2194 CE

A shadowy figure descended down a flight of stairs as skycars flew overhead, their loud and distinct sounds permeating throughout the air. Continuing forwards through a narrow alley sandwiched between Illium's towering architecture, the figure made an abrupt stop before making a swift entry into a restaurant. The interior was quite well lit, revealing the pale complexion of the male human looking to be in his mid twenties, the warmth being a welcome change to the coldness of the outside. The black suit he was wearing draped over his tall and lanky figure, the light shining upon his messy dark brown hair and glassy blue eyes. An asari greeted after a few moments had passed after his entry.

"Welcome to Skillia. Do you have a reservation for this evening?"

"Hugo Collins, reservation for two," he said in a distinctively sharp British accent, enough for it to register on the asari's translator.

"Ah yes, Mr Collins. Please follow me this way," said the asari after briefly checking her datapad, all the while maintaining her sophisticated looking smile, moving through the crowded restaurant with practiced elegance as she guided Hugo towards his table.

The two person table they arrived at was near the window, giving him a wide angle view of Illium. He took his seat as the asari pulled back his chair before leaving him after he told her that he will wait to order until the other person had arrived.

And so started the waiting…

After waiting for a long hour, Hugo admitted to himself that he had been stood up, which he came to terms with quite easily, almost alarmingly so. He asked for the degustation course for one and looked out into the distance through the window as he patiently waited for his food. He observed the people, carrying on with their daily lives, oblivious to their surroundings, the world around them, the vast rich sources of information they ignored as they carried out their "duties" and "responsibilities", distracting themselves until the time of their death arrived. Although, he thought to himself, he really wasn't that much different from them. At the end of the day he was merely attempting to occupy himself with interesting "activities". Boredom was his greatest enemy. An incoming call he received on his omnitool dragged him back to reality from his melancholy.

"Helia," Hugo acknowledged the asari on the other side of the call. Her expression was a combination of that of extreme stress and tiredness.

"Collins, you were right. The files were found on Boraksis' omnitool, but you need to come here right now."

"Does it mean you've already made the arrest? That's good to hear, but why must I-"

"No we haven't, and it's very urgent," the asari emphasised.

"Urgent? How so and why?"

"Dammit Collins, just hurry your ass up and get over here will you?"

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible," Collins replied after a slight pause, putting on a somber expression and abruptly ended the call.

His food was arriving just as he got up, but he was no longer interested in the food at all, his mind now completely fixated upon the matter at hand. After paying for his wholly uneaten meal, he rushed out of the restaurant and caught a taxi to the headquarters of Vexa Securities, one of the companies he had been hired by and an old guard within the private security industry. A krogan company, they separated themselves from the main krogan military during the Second Krogan Rebellion, as they deemed it was not in their best interests to participate in the conflict. Hugo didn't blame them; the krogans weren't happy when they had found out that they'd been fooled by the fake cure, and under the leadership of Urdnot Wreav it'd been one hell of a bloody war.

Vexa Securities was business minded, rare for a group of krogans. However, a large part of the public still didn't trust the krogans at Vexa Securities and they were struggling to stay afloat during the times of a harsh economic climate and a dwindling client base. It didn't help that an information leak from within the company had resulted in the bombardment of a secret research facility of another private military company, Dorpus Forces, resulting in its destruction along with the other unrelated areas which closely surrounded it. Recognised as a terrorist attack, both Vexa Securities and Dorpus Forces hired Collins to figure out who was responsible for the leak.

As he had deduced, it was Lucim Boraksis, a turian, one of the new employees at Vexa Securities, hired in order to improve their PR about being inclusive to all races. Before they had hired Boraksis, along with a salarian and an asari, the company had been exclusively krogan, a move considered to be smart at the time, which then evolved into a PR catastrophe. If the crime had been committed on the Citadel, now under delayed repair thanks to the Second Krogan Rebellion, or Sur'Kesh, the salarians being known for their unforgiving legal system, Boraksis would have received a death sentence, but on Illium, the legal system was loose with many loopholes, making it attractive for many business people. It almost encouraged white collar crime.

Instead of a death sentence, it was very likely that Boraksis would receive a lifetime sentence. The skycar moved through the night, smoothly weaving through the traffic as it headed towards a relatively isolated tall metallic tower with a large Vexa Securities logo embedded within the centre of its front face. The skycar parked on a balcony extending out of the 23rd floor, Hugo paying the driver and stepping out almost immediately after landing, hurrying towards the entrance. A visually agitated asari was waiting for him at the door.

"Is Boraksis dead?" he asked quickly as they entered the building together at a brisk pace.

"How do you know this stuff?" Helia replied, looking surprised, "Wait, never mind. It doesn't matter."

"Have people tampered with the scene?"

"No, I made sure of it. The chief of security, Janila, keeps insisting that it was a suicide, although I doubt it is. Can't blame her though; a murder within their HQ would be some really bad news for Vexa and they really can't afford any more negative PR in their current position. They'd lose a significant portion of their customer base."

Helia was a hardened veteran inspector of the Illium Police Force; her on-duty demeanour reflected it and her subordinates respected it. The two of them received anxious looks from the employees as they walked through the office, full of busy employees attending to their terminals. Among them was the salarian employee, undistracted and deep in his work, his eyes glued to his terminal display, not making eye contact with Hugo. His badge read 'Fonis Ols, Technology Advisor'. The asari employee was also in the room, looking relaxed, a heavy duty thermojacket and helmet laid out on her desk. She gave Hugo a nod of acknowledgement and a courteous smile, before returning to her work, typing quickly with her fingers, which he noticed was slightly pink. Her badge read 'Lenara Drios, Accounting'. Eventually the pair arrived at a secluded female bathroom. By the door, a krogan, who Hugo assumed to be Janila, was arguing with Evatora, an asari who was one of Helia's most trusted corporals. Hugo ignored them as he and Helia entered the bathroom.

"I'm telling you it's just a suicide!" Janila shouted at Hugo as he walked passed, but the only reply she received was Helia's raised hand.

"Give us a few moments," Helia snapped at Janila with a voice of authority, despite the overwhelming size difference between the asari and the krogan.

Inside the bathroom was a female turian, Lucim Boraksis, lying dead, her still body slumped against a wall in a sitting position. There was a stab wound in the middle of her abdomen, blood pouring out. It was small, but just enough to be lethal, around which smaller cuts could be seen. A small pool of blood had formed around Boraksis' body, along with an even smaller, almost unnoticeable pool of a clear liquid. The door still open, Janila and Evatora were peering in from just outside. Hugo took out his analyser and activated it, its size and shape comparable to that of a pen with a matte black finish. A small rod extruded from one end, which Hugo dipped into the clear liquid while looking at his omnitool to read the transmitted data. He took a step back and looked up at the corpse again, a few tense moments passing as he analysed the situation with a calculating gaze. Helia could almost feel his intense concentration through the otherwise stoic room. Suddenly he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Inspector," Hugo stated in a matter of fact tone, "I do believe we have a homicide case."

"What? Don't be ridiculous! She committed suicide! Boraksis obviously figured out that she was about to be arrested and ended her own life before you lot could get to her!"

"Have there been any non-employees within this building today other than us three?" Hugo asked while motioning towards himself and the two other asari police officers.

"No," Janila replied quickly.

"Has anyone entered this building other than me and has anyone at all left this building in the past hour or so? Lock down the building and check the feeds," he commanded.

Obviously offended by Hugo's total disregard for her input, Janila's expression was that of extreme agitation, which only lasted for a brief moment before she started to go through the sped up security feeds, ordering her subordinates to do the same while she had the building locked down over comms. With only a handful of entry or exit points, the process was over within a few minutes of patient waiting and it was found that no one had entered or exited the building other than Hugo in the past hour.

"Good," Hugo said, "Now, get me the-," but he was interrupted by Janila before he could continue.

"Good? How is that good?"

"Oh please, surely you can't be that dull, can you? It makes it easier for us to catch the killer. The killer is obviously one of the employees, still inside this building," Hugo replied mockingly.

"And how is that good? How is it good that another of our employees is a potential criminal?!"

After a moment of silence during which Hugo stared at Janila with a blank expression, he continued where he had left off, his voice steady, "Get me the asari employee and her belongings. I'd like to talk to her, away from her colleagues. You three may join us, of course."

Janila gave Hugo a look of overt shock at his lack of empathy, briefly frozen in place. The lock on her body released when Hugo said, "Please," with a smile of blindingly fake courtesy. Janila looked down and started walking toward the asari's booth, shaking her head slowly and widely.

"You think the asari did it?" asked Helia out of genuine curiosity.

"Yes, of course. Don't you?" replied a confused Hugo.

"Collins, haven't we discussed this before? People, normal people, aren't as bright as you are. You have to explain your thoughts; you have to learn how to communicate," Helia said slowly, as if explaining to a toddler.

"Oh, right," and after a slight pause Hugo continued at a very fast pace, "Well, there is only one stab wound, clean and precise; just enough to kill the victim. The killer practised good self-control, something not seen very often in krogans, so that rules out most of the other employees. The killer made sure they were up close for the murder, using a stabbing weapon instead of a remote controlled explosive or a poison, implying that the motivation was personal. Boraksis, being a paranoid and anxious individual, only spent time at the work place or at home, which had been modified into something of a secluded hideout as she was so afraid of being targeted by various organisations that were against her information leaks. The killer would have to ask their colleagues, which would raise suspicion, or hack into the company database in order to find out Boaksis' address. However, the killer was not accustomed to digital information systems, so the only option was to murder Boraksis in the office. This rules out the salarian being the killer as, being the technology advisor, he would have been able to hack the company systems. I found a small pool of clear liquid near the body, which my analyser showed to be a high concentration Bizalite solution. Bizalite, named after the salarian Bizala who first synthesised it, greatly increases the durability of the ice made from the water it is dissolved in, while leaving the amount of energy required for the ice to melt back into a liquid state unchanged. It's often used in bars; ice that is resistant to kinetic impact but melts normally is useful when making cocktails. The killer tried to be clever and used a stabbing weapon made of ice, so that they couldn't be caught with the weapon if the building were to be locked down and all of the employees were checked for the belongings. They could just wait for the ice to melt before draining it at a sink. Also, the liquid is still well below room temperature, suggesting that it was frozen until no more than an hour ago. However, turian skin is course and very difficult to stab through, the small cuts surrounding the lethal wound indicating that the killer struggled to land a killing blow, scraping the victim's skin a few times before managing to kill her. The extra blows the killer was forced to deliver caused the weapon to shatter into multiple pieces, too small and spread too wide to clean completely in a timely and covert manner without the use of biotics. While the killer managed to clean most of the shattered ice, a small shard had been left behind unnoticed. A most critical error."

"Because the only non-krogan biotic in this building is the asari," Helia muttered thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Hugo confirmed approvingly.

"But why not just use an omniblade or something?" the inspector questioned, sounding a little unconvinced.

"Helia, she's an accountant. Do you really think she has the means or the skills for something like that?"

"I guess not. Well then, now that that's been taken care of…" Helia mumbled while she was attempting to process all of the information she had just been inundated with. Hugo's thinking was fast, too fast for almost anyone other than himself, even the most capable salarians and his speech while explaining internal thoughts acted as a demonstration of his superhuman intelligence.

By the time Hugo had finished his explanation, Janila had collected the asari employee and led her, Hugo and the two police officers down a wide hall, no doubt constructed with krogan comfort in mind, until she stopped abruptly and opened a door to her left and stepped inside. As Hugo followed, he was met with a bare room with nothing but bright lighting and a small desk with two chairs.

"We usually use this as-" but this time it was Hugo who interrupted Janila.

"An interview room. Just what I wanted. Take a seat," he asked the asari employee as he gestured towards one of the empty chairs, taking his place in the one opposite. "So, Lenara Drios," the human started as the asari took her seat, suddenly pausing for a moment of consideration before continuing, "Actually, never mind. Interrogation is unnecessary. It's unfortunate that your skin condition gave you away. Check her bag, Janila. There should be a portable freezer inside."

Janila did as asked and found a small freezer in the shape of a rectangular prism with a metallic silver outer casing within Drios' bag. Despite her dislike towards Hugo, she could not help but be astonished at his abilities. The asari was frozen in her seat, figuratively. Hugo showed a subtle smirk as he placed his elbows on the table, leaning forward and resting his head in his open palms.

"You have Divius disease, your heavy jacket and helmet gave it away. It's a little cold tonight, but not that cold, but with a condition that causes your skin to change colour when exposed to anything below around 276 kelvin it makes sense. The inside of your right hand is a clear salmon colour. You killed Boraksis because you figured that she would be arrested soon and would be given a life sentence, but you wanted an execution. Her information leak led to your daughter's death after all."

Helia interrupted Hugo, noticing an inconsistency between the data she had about Drios and what the human was claiming, "You sure about that Collins? Doesn't say anything about children on Drios' records."

"Of course, she was an Ardat-Yakshi, something Drios obviously wanted to keep hidden, so she kept her daughter in a monastery to live in isolation and kept her existence hidden. If her daughter's been forgotten by Illium, she must have gone off the radar at least several hundred years ago. Coincidentally, there was a small and mostly off the books monastery near Dorpus Forces' secret research facility that was destroyed, which was a little lax about visitor regulations than the other institutions. The monastery was caught within the blast radius caused by the information leak and everyone within was killed. However, when the monastery still existed, all you needed to do to visit a relative inside was wear three rings on your left index finger, both a symbol of control but also a practical implementation of wearable biotic amplifier technology, as a last resort if an Ardat-Yakshi were to become out of control. However, the interaction of the three rings and the wearer's biotics leaves the skin slightly darker where the rings have touched it."

"Oh come on you've got to be –," but before Janila could finish her exclamation of disbelief, upon her own observation she realised that Drios did indeed have three ring shaped patches of darker skin on her left index finger, although they were extremely light and subtle.

"Sometimes I wonder if you krogans really do have sharper senses than us humans," Hugo chimed in with glee, while Janila was lost in her own astonishment for a few moments.

Meanwhile, Lenara remained staring at Hugo, frozen from shock at his inhuman abilities. His eyes were glassy and analytical, seemingly able to see through anything and everything.

Leaning in towards Lenara, the human spoke with a soft voice, almost at a whisper, "Why not just wear a pair of gloves? You must have been wearing some before you entered the building with a condition like yours. I very much doubt that you simply forgot such an important component of an otherwise passable plan. There's something I'm missing, isn't there?"

At that moment, Lenara's omnitool lit up, opening up the communications module, a distorted voice emanating through the small room, "Very well done Collins. That's right, you are missing something, and that something is me. Now, everyone except for Hugo Collins, leave the room and do not enter or attempt to record the following conversation. The building has been rigged with explosives." The voice was flat and multi-layered, but not like that of a turian, obviously synthesised to preserve anonymity and did not waver as it announced the significant threat almost casually. The occupants of the room froze, Helia looking to Hugo, who gave her a calm nod. The inspector signaled the others to leave, forcing Janila to comply with a fierce stare when she was about to open her mouth to retort. When it was only Hugo and Lenara remaining in the room, the omnitool rendered the asari unconscious with an overload. The human merely flinched slightly from surprise as it occurred, quickly regaining his composure.

The voice continued, "It was simple, I threatened to kill Drios' partner whom she had had her daughter with and who currently lives off world, and she obeyed my every command. I ordered her to keep the gloves off."

"Why?" Hugo asked sharply, now intensely curious about the voice's intentions and identity.

"To evaluate your capabilities, Collins. Conveniently, you were already involved with the situation between Vexa Securities and Dorpus Forces. All that needed to be done was to create a puzzle for you to solve, to test your abilities. Needless to say, you have passed."

"Now what? I leapt through all of the hoops you'd set out for me."

"I can't give you all of the details Collins, not until we meet personally. Which brings me to your invitation to –,"

"Sur'Kesh, STG headquarters. After the Reapers I thought the galaxy would be safe from nasty mystery surprises for a while." Hugo cut in nonchalantly, followed by a moment of silence, indicating that the voice had been caught by surprise and confusion as to how that had been deduced, prompting him to continue, "If this was a threat assessment by an enemy capable of subtle manipulation of this level, they would have actually rigged the building with explosives so that I may be terminated when I passed the test. However, you are giving me an invitation, implying that you are seeking to utilise my abilities and that you are probably a part of the military, some sort of black ops cell perhaps. I assume the STG from the displayed manipulation and data collection capabilities and also your speech pattern suggests salarian. Pitch and tone modification does not mask pace and tempo. Now, STG is infamous for taking the 'ends justifies the means' approach to operations, but what with the genophage and the reaper conflict and so on, there must be some internal problems arising stemming from ethical dilemmas. Also during these sensitive and fragile times, not even the STG would risk too much politically, only just enough, suggesting that the creators of this plan justified that according to the laws of the location at which they are based at, Boraksis would have been given the death sentence, and decided to consider the plan as a sort of execution for the criminal. The only legal systems that would have given Boraksis the death sentence are that of the Citadel, currently uninhabitable, and Sur'Kesh. Furthermore, the STG philosophy is to strike and neutralise a threat before a battle begins. This combined with the fact that you require my abilities and the level of attempted secrecy implies that you, or we, are dealing with an unpredictable and mostly unknown threat that could cause a panic or add to the chaos if found out by the public."

After taking a breath, Hugo finished, "Thanks for the second puzzle, I was starting to get bored."

After a few brief moments and the distorted voice was the first to speak again. "We hope to see you shortly Collins," and the call ended as abruptly as it had started.