Chapter 26

Illium Entertainment News Update - Turian comedian Avitus Karro revealed in an interview today that he lost 5,000 credits to producer Mlax Ventkad from betting on the outcome of the climactic varren race in his vid Silversun Stripped. Asked why he would bet on a race that wasn't an actual sporting event but a scripted part of the vid, Karro replied, "Ventkad was offering 50-1 odds."

"Surrender your hostage now and you can still walk away from this!" Major Kirrahe shouted to the dazed Eclipse mercs surrounding hanar vid star Blasto. "The Special Tasks Group doesn't ask twice."

"Like hell!" Mara T'Rue shouted back at the major. "Blasto is ours!"

T'Rue's declaration was undercut by the fact that the asari special effects director and her mercenary colleagues were all struggling to shield their eyes from the intense spotlights mounted on the half-dozen 6th Dimension Vids camera mechs that were surrounding them. Somewhere several blocks away from the public park where the hostage rescue was being attempted, Suzra'Bonah vas Marketa was doing a bang-up job remotely operating the mechs and keeping their lights directed at the mercenaries' faces, rookie STG agent Solik Vass thought. From behind him, he heard the sound of raucous cheering and applause coming from the crowd of Blasto's fans and other curious onlookers watching the events from the street opposite the park.

'The plan is working!' Vass thought. 'They think we're filming a scene for the vid, not actually trying to rescue Blasto! If we can subdue the mercs fast enough, they might never figure out the truth.'

A moment later T'Rue pulled up her biotics and threw out a singularity. The biotic energy caught a pair of camera mechs as well as two of T'Rue's own mercenary colleagues, a human male and a male salarian, causing all four to helplessly float upwards. The mechs' spotlights went above the remaining mercs' heads and that dimmed the glare just enough for T'Rue to pull her pistol and fire off a pair of rounds at two other mechs. T'Rue's shots hit one in the head, shattering its spotlight, and struck the other's shoulder. The impact of the second round caused the mech to spin around 90 degrees, moving its spotlight away from other mercs' faces. T'Rue then ended her singularity, causing the mechs and her fellow mercs to tumble to the ground. With four of the six lights no longer pointed at them, the mercenaries began to regain their vision. They drew their concealed pistols, submachine guns and shotguns and begin looking for targets.

Kirrahe, Vass and krogan actor Jorgal Dreed took advantage of the mercenaries' lingering disorientation to bolt for the more defensible positions that could be found in a public park. Vass flung himself behind a long metal bench along a walkway, while Kirrahe took shelter behind a monument to a presumably once-prominent asari city leader. Dreed honored his earlier promise to Vass to protect asari actress Linia T'Pala by pulling her behind him and then swiftly backing up towards a large boulder. Linia was forced to fumble backwards as well until she was practically sandwiched between the rock and the krogan. Dreed & Linia then began shuffling leftwards towards the edge of the rock until Linia, her biotic barriers now up, could dart around behind it. Blasto, meanwhile, began discreetly backing away from the mercenaries guarding him. As soon he got some distance, he began making for a nearby clump of trees as quickly as his six tentacles would allow.

An asari merc who had regained her bearings threw a shockwave at Kirrahe and followed that with a burst from a submachine gun. The biotic wave crashed against the statute Kirrahe was using as cover, causing it to tremble visibly before shots from her submachine gun began ricocheting off its surface. Kirrahe responded with a neural shock from his omni-tool. The merc made a loud, guttural grunt as her body trembled and she fell to her knees. She got back up on her feet just in time to see Kirrahe fire a single shot into her left shoulder. The asari's body convulsed as blue energy crackled around her and she fell face-forward onto the ground.

It was, Vass knew, a non-lethal disruptor round. Kirrahe had been adamant earlier that they could not leave any dead bodies in a public park in broad daylight since that would force the police to investigate the incident. The mercs were unlikely to demonstrate the same restraint however. So not only did the major, Vass and their krogan ally have to take on a group of mercenaries that out-numbered them but they had to avoid any killing and ensure that no innocent bystanders got hurt either. There was the additional problem that Dreed didn't own a weapon that fired non-lethal rounds. "Why would any krogan bother with that?" he told the rookie agent earlier that morning when the plan was being laid out. The shotgun Dreed was carrying was in fact a studio prop that merely lit up & made noises.

This did not stop Dreed from engaging in the fight once he was certain that Linia was safely out of the line of fire. The krogan bolted forward towards the nearest human merc, a bulky figure with a blonde buzz cut and carrying a shotgun who had earlier been caught in T'Rue's singularity. The merc spotted the onrushing krogan and activated a set of tech armor. A moment later Dreed bodyslammed into the human at full steam, shorting out the armor, and then fiercely head-butted his opponent. The human crumpled to ground. The attack drew the attention of the other mercs who had recovered enough to join the fight. Two of them began firing at the krogan.

"Dreed! Take cover!" Kirrahe shouted as he fired at one of the mercs targeting the krogan. The major's target, an asari, pulled up a biotic barrier and retreated backwards. Vass fired off a trio of rounds at a salarian merc firing at the krogan. The second round struck, giving the mercenary enough of a jolt that he lost his ability to aim and began firing his submachine gun in a wild, swinging arc. As the shots flew above him, Dreed bolted across the park and towards a nearby tall tree.

Kirrahe activated his cloak and his now blurry, translucent figure darted around the back of the monument he was using as cover. By the time the retreating asari merc realized that the major had come around the monument's other side and was now bearing down on her, it was too late. The major de-cloaked and a quick trio of shots burned through her barrier. The roundhouse left punch that followed connected with her chin and set her head spinning. The merc staggered, then fell on her back.

Vass' optimism surged. In a matter of moments they had taken out almost half of the Eclipse gang. The optimism was shattered a few seconds later by the whooshing sound of a skycar rapidly descending towards the park, then landing near the mercs. Four more Eclipse members, a pair each of asari and salarians, quickly hopped out and began firing, using their vehicle as cover. T'Rue's back-up had finally arrived. The mercenaries now outnumbered the two STG agents and the unarmed krogan by a factor of 3-1.

The rookie agent gulped. Any hope that they could wrap this fight up quickly was seemingly gone. The odds that they could even survive it weren't looking much better. As he crouched down behind the park bench, Vass' mind flashed back to all the times growing up that he had play-acted at being a secret STG agent with his friends. He recalled the laughter as they pointed toy guns at each other and shouted "Bang! Bang!" Now he was an actual agent involved in a real firefight. A sudden realization hit Vass: he was scared. He tried to push the fear out of his mind. "No, don't pause, don't reflect,' the rookie thought. 'The more you think about what you're doing, the more likely you'll panic. The major and Dreed are depending on your help. Don't let them down.'

Vass gave his a pistol a quick check and took a deep breath, then peered out from behind the bench. The nearest Eclipse member turned out to be a salarian who was apparently attempting flank Kirrahe by utilizing the same bench that Vass was behind, unaware that that spot had been taken. Vass' sudden appearance startled the sprinting merc just long enough for the young agent to swing his pistol into the merc's neck, delivering a perfect example of a strike that Kirrahe had repeatedly drilled into him during their secret training sessions. The Eclipse member collapsed. Adrenaline surged through Vass' veins and he quickly spotted another merc, a human female only a few meters away and exposed. Vass fired two disruptor rounds at her before she could spot him. Both missed. The merc raced backwards while firing at Vass, who ducked back down behind the bench.

Kirrahe had retreated back to the monument and Vass noticed that he was now aiming a different pistol from his usual Carnifex. The major emptied an entire thermal clip into the newly-arrived mercs' skycar even as they were ducked down well behind it. Rather than the usual rounds, the gun fired small glowing orbs that stuck to the hood, windshield and roof of the vehicle. For about two seconds nothing happened. That turned out to be just long enough for the mercs to pause and look at the orbs, which then exploded in unison. The resulting disruptor blast caught all four of the mercs and three of them were immediately knocked cold. As the fourth, another salarian, tried to shake off the shock, Kirrahe bounded forward, hopped onto the vehicle's trunk, and then its roof before jumping at the merc. The major smashed his pistol into the Eclipse member's face, then grabbed his opponent's shoulders and drew him in for a swift knee to his stomach. As the merc doubled over, Kirrahe dropped a savage elbow into the back of his opponent's head. The merc fell limply to the ground.

From the corner of his eye, Vass saw Dreed charging towards another pair of mercs, loudly roaring as he fired his realistic-looking prop shotgun. The krogan barreled right into a salarian merc who had been frantically trying to put a new thermal clip into his pistol. Dreed hit with such force that he didn't even break his stride as he slammed into the salarian, who was knocked off of his feet and sent into the air. The asari mercenary panicked as the krogan turned and began charging towards her. She spun around and ran in the opposite direction screaming, "AHHHHHHH!" The spectators from across the street hooted and laughed as Dreed chased the asari across the length of the park, all the while yelling and periodically firing his shotgun into the air.

The female human mercenary Vass had fired at earlier popped out from behind a tree and fired at a now-exposed Kirrahe. The shot was wide off and hit the skycar instead, which had taken considerable damage from the explosion. Kirrahe reactivated his cloak and darted to his left. Vass realized that the merc's shot must have struck a vital system on the skycar because the vehicle began giving out an automated warning: "Critical overload imminent."

"Major, get clear! The car could explode!" Vass shouted as he laid down covering fire, forcing the mercenary to retreat. Kirrahe's blurry shape sprinted away from the car and towards the retreating merc. The skycar caught fire and gave out a loud bang, but it was far milder than the explosion that Vass had feared. It was still enough to distract the merc. Kirrahe decloaked and threw a haymaker right punch into his opponent's face, followed by a left uppercut that put her out cold.

Vass popped his head up from behind the bench. "Did-did we get all of them?" he asked the major.

Kirrahe spun around, scanning the area. "No, T'Rue isn't accounted for. We got to find-"

"She's right here," announced a disembodied voice. T'Rue de-cloaked to the STG agents' left and threw out a biotic singularity, catching them both. "Couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?" she told Vass and Kirrahe as they dangled in the air. T'Rue pulled out a cigarette and lit it with biotic energy from her fingers. "You've been a royal pain in the ass, major, but that ends now."

T'Rue took a puff, then aimed her pistol, only to be distracted by a tapping on her left shoulder. She turned her head in that direction, causing her to miss the tentacle extending over her right shoulder. The appendage wrapped itself around T'Rue's neck and began constricting. She dropped her pistol and frantically tried to peel the tentacle off her. A second tentacle extended over her left shoulder and also wrapped itself around her neck, this time snaring the asari's hands in its folds. T'Rue gasped, then let out a loud, guttural croak as the tentacles steadily tightened. The singularity vanished and the major and Vass stumbled to the ground.

"This One will no longer stand idly by," Blasto declared. "It is tired of dealing with Eclipse's solid waste excretions."

"Gaggghhh," gasped T'Rue, now rapidly kicking and squirming. Her face lost its natural blue color and began taking on a steadily more purple hue.

"This One will deliver you to the Enkindlers and then tell the galaxy all it knows about Eclipse's drug smuggling, including what This One did to facilitate it at the studio," the hanar declared. "The loss of This One's career is a small price to pay to redeem its soul."

Kirrahe hopped to his feet. "No, Blasto stop. How will it redeem your soul to kill somebody in cold blood? Wouldn't the Enkindlers want you to show mercy?"

Blasto slackened his grip on T'Rue's neck just enough to allow her to draw a single breath. "This One has sinned. This One must make things right. This One must stop the smugglers it previously aided. This asari has been the leader of that operation. This One can end it right now."

Kirrahe pointed to the cheering crowd watching from across the street. "Blasto, those are your fans. They literally saved your life this morning by making it impossible for the mercs to take you away. To them, you're a hero who saves the galaxy and protects the innocent. What will they think if they see you choke a helpless person to death?"

The hanar shook his body. "This One is not a hero. This One cowered and hid as you fought the mercenaries. But This One can still stop this criminal scum," the actor declared and began once again tightening his tentacles. T'Rue's writhing and kicking became more frantic.

"She's not a threat any more, Blasto. Let her go," Kirrahe replied. "You can do much more good by returning to the studio and finishing the vid. You think I'm the real hero? Okay, then tell my story. It's important that people know what happened on Virmire, what I saw, what I learned. That's why I came here to rescue you. Please, I want you to do this."

Blasto once again loosened his grip on the asari and she resumed gasping for air. "This One only does silly pieces of entertainment. They are of no significance."

"You're wrong," Vass retorted. "Billions see them and they love watching your exploits. Your vids inspire people to be heroes on their own. Take me, for example: watching your vids made me want to join the STG so I could be a secret agent too."

Linia T'Pala, who had just jogged up from her hiding spot, chimed in. "Think of the studio too. A lot of people are depending on you. If the vid isn't finished I could lose my big break. If the studio gets engulfed in scandal and stops making Blasto vids altogether, it could go bankrupt. And, well, let's be honest, a lot of the people there couldn't get jobs elsewhere. You can be a hero to them by restoring things to the way they were."

Dreed also joined in, having apparently given up pursuit of the mercenary he was chasing earlier. "My daughters are really looking forward to the next Blasto vid. I'll be fine if it doesn't come out, but they'll be heartbroken."

Blasto let go of T'Rue, who fell to her hands and knees as she continued to gasp for air. "But what does This One say at his press conference? It was meant to expose Eclipse's smuggling. This One cannot lie as the Enkindlers watch."

"You don't need to lie," Kirrahe explained. "Just don't volunteer all of the information you have. When you take the podium, apologize to the people you have wronged, ask for forgiveness and promise your fans the vid will come out."

The major crouched in front of T'Rue. "As for Eclipse, if they agree to end their smuggling operations at the studio completely, then there's no need to tell the public about it because that will be in the past. If Eclipse refuses to stop or tries to renege on the deal and re-start the operation, then, Blasto, yes, tell all that you know. And just in case Eclipse thinks they can arrange for you to have an 'accident' to prevent you from talking, let me record you telling all you know and give me copies of any evidence you have. I vow on my honor as a Special Tasks Group officer to act in your stead if need be. And just in case Eclipse thinks they can shut me up too, I'll arrange for someone else at the STG to do it if for some reason I can't."

Kirrahe snapped his fingers in front of T'Rue's face. "Do we have an understanding? Is Eclipse going to end all operations at the studio?" The asari, still panting for air, nodded. "Good," the major replied.

Dreed, Vass and the mechs gathered up the mercenaries' weapons and tossed them onto the burning skycar, just to avoid the possibility that any of them revived and got any ideas. Kirrahe meanwhile stayed with Blasto and kept watch on T'Rue. Linia got back into her director character and headed towards the crowd across the street. "Okay, folks, that's all. We have wrapped up shooting for the day. There's nothing further to see," she told the spectators. "Be sure to catch the vid when it makes the theaters. It should be finished soon!"

"Guys! Guys! You have got to see this!" Suzra'Bonah's omni-tool message declared. "Meet me in my makeup studio."

Vass had only just returned to 6th Dimension Vids studios a short while before and was still unwinding from the shoot-out he had participated in. He was nevertheless intrigued enough to head immediately over to the quarian's studio. Major Kirrahe was curious as well and followed along. When they arrived, they found the makeup artist and Linia raptly watching the viewscreen for the camera mechs' portable controller.

"Wow..." Linia exclaimed. "It looks even more amazing in slow-motion!"

"What's up?" Vass asked.

Linia looked up and began excitedly talking. "The controls for the mechs were a little more complicated than Suzra realized. What she thought was the button to turn on the spotlights was actually the one to turn on recording, it just switched on the lights as well. The mechs captured the entire shootout from six different perspectives! Well, six at first. Then five after T'Rue shot out one of cameras. There's also a few moments where the cameras go wobbly and you're like whoa-whoa-whoa what's going on?! But most of it is incredible! Better than any Blasto vid!" the asari declared. She began gesturing with her arms and acting out the scenes as she spoke. "Kirrahe's like, 'Surrender the hostage! I don't ask twice!' and T'Rue's like, 'Like hell!' and then it's like 'Pow! Bang! Ka-Boom!' And Dreed's like 'Rooaaaarrrr!' and suddenly humans and salarians are being sent flying everywhere! Then the major is jumping onto skycars and launching himself on the mercs and he's going 'Bam! Thwack! Ka-Pow!' on the badguys. It is awesome!" The actress grabbed Vass by the shoulder and pulled him towards the viewscreen. "Here, see for yourself!"

Vass watched the footage and saw what had Suzra and Linia so bowled over. The mechs' recordings of Blasto's rescue were indeed amazing. Kirrahe moved like lightning and seemed to possess a sixth sense of exactly where he had to be to avoid the mercenaries' fire. His own shots were perfectly timed and deadly accurate while his punches were precise and devastating. Savara Korek's mechs captured it all in extraordinary detail, revealing that several moments were even more dangerous than Vass had assumed at the time. The footage of Kirrahe leaping on top of the skycar before taking out a merc was particularly spectacular, as was the subsequent footage of the car overloading and erupting into flames in the background while Kirrahe was in the foreground punching out one of the Eclipse members.

It was, in fact, far more spectacular than the images of the major in action that Vass' own mind had conjured up when he first read the Systems Alliance report about the Assault on Virmire. And this footage was no vid studio fakery. It was real. Every second of it. And Vass was in it too, playing the part of loyal sidekick.

"Major, look at this!" Vass shouted. The veteran STG agent obliged his young partner and watched. He paid keen attention but said nothing, steadily going through one camera's recordings, then the next, until he had seen them all.

"Suzra, is this all of the footage that was obtained this morning?" he asked. The quarian affirmed that it was. The major then turned on the portable controller's VI interface. "Controller, delete all footage recorded-"

Vass interrupted the major. "What are you doing?!" the young agent shouted.

Kirrahe gave his assistant a stern look. "I'm trying to keep this mission as secret as possible. I cannot have footage revealing that Eclipse mercenaries captured Blasto and STG agents rescued him floating around. No one can ever see this."

"But-but..." Vass sputtered.

"However entertaining it may appear, that's irrelevant. The mission comes first," the major declared. He glanced over at Linia and Suzra'Bonah. "There's already too many non-agents privy to key details. I'll trust them to keep quiet. But these recordings reveal far too much. Controller, delete all footage recorded on today's date."

"This footage has not been backed up. Are you certain?" the VI asked.

"Yes, proceed," Kirrahe replied.

"Footage deleted," the VI confirmed.

Illium Entertainment News Update - Hanar superstar Blasto held a press conference today to give a lengthy and heartfelt apology to his fans and his colleagues in the vid industry. The actor said he had been "reckless, immature and selfish" and "unconcerned to the point of cruelty" for the problems this behavior had caused for others. "This One humbly begs forgiveness," Blasto declared. The hanar said the change in heart was prompted by the "outpouring of love and support from fans and colleagues" he received while recovering from a drug overdose. He claimed it was "not an exaggeration" to say that the fans saved his life. Blasto said he would return to the set of his latest vid tomorrow to begin work on his remaining scenes.