Noveria's reception to the Normandy's arrival was as chilly as its landscape. Apparently filing a flight plan was not enough to secure a berth at Port Hanshan, even though they grudgingly allowed the Normandy to dock with the mention of a Council Spectre on board.
"You know, last time I checked, a flight plan meant you took off from planet A, and landed on planet B." Joker said. "Did the definition change all of a sudden?"
"No, that's what I thought too." Akeelah Shepard replied, frowning. "I get the impression that they don't like us."
"Yeah, you think?" Joker snorted. "Try not to stay too long, Commander. They might start levying fees if they think we're overstaying our welcome." He warned.
"I just bet." The Commander agreed.
Liara volunteered to be a part of the ground team in an unsurprising move, and whilst they were suiting up, the asari took Shepard aside.
"I imagine you wish to talk to me, Shepard," she said. "About my mother."
"No, I don't." Shepard said, and the asari looked taken aback, her blue eyes widening. "I trust you, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew. And I trust my crew." A smile pulled at her lips.
"Oh." A smile also appeared on Liara's face, her eyes glittering with admiration. "Thank you, Shepard. This means a great deal to me."
The Noveria welcome wagon, consisting of the leader of the security forces (Maeko Matsuo) and her men, was just as cool as their traffic control, although it rapidly heated up when Shepard expressed reluctance to hand their arms over; if Benezia was here, they would certainly need them. A particularly hot-headed guard by the name of Kaira Stirling seemed to take this as an excuse to try and start a fight, and it was only an order from a higher up for security to stand down and the information that Spectres could retain arms that stopped it escalating.
Their saviour, Gianna Parasini, was very helpful, confirming that Benezia had indeed come to Noveria, and that she'd gone to a research facility in the Skadi Mountains known as Peak 15. However, they could not leave the port without a garage pass to hire a Mako to venture out into the snowy wilds, something only an administrator could grant. Gianna said she would do her best to grant them a meeting with the Port's administrator as soon as possible, and to try and keep out of trouble until then.
As they stepped out of the security and into the main commercial area, Kaidan shivered, rubbing his gauntleted hands together.
"Mom was right." He commented. "I should have brought a sweater."
A chuckle escaped Shepard before she could stop it.
"Feeling cold, Lieutenant?" She asked, smiling widely. He ducked his head bashfully.
"Sorry ma'am, didn't mean to say that out loud," he said. "Biotics run hot, so we feel the cold a little more." At Liara's confused glance, he added. "Human biotics do, anyway."
"Huh, interesting." Shepard mused. Well, he certainly is hot, a part of her mind chipped in, unbidden. "You'll be okay out here?"
"Of course." He nodded. "No need to worry, ma'am."
The Commander nodded too, satisfied and quietly thoughtful. The lieutenant obviously had a strong connection to his family, something that the more Shepard thought about, the more longing she felt. I must call Amani…It's been a long time.
Those thoughts soon cleared when Shepard came face to face with the salarian administrator, whose first breath said he had 'no time to entertain refugees from the urban blight called Earth'. She wouldn't disagree that she had come from an urban blight, but the insult in his words ruffled her feathers, making the Commander prickle and drop her politeness for a snide rudeness that mirrored Anoleis's disdain. Because of this, he gave her few clues about Benezia, other than she came with a contingent of asari commandos and cargo crates which Shepard assumed probably carried geth or some mechanical construct weapon. It was only Kaidan's quiet comment that that someone else would play ball if the administrator would not that made Shepard decide to leave, her mood soured like leftover milk.
Gianna aided them again, pointing them in the direction of a turian called Lorik Qui'in, saying he might give them a chance of getting a garage pass.
"I get the feeling she isn't all she has claimed to be." Liara commented as they left the administration building.
"I have that feeling too." Shepard agreed. "Something's amiss here, before all the normal corporate nonsense."
"At least she's given us another lead." Kaidan said. "Good that we're at least getting help from someone."
"Yeah, that's true." Shepard nodded.
As they made their way to the employee lounge, where Qui'in was spending most of his time now, certain people approached Akeelah for requests for favours. One was a hanar shopkeeper who was desperate to smuggle some items through customs to pay off his short tempered krogan bounty hunter client. The other was an asari looking to do some corporate espionage in regards to gene mods. Both of their requests Shepard had accepted, as long as there were credits in the end.
"Ma'am?" Kaidan asked, as they walked away from the asari. "Hope you don't mind me asking why you're doing this?"
"Normally I wouldn't." She explained. "I've neither the knowledge or the will to get involved in this crap. But the main thing that's changed is that I can't give a shit about these corporations. They don't give a shit about us."
"Understandable." He nodded. "Guess the credits don't hurt either."
"No, they certainly don't." Shepard smirked.
"Goddess." Liara sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing, Commander."
If Shepard thought her by-the-books lieutenant was going to turn a blind eye to her misdeeds and pretend it was happening, she was surprised. Kaidan gave her some basic information about the genetic enhancements they'd received, such as how they were distributed, how long it would take to take effect, and enough other things to give her an equal footing, which proceeded to get the job done.
After those distractions, they found Lorik Qui'in and sat down to talk, who proceeded to fill in some more information, such as the fact Anoleis was not only paying some of the security services under the table to do his dirty work, but also to try and take evidence that he was manipulating business rents for his own pockets from Qui'in's offices. Namely by ransacking the place under the guise of an 'investigation'. A reason why the administrator was so abrasive to Shepard was that he was scared shitless that she would find out that he was being so corrupt that even the corporations were chafing under him. If Shepard could get into the locked down offices and retrieve the data, Qui'in was happy to give them a garage pass.
Akeelah agreed, resolving to find a way to try and avoid killing the security guards, but she also decided to question Qui'in to see if he knew anything about Benezia. Only slightly more than Anoleis, it turned out; she'd come as Saren's executor to do business on Peak 15, as something shifty was going on there, a little more than usual.
"Lady Benezia was dressed for her role." The turian said. "An asari in a pinstriped suit set tongues wagging among the younger male employees. So to speak."
"It does sound something you'd find on an extranet fetish site." Kaidan suddenly commented.
Akeelah looked over her shoulder to stare at him, unable to believe those words had actually left the quiet, soft-spoken sentinel's mouth. He blinked at her. "What?"
Liara sighed.
"Young males have an unhealthy obsession with my species," she said, giving the lieutenant a faintly disapproving look.
The conversation didn't take much longer, and they made their way to the Synthetic Insights office, Lorik's personal keycard in hand.
On the way, Shepard took the opportunity to sidle up to the sentinel, murmuring softly:
"So, extranet fetish sites, hmm?" She managed to keep a teasing smile off her face, but even so, Kaidan bowed his head and said nothing, his blush conveying everything needed. Shepard smiled then; a soft, knowing one. "We were all teenagers once, eh?"
"You could say that, ma'am." He replied, and she figured she shouldn't push any further, sensing his keen embarrassment.
True to Qui'in's word, there were grunts shaking the offices down, and Akeelah gave an internal groan. She had a feeling this was going to devolve into a firefight at some point, and she'd hoped she could have avoided getting on Matsuo's bad side; the security chief was only doing her job, and was unaware of these peoples' multiple employments.
They were challenged by a group of security guards immediately as they entered, but thankfully Shepard managed to convince them to leave unharmed.
"Well, that's a good start." She commented.
"I agree, but I doubt they're the only ones here." Liara said.
"Right. There's probably more up on the second floor." Kaidan said, looking to Shepard. "Orders?"
"Let's try to sneak by them if we can." Shepard said. "I doubt they'll be wanting to talk if they stumble upon us."
"Maybe we can surprise them. If we knock them out, we can move freely, but without their deaths." Liara suggested, but Kaidan shook his head.
"Easy said than done. Besides, hitting them over the head could just kill them anyway," he said.
"And I'm in heavy armour." Shepard pointed out. "I couldn't be less subtle if I tried. But it's worth a go, I suppose."
They did manage to get the jump on one particularly unaware guard; Shepard pounced on him, a hand over his mouth and an arm around his neck, quickly subduing him and dragging him into the shadows. Liara hid his weapons in one of the decorative plant pots, and they split up to try and clear the room of the remaining guards.
Their plan swiftly unravelled as someone heard Shepard's armour clip a wall and went to investigate, and Liara's emergency 'throw a chair at his head' promptly alerted everyone in the room and resulted in a firefight and swearing.
It was mercifully quick, due to the guards' surprise and the two biotics on the team, and they were able to explore the offices unmolested for a while.
"That went well." Shepard grumbled. "Guess we're not cut out for the sneaking thing."
"Nobody heard the chair coming." Liara commented, and Akeelah had to note the once shy and quiet asari seemed rather…unshaken by the fact she'd hurled an object at someone with considerable force.
"They certainly saw it!" The soldier replied, getting into Lorik's office with a quick swipe of his card. "Looks like they didn't manage to get here."
"Hacking a keycard reader probably would destroy their plausible deniability." Kaidan commented. "Guess Anoleis wanted to keep his cover as long as possible."
"Maybe trying to find a reason to break in." Akeelah muttered, downloading the data. "Be prepared for anything. I bet people heard our shots."
"Aye aye, Commander." Kaidan said.
Their shots had indeed been heard; by Kaira Stirling and her gang of bribed guards.
"You're not supposed to be in here, Shepard." She sneered, spitting the Commander's name.
"I'm not." Shepard replied coolly. "But neither are you. Didn't Matsuo say working on the side was strictly forbidden? She's not going to be pleased to find out."
A flash of anger sparked in Kaira's eyes, whilst her henchmen shifted nervously.
"Easy for you to say. Do you know what we did to cop killers on my world?"
"I don't want to fight you, like I didn't want to fight your friends earlier. But we will, if you force us to." Shepard warned.
"Too bad." Kaira said. "Because I'm going to tear you apart."
At that, she flared, catching Shepard by surprise. However, Kaidan was not, his biotics clashing with Kaira's and allowing Shepard to scramble for cover as the bullets began to fly.
"Well, this is a fine mess." She cursed quietly, flinching as a table was thrown at her hiding place with a loud crash.
"Scared, 'Spectre'?" Kaira taunted.
"Yeah, sorry, you have that effect on people." Shepard replied. "I can't imagine why, with that lovely attitude of yours."
The soldier peeked around the corner of her cover to see how close the irate biotic was to her, only to discover that she was actually on top of the Commander. In her brief moment of startled surprise, Kaira seized Shepard by her neck and slammed her hard against the wall, spots swimming in the soldier's eyes and the biotics crackling like fire against her skin. Shepard tried to lash out in a bid to free herself, but the biotic used her powers to pin her body to the wall, her grip on Shepard's neck tightening into a stranglehold.
"Not so smart now, are you?" Kaira sneered, only just heard over the ringing that got louder and louder in Akeelah's ears, the colour beginning to go just that little bit grey at the edges of her vision and her head feeling like it was going to burst at any minute. "Time to die, 'Spectre'."
Suddenly, the biotics changed, as if they were clashing with someone else's, and Kaira looked over her shoulder. Muffled sounds of gunfire erupted, and she jerked, her biotics fizzling out and her grip releasing on Shepard's neck, the two women collapsing to the floor. Akeelah gulped in air like a fish out of water, her head reeling like her brain had turned to mush and was trying to trickle out of her skull.
"Shepard! Shepard!" Liara's voice was panicked and urgent. "Are you alright?"
"Let me take a look at her." Came the calmer voice of Kaidan Alenko, and she felt him gently turn her onto her back.
"By the Goddess!" The asari exclaimed, and Shepard assumed she didn't look like sunshine and rainbows. She certainly didn't feel it.
"Commander, can you hear me? Give me a nod if you do." Kaidan spoke, his omnitool lighting up around his arm. She managed a weak nod, her head feeling like it spun from the slightest movement, and her neck burning with pain. "Hold still. Take it easy. Slow, deep breaths. Let yourself rest a moment," he said, waving it over her.
Doing as she was told, Akeelah gazed up at the white ceiling, watching it slowly stop spinning and the flashing dots fade from her eyes.
"What happened?" She managed, noting her voice was hoarse and speaking was like gargling rocks.
"Try not to talk, Commander." Kaidan said. "I saw her corner you. Good thing too." He didn't elaborate, but Shepard knew what he was saying. She'd never been strangled before, but she had a good feeling she had been on the cusp of passing out. A few seconds later, and she would have been dead.
She smiled up at the sentinel as a thank you. She felt a bit better now, though her head still hurt and her throat felt like shit, but she figured Kaidan would take a dim view of getting up before he told her to.
"We need to get her to a medical centre." Liara said. "Shepard can't continue with bruises like that. She can hardly talk."
"Aside from the bruising, the Commander hasn't any further injuries." Kaidan replied, tapping on his omnitool. "There'll be nothing further a medcentre can do aside from painkillers. Besides, as you heard from Vargas, we have genetic enhancements that speed up our healing. Her voice will return soon, and she'll be right as rain in a couple of hours."
"Hours? But Shepard can't stay mute that long."
"I can talk." Akeelah argued, her voice still hoarse but less painful than before.
"No shouting for the moment, but I'm sure the Commander can converse." Kaidan looked down at her. "Want to try getting up?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Slowly, I assume?"
"Unless you want to be back on the floor with your legs in the air, then yeah." Kaidan said, tapping on his omnitool.
"That's a bit forward, Alenko. At least take me out for dinner first." Shepard grinned widely as she sat up, the biotic's face going bright red.
"Actually, I think Lieutenant Alenko was referring to the steps we would have to take if you fainted or became light-headed." Liara said.
"I know, I was just teasing." Shepard replied, giving herself a few seconds before she decided to stand up, rubbing at her neck. No swelling, but it was tender, and Shepard noted to take care with it for a while.
She looked back to Kaira's body, blood oozing out around her and her eyes wide with shock. A cluster of bullet holes around her heart showing her cause of death, having punched through her armour like butter. Clearly her shields were down when she was shot, and her armour had been weakened too. And whoever had shot her had kept their cool, hitting with unerring accuracy. Akeelah quietly thanked her squadmates for her rescue.
"How are you feeling, Commander?" Kaidan's voice eased her from her thoughts.
"I'm okay. No dizziness or anything." She replied. "Throat's sore though."
"To be expected." The sentinel mused, his blush fading as he looked at the Commander's vital statistics. "No signs of postural drop. You're good to go."
"Good. Now let's go before someone stumbles upon us." Shepard said.
They thankfully didn't find any more bribed guards, but they did meet Gianna outside.
"Shepard, there have been reports of a commotion coming from the Synthetic Insights Offices." Her eyes dropped to the Commander's neck briefly. "Do you know anything about it?"
"It's probably Anoleis' thugs tearing the whole place apart." The Spectre said, swallowing self-consciously.
"Smart one, huh? I can work with that." Gianna's secretary voice dropped, and she told the Commander to meet with her in the hotel bar for a proper talk before she talked to Qui'in.
Turned out that Gianna was an Internal Affairs investigator looking to charge Anoleis for his dirty deeds, and she would give Shepard a pass to the garage if she helped convince Qui'in to testify against the administrator with his evidence. The Commander made a sighing complaint of 'why can't anything be simple' and 'fuck this planet', which Gianna sympathized with, before the Spectre went to convince Qui'in.
He was understandably reluctant, but eventually Shepard got him to agree, and when she told Gianna the good news, the soldier got a garage pass and a front row seat to the investigator dragging Anoleis out by his wrists. Much to Shepard's amusement, the salarian implored for Shepard to aid him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Akeelah smiled sweetly. "I thought you didn't have time to entertain those from 'that urban blight called Earth'. Enjoy custody!" She found deep pleasure in the shock on his face moments before he was hauled out the door.
"You enjoyed that." Kaidan commented, a smile playing on his lips.
"More than I'd like to admit." Shepard admitted, looking over to him. "What, don't tell me you didn't?"
Kaidan only smiled enigmatically.
"Anyway," Akeelah said, "we've wasted enough time here. Let's get moving."