Chapter 7: Broken Dreams
Jackson's House – Two Hours until Espionage Mission:
Lia extricated herself from Jack, who slept soundly on the bed. She ran a finger down one of the long, ugly scars that ran down his back.
Damn gloves. She shook her head slowly.
Jackson snored, a grating sound that caught her attention.
Are humans always this noisy when they sleep?
She patted his side, feeling the pattern of scars, rough even through her glove. He'd told her about the grenade, thrown by a cannibal; he'd gotten away, but not without a marker of the incident. She traced the scarring with her fingertips, wondering how painful it had been, how long it had taken to heal.
Keelah! You have been through a lot.
She got out of the bed and picked up the sheets and blanket off of the floor to take with her. She'd drop them off at a laundry place after the mission.
Jack should get some laundry machines put in here. I'll bring it up to him later.
She padded across the soft carpet of the main room and left out the front door. Nos Astra's skyline was filled with the beautiful purple and red hues of dusk.
Illium's dusk skyline never gets old. Only good thing that greeted me when I first arrived on this planet.
She put the bedding in the back of her skycar and waited for Cyana and Tullius to show up. She watched the last vestiges of light fade over the restful waters of the T'Lasia sea.
The high-pitched whining of skycars' drive cores became obnoxiously loud
"Oh great. They're racing … again," she said.
Headlights appeared over the ridge to her right and sped toward her fast.
"Oh shit!"
She tried to dodge out of the way. The two speeding vehicles sped past her only a few meters away at a couple hundred klicks per hour. The turbulence from the two skycars kicked up sand and sent her sprawling.
"Ow!" she cried, landing on her ass. "Bosh'tets!"
She threw some white beach sand in the direction of the retreating tail lights and pulled
herself back up.
"Damn, stupid bosh'tets," she mumbled. She brushed herself off and rubbed her sore rear-end as she walked back to her car.
The skycars returned and landed next to hers on the beach. Cyana was the first to get out of her Blackout.
"Hey, Tullius!" Cyana yelled.
Lia heard Cyana cackle and watched Tullius stumble out of his maroon Cision Stalwart.
"You're getting slow, old man." Cyana gave Tullius a playful shove.
"It'd be a different story if I had your Blackout or Lia's Fury," Tullius retorted defensively.
"Ha! Maybe if you had this beautiful, black Fury you might stand a chance at beating me." Cyana ran a finger over the smooth, black surface of the dagger blade shaped car.
"I still can't believe you got your hands on one of these, Lia."
Lia climbed into her car and started it up.
"You two are insane." She glared at them. "You guys almost ran over me."
Cyana stopped laughing.
"Sorry, Lia," Tullius said.
Lia sighed. "No. I'm sorry. Jackson had a bad night and I think I'm feeling a bit solemn after talking to him."
Both Tullius and Cyana looked around confused. Tullius's good mandible twitched while he cocked one of his brow plates.
"Jack's not coming, Tullius," Lia said before he could ask. "He's sleeping it off."
The turian leaned on her car with his hands and glared at her.
"And now you're doing his mission for him?" he growled. He glared daggers at her while Cyana rubbed the sides of her head like she tried fending off a headache.
"Get your damn, taloned hands off my car, Tullius. If you scratch the paint, I will end you," she threatened him while caressing the hilt of the dagger strapped to her thigh.
He stuck his hands in the air like she pointed a gun at him and backed away.
Oh yeah. You still got it, Lia.
She laughed along with Cyana, who was getting into her own car.
"Relax, Tullius. I was kidding." She tilted her head to show she was smiling at him. "At least about the 'ending you' part. I'll tell you what's going on over the comms. We need to go."
"Fine," Tullius said. "This better be good, cause I don't like doing other people's work for them."
She lowered the oval, tinted canopy of her skycar and took off.
Tesale Prime Security Headquarters - Thirty Minutes To Shut Down
She landed her skycar an alleyway a couple of blocks away from the TPS building. She dug through the duffel bag in her passenger seat to grab the equipment she would need.
Laser cutter, M-12 with pistol stunner, and concussive grenades. Good to go.
She took six of the small spherical grenades and attached them to magnets on her belt for easy access. She popped the canopy open and hopped out.
"Your bleeding heart's going to get you into trouble one of these days, Lia," Cyana said as she sauntered up to Lia.
It already did a long time ago.
"Maybe, but I haven't regretted following it so far."
She patted the shorter asari on the head and Cyana leaned her head against Lia's arm.
"That's cute. Sisters in crime," Tullius's deep, dual-toned voice said from nearby. His un-paralyzed mandible stretched upwards as he grinned at them. "Cyana's right, though. You're taking a risk with Jackson. PTSD is no joke." Tullius looked at the target building, his mandibles fluttering while he thought. "That's a convo for another time. What do you need Cyana and me to do?"
Lia put the M-12 on her right thigh and the laser torch in her right breast pouch.
"Tullius, you'll be hacking their comms and security feeds. I want ears on what they're saying, and eyes on what they're seeing. That way you can steer me clear of any patrols and cameras. Cyana, you'll be my back-up if things go bad."
The asari looked at her injured arm and cocked a brow in Lia's direction.
"You can use biotics with one arm. Besides, if … and that's a big if … I need you, it'll most likely be on my way out."
Cyana shrugged and climbed into Tullius's car so they could watch things together.
Tullius threw a small, black rectangular box to her.
"You know what to do with that," he said. "Good luck."
Lia gave the turian a quick salute and ran down the alley away from the streetlights. The alleyways were her friends on missions like this. She surrounded herself with the gray metal walls to keep herself hidden from unwanted eyes. She felt safe in their shadows, almost warm, like they embraced her, enfolded her in their deep, black, ethereal arms.
Ok, I think I'll go back to the cabin after this.
"Are you almost there, Lia?" Tullius asked, interrupting her introspection.
She sighed. "Should be around the next corner, Tullius."
She peered around the corner of the alley she hid in and watched as a pair of guards, two salarians in gray armor, walked under the window she planned on using to get in. The guards walked around the corner of the TPS building and she flew into motion. She bounded across the no man's land of landscaped lawns, black stone and pavement with long, graceful strides. In a matter of moments the TPS building loomed over her like a monolith amongst the flat landscape. The large window she would enter through looked like a portal into another, darker world.
Been a while since I've done this. Should be fun.
She activated the magnetic features of her suit. She couldn't hear or feel a difference. There was no vibration, no hum or anything. It's the way she wanted it to work. She tried to rub her hands together like a rock climber might, but her hands repulsed off each other.
That's one way to find out if they're working..
Lia didn't try and fight as her hands flew to the metal wall. One she had a good purchase, she slowly pulled herself up the wall, rolling her hands and toes to ease her magnetized limbs off of the metal. She felt her whole body strain from the effort.
I definitely need to start a better climbing regimen.
After a minute of climbing she made it to the window. Her hands and arms shook from the strain. She braced herself on the window ledge and peered inside. She only saw a dimly lit room filled with empty cubicles, dark workstations and chairs.
I guess even security companies have boring positions to fill.
She looked at the ground to make sure she hadn't caught unwanted attention. Her butt stuck out into the air a little further than she'd like.
I bet Jackson would be enjoying the view if he was here, she thought as she checked the ground directly below her.
She grabbed the laser torch out of her breast pouch.
Concentrate, Lia. Think of new ways to flirt with Jackson later.
The laser emitted a tiny whine when she turned it on, but there was no visible light with it. Its effects, however, were immediate. Smoke arose from the glass where the invisible beam of radiation touched the it. Within milliseconds a tiny hole formed in the window. She moved the laser, cutting a line in the glass until she'd made a square big enough for her to fit through. She pushed against the glass, not worried about the glass shattering against the carpeted floor in the room. Instead, it landed with a dull thud on the carpet. She waited for a moment, listening for any movement in the room.
Glad this floor isn't important enough to have patrols.
She pulled herself through the hole and deftly landed on the carpeted floor. Her legs and arms still shook a little. She fell to her knees with a thud. The only thing keeping her from face planting was her hands. She now noticed that her heart was racing more than usual as well.
Keelah, I remember when this used to be easy. I should find a good place to go rock climbing when this is over.
After a few moments of resting, her heart slowed and arms and legs stopped shaking. She could still feel a slight ache in them, though.
"Tullius, Cyana, I'm in," she informed her team. "So far, so good."
"Excellent," Tullius's voice vibrated in her helmet's comms. "You know what to do with our little back door."
She turned off the magnetic gloves and boots and put the laser away. The deep red symbols and letters of her omni-tool greeted her with a "Hello, Lia," and a smiley face when the omni-tool flared to life. She brought up the security schematics that Tullius went to lengths to get his hands on.
Alright, there's an access port for the security systems in the elevator shaft.
She headed down the hallway toward the elevator. A tiny whine down the hallway caught her attention. A security camera scanned toward the hallway. She ducked into an office to avoid being seen.
"Tullius," Lia said. "Do you have their comms yet? I would really like to hear what they're saying."
"I'm trying, Lia. Hacking the encrypted comms of a security firm isn't exactly easy, you know," he answered.
She got a sabotage ready for the security camera.
"Got em!" Tullius said. "Patching their comms into your suit."
Lia waited for Tullius to finish, but only silence greeted here.
"Did it work, Tullius? I'm not getting anything."
"Yeah, they're just quiet. I'll take that as good news."
"Thanks, Tullius," Lia grumbled.
She sabotaged the camera and rushed to the elevator. She pulled her dagger and used it to leverage the elevator doors open.
"Hey, Skerro!" a batarian called over the hacked comms. "The elevator security camera just malfunctioned. Go see if you can get it working."
"Yes, sir," a turian answered.
Lia turned her suit's magnetic limb systems back on and used them to help her climb up the inside of the elevator shaft.
Here we go again. Jack owes me a massage after this.
The elevator on the first floor hummed to life and started slowly ascending toward her.
Glad they have slow elevators. Now where's that access shaft in case it keep coming.
The elevator stopped at the second floor.
Good. Must be Skerro. Hopefully, he doesn't decide to explore the floor.
Lia made her way around the elevator shaft until she reached the ladder on the other side. She climbed up the shaft till she was about halfway between the two floors. She found the access panel to the building's security systems there. She hacked the security of the wall panel which hissed open to reveal bundles of wire all neatly arranged by function. None of them were what she was looking for. She moved two bundles aside and ran a finger along the thin seam of another panel.
"There you are," she whispered.
It took a little longer for her to open the hidden panel.
My poor dagger, she thought, forcing the mono-filament blade into the seam.
The panel popped open, revealing more power cables as well as optical cables for the security cams.
"Gavar, it's Skerro. Tell those idiots in acquisitions we need better cameras. These pieces of shit are always breaking."
Lia stifled a laugh.
"Then leave it," Gavar told the turian. "Maybe that will get someone's attention. Now get back down here, I'm ordering some asari take-out."
Idiots.
Lia attached the little black box Tullius gave her to the circuitry.
"Again? Can't we get some pizza?" Skerro asked.
"That dextro shit?" Gavar asked.
Oooo, go get him, Skerro. Defend dextro honor.
"No," Gavar continued. "If you want it, then order it with your own damn credits. I'm ordering from some place that serves levo and dextro.
Lia heard some grumbling from the elevator before it descended back to the ground floor.
Aww. Look what you did, Gavar. You hurt Skerro's feelings. Nobody likes a grumpy turian.
"Alright, Lia," Tullius said, interrupting her internal monologue.
Speaking of grumpy turians.
"I'm in," Tullius continued. "Looks like there's an identical camera above the elevator on the third floor as well. Give me a moment while I make a recording."
She knew the drill. He'd make a two minute copy of the camera's feed and then feed it to the security monitors in a loop.
"Any other cameras I need to worry about, Tullius?"
She climbed over to the third floor elevator door, hurrying because her legs started to shake again.
I'm thinking a long, deep massage … and no enviro-suit.
She opened her omni-tool while she waited for Tullius.
I'll just start some antibiotics and antivirals now. She thought for a moment. And maybe something to help prevent levo-poisoning.
"There are plenty of cameras, as well as the turrets and heat sensors," Tullius informed her.
She closed her omni-tool and stuck her dagger into the seam of the elevator doors.
"I'll take care of those in the second security office up here."
"You know, there's probably at least one or more guards in that office," Tullius warned her.
She got the door forced open and stepped onto the floor. The door to the security office was just to her left on the opposite wall of the hallway.
"Yeah, I came prepared for that." She pulled two of the small, spherical grenades off of her belt. "They'll love this."
"Uh-oh," was all Tullius said before Lia placed her omni-tool on the door's locking mechanism.
She heard a bunch of scrambling on the other side of the door and some hurried voices.
"Who is it?" a feminine, turian sounding voice called out.
Shit. They heard that? Think fast.
"My name is Aaryn'Doran," she replied. Her omni-tool continued to hack the door. "I'm a new hire. They told me to come up and see you guys."
"Bullshit! Chennik, call reinforcements."
So much for in and out without a fuss. Gotta make this quick.
The door hissed open and she threw in the concussive grenades. Several people cursed before two loud pops reverberated through the room. Three turian guards collapsed to the floor as she rushed into the room.
"I really hope you'll like me," she said, patting the unconscious female turian's head. "I've always wanted to work here."
She laughed and started working on the security console.
"Alright, I'm in guys. Just gotta lock down the floor before reinforcements arrive."
It took her a minute to hack into the security controls of the third floor. She watched the three guards on the floor as well as the elevator through the door.
C'mon, hurry up, you bosh'tet!
Her omni-tool dinged once it broke through the security interface's defenses.
Alright, shut down elevator, turrets and sensors.
She spotted a red button protected by a glass case in the wall. "LOCKDOWN" was on the wall under the button.
She clapped her hands gleefully. Ooo. I wanna push the button.
She broke the glass with the pommel of her dagger and punched the button. Alarms went off and a bright red warning signal flashed on the screen to her left, underscored with the word "LOCKDOWN."
That should buy me more time.
She looked out the door and saw that the elevator stopped on her floor, but she heard pounding through the doors.
"We're gonna need a damned industrial laser torch to cut through the lock-down plate," a muffled voice yelled through the door. "Denin? Tychus? Tracia? Are you guys all right?"
She looked at the security measures in place to see what type of plate they were talking about.
They got Silaris armor for this? That's extravagant.
"Perhaps, I'll just change the targeting protocols of the turrets in case they get through," she mumbled.
"That's insane," Cyana said, breaking her silence. "I like it."
"Of course you do, Cyana. I'm doing it just for you."
She finished changing the IFFs of the turrets.
All right, time for the real work to begin.
She left the security office through a second door. It opened into the hallway guarded by turrets. Two orange beams scanned her the moment she entered the hallway.
"Authorization confirmed," a synthetic voice boomed in the hallway. "Welcome, Mistress Hacktorah, Queen of the Omni-Tool Rockstars."
"Thank you, security program," she said. "You're too kind."
She gleefully cackled as she ran down the metallic corridor to the office that controlled the offsite security systems. The room was a large server farm with a holographic interface. She hacked into the interface for the server farm and started searching for the correct district.
"Alright, where are you? A2147.77. A2149.62. Gotcha! Interesting, it looks like you're not even in Nos Astra."
She brought up any information on the site.
"There's not much information here," she informed her team.
She checked the time.
Two minutes to go and still no idea what I'm shutting down.
"I'm not sure I like this, Tullius," Lia said.
"Well, then get out of there. Only two minutes left," Tullius answered.
She hesitated, briefly thinking about closing the interface without finishing the job.
"You are unauthorized," the synthesized security voice said from the hallway. "Please exit the premises or lethal force will be used."
"Shit!" a batarian guard cursed. "Get that thing shut down!"
Dammit, they got through that fast. I better not regret this, Jackson.
She looked at the time again and counted down the time left.
"Five … four … three … two … one …"
She shut down the security systems for the targeted district. A loud warning buzzer sounded all throughout the building.
"One of the facilities have gone offline," she heard a salarian say over the hacked comms.
"You better get outta there, Lia," Tullius said. "There's all sorts of crazy going on out here. I'm sure the authorities will be on their way soon."
"Easier said than done, Tullius."
Lia pulled two more small, spherical grenades from her pocket. She took cover by the doorway and prepared to make a run for it.
"System's down, boss," a female turian said over the hacked comms.
The effects must've worn off.
"Everyone get in there," the batarian leader commanded the rest of the guards.
Let the fun begin, Lia thought and smiled.
Multiple, heavy footfalls thundered down the long hallway toward her. She primed the two grenades and rolled them down the hallway. The tosses were staggered enough to increase the spread of the concussive blast.
"Grenades!" a batarian yelled.
After the grenades went off, she bolted down the hallway. She had to weave around stumbling guards. They blindly attempted to grab her as she ran by.
Ugh. I need to start bringing more of those. Or up the blast effectiveness.
The door to the security office opened less than a meter in front of her. The female turian stepped out of the office.
She has no helmet.
Lia launched herself at the unsuspecting turian, using her momentum to make her punch heavier. Her fist connected with the turian's head, causing a sharp pain to shoot up her arm. The turian's head cracked against the wall with a sickening thud.
"Sorry," Lia apologized as she reached the end of the hallway.
I hate doing that to people just doing their jobs.
Several of the guards stumbled after her. The effect of the grenades was wearing off. She reached the elevator, its doors held open by metal bars. She didn't bother trying to use the it, instead going through an access panel in the floor.
"Is the front still clear, Tullius?" she asked.
"Couple of guards watching the front doors. Can't see in the lobby from here, though. Why?"
"Distract them. I'm coming out the front … hot."
"Finally!" Cyana gasped. "Let me out, Tullius."
Lia jumped from foot hold to foot hold until she made it down the elevator shaft. Dagger in hand, she pried open the doors. Shouts echoed through the shaft and from the lobby in front of her.
Last two, she thought as she pulled two more spheres from her belt.
She tossed them into the lobby. Curses shouted from the lobby before her grenades went off. A muffled thud resounded from the elevator shaft behind her. She burst into motion and ran for the front doors and leapt over the writhing body of a gray armored human just in front of the doors. No one else met her once she was through the doors.
Must've been a good distraction.
"She's out of the building," a turian said over the hacked comms. "Rackla, Tavor, where are you?"
She turned on her helmet's night vision and ran toward her car two blocks away.
"We were attacked by an asari and gave chase," a salarian answered.
"You idiots!" a batarian screamed. "She's a distraction. Get the fuck back here."
Lia was about a third of the way to her car when Tullius's skycar pulled up next to her. Cyana smiled at her from the passenger seat.
"Jump in," Tullius told her. "I'll get you there quicker."
She jumped in the back seat of the maroon car.
"I don't know, Tullius," Lia said. "They might just be able to outrun your car on foot."
"Maybe you should just get back out and run then," Tullius grumbled.
Cyana laughed at the turian and punched him in the arm.
Tullius's skycar stopped between Lia's and Cyana's skycars.
"And maybe you should get a faster car," Lia teased as she jumped out of the Stalwart.
Lia's Fury waited for her, humming patiently with the canopy open.
"I'll meet you guys back at Jackson's place," she told them.
She got in her skycar and took off. She kept the lights off to make it harder to follow her, or identify her car.
A Stalwart and even a Blackout are pretty common. A Fury though? How many quarians own one of those?
She sped away from the building, and saw about six guards getting into other skycars in the parking area.
She laughed. "Good luck, bosh'tets."
None of the skycars followed after her, however.
Huh, I wonder where they're going? Must be to whatever facility that got shut down.
Lia hopped out of her skycar and onto the white sands outside of Jackson's cabin. The black wooden walls of the cabin were a welcoming sight.
I can't wait till Jackson hears about this. And it looks like the lights are on. Too bad, I was looking forward to waking him up.
A slight groan escaped her lips as she stretched out after the trip in the car. The trip only made her feel even more sore. She hit the door tone and waited for him.
Glad I started those meds. He better be rested.
She grabbed her wrist when a sharp pain shot through it.
And wrap my wrist. Damn turians and their hard heads.
The door opened, and he greeted her, this time in a white shirt and baggy shorts. His body was framed by the light from the entryway.
"Hey, Lia," he greeted.
He doesn't look very happy.
He ran his fingers through his medium-long, brown hair.
"Hey, you," she answered back.
What kind of greeting is that?
He glared at her.
Uh oh. Definitely not happy.
"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked.
She grabbed his arm, and gave him a weak squeeze with her injured hand.
Ow.
"I wanted you to get some rest."
Jackson sighed and looked behind him.
"Come in. There's something you need to see."
She followed him into the living room where the vid screen was on. He un-muted the sound of the news program that was running, showing a building with armed, gray armored forces surrounding it.
"What's going on?" she asked.
He motioned for her to be quiet and watch the vid screen. He looked dire.
I repeat, the purple asari newscaster on the screen said. There is no word on how this happened, but the entire security system for a privately run, maximum security prison went off line not even thirty minutes ago.
"It … it must be a coincidence," she said with a shaky voice. Her heart started pounding in her chest.
The facility is a kilometer outside of Nos Astra and is run by Tesale Prime Security.
Lia grasped the couch with her good hand and started to panic.
"No! Please no."
She felt Jack place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze.
We are awaiting official word from TPS, but what we've heard so far is that a riot broke out after the security system went offline. All the guards inside were killed by the rioters and many prisoners escaped before TPS could respond with enough force to bring the riot under control.
The news felt like a fist rammed into her stomach. She doubled over on the couch and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Tears blurred her vision and her suits systems couldn't dry them up fast enough.
"What have I done?" she sobbed.
Jackson sat on the couch and put an arm around her shoulders and leaned her head against him.
"You didn't know," Jack said. "None of us knew."
Sobs wracked her body now.
"They're dead because of me, Jackson," she said between sobs. "People keeping dangerous criminals off the street are dead because I turned that security system off."
Jackson wrapped both arms around her, squeezed her, pulled her tight against him.
"They're dead because someone hired us without giving us enough intel," Jackson said. "That doesn't necessarily make it better, but that does mean there's someone we can get answers from."
Lia's sobbing got less severe.
"What are you saying?" she asked.
Jackson lay down on the couch now, and pulled her tight to him.
It seems our roles are reversed now.
"When Tullius and Cyana get here, I'm sending Shiova a request to meet up," he explained. "We'll get answers, one way or another." His voice lowered to a deep, dangerous tone.
She squeezed one of his hands and smiled.
"That might be the best news I've heard all day," she said. "Just do me a favor."
"What's that?" he asked.
She sat up a little and looked him in the eyes, at least as much as she could through her helmet's visor.
"Don't be nice."