Chapter 19a: The Justicar pt. 1

Justicar Samara

-Biotics strength near that of an asari matriarch

-Extensive weapons training

Samara is a justicar, a rare member of an asari monastic group trained in enhanced combat biotics alongside standard weapons. Samara was recently sighted on Illium, outside of normal asari space.-Dossier

After the shocking revelation that Liara, an old comrade of the Normandy team, turned Shepherd's body over to Cerberus, the team was split on whether to even trust her again. Tali of course believed Liara had betrayed them, betrayed Shepherd by giving his body to Cerberus. Garrus was on the other side, believing Liara did what she had to. Kaiden, once he heard about what happened was disturbed, but wasn't going to condemn her so quickly.

"You want us to forgive her?" Tali asked. "She betrayed us"

Garrus frowned. "How can you say that, Tali?" he asked. "Liara had proven herself time and again; hell she's even fought her own mother to the death"

"Damn it, Garrus, we all know what Cerberus is like, we fought them just as much as we did Saren and Sovereign!" Tali hissed. "And she still gave Wayne's body over to them!

"She didn't have a choice, you would know if you'd just listen to her" Garrus said angrily. "Or would, you rather have Shepherd stay dead, or turned over to the collectors to be the reaper's slave?!". Tali glared at him.

"How dare you?! I went through hell when he died two years ago" She growled.

"So did the rest us, what makes you special? Oh wait because you're screwing the boss" he asked. Tali clenched her fist, this was about to escalate quickly. This was a disaster; they just got back together as a team, and this threated to tear the team apart. Kaiden didn't agree with what Liara did, but he understood. Kaiden got between them, to nip this problem in bud.

"Enough, both of you" Kaiden said. He looked at Garrus first. "That was a low blow, Garrus and you know it" Garrus looked away and Kaiden looked at Tali. "And Tali can you honestly say you wouldn't do the same?"

"I…" Tali said.

"The fact of the matter if we knew back then that Wayne could be brought back to life, we would have joined have joined, because he meant something to each of us"

Tali lowered her head. "But it's Cerberus….no matter what…they will never let him go…" she said sadly.

"If Cerberus won't let him go, then we'll make them" Kaiden said firmly. "It's the least we can do, after everything he's done for us" Just then Shepherd approached, and the team stiffened.

"Hey" he simply said.

"You…overheard everything?" Kaiden asked.

"Yeah, I thought I could not forgive her, but listening to you guys made me think…" Shepherd said. "Anything could have gone wrong, but it didn't, maybe Liara knew but still she tried, it's easy to get mad at her, and yet I can't be angry with her, because in the end, I'm back" He went over to Tali and cupped her cheek "And I'm staying…" Tali hugged him tightly, Kaiden sighed, they narrowly dodged a bullet there.

Garrus rubbed his head sheepishly. "Look, Tali about what I said….I'm…"

"Don't worry about it, Garrus…"

"I'll talk to Liara, it has to be me" Shepherd said. "But now we need to find Samara, Kaiden and Rookie you're with me"

Illium

The team went to the commercial port to speak with Officer Dara. They then found Dara."Can I help you with something?" she asked.

"I'm looking for an asari warrior named Samara" Shepherd said.

Dara looked at Shepherd. "Wait, why?" she asked. She then went pale. "Did she kill someone already?" Shepherd raised a brow, exactly what kind of person was this justicar for Dara to have this kind of reaction. Now he was really curious about this Samara.

"How would I know?" Shepherd asked. "I just looking for her"

"Oh sorry, you see justicars abide this code, to deal with injustices, most time by lethal force" she said. "Which can be a problem, as everyone skirts the law in one way or another"

"Huh, if she's such a problem, why don't you just kick her off the planet?" Tali asked.

"Justicars are asari of great respect, no one would dare question their judgement, however because their code, they are likely to cause a cross-species incident."

"Well it's good thing we're looking for her help" Kaiden said.

"Take the cab to the spaceport, Samara is there" Dara said.

One they reached the space port, they began their search for Samara. Before they could search, a volus bumped into Shepherd, the spectre was fine, but the volus tumbled to the ground. His two turian bodyguards help him up and the volus took a breath and glared at him. "Watch where you're going, human!"

Shepherd frowned. "Likewise midget" Just as the volus was about to walk away a voice called out.

"Where do you think you're going?" the asari asked. The asari walked past the team and up to the volus. She was purple, with what looked like a cop uniform, for a member of an only female race, she was quite masculine as her voice was rough. Shepherd gazed at the turians, they looked like they were going to cause trouble, but the asari stared them down hard and they suddenly back down. Shepherd was impressed, she didn't back down from anyone.

"I'm taking my goods to Omega, Detective" the volus said.

"You're not going anywhere, merchant. Not until I solve this murder."

The volus scoffed. "I have nothing to do with that. It was those mercenary thugs you can't seem to get rid of."

"The victim was your business partner, and I'm not ruling you out. You'll leave when I'm sure you're not a suspect"

"What about that justicar?! Everyone says that she's gone crazy and could start killing again! I need to leave" the volus said nervously.

The asari smirked. "A justicar only kills the unjust, so I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, Pitne For. Find me in the station if you need me." She went inside the building, while the volus huffed at his delay.

"You guys heard that?" Kaiden asked.

"Yep, I think we just found our first clue" Shepherd said. The team went inside to meet the detective, she was has her desk filling out police reports. She saw looked at the team approaching and she resumed with her reports.

"Nice guns, try not to use them in my district" the asari said.

"Thanks for warning though, a bit pointless for a spectre" Shepherd said sitting down.

"Great, a smartass spectre and a justicar in the same place, the galaxy likes to work me to the bone" She said with a scoff. "Detective Anaya T'Sa, so tell me what a spectre is doing here"

"We're here to take your justicar off your hands" Kaiden said.

Anaya looked at them. "If you're here to settle a score with her, take it somewhere else-I've got enough trouble here as it is" the asari said.

"We're here to recruit her for an upcoming mission" Tali said.

"Sounds important, justicars usually work alone, but they are drawn to impossible causes" she said. "If you can get her out of my district, then we have a deal, she's at the crime scene"

"You're letting her into a crime scene?" Kaiden asked.

"I'm a cop-I'll work with a justicar all I can. Besides she's been working on crime scenes longer than all of us combined."

"You seem anxious to get her out of here" Shepherd said.

The detective sighed. "My bosses want me to detain her. They're afraid she'll cause some cross-species incident" she said. "But her damn code won't let be taken in. If I try it, I die, since I have no interest in dying, I'll be thrilled to help you."

"She would kill a cop, doesn't seem just" he said.

"She would defend an honest cop, but she would kill an army of dirty cops" the asari said. "I admire her dedication, but her presence is a still a problem, I need her gone."

"Your boss is sending you to certain death, you can disobey"

"We can disobey? I never knew" Kaiden said.

"We should remember that the next time Wayne puts us in a certain death situation" Tali said. "Which is twice a day"

"Most of the time, I'm not being stupid about it, can't say the same for the detective"

"I'm cop and I know my duty. I've been ordered to detain her and I will-unless you get her out of here, like now"

"How do I get there?" Shepherd asked.

"It's around the corner, just look for the police line. I'll send word you're coming" she said. "Be careful-the local Eclipse mercs have been all over the back alleys lately" Shepherd nodded.

The team made their way to the back allies of the space port. Around the corner they overhear Eclipse mercenaries deploying a squad to hunt down the justicar. Shepherd peeked around the corner and saw a vanguard, three LOKI mechs, and soldier. "Get the rest of bravo team prepped. Alpha squad went after her twenty minutes ago, they've went dark" the leader said.

"Looks like we're too late" Tali said.

"Maybe not, got your drone prepped" Shepherd said. Tali nodded and activated Chatika. The drone floated to the mercs.

"A drone?" one of them said. "What's a repair drone doing here?" As she came close to the drone, one of the LOKI mech started to point its gun at the merc.

"Watch out!" one of them said as the mech fired and killed one of the mercs.

"Now!" Shepherd ordered. The team came out of the corner and fire on the mercs. Shepherd lifted his hand and summoned a singularity field. Tali pointed her omni-tool at Chatika, and the drone exploded, causing the mercs to fly. The battle was quickly over. "Let's go"

The team passes some more police tape and opens a door, to see an Eclipse mercenary flying at the wall near them. The team looked up and saw two asari talking, an older one and a younger one. "Those were my best troops" the lieutenant said in fear.

"Tell me what I need to know, and I'll be gone from here" A voice said. "Where did you send her?"

"You think I would betray her? She would hurt me in ways you can't imagine." The lieutenant said. "A name, Lieutenant. Your life depends on it."

"You can kill me, but one of us will take you down, justicar." She growled. The older justicar grabs the older one with her biotics and throws the young asari in yellow Eclipse armor into the ground. The older asari woman followed her, leaping from the room to glide down effortlessly with her biotics. The fallen asari tried to crawl away but the justicar shoved her down with a foot against her neck.

"What was the name of the ship she left on?" she asked in a level, commanding tone.

"Go to hell!" She strained.

The older woman shook her head, almost appearing saddened. "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess" she said solemnly. Her leg shifted suddenly and a sickening crack filled the silence, and the young asari's body going limp.

Her gaze turned to Shepherd and the team. She was a striking figure, clad in form-fitting leathers of dark red. A thick piece of jewelry was about her neck, something between a necklace and a choker, seemingly made of gold. While she didn't appear aged, for some reason she just felt older, wiser. She spoke.

"My name is Samara; I am a justicar and servant of its code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see three well-armed people before" she said. "Are we friend or foe?"

Shepherd looked at the battered body of the merc Samara just killed. "Friend, trust me" Shepherd said. "I'm going up against suicidal odds and I need the best-that's you"

"I sense the truth in what you say and I'm humbled, but I seek a dangerous fugitive" she said. "I cornered her here, but the sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."

"I wish you were willing to go with the human, Justicar" a voice said. It was the detective; she came in not very happy at this predicament. "I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave"

"You risk a great deal following your orders, but fortunately I will not have to resist"

"How is that fortunate?" Kaiden asked.

"I am allowed to cooperate with the law for one day, after that day, I must return to my investigation" Samara said.

"I won't be able to release you that soon" the detective said.

"You won't be able to stop me"

"Maybe we can help find that ship for you" Tali said.

"Yeah, you get your clue, I get my recruit, and the detective doesn't die" Shepherd said.

"The volus merchant Pitne For is tied to this. Eclipse mercs are preparing to kill" Samara said. "But you must hurry; otherwise I will not have a choice"

"Got it, we'll be quick" Shepherd said. Samara nodded and went with the detective. She looked back at the team.

"Thank You" she said. They were gone.

"Let's get to work" Shepherd ordered. The team went to look for Pitne For.