Isannah Percy Maxim clenched her fists, unwilling to let her blueprints, paperwork, years of development, and most of all, the four precious prototype pistols sitting before her get thrown into the trash.

“I’ve done what was asked. This is a gun with less recoil than the Carnifex and Paladin. It works with both short range and long range.” Pausing to take a breath, she continued, “It even has a built-in sound moderator.”

Before her was a panel of engineers, special military operatives, and the Board of Directors funding the Alliance's Offensive Handgun Project. Maxim, the head scientist and developer of the M-11 Suppressor, was at the final stage of its approval process and one step away from on-ground testing. All she had to do was convince them to sign off on one last endeavour with her.

“Semi-automatic. Optimised for headshot damage. Incredibly light with a damage output that you’d never expect. You’ve seen the results from the tests I’ve carried out with my team.”

“The problem, Ms Maxim,” a man in a stuffy looking suit interrupted, “is that your gun is basically a water pistol. The numbers are great, but what’s the point of a gun that can’t do anything if you’re a bad shot? And what if they run out of thermals?”

“With all due respect, most of our soldiers are capable of capping someone at a hundred yards. As for the ammo, they can bring extra thermals or change tactics.”

The panel was not warming up to her proposal. But she had one last pitch left to give. Pressing a few buttons on her omni-tool, she pulled up holograms of four well-armed and soldiers with very different backgrounds - a Turian, an Asari, a Drell and a human.

“Before you are dossiers of accomplished soldiers across the galaxy. In the same way we wouldn’t give a Krogan Battlemaster an M4-Shuriken, or an N7 Typhoon to an STG agent, I have personally interviewed, assessed, and hand-picked four operatives that I want to test out the Suppressor on the field – to show you how effective the pistol can be.”

Maxim gestured towards the Turian and Asari. “I have two power experts. One can wear down the target with his powers, and finish them off with a few well-placed shots. The other is a biotic expert and has spent the past few months training her stasis to freeze enemies where they stand.” Her attention turned to the Drell and human. “The Drell here is an expert marksman who has personally taken interest in my silenced pistol because he thinks it suits his hit-and-run combat style. As for the human … well… let’s say we’re looking at one of the fastest trigger fingers the galaxy has ever seen. Every single one of them has consented to testing out the Suppressor.”

There was a lull in the room, although not an unpleasant one. On the contrary, it seemed as so though panelists’ original suspicions were replaced with curiosity and … optimism?

It was now or never. “A perfect opportunity is coming up: there are medical officers stuck in an abandoned facility who survived the initial Reaper invasion in Vancouver. But there are reports of Cerberus activity nearby, likely looking to radicalise any survivors they can find. The team’s mission will be to drop in and quickly escort these civilians to the Citadel. Needless to say, I am very confident that they will get the job done.”
A few hours of Q&A later, the panel excused themselves to deliberate.