A/N: With the recent success of my new Venom story, you can't honestly think I would forget this big gem here did you?
X
Jason 'Maverick' Harlow
Noveria Space Port
August 13, 2183 - 13:00 hours
Noveria is said to be one of the business capitals in this sector of the traverse. Some of the biggest businesses have offices set up on the partially frozen planet, and with them a lot of powerful and influential people.
However to Jason, it was a place full of stingy money grubbing assholes who only looked out for themselves and no one else. Where white-collar crime is more common than pick pocketing. And of course, where the corrupt are able to run free without consequence.
All of this ran through the Spectre's head as he, Jane, Garrus and Liara stepped out of the Normandy's airlock and into the cold air of the large spaceport. "Anyone else feel a chill?" asked Garrus.
"Nope." said Jason as they walked. Tagging several guards, security cameras and stationary turrets that were setup around the large docking area.
"The nano suit regulates your body temperature, doesn't it?" asked Jane as she turned up the internal temperature of her own armor.
"It keeps the temperature at a stable 68 degrees no matter where I am. It helps when the external climate is too extreme for the body to take without it." Jason explained as they were approached by a group of three guards.
"Halt! State your names and reason for being here." demanded the blonde woman leading the group.
"We're here on Council business. Our credentials should have been sent prior to our arrival." said Jane.
"There were no credentials sent to us. Therefore this is an unscheduled arrival. I'm going to have to ask you to surrender your weapons and come with us." said the woman snarkly as her men went to approach them.
The team drew their weapons and aimed at the guards. "Your interfering with Spectre business. Doing so gives us the right to use whatever means necessary to ensure our job is completed." said Jason as he flicked the safety off on his Hammer. "I suggest you and your men stand down, or the cleaning crew will be scooping your brains off of the ground."
Just before anything could be done, an Asian woman in armor fast walked toward them. "Sergeant Sterling stand down! Their credentials arrived yesterday, they are Council Spectres and are granted passage."
The guards lowered the weapons and the woman turned to them. "Commander Shepard, Maverick. Captain Matsuo, I am head of security detail here on Noveria. I apologize for the inconvenience. As you can see there are regulations set up for all kinds of arrivals." said the Captain.
"It would only have gotten bad if they tried to apprehend us for no reason." said Jane putting her pistol away.
"Parasini-san will meet you and your team at the security check point ahead. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational." said Matsuo giving them a slight bow.
"Better behave yourselves." said Sterling snidly.
"Safety's still off Sergeant." said Jason darkly as they walked past the guards and toward the security checkpoint. "Not even ten minutes here and I already want to break someone in half." said the nano soldier putting his rifle away.
"Just try to bare it. We can't just go into a place like this guns blazing, there could be too much backlash from using force." said Jane as they were scanned into the checkpoint.
Reaching the front desk, a woman in a dark red dress approached them from the opposite "I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologize for the incident in the docking bay." she introduced. "One of my duties is orientation of all new arrivals. Did any of you have questions?"
"Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?" asked Jason.
"Unusual? An Asari Matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia." said Gianna.
"Benezia is here?" asked Liara surprised, even though she had been given the briefing that her mother was there on Saren's behalf.
"Yes, she passed through here a few days ago with an armed escort and several crates to be delivered to Peak 15. A research facility that is located up in the mountains. To the best of my knowledge she is still there." said Gianna.
"Can you tell us how we can get there?" asked Jane.
"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port." replied the woman.
Jason tuned the conversation out, bringing up several read outs on his HUD. "SECOND, have you located the office I requested?" he asked cutting off the external speakers of his helmet.
"Location Acquired. Synthetic Insights Marked with a Nav Point." said the AI bringing up a map with said Nav point. Swiping the information aside, Jason followed Shepard and the rest of the team into the main pavilion where many shops and offices were located with people moving about.
"Our first stop is Anoleis' office and getting the garage pass to Peak 15." said Jane as they began heading to the office in question.
"You guys go on ahead. There's something I have to take care of first." said the Post-Human heading in another direction.
"And what would that be?" asked Garrus as they watched the other Spectre head off.
"Something that might be able to help us along." he said cryptically as he vanished into the crowd.
The team watched him go confused. "I wonder what he could be after." wondered Liara as they began heading toward the Administrator's office.
"I'm sure whatever it is, if Jason thinks that it can help us with the mission, than we can trust his judgement." said Jane as they entered the office. "I just hope that whatever he does doesn't end with too much bloodshed."
X
Jason 'Maverick' Harlow
Synthetic Insights - Noveria
August 13, 2183 - 13:18 hours
Hacking the elevator to Synthetic Insights was easy. The doors opened up to reveal the vacated offices of the once successful business and he headed out into the open. "Cloak Engaged." he vanished into thin air and began to make his way toward Lorik Qui'in's office.
Getting the data early and setting things into motion much quicker would help things along a lot easier.
Firing a hack program that wiped all the cameras in the area clean. He began moving from shadow to shadow, scanning the area and finding no one in the vicinity for the time being. He decloaked and found the office, heading straight for the Turian's terminal and bringing out his omni-tool. "Prophet, rip the data from the terminal. Find the evidence of Anoleis' guilt."
"Datamine Commencing..." the upload bar appeared on screen as the AI began going through every bit of information contained on the terminal.
Jason's HUD lit up and several red blips appeared down by the entrance to the offices. "Dammit. Sterling's teams already arrived." he muttered as the bar completely filled. "Datamine Complete. Data Retrieved." He shut down the omni-tool and activated his cloak again as the corrupt security team began to fan out and search the place.
"I think I should show these guys what happens when they mess with the wrong people." Jason said to himself as he began to watch the security personnel move about.
One of the guards branched off from the others and was checking a small office on the far side of the upper level. Jason stalked the man until he was out of sight of the others. He pulled out his knife, forcing the man's head back and stabbed through his jugular before he could utter a sound.
Recloaking, the nano soldier pulled out his bow and knocked an arrow. Waiting for another guard to branch off before drawing the string back and letting it fly.
The guard collapsed with the arrow through the visor of his helmet and out the back of his head.
"Hey, Michels and Avers aren't checking in." said one of the guards on the bottom level.
"Then find them! Anoleis isn't paying us to stand around!" ordered Sterling.
Two of the remaining guards began searching for their lost comrades. Finding the body of one of them with the arrow through his head. "Hey! We got a man dow-!" the guard was silenced when two large hands wrapped around his head and snapped it hard to the side.
The other guard couldn't respond fast enough as Jason grabbed the dead guard's shotgun and fired two shots into his chest.
Turning around at the sound of a dozen feet moving quickly, Jason saw the remaining security personnel running up the steps and standing in front of him with weapons drawn. "Shit, who the hell is that?" asked one of them keeping his rifle steady.
Sterling came up last and stood in front of her men. "Well, well. If it isn't the 'Spectre'. You've got a lot of nerve interfering in our business." she said leering at him.
"Tearing an office apart to destroy evidence that could put your boss in jail isn't any better. Data that I already have in my possession." replied Jason. "And I can assure you, Anoleis won't be getting his hands on it if I have anything to say about it."
The Sergeant's eyes looked at the dead guards around the Spectre before they narrowed at him, "You wanna know what we did to cop killers on my planet?"
Jason tossed the stolen shotgun aside. "You wanna know what we did to corrupt assholes back where I'm from?" he pulled two grenades from his pack. "Allow me to show you." "Maximum Armor."
The guards opened fire. Their rounds bouncing harmlessly off of the Post-Human's armor as his energy meter began to drop steadily.
When they stopped firing Jason remained standing, energy barely at 5% with grenades still in hand. "My turn." The explosives were thrown at the stunned guards and exploded moments later, blowing a few apart and sending others flying in different directions.
Drawing his Hammer, the nano soldier ran forward while shooting at the remaining guards that began to quickly drop one after another. Many of them unable to shoot back since their weapons had overheated in their combined attack.
He holstered the pistol when it ran out and drove his fist into the face of the first guard he reached causing them to topple over the railing and slamming into the ground below.
His knife came out and stabbed another guard in the stomach, spinning around them and using their body as a shield as he took their assault rifle and gunned down a different guard that tried to take a shot at him.
Pulling the blade free, he broke the wounded man's neck before turning to the remaining two guards. A woman and a Turian who were shaking in fear. Completely unable to hold their weapons straight after seeing all of their comrades go down so quickly before their eyes.
"I think it's time you two chose a different career." he said evenly. Knife still in hand with blood dripping on to the metal floor.
"Y-Your right...what was I thinking, being a security guard." stuttered the woman as she and her friend dropped their weapons and beat feet back to the elevator.
Jason watched them go knowing they wouldn't be a problem anymore. "Warning: Biotic Strike Imminent." He dove aside as a warp attack was fired in his direction.
"Those were some of my best men." said Sterling with her hand pressed over a wound in her right shoulder. "And you killed them without hesitation." she growled with dark energy gathering around her.
Tilting his head, Jason gripped his knife. "Cloak Engaged." The Sergeant blinked as the Spectre vanished from sight. "Where are you, you coward!" she screamed firing warps and throws in different directions, hoping to hit the invisible man.
She turned around only to feel a hand grasp her throat. Jason decloaked and drove his knife into her chest right into her heart. The corrupt security head was dead in moments as he dropped her to the floor.
He looked at all of the dead security personnel and shook his head. "What a waste." he muttered before making his way back. Re-sheathing his knife and reloading his pistol along the way.
Putting a bullet in the back of a groaning guard's head as he past by them to the stairs.
X
Jane. Garrus and Liara stepped off of the elevator into Synthetic Insights. When they got stone walled by Anoleis, Gianna pointed them in the direction of a Turian named Lorik Qui'in who would have a way to help them get to Peak 15.
The trade off was them going into the offices and collecting evidence that would prove Anoleis' corruption. An easy enough task depending on how many of the Administrator's goons there were already there.
What the team wasn't expecting was to see two guards running at them like the devil was in pursuit. "Hey! What the hell's going on?" asked the Commander as the two stopped in front of them.
"They...He...He killed them all! We have to get outta here!" the woman screamed running past them with the Turian behind her into the elevator.
The squad watched them leave before looking at one another, "10 creds says Jason is involved." said Garrus.
"Then you'd finally win a bet Garrus." said Jason coming down the last few steps and approaching them.
Jane crossed her arms, "Can we guess that the little thing you had to take care of was this?" she asked.
"I hacked a few terminals on the way in and found a few pieces of information that could have proved useful. I figured if the Administrator wouldn't help us, than we could get some dirt on him and see if that helped us in anyway." replied the nano soldier.
"It can, this evidence could put him away for a long time." said Liara.
Jason held up his omni-tool and sent all of the data he collected to an OSD. "Then it's a good thing I got to it before the corrupt assholes got to it first." he said handing it over to Shepard.
"How many guards are still alive?" asked the Commander, pocketing the disc.
"Just the two that ran by you. They surrendered so I let them go. Can't say the same for Sterling and the other goons under her command." Jason replied as they all got into the elevator and rode it to the ground floor.
They stepped out and was immediately approached by Gianna. "There have been reports of noise from the Synthetic Insights office. Would any of you know anything about that?" she asked directly.
"Probably Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart." said Jane smirking. Jason smirked behind his visor, liking her style.
"Smartass, hm? That's fine. I can work with that." said Gianna. "Meet me at the hotel for a drink, before you talk to Qui'in. I'll be waiting." And with that she left without another word.
"What could she be wanting to talk to us about?" wondered Liara.
"She's a cop." said Jason gathering their attention. "Noveria Internal Affairs. My best guess is that she's undercover investigating Anoleis and needs our evidence to help make a conviction."
"I had a feeling she was police." said Garrus. "C-Sec did smiliar work all the time. She hid it pretty well."
Jane looked at her fellow Spectre. "How'd you figure out she was Internal Affairs?"
Jason shrugged, "SECOND managed to get the files on her. I just put two and two together after that. Does make you wonder what the bastard did to have this much heat on him."
"Either way, we better get to the hotel bar and wrap this up. The more time we waste, the less we have at completing our mission." said Shepard as they started moving.
They made it back to the hotel bar in a matter of minutes. The team found Gianna in the far corner away from the main floor. Obviously for privacy for what she was going to talk to them about.
She saw them coming and stood up from her seat. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs." Jane looked over at Jason who shrugged back at her as if saying 'I was right'.
"I take it you all already knew." said Gianna, noting their lack of reaction before looking at Jason. "Then again, with Maverick on your side it's no wonder you figured it out so quickly."
"You've heard of me?" asked Jason.
"Heard of you? Everyone in Citadel Space knows that suit anywhere. After everything you did years ago on the Citadel people were told to keep a look out for you. And seeing's how the bodies of all of Anoleis' lackies are being scraped off the floor back at Synthetic Insights, I can safely assume that it was you who was responsible." said Gianna.
"Can't confirm or deny, ma'am." said the nano soldier crossing his arms.
Gianna shook her head, "Over a dozen dead guards. All the cameras wiped and little to no trace evidence...guess that case won't be solved." she said looking in Jason's direction again. "Getting off topic. The executive board knows about Anoleis' corruption. I've been undercover for six months. I want you to convince Qui'in to testify before the board. With his evidence, this planet can run profitably again." said the agent.
"We need his garage pass to complete our mission." said Jane.
"You help my investigation. I'll provide whatever you need. Favor for a favor." said Gianna.
"The one thing that makes the verse go round." commented Jason. "Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."
"Look, I don't like it either. You Spectres play fast and loose with the law all the time. That's bad for business." said Gianna.
"We'll talk to Qui'in and see if we can convince him." said Jane.
Gianna nodded, "Thank you. You know where I work. Come talk to me once you know if he'll play ball." she turned to leave when she paused and looked back, speaking low enough for only them to hear. "Oh, and Maverick. Try to keep the body count low next time. Less paper work."
X
Everything played out after that. Qui'in agreed to testify, Anoleis was arrested and shipped off to stand trial. And the team got their garage pass along with a Mako that was provided to help get them to Peak 15 through the snow storm that had been raging outside since they arrived.
The squad approached the garage area and flashed their newly acquired pass before going inside. Jason froze at the door, holding his arms out to stop the others as his motion tracker started acting up.
"Local Jamming Frequency Detected. Re-initializing...Complete." the motion tracker went back to normal as five hostiles appeared. "What is it?" asked Jane looking around.
"Get your guns out, we're not alone in here." he said drawing his shotgun.
As if on que. Two Geth Stalkers flung themselves along the ceiling and began firing on them. The squad got into cover and fired back as two Destroyers and a Shock Trooper came up the ramp at the end of the garage and started launching rockets and heavy pulse weapon fire on them.
Garrus leaned out of cover with his sniper rifle and blew a hole through the neck of a Stalker that attempted to jump and dropped it to the floor. Liara used her biotics to freeze the other in stasis allowing the Turian to do the same to it as he did with the first.
Jane and Jason both fired from a crate they were behind on the two Destroyers as they began to get closer. Jason fired up the Geth hacking program and took control of the Shock Trooper, forcing it to fire on the two larger Geth and giving them an opening to hit them when their backs were turned.
The Destroyers took out the lone Shock Trooper, but not before it helped knock out their shields giving the four man team a chance to unload on them all at once. Both platforms hit the ground oozing white fluid from their deactivated forms.
This was the scene witnessed by Captain Matsuo and a squad of guards as they stormed the garage. "What the- What are these things? Fan out and secure the area! No one get's in or out!" she ordered her men as she approached the team.
"What the hell have you done?" she demanded.
"What we did?" asked Jane, visibly upset. " We're the victims! The Geth attacked us!"
Matsuo didn't look convinced, "Geth? You expect me to believe-" she was interrupted when Jason threw the body of one of the Stalkers Garrus shot at her feet.
"Believe us now? Or are you going to blame that on us too?" said the nano soldier. "The Matriarch that came through here had a lot more than just an armed escort. Did you morons even bother to check her cargo when she passed through here?"
"We did thorough scans of the crates." explained the Captain. "There were no power sources, no element zero masses-"
"The Geth are machines, Captain. They can be deactivated and reactivated to avoid such scans. Did you check for data transmission frequencies or cybernetics? Or did that just slip by in customs?" Jason shook his head. "How many containers did Benezia have and how big were they?"
Matsuo thought a minute, "Two average size shipping containers...I'd say roughly 20' by 9', maybe more."
Jason did the math and had SECOND draw it up. "Shepard, if my math is right, we're looking at several dozen Geth. Between the numbers of 20 and 80, not counting heavies and drones with how then can fold in on themselves."
Jane nodded, "Than we better get up to Peak 15 and shut down whatever is happening up there."
"I have to report to the executive board. It word gets out about loose Geth, there may be an investor panic." said Matsuo before heading off.
The squad did a quick weapons check before heading off down the ramp to the Mako that had been waiting for them. Jason jumped into the turret seat and immediately had Prophet tap into the controls to assist while Jane got behind the wheel with Liara at navigation.
The large doors into the garage opened revealing a snow covered mountain valley with a huge blizzard still ravaging the area and making visibility drop by a few percent.
"Alright everyone, hang on. This may get a bit rough." called the Commander as she gunned the engine and started up the path into the mountains.
X
A/N: The mission to Noveria has begun, and a lot of heads are gonna roll when the team reach Peak 15. But Jason also has something up his sleeve, so things are gonna get shaken up a bit.