Liara sat down on the bed provided for the her after they returned to the Citadel. It was unnervingly soft and felt like the soft material wanted to swallow her hole into itself. The things she was used to was much harder and more militaristic and simplistic, serving its purpose, nothing more and nothing less. She couldn't quite help but wonder where the ancient alien had been taken and why he had been escorted by two spectres. She knew something was going on, but what exactly it was, she had no idea.
The sudden knock on her door made her jump and flare her biotics, but she soon realised she wasn't in a potentially dangerous place and calmed down, opening the door to see who was outside. Waiting for her was the familiar face of Omar, but she quickly recognized the frown on his troubled face. She gestured for him to enter her room so he could tell her what was troubling him so much. When she turned around he was already pacing in front of her bed, deep in thought.
"Omar, what has you troubled so much?" she asked him.
"Something's not right. Council jumped in far to fast and with spectres no less to get this alien." He replied.
"I was just thinking about that. It doesn't make sense really."
Omar nodded, when his omnitool pinged, alerting him he had received a message. He speedily read thru the message he got, his face twisting into a horrified expression as he did so. His fingers flitted across the holographic keyboard as he typed, windows opened and closed at a seemingly impossible pace for a mere organic being to comprehend. Her omnitool vibrated alerting her of a message she received.
"Look, contact of mine managed to get this after hacking the council." Omar said.
Liara nodded and read the message she had been forwarded. It started out with friendly greetings from this friend of his, slowly turning into a darker tone. The message mentions the Turrains finding a race of aliens that are quite possibly unstoppable and unbeatable by conventional means, thus they are seeking out how to destroy this race by experimenting on this one they found cryogenically frozen. It stated that the council was seeking anything that would give them the edge in a fight against this race.
"Their going to kill Dominic." Omar said gravely.
Liara shook her head. "No, I don't think they would be able to. He was able to generate shields and a breathable atmosphere in space. There is no possible way they could get past his defences, not to mention there might be other abilities he has access to he hadn't displayed."
"Something like this perhaps?" Omar asked as he sent a video to her.
The video in question was of another alien that looked just like Dominic, but he wore some type of strange armour that gave her the feeling of a predator. The man on screen looked bored as he destroyed a tank and killed a small group of soldier with a mere wave of his hand. The power something like that had to require would be immense, not to mention how much control one would need to do it without destroying the surroundings.
"The race Dominic is from is still alive and that powerful?" Liara asked a little scared.
"Would seem the Turrians had engages them in combat, the Saiyans however merely toyed with them." Omar said uneasily.
If the council tried to eliminate an entire race because they felt the race was to powerful, what were they truly capable of? Eliminate might be exaggerated, but with them being perceived as a threat to the galaxy, they might just do that. She needed to get him off of the Citadel and back to – rather to his new people.
"We need to save him from the council before this sparks a war." Liara said.
"Yes, I have some people who might help. Meet me at Purgatory in 6 hours, we'll discuss our plans there." He said as he headed for the door, opening it.
Liarra nodded as she stood in the door as he exited. "My the Goddess help us."
Liarra went to work on her computer, looking up what she could about the Citadel, including the layout and possible patrol routes for C-Sec. She knew that there would probably be spectres guarding Dominic, which meant they would have to be either sedated or demobilized when they were going to rescue him. She realised that they would need a method of transport, which would be secure and have nobody ask questions when they left. They also needed to get to the rest of the Saiyans, which means getting past the forces stationed at the relays.
"This is going to be harder than I thought." She muttered under her breath.
In truth, she saved him for another reason as well. She knew that he had a fast set of knowledge about his culture and technology that could possibly benefit everybody. If the council killed him however, then there would be no possible way for them to ever negotiate peacefully with the other Saiyans. This served more than one purpose, albeit she didn't think of them all when she said they needed to save him.
Omar sat down at the restaurant table overlooking the lake in the park and a small garden. The chair across his slid out and a man took a seat as they waited for the waiter. They didn't speak, they simply looked out over the presidium. The waiter, a Quarrian on her pilgrimage came to their table greeting them politely.
"Good morning gentlemen, my name is Natalia Vas'Teno and I will be your waiter." She said as she handed out the menu's. "Today we have a special on Tessain Wei-tea with a small pastry or our breakfast special that is includes two eggs and a fresh salad."
"I'll have the Tessain Wei-tea and a crumpet please." Omar told her.
"Give me the same please." The man said, looking at Omar.
"Right away gentlemen." She said taking their menu's and going to the kitchen.
When the waiter was far away, Omar turned to the man sitting across him. The Turrain was different than the rest of his race, he was non-racist and more flexible.
"Thank you for meeting me Garrus."
"No, thank you for calling me. I was getting bored of this job. Day-in and Day-out the same crap over and over again."
Omar chuckled. "Well, we might not be able to come back after we do this. We'll most likely be labelled out-laws."
"If we get caught or spotted." Garrus said with a smirk.
"Just what have you planned?"
"You'll just have to see tonight. Won't he Garrus?" asked Natalia with a smirk.
Liarra looked at the time on her omnitool, she still had 10 minutes left before she had to meet Omar, so she decided to buy herself a drink. With her cocktail in had, she found a sofa and watched the people enjoy themselves as she drank her drink. She saw Omar walk thru the crowd towards her, a man following him.
"Omar, good to see you again."
Omar smiled. "Of course you would. This is my friend Garrus, Garrus, this is Liarra."
"Pleasure to meet you Liarra." Garrus smiled.
A Drell woman slid into a seat next to her, smiling at the two men. "Natalia Romanoff, at your service."
Omar looked at the woman with wide eyes, seemingly stunned at what he saw. "Thought you were a Quarrian."
She smiled. "I am a master of disguise, I blend in with the people. Its part of my work."
Liarra frowned. "What would that line of work be?"
"Thief, Assassin, Guard, Babysitter, Asari, Quarrian, Drell , Vorcha or whatever you need Doctor T'sonni." She replied
"You mean, your not a Drell?" Liarra asked.
"Of course not, or maybe I am. I'm not so sure myself anymore." She chuckled.
Garrus only smirked wider. Natalia was a mercenary, but she didn't work like most. She only went after drug lords, gangs and the people that make the street dangerous. She might work for those people, but she also takes them out to keep the streets safer. It was the exact reason he let her go when he caught her.
"So lets talk business." Omar said.
Garrus nodded and led the group out of Purgatory to another location. It was a simple apartment with nothing inside, only a holo-table and two rooms dedicated to every weapon imaginable. A third room was built out of a strange metal with eezo nodes placed at certain spots to generate a shield inside the room. The group sat around the table in the front room, which seemed to have been made for this purpose exactly.
"Ok, this is what we called Fort Obelisk. Natalia and I built this Apartment block and used every resource we had to make it nearly impervious. Mass Relay metal in the walls and doors, pure diamond and aerogel make out the windows and Element zero nodes throughout the structure to generate a shield." Garrus said.
"Cost us 3 million credits, but its worth it in the end. Its not only armed to the teeth, but it's also the safest place on the Citadel." She said. "Now lets begin."
Garrus started by bringing up a map and highlighted the routes the C-Sec patrol and what times they do it. Natalia added her input by showing possible escape routes and places they could hide if they needed to, she also highlighted areas where they could cut thru that would send the local gangs into conflict with any pursuers they might have. Liarra was quite impressed with what they had, but she had an ace up her sleeve. Waving her omnitool over the mini holographic projector she highlighted every security camera on the Citadel and where their blind spots are, she also highlighted tunnels the Keepers used to move around.
"Where did you find all this information?" asked Omar.
"From me, my name is Tali." Said a newcomer sitting across Liarra.
"Glad you could make it Tali." Liarra said.
"Of course, wouldn't want the only person that defended me to be caught now would I? Who would get me out of trouble then?" she asked with a small smirk.
"I'm hurt Tali. Am I only good as a get out of jail free card?"
"Of course not, there is also those nice bubble baths and lets not forget that fluffy bed in your guest room."
The two friends smiled at each other, but got serious quickly again. "How did you get in here?" asked Garrus.
"Simple, I hacked your security. Its good, but nothing compared to the Geth and besides that, I used my suites cloaking ability." Tali shrugged.
"Going to have to get that looked at." Natalia muttered under her breath.
The meeting resumed with Tali joining the group and helping with the planning. With her help, they were going to have a guide to help them throughout the mission. She would be monitoring their movement from the cameras and listening to the radio feed to help them avoid unwanted attention.
Omar felt a little overwhelmed, he had never expected to find a team like this, nor did he think there would be so much work to it all. He did however have one final thing to add to their plan, the escape from the Citadel.
"We need a way to get off of the Citadel and to the Sentient Alliance once we have the alien." Garrus said. "We can regroup here before we leave the Citadel."
"Actually, I already have something for that." Omar stated.
Waving his omnitool over the table, a sleek black vessel appeared on the screen that seemed to be about 150m long and 25m high. It was trapezoidal shaped and the surface seemed smoother than anything they had ever seen. While most of the others were confused as to what type of ship this was, Liarra immediately recognized it. It was one of the Saiyan ships, stealth designed by the looks of it.
"Saiyan stealth design ship. Where did you find it?" Liarra asked.
Omar smirked at this. "I didn't the Prothean's found the ship and docked it on the Citadel. It's still in the experimental hangar, scientists are still unable to open the ship."
"How does that help us?" asked Garrus.
"Liarra here had quite the kiss from our Saiyan friend, which gave her knowledge of his language. Which would help us I am certain."
Everybody turned to look at Liarra, who only stared at the ship. A distant foggy memory surfacing in her mind, slowly getting more and more clear to her. She reached out with her hand and turned the image so she could see the entire ship, a small smile making its way onto her face. The memory was one of Dominic's teenage years, where he dreamed of flying one of these ships. She instinctively knew it was powered by a Zero Point Engine and was capable of firing a wide array of energy weaponry as well as having a n energy shield.
"Liarra?" Tali asked concerned.
"Sorry, I just relived one of his memories."
Valko, Sven, Rodger and Macklin sat in purgatory having gotten a tip that there was something going to happen today. The info he received was from an Quarrian friend of his, one that had always helped him repair his gear and tech. According to him, he was going to hear something that was going to send chills up his spine and make him want to flee Citadel space.
After his experience on that planet, he was certain nothing could ever scare him so much as that Saiyan again. Well, at least he hoped that, because if anything was more terrifying than seeing a single being taking out a whole platoon of soldiers, then he would eat his own underwear. Something which would not be pleasant if he found something like that...
His little group made their way to the commons when they heard gunfire followed by a small explosion that send debris out into the air. He looked up and saw three beings jump from 8 floors, one of them was carrying somebody of their shoulder and the other two were using biotics to create a shield and lower them to the ground safely. That's when Valko heard a gasp next to him that caused him to look at his friend.
"Get the alien back!" he heard a shout from one of the C-Sec officers.
"The council had a Saiyan..." Sven said turning pale when he realized what this could cause.
Looking back, Valko realised the unconscious one being carried was the Saiyan, the very same type of alien that had killed a platoon of soldiers without breaking a sweat. If that alien were to wake up... If it were to go on a rampage on the Citadel... No, he had to help get it off of the Citadel or everybody on it could die due to the council's idiocy.
"I'm going to help get that thing off the Citadel." Valko told his friend, who nodded.
30 minutes earlier
"Arc Angel, there should be a door to your left." Tali said over the headset.
"I see the door Sparks. We need an access code."
"Doc is sending the code. Blue, security approaching on your left."
"Confirmed Sparks." Liarra said, slipping around the corner and firing two quick blasts at security putting them under stasis.
Natalia slipped in the door as soon as it opened Garrus and Liarra quickly following her. Inside the room, was a tank with Dominic floating inside the liquid. The fluid seemed to be keeping him in a sedated state, which allowed them to extract blood as required from him. Natalia noticed a computer screen that was still on, the work open on what was last done.
'Subject seems to have a highly adaptable body structure. Muscles that increase in density each time it gets torn in order to prevent such a mistake again. Biology also includes unique organ that sets free large amounts of undifferentiated cells into the blood allowing adaptation at a much faster rate. This adaptation also increases regeneration speeds by 78%, allowing subject to survive normally fatal injuries.
Subject also exhibits ability to absorb certain light wavelengths that cause several organs to start working in overdrive. This in turn causes the subject to start increase in size and mass, however no tests have been done to see the extent of this deformation of the body.'
Natalia frowned at the information. The species had similarities to both the Vorcha and Krogan, yet have its own unique twist on both. She was also disturbed by the mention of body deformation caused by over active organs. She didn't want to think of the possible damage it could have done to him had it not been for his regenerative abilities.
"Doc, I'm sending you the research files on the alien. Sparks, I want a virus to destroy any research on his kind. They have done some things that make me sick." Natalia said.
"Understood Widow, just upload the virus, we'll gather the information remotely. Doc is eager and disturbed to know what they did."
Garrus could hear Omar whining about having gotten the name 'Doc' in the background. "Any idea how to get this open?"
"On it Arc." Liarra said.
"Good, I'll stand guard while you and widow get what we came for." Garrus said.
Once the virus was uploaded, Omar started to work thru the data. He downloaded the video clips and photos they had taken when they were doing on the Saiyan, when he came across another file. It detailed work they were starting to do that would cause Saiyan's to loose their regenerative ability by destroying the organ that produces the undifferentiated cells. While he understood what they tried to do, it reminded him too much of the Genophage, something he thought was horrible. There were also files on other species and weapons that were created to slow them and make it easier to kill them
"Widow, you need to destroy that lab. They have biological weapons in that lab." Omar said.
"What kind of Biological weapons Doc?"
"Weapons that shouldn't be allowed. It makes the Genophage look humble." He replied grimly.
"Spirits. What do you mean?" Garrus asked.
"It's better to destroy the place Garrus. I'll inform you of everything once you return to base."
"Okay. Widow, use the biggest bomb we have, just don't destroy the entire tower."
He heard a pouty voice behind him. "Auw, you're no fun Garry-poo."
"They found the two guards knocked-out. I blocked their radio's so they can't call for help." Tali said.
"Preparing bending bullets, sparks, give me video feed on C-sec."
"Feed available in 3... 2... 1... You're live Arc."
Garrus linked his omnitool to his rifles scope, allowing the gun to calculate the exact moment the bullet needed to explode in order for it to get around the corner. The explosion separated a smaller part of the bullet which would be fired off in a 90 degree angle from the direction the bullet originally travelled. The only downside of the bullet was that the speed of the projectile was severely decrease causing less damage, but if you aimed correctly, that would be no problem.
The bullet shot out of the barrel heading towards a wall, a small explosion launched the actual stun round at the officer, stunning him, his partner falling shortly after he did. Garrus couldn't help but smirk, sometimes he was just too good at what he did. Not that he was boastful or anything...
"Wipe that smug grin off your face Arc. The research team and the spectres are about to finish their coffee break and return. You guys have 9 minutes before they get there." Sparks said.
Natalia set the charges in key locations that would ensure the computers are destroyed, while the virus made sure there were no traces left on any computer outside the room. She found the combat suite the alien had worn before he was stripped down to his underwear, which she was sure meant to hide his... "assets" but it didn't do a very good job. Which was an understatement really...
"Found the suit he was wearing, Blue you got him out yet?"
"Yes, just checking his vitals to make sure he is still okay Widow."
"Yah sure you are. I'm sure you just wanted a chance to get up close and personal with that hunk of meat Blue." Widow said with a smirk.
"What am I, chopped pyjack guts?" Arc complained.
"Auw, you feeling left out because Blue is molesting the alien?"
"Six minutes left before they arrive. Hurry it up." Sparks reminded them.
Widow helped Blue dress the alien as fast as they could, which was surprisingly easy, because the suit seemed to stretched unimaginably well. After getting the suite on they headed out of the room with Arc carrying Dominic while the two females made sure there was nobody following them. Once they were far away, Widow detonated the bombs, shaking the entire building. Garrus gave her a dead look, which she merely shrugged to and smiled innocently.
"I'm not even going to ask." Blue said as she tazered a guard that was too close to them.
"They reached the labs. The two Spectre's are calling reinforcements, I can't hack their lines. It's using encryption maintained by several VI." Sparks let them know.
"Get us a route out. I can hear several footsteps ahead of us." Natalia said, tossing a flash grenade down the hall.
"Take the hall to your right and follow it until the end, the last door to your right."
The trio made their way down the hall as fast as they could, while one was carrying an alien on his back. The were at the door opening it when three Spectres saw them carrying the alien, stupidly they decided to fire on them. Either that or they knew about the aliens regenerative properties. Liarra thinking quickly threw up a biotic shield, taking all the damage instead and slipped inside the door after the rest.
"Set charges to the wall on the opposite side of the door. That should be your way out, just use the eezo cores to help with the descent." Sparks said. "I sent two drones to cover you while you descend."
Natalia set a small bomb on the wall, it glowed slightly blue due to the miniscule amount of eezo inside the core. She detonated the bomb, blowing out a large section of the wall before the eezo caused a singularity to tear out even more of the wall, leaving a neat circular whole. Arc picked up the alien and jumped out with Blue and Widow on his heels, the two drones hovering where they jumped out.
Seconds later the sound of an explosion was followed with gunfire and electricity passing thru air. The two biotics looked up encase the they needed to defend against any of their pursuers, which was going to happen soon as they had already destroyed one of the drones. Blue charged her biotics, readying herself for battle, but Widow had another idea.
"We are just going create a barrier, no need to fight like this. Its another 48 seconds until we reach the ground."
Like she said, the made a large shield, blocking the gunfire from the officers that had just destroyed the last drone. Sand grain sized bullets pelleted their barrier at high velocity, straining the two keeping up the barrier. Arc had to admit, this was the fastest he had seen the security react on the Citadel, no doubt because the Council deemed this more important then stopping the drug lords, serial killers and gangs on the Citadel.
They reached the ground and found another team already making its way to them, luckily another set of drones came to distract them allowing them to evade the gun fight. Arc knew they didn't have long before they were going to be on their heels again, so he tossed electric mines as they ran.
"Turn down the left alley, there should be a maintenance sewer tunnel near there. I sent the access key to your omnitools." Sparks told them.
Not being able to pick where they were going, Blue readied herself to see all kinds of disgusting sewer creatures that carried disease and spread vermin. A small shiver ran up her spine as she imagined small creatures with beady eyes crawling all over the place, feeding on rotter garbage and filth.
Valko and his group followed the three after Sven had shot a tracker onto the alien. They were following the them from above the sewers, waiting for them to re-emerge somewhere. They covered what seemed to be 3 or 4 kilometres of sewer until they popped up near a residential area and slipped into a large apartment block. The team followed the signal to a apartment on the ground floor, where the signal had suddenly died.
After taking a shower, Liarra relaxed in on of the rooms that was actually made to live in. Tali had also decided that this room would be her base of operations and set up multiple screens showing everything around the apartment. Four men that were heavily armed caught her attention as they were headed directly for the apartment.
"Garrus! We got four hostiles incoming!" Liarra shouted.
Garrus grabbed a Arc-Pistol and made his way to the door. Looking at the four thru the one way viewing screen. He opened the door and swiftly pointed it at the head of the one that seemed to be the leader. The man quickly raised his hands and stepped back, eyeing the weapon cautiously.
"Wait! Wait! We didn't come to fight! We just want to know what your going to do with that alien." He asked.
"Why shouldn't I kill you right here?"
"Because I know that if you wanted to, I would already have been dead. I also know you broke it out of the Citadel lab in order to take it back to the rest of its people, and that if the council had killed it then every species associated with the Citadel would be wiped out." He stated calmly.
Garrus frowned. "How would you know something like that?"
"I was on their planet Shanxi, I saw them fight and I have video footage of their abilities and skills." He replied.
Garrus growled and stepped aside. "Fine, but set one foot out of line and I won't hesitate to kill you all."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." He replied. "My name is Valko Varex, and these are my friends Sven Ririki, Macklin Wren, and Rodger Kwei."
Hey guys, I am late and I am sorry. It didn't go as planned which is why I still am not pleased with this chapter.
4490 words.
