plague was of human design (due to humans also being immune). This belief led the Blue Suns to send a squad to Dr. Mordin Solus' clinic when it was learned that he was sheltering humans, with the intent to burn the clinic down and/or kill the humans there. This resulted in Mordin executing the entire squad single-handed, and then displaying the bodies as a warning.

Several months earlier, a mysterious turian vigilante, who would later come to be universally known only as Archangel, arrived on Omega. He gathered a team of 12 individuals and wreaked havoc on the Suns' operations, including disrupting meetings and smuggling deals, stopping shipments, gunning down and/or sniping Suns' agents and gunships, making the Suns hesitant to take on any job for fear of Archangel interfering. He even attempted to kill off the leader of the Omega Blue Suns, Tarak, in his base of operations; the same was done for the Blood Pack and Eclipse merc bands.

After the attempt, Tarak grew desperate and grudgingly forged an alliance with Jaroth and Garm, the ringleaders of Omega's Eclipse and Blood Pack, in an attempt to finally kill Archangel. Tarak took on the role of unofficial coordinator for the entire operation, his gang having the most amount of manpower and resources, including a Mantis gunship. With the three groups temporarily united, they also hatched a secret plan to overthrow Aria T'Loak and take over Omega once Archangel's dead.

They were eventually successful in 'persuading' one of Archangel's teammates, Lantar Sidonis, into selling out Archangel's team. Ten of the team were killed, while Sidonis went into hiding and Archangel himself retreated into his base. He barricaded himself inside, sealing the doors and filling passageways with debris, leaving a narrow bridge as the only access point. An expert sniper, Archangel was able to defend this bottleneck against many Suns mercs and even the gunship through specific, well-timed bullet hits. Since the gunship remained intact overall, Tarak ordered Sergeant Cathka to begin repairs on it.

Afterward, Tarak, Jaroth and Garm all agreed to open up a freelancing market of sorts, hiring dozens of freelance mercenaries to fight against Archangel for a 500 credit payment. However, Garm, Tarak and Jaroth intended to use the freelancers as disposable cannon fodder in a diversion while an infiltration team killed the vigilante. Most of these freelancers were either ill-equipped, inexperienced, or just plain inept, allowing Archangel to easily pick them off and forcing Garm, Jaroth and Tarak to slightly modify their plan; the freelancers were to attack first in conjunction with the infiltration team, followed by the Eclipse and their mechs, whereas the Blood Pack was to launch an attack through underground tunnels concurrently with a strike over the bridge, and finally an airborne assault by the Blue Suns supported by Tarak in his Gunship.

During Commander Shepard's bid to gather a large, capable team of the best operatives in the galaxy, Shepard is forced to feign being hired as a freelancer both to ensure Archangel's survival, and then recruit him. As Shepard's group seemed "competent enough" in the eyes of the mercs, they are designated as the infiltration team.

On arrival at the base, it is clear that Archangel stands little chance of surviving, being exhausted from all the time he spent holding the line against the mercs single-handed, and is reported to have made several unspecified mistakes during the operation. Before the assault begins, Shepard meets up with Jaroth, Garm and Tarak, reprograms an YMIR Mech to attack the mercs instead, and incapacitates Sergeant Cathka, thereby preventing Tarak's gunship from being fully repaired and making it relatively easier to destroy.

When the assault is launched, Shepard's team takes part in the initial attack, backstabbing and wiping out the freelancers, enabling a meeting with Archangel, who is revealed to be a familiar face: Garrus Vakarian.

The Eclipse and Blood Pack strikes and leadership are wiped out by Shepard and Archangel's combined strength. The Blue Suns goons fight last, with Tarak on his gunship severely wounding Garrus. Shepard destroys the gunship and the remaining mercs in retaliation, finally bringing an end to the entire ordeal.

Purgatory
The Blue Suns are also revealed to own and run the maximum security prison Purgatory. The prison is run by Warden Kuril who claims that Purgatory is for "the good of the galactic community", despite the harsh methods used to maintain order, including carrying out torture, beatings and even murder (blowing prisoners out of airlocks as examples). Prisoners are also sold to vengeful victims/relatives or to groups with large enough finances, such as Cerberus. The Blue Suns have a substantial presence within the prison and have utilized several YMIR Mechs to act as heavy-hitters in case a riot broke out.

The prison is known to hold the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy. The Blue Suns agree to keep them imprisoned only if their home planets agree to continually pay for their incarceration. Failure to pay is grounds for releasing the inmate at an unknown time and place on their homeworld; considering inmates like Jack inhabit the prison, most worlds presumably pay. Shepard will travel to Purgatory to recruit Jack, who has been purchased by Cerberus from the Blue Suns.

Early on, Warden Kuril betrays Shepard, attempting to imprison the Commander, who he states is more valuable as a prisoner than a customer, leading to a fight breaking out between Shepard's team and Kuril's Blue Suns, with Shepard eventually releasing the entire cell block in order to free Jack from cryo containment. This causes a full-scale riot throughout the ship, with the Blue Suns attempting to restore control, kill Shepard and re-capture Jack. They ultimately fail with Shepard killing Kuril and Jack joining the Commander’s crew.

Cerberus then retracts the funds they paid. A news report reveals that the Purgatory was destroyed, with the Blue Suns losing yet another piece of influence.

Korlus
The krogan warlord Okeer has hired the Blue Suns to provide funding and security for him as he works on his experiment to create the "perfect" krogan, offering the rejects from his experiment as payment. A Blue Suns officer named Jedore is assigned to assess the potential of the rejects as viable shock troops. Okeer and Jedore quickly begin to lose patience with each other when the rejects prove too unstable to be reliable soldiers; Jedore begins to think that Okeer's project is not worth the time and money the Suns have invested, while Okeer considers Jedore to be an incompetent leader and chafes under her direction.

The Blue Suns decide to use the unstable rejects for live ammo training, with Okeer giving them the impression that the next generation of tank-grown krogan would benefit from an improved mental imprint that would make them more reliable. Eventually, Shepard arrives on Korlus looking for Okeer, who was believed to have valuable intel on the Collectors. Okeer uses the distraction caused by Shepard's arrival to release several of the rejects, which proceed to attack both Shepard's squad and the Blue Suns.

Jedore quickly discovers this betrayal, and decides to kill Okeer and use his research to restart the project with a blank slate. By the time Shepard makes it to Okeer's lab, Jedore has holed up in a massive storage bay with the next generation of tank-bred krogan. Although she has several of these tanks "flushed" with poison gas, she releases some of them to fight Shepard. Although Jedore does not survive the battle with Shepard, she does succeed in killing Okeer, who sacrificed himself to save his prized creation.

Zorya
The Commander is required to travel to Zorya to gain Zaeed Massani's loyalty. The planet is tightly controlled by the Blue Suns, the de facto rulers of the planet with unmatched influence in politics and law. They have also appropriated a privately-owned refinery on the planet for their own purposes, forcing the workers into virtual slavery. Zaeed was originally supposed to liberate the refinery; however, he changed his plan when he learned his old partner and co-founder of the Blue Suns, Vido Santiago, was inside of it.

Shepard fights various Blue Suns squads throughout the jungle and refinery. There are high numbers of pyros and shotgun-wielding troopers throughout the refinery, making close quarters fighting particularly dangerous. When the refinery starts blowing up to pieces, Shepard has to make a choice on whether to save the refinery workers from burning to death or pursuing Vido Santiago. Depending on which choice is made, the Blue Suns leader can escape in a gunship or be killed by Zaeed.

Citadel
Harkin, under the alias "Fade", has been using his connections in C-Sec to start a racketeering ring with the help of the Blue Suns. The Blue Suns provide protection for Harkin in exchange for a cut in his operation. When Garrus and Commander Shepard track Harkin down during the search for the traitor Sidonis, the Blue Suns defend him long enough to barricade himself in a warehouse. The Blue Suns don't last long against Shepard, however, and Harkin is eventually cornered. C-Sec later arrests him and dismantles his operation.

Joab
Blue Suns services are engaged by ExoGeni researcher Dr. Farrin to transport artifacts. An agent from the prospective client is sent to the Suns to hammer out the deal, only to be coerced into revealing the nature and location of the job: a Prothean dig site on Joab.

Unbeknownst to the doctor, Vido Santiago has plans to doublecross the deal and hoard the discoveries instead, surreptitiously sending the order to on-site contact Lieutenant Locke. He also has orders for his men on Joab to rendezvous with the mercs on MSV Strontium Mule once the Joab job is secure.

MSV Strontium Mule
The Blue Suns perform pirate raids on the side, luring unsuspecting ships with fake distress signals. The MSV Strontium Mule is one such ship, as it contains cargo valuable enough to entice the Suns into boarding it. After hunting the ship down the mercenaries kill everyone aboard and forcibly decrypt the loot's security.

Shepard boards the ship, a faction of the mercenaries led by Sergeant Boortis attempt to betray their comrades under Captain Vorhess by refusing their calls for support. It doesn't work, as the Commander's team slaughters them all and takes possession of the cargo instead.

Sanctum
The source of the false distress transmissions is the Brunfeld Mining facility on Sanctum. Logs indicate it was abandoned because of safety issues, but the Suns have taken over the base for their own purposes. The MSV Strontium Mule fell into the trap set in this base, barely escaping and sustaining heavy damage.

Captain Narom is in charge of the mercenaries in the base, and is directly responsible for dispatching the Blue Suns to Joab.

Kopis
A contingent of Blue Suns are hired by Dr. Cayce and Dr. O'Loy to safeguard a Prothean dig site on Kopis. The mercenaries, along with the doctors, are found as corpses if Shepard goes to the moon.

Considering that the bodies are behind an impenetrable energy field and that the two scientists were showing signs of indoctrination according to their logs, it is unclear exactly how and why the mercs died.

Mass Effect 3
During the Reaper War, Commander Shepard can gain the allegiance of the Blue Suns with the help of Aria T'Loak for the war against the Reapers.

Darner Vosque, leader of the Blue Suns on the Citadel by 2186, had the organization raiding shipments of weapons intended for C-Sec personnel with Aria's blessing. A turian general named Septimus Oraka has been spending effort to counter these raids, annoying the Suns enough to warrant placing a hit on him.

Shepard negotiates with an incognito Vosque on the refugee sections of the Citadel, and whichever way Shepard deals with the situation, Vosque commits his veteran soldiers to the war effort.

Key Members
Solem Dal'serah - Head of Operations of the Blue Suns in 2185.

Vido Santiago - Co-Founder and leader of the Blue Suns in 2185.

Zaeed Massani - Co-Founder and former leader of the Blue Suns.

Darner Vosque - Leader of the Blue Suns in 2186.

Tarak - Commander of the Blue Suns on Omega.

Jentha - Officer of the Blue Suns on Omega. Answers to Tarak.

Jedore - Commander and contributor to Okeer's krogan cloning project on Korlus.

Warden Kuril - Commander of the Purgatory prison ship.

Sergeant Cathka - Engineer and maintenance man for Tarak's gunship.

Lieutenant Locke - Officer in charge of raid of Prothean dig site on Joab.

Sergeant Boortis - Hijacker of the MSV Strontium Mule.

Captain Vorhess - Hijacker of the MSV Strontium Mule.

Captain Narom - Commander of the Blue Suns base on Sanctum.

Troop Varieties
Blue Suns Centurion

Blue Suns Commander

Blue Suns Heavy

Blue Suns Legionnaire

Blue Suns Pyro

Blue Suns Trooper

Command Bodyguard

Senior Engineer

Trivia
The Blue Suns are likely named after 'Blue Sun', a corporation in the TV series Firefly.

They may also have been inspired by Black Sun, a criminal organisation in Star Wars.

The Blue Suns possess two troop types with Roman legion ranks - Legionaries, who were the heavy infantry, and the Centurions, who were professional officers. This could possibly be from turian influence, as turian culture is based on the Romans.

There are no krogan Blue Suns mercenaries to be seen in Mass Effect 2. Supplementary comics occasionally depict krogan members.