"Found one." Dsrondo said crushing the bug with the palm of his hand, he and Zeead was checking Shepard's quarters whilst he and the others were on the ship.
"That makes ten we've found and we haven't even searched the other half of the room." Zeead commented dryly.
"I'll give this Illusive Man credit, he's thorough." Dsrondo said standing up. "So what have you been up to since Vido kicked you out of the Blue Suns?"
"What the bloody hell does that have to do with anything?" Zeead asked.
"I'm just trying to make conversation." Dsrondo said with a shrug.
"I've been chasing down lead after lead after lead on Vido whilst accepting jobs from the wealthiest bastards in the known galaxy." Zeead said grimly. "What about you?"
"I've been avoiding the attention of Mcsdes whilst going on vacation to Omega, The Persius Veil, and Earth." Dsrondo said with a smirk.
"Ah yeah, Vakerian's old captain." Zeead remembered. "He has to be the worst bounty hunter ever!"
"Don't you mean the worst and the most persistent bounty hunter?" Dsrondo corrected.
"True, not even I would pay the Persius Veil a visit no matter how much my bounty was worth!" Zeead chuckled.
"I went there because I thought he wasn't stupid, guess I was wrong." Dsrondo chuckled.
"Why wouldn't I be surprised if the only reason he was a captain in the first place was due to nepotism?" Zeead chuckled as he found another bug and smashed it with his rifel.
"If Garrus was here he'd probably agree." Dsrondo agreed.
"If Garrus was here he'd start talking about Reach and Flexibility." Dsrondo shook his head. "Can't help but feel sorry for Jenny." Zeead immediately knew what he was talking about.
"If that was me, well let's just say that thoughts of Krogans fucking me would be haunting my nightmares for the rest of my life." Zeead said. "And don't even start on the amount of Krogans."
"I bet she regrets head butting that ambassador." Dsrondo chuckled.
"You should've been there, the sight of a 5ft 5, 145ibs injured woman head butting a Krogan for all the shit the Krogan had put her through was one of the funniest thing's I've ever seen." Zeead chuckled. "Never mind the fact that she's a damn good biotic and a pretty good marksman."
"I watched the vids, I was laughing my ass off throughout." Dsrondo chuckled. "Even more reason not to piss her off."
"She's a feisty one, that's for sure." Zeead agreed. "How her parents put up with her is anyone's guess." Zeead said as they moved to the other half of the personal quarters.
"What about Zach? He's no saint himself." Dsrondo commented as he checked the fish tank.
"Those two combined would've driven the average man to insanity in less than 20 minutes, never mind their criminal records." Zeead smirked.
"In case you've forgotten Jenny was just a small time crook and Zach wasn't even that high in the Eclipse totem pole." Dsrondo said.
"True enough, by the way I don't think The Illusive Man would put a bug in a bloody fishtank." Zeead said.
"Most people would say that most humans wouldn't even consider accepting a Batarian into the ranks of their crew and yet here I am." Dsrondo chuckled.
"Yeah, but you where handpicked by the Council." Zeead pointed out.
"Yeah, only after I contacted them." Dsrondo corrected him.
"Oh yeah, after the Blue Suns failed Slave Raid on Mindoir, aren't you one of the few Batarians who hates Slavers." Zeead said smashing a bug beneath his foot.
"Not few, many." Dsrondo said catching Zeead of guard.
"Then why aren't the Batarians against Slavery more vocal?" Zeead wondered.
"Why do you think? Slavery's so etched into Batarian culture that we'd risk a long prison sentence just for flipping off a Slaver, even if he wasn't doing his job, that and the majority of them are on the homeworld." Dsrondo said smashing another bug.
"I see your point." Zeead admitted.
"Hey Zeead, I found a bug but I need your help to get it." Dsrondo said after a few minutes.
"Why's that?" Zeead asked walking over, Dsrondo pointed to the top of the tank and Zeead nodded. "I'll see if there's anything in here you can use to reach it." Zeead said looking around before grabbing a desk and putting it next to the Fishtank.
"That should do it." Zeead said calmly before checking the area near Shepard's terminal. "Surprise, surprise, he has a picture of Williams on his desk."
"They're in love, why wouldn't there be one." Dsrondo shrugged before smashing the bug with a punch.
"I'll give him credit, he's got a hot girlfriend." Zeead muttered.
"I wouldn't know, human females don't do anything for me." Dsrondo said stepping off the desk.
"What about Asari?" Zeead asked.
"Same." Dsrondo dismissed.
"Look at that, the sneaky bastard put a bug behind the picture of Williams." Zeead said picking up the bug and smashing it against the desk.
"You'd think Shepard would've noticed it by now." Dsrondo commented.
"I think he was too busy being stalked by Miranda and Tali." Zeead joked.
"Tell me about it." Dsrondo said shaking his head.
"Come to think of it you never talk much about your personal life." Zeead said.
"Don't have one, my stepson's a terrorist and my wife was killed during the Skillian Blitz." Dsrondo shrugged and Zeead looked at him in surprise.
"And yet you follow Shepard, the hero of the Skillian Blitz?" Zeead asked perplexed.
"Yeah, I know how odd it sounds, truth is that neither I nor my wife got along, things where great at first but then she signed up as a Registered Slaver, things where downhill from there." Dsrondo said.
"Yeah I guess your...wait, registered slaver?" Zeead asked.
"Another example of how morally bankrupt the Batarian government is, slavery is so etched into Batarian culture that anyone who wants to become a slaver has to register with the government, it has it's perks." Dsrondo said.
"Like what?" Zeead asked destroying another bug.
"Pay is a million credits per captured slave, yearly, you have an easier time enrolling in the Batarian military if you're a Registered Slaver, you get a nice bonus upon retirement, provided you live that long, if you don't then the Bonus goes to the surviving family members unless a family member killed you, then the whole family gets life imprisonment." Dsrondo said.
"Makes sense, wait did you say the WHOLE family?" Zeead asked.
"Yet another example of how morally bankrupt the Batarian government is, according to Batarian law if a family member kills a slaver to get the bonus then the whole family can be held responsible, no matter how young or how old you are." Dsrondo said destroying another bug.
"And people wonder why Batarians are hated so much." Zeead shook his head.
"Yeah, the Krogans during the rebellions make us look like a race full of saints." Dsrondo shook his head. "I think that's all the bugs in here."
"Yeah, I can't see any more bugs." Zeead agreed.
"Mordin will scan the room later in case we missed any." Dsrondo shrugged.
"True enough, so what know?" Zeead asked.
"We let the Commander know, what else?" Dsrondo said putting a hand to his earpiece. "Commander, your personal quarters are clear of bugs."
"Good to know Dsrondo." Shepard replied.
"We're not sure if we got everything but Mordin said he'd scan the rooms later to be sure." Dsrondo added.
"Good, just be out of my quarters by the time I get back." Shepard said.
"Got it." Dsrondo said with a shrug though he knew the Commander couldn't see him. "How are things on the ship?"
"No hostiles yet but knowing Cerberus I'm bound to bump into them at some point." Shepard said.
"Guess we'll see you when you get back." Dsrondo said as the Commander hung up.
*meanwhile, with Shepard's squad*
"At least you and Ashley will have some privacy now." Drakus said dryly.
"That doesn't matter Drakus and quite frankly it's none of your buisines." Shepard replied before putting a hand to his earpiece. "EDI, do you still have access to Cerberus files?"
"Yes Shepard." EDI said.
"See if you can find ships that match the descriptions of the ships we're attacking in Cerberus databases and if you can look for a map of some kind." Shepard ordered, considering the ships where quite small he doubted that they had more than one floor.
"Searching Cerberus databases now." EDI Replied. "I have found the four ships in question, they belong to the BioFuture cell of Cerberus and the ship your on is the main one which is captained by Armiston Banes." EDI said and Shepard did a double take.
"Armiston Banes, are you serious?" Shepard asked.
"Of course Shepard, is there something wrong?" EDI asked.
"Armiston Banes has been dead for years." Shepard said.
"It could be an Alias." Drakus suggested.
"Then again he was blackmailing Chloe Michel on the Citadel due to her past, after he had passed away." Shepard said.
"So he faked his death." Drakus suggested. "What's the story on this Banes guy?"
"Shortly after I became a Specter I stopped by Chloe Michel's hospital on the Citadel wards so that injuries I had suffered during the attack on Chora's Den could be treated, only to find her being blackmailed by a Krogan, she directed us to a Salarian Merchant in the wards who claimed ignorance until the Krogan's arrival, I scarred him off and Chloe said that Banes might be behind the Blackmail scheme only when I went to Anderson for more information he told me that Bane's frozen body was found on a Derelict ship by Marines under the command of Admiral Kahoku." Shepard explained.
"What was he blackmailing her for?" Paul asked.
"Medical supplies, at the time it made no sense to me because he could of just as easily asked her for credits but if that was a Cerberus operation then maybe the medical supplies where for the BioFuture cell." Shepard said.
"What about the Salarian and the Krogan?" Drakus asked.
"Most likely they where nothing but middle men with no idea what was really going on." Shepard said. "EDI, what can you tell me about this BioFuture cell?"
"They are a part of Cerberus' Military Division specializing in augmentation of Biotic powers through no traditional methods, initially started as the project that created Subject Zero it has recently been revived, according to this they are co-operating with the Human Galaxy cell in developing and deploying an engineered virus on Tuchanka." EDI explained.
"And what can you tell me about the Human Galaxy cell?" Shepard asked.
"It is a recently formed cell within the science division devoted to hindering Alien races through scientific means." EDI said.
"What a surprise." Drakus said sarcastically, just then ten Cerberus operatives armed with Machine guns rounded the corner.
"Leave the ship and you won't get hurt." The leader, an Asian woman in her late twenties with a Military haircut, said.
"Not happening, show them how big a mistake they are making Drakus." Shepard said and the Krogan grinned. "Leave one alive though for interrogation."
"Oh this is going to be satisfying!" Drakus said narrowing his eyes.
"What can one Krogan do against ten operatives?" The leader pointed out.
"Well there's the fact that I'm a Battlemaster, served in the Rebellions, seen stuff that would've driven anyone else to insanity, need I go on?" Drakus said and the operatives' eyes widened.
"A BATTLEMASTER? Fuck it we don't get paid enough for this!" One of the operatives said turning to leave.
"When did I say anything about letting you live?" Drakus asked firing a shockwave sending the operatives flying, some snapped their necks upon landing and the less fortunate where put down by Drakus' shotgun, and Drakus stopped when he saw that the leader was the only one left. "Lucky for you we need you for interrogation."
"Like hell!" The leader of the squad said and seconds later she started to convulse before dying, Drakus and Shepard quickly figured out that she had swallowed a Cyanide Capsule with Shepard remembering what Mordin said about Cyanide capsules in Cerberus operative's dental work.
"Well, so much for interrogation." Drakus said dryly.
"Shepard it's Marcus, we've just cleared the ship and there's no sign of Gillian anywhere, we've got the research data and we're heading back to the Normandy." Marcus said.
"You get any information from the operatives?" Shepard asked.
"No, they committed suicide before we could interrogate them." Marcus replied.
"The operative we interrogated on Eden Prime didn't do that." Shepard remembered.
"That must've been low on the priority metre compared to this." Drakus said.
"Come on, we've got the rest of the ship to check out, Marcus when you and the McKansas return to the Normandy assist in the search for bugs we missed the first time." Shepard said.
"Understood, see you on the Normandy." Marcus said before cutting off.